It can measure left and right and lean mass per body part. The advantage is minimal but can tell you if your balanced and interesting to see the ratio. I thought it was pretty cool

I’m 48 now and beat up. My numbers were best at about 38 years old.
Bench #585 (shirt)
DL #560 raw
Squat #585 raw

Is that the machine where you make a connection at both feet and hands and then it alternates current between points to accumulate the readings?
I did one similar to that.
I also got to use a metabolism measuring machine where you breathe in and out for like 10+ minutes. Said my RMR (resting metabolic rate) was 3100 calories/daily. I am sure many of you would measure MUCH higher

here is a question for those pushing 50 and beyond: what is the best way to treat power lifting and weight training to maximize safety and strength longevity?

i.e. in 10 years I'd rather not be someone popping back on to this thread talking about the injuries that derailed me...

I think you just have to listen to your body more. The young guys can live by the “I will lift this, or die trying” philosophy, but that just doesn’t work in your mid 40s or later. You also need to let yourself recover more.

I did a local strongman competition last weekend. I was originally planning to do masters nationals in Vegas tomorrow, but I had to drop back. My body just wasn’t recovering from the heavier weights in time.

Did you ever max on bench raw? I am always curious what the difference is. I have talked to some people who got 300 pounds out of their shirt.

Just picked up a black zinc Ohio deadlift bar . I'm assuming most people won't care, but you guys likely will

Yes, that is the machine

I changed how I workout in my late 30's. When I was younger I lifted for specific sports, primarily football and generally did traditional olympic lifts with heavy weight and low reps. I stayed lifting in that style with some tweaks here and there into my late 30's and kept quite a bit of size and a ton of power. But, I dealt with more and more soft tissue injuries, bursitis and just general joint soreness at a much higher clip over time. So, around 39-40 I started incorporating different styles of lifting, a lot more super-setting to bump my cardio as I hate running and I rarely dip under 4 rep sets. I generally stay in the 8-10 rep range and I keep my movement slow. Injuries still happen but I don't have as many aches and pains, and my joints have not gotten worse. I also ice joints regularly and have always supplemented for joint health. No idea how much I really get out of supplements but I guess it makes me feel like I'm doing what I can...

One of the best bars out there for the money...nice pickup.

Does anyone have one of those "multi-grip" bars? Thinking about picking one up.
multi-grip-barbell-swiss-full-800 (resized).jpg
mg-2-lg (resized).jpg

I've used one. If you have the space for it, great way to revisit classic exercises and tweak different muscles in the process.

I just picked up one of these (stolen pic from the web) Click on the picture for a "full res" view.
Football Bar (2) (resized).jpg
Mine should arrive by early next week. My new weight plates will be here Thursday.

This was the only "multi-grip" bar I could find that had rotating collars and would for sure fit competition plates with their tight tolerances. It was pricey and hard to find but the reviews on it are very good. I also leaned towards a bar that had all angled grips and grips that were knurled. The bar is 45lbs.

I will use it for incline bench, standing bent over rows, tricep extensions and standing bicep curls to start with. Might even mix-up flat benching with it. Should take a lot of stress off the shoulders (that's what these multi-grip bars were originally designed for...in fact this one is still referred to as a "football bar").

Quick update. In 17 months, I’m down 132 pounds. I’m 11 pounds lighter than college graduation weight and 9 pounds heavier than my high school weight. In high school, I never lifted. I have a lot more muscle today than I did when I was 18.

So these showed up today:

Fringe (resized).jpg

Also...new PR today on bench...got 5 reps with 245. I've done 5 with 240 in the past but never 245. Next goal is to get 7 with 250...which should equal a 300 lb single. Then "three plates".

New PR on bench today...280. built myself a deadlift platform over the weekend also. Nothing fancy, just four pieces of good plywood cut, glued and screwed together. No rubber sides since I'm on carpet in my basement and using bumper plates.

for those of you who work out at home, have you ever taken what you felt was a dumb risk trying to bench a new PB without a spotter? Any stories?

In my younger days yes. Got "stuck" in college and had to roll the bar down until I could sit up (that left some marks). After that I stopped putting on collars.

