70 Year old Bodybuilder - Melanie

I just posted the training routine and some of the diet a 70-year-old bodybuilder Melanie from England.   She is in incredible shape it looks like she's about 40 years old.  She has been training for most of her life and really hard for the last 15 years.

She is living proof that if we continue to train scientifically and watch your diet we can stay in shape and look great for our entire life. 

http://bodybuilder.com/

Is shoulder pain affecting your workouts. Then you may have carpal tunnel syndrome

I have an extensive article of this up on my website

Bodybuilder.com 

I have been experiencing shoulder pain for the last 6 to 8 weeks when I try to work out.   That means even when I try to do dumbbell curls I have a sharp burning pain in the front of my shoulders.  When I try to do dumbbell bench presses, or any other form of benchpress I have  Extreme pain in my front shoulders.

Do you have pain in your shoulders, your neck, and do you have pain when you try to sleep?   Have you stop doing certain exercises or sports because of the constant pain and your shoulders when you try them?   If so then this article will help you take care of that problem. 

 Now I was blaming the heavyweights I was using and lowered the weights but still the pain persisted.  Plus when you're dumbbell bench press goes from 65 pounds to 25 pounds you realize you're not going to get the results you want.

But I also noticed that when I was not on the computer for 8 to 10 hours a day that my shoulders did not ache and there was not the pain level that I had when I was on the computer. I could also almost get through a normal bodybuilding workout.

So I did some on line computer investigation and found out that I have a form of carpal tunnel syndrome called  Uppercross syndrome. 

Simply put I am a hunt and peck typist and I spend sometimes 8 to 10 hours a day in front of a computer.  And that means I am leaning forward with my head forward as I type. And that makes my shoulders and spine try to support my head from an unnatural position.  And so the shoulders and upper back or working 10 times harder than they should to support my neck.

And that results in constant shoulder pain in the front and sometimes back of the shoulder, pain in the neck, and pain when trying to sleep. 

In other words I was in constant pain so I have now been making sure I am sitting straight up-and-down and also I got a new computer desk.   That way I can see the keyboard through glass what I maybe working on just looking at the computer screen and making sure my back and neck are up straight.

I am all so now making sure I do exercises every 5 to 10 minutes I do not sit without moving on the computer for two to three hours at a time without moving.    

We need to increase our shoulder flexibility again and get our spine and upper neck back in alignment.  And we need to make sure we do this each and every day,  or there will be serious issues in the future and our shoulder and neck area.

So please read my article on my website and I will see what I have exercise pictures and video up soon

Bodybuilder.com 

POWER TRAINING,

If you're going to be successful in developing your body you must not only be constantly trying to increase the amount of weights that you handle for your exercises, but at the same time you must also be very careful of the stress that you were placing on your shoulders, knees, and lower back.

I have seen athletes for over 30 years virtually ruin their joints by handling too much weight and only getting exercise from lifting weights  They begin to cheat when they do the exercises and when they start experience pain in her joints.

They stop doing perfect form and start to use their legs and lower back so they can handle the same amount of weights, or no longer do a full extension of the exercise.  And the more their joints ache, the less range of motion they use on the exercise that they are doing.  Which also means they are losing flexibility in their muscles and joints for they no longer doing a full range of motion. 

I would suggest that every athlete include some static and non-static stretching either during their work out or to different part of the day.  And that you also include at least 1-2 rest stays during the week when you should be doing some flexibility exercises and aerobics to let your joints relax and your muscles grow.  

In fact if you find your poundages are going down, your joints and body are racing, it is always good idea to take a day or two off and let your body recover and your muscles to grow.

Do not feel guilty about this and definitely do not keep training add keeping the weights up or you are risking the chance of serious surgery and having to lay off for months before you can train again

Training Routine 10/19/14

I have been working out and world's gym about two months now.  I go in early in the morning in the atmosphere is great a lot of serious people in there.  In order to train hard you knew to be around people who are positive and have a lot of energy and want to work hard. 

My strength is increasing steadily and this week and I will get a little more rest  and try to get some more aerobics in.  I am bringing my lunch and breakfast each day and have a healthy meal prepared when I come home at night. 

I am also getting plenty of sleep and rest for that is one key to being in great shape.  If you do not get enough rest your muscles will  not fill out or grow.  And as we age we need to maintain our muscle mass.

