Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

I’m a 40-yr-old male, 6′3″ tall, 280lbs.  My goal is to lose the body fat, then add lean muscle mass.  I think I’m currently at a BMI of 31-35%.  If I am in a state of reduced calories, should I reduce the intensity of my weight resistance training to avoid overtraining?  How would I do this? Would it be better to focus on losing the max amount of body fat first, then muscle gain?

All my answers are based on what I would do if I were you…

Train at a robust 80% capacity with a fair pace and moderate weights. Your intention is to encourage the muscles to grow as you learn — understand — the various dimensions of training. Here’s where your intuition and common sense and observation come into play. We apply a lot of empirical guesswork.

Same with food intake: protein for muscle growth, carbs and fats for their energy contributions and much more. Remember water and fresh produce. Perfect musclebuilding meal replacement: Bomber Blend protein.

Your main object is to build muscle and might. Anyone can lose fat — stop eating. Go for a two-for approach, a combination of both, with confidence and determination and persistence. Watch the scale a little and depend on your general feelings, snugness here, looseness there.

There are the ups and downs, mind and body. Don’t freak. Trust your efforts and put in your time. This method allows for good energy and muscle growth with consistent fat loss, not just fat loss and lower productivity and well-being.

Hope you gain lots of muscle and lose lots of fat and never give up the good fight…
Godspeed…Dave

I am 67 years old and now have to work out with lighter weights as I’m a little older. Can you give a little guidance as to how? Should I go with higher reps, 15-20 seconds rest between sets? Is it possible to gain big muscles with lighter weights?

Me, too… though the light weights seem heavy and I seem a ‘lot’ older at 68.

I do this pretty much the same as with the once-agreeable heavy weights. I warm up with high reps, rest between sets as long as it takes to get my breath back and follow pretty much the same rep scheme as I always have… (12, 10, 8, 6). Of course, the weight is no longer heavy.

Gaining big muscle is hard for a teenager. There comes a time when training to prevent muscle loss and diminishing strength and diminishing flexibility is quite an accomplishment. We, nonetheless, try, by God.

Carry on the good fight… Dave

I’ve just quit smoking and started training again. I got caught up in life and didn’t take very good care of myself. I have always been active but have lost my punch. Do you have any suggestions for me?
You are a member of a very large and growing club, and have wisely, courageously and fortuitously determined to quit. You’ve come to the right place to seek encouragement and straight talk. Keep it simple, don’t expect to formulate the right program for you right away.

You lift, live, learn and grow. There’s trial and error, observing and modifying. Train hard, eat right, have fun, go with the flow — knowing all along the way you’re moving forward, not backward.Very soon your instincts and commonsense and self-teaching will translate into knowing, understanding and proper confidence.

You are you today, determined to improve, not the guy 20 years ago with kid stuff going for him and against him and a stack of unwritten pages before him. Be consistent, be wise, don’t force, don’t rush, don’t overload  your body or mind, and do not injure yourself and never quit.

5×5 works. Good news. Take sensible advantage of the routine, but don’t over extend it or it might bite back. Heavy anything too long will take you down, especially benches.

You might view our forum… or join in… a smart and friendly bunch.
Think muscle balance and body mobility in the corner of your mind… Go… Live, lift, learn, love it… Godspeed… Dave

Knowing that you went through this last year, I was wondering if you could give me some insight as to what to expect. Was there any side affects and did it effect your workouts any?  I would appreciate any information and helpful hints you could give me.

Everyone reacts to the treatments differently, as you already know. I received 40 rounds of radiation over 8 weeks, no joy to begin with, but no real pain either.

I did experience fatigue — sort of malaise — but managed to drag myself to the gym twice a week for bouts with the iron. Remember, my heart is a major problem, limiting my training input.

Within two weeks of the completion of the radiation I was back to normal energy and endurance and spirits.

Docs said not everyone dips in energy… stay strong, fight hard… you might glide right through it all… If caught in time, radiation on prostate cancer is apparently extremely successful.

Godspeed,

dd

I have an open air gym set up in my barn that is about 10 miles from my house. Because of my age (61) and the distance,  I have been trying to do full body workout one day, and skip two days before the next workout, to give body sufficient time to recover. The workout lasts approximately two hours, and will shorten somewhat when I get used to it. Is it counterproductive to work out two hours at one time at age 61?

