Adjusting Workout Intensity in the Gym as You Get Older

This year marks my 33rd year training in a commercial gym.

I’ve noticed quite a few patterns in that time.

The most common pattern I see is that almost everyone gets a shoulder injury at some point.

I’ve been lucky enough to avoid this.

One thing I’m extra careful of is to lift weights well within my strength range.

I’ve talked about this in the past…

You can become stronger by lifting WELL short of failure.

The strength coaches of the former Soviet Union studied the lifting habits of their most successful athletes over decades.

Their strongest athletes spent most of their time lifting HALF the reps they were capable of on any given set.

So…

If they were able to do 10 reps with a given weight?

They would stop at 5 reps.

This feels weird when you aren’t used to it.

Instead of lifting with intensity…

You get stronger by training less intensely, but with more FREQUENCY.

This is what Visual Impact Frequency Training is all about.

The nice thing about this is that your risk of injury lowers dramatically.

It can work well.

Until it doesn’t.

If you are older I believe you will get a lot more mileage out of training each muscle more often, but with MUCH less intensity.

You will get stronger training this way.

You will never feel extremely sore or incapacitated from blitzing the muscles and joints too hard.

Recently, in a video interview, Pavel Tsatsouline broke down the Soviet approach of NOT lifting to failure.

This works well!

Note: It is hard to get over the idea that we do NOT need to strain or push to failure to get stronger.

Pushing lifts with extreme intensity is just one way to gain strength.

…and it does work well in the short term.

Although this is the most common way people train in the gym, I don’t think it is the best way.

The biggest problem is the risk to your joints every time you push to the edge like this.

I recommend backing off.

Build your strength using a slow, steady and safer approach.

Let the younger guys scream and cause gym drama.

You are beyond that now.