Met a lifer today

[Vespa103]

Ok most old guys in the gym rants end up with him trying to spot you in short shorts this isn't that thread so

I met an old guy in the gym today. I am talking a grey haired grizzly old bastard 50 if a day. The thing is he was thick as shit and moving real weight. The guy was way old school as he kept doing that exercise that everyone thought expanded their ribcage in the 70's between sets of dumbell bench presses. Now he didn't have a wide bb look more big arms thick chest thing going on. Chest had to be 3-4inches off his ribcage and arms were 19+ easy. Guy was also like 5'8" maybe. Baggy shirt so hard to say on arms but at least 19. So I was impressed with this thick little guys hard core approach as I saw him doing set after set and I asked him his routine.

9 sets dumbell bench press
did a set of pullover or whatever its called exercise between db presses
6 sets incline bench press

that was it started in the 20 reprange and down to 4 sets of 4 reps at 315 on incline after all the flatbenching. No cables no flys said he would alternate next time and do "long bar"(his words) flat and dumbell incline.

Just thought it was interesting to see the volume of benching this guy was doing he was also taking a long rest between sets. Cleary it has worked for him and kept him training for years..

I may give it a try

 

[Chrysler]

And here I thought this was going to be a prison story.

 

[Gunsmith]

Dude he's only 50 and your talking about him like his 100 , damn I bet their are some guys here that are gonna get offended over that , just how old are you "sonny" I know some guys that bust ass in the gym harder than alot of these wanna be body builders in their 20's and 30's and their in their late 60's !!! their not old their "seasoned"

anyway , that is a shit load of reps even though its only two movements. I'm not to sure what exactly that pull over rib expanding movement is realy supposed to do or should I say what it realy does but I do see some of the old school guys doing it.

I'm thinking about adjusting my training to realy heavy dumbells bench presses (incline and flat) for like 5 sets of 5-8 reps one week then lighten the weight and do 4 sets of 16-20 reps with flys at the end the following week just to keep it changed up

 

[JohnnyPro]

You guys don't know about pullovers? People used to do what we called "breathing squats" alternated with pullovers. They were supposed to expand the rib cage. But, pullovers by themselves are a great upper body exercise. They work the chest, lats, abs, triceps, just about the whole upper body.

 

[STEVO 47]

Ok most old guys in the gym rants end up with him trying to spot you in short shorts this isn't that thread so

I met an old guy in the gym today. I am talking a grey haired grizzly old bastard 50 if a day.

Excuse me, you think 50's real old ha. I never talk about what can do
or how big my arms are, but I'll let you know that at 50 I bench well
over 400lbs and am bigger and stronger then I've ever been. So don't
let these old greyhaired grizzly bastards fool ya.

 

[STEVO 47]

Gunsmith thanks for sticking up for the over the hill gang.
and pullovers rated one of the best exercises out there.

 

[STEVO 47]

And I don't wear short shorts either.

 

[Tom]

right with you Steve O

53 and never been stronger!!

 

[Phidias]

I badly injured my lat/triceps on two different occasions doing heavy pullovers... an indeed great exercice (used to do it on an incline bench for upper pecs)... BUT WAY TOO DANGEROUS

 

[STEVO 47]

53 and never been stronger!!

Tom, as far as I'm conserned, your as old as you feel, and I feel the same
today as I did in my thirties. Just can't see as well

Pullovers great move I don't do them anymore either. you can really screw yourself up
big time.

 

[oldfella]

Vespa, there are still a bunch of us "OLD GUYS" around that have been training longer than you have lived. We generally train old school. Not because we do not know any better but because it produces the thickness/density that you speak of. I have much younger guys asking to train with me a lot. If i do not have a current training partner then I'll tell them to turn up at a certain time of the day. If it suits them then they are welcome to train with me. If not, well they asked me, not the other way around. Most of them do not last two weeks! No kidding. I am not blowing my own trumpet here nor am I the strongest guy around. But after some warm ups it's ON. I will lift heavy all day long if needed. We have been conditioned to train this way over many years. I do not take offense at people making comment about age. The guy you have described is old school indeed. And yes he would be very thick and very strong relevant to age etc. If you dare ask to train with him one day, you will be very surprised and probably equally impressed.

 

[oldfella]

I badly injured my lat/triceps on two different occasions doing heavy pullovers... an indeed great exercice (used to do it on an incline bench for upper pecs)... BUT WAY TOO DANGEROUS

I agree Phidias, I was doing these up to 2 months ago when I developed a small tear in the triceps. So I have dropped them from training. Shame though cause I really enjoyed doing them and they produce some excellent thickness to the inside top of the lats as well as develope the serratus and intercostals. Very dangerous as you go up in weight.

