I got back to working out after a 17-year hiatus. A long time of no sports means weakness in every muscle, and trying to improve your fitness after 40 might be painful, too. That's exactly how I felt in the first month of my fitness journey.
I was dealing with muscle weakness, pain in some of my joints, and stiffness. My bench pressing was a disaster. I couldn't push more than 40kg (88 lbs), and I wouldn't even try to go heavier because I felt I might injure myself.
Aging causes your tendons to lose some elasticity, and that can cause stiffness, inflammation, and a higher risk of injury. And this is common in adults over 40. So, knowing that and feeling it, I took it easy with my training. The first workout for every muscle group was more about warming up, stretching, and a little while of strength testing by going for light weights and many reps. For example, on chest day, I started with one of the most popular exercises in the world, the barbell bench press. After a whole-body warmup and some upper-body stretching, I tested my strength on the flat bench press with an empty Olympic bar to see how that goes. How many reps do I do, and how does it feel?
Remember, I was after a 17-year break from training, but I used to do martial arts when I was fifteen and strength training in my twenties and thirties. So I knew the correct form of the exercises (if you don't have experience, I would suggest finding a personal trainer at the beginning of your fitness journey), and this was more of a matter of what I could still do after not training for so long. Within the next few weeks, I started to load carefully the barbell with weights, always following a good warmup and a stretch session.
At first, I added 10 kilos (22 lbs) to the barbell and tested how many reps I could do. I did this because, in my previous training, I did at least 25 reps with the empty Olympic barbell. That indicated I could go heavier. It was the first test of my bench pressing. At that point, I was able to do about 15 reps. After two weeks, I tested again my strength in the same way. I was able to do 10-12 reps with 40 kg. That was the point where I knew my workout plan was right.
I continued to follow the same routine for chest workouts with slight changes every 2-3 weeks. In the first weeks, I would do five sets, starting with 1 set as a warmup with the empty barbell of flat bench presses, followed by the incline barbell press and the cable crossover for 4 to 5 sets of each exercise. After keeping this routine for 2-3 weeks, I would keep the flat bench press as the first exercise, but instead of the barbell, I would use dumbells. I used the same rotation with the incline press. I would change the cable crossover to chest dips (body weight).
The bodyweight dip is another way to test my strengths. At the beginning of my training, I couldn't do more than one rep. Now I'm at the point where, after a flat bench press and incline barbell press, I can perform anywhere between 6-8 reps, depending on how much I push my limits with the first two exercises that I do for the chest workout. So, after switching between these exercises now, after four months of training, I can bench press 80 kg (176 lbs) without the help of a spotter.
My chest workout routine now (February 2024):
I start with a flat barbell press, followed by an incline dumbbell press, and end with chest dips (body weight) to increase strength. It's a challenging but necessary routine.
Barbell flat bench press:
1 set x 25 - 30 reps with the empty barbell (20kg or 44lbs);
1 set x 15 reps with 50 kg (110 lbs);
1 set x 6 - 8 reps with 70 Kg (154 lbs);
1 set x 12 - 15 reps with 60 Kg (132 lbs).
Incline dumbbell press:
1 set x 25 reps with 20 Kg (44 lbs) per dumbbell;
1 set x 15 reps with 24 Kg (52 lbs) per dumbbell;
1 set x 10 - 12 reps with 26 Kg (57 lbs) per dumbbell;
1 set x 8 - 10 reps with 28 Kg (61 lbs) per dumbbell.
Chest dips (bodyweight, currently at 176 lbs): 4 sets of 5 - 8 reps.
After following this routine for at least two weeks, I go with dumbbells instead of a barbell and the cable crossover instead of the chest dips for at least 2-3 weeks, and I return to the first routine. I will update this article when I have a new PR (personal record) on the bench press.
Update, August 1st 2024
Since February 18th, when I wrote this article, I've made some progress. Now I can bench press 80 Kg (176.37 pounds) for five reps compared to six months when I could perform only one rep with 80 kilos. But this is not the only progress I have made. Here is my latest chest workout:I always start with stretching and warm-up exercises for five minutes.
Bench Press (Barbell)
- Set 1: 20 kg (44 lbs) × 25 reps [Warm-up]
- Set 2: 50 kg (110 lbs) × 15 reps [Warm-up]
- Set 3: 80 kg (176.37 lbs) × 5 reps [Failure, I couldn't do the 6th rep]
- Set 4: 80 kg × 4 reps [Failure, I couldn't do the 5th rep]
- Set 4: 50 kg × 12 reps [Drop Set, I lowered the weight to 110 pounds and performed another 12 reps]
- Set 6: 70 kg (154 lbs) × 7 reps [Failure, I couldn't do the 8th rep]
- Set 6: 50 kg × 10 reps [Drop Set, I lowered the weight to 110 pounds and performed another 10 reps]
Incline Bench Press (Dumbbell)
- Set 1: 24 kg × 15 reps
- Set 2: 24 kg × 12 reps [Failure]
- Set 3: 24 kg × 9 reps [Failure]
- Set 4: 24 kg × 9 reps [Failure]
Chest Dip (bodyweight, currently 172 lbs)
- Set 1: 8 reps [Failure]
- Set 2: 7 reps [Failure]
- Set 3: 4 reps [Failure]
- Set 4: 3 reps [Failure]
