Need Workout advice please...

[Back2Big]

38 6'1 250

Hey Guys thanks for reading. Well find myself in unfamiliar territory. I’m 38 fresh off a minor shoulder injury. I have posted about this before. My question is what workout regiments are the older guys doing in here? I plan on a cycle sometime in spring or summer. I know from experience if I jumped on that now it would simply be a waste of money. It’s been hard for me adapting to working out and NOT seeing the gains like I once enjoyed. The old tricks are just that, OLD! Also finding a new workout partner after having the same guys for years has been a major undertaking. They are either too young and have zero form, zero patience, zero knowledge. Nor do they want to learn! (Let’s workout our arms 4 days a week LMAO). Or they are too old and simply cannot keep up with the pace. I live smack dab in the middle of the Midwest so bodybuilding is not exactly a Mecca. By no means am I claiming that I’m some guru or a bodybuilder. Just a guy who has been working out for over 20yrs. So to get back to my question. Goals are to lean out (which is everyone’s goal..lol) Right now about 16% Bf. Before injury in Aug I was still benching 385 for 8 reps. I have been cleared with the shoulder. Had it scoped and some cartilage scraped from a College football injury in the early 90’S. I’m simply looking for a new way of thinking and working out now that I’m getting a little older. How many days lifting? Heavy or more Reps? Cardio? How many days? I am working with a dietician to help maximize the gains I hope to achieve. Any help would be MOST APRRECIATED!

Thanks BIG

[cherrydrpepper]

I had a serious rotator cuff injury over 10 years ago, never got surgery, still bothers me to this day. What I do is I do a lot of warm up sets with good form. So I might start at 7 reps then move up weight 5 reps and as I get closer to heavy just 3 reps. I try to do all these warm up sets in one burst without quitting. Then I take a short breather and get to the weight im going to do I do 3 or 4 sets of 10 or whatever. Lots of stretches specifically rotator cuff stretches which are all over youtube if you need examples.

I don't know what your regiment is right now it sounds like you have been on break. What I like to do is come back pyramiding up to what I can do 15 clean reps of strict form. Then the next session I will up the weight and see how many reps I can get. I will stay at that weight til I get 15 again before moving up. You were doing 385 for 8 that is pretty impressive only a few guys at my gym can do that. Or should I say bother to do that a lot of guys could in a pinch but don't push themselves.

Your eventual goal IMO should be something like the 6 rep range or there abouts maybe heavier. Always listen to your body. Like Ronnie said everybody wanna be a bodybuilder but dont nobody want to lift no heavy ass weights. I've always kept that quote in the back of my head because a lot of times in the gym you will see this one guy and he's cut up and has a good look but he never seems to move anything heavy enough to talk about. I have a theory that that guy will keep looking good with this routine as long as he never stops, but you'll never really see him get big or put on any size, and theres something silly about that that I just don't want personally. I guess if you already have the size this might not be a bad way to go, a lot of long negatives and squeezing contraction but with lighter weight. I have heard in an interview Hulk Hogan say he doesn't even use heavy weight anymore and I wonder if he lifts this way now. I guess what Im saying is you have to listen to what your body responds and dont be afraid to use what pros say works for them. I can't stand people that come on sites and they say "don't do what a pro does thats just what works for him". Well if it works for him guess what it might work for you. But at the same time I have heard conflicting views on how to work muscles from different pros so you really have to do what your body responds to.

If you really wanna get big imo the two biggest keys are going to be constistency and work ethic. Be there when you are supposed to be there and move up in weight when you are supposed to. When you see someone in the gym month after month and they aren't growing its because typically they can't grasp those two simple concepts. Diet is of course understated you can lift your ass off and not grow without proper diet. Just my 2 cents. Also this is the anabolic part of the forums try posting in the workout section.

[Back2Big]

Thanks Cherry. I did that Med Weights, ton of reps for for the last 2years. DONE with that. Getting back(to the best I can) Hammering the heavy stuff for 6-8 reps. As far as bench I'm not gonna lie still timid to load up due to injury. Been using more dumbells on chest workout days.
Thanks Again!

[cherrydrpepper]

Thanks Cherry. I did that Med Weights, ton of reps for for the last 2years. DONE with that. Getting back(to the best I can) Hammering the heavy stuff for 6-8 reps. As far as bench I'm not gonna lie still timid to load up due to injury. Been using more dumbells on chest workout days.
Thanks Again!

Yeah no problem man. I know with my shoulder injury if the motion hurts I cut it out all together. We have a hammer fly machine you can put plates on at my gym. I would love to use that thing but every time i try even at light weight it totally messes with my shoulder so I just don't do it. One thing you might want to do is have a buddy you trust take a look at your physique and tell you whats lacking. I have self analyzed and had a buddy do this. He said my shoulders were lacking and he was absolutely right. I have been avoiding a lot of shoulder motions since my injury long ago. I realized I just need to avoid the ones that aggravate my injury in my case. Another thing on shoulder days I have been doing the reverse pec deck to work my rear delts ever since I saw Greg Valentino say to do this before jumping into a heavy compound movement like military press. Anyway back to my original point if you really want to challenge yourself and have some fun be objective with your body and decide to sculpt a new part that maybe you were missing before. We have a tendecy to get comfortable with the same movements and while I feel all the bread and butter movements (i.e. the olympic lifts) are key a lot of times you can make some good gains by mixing in some new exercises (muscle confusion) or even just doing them a new way (rest/pause, forced negatives, supersets etc).

[YrRndFit21]

Since you're fresh off a shoulder injury, I think you should workout for a solid year before you decide to cycle. I had an a/c seperation back in 09' (Not weight lifting related), was out of the gym for 4 months, and then took a little more than a year to get back to the shape I was in prior to the injury. And that's with consistent dieting and working out.

[gearbox]

I buddy is a chiro for sports therapy and told me to not use too much weight when doing military press with straight bar or dumbells..he said it puts way to much pressure on the cuff and guys are putting up 80-100+ lbs with reps and going past 90 degrees. He didnt say dont do them, he just said I would keep weight down. but front and lateral raises you can go heavy and bent over also...i also try to do the tem minute rotator cuff exercises once a wk or so..