I'm not talking about massive injuries, but more like those annoying pop up ones. I pulled a back muscle two weeks ago, nothing major, but it was annoying to nurse it for a few days. A knee I hurt in college gets sore randomly, just have to go easy on it when it does, just stuff like that seems to happen once or twice a month.

I've been starting each workout with the Squat, Deadlift and Bench (not all of them, just one) at 3x5. Even though I take my time warming up, and only go up in weight if I'm certain I did well with good form, my nagging pains are popping up more frequently than when I did every lift in more moderate ranges. I used to stick to 3x8 or 3x10 mostly (pump workouts are more fun). Took forever to add weight to the bar though, a 5 lb jump might take 2-3 workouts or more before you could hit the rep target.

As far as internet bragging goes, my lifts suck. Squat is 2 plates, Bench is bodyweight on a good day, and I'm going slow with deadlift but it should be 3 plates soon.

I feel like this is stuff I should have focused on in my 20s, and I'm thinking of calling it good enough and going back to more reps and lower rest times. At the same time, I feel like once I hit 40 I probably won't be adding much to strength, so I should probably keep chipping away at it.

Do you guys use periodization as you get stronger, or just fix the stuff that gets sore as it happens and work around it?

I'm 35. I haven't had any major injuries, a few minor ones. I'm at a stage right now where I'm lifting heavy about 3 days a week. The biggest problem I have is a periodic flare-up of tennis elbow. I don't use braces or belts.

I'm 36 and I'm constantly in pain somewhere.  I just work through it.  My training partner is the same age and he has the damnedest time getting warm enough to lift.  I generally can just jump into it.  So I would listen to your body and experiment with different warm ups, and possibly warm downs.  Recovery days.  Rest days.  Sufficient sleep.  A lot of water.  Fish oil.  More food.  Better food.  Dirtier food.  Have to figure yourself out.

Right now I"m lifting above 90% in all my lifts, pretty much 5 days a week.  I'm keeping the volume really low and if I start to get that tapped out CNS feeling in my lower back, I back off for a few days, or a week.  But you can't keep that up 365, for sure.

Sore knee, minor muscle pull in the back, wrist, etc.  Always something to work around.

I've been taking it easy on my right wrist now for 11 months and it's still hurting, although not nearly as bad.  I also decided to take a full month off completely to just rest and heal up, but then work went nuts and it's now been three months.  Looking forward to getting back in the gym tomorrow morning.

I also did a myofaicial release last week, the guy pretty much uses his elbow to force the skin and tissues to release their adhesions,  it is brutally painful and very helpful for my mobility and aches.  He worked over my feet and shins last week and I'm standing much better and have a lot better mobility in the ankles, I'm hoping this keeps the stupid little pains minimized.

I'm 48 so there is always something hurting.
Biggest thing I did was cut back on the weight when I'm doing free bar lifts like squats and dead lifts.
When I get over 315 lbs squatting I move to hack squats, smith machine and leg press. (did hack squats yesterday finishing with a set of 5 at 900 lbs)
When I get over 375 lbs dead lift I move over to this sled thing we have. (video below) I really wish more gyms had something like this.
I don't bench heavy (over 250) anymore and when I'm doing things like rear delts I use lighter weights and do slower movements rather than fast.
Getting old sucks as all of the football, rugby and martial arts abuse starts taking it's toll.
Dead lift sled thing

My sciatica has been killing me.  Didn't make it to the gym the last two weeks, and it hasn't hurt.  Whent on a ~4 mile hike (carrying enough gear for a weekend and often my 30lb son on top of that), at the end I literally limped in my car.

41 years old.  Awesome 35 BMI.  Don't know what the answer is, but I'm thinking of taking significant weight off my squat and dead for a long while (should probably see a doctor, too, but that stuff is for fags).

This thread has my interest. I've asked and never really got a clear response as to my question. At what age do you gear back from lifting heavy to perhaps a medium weight and leave the lifting of cars and houses to the young guys ? I've always been a strong lifter but at my age of 46 my ego still tries to push me to start lifting heavy again. I float right on the edge of strong and then lifting heavy weights. What do you think would be a good age to start staying away from heavier lifts and keep with the lighter stuff ? Like right now I keep my bench workouts to no more than 300 and squat workouts at no more than 315 and my body seems to thank me for it. But part of me wants to push heavy weights again.

Any old guys like me ? What are your thoughts and experience on this ?

