Bodyweight Lifting Challenge 

Maximus Ironpumper

I did. Age 64. Post cancer, chemo, abdominal surgeries, total knee replacement and ankle fusion. I did lots of weights decades ago. But a year ago, I could barely bench 130lbs. Now, less than a year later, I can bench 225.

55kg is quite respectable Max I don’t think I could lift that. You will get to your goal it’s only 40kg more.

Don't put yourself down Max. Most people can't do a chin-up or stand up from a cross legged position without putting their hands down. You'll smash your target. The UK's answer to RU-vidr Anatoly..... Let's go Buddy

Yes you can ..I'm 57 and it took 2 years ..gone past anything I thought possible ..please just be determined and consistent..good luck

Awesome! 53 now just started working out first time in my life 2 years ago. I dropped 25 lbs and am stronger than ever, and cardio is like i was in college… congrats on your new journey!

A man with a simple workout plan, with ambitious but reasonable goals, looking ahead over a period of 12 months. This is very, very unusual in the fitness world. Good luck, mate.

The kitchen is lookinng fantastic! May your journey be safe and fulfilling!

Strength is never a weakness and weakness is never a strength! Great work Max, consistency is key so think about practicing the movement before worrying about the weight you lift. All these guys are supporting you!

In an internet full of shallow bs, great to see someone with noble goals humbly working towards them. Own bodyweight strict press from a rack (not clean from floor like you) has been a goal I've got so close to a few times but so far eludes me (I'm 50 and a genetic weakling, opposite of an athlete) . But I'm still working on it and still determined. Good luck with your training. Respect to you

Good luck with it all man, it looks like you've got it sussed. I'm in my 50's and started lifting again about 18 months ago (after a 20 year layoff 🤣). Nearly 10 Kgs heavier now and much stronger! Really enjoying it 👍

I look forward to this, I'm trying to become the strongest I've ever been, at 37 years old. Keep going mate, and always remember, TRAAAIIIIIINNNNN UNTAAAAMMMMEED!

Cold plunge pool and Sauna project is imminent 😉

If it's any good to you dude there's another excellent yt channel called Squat University with really good guidance for both physio and technique, really helped me with a bad back after a lot of other options hadn't. Keep up the good work!

Max, you're a blacksmith, you lift heavy stuff all the time! I know you will make your goal, because when you put your mind to something, you achieve it. Best wishes, and thanks for sharing this journey.

Ok. Now you've done it. I am just past 49 years of age, and I'm in just about the same, maybe a little bit worse, shape than you. Going to join you on your journey. Keep it up so that we can be motivated to succeed with you!

Unrelated, but the new kitchen looks really nice! All the best with your weightlifting journey! I really enjoy these more "lifestyle" videos.

i blew my back out at 35 [slipped doing a heavy gearbox], i was in massive pain for 10 years, spent loads on chiropractors, acupuncture, tens machines etc, no joy then, my wife ordered 8 tons of topsoil, came home to 18 tons on my driveway... it took a month, with a wheelbarrow every night, to move that extra 10 tons [up 2 flights of 6 steps] into my back garden, absolute agony for 2hrs every night at the end ,it slowly dawned on me that, although tired, my back was ok !!! turns out, due to the [back injury] movement pain, i had wasted away my lower back muscles by doing nowt every night... i'm 60 now, backs been ok for 15yrs, but the rest aches after lying under cars for 9hrs a day, back to the gym perhaps... or retire... keep it up young man

Fantastic! 55 isn't a bad starting point, and your early gains will come easy. Keep the faith. Oh, and steak and eggs is the diet of champions! 💪

This is brilliant. I started my own stren journey at 49 but with a bit more tech. I have gone in 14 months from 65kg max bench to 112 and similar for seated overhead press. I only train twice a week for the same reasons as you. I think you will be surprised how fast you make progress. Took me 8 months to get over the 100kg, then the fun starts!

