Yes down to one then back up to ten !
Going to try the 15 of each down to one soon
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Itās a tad tricky as I donāt have any equipment. But Iām going to try to neutralise the press ups a bit with some pull ups.
Only thing I have is the pergola on the decking. Itās a rectangular piece of wood, so not ideal. Plus Iām training a rose over it, so I have to be careful where I put my hands and face! 
Did 5 on the way back to the house from my turbo session. Full arm, slow ascent and descent, pause at the bottom. All that jazz
Have continued with my 2 x 15 press ups. And theyāre all feeling pretty easy. Going to keep the numbers the same and upgrade once a week to avoid over stressing.
Will add the pull ups every day if I can. Not going out in the rain though!
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Been going to the gym and focusing on strength workouts for about a year now and whilst my lifts have been creeping up gradually (which Iām fairly happy with) if my scales are to be believed (and that is quite a significant āifā) I havenāt put an ounce of muscle on in that time.
Iām in my 50s now and had some blood tests last year which showed my testosterone is at the low end of normal (11.8) so I realise Iām not going to be packing it on like a teenager or 20 something, but I would have thought I might have put on a pound or two.
Iāve never really tracked my protein and just assumed I was getting a decent amount, liking meat and having some form with most meals; so I went back to the few spells when I used My Fitness Pal to track my calories and realised Iām well down on the recommended amount for gaining muscle.
Iāve seen various formulas but 1g per lb of bodyweight seems to be fairly common and I reckon Iāve been nearer to half of that most of the time. Iām a bit overweight so probably donāt need the full amount which would be over 220g per day for me but going to make a conscious effort to get up around 180/200 and see if I start noticing any difference.
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You and I are in similar weight ranges. Whenever Ive tried I have found it bloody hard to get that amount of protein. If you weight 70kg and need about 140g thats ok. When you are 100kg + and need over 200g it becomes difficult. I know people say real food is better but I just couldnt get away from the need to have a couple of protein shakes a day.
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Yeah, thatās my conclusion too. Iād been having a protein shake after training, but only when I wasnāt going to be eating a meal immediately after and relying on my normal meals for the rest.
My rough plan going forward is something like:
Breakfast - cereal with protein shake instead of milk (40g)
Lunch - meat or fish sandwich (30g)
Post Workout - Protein Shake (30g)
Dinner - Meat or Fish (40-50g)
Pre-Bed - Protein Shake (30g)
Snacks during day, nuts, cheese etc. (20g)
Iāve seen some calculators based on lean mass only which top out at around 2g per kg of lean mass which would put me (as long as I trust my scales again) around the 140/150g mark so I should be above that even if I donāt make the full 200g.
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I would ask how to you quantify that you havenāt built any muscle? (apart from scales). Do you visibly look leaner, or still got some middle age spread, is your body weight similar or a bit more?
Just building strength isnāt going to show in bigger muscles unless you eat in a surplus so that they grow. It really all depends on the goals, for tri, getting stronger without building excess muscle mass is key, so you fuel the exercise , no more. But, if you want to be ābigā you need to fuel + an extra , Id say 300 - 500kcals extra. A starting point is always bodyweight in lbs * 15 + 300 to 500kcals per day so 220lb guy would be ~3600 kcals per day if training an hr 4 times a week. Obviously adjust this down or up based on the bodies āfeedbackā
1g protein / lb bodyweight and ~2 - 3g carb / lb bodyweight is a start also (you need carbs as well as protein). Also sleep and reducing stress are key to repairing and building.
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Errrrrr 
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Iām carrying too much excess weight for any small changes to show, if Iām honest.
My overall weight has gone down a little (4kg since start of this year), which (according to those scales again) is entirely fat, which is a good thing as Iām not losing any muscle at least.
Maybe thatās where Iām at, my diet and training is burning fat slowly and is enough to stop me using muscle but not enough to add any. The bodybuilders talk about ārecompā (burning fat & adding muscle at the same time) but Iām still not convinced thatās realistic as one demands a deficit and the other a surplus.
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yep so strength training in a deficit, which to lose weight you are in, is to make sure the muscle stays and the fat is burnt.
Iāve heard the same thing, but cant see how they can work in unison. Ive not seen any proper evidence it can work like that. General bodybuilding involves bulk and cut, so to oversimplify eat too much, eat too little, keep training , repeat.
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Two hours weight training with my now over a stone heavier very strong nearly 21 year old son!
Legs I beat him hands down ( typical body builder!)
Chest ā¦ he can bench 110 kg for 2-3 reps ā¦ massacre
The rest was quite equal apart from pull ups were the old guy managed 13 wide grip as the pressure was on.
