training (midlife)crisis

[cyberstefke]

Tweethoping for a serious input from some kindred spirits


I’ve been lifting for some 15 years now. Never was /wanted to be a pro or stand on a stage. And I always stayed clean. Kinda.

In the first years all came easy, although you think you know what you are doing, you actually don’t, but luckily almost everything makes you grow. After several years you reach a point where you no longer make steady gains. You tweak some things here and there and still make small changes to your appearance, but all in all everything stays around the same level.

I’ve must have, as many of you will have, read a zillion pages of articles on training and nutrition, up until the point where you can’t, as we say in Dutch, no longer see the trees through the forest. I’ve learned a lot, but also encountered tons of conflicting information.

I’ve kept going all those years, hoping to find that one routine that will change your live (and appearance), but I never did. You fiddle around with stuff like training to failure, drop sets, negatives, rest/pauses, and the likes.
With these things I’ve always ‘felt’ like I was training hard and I was always somewhat sore the next day. But in the long run none of these things gave me a major plateau bust.

It was always fun running around in a gym, and to keep it even more fun, I changed gyms quite often. You go from equipment to equipment and always train as hard as you (think) you can.

Then I became a father and the gym became no longer an option. So I decided to invest in a decent home gym, so that I wouldn’t get bored to easily or be to limited in exercises.
In the first few months I was so tired I was glad to do whatever it was that I did.
Then it was time to change routines and get back to business. I found this mass generator training system. Pre-exhaust first ,then go as heavy as you can, than, without rest, lower and lower the weight until you can’t any longer lift a single rep.
I was quite okay for a few weeks but then I found it was really exhausting and I my strength gains rapidly came to a halt.

So again I was looking for a new routine. I accidently came by this routine called 5x5 stronglift. I didn’t even want to read the 200+ pages of this guy’s report and had serious questions with doing no separate exercises for arms and stuff and starting out a 45% of my rep max.

So I started thinking. Why can we sent drones to mars , but can no one simply tell me exactly what training routine will keep me growing until I reach my natural limits.

I don’t feel working out anymore until I find a new direction or challenge.

So how do you cope with this? What do you guys do when you feel everything is the same year in and out. What’s the best way to bust a plateau. What are the best tips and tricks to keep at it?

[jamescb77]

TweetWell bro you just gotta keep grinding. I know that sounds awful but it's the truth. We do this cause we love it. You gotta love it or you won't wanna do it. We are not machines so their is no perfect routine. this is the problem you have to keep trying things. You also need to make sure you finish any routine you start to really get the full benefit or feel for how it actually works(a lot of people quit after 2-4 weeks if they don't feel it working). Just keep grinding my man. Maybe try to incorporate all of your favorite lifts and just stick to those for a while.

[guns01]

Tweethere is the kicker and what i try to explain to everyone that asks. 1- diet is the most important aspect in any approach to fitness. with that said you dont have to be a robot zombie on a precontest diet 12 months out of the year but you have to track and eat bad stuff in moderation 2-training, their is no magic protocol to training. the key to keep gains moving is to vary the way you train. you cant go into the gym everyday and do 20 minutes of cardio then do x sets of bench x sets of flyes x sets of incline each and every chest day. you have to vary what you do each muscle trained from sets and reps to weights used. this prevents the body from adapting and keeps you moving in the right direction. hope that makes sense lol

[Anabolic5150]

TweetI have trained for a long time, and I hear what you are saying. I found a routine that worked for me for a long, long time but sometimes we get bored doing the same thing. I'm 52 and last December my wife and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world and in all honesty at first, I didn't care if I ever trained again. She was my sole focus, and for a few months, I just went through the motions.

Then one day it dawned on me that I love the gym, I love training and the one gift I want to give my daughter is the gift of fitness. I don't care if she ever trains or what, I just want her to appreciate being healthy. She LOVES the gym daycare and I am hoping that someday that translates into a love for the gym. After I am done training I carry her through the gym and the equipment fascinates her, she loves watching people train.

What I am getting at is this, you need to find what motivates you to train. For me it is that I love it first and second I want to set an example for my daughter to follow. Find what it is for you.

And last, there is no magic routine, no one size fits all. Find what works for you. I trained the exact same way for 5 plus years solid because it worked. I still tinker but in all seriousness, I will always go back to it because it fits me and I love it. Find what works for you, if that means changing gyms, routines, whatever you need to change every month, like Nike says "JUST DO IT!!!!"

[daved150]

Tweeti firmly believe you have to keep changing....keep the mucsles guessing. i dont know of a perfect routine...i think they can all be perfect...for 6 to 8 weeks. ev erytime i find myself doing the same shyt longer then that, i stop seeing any change....wether trying to build or cut...i have to change it up! diet is 70% of this whole thing we do...and rest is VERY important...now i'm in my young 40's...i find that i'm more injury prone if i dont get the proper rest. training is an hour a day...its what i do the other 23 that mnakes the difference....just my .02