The older you get the longer it takes to recover. I've been training 2 x per week for years and I've been training for over 40 years and yes, I'm stronger than most people in their 20's. So the 2 x per week recommendation is very good.
I’m now 48. 220lbs 5’9” I’ve been on Starting Strength and ran it with the lifts till I thought I couldn’t make progress with them anymore on the NLP. Listen to Rip. I haven’t found him to be wrong about anything. Squat. 415 Dead 420 Bench 320 OHP 255 I’ve since started Wendler 531. So I’m on 4 days a week. It’s working fine.
@@metinotje depends on your definition of big. Im pretty happy with how I look. My arms are 18 inches and my neck is 18 inches. No fat there. My jeans are size 34” waist. I’m happy with how I look. Hope you are.
I’m 78 and have been lifting since I was 13 I just finished a 6 month training cycle of 6 day ppl and I’m now doing a bro split 3 days on 1 day off 2 days on then repeat. I’m 5’5” weigh 174 I eat a well balanced diet and take in an average of 180 grams protein a day . My training sessions are between 45 minutes each day and I have always followed a Mike Mintzer Dorian Yates lifting style and I still go to bed each night planning my next days work out . I’ve been blessed in being able to lift the way I do. Age is only a number . Thanks for all the great info .
Started lifting at 50, 3 days a week, now 54 and doing 4-day split Texas method phase III and getting stronger each year. I don't do 5x5 volume any more, usually 4x5 or 3x5.
Consider liberating yourself from the tyranny of the 7 day week. M-W-F, M-T-TH-F, and so forth. At 60 I found two days on two days off to be very effective. @ 16 weeks I will rest for a week. It just does not line up with the 7 day week very neatly.
I'm 59 and I'm in the gym 3 days a week, Squats and OHP on Tuesday, DLs and BPs on Thursday, conditioning (cycling, battle ropes, sled, heavy bag, etc) and then Saturday, either single rep sets for PR or assistance exercises (front squats, box squats, rack lifts, etc). - my squat is now over 200 and I did 335 off the rack...
I do oil painting on Thursdays, walk my dog in the evening, and go to the Kabuki Theatre in Ginza on Tuesdays. Hey, look I can also post about a schedule that has nothing to do with Starting Strength.
I'm 74. I've trained since high school. I've recently faced the fact that I can no longer recover from lifting 3 days per week. So I've shifted to 2 days per week. I continue to do cardio the other 3 days a week, off on weekends. And, oh yeah, I am making small gains at 2 days per week.
I am 48 years old. Some weeks I only train 2x per week. Some weeks I train 3x per week. I am an advanced lifter. In my 20s I was competing in bench press contests. I have been training since age 15. 32 years. As I get older I find that I need more recovery. Hopefully I can lift through my 80s and 90s. I weigh 185 pounds. I do not want to gain weight.
I started barbell training when I was 49. I initially went training 3 times a week. After about a year, I was reaching a point where I was tired all the time. So I started introducing a light day, still going three times a week. This year I started going two times a week for two heavy sessions, and i see my numbers increasing again. Sometimes, less is more. Still kind of linear progression, increasing the weights by one notch every two weeks. I'm now 53, 187 lbs body weight, up 20 lbs since I started, about 19% body fat. Latest numbers DL 342 lbs for 5, SQ 287 lbs for 5. Obviously I lost 18 months of training during the covid lockdowns.
63 and do 5-3-1 , I've done 2 days with squat/ op day1 and bench dl day 2,,, my new work schedule allows me to do 4 days with each day devoted to a main lift tues/press wed/squat sat/bench sun dl weight still going up on the bar each month.
In only train 2x per week and I'm in my late 30's. It works just fine for me. Then again I also train BJJ 2x per week and it's pretty demanding which means I can't recover from both BJJ and lifting.
The bread would probably be the worst thing about it tbh. Go with double meat and a low carb or hi-protein bread option; add extra tomatoes, onions, lettuce, peppers - little or no ketchup (it's basically sugar) and go light on the cheeses (if needed.) The Trojan horse is the combo meal: you probably don't need to eat French fries and drink coca cola unless you look like you just graduated from Auschwitz.
The book says, for people in their 60s the vast majority do well with twice a week. the argument is why start at 3 when you know your going to 2 soon. why put that stress on yourself just start at 2. also some doing twice a week break it up into 4 times a week.
Because you make faster progress with 3 times a week. Remember the goal is to get strong fast. You add reps much faster each week with 3 times a week training. I'm 57 and do full body 3 times a week. Same exercises each workout. I can add reps each week. Once I hit all the reps for all the sets, I increase the weight and keep going. Dumbbell bench press using 115lb dumbbells. Weighted dips using 100lbs. Weighted chin ups using 75lbs. Incline tricep overhead presses using 50lb dumbbells. Leg presses with 8 plates a side. I can't squat because of sciatic nerve issue with left leg. But leg presses I have no issues. Leg extensions. I will take out the weighted dips in a month and add back in overhead presses.
I think the confusion may be coming in Chapter 20 “The Novice Over 60 and Common Novice Variants.” In the discussion of the “Fixed Two-Day Novice Program” (aka program 3B, Fixed 2-Day Rank Novice) the book says: “Novice Program (3B) can either be introduced after training in the 3-day model, or instituted at the very beginning of training if the athlete or his coach so decide. … Master in their 60s and 70s won’s sustain more than a few weeks of training the whole body for 3 days a week, and in some cases it may be wise to avoid overreaching at the start. … In our experience, a fixed 2-day program is safe, effective, and practical for the vast majority of trainees in the seventh decade.”
Probably for the same reason that everybody starts out doing DLs but often reaches a point at which they switch to rack pulls. When you begin training, you are going to be starting out with relatively light weights because that's what you can lift for sets of five. Progress at that point will be quick and over the course of time recovery will eventually become more difficult. It is at that point that the switch can be to two days a week. As Rip says, at this point in life we are old and there's no need to waste time. If you start out at two days a week, your gonna end up taking months longer to get to the same point than if you started out with three and eventually switched to two.
Whoever the guy is that rings in on this episode and asks his question, he sounds just like the guy in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-klK27l3unng.html