I'm 49

I keep pushing.  (once I get my poverty squat to 3 plates, i'll have 1,2,3,4)  I"m stronger now than I was in college.  

but, I have to smart about it.

Finding 5-3-1 was a godsend.  Slow, steady progress, and the deload week is they key to the whole thing.  Also allows me to just hit an area once a week.  Sure, when you're 20, you can bench press every day.   Now, once a week for each big area is plenty.  A linear program wipes me out and quickly and the body starts breaking itself down to make me stop.   But as I'm sure you start to see your parent's generation stop moving and stop moving well and after that it's quickly downhill.  I worked very hard in my late 40's to get the flexibility and strength back and I hope to not lose it.  You should be able to do a full 3rd world squat (no weight) and most people can't even get up off the toliet without help.

I roll every night, i stretch (well somewhat, i really do miss yoga class).  I get a professional massage every 2 weeks and sometimes, shit just hurts and that exercise (if it's not a big 4) gets skipped until next week.  

Honestly when my knees are hurting (i.e. all the time, but i'm old and honestly they have hurt since my teens, it ain't going to get better), I go for a walk.  I find a good walk cures a lot of ills.  

I expect some day that it isn't going to happen anymore and i'll be breaking more than not and I'll have to change again.  But they say testosterone drops off a lot in your mid 50's, so I"m trying to build up as much strength as I can.

Dan John is well worth reading if you haven't.  http://danjohn.net/

Plus, putting up 2 plates in your 20's is eh, everyone does that.  Putting up two plates when you're almost 50 gets you instant gym cred.  

The older I get, the smarter I have to train to prevent the nagging little injuries. I lift heavy 2 times a week, and the rest of the time I do about 70% of my max with as many reps as possible. I tend to get harder when I train with high reps.

How old are you ? at 46 I try and get a gage from what others have been through before me and learn from it.

You don't have to be lifting at 90%+ to improve strength.

I have found that the more volume I do in the 85%-95% strength range I have more injuries. I try to keep volume in that range to 3 sets or less.

A good example would be 5/3/1: if doing the program as written your last set on the last week (of your first cycle) would be only 85% of your true max. That is your heaviest set for the entire cycle

I've looked at 5/3/1 a few times, and it looks pretty awesome for when I'm busier with work.

My problem is that I'm still consistently adding weight to the bar doing 3x5 every week, but it's also taxing so my brain hates doing it. I couldn't keep progressing at the same speed switching to 5/3/1, plus I would need to figure which template to run.

And in an ironic twist of fate relevant to this thread....I just tweaked my back....while reaching really hard to get something out of the cupboard.

I'm supposed to deadlift tomorrow and I can tell that was one that's going to hurt for a few days.

Are you more concerned about what you are lifting today or ten years from today?

In the back of my mind, neither really, I just like looking good naked.

40. I've never really had any injuries from lifting heavy but I have a lot of injuries my injuries are what keep me lifting. 2 discs are completely gone and one is on the way so a strong core is my best shot at not being a crippled up old man.

My left knee is shot and both rotator cuffs have been torn more than once. Somehow lifting heavy doesn't seem to be a problem for them, as long as I use good form. I also spend most of my time chasing 4 little ones around so that probably helps limit the damage I do to myself in the gym. I still just stick with SS type workouts 2-3 x/week and just don't go adding weight unless I feel like it.

I think I've said it on here before but the squat rack is IMO as close to a fountain of youth as you will find.

I'm old. Gave up on that shit a few years ago. I go to the gym now because I don't want to die

I get that. For me strength is the main goal, looking good is an awesome side effect.

Either way, I think the point I am trying to make is this: while you may progress slower on 5/3/1, or similar, the limitations on the volume of heavy sets may help you with some nagging injuries that pop up from just going for a 3x5 at, or above, your 85% threshold week after week. And you will still make progress. On top of that, limiting the speed of your progression is a method in and of itself to prevent injury.

The big thing is that you know generally what capacity you are working at and for how long. This makes it easier to back it off to keep some of those nagging injuries from becoming show stoppers and still make progress.

I am just trying to give you food for thought, this is what I have found works for me.

Makes sense, I read a blog by a guy that said the BBB template was basically the perfect "dad" workout. It didn't tie you up for hours every week, and progress was steady and predictable.