I, too, am 10 miles from the gym and my schedule is similar to yours. Training less hard and more frequently is healthier and smarter. Bill Pearl trains every morning for an hour. His gym is 50 feet from his doorstep.

Though I handle light weights, I enjoy going for max exertion and, thus, knock myself out. Not the best training methodology as we get older.

We make compromises, we adjust, we adapt. Take your time, feed yourself well.

Godspeed, Dave

Did you ever think of incorporating Bombers concerns relating to working out on a level where we face reality: The old bombers will not give up we just fade into the sunset with dumbbells at our side and yes, a glass of  bomber blend, vanilla. Just like the old west.

I hear you loud and clear…

I reference our limitations due to aging all the time — have been for past couple of years — without getting dark and despairing. Nipping at the achy, shrinking, gray-headed subject matter is better for my relatively broad readership than full-on pondering.

We all get it, we all regret it, we all fight like cornered pit bulls. Letting go is hard to do.

Train right, eat right, rest and sleep right and think right… guts, commonsense, hopefulness, gratefulness and humility…

We’re still crazy after all these years… God loves us… DD

I am 67, with osteoarthritis in the knees. I discontinued squats, and in my home gym I don’t have a leg press or calf raise. Will there be no harm doing squats, leg press, deadlift or standing calf raise, or can you suggest an alternative?

I, at 68 and with leg-limiting stenosis issues, have decided my best plan for my future fitness and mobility is to train the legs to walk well, prevent muscle deterioration and not injure or overtrain them. My suggestions include walking a lot, varying the pace from steady, long-distance plods to swift short-distance stints. Include stairs and hills in your sessions and wear a weighted knapsack as your desire and ability allow.

You are the best (and only) one to determine the program for your needs, wants and goals… a mix and match adventure for the wise and willing.

I have taken to farmer walks with 50-pound kettlebells up and down a sufficient grade for 10 sets of 40 to 50 paces. I do this twice a week to complement my twice weekly weighted workouts for the upper body. I think I’m onto something for my particular problem. Leg presses and squats were causing my knees to swell and ache. The farmer walks are, thus far, a welcome event and appear to have improved my balance and gait.

For more direct thigh and core work, you might try standing at the end of a flat bench and half-squatting till your butt taps the bench top. Focused and formed reps count most. When ready, grab a pair of dumbbells and apply the good old-fashioned rules of weight training. High reps, low reps, a few or a lot of sets… your knees will speak to you plainly and help you determine a program.

A popular exercise since Hercules Unchained is the one-leg calf raise off a block holding a dumbbell in the hand matching the leg. Go…

We have enough here to keep us busy, growing and going and going and going… God speed… Dave

I am 62 years old and have been trying to do standing overhead presses with an Olympic bar (very light weight) and it puts tremendous pressure on my middle back and makes it feel sprained. What would be the best alternative if I can’t do the standing overhead press?   I tried an inclined press (60 degrees) from a seat to support my back and there is no problem. Is that a suitable substitute for the overhead press?  Would doing overhead presses on a Smith Machine sitting on a bench be a better alternative than the inclined presses, or do you know of a better exercise to work the shoulders?

Time to rely on the support of a utility bench or incline. I don’t agree with the incline barbell press (shoulders run for cover), but I love all degrees of dumbbell inclines, including 75 degrees. I do steep incline front presses with on the Smith machine and do a nasty abbreviated version of a seated press behind necks when no one is looking. It hurts good.

I sure do enjoy standing one-arm dumbbell lateral raises while holding on to an upright for support. I start light for clean reps and work my way up the rack till I’m hefting some heavier weight (still in the kid’s department) in what could pass for one-arm cleans.

Feels good… lots of core… wide-range of grooves for tattered delts… be careful… I try… we press on… DD

I am 56 years old, love lifting and am in good shape… get out of my comfort zone and push to the next level by going heavier, etc.  Any words of encouragement or advice?

Review advice and listen to yourself. What do you want, what do you need, what should you do? Comfort zones can be a drawback when you’re 20 and 30 and 40, but when you’re 56, maybe the comfort zone means wise and grateful, injury-free and joyful.