Well done. All the best with your challenge. Marc from Australia 🇦🇺

I have to say im bloody impressed at the ring chin ups, they are not easy. Also not a lot of guys can press 55k overhead standing

A friend sent me this, and I very much enjoyed it. I'm really impressed. You're going to do really well. 50 kg strict press and 55 kg push press on day one. There are quite a few gym bros who can't do that. You're very humble. I lift 4x/week. I'm 23, been lifting for around 4 years, and at ~77 kg bodyweight @ 5'8.5"/174 cm, I can probably strict press 62-65 kg right now. That said, I'm training like a bodybuilder, so I don't wanna make myself stronger through skill and such at the moment. I wanna get the muscle stimulus with the least amount of weight. Clean and press is a good choice, but I would really recommend separating these two into shoulder press where you just go down to the front rack position and then press it again (primary muscle builder) and power cleans, where you work on your form for cleans. There's a lot to be gained with efficiency here. You leave a lot of air between yourself and the bar on the cleans. That makes the bar heavier. You squat down to start the clean, when really, you should step up to the bar, bend at the hips, let the knees bend only as much as they do automatically, get your grip, flatten/firm up your back, and then begin. It's a lot like Alan Thrall's 2022 deadlift tutorial. I'm glad you've found him, because he's great at explaining form, especially. The clean is just the extended deadlift. Training power cleans has made my deadlift form much more efficient, and I'm much more in control of it. It's a shame we're gonna have to wait so long for the next update, but maybe if you do really well, you'll want to share it sooner? :) One can only hope.

I feel like I haven't seen you in ages but like a good friend im happy yo be seeing you now and wishing you every success in your new challenge!!!

I applaud you on setting goals and working towards them. That said, fitness is not a destination, it's a journey and it only ends when you stop.

Must show this video to my wife,.., :)) Cheers from southern Europe!

Best of luck Max with this brave endeavor, full faith in your determination and stamina. Stay safe.

best of luck for achieving your goal. respect!

Good start . Keep it going. I'm 57 started lifting 6 months ago. Now I can lift 180kg deadlift .squat 150 and bench 100 . And all going up .all be it slowly .I too train in my garage .I'm lifting more now than I did in my 20s

I’m 53 , I have weight trained almost all my life. You are definitely wise to be weight training. I’ve always wanted to add weight training to my videos. You’ve inspired me to try it. Hey I recommend listening to the Peter Attia podcast. Thanks for the video

This is so awesome! I never expected to see this on your channel!

Nice work, Max. Kettlebell training changed my life. If these sets get old, I can't recommend them enough.

Good luck with your progress,and hope you achieve your goal.

You can achieve anything with consistency. Fair play to you, Max.

Hello Max! I've been looking forward to watching this for a long time as you know as soon as I get home from work kettle on and watching this 😊

Good luck with the journey, and good on you for even starting it, I'm closing in on 50 🤫 and I've recently started my own so watching someone else doing something similar is inspiring, I wish you nothing but luck and success 👏🏻💪🏻

Good luck to you buddy. I started kinda the same goal for myself and I'm a month in and feeling great. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. Stick with it man!

Impressive stuff! 55kg is not to be sniffed at

Fantastic video! Followed and looking forward to this

This is fantastic information Maximus.

Good luck max, I reckon you’ll get there💪

You 100% will get this mate. Get after it. Good on you.

Good for you mate! Keep with it and you will reach your goal.😀

Less than 6 months looking at your start point. The rings will be a great help as they are unstable so will be a big help with stability. Don't forget more muscle means slower running. It's a balance! Good luck.

Can't wait to see your progress, you will smash it, no doubts here

I honestly think you're underestimating yourself. A few years ago I was slinging V8 engine blocks around by hand for hours a day, and your arms are bigger than mine. You already do pull-ups which lift almost your entire body weight with many of the same muscle groups. Next time, after you're warmed up maybe jump closer to the heavier end instead of burning all your fresh stamina on a bunch of lighter reps? And remember to breathe! Correct breathing can be surprisingly helpful. Also, don't think so much about whether it's a lot or a little, or whether you think you can or can't, just clear your mind and focus like an animal. Most of the earliest gains in weight training are your brain remembering how to fully activate nerves you haven't tried hard with in a long time more than actual changes to the muscles. That's why you generally improve so much more quickly in the first few sessions: because the potential is already physically there, you just have to open up those pathways by pumping a bunch of juice (not steroids) through them. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Seeing someone try spectacularly is more inspiring to me than someone succeeding easily at something they're already practiced at. It's pretty cool that you're humble enough to be enjoyable to watch and listen to, but also courageous enough to put your medical struggles and untrained exercise sessions on RU-vid. You're a fine fellow, and surely capable of anything you set your mind to.

Love it. Great goal. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome video man enjoy your lifting

Keep smashing it 💪🏻

A worthy goal. Very excited to see how this goes.

Amazing, you got this!

