Weight training for older(ish) people

fission

Does age matter?

So I'm 30, how much of a difference does being older make with regards to weight training?

As someone who was formerly quite flabby (lost the weight and now trying to put on a bit of muscle- with a good diet and PT program) realistically how much of a disadvantage is it being a bit older?

TimeToShine

fission wrote: »

Does age matter?

So I'm 30, how much of a difference does being older make with regards to weight training?

As someone who was formerly quite flabby (lost the weight and now trying to put on a bit of muscle- with a good diet and PT program) realistically how much of a disadvantage is it being a bit older?

You aren't old, and you're not at any disadvantage.

d'Oracle

30 is old now?
So I'm old in 3 months?

Screw that for a start.

You are grand, go lift.

Hanley

Not old. And the later you start, the longer you can keep going and making improvements for.

rubadub

Jaysus, I thought it was going to be your granny starting. I have read studies about it being very beneficial for (proper) old people.

You might not be able to pack on as much muscle in as short a space of time as a 18year old, so if you are reading books for young athletes they may overestimate your expected weekly strength gains -but thats just a guess, some personal trainer might chime in.

Red Cortina

I started resistance training when I was 29.

I like this:

Hanley wrote: »

Not old. And the later you start, the longer you can keep going and making improvements for.

but why is that the case?

dartstothesea

It'd be so good for my dad to get into some kind of fitness habit. He'll be 60 in a year or two.
What should he attempt and expect out of it I wonder? Should someone that age eat very differently?

opinion guy

hhahahaaha old!!!!!!??!?!?!?!

I was expecting you to be over 60 or something

dartstothesea

He didn't say he was old though. He said he was older. I guess he meant compared to the average Boards fitness forum user - he is probably older than that average in fairness. Even if not by a significant amount, but sure that's all his question was.

Hanley

Red Cortina wrote: »

I started resistance training when I was 29.

I like this:

but why is that the case?

Look at what happens top level sports people (and lets assume it holds true to the average joe/jane) - they start their career in early school, train thru college age and hit professional level somewhere around there, then they've a period where they improve, peak and performance begins to decline thereafter.

The sooner you come to the sport (ie starting at 12 instead of 15), the sooner you begin to decline (in absolute age terms). So while someone might start lifting/training and see improvements for 5-10 years before they start to "hit the wall", the absolute age this happens at will dependent on when they started.

So like say for me, I started training and competing at 17-19, made good solid strong progress for 5-7 years, and then that started to slow down and I really had to fight for me gains. So like the tough period of little progression came when I was quite young.

You started older, so when you're hitting mid 30s to early 40s your "training age" will be similar to mine at like 28-30. And assuming the body suffers from cumulative fatigue over that entire time, I'm more likely to be injured younger and have to deal with it longer than you.

All the numbers above are obviously for illustration purposes and I'm assuming that an intelligent approach to training and nutrition is taken in all instances, the only real variable being age.

Make sense?