Maggie's Farm

I have been asked what use my levels of fitness are, and my reasons for pursuing fitness in the ways that I do. 

Probably maintaining vigor is my first item, and a vigorous attitude towards life. I like to say "yes" to doing things. About five years ago I felt tired on a hunting trip, and I hated myself for it. That was my wake-up call. Does bedroom vitality matter too, and being appealing to a spouse? Um, yeah. Duh.

Second, the health issue. It is not about living longer because that is not up to us but to fate. Still, nobody wants to become overweight, frail, or rickety sooner than necessary. 

Third, to be honest, is looking vital and fit instead of looking older. Posture and movement matter to others. Call it vanity, but it is much more than that. People react differently, as they do to clothing and manners. 

Fourth (but not really fourth), I like to be able to do useful and fun things. I need to be able to hike over hill and dale for 12 miles, or scramble boulders, with Mrs. BD and friends. I need to be able to stack 2 cords of wood dumped in my courtyard (as I did this weekend) and to do all of the yard work I have time for.  I need to be able to handle my chainsaw. If my right shoulder were not so damaged, I'd love to live on the tennis court. I guess I am restless and love physical activity. I need to be agile and useful on a boat too. I wish I had more sports but I have always had more enthusiasm than athletic talent.

Nutrition is one of my problems. I am not underweight, but I just do not enjoy eating anymore. Some love it, but for me it just is like required fuel no matter how tasty. I have had minimal appetite since I began my intensive exercise program some years ago so I force myself.  

RJP keeps nagging me about strength. Fair enough, but two days of weights is all I can fit in right now. Pre-covid I was doing 2 1/2 hrs of weights/wk. Deads are the best thing for me. Regarding recovery, I may not do enough but I feel that I do. Whenever I feel unable to get out of bed at 4:30 AM after a powerlift day, I don't. I love feeling stronger but have competing goals.

Sometimes my gym boss wants me to do 8-12 reps per powerlift set. I hate that. I like 5 reps/set and 5 working sets. That's 25 tough efforts.

Since powerlifts (more or less including deadlift, barbell squat, military press, bench press, pullups/pull downs, dumbell or barbell row) are the core of any strength-building or strength maintenance program, approaching them right is critical for effectiveness.

Generally speaking, high rep exercises of any sort are more aimed at muscle endurance and maintenance than at strength-building. Of course, we want both, but it's a matter of emphasis and there are plenty of ways to build muscle endurance other than heavy powerlifts. 

So for pure strength (bone and muscle), I want to push to my limits and show some improvement each month. So, for each powerlift session, I want to do one warm-up set then 5 sets of 5 reps ramping up in weight to finish at my absolute limit of 5, or just past it (thus needing a spotter just in case). Pushing the envelope.

I understand that my boss sometimes likes to push the powerlift reps with lesser weight, but 5s feel right to me. With 8-12, I just find myself wanting to get it over with. That's not the right attitude.

To use the example of chest strength, if I do bench 5X5 one day, and a few sets of 30 pushups on another day, the former is 100% strength, and the latter 20% strength and 80% endurance. All good for fitness.

Deadlift standards for men or women, and by age.

These are one-rep maxes. My one-rep max is around 300 lbs, no prob with 3 reps at 275. Not impressive because I know a gal who does that. OK, she's 35 but whatever.  With the age-adjustment on that site, though, it's "Advanced."  What?  Me? No way am I advanced. I have much further to go...

My one-rep max is hard and slowwwww. As it should be. People rarely go for their one-rep maxes except for amusement and ego. Well, also as one index of progress. Every 3 months maybe. 5X5 is a good powerlift program for twice/week but I only do each powerlift once/week. Not enough time to be a serious gym rat lifter.

Body architecture is not factored in, but of course heavier people are presumed to have more strength and power.

It's not either-or.  Low-rep (1-5) high weight is for strength. High-rep (8-12) with lower weight is for muscle endurance, but we would never suggest more than 10 reps for any powerlift set.