Training at Worlds Gym in Glendale 

I had some super training sessions the last three weeks at world gym.  They really have some serious bodybuilders and fitness people there and it makes it very easy to train hard and to get some serious weight lifting in.

My weight poundages have gone up significantly in the last month and I could definitely see and feel the results.  if you're going to train and you want results you do after increase your weights. You simply cannot put on muscle if you're handling super lightweights, and you really will not get any results either.

I sometimes jump rope for 10 minutes at the end of my workout and I'm still playing tennis and hiking too.  Now I did you just start to clean up my diet the next two weeks I get a little more sleep and see how far I can take this

I have big plans! 

Training news 09/15

My training has been going great so last week was a very busy and work at school,  My lifts are going way up, and  when the weights you're using increase so do your muscles. 

You simply cannot handle meaningless  lightweights add get any results except being toned.   If you want to get results you must be working to increase the weights you are handling.   

That being said you cannot sacrifice form though.   You need to maintain good form and all your exercises to get results and to prevent injury.

Just getting back to the training I took my leg press from 135 pounds to 350 pounds in about six weeks.  And my dumbbell bench presses from 25 to 65 pounds too

And I just getting in to the hard training now.

Training at Worlds Gym

Bed back to the gym for the last two weeks now and getting great results!  I work out about 5:50 AM to 6:50 AM and I go in a very rapid pace.

My weight poundages are going up but I still keep them under control and go for form first.   I have been also getting an aerobic workout for play tennis and from running sprints in the pool.

I have kept my diet very clean and each week try to add more healthy foods to it.   The next two weeks I'm going to try to start cutting off some of the carbs and lean up and see ho cut up  I can get.

6 feet 205 pounds now I will try to go around 200 by the end of next week.   Not bad for sixty years old

TRAINING WHEN TRAVELING 

OR ON VACATION

08/01/14

Visiting Daughter and Granddaughters

Brought mat - 25 pound dumbbells 
up 6AM -  run 1 mile of sprints up HIGH grass hill in park
Walk 1/2 mile there and back to park
200 pushuos
500 situps
100 free squats
100 curls- hammer curls - cleans and presses-  rows with dumbbells
20 minutes of yoga stretching 

I do not care where you are what you are doing you can still get a good workout when you travel and when you are on vacation

And you will FEEL so much better when you do!    make it habit you never stop

Training in the Swimming Pool - 07/19/14

I have been running sprints in the pool doing straights- running backwards sideways and jumping up. I alternate with treading water and go over 30 to 45 minutes of full sprints and some stress.
Played tennis today and flat out kicked ass!!!! I want four sets in a row against them the top players in SCV

I Run as fast as I can in the water for sprints, and then I do stride outs as long as a stride as I can also!  I then tread water  pushing as hard as I can with both arms and feet while I'm doing it.  I can Tread water easily for 30 minutes now while making the water really rise  what I'm doing it,  I mean making my legs and arms move rapidly.

It is an incredible high intensity low-impact workout! 

Training Update -7/10/14

My training world's gym is really escalating. In our work out in five times a week along with tennis and swimming.  My weight pal just going out and  am able to do more exercises each day. I'm going to start tightening up my diet

I'm going to steadily increase the power outages next 60 days, remove most of that from my diet, see what I can look like.  I only take about 30 seconds between each exercise is big enough to put equipment to use. 

Just three days of training at world gym

This picture was taken today right before I go play tennis

Then super busy teaching and so have been short on sleep and also diet is just and fair.  But I have got my routine up to a full hour now, and in fact I could go for another 30 minutes if I get up earlier

So this next week I'm going to train even harder give my diet cleaned up and see if I can keep increasing those weights. Doing mostly aerobics and lightweights the last 10 years so now to see how much I can increase them.

New Training Routine

Okay so I've decided it's time to get serious and I went enjoying Worlds Gym Glendale!  I spent the last three years training in a small school gym with very limited weights and equipment.

In fact the dumbbells only go up to 20 pounds. So since I want to see how far I can push my training at age 60 I decided Time to get to a real gym and do some hard training. So I'm not training very early morning four-  five times a week. This is my third  work out and my ways are already starting to go up and I could feel my muscles were sore from the previous two days. 

But I will now be able to see just how far I can push my training.  My age I don't have to worry about losing muscle or really losing weight. Your body becomes a economic  machine and you have to watch what you eat and get the maximum out of the calories and the carbs you consume

So I am also starting my diet this week and hope to tighten my entire body in the next 60 days. I am not on a super strict diet for I do not believe in those and those usually lead to overindulgence at times. 