Now I always bench and squat inside a rack. Although one day I noticed my safeties were not in place after almost failing on my last rep. Now I make sure to double check.

BTW a rack with safeties is WAY safer then having a spotter...although both can be nice.

I have benched 450 pounds, but I have never once benched more than 225 without a spotter, and almost always have a spotter at that weight as well. A pec, or a bicep tendon can rip at a pretty light weight, so it is never worth it to me to risk it. The last thing I want to do is get injured, then make it worse by trying to get the bar off of me.

I have never had it happen to me, but I have seen a lot of tears. It usually happens at what is a relatively light weight for the person, and it happens really fast.

In highschool, it wasnt much weight (135lbs) did a couple then got stuck on the last one, bar got crooked so I let one side drop off and of course the other side violently drops off, I felt like a big idiot for a while.

?

That sucks but there are multiple ways to fix that. Raise the rack. Raise your bench (easiest). Get a new bench. Get a new rack. If the pins are only a little below your chest than that can still work. Compressing your chest a little is okay vs the bar being able to hit your neck.

I would never bench without safeties in place now. Seen to many accidents with benching.

Have you guys seen this 5'9" 150lb guy who can bench over 400lbs! - https://www.youtube.com/user/UFpwrLifter/videos

Very inspirational...or depressing...depending on your outlook I find him very inspirational. Totally legit...the guy must have some freak genetics in addition to his insane workout schedule. And before you ask...yes he pretty much only benches...but damn! Not many guys can press four plates...and virtually all of them are way bigger/heavier than this guy.

I was so inspired I've begun to incorporate some of his training...mostly "paused reps" and "heavy singles".

Next to Jen Thompson this guy has to be the best bench presser I've ever seen (pound for pound). This is more impressive to me than what Larry Wheels can do. Sure he does more total weight but he's also a huge guy.

Pretty cool, guy makes it look easy.

Watching that, every instinct I have tells me that those are fake weights due to the length of his arms, but if it is real, that is the most impressive bench press I have ever seen. When I saw your title, I was sure I would see a 5’ tall guy with t-Rex arms. With this kid’s reach and body weight, 225 would be impressive as hell.

He definitely has a huge chest for his size. It is certainly not impossible as there are 7 Americans at 148 or under who have bench pressed 385-440 in competition in the last 11 years. The next class up is 165, and there are over 50 who have hit 385-501.

He's legit I've been following him for years. All he does is bench. Lots of different gyms with different witnesses and spotters over the years. He video tapes lots of his workouts. It's insane watching him do sets of pause reps with strict consistent form higher than my 1RM.

I know... crazy right? Like I said... freak genetics. He's definitely legit. I believe one of his earliest videos shows an actual competition from when he was in college and he sets a collegiate record. He's in his 30's now.

Getting closer to my goal of under 10% BF by my 50th birthday in December. Hit 11 today. I have lost some strength. But at my current age and the wear and tear lifting has caused over the years, I’m lifting more for fitness and aesthetics.

A few pics

2D2B422F-2871-400C-99F6-E5BF597AB396 (resized).jpeg

623AACC4-4AD0-44A4-B41A-0AE05C372408 (resized).jpeg

842C18BE-18B5-4EF9-9B61-28DB2BB48D3A (resized).jpeg

A75B713F-16F3-4DE2-9300-14703C32253C (resized).jpeg

Is it just me or does anyone else say "fuck you" to the barbell before doing a heavy lift?

Rubber mats under your bench will be the easiest way to lift it up. You could also try straps instead of the crossbars on your rack. I have seen quite a few people use those online.

lol...I treat my equipment very well. It's really more of a fuck you to the little voice in my head saying "I don't know man...that's pretty heavy and you didn't sleep great last night" But I direct it as if it's the barbell saying that.

Programs? There are so many out there and I've tried a few but I just feel like I've lifted long enough and tried so many different ways that I'm actually better off just doing my own thing. Not sure about that though...I might just be cocky/ignorant. Stronglifts 5x5 just seems like it's geared more towards beginners or early intermediate lifters. 5/3/1 seems like it's really geared towards very advanced (read hard to still make any gains) lifters.

