Middle Aged Muscles

Tag: Fitness Over 40

  • Changing Programs for Short Periods: Why and How

    I mentioned in a previous post that when coming back from vacation I was temporarily moving from my conjugate style of training into something completely different. This is not a permanent change and is only scheduled for 6 weeks. While it seems odd to do, I have my reasons and I’m going to walk you…

  • Frequency vs Intensity vs Volume

    Go online and start looking at different programs, you’ll notice some have you benching 2x a week, some once, some 4 times, others may have you squatting 2, deadlifting 1 etc… Things would be easier if there was some sort of written rule that just said “squatting twice a week is best” but it doesn’t…

  • Killer Birthday Workout for my 40th!!!

    I’ve always thought the idea of doing a special “birthday workout” yearly is a bit of a meme, but every year there I am thinking “I need to figure out what to do for my birthday”… This year was no different, and to top it off I’m turning 40 which is a milestone and even…

  • “Extra Workouts”: Who, What, When and Why

    “Extra Workouts”: Who, What, When and Why

    Ok, there really isn’t a who involved in this, I guess the who is you the reader, but the other “W’s” are relevant to this discussion and are frequently asked questions on the topic so they will be the focus of today’s post. What is an “Extra” workout? An extra workout is any workout at…

  • What do you do if something isn’t working?

    My last post revolved around a small mistake I made in my programming and what I was doing to fix it. To refresh, I did very little low bar squatting and that which I did, was almost exclusively to a box. When I went to test my low bar squat without a box it didn’t…

  • Admitting Your Mistakes: Where I was screwing up my low bar squat

    When I started this blog I promised myself I was going to write about the good and the bad. The internet is filled with people that are willing to rush and out talk about it every time they have a good day or break a PR, there are very few people who are completely transparent…

  • Changing Weeks / Blocks: How and Why I Use Them

    In past post I’ve outlined the framework for how I write my programs and how I work out. My version of the conjugate method works for me and would likely work for a lot of you (there is no perfect program that works for everyone) but I don’t run it every single week of the…

  • Picking Your Secondary Variations

    If you’re lifting for strength, your main movers are easy to identify. You’ll never find a person who has a good squat, deadlift, bench and overhead press, yet isn’t strong. While some powerlifting programs will keep you doing nothing but the comp lifts, I’ve always been an advocate of using variations within your programming. Before…

  • Time Management in the Gym

    No I didn’t stop this blog, or go on another vacation, I’ve just gotten really busy with life and work. It happens and when it does, I need to prioritize. While I’ve intended to make a blog post the past few weeks, I had to manage my time in and out of the gym, which…

  • Shoulder Issues Update

    We talked about this a while back and I’ll be honest, we’ll eventually talk about it again. For those that didn’t read my first post I have a long history of shoulder issues that predate me ever stepping foot in a gym. I’ve came a long way just to get “functional” but am now in…