Interview With Fred Lowe -- Matt Foreman

Fred Lowe (birth year 1947): 

As far as weightlifting is concerned, I am 67 years old. Back in the day, I competed on and off between the ages of 18-35, including three Olympic Games appearances. 

After a ten-year absence, I decided to come back to compete in 1993 at age 46. I had waited until I thought the time was right. In 1993, for various reasons, the time was right for me. 

I have had one helluva lot of fun doing this again, and I've been at it as a master for the better part of twenty-two years nonstop. 

When you decide to lift as a master, there are a few things you have to come to terms with (guys particularly). If you don't, you won't last long. I've worked up a list of things that have enabled me to stick with the sport again for the 22 years since I came back to it. 

FRED LOWE'S "COME TO TERMS" LIST

1) You are not the person you were. 

Guys, if you compete long enough, you will eventually embody that Stone Temple Pilots lyric, "I'm half the man I used to be." Even though this will eventually become the case, you'll still be a BADASS for your age. None of your same-age non-lifting friends will be as functional. This will be its own reward. As you work you way up through the age groups, the physical adjustments become more numerous and they're all crucial to your continued participation.

2) You are not as strong as you used to be. 

You can still maximize it for your age and ability, but it will not be the same as back in the day. Don't put in a lot of time and energy lamenting this, and don't live in the past (it results in boring conversations -- I don't have a time machine and we can't go back -- ignore Eddie Money's "I Wanna Go Back, and Do It All Over" on this one). The jumps between sets in training will be smaller. 

3) You are not as flexible as you used to be. 

This is a category that you will have to work on just as hard as strength and technique. Work it really hard at the end of the workout when you're at your hottest and most pliable. Yeah, I know you already feel great from your Geezer workout, but I don't care Don't neglect this piece; if you do, you won't maximize your results. 

4) If you act stupidly and do this wrong, the consequences are generally more egregious than in your younger years. 

Have a general framework in mind for you training, but BE INTUITIVE and listen to your body. If it's not a good day, dial it back but be as thorough as you can. You will still be happy (you'll feel just like Parnell Williams song "Happy"). 

5) Something is always better than nothing. 

The good news is that nothing is set in stone, and your body will never lie to you. 

Now, review point 4. 

6) Three days per week at some level of effort is a great frequency for the master lifters. 

Truth be told, Chad Vaughn got a lifetime competition PR while training three days per week at age 31, and that's not even masters age. What makes you think you need to train 4-6 days per week anyway? 

7) Your training has nothing to do with Bulgaria, China, or Russia. It has to do with YOU and the current state of your strength, technique, and range of motion. Don't overcomplicate things . . . work on basics and be consistent. There's no secret or magic bullet. 

8) If continuing to do these lifts is a priority for you, then save whatever physical capability you have left for the platform. 

If you train regularly you won't need any other sports to stay in shape, and just about all the others are dangerous. So, decide what's really important to you. 

9) Back squatting may not be as comfortable now if you've lost any fluid volume in your spinal discs. 

Plentiful water intake is crucial for all your body systems. If you don't have a good history of this, try to start with 8 glasses of water a day and work up to half your bodyweight in ounces per day. 

10) If back squats hurt your back or neck, do front squats. If front squats hurt, do dumbbell squats pre-exhausted with leg presses (if you have a machine). Or, just do complexes where you squat clean and then do any number of recoveries. Then, try to jerk that shit! It feels like a world record, even though it isn't. 

Modify ANY training you do to pay homage to things that aren't very comfortable. With the modifications comes your best WORK. This is what it's all about. 

When you walk into a training session, you are there to do as much WORK [for fun] as you are capable of within your ROM and your energy level for that day. 

11) Get as much sleep as you need. If you think you can train for weightlifting now and adequately recover without adequate rest, then it's even more ridiculous when you tried to do it when you were younger. 

12) Most of the training that I do is between 50-85% of my reasonable goals for the next meet. I am a believer in cyclical percentages short and long-term and feel they should trend lighter the older you get. 

My method of training is to set the percentages for the cycle and then execute things according to how I feel in this manner: If I feel good, I adhere to the scheduled percentage. If I don't feel good or is something is nagging me, I dial things back but train very thoroughly and work flexibility hard at the end. In this way, I get a decent workout no matter how I feel. I don't ever go heavier than scheduled, even if I feel good. It doesn't count in my basement. If I haven't got enough confidence to lift more in competition than I do in training by this point, I might as well give it all up right now. I prefer to go all out (basement inspired) about 10 days before the meet. That's the only time I'll ever be (hopefully) over 85% of my targets. How much would I care to beat myself up, anyway? I'm trying to just keep going in the first place. 

Now, review point 5.   

I could go on and on, and someday I'm sure I will (well, actually, I'm working on something quite longwinded but hopefully interesting). But for our purposes here, this is roughly how I go about it. 

It's a free country and you can get as fired up about this part of your lifting life as you care to. Tell all the naysayers to get off their asses and start doing something other than massaging their keyboards. However you do this, though, you will derive more benefit from the time you put into it than anything else you could think of . . . just be sensible and don't go off half-cocked.

To all of you masters . . . train hard and train smart. 

I love you all -- each and every one. 

Keep movin' that shit! 

Happy training! 

Enjoy Your Lifting!