So I'm kind of doing my own thing. I mean it's based off a lot of things I've read/seen...and also just seeing what seems to work for me. Although I do like to "mix it up" and have adjusted my programs rather frequently. The one I'm doing now I call the "wave" and it's slanted towards strength gains (New goal is trying to get into the 1000lb club...I'm 100lbs away...or 33.3lbs per lift )

An example of my current routine would be this: (Bench) 2x/week
2 sets of just the bar
1 set of 135lbs (half reps for 15-20) by "half rep" I mean the lower half of the lift...chest then halfway up
1 set of 155lbs (half reps for 10) All of this is just to get fully warmed up and get the blood flowing into the pecs.
End of warm-ups
1 set of 10 at 175
1 set of 8 at 200
1 set of 6 at 225
1 set of 4 at 240
1 set of 2 at 255
2 sets of 1 at 265
1 set of 4 at 245

I have been incorporating some "paused reps" into this routine as well (holding the weight at my chest...but not resting on my chest for a 1 to 3 count).

Now...being 51 I will tell you that this routine takes me a long time. This is no 30-minute bench routine...at least not for me.

So its fairly high volume at 36 (working) reps total (and that can vary a little), but with a slant towards heavy low rep sets (5 sets at 4 or fewer reps). Then just increase every other workout by whatever additional weight you can handle (2 1/2 pounds or 5 pounds per set). Doing something very similar with squats (on a different day), but after doing that I can not run the same program with deads. So my deads are a more traditional 5x5 or 6x4 or 4x6.

I have a "push" day, "pull" day and leg day. My main lifts are bench, squat and deadlift because I'm focusing on building those lifts.

After benching I will also do dips and some incline dumbbells, overhead press... then blast my triceps.

Pull day has been a little off lately since I'm dealing with a tendon injury. But I mix up lat pulldowns, bent over barbell rows, pullups, cable rows, landmine rows... then blast my biceps.

Leg day is focused on squats and deadlifts but I will mix in lunges, nordic curls (hamstrings) landmine squats (single leg) and a couple other movements.

I hit abs in different ways every workout.

Right now it's push day, pull day, day off, legs, day off, repeat.

If you are focusing on the 3 power lifts, I would suggest changing up your schedule. Each of the 3 lifts should get their own day. You can’t hit both squats and deadlifts hard enough in the same workout to improve both of them. A second upper body day would be ok if you want to add it, but I would make the primary exercise overhead press to give the shoulders and tris more work. I find rows to be a good accessory lift on deadlift day. On bench day, lat pull downs leaning back are good, since it is the same basic position as bench.

I think you will find, as the weights get heavier, that you only have enough energy for quick biceps stuff, since you really need to focus on things that improve the 3 main lifts.

I also wouldn’t go down to heavy doubles and singles on bench that often. Maybe the last 6 weeks before a contest, and I would drop the volume during that. Let those tendons heal up a bit with a little higher rep range farther away from a meet.

Thanks for the insights. Always appreciate feedback.

That being said I do not compete and have no plans to. I do have goals though and will have to think about what you have said regarding achieving my goals.

Low reps and heavy seems to be working for me and I've seen others do it that way. Then again I'm no spring chicken and a long layoff from an injury would suck.

And after....

Yeah...my right elbow is in bad shape...my own fault for not addressing it sooner. I'm going to see what I might be able to get away with (I can still do leg day) but if I aggravate it at all I'm going to take two weeks off and go from there. I hate taking time off...especially when things were progressing nicely.

Good timing...about to squat...I'll try it.

I haven’t tried it, but quite a few people at my gym have switched to it and like it. I am trying to keep my shoulders healthy for bench and overhead pressing, so I only squat with the safety squat bar these days.

Okay...for whatever reason it didn't work for me. It created more flex in my wrist then my normal grip which is all five fingers on top/side of the bar. Something like this (but not exact):
Squat Grip (resized).jpg
I'm just able to keep my wrist the straightest with this grip. I also normally wrap my wrists when I squat to avoid any possible/accidental over flexion. My wrists are very injury prone if I'm not careful. I really wrap them tight when I bench heavy.

And just for the heck of it, here is my deadlift setup:
DeadLft (resized).jpg