Simply put I intend to train as hard as I can and eat as healthy as I can. I will put pictures up of the results each week.

Free photo shoot for a bodybuilder/Fitness athletes who wants to take before and after pictures

Going to do photo shoots next week for all those bodybuilders and fitness people who want to do a before and after training session. We will do them twice a month and see what changes can be made

This is Debbie from Canyon country who is 64 years old and still training hard. Come on down if you can make it if not post your picks up here and tell us about your training

Training Day for 05/30/14

Starting gear up by my training. Going to increase my weights, increase all of my cross training, and really start to work on a super healthy diet.

Today I ran in the pool, tread water for 30 minutes, and then did a lightweight workout at Home, 

Also going to start taking some creatine each day and see what the results are. Remember all the dieting in the world Will not make any difference if you don't train as hard as you can. 

And remember I am doing this and 60 years old.

Training at age  60

Before 04/26/14

After 05/30/16

You can see the difference over the last one with my training and I am just getting started. I am back to lifting weights in the morning and I have now started to run in the pool and tread water filed to six days a week.

I'm also playing tennis for five times a week and hiking or five times a week. I'm starting to clean up my diet and eat healthier each week. I want to see how far I can go with my training I will start to record pictures every week and profile for my training

I will start to take pictures each week and record more more my training

Bodybuilding at 60 years old

Well it's time for me now to really start training. I have been swamped training and also educating students for the last couple years. 

But from now on I'm going to make sure that I put in time on my own training and diet for want to see just what kind of shape I can get in!  

My current routine includes;

• Training at 6:15 AM Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
• Playing teaching tennis Monday – Tuesday – Wednesday – Saturday – Sunday
• Hiking or running sprints to three times a week

I am now going to start doing an extra work out and night twice a week, some yoga and flexibility, and some medicine ball and jiu jitsu workout.  

Plus I am going to try to tighten up my diet and to also make sure I have more time to relax and recover. 60 years old you can still handle very substantial weights we have to make sure you have perfect form and higher reps.  You also have to watch your weight is absolutely stupid to try and get too heavy when you're over 50 years old. This puts a lot of strain on your heart and internal organs will do no good at all.

In fact I know it will hurt your cardiovascular system it will put excessive strain when your joints and you will begin to lose movement and flexibility!  Remember is we age our bones lose strength and also some flexibility.  Therefore do not try to weigh more than you did or the same about you did if you were playing college football or another sport that required you to bulk up.

Trading over 50 you  have to be smart and use your mind as much as your body. We want to be able to move, be active,  and enjoy our life as we age. So let's made sure we train to be healthy, and have fun,

I will now post more pictures and the effects of my training once or twice a week. I will soon start the channel on YouTube.

Working the core muscles

This is been a hot button term for the last 10 or 15 years. Everyone talks about working the core. What the heck does that mean.

First of all there more than a few strength and conditioning coaches who feel that working the core is something they put minimum time into.   They feel it is a term used by trainers to train Hollywood celebrities and people who were not athletes.

The core muscles include both your abdominals and your lower back muscles. They are at the center of your body and they are versus what hold your body together. Virtually every movement or exercise you do involves those muscles. If they are strong and meet your posture is straight and for any athletic endeavor A strong core will enhance your performance,

And of course for bodybuilding or fitness having a strong core a flat stomach is absolutely necessary. And like it or not it is also the way most people at judge if you are in shape or not.  When you put on a bathing suit to to it or go swim or relax and Sun bath you want to have a flat well toned stomach. That is the standard for what is called a sexy body.

When you do exercises for the core they are not just for the muscles that we call the six pack. we are also working oblique muscles and also the muscles of our lower back. That means we are not just doing endless crunches. We are doing other movements that strengthen and also provide flexibility to our core muscles.

As a trainer I have witnessed many athletes who have incurred injuries by ignoring the core muscles and by also putting on excessive weight. Most excessive way is stored around the abdominal muscles. This weight then put extra pressure on your lower back to keep you in an upright position. This can waken your lower back and make you very susceptible to injury.

