General question

[rkt]

New to the site, have worked out on and off for years. Dropped from 223 to 205 (I'm a bit over 6'1") mostly by diet. Have started lifting again because, honestly, I don't want to look old and soft! It is easier for me to stick to working out if I get up first thing and get to the gym every day.I So....right now I am doing a split workout of A Days: Bench press, Power Snatch, Seated Dumbell Press and B Days: Goblet Squats. I go as heavy as I can for five sets of five, six sets of the Goblet Squats.

Question: Is this enough? Each day takes about 40 minutes or so, with warm-up and cool down. Thanks

[rkt]

Oh, for what its worth, I am closing in on 52 y.o.

[bigm141414]

Depends on your goals. I would think you'd want to do more on your B days since you just have goblets. Any reason for doing seated press instead of regular standing overhead press?

Are you doing any upper body pulling motions (e.g pullups/chinups?) to balance your upper body push movements? What about deadlifts?

[rkt]

Goals are to increase muscle-mass while, hopefully, wringing out a bit of fat loss. My diet is pretty clean, mostly protein and good fats, keep the carbs fairly low (under 100 g.). Not currently doing deadlifts, as the snatches (and to some degree the goblets) are hitting my back pretty well it seems. The seated press was to focus more on the shoulders. I could add deadlifts to my B day as an additional posterior chain movement to the goblets. Not currently doing pull-ups/chins/rows

[Pat G]

rkt, first off, awesome work for lifting heavy when most other people your age are playing bowls or golfing.

For Day B, as already suggested i'd recommend deadlifts (o a variation of), plus an upper body pulling exercise.

Otherwise, looks good.

[rkt]

"People my age". Thanks......I, think? Anyway,will start adding some type of deadlift in on B days and see how it goes. Follow-up question: As I said, I am doing a 5x5 set/rep sequence. Should I wait until I get a full 5x5 before moving up in weight? For example, this morning my bench sets went 5,5,5,4,3 with the same weight. Should I wait until I can crank out all 5 reps for all 5 sets before moving up in weight?

Thanks again for the input.

[This is Seth]

most other people your age are playing bowls or golfing.

Can I just say that my dead lift has added about 30 yards to my drive...

Should I wait until I can crank out all 5 reps for all 5 sets before moving up in weight?.

Yes, hit all your reps, then look for bigger plates.

[Church]

That's what my trainer told me to do when I was rehabbing my back. She had me on set/reps of 3x20 and told me not to up the difficulty until I could crank out each and every one with perfect form. I imagine it would be the same for pure strength, because I was trying to fix pain and immobility due to imbalances and weakness in certain muscles in my back: the pitfalls improper pushup form and poor form on any pulling I did. IF I pulled at all.

[Waldo]

I imagine it would be the same for pure strength, because I was trying to fix pain and immobility due to imbalances and weakness in certain muscles in my back: the pitfalls improper pushup form and poor form on any pulling I did. IF I pulled at all.

Pulling and pushing should be balanced to a 1:1 ratio, otherwise over time strength differences will cause shoulder problems, poor posture, and poor mobility. Due to modern life (sitting in chairs hunched over all the time, overfocus on pushing exercises) most people are actually a little better off pulling a little more than pushing since the imbalance is already there.

[Pat G]

Can I just say that my dead lift has added about 30 yards to my drive...

Yes, hit all your reps, then look for bigger plates.

You should try croquet, that is an intense sport, right alongside Sliding a Concrete Block Down an Icy Bowling Alley whilst Sweeping with Brooms competitions...

[This is Seth]

Oh how I love Aussie sports.