Bodybuilding Regrets

[floridaorange]

I am using the term "bodybuilding" somewhat loosely here, really just to condense the title... but I recently met a new client who is getting spine surgery from the years of heavy weightlifting he has done. He is a big guy.

Got me thinking, I'm 43, should I abandon lifting heavy? I'd hate to be doing unknown damage... I'm not lifting extreme weight or anything, my goal is 400 dead/400 squat this year, not too far away from that, weigh 195 lbs now.

So, if you could do it all over, what would you do differently? I am refocusing on TUT (time under tension) and less on weight for other exercises, but DL and Squat I know it's heavy > all.

[overcoil]

when I was doing 2x and 3x body-weight for squats and deadlifts looking back I was getting consistent though occasional running injuries ( different things around my knees and shins ). I assume it was due to running.

March 2020 switched away from heavy barbells and now no running injuries.
Think if I were to do things differently I would have started running at around 15-years old instead of 18.
And the whole time would have focused more on pull-ups and dumbbell military presses.

[chassis]

Think of it this way, using the hip joint as an illustrative example. The example can be applied to any joint, for example vertebra, shoulder and knee.

The head of the femur has an approximate diameter, volume and surface area. It interfaces with the acetabulum of the pelvis. This is a "ball joint". The body weight carried by this joint results in stress in the bone and soft tissues including ligaments, cartilage, bursa and labrum. This is not medical science but rather high school physics.

The size of the aforementioned components does not vary too much, but weight carried, and the number of times (cycles) that weight is applied varies considerably among individuals.

Without belaboring the point, bodybuilding damages the body. It "wears out" the body faster than it would if the individual did not engage in such activities.

The speed or severity of "wear out" is varies among individuals. This means one individual can happily report "no problems here", while another may require multiple surgeries, pain medication and has greatly reduced function.

This is 100% identically analogous to a suspension ball joint. All else being equal, a car lightly driven with little payload will see its ball joints last longer (measured by time) compared to the same car driven more aggressively and with heavier internal payload.

[floridaorange]

In other words there is no way to
know if you are one of the fortunate ones who will be able to lift well into
their 60’s-70’s or not.

I started when I was 18, and thought that the body would both adapt and strengthen, ligaments, bone density and other supportive tissue insuring at least a stronger likelihood of weight lifting longevity.

Having said all that, at what age should I stop lifting heavy?

[chassis]

When your body tells you to stop lifting heavy. Is it telling you this now?

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by chassis

When your body tells you to stop lifting heavy. Is it telling you this now?

Thankfully no

[chassis]

Hip as suspension ball joint analogy: look at the plastic bearing on the left.

The ball is the femur and has a static strength (breaking limit) and a fatigue life. weight + cycles = total fatigue load.

The plastic bearing is analogous to cartilage, ligaments and bursae. Genetics can be compared to whether a person has low grade carbon steel or high strength alloy steel for the ball. Relatively unknowable.

The analogy is challenged by the fact that the human body has some degree of healing. The unanswerable question is whether an individual is in front of, or behind, the healing curve.

More weight lifting, at heavier weight = shorter lifespan of any weight-carrying joint in the body, all else being equal. The hip joint is used illustratively.

[floridaorange]

Guess I'll just have to keep taking my deer antler velvet extract & collagen peptides and hope for the best .

[JP10]

When I was at my strongest, around a 495lb deadlift/405squat/315bench at about 200lb body weight, I was warming up too quick with 225lb deadlifts and form slipped. I had bad sciatica for like a year until I finally rehabbed out of it. From there I kept it fairly light for 2-3 years. I was gaining some good strength last year, sitting around 185lbs, was also running a ton and the body felt great. Started pushing the weight a little more mixing with yoga. One day randomly got a hernia. So again toned the weights back and just started running a ton. In great shape now and have started lifting light again. Let’s hope the hernia doesn’t worsen.

Long story short I’m done with “really” heavy lifting. Cardiovascularly I feel probably some of the best I’ve ever felt. That’s probably the most important thing.

[floridaorange]

Good food for thought. Heavy doesn’t have to mean maxing/so-so form. I should focus on TUT and form, and lift heavy-ish instead. Thanks JP10 I think I’m clear now.

Where is the hernia and what were you doing?

Been down the sciatica road before, what a pain!

[nerdogray]

I can't lift heavy anyway, but in spite of that, I seem to find ways to get injured. Good times. I'm 50. My right lat has put me out of commission at least for this next week. Used to have issues with hips/glutes/hamstrings (imbalance and overcompensation) and proper loading of posterior. I've managed to move past that and am now pissing off new muscle groups. I only have a training age of about four years. Wish I had started when I wasn't fighting entropy. 30 years just passed with a blink of an eye.

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by JP10

When I was at my strongest, around a 495lb deadlift/405squat/315bench at about 200lb body weight, I was warming up too quick with 225lb deadlifts and form slipped. .

Btw - 495 is seriously awesome @ 200 lbs! What a beast! And 405 squat is super impressive too. The only weight I can share with that is benching 315, I was doing that at 175lbs back in college, which was pretty good for me.

I learned once from a big guy how careful he was with deadlifting. I was big and strong at that time and I think he was getting back into deadlifting (bigger than me) but he went super slow and methodical, even with light weight like 135 lbs.

[UncleWede]

If I could go back, I would have addressed this acromion pain way back before I did all those benches. At 56, I'm not going to heal as well, and this pain I've felt for decades could have been avoided. That bone spur has been scraping the rotator all this time, I'm just lucky it's still at slight scratches/tear, and nothing that is going to require surgery on the rotator, nor the months of recovery. Just cutting the end of the acromion off should be back near normal in 6-8 weeks.

For the past 2-3 decades, FORM has always been more important than weight. Challenge myself, but not others is something that yoga taught me.

[JP10]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Good food for thought. Heavy doesn’t have to mean maxing/so-so form. I should focus on TUT and form, and lift heavy-ish instead. Thanks JP10 I think I’m clear now.

Where is the hernia and what were you doing?

Been down the sciatica road before, what a pain!

Inguinal hernia. No idea what I was doing. Had a good workout, think I lifted legs. Followed by a 5k and ABs. Got a shower, noticed a bulge. Turned out to be a hernia. Still have it with no pain. Doc says I can get it fixed, but not a huge urgency due to no symptoms besides swelling.

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Btw - 495 is seriously awesome @ 200 lbs! What a beast! And 405 squat is super impressive too. The only weight I can share with that is benching 315, I was doing that at 175lbs back in college, which was pretty good for me.

I learned once from a big guy how careful he was with deadlifting. I was big and strong at that time and I think he was getting back into deadlifting (bigger than me) but he went super slow and methodical, even with light weight like 135 lbs.

Yeah it was when I was about 20. That was when I was at my peak as far as strength goes. That is also when I had a lot of time to just lift and eat. I mean I had my studies at college, but I breezed through most of that. I thought I would miss it, but right now I’m focused more on just being really healthy. Keeping a low HR, being able to go hours running or lifting without much difficulty. Feel much healthier and mentally stronger for sure!