TWO (Training While Old)

[OhHannah]

It kinda sucks. LOL Now one of my workout buddies is a hell of an inspiration to me because he's 70 and still kicking ass in the gym and on his marathon rowing races, but his goals as an endurance athlete are different from mine so our training isn't anywhere near the same.

I'm a fortyish chick working hard on strength and general fitness, and I found out that I like weights - the heavier the better - a lot more than I like cardio. Unfortunately the weights don't always like me, so I was constantly trying to work around sore spots, joint pain and sheer exhaustion from working out harder than a middle aged lady's recovery capacity can handle. A bit of research turned up a scientific solution to my dilemma, and it was spelled "nandrolone".

My routine while trying to add muscle was 3X week full body workouts focusing on the "big" compound exercises (squat, dead, bench, military press), plus 1 lighter session doing mostly core, lower back and "pre-hab" work on my neck and rotator cuff. Cardio got thrown in another 3X weekly, mostly 20 minute HIIT or interval work with occasional longer stints on the treadmill doing steady-state. I ran myself pretty ragged that way until I got my hands on some Deca. Mmmm, that stuff does wonders for both recovery and joints. Thank goodness for medical science. Obligatory disclaimer, that is strong stuff for gals and it's good to be careful with it. I really didn't need very much for the effects I was looking for, so I ran it at a dosage level closer to standard therapeutic usage in women than to what's normal in the BB community and did just fine.

I'm off it now and doing some cutting, keeping the same lifting routine but with lots more cardio (double cardio most days starting before breakfast). And I'm here to tell ya it sucks. My recovery is starting to go the way of the dodo again, and my energy levels are in the toilet, so I'm tweaking the diet some and hitting BCAA's during exercise to try to stay functional and get decent workouts.

Anybody else TWO and got tips to share?

[Nico Cujo]

I'd like a little more info on this. I know some women from here use deca to stay in shape. I don't think they use test but probably should use a max of 50mg test prop per week. That way they can stop it if the sides creep up on them.

[OhHannah]

What info? I'm still off cycle, and don't intend to go back on until I'm bulking again.

I'm not sure what you mean by "stay in shape". My goals do not involve figure modeling, but functional strength and increased muscle mass while staying at a fairly *high* body weight for my height. I'm not interested in dropping my body fat all that tremendously low since it's functional mass I need for what I do.

My goals are definitely not typical for a woman so you wouldn't necessarily want to use what I'm doing as a model anyhow.

[Rottenrogue]

Not too much advice.35 here and an active strongwoman competitor.
Fish oils and glucosamine seem to help.Yeah and the biofreeze is nice to lol.
Lots of stretching and more warming up than I used to do

[Marx]

Caffeine, good tunes on the mp3 and having carbs and protein dialed in help me. Potassium, calcium/magnesium and like good sister RR said, fish oil.

Keeping a log to 'compete' against and to see trends in my performance helps too.

L Arginine alpha ketagluterate makes the pump feel better.

The woman in my life is supportive of my goals.

A big part at our age is accepting the realities of a mid forties body- healing and growth wise, while keeping that mental/spiritual edge that won't let you accept mediocrity.

KICK ASS! The alternative is unacceptable!