My hang up for winter is that I get so bored, a push/pull/rest or pull/push/legs/rest setup works well for me since I can get downstairs and do some work most days. Without fail every time I run a lower frequency in the winter time I end up doing something stupid, like trying to fit in a bodyweight circut on rest days, or thinking I should do Ab Ripper and calf raises for 40 minutes.

I could run it in the summer though since I usually have to dial workouts way back to make sure they aren't interfering with work.

Maybe check out 5/3/1 for hardgainers and building the monolith.

I would recommend doing the basic 5/3/1 for one or two cycles to kinda calibrate yourself.

For the older guys ? How strong is strong enough ? At what weight do you stop pushing your body once you obtain it ?

I sleep with pillows under my shoulders and 4 ibprophen mixed with 5 benadryl.
Both shoulders are shot, both knees are shot, my spinal erectors are hit or miss and I've got a knot on the back of my hamstring from a tear 10 years ago. Arthritis in both knees and a torn meniscus in my right.

I don't plan on squatting 500lbs or even 400 unless some kind of miracle happens. I lift on average 4x per week and do what I can do and live with the pain.

I'm actually in better physical looking condition than when I was in college and playing ball. Just not near as strong in the leg department.

Take whatever I say with a HUGE grain of salt as I'm only 29. I'm on my feet 8-16 hours a day w/ a vest and a duty belt though so I'm not exactly a young stud with a sweet office job.


I hurt my back a couple years ago, I kept having nagging muscle pulls in my back during deads that would only take me out a day or two. I was washing my car and bent down to pick up a sponge and went down face first. Couldn't move my back freely for 2 weeks. My back is still hit and miss some days but it isn't a constant nagging pain 24/7 like it used to be, I get sore after real back intensive lifts but no more than anybody else I think. It's been so long I can't really remember what a normal amount of sore is. I hurt my hip while doing barbell lunges. Stepped forward with my left leg and felt my right hip pop out of the socket and immediately go back in at the bottom of the lift, hurt like a motherfucker and was super tender and weak for a month. I still get some nagging hip impingment today and it was a year ago, but it doesn't bug me most days. In highschool I dislocated my patella, ended up on the other side of my knee. It only bugs me if I let my work boots get too worn down, superfeet/sole insoles help a lot. If I STOP squatting it actually gets a hell of a lot worse really quick. Keeping the muscles strong and stable helps that one a lot. During some power cleans I worked up to 265 and was using a reeeaaaalllllyyyyyy old shitty bar with almost no spin. During the catch the bar didn't spin but my wrist sure tried to. Couldn't really move it for a few days and wasn't able to bench for a couple months. Couldn't do curls for about 3 months without pain. So the hip, back, and wrist all happened in a 2 year time frame starting about 2, 2.5 years ago. No injuries for the past 9 months or so. I had some elbow pain after using a slingshot for the first time, only lasted about 2 or 3 weeks. I just did some better warmups and went away pretty quick. Pretty sure I just loaded way too much weight too quickly with the slingshot.

What I did different was sticking to reeaaaalllllyyyyy low reps (1-3 reps) but for more sets (8-15). So instead of doing 5x5 at 245 on bench I'd day 15 singles of 255, or 10 triples of 240. This helped joints out considerably. I do almost no horizontal pressing for the most part. I do maybe a 25/75 mix of horizontal to vertical pressing. My shoulders are healthier now than at 15. Now, the single one huge thing I did was to stop listening to all the asshats in message boards, reddit, youtube, etc. I do not do back squat as a main movement EVER anymore. I'll use it for lighter assistance work but after years of getting my form down I'm convinced it isn't a form issue. I have never squatted without developing some sort of hip pain. The only time it doesn't hurt is if I go pretty narrow with a high bar stance. So I just do front squats because they don't hurt and I can make progress pain free. I do the same for deadlift. I do not touch conventional deadlifts anymore. I'll do light romanians and when I go heavy I stick to the 1-3 rep range on Sumo deadlifts because that is what I can progress with pain free. Conventional bench? After numerous pec strains I stick to close grip and weighted dips.  I am barely back up to 365 sumo after years of trying to force conventional. I was pulling 495 for reps, so not great but not bad. My issue isn't that I've ever been week in the squat, deadlift, or bench, it's that I get strong in them over time with good form but not everybody's joints are built the same way. I stick to what I can do pain free on barbell movements and I don't EVER EVER EVER go chasing single rep PRs more than maybe once a year. If I can get a double or a triple PR then great, but the only times I've ever gotten hurt while doing a lift are when I'm loading up for a heavy single and then I will usually land it, walk off and hurt myself right after or the within a few days. I don't compete, I lift for my mental well being and to stay athletic so I don't get my face beat in at work and that is it.

