Training 101 for real people with normal/abnormal lives who are nonetheless bad ass climbers and wish to keep it that way as long as possible.

Listen to Joe Friel's podcasts and pick up his book if you're so motivated. He's more of an endurance athlete, but he talks a lot about what it takes to maintain fitness after 50.

He's in his 70s and still slaying in biathlon, running, and cycling....

Good luck!

Muscrat wrote: Just wait 'till you become a crack whore!

Eh, my favorite climbing style is already stuff as much of it as you can, where ever it sorta fits, she says whilst arching an eyebrow.

Well. Now that I am 60, I am now also fast becoming a motivated, not so lazy, actually tracking her progress, regular visitor to the gym, climbing gym, and the great outdoors kind of gal. Who knew, eh?

So, on behalf of all the training noobs out there, for absolute workout beginners, what books/websites/whatever do you like for basic information? If you don't know a glute from a gluten free, and an antagonist is someone who punches you in your face?

Yeah, Kyle, she's at it again! :-)

Best, Helen

I won't try specific advice; I'm a lifetime gym rat I winding down while you are and exercise noob winding up, and my perspective might not work. But here are some general thoughts.

1. Doing almost anything is better than doing nothing.

2. You don't have to train three times a week or twice a week, you can make progress, at least for a while, at once a week (but of course not as fast), and even after progress slows or stops, once a week will maintain your conditioning.

3. You probably need more rest than many workout recommendations suggest, both between workouts and between sets.

4. You don't have to go to exhaustion or momentary muscular failure to reap substantial benefits.

5. You don't have to do a whole bunch of exercises at once, which means you need time for "a workout." You can do various things during the day that provide some strain and don't by themselves take up much time.

6. If something hurts, stop. Recovering from an injury will take off far more time and set your conditioning back much more than cutting short or skipping a workout.

7. Protect your back and your joints---don't let anyone talk you into doing exercises that are going to stress those body parts. There are always alternatives.

8. Increase your aerobic conditioning before embarking on muscular training.

9. Forget about all the strength vs. endurance pronouncements and find a combination of repetitions and sets that feels the best to you.

10. Do some balance training.

rgold wrote:4. You don't have to go to exhaustion or momentary muscular failure to reap substantial benefits.

This is such a big thing. So many people, myself included, approach strength training with this idea that if you aren't totally wrecked, brah by the end of it, you didn't try hard enough.

Thanks, rgold!

Just curious, other than strength does you no good if you drop dead shoveling snow, why #8?

Best, H.

Old lady H wrote:Thanks, rgold! Just curious, other than strength does you no good if you drop dead shoveling snow, why #8? Best, H.

Well, that's sort of the idea. The few times I've violated this rule, I've found that moderately strenuous body weight exercised were hard enough when I wasn't in good aerobic shape that if I pushed even a little I would get nauseous. Two or three weeks of very moderate trail-running and I was fine.

Ah, thanks!

All, I did go through this whole excellent thread recently, jotting down short versions of the suggestions, and when I have a chance, I'll start sorting out all of those, the stuff from the PT guy for long range, and stuff from the gym dude. Being that visual person I've mentioned, this will probably be a literal cut and paste project, or at least shoving little papers around on the table.

Not very scientific, but still a way to get it done!

For now, I'm just aiming to keep up the actual exercises/gym every other day, so it at least ends up several times a week, with the inevitable derailments, staying active in those little ways (4 fifteen minute walks per work day to and from bus stops does add up), and, having fun at least once a week, like the climbing gym.

Part of the reason I was asking about basic books, is so that I will know what I can substitute down the road when something gets boring, and still hit what needs hitting.

The gym guy can help, and I just did some really basic evaluations with him recently. His jaw literally dropped when I told him I was 60.

Rgold, his jaw also dropped when I held a plank a decent amount of time. Am I correct in thinking that being only 4' 11" gives me a pretty good mechanical advantage on that? Same reason gymnastics are so much easier if you are short?

Best, Helen

OLH, I don't know anythig about the plank exercise---never did it myself. But yes, being shorter, as well as having short forearms, should help with arm and shoulder strain, and being shorter might it easier to maintain core rigidity in this position.

Old lady H wrote: So, on behalf of all the training noobs out there, for absolute workout beginners, what books/websites/whatever do you like for basic information? If you don't know a glute from a gluten free, and an antagonist is someone who punches you in your face?