A very different form of training but lovely to see him growing up ā¦ literally!
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For sure your impedance measuring scales arenāt going to reflect your adaptations. Somewhere in the threads I went from no lifting to squatting 5x5 1.25 times my body weight. I posted up a tracker of my lean muscle mass according to my scales - it bore no correlation to my strength.
Literally no question I was stronger.
But there are two truths;
- Gaining lean muscle mass is incredibly hard and,
- Scales donāt know shit.
If you are stronger then you muscle fibres have grown, multiplied or increased density #sciencefact
Whether you are plus or minus 1% lean muscle mass doesnāt matter
Imho
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Or youāre just recruiting the ones you already have.
Strength doesnāt mean thereās been hypertrophy.
Hypertrophy doesnāt mean there will be increased strength.
Thereās a correlation, not a causation, and can be dissociation between both.
But the sentiment is there. Does it matter @JaRok2300 if youāre putting muscle on, providing youāre getting stronger? Especially when youāre losing weight, and gaining all the other health benefits that led you to lift in the first place.
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There may be a slight flaw in my cunning plan to get to 8pm then make up any shortfall in my daily protein with shakes 
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protein shakes make me 
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glad itās not just me then!
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Little update from me. Not āproperā strength training like you fellas are doing, more S&C i guess. But itās a start.
I think, utilising some of the tips i read in āAtomic Habitsā (habit stacking and removing friction) iāve set myself into a routine now in terms of my small exercises. Started really small, and built my consistency, and have been going for 4 full weeks now. Canāt say iām feeling much stronger, but i have been applying overload week on week, so i guess i must be improving somewhat. It just feels a bit invisible when itās tiny bits at a time.
Have committed to doing these every morning - originally when my coffee brews, but now it feels embedded enough that i just do them regardless. Also added some evening bits as well ā¦ for the evening pull-ups I linked the habit to doing them when i go to put the chicken away at night.
Progression below:
Wk 1 - 2 x 10 press ups
Wk 2 - 2 x 15 press ups
Wk 3 - 1 x 20, 1 x 15 press ups then 5 pull ups in the evening
Wk 4 - 4 x 10 one legged press ups alternating leg off floor (30r), 90R 3 x 10 shoulder touches (30r) then 2 x 5 pullups in the evening (tried a max pull up last night and hit 9 - still on the square, wooden frame of my pergola, so not ideal)
Wk 5 - As wk 4 but 6 x 10 one leggers and iāll move to 2 x 6 pullups. .
Now that this is embedded iām thinking about introducing some lower body stuff. Maybe squat variations to help with my glutes/calves etc. Perhaps replace 2 days with legs. Find some easy exercises that take a similar time and then build on them. Moving in a couple of weeks to alternating upper and lower body moves perhaps?
So certainly not ground breaking. But for me, itās a consistency iāve never seen before that i hope will help my main sporting ambitions for the year.
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Nice work !
You have a good little programme going there that your keeping up.
9 pull ups is decent with a better bar you could easily squeeze one more out.
Lunges seem to be a go to lower leg one as they develop leg strength quickly, are less likely to cause injury ( dead lift / squat ) and obviously equate to running form.
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Excellent, thanks for the advice. Any recommended moves/routines/videos for ones that cross over to running?
Thereās so much crap out there on YouTube, insta etc etc that itās hard to sort the wheat from the chaff.
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Alternate leg lunges.
I always do them stepping forwards and not back as this is how there done in hyrox events.
With the knee hitting the floor ( grass or an old towel )
Keep the core engaged, look up not down ( the ground wonāt go Anywere) and set a rhythm.
If you want to make it harder again do the same leg on repeat, quads burn quite quickly here.
Once comfortable ( they say you should be able to do 50 on each leg unbroken ( 100 total) be for you need weight) you can then add weight, 5 kg ( a brick ā¦ whatever in each hand )
At the top end pro races use a 30 kg sandbag, as Andy reported recently, this is very difficult and needs working up too.
Lots of stuff on the net, some of it looks overly complicated and in some cases bordering on dangerous ( barbells should be avoided for obvious reasons )
I know a few who built there fitness up and improved there running by doing stuff similar, ( this probably has more to do with weight loss than lunges!) only one of them was already a faster runner than me, your way way faster than the usual, but it will certainly build leg strength.
Good luck and look after those Chuck chucks!
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Ah cheers bud. Iāve seen the hyrox sandbag thing. Iāll replicate that pattern in garden/allotment. 
Yea itāll all be at home DIY stuff. Donāt own weights beyond the Mrsā little dumbell things. But they go up to 5kgs so would be a good build once I get used to the movement.
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