That got long winded, and maybe it's all broscience, but I'm a very adamant believer that you must lift for your leverages and anatomy. Not everybody is built the same and I think that's where a lot of injuries come into play. Also, not to skip over it but a huge factor is lack of recovery time after an injury. I want to be lifting til I am so old I need to worry about breaking bones. It's a marathon. If my elbow hurts all week and then feels perfectly fine the next week instead of throwing some plates around like most I'll give it another week. I think most people have these nagging injuries because they keep jumping right back in as soon the pain is gone. Ever get a cut on your lip? Hurts for a few days right? Notice how when it starts to heal and closes up it doesn't hurt anymore but you can take a look and tell there is still an injury right? Open your mouth too wide and it opens right back up, doesn't it? Joints are no different as far as I'm concerned. Things can heal up enough to where they don't hurt but they'll get torn right back the hell up the second you push them without letting them heal up.


Anyways, I'm all over the place but where I was going with that is that some common sense, autoregulation, and self awareness goes a long way. Programs are great obviously but a lot of people get messed up by not listening to their own body and pushing for whatever numbers their program says without thinking. Lift in a way that doesn't hurt, take days off when that voice in the back of your head says to. Injuries are avoidable a majority of the time. Most people that have gotten hurt can probably think back and remember some sort of indicator that they ignored.

edit:
quick tips since this obviously isn't a long enough read:
-agile 8 or limber 11 warmup before any lower body stuff
-if you sit a lot do not do any leg stuff without addressing your more than likely messed up hips/hamstrings.
-most back problems are a result of something out of whack in your legs
-Narrow that grip up and arch the back a bit on the bench to help with shoulder pain
-Get a healthy bicep/brach pump going before hitting tricep work, helps a lot
-movement can help the healing process sometimes, even going on a walk when able after a back strain can help
-warming up the hamstrings before squats helps with knee pain (creates a cushion at the bottom of the movement)
-GLUTE ACTIVATION! Do glute bridges, hip thrusts, GHR, pull throughs, KB swings, etc. This was the single biggest help to preventing most lower body injuries of mine, IMHO of course, not a doctor.
-neutral grip on pull ups, helps keep elbow pain away

I'm 43 and I'm either a puss and don't push myself hard enough or I'm really lucky.  maybe a combo of both.

I have no pain or issues I deal with and rarely tweak anything when lifting and I lift "heavy" for me.

I have a herniated disc in my neck from 9-10 years ago that gives me no problems...as long as I am lifting heavy.

Knock on wood.

Thanks for the good reply. I'm just the opposite of you. After an injury I don't deadlift anymore. A trip to the Ortho Doctor and he asked me to stick with squats and stay away from the deadlifts and I feel so much better following this advice. For some reason it doesn't agree with my body. I'm not chasing after 1RM lifts I just like lifting heavy

Back injuries are weird. Even with an MRI to look at it's still impossible to really know how it's going to effect you. I've found that DL is really not a problem for mine at all. It's actually a lot easier for me to keep a perfectly straight back when DL'ing than squatting. The really weird thing is that I am always completely pain free for a about a day after DL'ing, and that is the only time I'm ever really pain free.

That is odd but I can understand. If I take a week off from lifting I tend to get aches and pains all over and it goes away when I start back up ? The body is weird for sure !!!!

You nailed it in the first sentence.






pussy!

My back is the same way.  3ish years ago it started bothering me chronically.  Over the last 3 years I've had an MRI, been to PT, tried different modifications to lifting like no DL, no heavy, finally no lifting and with that came a load of weight gain.

My diagnosis is arthritis in my facets.  Nothing repairable.  Just something to live with.  The PT made it bearable, the weight gain made it worse, and about the only time I'm pain free is the 4-6 hours after doing my PT stretches or the 24 hours after DLing.

I've come to the conclusion that there's poor perfusion in those facets and the stretches and DLs help get more circulation in there and reduce the inflammation that causes my pain.  It's my only chronic injury.  So I'm back to lifting, because being fat and lazy hasn't helped anything.  ETA: I'm nearly 37.

I stopped lifting for about a year on the advice of my doctors, chiro's and PT's. That was the most miserable year of my life. I feel like I aged about 10yrs. A couple of steroid injections into the area of the herniated discs finally got me feeling good enough that I can work around it. I figured the shots would wear off but I'm over 6 months out now and it seems to be getting better every day now that I've started lifting again.

