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Our present lifestyle normally provides a life expectancy in the vicinity of 65 to 73 years. It is interesting to note that the majority of insurance companies try to avoid stating the maximum life expectancy figure for numerous reasons which I will leave to your imagination.
It is my conclusion from this, logically speaking, that the best our present technology offers to our average citizen is 65 to 73 years of life. I further conclude that perhaps the deviation from our normal lifestyle, if properly implemented, could present the possibility of a life extension of at least 10 to 20 years beyond the present norm.
If so, this allows for a reassessment, strength-wise, of our potential as a senior lifter. No amount of anabolic substances will enable a 100-lb woman to deadlift 800 pounds, and yet the body has this inborn capacity via induced excitation. There are on record numerous instances to verify this and it is interesting to note that very few, if any, received serious injury from their Herculean effort.
One may speculate here as to just how much a heavy weightlifter could elevate should he be in the state of the pre-mentioned 100-lb woman. Mankind is on the brink of a new era or an exploration of the natural potential ability within the human body that will reveal capabilities that will far surpass our present ability strength-wise. The "Anatomy of Strength" series reveals in detail the exact procedure to tap this presently unrealized vast reservoir of potential.
It may interest the reader to know that I am a vegetarian, and I have been for the last 20 years. I believe that I have disproved the fallacy that it is essential to consume non-vegetable products in order to develop extraordinary strength and muscle size.
I must also say here that a goodly amount of my muscle bulk and strength is directly due to herbal intake. I think the most important thing of all is the strengthening of the body's immune system through herbal ingestion which could allow those in life's later age to bypass the numerous diseases that attack the elderly, thus allowing the senior athlete many more years of active participation in sport. There is no reason whatsoever why men of 90 and over should not be elevating creditable poundages.
Minor or major drug usage weakens the immune system, leaving the body defenseless to the attack of cancer and numerous other mental diseases. This is, to a great extent, why there's an abrupt drop in competitive athletes over the age of 60 and thereon. When the immune system is impaired, the aging process of the body is accelerated causing a substantial lowering of life expectancy. What a price to pay for a few brief years of the addition of artificial weight lifting strength.
After a lengthy period of continuous alteration of the sets, reps, etc., withing the actual training routines I have perfected what I believe to be the ultimate strength building routine. In short, this routine is the only one that allows a continued increase in strength to a late age in life. This routine involves correct warmup procedure, a number of weekly training periods and all other aspects essential to progress.
My experimental investigation brought to light many new or perhaps overlooked functional aspects of strength building. For instance, I became aware that shortened muscle memory retention is a factor of aging and that it is essential that various exercises must be performed with lighter repetitions up to 70 or 80% of maximum effort daily to prevent this problem. The exercises would vary from day to day in accordance to the overall exercise program. All this and other functional elements of strength building are explained in detail in Strength Building for Seniors via the VHS videocassette series.
It is extremely important not to expend the entire reserve of energy during the training period. If this principle is not followed, in a very short period of time a state of exhaustion will occur and if not immediately counteracted will lead to chronic exhaustion which could be a permanent condition thereon.
When all is said and done, I believe that the heart of the overall strength building procedure is the building block: THE SINGLE REP GAIN. I am NOT, I repeat NOT referring to the 3, 4 or 5 rep gains because this attitude of mind leads to disorientation, hence ultimate failure.
To achieve ultimate concentration, hence ultimate capacity strength-wise, the same concentration has to be pinpointed on a single thought or thing. The thing chosen to be pinpointed should be the heart of the procedure utilized to attain a defined goal. In this case it is the ONE REP ADDITION to the total number of reps performed in your previous workout.
This applies to each and every exercise performed in each and every exercise period.
For example, if you did 5 sets of 4 reps in the squat with the same poundage in each set in your previous workout, your forthcoming squat workout would have you doing 1 set of 5 reps and 4 sets of 4 reps. By enlarging this concept, as you will see, the same principle functions in respect to a future record lift desired. However, in this case the explosive build-up is much more powerful, capable of producing in weight elevated a 25-35 pound increase.
Concentrating on the single rep gain and, of equal importance, the date the pre-mentioned rep gain, especially a record competitive lift, will be accomplished, activates the storehouse of built up energy which, when released, forms a kind of explosion similar to stream pressure in a boiler. The explosion will be proportionate to the degree of built-up mental concentration.
From time to time, both young and especially senior lifters should undergo what I call a crash training program of short duration to shock the trainee out of a mental and physical rut. This program is centered on the concept of reestablishing the feel of heavy poundages.
Seniors especially drift toward the tendency to perform high numbers of light weight repetitions. Comfortable, yes, but as a real strength builder, a flop. How many seniors have followed this type of training and upon looking back in their training notebooks, regardless of how well they think they fell, their limit poundages in all lifts have dropped 10-15%.
This is the beauty of weight lifting. You just can't fool yourself with a barbell. It is my conclusion that high sets of high reps with a fairly heavy weight isn't suitable for strength-oriented seniors as it brings about the chronic fatigue at the first stage of an extended program and if not discontinued will result in a state of complete exhaustion. This is caused by the inability of seniors to recuperate from each succeeding workout session. Younger lifters do not normally suffer from this program due to their superior power of recuperation.
From the age of 60 to 70 years I underwent numerous variations of training procedure. As my age increased I found that in order to retain my strength, or improve it, I was forced to condense my routine to short intense training sessions daily or every second day. I commenced each with a series of triple warmup reps, increasing the poundage, then to single reps, working up to a limit or near-limit poundage.
The intensity of the workout depended on just how I felt at the time, physically and/or mentally, always leaving the workout with energy to spare. On certain days, if the spirit moved me, I would attempt a lift which could have been beyond my capacity. On numerous occasions I succeeded. It was then that I began to see more and more the power of the mind and realized regardless of age you can lift any weight you believe you can lift, and with impunity.
It is important, however, to remember that your belief, if it is to be effective, is substantiated by tangible reasons or evidence to show that your state of mind is not the product of flights of fancy.
Much of the training performed by seniors should be instinctive. However, if you are on the wrong track, you're in trouble. Very possibly it would be best at this point to seek the guidance of an individual who has pioneered the way and has credibility.
I have found that the tendons and ligaments retain their strength far longer than the muscular structure in later years. It follows then, that the proposed senior training program should be oriented on a series of low number, heavy reps for maximum strength.
to be continued . . .
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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