This thread had some good suggestions. And some that perhaps were a bit too technical.

mountainproject.com/v/best-…

Steve Bechtel's strength book presents some general strength exercises fairly well.
climbstrong.com/store/produ…

And what's the deal with planks? Can't everybody hold one for like an hour?

OLH,

[Caveat: I'm not a badass climber, but I do like sport and movement, and have been injured enough that injury prevention is my starting point]

A whole bunch of things, hopefully in sensible order;

- from movement class in school, "The rule isn't, 'you die then you stop moving', but 'you stop moving, then you die'. "

- Roland's Observation: "the hardest move is off the couch"

- Newton's Law of Movable Mammals: "An animal at rest will want to stay at rest, an animal in motion will want to stay in motion"

- De Lany's Dictum; "Do what you can, don't do what you can't"

- From my Tai Chi teacher "stretch the envelope, don't tear it"

- I used to tell my crews: 'don't give me your all, give me your best. Don't give me 100% of your energy, I need you tomorrow, and you need something to start your recovery.'

- This idea that strength training needs to give way to flexibility training is rubbish. Look up some stats in any book about physical aging: as we get older, we lose muscle mass... weirdly, it makes sense for people to add bodybuilding type weight workouts as we age.

- Always train both agonist and antagonist muscles to prevent injury. My entire weight program is based on this principle; my job is intermittently very strenuous, and I was trying to find a way to both train, and prevent injury at work

- possibly the best forearm strength trainer is the Grip-Saver thingy from Metolius. It works both flexors and extensors, or grip and 'un grip'. If you get into forearm/ grip training, go slow. It's very hard to get rid of golfer's/tennis elbow

- cardio is fabulous.,.,. do it however you can, snowshoe, xc ski, stairs: I can show you a 25 point drop in my blood pressure from only two weeks of cardio

- As far as jogging goes, everything I've read says cross-train or get injured, and cross train more as you get older.

- I found a site devoted to injury prevention for runners; the routine is a combo of strength and flexibility training. And run on soft surfaces

- I started jogging again after 6 years off, and I have to say, after the third day of every other day, my legs were pretty sore, close to "dead". I changed my training; one day is no-jog, no-lift, just stretch. I went from dead legs to feeling great about 4 hours after my first stretching routine.

- I took a fitness class at a CC. One of the people in my group, a woman in her fifties, had been in that same class for nearly 20 years. She went on vacation, and when she got back told us, when we noticed her looking a little winded, was "the first thing that goes is your flexibility, then your endurance, and last, your strength".

- Tai Chi: It helps mentally, with breathing, with balance. It can be done in a way that helps with flexibility.

If you have any questions, or want specifics, I will send them.

Hey, thanks, guys!

@Mark, I forgot about your thread. That's back when I was "fat, old, lazy, unmotivated, no obsessive...", remember?

Longest plank is over 8 hours, so if you only got an hour...

Actually, what I did read recently, is the 2+ minutes I had was pretty respectable for anyone, but that's all it is. Long planks are...Just long planks, and that's all they do for ya!

Thanks, Mark, I'll pop into your thread. I have a short stack of library books here, if any seem worthy I'll post them up.

@caribou, all of that is pretty much how I operate, and thanks for those! I am proud to report that I am an 85% employee, in an organization that is always touting "there is nothing that we cannot do better!". Sure. For the few, pursuing Big Important Stuff is great, but you need a whole lot of people to put their pants on and show up that day so you can be Important. Lol!

I have to say, most intriguing to me on your list is dropping the blood pressure. If I dropped mine that many points, I'd be in full hibernation right now, soooo appealing...

Ah well. This winter is why chocolate was invented.

I do have a tai chi class in mind, if I can ever get back to bicycle commuting.

Thanks! Helen, snowed in, in Boise

caribouman1052 wrote:It's very hard to get rid of golfer's/tennis elbow

And, I discovered recently, it can come on with essentially no warning.

caribouman1052 wrote: - I found a site devoted to injury prevention for runners;

Care to share?

OLH - I think I'm prone to high blood pressure, so maybe the huge drop isn't that impressive. I also ran out of coffee about two weeks ago, so that's a contributing factor. I was always a nut as a kid, rinsing the salt off corn chips and so on. Apparently there was a reason why I never liked salty stuff.

mbk - Yah, sucks eh? When my wife and I bought a bunch of weights last year, I started the old WFH routine. When you're 25, 30 reps per set gets you some good endurance, but. as I learned, at 52, 30 reps = overtraining. Wham-O, tennis elbow times 2. try this, but DON'T overdo the roller, it will make your elbows worse youtube.com/watch?v=we4UoiK…

Long Ranger - strengthrunning.com/ it's a bit tedious, but if you can deal with getting an email every day, and the sort of lead-on, lead-on type emails, there is some good stuff there.

