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An ounce of prevention?

AllTheWay

AllTheWay

TID Lady Member
Mar 17, 2011
4,240
411
i was visiting with my dad this weekend and we were talking about lifting. he has spent a lifetime lifting. he played football in college and then was a high school football, wrestling and track coach. for as long as i can remember he talked about lifting. he tore his pec off the humerus benching. he has had numerous surgeries on his back and has had one shoulder replaced and is getting the other one replaced soon and had both knees replaced about 4 months ago. through all of this he has never stopped lifting. granted he lifts a lot less now but at 70+ years the only reason that he is still walking and going is because he has stayed active and stayed working out and coaching.

he asked me if i was still lifting heavy to which i replied not really but i am still working on trying to pull 350# for my deadlift. we chatted for a little bit about it and i was pleasantly suprised that he didnt lecture me. but rather he told me about how he had curled 95# the other day at his buddies house but that he wouldnt be able to do it very many times because things were wore out. he then went on to say that if he could go back and do it all over again he would go lighter on many things and do less reps on the heavy things. he said that he would do more to preserve his joints and his soft tissues. by going ligher on arms and such he would not tear down the tendons and ligaments but by the same token by going heavier with less reps on the majors like bench and deads and such one could build strength and yet not tear up the joint with as many reps.

for me this makes total sense. the current trend in performance medicine on the veterinary side is all about preventive medicine. train the animal and condition them to properly strengthen the soft tissues to withstand what it is they do but not doing so much as to wear out the joints or tear the ligaments/tendons. so in the young 20-24 month old race horse, instead of galloping them in endless circles around the track causing excessive wear on everything, warm them up and give them short works to strengthen but not break down.


what are your thoughts on preventative lifting? is it something that you think about? for us older folks would you change anything about how you lifted when you were younger? if so what changes would you make?
 
dangerouscurves

dangerouscurves

TID Lady VIP
May 25, 2011
2,061
344
i was visiting with my dad this weekend and we were talking about lifting. he has spent a lifetime lifting. he played football in college and then was a high school football, wrestling and track coach. for as long as i can remember he talked about lifting. he tore his pec off the humerus benching. he has had numerous surgeries on his back and has had one shoulder replaced and is getting the other one replaced soon and had both knees replaced about 4 months ago. through all of this he has never stopped lifting. granted he lifts a lot less now but at 70+ years the only reason that he is still walking and going is because he has stayed active and stayed working out and coaching.

he asked me if i was still lifting heavy to which i replied not really but i am still working on trying to pull 350# for my deadlift. we chatted for a little bit about it and i was pleasantly suprised that he didnt lecture me. but rather he told me about how he had curled 95# the other day at his buddies house but that he wouldnt be able to do it very many times because things were wore out. he then went on to say that if he could go back and do it all over again he would go lighter on many things and do less reps on the heavy things. he said that he would do more to preserve his joints and his soft tissues. by going ligher on arms and such he would not tear down the tendons and ligaments but by the same token by going heavier with less reps on the majors like bench and deads and such one could build strength and yet not tear up the joint with as many reps.

for me this makes total sense. the current trend in performance medicine on the veterinary side is all about preventive medicine. train the animal and condition them to properly strengthen the soft tissues to withstand what it is they do but not doing so much as to wear out the joints or tear the ligaments/tendons. so in the young 20-24 month old race horse, instead of galloping them in endless circles around the track causing excessive wear on everything, warm them up and give them short works to strengthen but not break down.


what are your thoughts on preventative lifting? is it something that you think about? for us older folks would you change anything about how you lifted when you were younger? if so what changes would you make?

It is not something I've thought about, until now and it all makes a lot of sense, I think it would be wise of me to start prevention now and move towards styling my workouts based on this
 

SHINE

Friends Remembered
Oct 11, 2010
5,047
600
Good post and good advice from your Dad ATW. Older you get your joints arn't gona last a whole lot longer if your lifitng damn heavy all the time.

