why should I get stronger?

[MC Wizzel]

just a simple question: why should I get stronger, past the Novice LP? Lets say I'm not worried about Gainz or getting jacked, but rather general strength to carry my groceries from the car in one trip, pistol squat my 2yr old and to age well and healthy. If I were to peak squat at 120kg 5RM @ RPE 8, and do the Novice LP in this manner, till I die, will there be a health benefit to this, or does my body need to constantly adapt to new stimuli? At the moment I could transition transition to the bridge but I am unwilling to workout more than twice a week. I figured I could try some sort of hypertrophy setup (3sets 70% 1RM x 6-7 reps) or just maintain the little gains I've earned from the novice LP. As a PT this question is often asked by my patients as well. Most are only looking for a baseline of fitness to enjoy ADLs and stay relatively pain free

[Austin Baraki]

Hi MC,

If you can squat 120 kg x 5 below parallel, it is unlikely that you would get substantial health benefits by taking that to 130 kg, for example.

However, as you age there will be increasing forces pulling you back in the opposite direction - namely, progressive anabolic resistance and other changes to skeletal muscle quality with aging. This will make it progressively more difficult to maintain that level of strength as you age; in other words, training for maintenance facilitates regression over time. The more strength and muscle mass you can carry with you into old age (within reason, of course - not Mr. Olympia), the better off you are likely to be.

[Cole]

great response to this question. really resonates

[MC Wizzel]

so its an uphill swim till the end and training variety is mandatory to fight off gravitys pull till death.

[Euby]

I've been thinking about this a lot, too. Sometimes I feel like I can't enjoy other things b/c I'm always planning around training. For example, a mountain bike ride with my family today b/c tomorrow is competition squat day and I want to add weight to the bar. I ENJOY adding weight to the bar, but I also used to enjoy just being in good GPP shape such that I could tackle all kinds of outside activity without concern of how it would impact my training. At 46 years young I just wonder sometimes if the "gains first" approach I have been taking will play out much longer. I no longer go around saying I feel wrecked all the time, but there is certainly a lot of accumulated fatigue with this kind of training that can make other activities much tougher to absorb.

[Rent]

I've been thinking about this a lot, too. Sometimes I feel like I can't enjoy other things b/c I'm always planning around training. For example, a mountain bike ride with my family today b/c tomorrow is competition squat day and I want to add weight to the bar. I ENJOY adding weight to the bar, but I also used to enjoy just being in good GPP shape such that I could tackle all kinds of outside activity without concern of how it would impact my training. At 46 years young I just wonder sometimes if the "gains first" approach I have been taking will play out much longer. I no longer go around saying I feel wrecked all the time, but there is certainly a lot of accumulated fatigue with this kind of training that can make other activities much tougher to absorb.

priorities will change over time and I don’t think having less of a focus on lifting will affect your over all health as long as when you lift your still trying to progress . You certainly should go on that bike ride with your family and I doubt no matter what program you are on it will affect your competition squat PR the next day .
You could even balance things out by running more GPP/hypertrophy blocks during the “ family busy” months aka I assume summer and lift more focused during winter when we’re more likely to be in active .

personal note I’ve sent PR after days I walked over 25k in steps up hill . Don’t let prior activism placebo you into thinking you fatigued yourself out of a PR “there always 40% left .”

[Euby]

priorities will change over time and I don’t think having less of a focus on lifting will affect your over all health as long as when you lift your still trying to progress . You certainly should go on that bike ride with your family and I doubt no matter what program you are on it will affect your competition squat PR the next day .
You could even balance things out by running more GPP/hypertrophy blocks during the “ family busy” months aka I assume summer and lift more focused during winter when we’re more likely to be in active .

personal note I’ve sent PR after days I walked over 25k in steps up hill . Don’t let prior activism placebo you into thinking you fatigued yourself out of a PR “there always 40% left .”

Nice comments and I think what you are saying is basically where I'll transition to next, which is really just not obsessing over putting more weight on the bar. I probably should have moved on from obsession already honestly.

[ChrisZ]

I've been thinking about this a lot, too. Sometimes I feel like I can't enjoy other things b/c I'm always planning around training. For example, a mountain bike ride with my family today b/c tomorrow is competition squat day and I want to add weight to the bar. I ENJOY adding weight to the bar, but I also used to enjoy just being in good GPP shape such that I could tackle all kinds of outside activity without concern of how it would impact my training. At 46 years young I just wonder sometimes if the "gains first" approach I have been taking will play out much longer. I no longer go around saying I feel wrecked all the time, but there is certainly a lot of accumulated fatigue with this kind of training that can make other activities much tougher to absorb.

I'm about the same age with you and have the same issue. Trying to balance life with my lifting obsession. I've started to ease off the gas pedal and find that balance because like you say, that residual constant bit of fatigue from lifting always lingers even when your feeling good. I also play rec baseball and basketball and that fatigue also hurts my performance at times on the field/court.

[MC Wizzel]

im 39 with a 2 yr old and I feel you guys. I rarely get time to train (twice a week lift, once a week biking) and there's no way im willing to sacrifice family time for gainz. I think there are a lot of us just looking to do our best trying to keep it as simple as possible.