The urgency of strength

By Pete Ryan

There are many attributes a human needs to thrive, one of the most time consuming to develop is strength, although strength is not the first physical attribute to fade with age (that honour goes to power – strength with speed), strength can begin to decline not too long after we reach our physical peak (mid-20’s) if we do not work to maintain or build it. There are good points, we can add to our strength at any age, but there are also bad points, strength only develops slowly, with humans often taking decades of training to reach their full potential. This can be bypassed somewhat using drugs, but for virtually all drug-free trainees 10-20 years will be needed to reach their maximum strength output. So technically an untrained person could start in their 50’s and reach their peak strength in their 60-70’s!

However there is a darker side for those who do not strength train. The body is not static, it has 2 states, anabolic (building) or catabolic (breaking down). Everyone goes through these 2 states many times each day, but generally the body is either growing, or shrinking overall. I am simplifying here as you can be losing fat and holding as much muscle as possible, but here I am talking about someone who stays about the same on a daily basis. If the muscles are worked then they tend to breakdown during the intense activity and regrow a little larger and stronger, or they are slowly removed as unnecessary if they are not used. As well as the aesthetic of looking less muscular you have countless hormonal changes[i], changes to bone density[ii] and even gut biome[iii] that all negatively affect your robustness, your feelings of wellbeing[iv], your overall health outcomes and even your likelihood of death[v].

Let’s get down to the basics, the older you are, the more important the need to begin some form of resistance training.  The older you are, the longer it will take to reach your peak strength and the lower that peak will be (assuming you started after your hormonal peak around the mid-20’s). However, it is possible you will obtain more benefits by continuing exercise into old age, than you would achieve by just getting really strong in your 20’s then stopping and relying on your previous strength levels to maintain you as you age[vi].

So, now we can agree you need to increase your strength, the question is how? I cannot answer that for you. For me I enjoy using weights and so weights are the way I add to my physical and mental wellbeing. There are people who prefer using their bodyweight, using machines or similar. It does not really matter what you choose as long as you enjoy it. Sure, one way may be better, but pick the one you enjoy and will continue with.

Ideals of strength and power differ between sexes, between sizes of humans and how old that person is. A 100 year old deadlifting 50Kg is probably a good lift (I do not know off-hand the records for the 100 year old deadlift, or if there is one?), however for a healthy 80Kg 25 year old male, 50Kg is not very impressive (assuming there are no issues that limit the lift, for some people it could be exceptional). So, although I cannot, nor would I, offer the definitive exercise programme, what I can do is offer you a general programme and allow you to change or even discard it in favour of one you prefer.

Before starting do a proper warm-up, the older or less active you are, then the more important a warm-up is ( https://veganbodybuilding.blogspot.com/2017/01/older-trainees-and-exercise-frequency.html ). My personal method is:

Foam rolling (you can check out the myofascial release book here https://payhip.com/veganbodybuilding )

Warm-up - I follow the idea of a more intense warm-up than many. For some people my warm-up could be their first workout if they are not conditioned. I will put together something about a correct warm-up soon. I try to move in most planes of motion and go from the floor to standing in a variety of ways.

Basic starter routine:

Mon

•       Squat 3x10
•       Overhead press 3x10
•       Bent over dumbbell row 3x10 (each arm)
•      Stir the pot on a stability ball 3x5 (each way)

Wed

•     Split squat 3x8 (each leg)
•     Press-up (push-up) 3x10
•   Chin-up 3x10 (if you are not able to do many reps use ‘ladders’ to increase your volume https://veganbodybuilding.blogspot.com/2012/03/ladders-easy-way-to-increase-volume.html
•    Standing calf raise 3x10

Fri

•      Deadlift 3x10 
•      Shrug or high pull 3x10
•      Bicep curl 3x10 
•      Tricep extensions 3x10

This is a beginner routine, if some are too easy or too hard it is fine to progress or regress them to suit your current fitness levels and of course if anything hurts drop it and replace with something else. If you need any advice on changes, videos of the exercises etc, let me know in the comments and of course always consult with your health care specialist before starting any new fitness programme.

Discounts

35% off of http://www.veganicity.com/home.php supplements using code VEGANBODY2018

15% off https://www.vegetology.co.uk/ supplements using code VEGANHEALTH

25% off http://freetfootwear.co.uk/ shoes using code PeteR

10% off http://veggie-style.com/ supplements using code VBB

10% off http://revolution-foods.com/ supplements using code vbb

10% off http://www.virusperformance.co.uk/ exercise clothing using code VBB

---

[i] https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/expert-articles/5593/exercise-and-hormones-8-hormones-involved-in-exercise

[ii] https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/exercise/exercise-your-bone-health

[iii] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171204144757.htm

[iv] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2680311

[v] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2453303/

[vi] https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/9927004/reload=0

Ever forward

By Pete Ryan

You often hear the quote “I want to maintain”, or “I just don’t want to lose any strength/size”.  This might be a reasonable sounding goal and it can often be the outcome in the older trainee, but I do not believe it should be a goal. I will give my reasoning below.

The human body is a dynamic organism. It is not like a car or a bike. If you store it carefully, it will not maintain its abilities. What happens is a body is in two states.  The body is either anabolic or catabolic, so it is either growing and rebuilding, or it is consuming itself and destroying unnecessary parts of itself.  This is an on-going process that occurs all the time. Being catabolic can be health promoting by removing old or damaged cells, but it can also have a negative impact by removing hard fought for muscle, bone density, tendon durability or fascia strength. Meanwhile we have anabolic effects which involves adding tissue, this can be muscle and lean tissue, but adding fat is also an anabolic event. So, our goal is to create methods that heighten the positive effects of both the catabolic and anabolic processes in the body. We want to remove old and damaged cells, while also promoting the creation of new lean tissue with minimal increases in fat storage.

The best way to achieve these goals is through progressive resistance exercise. This can be bodyweight, or using equipment. Note the name of this type of exercise. PROGRESSIVE resistance exercise. That is the goal, but why is it important to progress, and what do we mean by progression?

Let us look at progression, or to be more precise, let’s look at non-progression. Let’s say you reach a point where you believe 10 reps of 100 pounds in an exercise is ‘strong enough’. So, you always do 10 reps or 100 pounds.  If you never go over that your body will adapt to it, you will become more efficient at the movement and you will end up with the very minimum you need to do that 10 reps of 100 pounds. Any issue, ANY problem that increases stress or stops you training will drop you below that level. As you age, it will become progressively harder to get those 10 reps. If you reached 10 reps of 100 pounds with ease at 30 years old, by 50 you will be struggling to get it, by 65 years old you probably won’t have it any more…and you will blame old age. It will not be aging that took that lift away from you, it will be the lack of progression.

Now let us look at what we mean by progression.  When we talk about progression most people think of ‘intensity’ the actually weight lifted, but that is an oversimplification of progression.  Yes if you lifted 90 pounds and later lifted 100 pounds then you have progressed, but there are other options. The amount of reps done during an exercise, a harder variation of an exercise, taking less time between sets, even trying new forms of exercise that stimulate the body in novel ways and develop new skills, all of these are forms of progression.

Most people realise that you cannot keep adding weight to an exercise (or repetitions).  There is a limit, most people will never lift 1,000 pounds or do 1,000 pull-ups in day, but you can progress by cycling exercises so throughout your life you continue to progress and move forward.

Let’s return to the person who believes 10 reps of 100 pounds is ‘strong enough’.  My argument is they should be aiming at higher numbers (let’s say 125-150 pounds for 12-15 reps), but not do it every week. They should do a mesa cycle working up to that peak and then move on to other exercises, then return again regularly and aim at equalling or ideally bettering that goal. So suppose you have four mesa cycles in a year (3 months each). Mesa cycle 1 would be get to 12-15 reps of 125-150 pounds doing the exercise, mesa cycle 2 could be doing a variation of the same exercise or working the same muscle groups using other exercises, mesa cycle 3 could be working up to 3-5 reps with 175-200 pounds of that exercise, mesa cycle 4 could be another variation that works the same muscle groups.  You can also do variations other than increasing weight or reps, think about the rest time between sets, what you do before this exercise.  So, you could cut your rest time between sets from 1 minute to 30 seconds, or if you are doing a curl, do a chin up before you do the curl.  All these things will change the results and create new demands on your body.  You have more than a lifetime of tweaks to play with. No one will ever have time to try every variable or even every type of exercise available. So, progression is possible throughout life and expect to set goals and repeatedly conquer them throughout your life, go forward, ever forward.

Come join us on our social media:

Website http://www.veganbodybuilding.org/

Facbook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/23353662623/

G+ group https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/114410514180598643636

Instagram @veganstrength https://www.instagram.com/veganstrength/

Twitter @veganbodybuild https://twitter.com/veganbodybuild

Pinterest @veganbodybuild https://www.pinterest.co.uk/VeganBodybuild/

Tumblr @veganbodybuild http://veganbodybuild.tumblr.com/

Here are a few money off codes you might want to explore:

 

  

http://www.veganicity.com

(Proteins and supplements)

35% off using code VEGANBODY2018

orders by post, online or phone

 

  https://freetfootwear.co.uk

(Minimal footwear)

30%off using code PeteR

 https://www.vegetology.com

(Supplements)

15% off using code VEGANHEALTH

  

https://www.revolution-foods.com

(Superfoods)

10% off using code vbb

http://veggie-style.com

(Proteins and supplements)

10% off using code VBB

http://www.virusperformance.co.uk/

(Exercise clothing)

10% off using code VBB

Knowledge doesn’t matter

By Pete Ryan 

People can spend years accumulating every detail of a practice and yet this does not lead to success. How can the army of armchair experts on the internet know so much, and yet accomplish so little?

