Q: I’m 75 with years of lifting experience, but the [40-minute] Old Man Young Muscle 2 workout 3 times a week feels like too much at times. I do great for two weeks, but then I lose motivation and feel tired. Am I overtraining? Any suggestions?
A: I’ve mentioned here many times that your recover ability is a moving target…
As life stresses fluctuate, so will your ability to recover. And as you age, you’ll have less and less overall recovery ability…
Which is why you should reduce the workload of the OMYM2 workout. The full upper-body regimen is this…
You do the ideal exercise + stretch on Tuesday; then on Saturday it’s ideal + contracted.
Tuesday: Ideal + Stretch
Saturday: Ideal + Contraction
Instead, try this…
Tuesday: Ideal + Stretch
Saturday: Ideal only
Tuesday: Ideal + Contraction
Saturday: Ideal only
Tuesday: Ideal + Stretch
And so on. Monday is your add-on workout, and Saturday is your ideal-exercise-only day.
On Saturdays you can do the STX sequence, which is two sets with short rests on each ideal, or two standard sets to failure with longer rests.
If the above still feels like too much, do only one set to failure per ideal exercise on Saturdays…
You can do the same with lower body, although some trainees have said they progress best with only one leg day a week and one leg-oriented interval cardio workout.
One weight workout a week for legs was how I did it in the first OMYM workout, using dumbbells-plus-freehand exercises only. That’s all I had at that point, and my legs looked pretty darn good…
Finding your perfect recovery scenario will be fleeting. In other words, you’ll have to make adjustments throughout your training career.
But keep experimenting, adjusting and never stop lifting. The goal is to stay Built for Life.
Grow with the latest mass-building research:
Old Man Young Muscle 2 is here, giving you insight into most recent hypertrophy studies, how to apply them to your training, and a complete mass-building workout featuring STX, Speed Sets, and X-Reps. And for a limited time, you can get The Ultimate-Mass Exercise Guide FREE, which includes a New Positions-of-Flexion Workout. This is a $29 value, but for a limited time you can add both ebooks to your mass-building library for only $19 HERE.
