Men over 50. Rep range and volume

[Mufasa123]

Man, thank you for this tidbit! It hadn’t occurred to me to look at HRV from that perspective! I’ll be keeping an eye on that together with volume and intensity now!

I have a Whoop, which I love, but heavily geared to cardio as exercise for various reasons. Totally fine and I track it but also recovery, sleep, hrv etc...

Expounding on Hawkmoon above, it's not perfect but HRV is a solid indicator of needing more rest/recovery and cns getting low. It's not the ultimate but a fool in managing fatigue and seeing where you are at. What's nice about it too is that as opposed to just weightlifting metrics it's incorporating everything and health readings in your life (ie get 3hrs of sleep nightly for a week and let me know how your recovery is under normal volume, drink alcohol and late dinners, get sick....). Good tool and this is where I use it most in strength/lifting pursuits.

 

[alfresco]

I am noodling with a 10 x 10 per exercise routine. Same weight each set. Round about 10 -15 seconds rest between set. Right now 1 exercise per body part.

3x per weeks.

Sometimes for legs I have my partner do 10 x 10 with 20 seconds rest between sets. (He never takes the bar of his back. Thank you Tenny.)

 

[BLKGUY2006]

Age 57. Everything but arms gets 9 sets, 15 to 20 reps. Arms gets 6 stes, 15 to 20 reps.

I like the “ keeping it simple method”. Sounds very reasonable

 

[Mufasa123]

Forgot to mention reps in my other post. They've gone up but I'm not really training for max or higher end strength so makes sense. I'm also largely trying to rebuild to get to the point where I can tolerate some heavier end reps so my work is building and conditioning for that. Let's hope I get there.

Main compounds - sets of 5-10 (deads being lower end). This might be a top end set of I'm scaling up or sets across if I'm staying put and building conditioning/volume. More total reps at top weight via additional sets and/or reps in each set. Not really doing doubles or triples which were a lot more common years ago.

Assistance - 8-10 (sometimes 12, maybe 15 but never higher unless there's a specific reason).

Haven't done Olympic lifts in a while but other than some assistance lifts those are never trained using high rep sets. Total reps via a number of sets is the goal. Technique on more technical lifts is compromised otherwise and fastest way to build technical issues in your lifts is to burn shitty reps.

 

[madg]

Let’s just say I am over 70.

(There are current fotos of me in the pic thread . . . nothing special I can assure you. You would think I would had more to show for all the years of training )

10x10 and rhat physique at 70 not enough ?

Give more credit yourself my brother

 

[comedycentral]

I’m 50 and go for much higher reps than I used to. I’m now around 15-25 and lower body 20plus.

 

[Big Vin]

I'm at sets of 10....but 6 second full reps. Strict reps. Time under tension. 3 seconds concentric and 3 seconds eccentric. 60 years old. still competing NPC physique.

 

[gauge22-v2]

Total sets to failure per week/per bodypart are 12-15. I train 6x a week, but always manage the total volume.

Lots of warm up sets, especially for push (shoulder) and tris (elbow) and legs (knees).

First sets to failure are always 15+ reps. Typically I will sit at the same weight and get my other working sets in at the same weight...unless pulling some odd ball shit like Myo etc.

Everything I do deletes momentum. There is no "bouncing" off the stretch reflex etc....

 

[D2]

54yo this year , still JM's mountain dog style all the way

 

[Dens228]

With quads, chest. lats, I can and will use down to 7-8 reps with no problem and good results but will also go higher based on my mood. Sometimes I just don't feel like using the heavy weight on a given day. But with hams, arms, delts I definitely tend towards above 12 reps. Especially shoulders, they are really my only pain and injury issue after all these years.
61 yoa by the way.

 

[KingOfSushi]

54yo this year , still JM's mountain dog style all the way

JM mastered it all imo. Perfect blend of intensity, volume, longevity, and of course effectiveness. I recommend him to anyone trying to learn how to train like a bodybuilder.

 

[emeric delczeg]

Me 20 reps.

 

[primobolan]

talk the talk……..

 

[Flex500]

I’m 42, and I’ve trained every way imaginable...high reps, low reps, moderate reps. At this point, my joints feel better than ever. (Granted, I took some time off this year, but even before that, it was the case...even when doing full body daily!)

If you want to avoid both acute injuries and longterm wear and tear, there’s one simple principle that applies no matter how many reps you’re doing:
Slow down the transition phase of the rep.

That moment when you're changing direction, like at the bottom of a press...is where most of the damage happens, even with good form. Momentum is your enemy here. If you control the turnaround and remove the bounce or snap (again, even a subtle bounce or snap), you’ll eliminate a huge amount of joint stress.

It’s a small change that makes a massive difference. You can still go heavy. You can still keep reps low. Just control that shift.

 

[primobolan]

I’m 42, and I’ve trained every way imaginable...high reps, low reps, moderate reps. At this point, my joints feel better than ever. (Granted, I took some time off this year, but even before that, it was the case...even when doing full body daily!)

If you want to avoid both acute injuries and longterm wear and tear, there’s one simple principle that applies no matter how many reps you’re doing:
Slow down the transition phase of the rep.

That moment when you're changing direction, like at the bottom of a press...is where most of the damage happens, even with good form. Momentum is your enemy here. If you control the turnaround and remove the bounce or snap (again, even a subtle bounce or snap), you’ll eliminate a huge amount of joint stress.

It’s a small change that makes a massive difference. You can still go heavy. You can still keep reps low. Just control that shift.

Sir you do not meet the minimum age requirement of the chat we are going to have to ask you leave. lol, j/k

 

[Golden]

Sir you do not meet the minimum age requirement of the chat we are going to have to ask you leave. lol, j/k

I’m 48 but my knees have felt over 50 for 10 years!

 

[OldManLogan]

Here’s a related question/ topic- are you guys actively changing your training, nutrition and recovery approach from performance (being the biggest, baddest bodybuilder you can be) to longevity (and using the muscle base you’ve built and knowledge you’ve acquired) to prioritize longevity and quality of life?

What are your thoughts on that?

 

[Dens228]

I’m 48 but my knees have felt over 50 for 10 years!

Haha, at 61 I feel like I'm in my 30's except for the first and last hour of my day.

 

[Dens228]

Here’s a related question/ topic- are you guys actively changing your training, nutrition and recovery approach from performance (being the biggest, baddest bodybuilder you can be) to longevity (and using the muscle base you’ve built and knowledge you’ve acquired) to prioritize longevity and quality of life?

What are your thoughts on that?

I used to be in the mid 240's, then decided I needed to get down to 230. Now I have decided to get down to about 215 but haven't started that journey yet. I also highly doubt I'll ever go over 350 mg/week of test.
Oh, while I haven't been a huge drinker since my early to mid 20's I've recently knocked alcohol consumption down to practically nothing and replaced it with gummies for those social situations.

 

[hogan87]

If you want to avoid both acute injuries and longterm wear and tear, there’s one simple principle that applies no matter how many reps you’re doing:
Slow down the transition phase of the rep.

100% I just shake my head when guys are doing plyometrics with 315 on bench and bouncing it up, swinging things around. Getting that tendon stretch and rebound is great for athletics. Under heavy load is recipe for injury.