Too Old To Gain Strength

by Atomic Athletic on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 2:30pm

No one can imagine the calls I get on the phone.  Yesterday, I got one that just made me lose it completely.  I was so blown away by this guy that I...  Let's say this.  My Grandpa, the accountant, would have been mortified.  My Dad, a retired electrician who worked jobs in the worst parts of Detroit, would have been proud. 

“What the Hell?  You've gotta be shitting me!”

After this long lead in about “dropping his kid off at college”, and, “now he has time to lift again”, and blah, blah, blah....  He then asks me if he “is too old to gain strength.”  Then he leaves me hanging.

So, I naturally follow up with, “Well, how old are you.”

He replied, “I will be forty-one in a month.”

That is where I lost it. 

Norbert Schemansky had received his 4th Olympic Medal at 40.  Most All-Round Weightlifters are just getting into doing their serious heavy lifts (harness lift, hip lift and hand & thigh lifts) as Masters age athletes.  Personally, I am snatching better now, at 40, than I have in five years.  In fact, forty almost seems like the age of many of my younger customers.

Maybe it's because I'm now 40 and I feel like I am just now really figuring out some of this stuff, after 30 years of practice.  I don't know.  Anyway, he was at a loss for words, so I asked him what equipment he had and what his goals are.  He only had a fixed amount of money to spend, so he bought my book, Traditional Training Legendary Strength, a pair of our Long Dumbbell Handles with Collars, some standard size plates, and my DVDs “Train Like A Strongman” Vol. 1 &  Vol. 2.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't get stronger, regardless of your age.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe