Help with training productlvely

[ph62]

Hello,

I hope this e-mail finds you in good health!

I´m a 52 year´s old Swedish man. Working full time and also have a family takes a lot of time but I still want to train and keep in shape. After a very long lay off I want to get back into training again. I want to get back into training and hopefully to build some strength and muscles. I´v ewatched your very informative videos about squatting on You Tube.

Here´s a little bit of my background:

My height is 177 cm and my weight is 90 kg. I carry a little fat around my waist.

After doing regular weight-training on/off for 20 years I lost interested in using weights and going to gyms. My main reason for losing interest was probably due to not getting result the bodybuilding magazines promised. I got bored with my training. Afterwards it seems like I just made myself fat from all the bulk supplement I ate. Before I started training I was a rather small guy with a small frame. Now I´m a skinny fat buy! I lean more to be a hardgainer type when it comes to build muscles and strength. I´ve never paid much attention to what I eat and also ignoring flexibility/mobility training and cardio.

Since returning to the gym I´ve not followed any particular workout program. I´ve just been doing the basic exercises. like bench presses, squats, deadlifts, military press, dips leg presses etc. I try to workout 3 times per week. Here are some weights and reps I´ve recently done. Nothing impressive though!

Bench press: 60 kg for 10 reps
Squats: 50 kg for 10 reps,
Deadlifts (sumo) 70 kg for 5 reps.
Romanian deadlifts 40 kg for 8 reps
Dips: bodyweight 5 reps
Chins: bodyweight 3 reps
Pulldowns: 48 kg for 8 reps
Leg press machine (weight stack) 80 kg for 10 reps
Military press: 30 kg for 10 reps
Barbell row: 40 kg for 5 reps

I´ve got a little bit of scoliosis in my lower back but after watching your video you gave me hope that I can still train and the same thing said a sport doctor I visited some years ago. I just need to perform certain exercises correctly and also strengthening my lower back.

Since my goals are to gain strength and hopefully get a little bigger with some more muscles on my frame.

Would you able to advice on a good re-starting routine?

I would be very grateful for any advice!

Kind regards,

Per Hedberg

[Boris]

Hi Per!

I think that there are a lot of good, simple and basic training programs out there. I really like Jim Wendler's 5-3-1 and Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength book, for example.

My best advice would be to hire a good local coach that can work with you on your goals and adjust your training as needed. BUT, in the absence of that, I'd suggest the following:
*find a good training partner
*find/create a corpus of exercises that you like, can do consistently, and that don't wreck you
*keep a training log (my suggestion would be to have one online and one hardcopy)
training logs keep me honest about numbers and effort
*"train" at least 5x/week. "Train" is loosely defined as activities/exercises that bring you closer to your goal(s). You mentioned mobility/flexibility, cardio, strength, and hypertrophy, so you have a lot of things to choose from. Not every "training session" needs to be a huge effort - a walk w. the dog + stretching would probably be good for your goals, for example, and I'd count it as training if flexibility were a goal of mine.

I have more suggestions, but I have to run. I'll try to chime in w. more later.