AGELESS BODYBUILDING, PART TWO

 

Ageless Bodybuilding
Part 2
A Basic “Break-In” Program

Don Howorth and Vince Gironda.  Howorth, I believe, was in his 50s when this picture was taken!

If you haven’t done so, read Part 1 before continuing to THIS article.  Without the first part, you may not understand just what-the-heck is going on here, and why in the world you are attempting such an “odd” workout-style in the first place!  It will also explain a very basic outline to my entire Ageless Bodybuilding System.

Okay, now that you have read Part One, we can move on to THIS workout program.

This Break-In program should be used by anyone who starts my Ageless Bodybuilding System.  I write this because I have a feeling IF everyone reading this had my complete Ageless Bodybuilding System at their fingertips—which, of course, will eventually be the case once I have written the entire damn thing on this blog—the majority of you would probably skip this first one because, well, it just seems too “basic.”  But this is a mistake.   This particular routine is exactly what I have written that it is—it’s a “break-in” routine for anyone starting this program, no matter how long he or she has been training.

First things first, if you have been training hard for the last several months—or even just the last several weeks—I want you to take off an entire week before beginning this Break-In program.  Yes, I realize that I’m constantly spouting on-and-on about the benefits of high-frequency training EVEN for us old guys and gals, but it’s also true that your body does need a complete break periodically.  And this is especially true for the 50+ bodybuilder.  When training, I have no doubt that HFT reigns supreme over all other forms, BUT the “mature” lifter needs to take a complete break from resistance training once every 6 to 8 weeks.  This doesn’t have to be for an entire week—4 or 5 days off typically will do the trick—and I want you to still stay active by taking walks, riding a bike, doing a soft martial art such as Tai Chi or Qigong, and/or doing some yoga (or something very similar as long as it’s not “intense” at all).  But for this program, I really do believe it is best to take off an entire week before starting.  Once again, stay active during this entire week.  Just don’t touch a single weight!  What the older ‘builder NEVER needs to do, however, is sit around on her butt and not do anything for a week.  (In a future post, once I have the complete system more or less written down, I will write some suggestions of what your day(s) should look like when NOT training.  Until then, just remember: relax, stay active, and no resistance training.)

This program is partly inspired by Vince Gironda’s “raw beginner’s program” (as he called it).  (While we’re on Gironda, so that I’m being entirely honest, let it be noted that a LOT of what you will read in this system is, at the very least, “inspired” by Gironda.)  Although Gironda wrote about this program a few times (I have an IronMan magazine and two MuscleMag issues where he recommends it), for some reason it just never became popular or well-known despite its efficacy.  I have a good feeling that the “for some reason” is the high-frequency nature of it.  In Gironda’s “raw” program, you trained your entire body 6 days-per-week., which psychologically readers weren’t willing to entertain, especially in the ‘90s, when the 3 aforementioned pieces were written.  (There’s a good chance that many of you reading this, being my age or older, know exactly what I am talking about.  The ‘90s became the era of Dorian Yates, “Heavy Duty” training, H.I.T. “jedis”, and, eventually, an era of low-frequency, low-volume training.  And all of that was the exact opposite of Gironda’s program.)

The major difference between Gironda’s program and this one is that, whereas Gironda recommended 6-days-per-week, this program is a 4-days-per-week regimen.  If you were 20 to 40 years old, I would tell you that 6-days-per-week is ideal.  You may even be fine with it if you were in your 40s, but once you’re over 50, I think it’s just too much.

The Training Week

Your template for the Break-In Program looks like this:

Day One: Full-Body Workout

Day Two: Full-Body Workout

Day Three: Off

Day Four: Full-Body Workout

Day Five: Off

Day Six: Full-Body Workout

Day Seven: Off

If you decide that your training week is going to begin on Monday, for instance, then you would train Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

The Workout

Here is the workout that you will perform each training day:

• Incline dumbbell bench presses, cable pulley flyes, or decline dumbbell flyes: 10-12 reps

• Pull-ups, seated cable rows, or lat pulldowns: 8-12 reps (only do pull-ups if you can get at least 8 reps on a set)

• Side lateral raises, dumbbell overhead presses, or shoulder flyes: 10-12 reps

• Dumbbell curls, barbell curls, or cable curls: 10-12 reps

• Triceps pushdowns, rope pushdowns, or “skullcrushers”: 10-12 reps

• Dumbbell squats, resistance band squats, or front squats: 10-12 reps

• Trap-bar deadlifts, dumbbell deadlifts, or resistance band deadlifts: 10-12 reps

• Standing calf raises, seated calf raises, or donkey calf raises: 10-25 reps

The “Rules” of the Program

• Do the above program at each workout of the week.

• Change exercises at each workout.  The exercises that I have listed are my personal “preferred” exercises for ageless bodybuilders to start with.  If you decide to use your own “list” don’t do too many exercises, but stick with a maximum of 3 that you rotate from workout to workout.

• You will perform this Break-In program for 4 weeks before changing to a more “conventional” program.

• Week One: one set of each exercise

• Week Two: two sets of each exercise

• Week Three: Three sets of each exercise

• Week Four: Four sets of each exercise

Final Words

In the next program, I will outline a more “standard” full-body workout model that will be one of the two primary ways that you will train with the Ageless Bodybuilding System.  Now, I may write a post before then dealing with my nutritional recommendations for the System.

When on this Break-In program, make sure that you are active at least two of the three “off” days.  Do some of the very things that I recommended you do when you are “taking off” from training.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section, or, if you want more private correspondance, you can always email me your questions.  I will do my best to answer them.  Until then, train smart, eat well, and be healthy!