Reddit Reddit reviews The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40

We found 20 Reddit comments about The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Health, Fitness & Dieting
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The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40
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20 Reddit comments about The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40:

u/talldean · 24 pointsr/Fitness

"The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40" is a book that covers a good bit of this.

It's based from Starting Strength, with modifications depending on how many decades old ya are. The basic idea is that the data that the more strength you have at the beginning of any given decade, the better your odds of living to the next decade.

Walking is great, if the other option is sitting. Lifting light weights is great, if the other option is lifting nothing. Lifting relatively heavy things seems to correlate with you living longer. For women, from anecdotal experience, yoga isn't enough to stop bone density loss, while medium-heavy weightlifting absolutely is.


Separately from that book...

For "fall over and break a hip", that seems to be the one that gets a lotta people. The two ways it seems to happen (also anecdotally) are blood pressure weirdness (for people in bad shape), or drug doses/interactions (for people in whatever shape who are on medications often prescribed to old folks). One family member was outta shape, and standing up too fast caused them to fall, hard. (Blood pressure.) Another family member had one doctor change a prescription not knowing what another doctor had them on, and the drug interactions basically knocked them out while standing up.

TLDR: lift weights and be in more-muscular shape if you can, but even if that doesn't work, don't stop moving. Manage your medications if you can, or have someone help you if you can't.

u/dweezil22 · 19 pointsr/fitness30plus

I'll be the "are you sure this is a good overall plan?" guy.

I do a reasonably intense strength workout 3 times a week and run about 20 miles a week. I did P90X back in the day before I found reddit and to this day I wouldn't go back to it b/c it was too intense for me to reasonably maintain. I remember with great pain the yoga segments where I'd overstretch and make myself incredibly sore or the aburdly long ab segments that were like torture.

The key to a good workout plan is something that is absolutely maintainable for the rest of your life (or at least a foreseeable window), and has a plan for progressive (and reasonable) increases in difficultly. I've become a bit generic in my suggestions to this sub b/c it's so damn good, but I'd suggest you read The Barbell Prescription and look into following it. It has exercises that consider what an untrained 80 year old might do, so it quite thoroughly covers ALL bases. On the other hand, I like to think I'm reasonably fit and strong and that 3x week program I referenced above is a an extended version of the workout plan they suggest (I added some more upper body accessory exercises, and run which the authors aren't huge fans of, but otherwise it's their 3x5 program to a T).

It's likely that you could do most of the exercises indicated with some kettlebells or other lighter weights and, for the time being not have to worry about having access to a full fledged power rack and barbells.

u/obguy · 17 pointsr/Fitness

53 year-old here. Do you want to be stronger? If I only had 45 - 60 mins twice a week, I'd do a barbell full-body workout. Compound movements and rows, dips, and chins if time permits. Most muscle group bang for the time. I've been meaning to check out this new book - respected authors: [The Barbell Prescription] (https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770)

u/FightThaFight · 11 pointsr/fitness30plus

Best I can do is to refer you to the work of Jonathan Sullivan and Andy Baker who wrote "The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40". Their primary focus on the benefits of practice of strength training for old(er) athletes and I think they have a lot of data to back up their findings.

https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770

u/MiddlinOzarker · 2 pointsr/fitness30plus

"Any recommendations for a guy in my life season? I need something structured, and I need something that will keep me disciplined..."

Try https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770/ref=sr_1_1/145-2814763-7946832?ie=UTF8&qid=1504601937&sr=8-1&keywords=barbell+prescription

This book is excellent for those of us over 40.

u/Barkadion · 2 pointsr/weightroom

Strength Training for Life After 40:

https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770/

Seems to be good one...

"The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40 directly addresses the most pervasive problem faced by aging humans: the loss of physical strength and all its associated problems - the loss of muscle mass, bone mineral loss and osteoporosis, hip fractures (a terminal event for many older people), loss of balance and coordination, diabetes, heart disease related to a sedentary lifestyle, and the loss of independence.

The worst advice an older person ever gets is, Take it easy. Easy makes you soft, and soft makes you dead. The Barbell Prescription maps an escape from the usual fate of older adults: a logical, programmed approach to the hard work necessary to win at the extreme sport of Aging Well. Unlike all other books on the subject of exercise for seniors, The Barbell Prescription challenges the motivated Athlete of Aging with a no-nonsense training approach to strength and health - and demonstrates that everybody can become significantly stronger using the most effective tools ever developed for the job."

u/roy649 · 2 pointsr/Rowing

I'm kind of in the same boat erg as you. I've been doing 5/3/1 for a couple of years now, and just took up rowing this winter. I've been running Pete's Plan. I'm still doing the 5/3/1 main lifts (with a little reduced volume), but instead of the accessory work, I row. I lift first, then row, then some stretching. So far, it's working for me.

Given your age (i.e. our ages), you'll want to read The Barbell Prescription. Check out the chapter on conditioning; they do an excellent comparison of running, treadmills, rowing, etc, vis-a-vis aging knees and other body parts.

u/boojombi451 · 2 pointsr/weightroom

Sounds like you may not be following an established program. If not, it would be a good idea to start. This book has a lot of good info on training and programming for older folks:

https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770

u/amnorvend · 2 pointsr/AskGaybrosOver30
u/roseflower81 · 2 pointsr/fitness30plus

My parents are both over 60. My mom (with no fitness background) started lifting after age 60 using Starting Strength model as described in The Barbell Prescription

also on Amazon

If you do end up getting the book, read it from cover to cover and you will get a good understanding on how to modify the program to meet your mom's needs. There are chapters for specific age groups, but the author states even that's an arbitrary cut off as everyone's different, so don't just read that specific chapter and skip the rest.

My dad (being more fit) on the other hand is able to do push ups and pull ups, but never squatted. He became interested in barbell training from my mom and just started Greyskull LP and making nice gains.

The previous comments have great pointers as well.

u/Annabel398 · 2 pointsr/StartingStrength

Is everyone here overlooking that OP is in his mid-40s? OP, here's a SS coaching mantra that I've taken to heart:

It's easier to slow down your LP and keep going, than it is to stall and have to reset.

So I'm going to disagree with the crowd and say: go with the smaller jumps. Who cares if someone else went 6 or 8 or 12 or 40 weeks before reducing their jumps? Your progress is your progress.

You should of course consult The First Three Questions (rest periods, jumps, and food+sleep). Note that the answer to question 2 incorporates the principle cited above. Also, you should check out The Barbell Prescription. Great reading for us "seasoned" folk. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982522770

u/CremaKing · 2 pointsr/Fitness

I think you should reconsider about squats and other compound movements and read this book

https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770

u/smokingpete1347 · 1 pointr/StartingStrength

Give him Sully's book. He may not listen to you. Maybe he will listen to a doctor.

https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770

u/jongalong · 1 pointr/Fitness

Specifically for older folks:

https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770

This book makes some very compelling arguments about what to do in order to stay fit as you age.

u/barbellsandbacon · 1 pointr/StartingStrength

"...would it be beneficial for him to do 5x5? any advice is great, but please don't say that he should start barbell training..." Huh? 5x5 is barbell training. But you're right, you can't force him to do anything.

​

Send him a copy of [The Barbell Prescription](https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770), and point him in the direction of the [Greysteel YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/greysteel) for starters.

u/Steinoj · 0 pointsr/Fitness

Get him the book Barbell Prescription, and a food weight(for weightloss) https://www.amazon.com/Barbell-Prescription-Strength-Training-After/dp/0982522770