To answer this question we need to learn the difference between knowing and doing, also how to translate knowledge from the theoretical into the practical. Let’s take a simple example. Suppose you know you waste all your time scrolling the internet, you have things to do, but you will ‘get it done’ when you get around to it. Alternately, maybe you start something, but get distracted and so no job is ever finished. If this sounds like you, then maybe you have read about ‘block time’? That is putting aside a chunk of time so you do one task within that time frame. It may look something like this: 

You may know this, you may also know that structuring your day this way may help you get everything done that needs to be done, but if you do not apply this knowledge, then knowing it is useless baggage! What you need to do is not just gather knowledge, the plan has to be to increase what you know, AND find ways to put those insights into practice.

I use a similar idea to making any change. I do not try to completely overhaul your lifestyle, simply start by making one change. In this case, if incorporating a complete block time system would be too overwhelming, why not pick one or 2 times and block them out, between 10-12 you will workout and between 1-5 you will do work. Leave the rest clear, but stick to those two times. Set an alarm or use a similar way to remind you that those times are blocked out. From there you make changes, you can change those times if one or the other is not enough, or you could add in a new block of some other vital activity.

I have given you just one example, you can equally include this to anything, let me give you an example with myself. I have had an ongoing back issue.  I trapped myself in an ‘injury cycle’, so I would train up to a certain strength level, get an injury, recover and repeat, so my maximum strength stagnated.  I knew… KNEW I had to include some core stability movements, to increase ‘core stiffness’ during lifts (if you allow me use of Dr Stuart McGill’s term of ‘stiffness’ for maintaining correct posture during heavy lifting).  These exercises, like bird dog, planks, side planks are boring and time consuming, and what I really enjoy are deadlifts, squats etc, not dull movements like planks. So, I would do enough so the symptoms would go away and then I would begin a new training cycle, starting light, but at a similar weight disaster would strike again, the cycle went on for way too long. The thing is I knew better, any client coming to me would receive very different treatment, but somehow I thought I was special, or with me it would be different...but it isn’t and I am not special.  I need what you would need in this situation. A few months of backing off, relearning how to engage my core and then bringing those new skills to the table. I know that, but even knowing that isn’t enough, you have little incentive to train if the goal is sets of 10 second bird dog holds, but you have to get into a delayed gratification mindset. Do I have the right to expect a heavy lift if I haven’t earned it doing those exercises?

That is one example, but now think of your own goals and your own actions that are limiting or even stopping those goals. Now think of what would remedy that issue? I bet you have the solution. I suspect you already have the answer to that dilemma, but for one reason or another you are avoiding taking that action. The first step will be to decide why, once the why is discerned that we can move on to solving the dilemma. You have several courses of action:

1. You know the problem and see the solution to implementing it.
2. The problem is not currently soluble, so a new solution must be discovered.
3. The solution is too large to implement, so break the solution into smaller steps and work towards the solution.

Those are the big 3 answers to virtually all your current issues. If you use that as a guide you will reach results. Let’s quickly look at these 3 option. The first is self evident, you have a solution and you can implement it.  The second is the most difficult as it means you need to find a new way to fix the problem. The third answer means that you need to break the problem into bite sized pieces. So, say your goal is exercising 4 days a week, start the first month simply doing once a week consistently, once there add days slowly until you are achieving your goal.

Most issues you ever encounter will involve a solution you already have the answer to so just knowing that you need to apply your current knowledge means that half the battle is already won. Just consider the solution.  Whether the problem is you do not eat enough fresh vegetables, you do not sleep enough, or you have weak legs, you know the answer, just put in the time to implement some changes and the results will come.

 Come join us on our social media:

Website http://www.veganbodybuilding.org/

Facbook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/23353662623/

G+ group https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/114410514180598643636

Instagram @veganstrength https://www.instagram.com/veganstrength/

Twitter @veganbodybuild https://twitter.com/veganbodybuild

Pinterest @veganbodybuild https://www.pinterest.co.uk/VeganBodybuild/

Tumblr @veganbodybuild http://veganbodybuild.tumblr.com/

Here are a few money off codes you might want to explore:

http://www.veganicity.com

(Proteins and supplements)

35% off using code VEGANBODY2018

orders by post, online or phone

https://freetfootwear.co.uk

(Minimal footwear)

30%off using code PeteR

https://www.vegetology.com

(Supplements)

15% off using code VEGANHEALTH

https://www.revolution-foods.com

(Superfoods)

10% off using code vbb

http://veggie-style.com

(Proteins and supplements)

10% off using code VBB

http://www.virusperformance.co.uk/

(Exercise clothing)

10% off using code VBB