Workout question, for old ecotmorph trying to gain some mass and lose some fat.

[Far from massive]

Hello all I am 55 and currently 6.1 tall and 202 lbs (down from 218 three months ago) I am currently still a little fat maybe 18-20% but have dropped a ton due primarily to all the great information in the diet section and a lot of cardio.

Anyway my question is I know a lot of the experienced body builders only work each bady part every 4-7 days. However I know I am not able to safely blast a muscle the way I could when I was 25. In addition my muscles are still fairly small for my frame. So my question is would I be better off doing an HST type workout?

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ing-Techniques

As outlined in post 4 by pinnacle, where I only do a few sets each day but hit the bodyparts every 2 days?

Since with my tiny ass muscles ( I am really not in bad shape for 55 just making a point) that only working a few groups per workout is not placing much demand on my body and my post workout meal is being underutilized.

Look forward to any replies,

Thanks FFM

[Times Roman]

how's it going gramps? Glad yer here... these young pups keep kicking my ass all over the BB~!

To answer your question, for about the last 12 months, I worked out just like I was 25 again..... 4 or 5 days a week. About 90 minutes a day. Then sometime around may the injuries started.... ripped a muscle in the back of my left leg, stinger in my left forearm, blew out my knee.... you get my point. the strength was coming along nicely, getting some real good size and definition. But I have too many miles on this tired chassy to go at it like that anymore. I'm almost out of my rehab now and learned some valuable lessons. I'm currently doing a very light 4 day split something like this
M - upper
T - Lower
W - rest
Th - upper
Fri - lower

the best advice I can give you, is to go slow. I would not recommend going at it with an intensity of a 25 year old. And going to failure for each set is probably not a good idea. I'm sure, once you've been at it for awhile, your muscles would respond nicely. But it's not the muscles you should worry about. It is your tendons and ligaments, the strength of those, that lag muscular strength. I'm not saying that eventually you can't get them where you want them to be, but they take at least twice as long to strengthen as a muscle would.

Here's my bad...
I'm down 20lbs of lbm since july. for me, adding 20lbs of lbm takes along time, so losing it in just a few months, all that hard work, is depressing. I've learned my lesson. If, at a given weight, I would normally fail at 10 reps, I'll only do 8. I still get growth, that's for sure. But I'm not ever again going to let my ego get in the way and over do it. It just aint friggin worth it.

Good luck mate

[Far from massive]

Times Roman,

Thanks a lot for your reply, I agree with and appreciate everything you said. I have a good friend (52) who has been bodybuilding pretty steady since he was in his 20s he has a lot of knowlege but unfortunately he has always been a big fan of the lots of sets and reps to total failure approach, so while I am sure I could get a ton of good input on form etc. I am really reluctant to workout with someone who is going to be screaming "one more" every set.

I have luckily been blessed with good genetics and used to race road bicycles in my late teens trough mid twenties and did a lot of mechanics and construction work up till I was about 45 so my frame and bone mass is not as deteriorated as the average sedintary 55 yr old. I will definately take it easy as I was really out of shape 5 years ago but since then have been slowly increasing cardio and over the last 2 years have done some occasional light lifting till two months ago when I started lifting lightly at least 4 times a week. I know I have a ton of work to get my joints and CNS to the point where they will be able to stand any serious training and agree fully with your approach about if you could hit 10 reps to failure to only do 8, of all the people I know over 40 who were proponents of lift to failure, super heavy wieght, many sets approach all of them have suffered injuries that have cost them dearly.

On a funny note although I have been doing interval training walking and running for cardio, I had not done any leg work as I work out at home and can only squat and had been avoiding that. Well I decided to do some squats and wisely only used about 85lbs and did a warmup of partials then two sets of ten going to parralell , well even though it was only 85 on the bar after I was done I squated down to load a dumbell and got a leg cramp so bad I could hardly get back up LOL its been two days and my thighs are still sore....old age is a bitch.

[Times Roman]

I totally get what you are saying about someone screaming in your ear for "one more rep".... at our age, that is folly. ANY injury will set you back months, and therefore, should be avoided.

Two thoughts:

1) Squats: comment? I went to big 5 and got their "Total Body Works 5000" (similar to Chuck Norris' Nordic Track). I think it cost me $140 plus tax. If that is too much, I've also seen them on Craigslist for a song. Instead of thinking squats, think leg press. Once you get into the groove, do one legged leg presses, with all four bands, incline all the way up. And when that gets too easy, put a 50lbs plate under your head like it's a pillow. You will get a VERY GOOD leg exercise, with very little stress on the knee. And you will get 100% full extension, with your butt all the way down on your heal.
See, all the pups here preach the benefits of a traditional squat, and rightfully so. But my knees won't allow that. So I bought this other machine, and started doing box squats. Almost right away I started having knee problems. That was in july. I had to have my leg elevetaed for two whole days at one point.

2) maybe you should have your doc check the test in your blood. I did, and was very surprised to find that it was VERY low. I am now taking low dose testosterone injections every other week. That did a couple of things for me in the areas of strength (moderate), libido (it exploded, I'm like a rabbit now), and overall feelings of well being.

[Far from massive]

I hear you on the test deal, I have never had lab work but suspect mine may be a little low. Of couse I am currently nearing the end of PCT for an ill advised month long Tren A 500mg wk / 700 mg Test base cycle so labwork at this time would be pointless. I am doing another more age appropriate cycle starting the end of November solely Test P probably 500 wk for 6 weeks after this cycle, PCT and another month recovery I plan to get lab work and make a decision on constant test usage. I have no plans for kids at this point so that is not an issue.

As far as the squats, I am fortunate, the only time I ever hurt my knee was in a dirt bike accident at 18 and that was only a slight tear of the medial meniscus (the little one) so as long as I keep the wieght light I don't see knee problems being an issue the main thing I need to be careful of in that respect is my back as when I was 30 I had two disc ruptures but these days all is well its been years since I had any reffered leg pain.

Don't get me wrong I appreciate what you are saying in regard to squats and will keep it in mind ( particularly on cycle ) with regard to wieght reps and frequency of the exercise. I also need to get a gym membership ( I think I will sign up today) so I can do the rest of the other excercises to strengthen the quads to protect the knee, thanks for reminding me of that as I feel neglecting quad work is one of the main causes of knee problems.