I may eat my words one of these days when I try to pull 5# too much and end up a paraplegic, but lifting heavy stuff seems to be working out fine for now.

I constantly lift with getting older in mind.  This is one of the reasons I wouldn't take PEDs, assuming they were legal.  Yes it would be awesome for a short period of time, but then I would lose it and that would suck, and it's not going to help me in the long run.  Watch the documentary on CT Fletcher.  I agree with a lot of what he has to say.  Of course you're not going to be able to move as much as you get older, but it's all relative.  I want to be as strong as possible while being healthy at the same time.  Because strength is nothing without health.  And in another 4 years, I'll be in the masters division in strongman and thank God, the weights get lighter.

Age 42 here and trying to pretend I'm not getting older.  Still lifting, running (a little), martial arts, etc.  I need more recovery now, so when I have to miss a day it doesn't bother me as much.

Recurring problems with hamstring (took a tendon out years ago to repair ACL), weak rear delt area on one shoulder (nerve damage from crutches after ACL surgery), doesn't effect me when I use barbell vs. dumbbell.  Bad elbow at times from lots of pullups and punching.

I've done a lot of what PancakeodDoom said.  Limber 11 has been great for lower back pain- I don't have it anymore.  I now do hamstrings before squatting as well.

I did just get a new injury Friday- felt a pop doing dynamic pushups.  Had my wife (doctor) look at it, probably a minor pec tear.  Need to rest for a couple of weeks.  Am definitely more careful these days and learn to listen to my body for when I need rest and deload.

49, no major injuries from either running 40 mpw, which I did as recently as 2-3 years ago or from lifting.

Trying to run Texas method or Starting Strength for too long eventually led to some patellar tendonitis due to heavy squat volume.  Transitioning to either 5/3/1 (winter) or using SS (summer), but squatting heavy Monday / light Wed / medium Friday seemed to mitigate things.  I go to 3 days/week lifting in the summer to spend more time SUPing and this year I will probably do 2 light days of squatting (Wed/Fri) or just not squat on Friday, but include 3x5 of deadlifts heavy on Friday.  I've really come to like deadlifts and their effects on my body quite a bit, despite never doing them when I was younger. 

Non-chronic injuries have been limited to "tweaking" my back, normally from trying to push too hard squatting and letting form break down, so I stopped pushing for AMRAP on squats for my last 5/3/1 set.  So far, so good.

34 years old right now

Right now each of my main lifts I am using a modified Bulgarian method where I lift to my daily max and run 2-5 sets of 2-5 depending on how I feel.  Great technique if you are in tune with what you're body is doing and doing a proper daily max will keep your form pretty strict.  The hard part is realizing that some days shits just going to feel heavy and you gotta swallow the ego and follow the protocol.  If something feels off on squat or deadlift I have zero qualms about bailing on the lift or asking the spotter to take it while benching.

Example:  last week on one of my two bench days my daily max was 255, just the previous workout I hit a solid 325.  This week I came back and hit a 325 again no problem.  

I track everything and can see the trend going up over time is all I care about.  I learned a long time ago from a great lifting coach that this is a long haul game and no one workout should be a make or break endeavor.  

Have never had a severe lifting injury **knock on wood**

Lifting heavy has actually healed some of my injuries from years of running/hiking/cycling.  My hamstring tendinitis is almost gone and my low back almost never hurts now where for years I lived at the chiropractor. My shoulders are a work in progress but they are stronger and less prone to easy strains than before.  

But, I do get strains and general aches.  Some things that help:

Epsom salt soaking after hard lifting
More protein
More sleep
L-arginine at bedtime (on an empty stomach) ups GH production
Foam rolling can help if used after a workout
Warm up more
Light lifting on recovery days for increased blood flow which helps healing
More water-even slight dehydration can increase the risk of muscle strains and tears

I'm 46 so things hurt.

No reason to stop getting stronger.  At some point it's going to happen but until then I want to see how far I can go.  


I want a 600 DL, 500 Sq and a 350 bench this year.  I need 50 lbs. on all three to get there.  After that, who knows....

How old are you  ? I don't dead lift but I've broken those stats when younger and really not planning to go back that high. I just like lifting heavy- which I understand might take me that high again. But still not chasing 1RM lifts. I'll leave those to the young guys.