I don't care about lifing the most in the gym anymore , I even take the aproach of 1month of working out light and next month on the heavier side.
I never do anything under 8 reps anymore and usualy stay at 12. I wish I would of takin it easier with tren when i was younger, stuff makes me gain strength realy fast and I've gotten a couple of tendon ligament injuries cause the muscle was stronger than connective tissue. Torn bicpes and pecs take for ever to heal and still workout to keep shape! I will say keep flexable to , Stretching is more important than people think to help keep injuries away.
 
Ogre717

Ogre717

TID Official Lab Rat
Jul 22, 2011
1,649
665
I dont shoot for the 1RM anymore for this very reason. Numbers mean very little to me, especially if it is damaging in the long run to a point that the strength i built becomes useless. Good some food for thought ATW.
 
ShortzMcD

ShortzMcD

TID Lady Member
Nov 15, 2011
18
1
I get lectures from my dad (although I don't lift too heavy as I'm really only starting out) but he has had knee problems all his life from playing many sports!

I did have some problems with my knee last week which has made me more aware of the possible damage weights can cause to joints/ligaments... but before that I would never have thought twice about it!

He has been trying to get me to take glucosamine tablets which I might start now...
 

ajdos

Friends Remembered
Sep 8, 2010
2,282
399
In bodybuilding its refferred to as "cycling volume and intensity"
 
400Lb Gorilla

400Lb Gorilla

MuscleHead
Jul 27, 2011
3,435
359
i err on the side of caution but for a very blatant reason: if i get broken in some bad way i can NOT do much work in the engineering field. lol so in order to not take food out of my kids mouth i lift heavy but i tend to hold back from doing too many stupid things just because they are possible lol. ofcourse i learned this is the best way to approach lifting from guys like your dad, the ones who have tore muscles, tendons, and ligaments and damaged joints through years of too much constant intensity and/or volume with no break
 
NutNut

NutNut

MuscleHead
Jul 25, 2011
865
172
prevention isn't just volume and intensity though I agree he has a very valid point. Heavy weight helps ligaments and tendons become stronger along with muscles but it has to be only heavy to the point the body can handle it otherwise injury happens. Know your limits and listen to your body.
 

ajdos

Friends Remembered
Sep 8, 2010
2,282
399
The major problem with heavy weights is that tendons recover and grow slower than muscle, so you can get real strong and exert a lot of force on them in a short time.
I remember reading a long time ago a statistic that said in x amount of time you could increase your strength a few hundred percent but in that same amount of time your tendons would only have gotten 60 odd percent stronger, thats a huge disparity.
 
400Lb Gorilla

400Lb Gorilla

MuscleHead
Jul 27, 2011
3,435
359
i was hinting along the lines of using deloads properly lol. lighter weight or time a week or so off in general to allow joints and tendons to catch up to the muscles
 
NutNut

NutNut

MuscleHead
Jul 25, 2011
865
172
The major problem with heavy weights is that tendons recover and grow slower than muscle, so you can get real strong and exert a lot of force on them in a short time.
I remember reading a long time ago a statistic that said in x amount of time you could increase your strength a few hundred percent but in that same amount of time your tendons would only have gotten 60 odd percent stronger, thats a huge disparity.

I don't think we disagree on the topic at all. Deloading and rest are needed without a doubt. Something interesting is that Louie Simmons has always said to use super high reps for tendon strength which makes you think about the best approach, something I'm still contemplating myself.
 
Glycomann

Glycomann

VIP Member
Jan 19, 2011
1,180
1,175
ATW this was a great perspective piece. I think it makes perfect sense. Working the muscle without damaging the joint is a question of ego. I wrestle with it even at 50. Slow controlled repetitions extending at the bottom and squeezing at full contraction will go a long way toward building a quality physique as long as some sort of progressive resistance scheme is used. Your dad is a wise man and the same age as my dad actually. Mine is wise about many things but not fitness unfortunately. Life is a long rough process of mistakes, lrealizations and progressions. Now if only the young ones would listen to those that have traveled a long ways down the road.
 
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