Note: The risk of injury increases with age as does the time it takes to heal. How many times do we say, “I shoulda known better,” as we crawl from under a loaded bar that tore a shoulder?

Words from a 68-year-old bomber with no regrets. Push it with care and a prayer. Focus on form and muscle-engagement, pace and considerable (non-threatening max) exertion.

Press on and on, by God… Dave

Confused say, “He who races pickup, blows gasket and bends fender swiftly.”

At first I was going to write to ask you to make a video of this:

my cunning musculo-cardio, quasi-aerobic training technique, the chair pull… I grasp a pair of 35-pound kettlebells and I’m off… . As I plod, big grin on my kisser, a cheapo plastic deckchair, attached to my waistband by a 10-foot cord… .”

But the more I think about the possibilities, the more I think no video could measure up to the image you created in my head!!  As usual, the way you write, even about dragging cheap plastic deck chairs down and up your driveway, has inspired me again. Thanks for that!

You’re welcome. Thanks for writing and thanking…

I have foregone the chair-pull and instead do a 40-pace loop up and down an agreeable grade, starting and ending at the above cheapo deck chair.

Dragging the thing was a nuisance. Did 10 sets of 40 paces yesterday… felt good then — feel good today.

We’re in there… Godspeed… Dave

I am 67-yr-old training regularly with one-minute rest between sets. I’ve read 90-seconds rest is required for people in their 60s.  Do I have to rest 90 seconds between set to get better results? Have I to finish the workout in 30 minutes, or can I work out for an hour and still be in the limits of growth hormone? Can I do aerobic exercise in the morning with an empty stomach even without taking protein diet to protect my muscle from burning along with fat? What is the fat percentage in boiled chicken breast, and how can I remove the fat in chicken breast or meat?

In my opinion you are being far too critical of your training pace. Train according to your ability, will and desire. Train with form and focus and 80-percent maximum exertion while being careful of risk of injury. Forget the clock.

Have a suitable protein drink and do your aerobic in the morning as you please, followed by your weight workout.

Worry and fuss less. Apply commonsense and instinct and awareness and less intellect and study. Eat plenty of EFAs and no fried food and do your best to trim fats from animal foods… quit counting this and that and train hard, be consistent and be happy.

Training will set you free… Be strong… Godspeed… Dave

I am a retired engineer, 67 years old, and have been doing workouts for four years with few breaks. I changed my lifestyle completely. But I could not reduce fat below 18% and can’t grow muscles. Will you guide me?

I cannot add to what you are already doing. You’re training hard and eating right and living, I suspect, a healthy and positive lifestyle. There comes a time when the best we can do with our weight training efforts — and it is a lot — is prevent muscle loss, maintain strength and reasonable flexibility and contribute to our mental and physical health.

Our improvements are more than skin deep. Without the workouts and the striving and the reaching we would diminish. Our time with the iron is our refuge and our disciplines in our eating and living are major contributions to a long and wholesome life.

I can suggest this exercise or that, but I’m sure you’re already doing them.

You might view our forum… or join in… a smart and friendly bunch.

Go… God’s Might… Dave

Having been infected with the disease requiring the need for iron more than 30 years ago, I have come to a crossroad. I was recently diagnosed with PV (polythycemia vera) and mitrial regurutation, and have been told by my hematologist “no more weight lifting.” I’m awaiting my visit to the cardiologist to see if I need to have surgery. Silly me, I thought the shortness of breath and chest pains were just a sign of an older guy still being able to hold his own. I ask no medical advice of you, only that if you have the time, can you answer me this? I’m a deeply spiritual person and have prayed over this, yet I have no clear answer. I feel I have to give up a part of who I am. If it is necessary, is there really life without lifting?

Absolutely. Health and family first. There’s a path…

But Still.

Ask more than one doctor, more like 10, if you can you do a little curling and pulling and pushing… any is better than none for the BMS — body, mind, spirit.

I would find the elimination of resistance exercise less distressing if I wasn’t the actor behind the curtain of davedraper.com and had an image and rep to putz with. Drop the bodyweight, seek yoga-type meditation and performance in my own zone of refuge. Gee, sounds like fun, especially when it’s life-sparing. Any viable reason (excuse) not to clink, clank, clunk.

