When I was younger, all I cared about was being the strongest guy on the planet. I’ve said this before. I got pretty strong but did not succeed in my quest to the strongest guy on the planet. Now, as I age I see things differently, my priorities have switched. So, today in my log, we will go over Old Man Conjugate: What’s Important at 20 Is Not At 50 and tips for prioritizing your training as a Washed Up Meathead.
As I got older things happened to me that have probably happened to many of you as well. And I found out that the things I used to do were not as effective as I once thought, and! I now do a lot more of things that I didn’t do in the past.
First up, what happened?
Injuries!
No, this isn’t an article to complain about how banged up I am. Rather, it is an article about how life and priorities change and if we don’t adapt and readjust priorities, we stagnate or get worse.
Another thing that happened is lifestyle changes. In my younger days I was much more active because I had a lot more free time and less responsibility. In my twenties I trained 4 days a week, ran two days a week, usually stairs or sprints and taught and trained Martial Arts 4 days a week.
That is a LOT of activity.
When lifestyle changes it affects everything down the chain.
More responsibility means less time for everything else and therefore less training time. Less training time means that something had to get scaled back. For me it was Martial Arts and running. Less Martial Arts means less mobility/flexibility.
What’s not effective?
A lot!
I think the two biggest ones are below.
Back in the day we were told that foam rolling was the “be all end all” for mobility and flexibility. It isn’t.
I used to do a ton of static stretching during and after Martial Arts. While this is good, we have learned that it may not be the best thing to do for flexibility and mobility, especially when injury is present.
What do I do now that I didn’t in the past?
Well, this one is painfully obvious.
I sit at a desk most of my work day.
I’m going to make a bold statement now: Sitting is the kiss of death for your body. Especially at a desk.
When you pair that up with a decrease in activity, boom.
You don’t move as well, shit hurts more, and everything suffers as a result.
Let’s move on to Old Man Conjugate: What’s Important at 20 Is Not At 50 and tips for prioritizing your training as a Washed Up Meathead
The first tip is to reevaluate your priorities. This one took me a while. Even after I wrote the 44 and Broken series. If you didn’t read it I had new goals at the end of it and I am ashamed to say that I did not train for them for long. Once I began to feel a little less beat up, I went right back to my old ways of training.
Why?
I liked training the way I did. It just wasn’t right for the amount of “miles” on my body. Some of us learn slower. Or we are too stubborn to adapt.
With this in mind, I urge the followers of Old Man Conjugate to reevaluate your priorities. Really think about what you want to achieve from your training and be realistic.
I’m a great example. I wanted to Squat a grand, bench 700 and pull 750-800. My body had other plans, and I should have listened. So, if you are like me, well over 50 and you are still chasing the same goals that you were when you were 20, I encourage you to stop if you are not close and see why you are not there. Maybe you are not self-aware enough to realize that it isn’t going to happen (I was), maybe you are stubborn (I was) or maybe it is something else.
Whatever is, re-align your priorities.
The second tip in Old Man Conjugate: What’s Important at 20 Is Not At 50 is to adjust your goals based on priorities.
This is simple, and It will only take one sentence.
If what you are doing is not going to get you closer to your goal, stop and do something that is.
The third tip in Old Man Conjugate: What’s Important at 20 Is Not At 50 is to adjust your training according to your goals.
Again, this is simple.
Let’s say your goals used to be a 2450 pound total in Multi Ply Powerlifting, maybe Max Effort Yoke Bar squats with 5 chains per side isn’t the smartest exercise choice.
Let me expand a little.
Your training has to match your goals. If what you did in the past got you banged up, maybe you should stop. Or if you simply re-aligned your goals, the things you did to achieve prior ones may not be appropriate for the new ones.
Again, it’s pretty simple.
The last tip in Old Man Conjugate: What’s Important at 20 Is Not At 50 is what should our priorities be?
This is the hardest one to answer because my goals are not yours. With that said, I’ll give you a list in no particular order of where I think your head needs to be.
- Improve Cardio Vascular Health
- Lower Body Fat
- Maintain/Improve Mobility
- Maintain or build skeletal muscle mass
- Heal injuries and train to prevent them as best as you can
- Find a great Physical Therapist to work with
- Perform RPR daily
- Eat better and eliminate processed foods
- Maintain a level of strength that is above average
I don’t think any one of these is more important than another. It just depends on your situation. Some of us may need to focus on one or two more than others, while still looking at the whole picture.
This list is like eating an elephant.
How do we eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
So if you look it over and don’t know where to start, think of your highest priority and work towards it.
A good example is let’s say you are pretty lean, maybe 13% body fat. Lowering your body fat is probably at the bottom of the list.
But, let’s say that you are on the Fat Bastard scale and are 35% body fat.
Maybe it is the top of the list because having a high body fat level, especially visceral fat will cause more health problems.
Another example is perhaps you have a severe mobility issue (like me) and it prevents you from performing Activities of Daily Living (ADL) such as tying your shoes or walking up stairs, that may be the best place to bite the elephant.
Get it?
Now, go and figure it out and make a plan to attack it.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
June 23, 2022