You make a good point.  As we get older, we can stay relatively fit right up until the end as long as we stay active so avoiding injury is really important.  After spending most of my adulthood doing swim/bike/run, I am not that strong compared to folks who spent that time lifting, but I have had to remind myself that no one is paying me to hit a new 1RM and to not get too caught up in chasing one.

Patience is not easy; that's why it's a virtue.

AHHHH- Now you're speaking my language !!!! As a weightlifter I also love to cycle- Road and mountain !!! My issue is lifting and cycling do not mix well together. How do you find a balance ? Sometimes I can hit legs on a Monday or Tuesday and still feel it when I try to ride later in the week or on the weekends. Tough balance that I've never been able to find. I'm either strong with more muscle and weak on the bike or less strength and muscle and strong on the bike.

Strength and endurance are physiologically in conflict.  Endurance comes primarily from mitochondrial and capillary density in the skeletal muscle.  Strength comes primarily from contractile element size and synchronicity.  When I was riding a lot (racing), I could hold 330W for 20 minutes or 300W for an hour, but would have struggled to squat 185.  Today, I could maybe do 220-240W for an hour, but squatted 265 for 5 reps.

Pick your priority, strength or endurance, and play defense with the other.  Maybe focus on strength in the winter and endurance in the summer when the weather is good.  Alternatively, if you like to race and can be gritty and consistent through bad weather, do tons of hard cycling on the trainer all winter.  Then clean up in the early season races while all of the lazies are trying to ride off their winter blubber.  As the serious racers come into form and start to make you look bad, drop the racing and focus on your strength through beach season.

It is an entirely natural movement though. When I completely stopped doing them is when the problem got the worst. I'd say that conventional or sumo deadlifts aren't for everyone, but LIGHT RDLs, KB swings, single leg db deads, cleans, etc are all light enough to keep people injury free but will keep a natural hip hinge movement.

Yeah my power to weight ratio sucks !!! I'm 5'10 and float between 225-230. My friends get a huge laugh when I tell them about a 50 mile mountain bike race I was in and got passed going up hill by what looked like a 75 year old woman that weighed probably 90 pounds. She literally seemed to float up the hill. She had finished her post race meal and beer and gone by the time I crossed the finish line. I FB stalked her and found out she was a national marathon champion and also cyclist. And then I've crushed triathletes on a 35 mile road bike race even with their aero bars and tri bikes. I just love to ride

For me it became difficult to deal with the injuries and be able to lift heavy past 40. Im almost 45 now.  My last meet was at 40 set an spf record with a 700dl and 415 bench. That was raw no equipment.  At 20 I pulled 715 in a couple meets. For the last couple years I don't go over 500dl or 315 bench. I have an elbow that barely functions and something in my clavicle that tears when I try to go heavy. These days its all about helping my kids and friends and just doing enough to not fall apart.  The one thing I notice is that one injury leads to the next as I get older.

Are these injuries directly related to power lifting ? If so I think that's something all of us want to avoid and not let our egos take us to the point of damaging our bodies. BTW- That's a lot of weight to be lifting and pushing.

Great point.  No one is paying me to lift an extra 5 or 10 pounds.  I started lifting weights after years of endurance-only exercise in order to reverse and slow the effects of aging on my body.  Lifting heavy is a great, maybe the best, way to do that, but inactivity is particularly harmful to folks >40, so it's worth it to lift a little less or not push for that last rep, and continue being awesome, if maybe just a bit weaker.

I would blame benchpressing most of it. I went heavy on and off for 20yrs. I also do construction type work. Most of the guys my age are worse off that didn't lift. I wanted to go heavy to 50 but probably not going to happen.

Thanks for the information brother and not to sound like a jerk but may we all learn something from you and your injuries. I will be approaching 50 in the not so far off future and try and keep myself reeled in to the amount I need to lift vs what my ego tries to tell me to lift or lift to. Thanks again for sharing for us older lifters.

I guess the easiest way to phrase the question would be, would you do it the same way over again or would you have changed anything?

I just started Starting Strength 3x5 last week and I as I got under the bar for squats today I tweaked my shoulder. Not even a stressed injury due to weight, just a lack of shoulder mobility setting up. I'm 43 and I'm a little bitter about the shoulder.

yes I would do it again. I wish that I would have put more effort into stretching and working on mobility. foam rolling and a good chiropractor or something along those lines. Im sure that would have got me to 50.