In addition any extra weight is going to put incredible pressure on your joints. Especially your feet and ankles knees and hips.  I do not care how much muscle you put on to try to make up for this excess weight your boat structure can only handle so much weight. It is like taking your car and starting to put 45 pound plates and it. There's become a point in time with your friend cannot support that way is going to collapse. So will your body

So you must keep this in mind as you start to develop your body had to train. We are all born with different types of bone structures and you need to take a good look at yours to see just how much weight you can carry. If you exceed this way but a large amount you are going to costly be injured and unable to train, and you will be most unhealthy.

And remember our goal for bodybuilding's health first. I don't care how much muscle you on if you feel awful it will not be worth it. And believe me I have known hi but it's a bodybuilders and Ashley's who have done just that. Well everyone is complimenting them on how big they are what's around the gym there most unhealthy.

Remember the abdominals are made up of four muscle groups. So we need to have a wide variety of exercises to hit all of these muscle groups. Many of these exercises consists of movement from a mat and also using an exercise ball. That's right bending down to pick up something also works your abdominals and your core.

Another group of exercises that address the core or Pilates.  These were created in the 1920s and they were designed to strengthen, tone, and develop the deep core abdominal muscles. They not only develop the abdominal muscles they also provide stability and flexibility when you were working out or playing a sport. They enable you to maintain body balance when you are moving in any direction. 

So make sure you do Core exercises in your workouts. You want to maintain a strong sleek,body, keep your lower back strong and flexible, and be able to maintain a good balance position all during the day. It will also help you create or maintain the hourglass figure that we all work hard to achieve.

I will soon put up some of my favorite exercises to about the car on my website

Setting your bodybuilding goals

To be successful in any endeavor we need to set goals. This is what keeps us going when we’re tired, lack motivation, or have distractions that occur in our life.

But by looking at our goals this will motivate us to work out it correctly and push ourselves to matter what occurs in our personal life.  This is what will enable us to be successful as we pursue our fitness goals.

The first step is to have realistic goals that are short-term. After all is the Chinese say to accomplish any goal you must take the first step. So you need to sit down and write some goals that would apply for the next week the next two weeks in the next month.

Make them realistic we are not going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger in a month. That’s not going to happen. But we could lose 60 pounds or put on 6 to 8 pounds of muscle or   lose 2 to 3 inches around our waist.

I like to chart the wayside handle on a weekly basis. That way I can see how my body is reacting to what I am doing in my personal life. Am I not getting enough sleep and my not eating correctly and my letting stress what a day to day life affect me too much.

If I see A steady decrease in my ways that I know I need to adjust the other things I’m doing. I also go by how I feel each day. In other words I want to wake up feeling great and feel that way for the rest of the day. We do not want to have a three-hour workout every day and then go home and have no energy and not feel well during the day.

The first goal of bodybuilding is to look and feel good. It is not to take steroids and to look good I just feel awful and to be unhealthy. Wish you stop the steroids your muscle is either going to go away or you’re going to find you’re unable to drop that excess weight you have and most of it now Will no longer be muscle.

I have walked by people in the gym and not recognize them after they went on steroids this includes men and women. Some have lost between 20 to 50 pounds others have maintained the same way I lost 20 to 30% of their muscle mass. This is also very very hard and bad for your body. Anyway that goes on fast comes Allfast is going to go right back off right back on fast. We are looking for long-term health  goals.

After you create your goals you need to look at. Look at them two or three times a day do not ignore them. Remember out of sight out of mind. Look at them they got them all the time. Was someone offers you to pieces of birthday cake repeat your goal and maybe have half of one. When everyone else is sleeping in repeat your goal and get up early in the morning and get a workout in.

Remember you will feel like $1 million when you’re healthy you train, and when you take care yourself. And you cannot buy that feeling I don’t care how much money you have. I have training in Jim’s reset celebrities and their working out many of them hooked on drugs, alcohol, etc.. They have all the money in the world but they cannot keep healthy. 

I believe that you need sufficient rest to recover to relieve stress and to feel  and perform at an optimal level. If you are not getting enough sleep rest relaxation you are going to lose muscle, Game wait that is fat, suffer the effects when your heart and body. This includes high blood pressure and the possibility of stroke or heart attack. Remember the goal of bodybuilding is to build your body and be healthy. Not to be huge muscle to be unhealthy to pass away when you’re in your 40s, 

Over the last 10 to 15 years there’ve been multiple professional wrestlers, strength athletes, and bodybuilders with passed away in their early 40s. Most of them carried way too much weight, did not do any cardio work, you do not monitor their body is the work out. By ignoring their general health and focusing just on size and muscle mass and it up destroying their body and dying 2030 years before they should have.  They died too young like trying to make everybody do what it was not meant to. 