I face a similar dilemma, being a small wreck for the past three years. I push too hard (child’s play) and it concerns me. Thank God I have the keyboard and find expression and fulfillment in writing. Thankfully, I have God (Jesus), who cares for all my problems.

A quickie google search tells me exercise with PV is limited to mild performance, such as walking. Once you’re certain the iron is out of the picture, then you walk and watch your diet and adjust, which includes seeking another avenue of expression.

I understand there’s a lot more to Yoga than we ironheads realize.

Time, common sense, creativity, encouragement, gratefulness, guts and moving ahead… Look to the reality and joy and promise in the wife and kids and the horizons… God loves us… DD

I’ve got a couple of questions about training.  The first one is a bit of background on the inspirational photo of you doing front squats with 3 plates each side—what was your typical set and rep scheme with that weight?  You make it look easy in the picture! The next question is related: On compound movements like the squat and deadlift, do you think you can make good gains in strength and muscle stopping short of momentary failure, something in the region of stopping at the eighth rep, when you could probably make about nine to ten at the ragged edge?

Can’t remember about the squat photo. That was a heavy set.

It went something like this:

135 warm up x10 reps, 185 x 8, 225 x 6-8 reps, 275 x 4-6, 315 x 1,2 or 3

About pushing on the heavy movement, I’d stop short most of the time. You’ll last longer, though it’s tough to hold back sometimes… then, again, it’s tough to push it all the time. Hit heavy days or sets when you get the urge and feel healthy.

dd

I am having trouble clearing heavy dumbbells up for inclines and shoulder presses. I have nobody to spot me and the only other person at the gym when I go is the poor guy who has to clean up behind everybody and he is busy enough with that job. I do the old heave with the dumbbells on the quads but when they are in position I just about blew all my energy. What do you think of Hammer Strength equipment?

I’d say it was time to handle only those dumbbells that make you happy and don’t threaten you with injury, doubt or frustration. The Hammer shoulder press is a decent apparatus once you determine the seat adjustment and grip and groove and range of motion and rep rhythm.

For similar reasons I have turned to seated steep-incline front presses on the Smith Press. Give those a try as part of your exercise repertoire. We do what we can to get where we’re going… wherever that might be.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I am currently experiencing trouble with motivation to train and eat clean. The strange thing is, I know how beneficial training is for my health and appearance, but over the past month junk food and being lazy is what the mind is telling me it wants and I am sick to death of it!! I’m ready to explode back into my training and kick the junk food habit once and for all. Dave, could you please recommend me a book, or any tips on motivation? I am desperate to reclaim the body I once had and any help you can please give me will be greatly appreciated.

Allow me to repeat myself. It’s worth it, it’s the best advice I have to offer: My book, Brother Iron Sister Steel, is a great presentation of straight talk for the bodybuilder of all ages. Fun to read, packed with photos from good old days, overflowing with training and nutrition information, musclebuilding tips and hints and motivation.

You can buy a slightly marred copy for 15 dollars. I suggest you get moving now; it only gets worse as time goes by.

A simple fun routine 3x a week to light the way. Do not expect too much and don’t try to catch up on lost time by joyless, frustrated training and dieting. Slow-but-sure and moderation are the pathways to walk. I also suggest you ignore all recent most bodybuilding input and supplementation. as it is hype and irrational and discouraging. Brother Iron is real and fun and rewarding…

Go… Godspeed… DD

You had went through some bad times in life, and I was hoping you could give some insight into how to get through mine. Without getting into details… I’m struggling.

I’m very sorry for the tough road you’re traveling. I had to physically heal and get my head and my act together. As I stumble over a solution, an answer you can take to the gym, I come up empty-handed. I can offer the obvious — time heals, absorb support from friends, go to the gym and practice (endure) 30 minutes of the easiest and most desirable exercises just to be alone and striving, to pick up the pieces and set things in motion, and hope and expect “things” will get better as you proceed — clumsily, miserably, stoically, almost bravely, but surely — day by day.