49 yrs old here all natural bench 295, deadlifts 415, squats 370, OHP 190! I do compound workouts, isolation, and circuit training! it's really hard to find a gym bud my age to workout! I keep on going 💪💪💪💪💪💪

Great challenge! Consistency is key to progress. Good luck!💪

Fab challenge. I'm confident you'll do it if you keep up that regime. I reckon you might lift 95kg by the 6 month mark.

This is great, look forward to sharing this journey, i recently started at the gym at the age of 37...i thought i'd left it a little late but 9 month on i really look forward to working out

Absolutely. It took me a year to become stronger than I ever have at 50 naturally. Do it.

Kitchens looking nice there

Ok I subscribed for this journey. Good luck man, don't push too hard tho, be in it for the long haul!

Good for you, showing up, getting started and sticking with a program, this gets you about 80% to your goals. As an older powerlifter I like maximum lifting also at times but make sure to maybe have a light/medium weight day where you get more repetitions and can work on form/technique and add different exercises without risking injury. Always impressed with older people with goals and a plan to get there. Never too late!!

You're a great inspiration to me. I'm 30, keep pumping iron!

thanks for the tips on running, just ran my first full 1km not much but a start, your tips helped

Hi Max. I used to be a junior champion bodybuilder from 14 to 18 years old. Then I went to Uni and life and mortgage etc and did pretty much no exercise for thirty plus years. When I turned fifty, I decided I needed to get back in shape. (I'm 54 now) I've still got my old training diaries from 1987. I am now within 80 to 85% of the strength I had back then, so it is doable. My big lesson was to pencil in way, way more recovery time now than in my youth! When I restarted it quickly became apparent that one workout a week was all I could cope with. Exercising whilst still sore from the previous workouts meant I went backwards. It was frustrating but I am now at three times (ish) per week. The initial gains were astounding, I doubled what I could do in about 4-5 weeks. I think 95kg is eminently doable for you. Just keep at it and listen to your body. One other thing, keep on top of the hydration, especially with the powders. Drink way more (water, not beer!!!) than you think. 250-350 ml per hour, throughout the day, in little sips, rather than all at once. It really helps get the creatine into the muscle fibres, and helps get rid of lactic acid build up. All the best!

Great stuff Max!

Keep going! Good work.

Good for you sir. Good luck.

Go easy, don't get injured! Best of luck!

Excellent Max. I didn't start until i was 49. In my case i had the benefit soon after of a PT. For me this was life changing as he kept me motivated and drummed in the importance of correct form etc. 10 years later i still trt to train 3 times a week and whilst i no longer strive to hit the maximum lifts i could do in my early 50's, all the important knowledge i gained in the early years and stood me well. Always remember that muscle size vs strength is not all it seems and good form will often stand you for a longer period. I'm sure you know this as such a smart bloke, but i wouldn't set your initial 1 rep max as your benchmark. We can all push ourselves beyond the limits of what is good for our current physical comfortable capability... This could result in quick injuries that then set you back for months. Another common method is to "train to failure"... Basically less weight but more reps... Until you can do no more. (Drop sets etc). Less likely to hurts your body but still encourage the muscles to grow. Sorry... I'm waffling

Get into it! Good work

Awesome amigo. Just a couple of thoughts. Fab up a couple of spring keepers for barbell ends and get a few rubber mats to cushion weights on those HEAVY lifts when you may drop them sooner than intended.

Thanks for the inspiration! This might just be the kick I need to get back into the gym, after a good few years off. I'm in my 40s now and miss the big exercises (deadlift, squat, press etc), but wasn't sure if I would stick the gym again. Setting a similar goal should be just what I need. Good luck Max

Never too late to excersize. Just got back to it myself after injuring my lower spine and shoulder Snowboarding. I'm 34 and I thought I was too old but in the last month I've seen my strength improve drastically already. Ran my first 10Km on the weekend and if someone said to me I was going to do that just 3 months back I'd have laughed at them. Keep at it champ, look forward to seeing your progress.

You’ve got this easy I reckon. Seeing you move that landrover chassis around as easily as you did shows you have pretty respectable levels of strength. I mean you’re a blacksmith! You’ll smash this I’m sure.

Absolutely! I just started training at 36 and I am a year and a half in. Here are some before and after numbers- Bench- 175 to 335 Squat- 225 to 425 DL- 275 to 440 This is training every week 3-4 days pretty damn hard. Keep pushing!