A typical powerlift sequence is a warm up set with very light weight, then 4-5 working sets advancing to your day's target.  For example, lately I have been doing, say, with deadlift (most important exercise, I feel), warm-up set of 5 at about 100, 5 reps at 155, 5 reps at about 180, 1 rep at 200 and another rep around 225. Like I say, I am not a big strong guy. Everybody is different. My one-rep max is probably 245, but I don;t know for sure. My goal is 300.

Many fitness people do a week of high rep every month or two. "Lower weight" is around 60-70% of your one rep max. "Higher weight" is around 80-90% of your one rep max.

As always, there are exceptions, mainly for accessory exercises. For example, for curls or tricep cable push-downs, 10-20 is fine to keep those things "toned".  

My take on heavy weights: Pull-ups are heavy weight. Push-ups are just calisthenics. If you can do 20 pullups bravo to you and put some weights on you to be more efficient. I won't do barbell bench or barbell squats without trainer or partner.  Without those, I'll do dumbbell bench and kettlebell lunges or squats instead.  If no weight station is free, I'll do kettlebell deadlifts or trap bar instead of regular. It's all good as long as it is HARD and makes you want to cry or spout 4-letter words.

Since I only do half of my powerlifts one day, and half of them another day (not ideal for strength but ok for fitness), I fill in my weights hours with accessory lifts to get a full workout. But to be more precise, I also do pullups twice/wk and one day of dumbell bench and another day barbell bench because I want to focus on those right now. There's only so much time to fit in weights, calis, and plain cardio. If a week had 8 days, I'd do another day of weights. It doesn't fatigue you like calis, but it kicks your ass and kicks your mind.

For general fitness/conditioning, probably not necessary and especially not if you do 2 hours of calis or calis classes weekly along with your 2-3 hrs/wk of mostly powerlift work.

What are typical accessory weight exercises?  Things like curls, calf raises, cable pulls and pushes of all sorts, leg press, lateral raises, leg curls, and many gym machine activities which target specific muscle groups.

Typical compound-movement powerlift work (deadlift, rows, pullups, barbell squat, military press, bench press, maybe dumbbell lunges) strengthen pretty much all skeletal muscles - and your core too- and are more functional than isolated muscle exercises. (Most people do not do Olympic lifts but if you want to try them, go for it.  With a coach, please.).

There are a few exceptions. 1.Beginners often need accessory exercises for a few months before moving forward 2. Some accessory exercises can help ramp up your powerlifts. For example, I work on overhand curls and kettlebell Farmer's walks for my grip strength because that can be a limiting factor for my deadlifts. I have weak forearms. 3. Another exception is for bodybuilders who choose to focus on developing good-looking specific muscles. (That's not really about functional fitness, though - more about looking great naked.)

We stand by our Fitness For Life recommendations for women and men of any age: 2-3 hours of mostly heavy weights, 2-3 hrs of calisthenics without heavy weights, about two half-hours of HIIT cardio, 1 hr of endurance cardio (replaceable with a 5-6 hr hike, bike ride, etc). Not counting hikes, a total of 6-7 hrs/week is sufficient - but no less than 2 hrs of real lifts with some accessories if needed to complete the hour)

You're 30 or 35 or 40 or 50 or 60 (or 70) and you have decided that it's either now or never to make a serious commitment to fixing or maintaining physical fitness.

I don't blame anybody who refuses to do that, because it is unpleasant and requires discipline and effort well-beyond comfort. Effort means effort, pushing every mental and physical limit. I have learned more about the meaning of that word in the gym than I ever learned in regular life. If pleasure and comfort is what your life is about, fine. We reject those decadent values because we are morally-superior we do not want to decay and, in fact, fear it. 

Friends have asked me for advice on how to get started, so I wrote down a program, in stages, for ordinary mostly-sedentary (ie less than 5-6 hrs/wk of challenging exertion) people. Non-athletes. There is plenty of exercise advice available, and everybody has an opinion so I expect debate, but I believe my advice is rational, non-faddish, well-balanced, efficient, and practical. Don't rush it - if over 30, it takes time to adapt to demand so it's best to go step by step instead of rushing in and either get injured or burning out. Slow and steady.

Four stages for beginners, below the fold - 

My friend's son benched 505 last week. He is a serious lifter, a hunk of granite. Going for your one-rep max in powerlifts (bench, squat, deadlifts) is not a great idea for us "functional fitness" people. There is no need at all to do it except as a feat. For general fitness, keeping powerlift reps in the 3-10 range is correct for heavier weights.

You can guess your one-rep max by extrapolating from your 3 or 4-rep max. I do not have a lifter build (have a runner's build), but I go for barbell deadlift one-reps about twice a year, just for kicks and to be stupid. I discovered that I can not deadlift 275 lbs this week - just up to my knees.  Damn. I know a gal who deads 300 lbs. Strong, fit gal with no visible muscle mass. Perhaps I did not warm up for it right...

With the powerlifts, always warm up light and work up, usually 5 total sets with a good rest between sets. If you want to be stupid like me once in a while, How to Warm Up for a One-Rep Max

If you like to use a trap bar for deadlifts (I do, occasionally), you can move much more weight than with the barbell. I have never tried a one-rep max with the trap bar. 

Below the fold, a few words on other, non-powerlift pure strength exercises - 

You can be fat and very strong, but unable to hike a mountain vigorously for 6 hours. You can be a fast runner or swimmer but unfit in most ways other than cardio endurance. 

To participate to the maximum in all that life offers or demands, we preach a doctrine of "Fitness for Life."  This is not training for a specific purpose (ie a specific sport, pure strength, or aesthetics), but just to maintain or, preferably, improve fitness after age 30 or 40 or 50 or whatever for people with relatively sedentary (less than 5 hrs/wk of physically-challenging or strenuous effort - not walking). Balanced, general functional fitness for strength, endurance, and athleticism builds energy, attractiveness and sexuality, effectiveness - and the mental toughness that comes from the discipline of physical training.

First, some terms:

Conditioning, or Athletic Conditioning, usually refers to your overall athletic preparedness. "Conditioning" can focus on retrieving or building your speed, agility, endurance, muscle fitness, body composition, and the like. General conditioning-specific activities, like calisthenics, often just use body weight and some light weights with very high reps (20+), and no rest. Burpees, lunges, box jumps, ball slams, roll-ups, and step-ups are classic conditioning exercises but there are tons of them.

Cardio/endurance training is one compnent of the above. An hour of intense, no-rest calisthenics is powerful and exhausting  cardio/endurance training, as is HIIT cardio.  If you aren't short of breath, it's not "cardio." (It's not "exercise" either. "Exercise" refers to exertion.)  For naturalistic HIIT, a tough tennis lesson where coach runs you ragged, or a basketball game. 

Bodybuilding is an approach to balanced muscle improvement. It entails about 5 sets of semi-high reps (8-12) of 50-70% of your max weights, with only a minute rest between sets. Contrary to the sound of it, it's not primarily meant to look good at the beach (but nobody wants to look nasty with lots or all of their clothes off). 

Powerlifting  is an approach designed to improve brute strength and power. This entails lower reps with higher weights, and more rest between sets. Often, out of shape newbies need a good period of powerlifting before shifting to bodybuilding. Experienced people often alternate between the body-building approach and the powerlift approach every few months to maintain muscle function.

All of the above play a role in general fitness.

I'll review our recommendations for people in half-decent health below the fold. Feel free to offer comments or critiques.

From The Ultimate Guide to Sets and Reps for Strength Training,  I think these are pretty good common-sense guidelines for the powerlifts, based on your goals. For powerlifts, however, I would not ever go over 10 reps per set. Instead, up the weight or the sets. Too many muscle twinges can happen with higher rep powerlifts, I believe. Higher reps for small or isolated muscles are fine, eg tricep push-downs, calf lifts, curls.

Exercisers need to know their max, approximately, for their powerlifts. For example, if I can deadlift 300 lbs for one or two reps, my 80% intensity is 240 lbs. What I do with powerlifts (not saying it's the best thing to do) is a warm-up set of 10 at 50%, then 4 working sets which gradually work up to about 80%. Just for fun, about once a month I will see if I can increase my max for 1 or 2 reps but I don't count that as a working set.