But the real truth is I’m a long-time Bible-believing Christian who had gone astray and regained his sight on the Lord Jesus Christ. Note: I am not an evangelist, just a guy with a story. My restoration from the “bad times” to health and life was simultaneously (miraculously) linked to my return to God. I read the Word daily, went to a Christ-centered church regularly and grew spiritually… I continue that path today 27 years later. God loves us, this I know.

God is my rock, my salvation, my refuge… Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding… In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight…

Rejoice in the Lord… an add to that your favorite supersets, a high protein diet and lots of rest…

I’m a positive and hopeful iron-thumping B-68 who loves to soar… Get ye behind me, Satan… we press on

Go… God Speed… Dave

I am 75 and still working out. I have not hurt myself, and think it is time to slow down a little. I was thinking of just lifting the same poundages in the various lifts that I use now, and not increasing them for as long as I am going to continue exercising. Will I lose muscle mass? I am happy with the way I look now. Can you offer me another way?

It’s a good idea to hold back a little. There are ways we invent so the exertion is plentiful and fulfilling and productive without being damaging and miserable.

The poundages applied will drop, yet our exertion and input can be reasonably intense. We best gauge it daily according to our ability and energy and desires and needs.

Get ready for letting go here and there. Eat right, rest plenty and fight the good fight and never quit, but be prepared for a realistic diminishing as time moves on. This is not negativity; it’s the way it is. You’re doing great, seven years more informed than I.

I’m a pile of injuries. Beware and be aware.

I prefer following a training plan that accommodates the day and how I feel. I’m certain I will not submit, so I relax and listen to my body, assess its needs daily and do what I might and must to serve my body and me well. I have given up (almost) stressing over how little weight I use. Form, focus, exercise balance, muscle-engagement and adaptable intensity have taken priority to weight used.

Takes practice, attention, trial and error, freedom from conditioned thought and a bit of courage and a tad of creativity… and God’s blessings…

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I still can’t let go of my bad habits, binge drinking with my wife on Fridays (the only day of the week I drink and the same with smoking). I know you had your battles; how did you beat it? I love to train, but I feel I take two steps forward…..and then one back.

Sorry, that’s a tough fight. You and your wife need to dump the insidious habits together or continue paying the creepy consequences. I’m not close enough to tell you this, and you know it already: you’re killing yourselves. Imagine, save each other together.

Not a war story… but alcoholism put me in the hospital with CHF — congestive heart failure — 27+ years ago and I never fully recovered. Goodbye family, house, job, friends… hello shed in someone’s backyard. And I didn’t even smoke…

Here’s my thrust: If I didn’t make it to the emergency ward by God’s grace I would have kicked the bucket. I was simultaneously returning to my Christian (Jesus) roots. Neither a coincidence. I praise God Almighty for everything and pray about all of it.

I know, people roll their eyes… God loves us anyway…

Now I have Laree (the lady in the Tower) and IronOnline ‘n the bombers and Bomber Blend and a house in the woods with all the catastrophes life has to offer. Oh, yeah, and a pile of iron within hands’ reach.

You can do this, you and your partner. Easing out of bad habits, tricks and practices and crutches are cute. Be radical. Quit hard and strong, an addiction of another sort, greater, more powerful.

Care for each other, friends.

Train hard, eat right, be strong, be happy.

Three steps forward, no steps back.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

What got you through the tough times as well as through hard times in life? I don’t know how to force myself into the gym when I’m down, I go and lift, but nothing clicks like it should. I know doing something is better than nothing.

Yo, faithful friend in iron and steel…

I have never gone to the gym without exiting stronger and happier and more content than when I entered, even if the workout was a flop. The underlying training motivator is found in the answer to the sniveling question, ‘What if I don’t workout today?’

Ugh! Who can bear the guilt, the suspension of discipline and the loss of time and investment. Besides, lest we forget, the act is fun and feels good after the first stiff and bland moments.

We go cuz we have to, we must, we’re destined to, we need to, we’re bound to, we’re obliged to, we owe it to ourselves, deep down we want and wish to. The proof is in the experience. Next time you don’t want to go to the gym, don’t. You’ll see. That which does not click is thunder to the body, mind and soul.

Barbell or hell… your choice… the smiley faced Bomber   <<< Godspeed >>>