As far as I can see, we need all four corners of the square: Flexibility, Strength, Endurance, and Balance. And they all need steady maintenance as we get older.

A lot of this new functional strength stuff is really good for balance and I think it will also pay off in injury prevention [want a challenge? try one foot weighted sidebends... adductors and adbuctors really help control your knees & skis when you're running]

For y'all: this websibte has a lot of articles about strength, recovery, training etc.

jkconditioning.com/

Long Ranger: I remembered an old runner's recovery technique that came from the New Zealand national team coach years ago - after a run, let cold water run over your legs until they are completely chilled. It seems to help for me, it might work for you too.

Do any of you have blood pressure on the lowish side? Has that affected your training or climbing, and what do you do?

I ask, because I inherited no worry blood pressure from my mom, but, it does exacerbate certain things, like dehydration and overheating.

I've never fainted in my life, but lately I have had light nausea and sometimes slightly dizzy, too, at the gym and climbing gym both.

Thanks! Helen

Old lady H wrote:Do any of you have blood pressure on the lowish side? Has that affected your training or climbing, and what do you do? I ask, because I inherited no worry blood pressure from my mom, but, it does exacerbate certain things, like dehydration and overheating. I've never fainted in my life, but lately I have had light nausea and sometimes slightly dizzy, too, at the gym and climbing gym both. Thanks! Helen

Well ok then ! (If the shoe fits) . . . . You knew this already,
I run very hot 98-99, & my BP was just 100/84*
Is that " low" ? $ to you?, I am a big wuss about giving blood so that ' Dr's office resting BP' is elevated from the way it is 'when I'm down by the river . . .. at the Rock, whatever.

I Can't stand the stuffy gym thing ! Overheat every time then get a runny nose/cold from the inside to outside to car ride trip. outside I find my body regulates temperature with out any problems.. . . . I sleep on top of the covers! Year round.

• just got that data from my Doc, @ my annual.

He is an aging conservative, he made fun of my 'no haircut' . . .
Asking are you happy about The pussy grabber 'n thief?
Knowing full well, my bitter stance at the results of the recent 'Colan-ation'!

I'll get the last laugh though 'cause he is aging very fast and has that old man stoop,
Nearly a hunch-back He tells the wife that "I've not physically aged, in his view, at all, in 6-7 yrs.
Of course he is wrong I've grown a few inches up and more 'a'round!
He might NOT be my choice for the April 1st prostrate exam. . . .)K-0

OLH,

Low BP here too. If I do heavy cardio in the morning, I spend the day having head rushes every time I get up. Completely greyed out sight.

In general BP is lowered for 12-24 hrs after exercise. Coffee can help with this.

I set off low BP alarms if in hospital overnight.

I've passed out a few times throughout my life, sometimes not even provoked by a change in position.

I went to my gp for this about 5 yrs ago, then to a cardiologist, and had every test come out a bit abnormal with the final conclusion being that I'm a normal "low BP, interesting rhythms" variant that is not uncommon in fit women.

I was cautioned not to fall/faint. Stand up carefully and clench my butt cheeks to keep blood in my upper half when I stand. Yep that was the prescription.

Actually, there are meds if it becomes more of an issue.

Also, high stress can trigger the low BP in me too. I only notice it with the shift from sitting or squatting to standing. Orthostatic hypotension.

@Michael, you are goofy. Thank goodness! Probably shouldn't expose yourself to a doc who is clearly jealous, just a thought...

@melrock, thanks! You sound lower bp than me, I've not had anything that extreme, except once, many years ago, when I overheated (probably dehydrated too) and went all the way to tunnel vision. Overheating/dehydration are definitely something I have to watch, and the climbing gym is always a bikram experience. The gym I go to for working out keeps it on the coolish side, so if you aren't moving, you'll feel a bit chilly. Why the university rec center is so toasty, I do not know.

Coffee and sugar are my old lady drugs of choice! Also, I do take Ibuprofen (arthritis), not a lot, and only now and then, so I bet that is a contributor in this. Turmeric, maybe, also??

Best, Helen