 

[oldfella]

You guys don't know about pullovers? People used to do what we called "breathing squats" alternated with pullovers. They were supposed to expand the rib cage. But, pullovers by themselves are a great upper body exercise. They work the chest, lats, abs, triceps, just about the whole upper body.

LOL yea i was thinking the same thing. Most of the YOUNG GENERATION do not know about old school training. This movement was a favorite of Frank Zane. He had one of the best physiques of all time, not the biggest but the best looking. I get a lot of puzzled looks from younger trainers as I do some of the better old school type exercises. I love the expressions on the faces. I ahve a younger guy at my gym that comes in about the same time that I train. He is keen and always asks me about stuff I do. Once in a while I will ask him to give it a try. Pullovers was one of these. I gave him a very light weight and instructed him how to do it. When he finished getting ten reps he got up off the bench and all he said is HOLY SHIT! That's F'ing hard to do! Then he saw the d/bell i wa using and his eyes popped. ( 120er I think). I just told him not to be silly with this exercise and go slow otherwise you will do some serious damage to yourself. He is moving the 40's now and doing really well.

 

[thebrick]

50 is old? One day you'll be 50 Vespa and I'll be in my cozy little nursing home laughing my ass off on your 50th birthday Seriously, I love it when people ask me my age and they drop their jaw when I tell them.

I'll be old on the day they spread my ashes.

 

[Narkissos]

dangerous as you go up in weight.

How so?

What's your rep-range on the heavier sets?

 

[Sassy]

Watch out for those little old men...

ROTFLOL....

Vespa, be kind to your elders. There are a few still around that can run circles around you.

They are inspiring. So many times we see people who are older than us that are physically challenged, in bad health or have weight problems. Growing old doesn't mean you have to stop living and doing what you enjoy. Over the years I have had several older people who were very physically active and it keep them young and vibrant. Several of them were actually older than they looked.

My grandmother was one of them. She was always very active and a hard worker. The last year she was alive she had to move to an assisted living home. She would go to their exercise classes every day and looked forward to it. She was exercising right up until a few months before she die of congestive heart failure. The nurses at the home told me that she would go exercise even though she felt really bad, because she said it would help her feel better... she died at 89.

 

[Phidias]

My grandmother was one of them. She was always very active and a hard worker. The last year she was alive she had to move to an assisted living home. She would go to their exercise classes every day and looked forward to it. She was exercising right up until a few months before she die of congestive heart failure. The nurses at the home told me that she would go exercise even though she felt really bad, because she said it would help her feel better... she died at 89.

This kind of behavior is really inspiring... too many times retired people give age as a pretext for not doing anything of the last years of their lives...

You know, statements such as "oh I'm too tired", "I feel sick today", "with my old bones I can't move", etc... sadly most of elders just wait for death when they could use the last bit of energy remaining in them to do things they were never able to during their active years due to lack of time

You can be proud of your grandma, Sassy... she never listened to herself and lived fully till the end. May she rest in peace.

 

[Golgo13]

And here I thought this was going to be a prison story.

Yeah.. What a let down.

 

[oldfella]

How so?

What's your rep-range on the heavier sets?

When you go heavy on these in places a lot of strain on the lat/tricep area under your shoulder. If the stretch goes to far you end up tearing muscles or you run the risk of not being able to control the descent of the weight. When I do these on the heavy sets I still try to maintain 8-10 reps always. When I was a bit younger I did dom these with 140's. This was a ball tearer. And I mean with strict form. Not bending the elbows much on the way back. Great exercise that not too many do any more, probably cause they don't know how . Just go slow and keep in control of the weight.

 

[mikeheavypecs]

Dude he's only 50 and your talking about him like his 100 , damn I bet their are some guys here that are gonna get offended over that , just how old are you "sonny" I know some guys that bust ass in the gym harder than alot of these wanna be body builders in their 20's and 30's and their in their late 60's !!! their not old their "seasoned"

anyway , that is a shit load of reps even though its only two movements. I'm not to sure what exactly that pull over rib expanding movement is realy supposed to do or should I say what it realy does but I do see some of the old school guys doing it.

I'm thinking about adjusting my training to realy heavy dumbells bench presses (incline and flat) for like 5 sets of 5-8 reps one week then lighten the weight and do 4 sets of 16-20 reps with flys at the end the following week just to keep it changed up

hey, 50 isn't old!! Gunsmith is right, lots of us bodybuilders on here around that age! I am 54 and look better as a bodybuilder than in my 30's. Entering an Over 40 contest. Arms 20".....should i go on For some reason alot of people think i'm in my mid 40s.....actually the older guys have what is called "muscle maturity" which will help win over a guy fairly novice in the sport...

Mike