The Ultimate Warrior was my favourite! This is a good plan Max, I am on the same journey!

Taking it to the Max. 👍

Slow and steady Max. Long past 70 now but still able to pull up chin to a bar ten times. Keep weight sensible and have a good varied diet. Good luck. Thank you for posting.

I wish I had your determination, in other news how is kermit I was the truck driver at the Services who said hello.

First of all, great start, and a very worthwhile and achievable goal! I would recommend adding in some shoulder mobility work, probably on a rest day. If you look at your form in the video, with lighter weights you move the bar forward to compensate, as the bar gets heavier it has to be more over where your feet make contact with the floor, to stop you tipping forward. This is why on the last lift the hips move forward to compensate for the shoulder angle, pulling your heels off the floor. To safely lift much heavier weight you will need to get your shoulders open, heels down, and your hips under the bar. Shoulder mobility work shouldn't be too strenuous, so would fit well on a rest day, and might help with soreness. Joint mobility work can be much slower than strength gaining, so the work on it from the beginning to avoid hitting a long plateau down the line.

That is a monumental goal!! Really suprised that you did 50kg+ so cleanly. Can't wait to follow this journey. I imagine lugging around all that metal over the years also helped the "farm strength" lol

Monthly updates would be great to see how you’re getting on!

cant wait to see the growth!

I look forward to following your progress. As someone else mentioned building a squat rack or squat stands might be a good idea and a nice little project. Pressing from a standing position will be alot safer for your back as the weigts increase. Standing push press in itself is prety much a full body exercise that utilises leg, core and shoulder strength. You'll smash your goal regardless 💪

Great content and personal challenge! I'm sure you will receive a lot of advice but this is the most important at our age....Include core exercises too! Look after you back Maximus! I'm now 51 and just popped a disc in my lower back again!! Despite doing sit ups and yoga exercises. I started working out again in my 40's. Best mix for me is HIIT punch bag, 3-5 mile walks/run, weights and chin ups. My goal was a chin up because I just couldn't do it, I can now do 3 sets of 4! I also discovered intermittent fasting and it is AMAZING! look into it and persevere, it has so many health benefits, cognitive and anti inflammatory. Keep going and good luck!

This is some serious weight over head! You have a very good starting point.

I can't wait to see your next update.

Not something I’ve ever considered doing…until now. Thanks, Maximus.

Sounds interesting, I might try this too.

Great start to your journey Max. Keep it up and stay Strong 💪. Remember to OUT when you press the weight 🏋

Can't wait to see your progress. I used to lift and hurt various body parts for years but recently started carnivore and found I'm able to exercise again. I think I'll try the same goal as you since we weigh about the same.

Awesome sir 👍👍

Good luck on your goal buddy 👍

You got this! pick a strength based program and watch the MAGIC come with hard work. I'm 58 and love the barbell!

Brother I am on a similar journey and I wish you all the best 👍 👍👍

as another guy in the second half of his forties, I say you got this. bodyweight is a very reasonable goal.

I applaud what you are doing! Keep it up. One thing I want to mention to keep you from getting a shoulder injury. Overhead pressing a barbell because the hand position cannot shift, can tear up your shoulders if you do it a lot. So I would recommend that you use dumbells or kettlebells and do what is called the "Arnold press". It will keep your shoulders alive, something that is difficult for middle aged men who don't lift. Note you will find that if you put a dumbell in each hand, their combined weight will have to be less than what you could do with a barbell, simply from having to stabilize the weight and your stronger side cannot aid the weaker side. But you will still make gains quickly. Make sure that you focus on compound lifts, that you do a push (like this overhead press), a pull, a hinge and a squat as part of your routine. Once you have gotten used to the workouts for a couple of months, you should look into "Easy Strength", a program by trainer Dan John. It will tear you up fast and you will make fast progress in strength. Best of luck to you, stick with it, after you get used to it the initial soreness becomes more like mild background noise

Well done Max. You can do this! P.S your kitchen is looking pukka.

Inspiring Max

Very impressive. I'm 43 and only started going to the gym a few months ago. I like your choice of target. My current target is to be able to do proper pull-ups comfortably, run 10km regularly, and to improve mobility, flexibility and balance. I've never tried a clean and press but I'm 100% sure I couldn't get near 55kg. It's a target I'll save for later - maybe next year!

Go Max💪🏆

Take it easy max you will get there ,slowly wins the race.