So always remember Health first when you set your goals. You want to have a healthy happy active life for the day you're born to the day you die. So set your goals to show modest game's each week each month each year. 

Push yourself and your workouts and towards all of your goals. Celebrate the success and analyze each failure. As long as you try to correct the mistakes you make your never failing. You're simply changing directions each day to become better and stronger each day.

Get your workout in each week  

How many of you missed your workout today? How many of you had business, a personal issue, and something else come up when it was time to workout? How many of you have been skipping you workout period,  because you have broken the habit of exercising on a regular basis.   

Well I think I would see a lot of hands up there. What happened to a lot of you and why? Why do you find yourself coming home and eating and not exercising at all? Why do you find it hard to get back into a schedule after you have broken yours?   

Well let's analyze this a bit. I have worked with numerous athletes and people who want get in shape and train who have all started like gangbusters. They have their diets and workouts written up and they make little checkmarks each day as they complete their routine or their diet.   

But soon you find that you are missing one or two workouts and soon that becomes most of your workouts, You are no longer exercising, or eating healthy and you soon begin to feel like crap most days.   

What went wrong? Well you had a plan and you then stopped following it. What if you :   

•  Showed up at work 2-3 days a week instead of 5 days a week? Well, you would get fired. 

•  Studied for classes only 1-2 days a week? Well, you would flunk most of them! 

•  Showed up for a business meeting 3 hours early or 3 hours late? Well you would be the only one there. 

  You see in order to be successful in any of these endeavors you have to have a plan of action and you have to stick to it. Otherwise you will fail.   

So I do not care what workout you do as long as you do a workout each day. You need to find a consistent time to exercise and then make sure that your exercise at that time each day. 

  YOU WILL FEEL BETTER – LOOK BETTER- AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE THAT MUCH BETTER!

So get up each day and make sure you have set a time up to work out and follow that schedule. I work out in the morning so that nothing can interfere with my workout. But I realize some of you cannot do that. So regardless of what time you work out don't think about it just give it make it habit and get your workout.

Should you handle Heavy or Light Weights to get Results 

This question has been asked for years now from every bodybuilder, fitness competitor, and athlete in every sport.

In over 40 years of training and training  with athletes I have seen it all.  From bodybuilders and athletes doing Max lifts of 1-3 reps in almost every workout to some huge athletes doing sets of benches with 135 lbs, but doing every rep as slow, controlled and with as perfect form was possible.   

So there is a wide variety of different philosophies out there on what you should be doing for the best results.  So here are some initial tips on what to do:

• Do not got for max lifts more than once a week 
• DO NOT CHEAT ON YOUR LIFTS AND USE BAD FORM
• Do not use so light a weight that you are not straining at all to finish your set
• Do not lift heavy all the time - it will be to hard on your joints 
• Throw a high rep - light weight day in your routine every two weeks.   

Also do not overtrain!    If you are constantly tired and dragging then you are not going to be making any gains either.  Take a day or two off or better yet do some cross training.

Speaking of cross training I always do some form of cross - sport training.   My routine includes 

• Tennis - I am ranked player and coach
• Sprints -  Agility drills - LOVE THEM
• Jiu Jitsu - wrestling -  a great way to get strong, flexible, and have fun
• Hiking -  we have a ton of great hiking trails here

Now all of these activities burn calories, work my fast twitch muscles,  work my core,  and build explosive muscles density.   I LIKE to eat and so by cross training I am not eating dry chicken breasts and dry salads which i did when I was bodybuilding and had stopped cross training.  Those days are gone forever.  

Now I can eat a healthy diet but sill have carbs when I want to.  AND I do.

My routine is weights -  Monday - Tuesday  - Thursday - Friday and i have a max of 15 -30 seconds between sets.  I KEEP MOVING BETWEEN SETS!   I do anywhere from 4 -10 reps and 3 sets of each exercise. 

REST?  I have heard and believe the saying " you are not ever overtrained you are just under rested" .   You need to have some down time and you need to  have some fun.   Do not ignore your Family.   Get out to a park and hike-  play tennis - basketball-  go bowling - swimming and TAKE EVERYONE!    That means go out and exercise and have fun while you do it. 

Keep track of your weights and try to increase them