I just started using the Hypertrophy I template this week. I’m 65 and am training purely for health reasons. I chose that template because even after four years of barbell training I’m still pretty close to the sarcopenia zone, and would like to head into my “golden years” with more of a buffer. I’m 5’11", 175 pounds, and my PRs are 240/300/155/97. Thoroughly unimpressive, of course, but I used to train almost exclusively for endurance cycling, and weighed as little as 138 well into my 50s, so things could be a lot worse!
My question is kind of embarrassing given my endurance background, but I have a very hard time with longer sets of squats and deadlifts - like anything longer than 8 reps. I end up so deep in oxygen debt that it sometimes becomes very hard to complete all the sets. While I’m still pretty good at sustained aerobic efforts, a set of 10 squats at, say, 70% of 1RM is more like doing a 40-second interval on just 10 breaths, and for me that just isn’t enough air coming in. I’ve tried taking extra breaths between reps, but that seems to make little if any difference. By the way, I’m taking a beta blocker (metoprolol succinate), which probably isn’t helping matters any.
The workaround I’m thinking of is to duplicate the same average intensity with shorter sets. For example, if the program calls for sets of 10 at RPE 7, 8, and 9, and if those working weights would be 200, 210, and 220 pounds, then I’d substitute sets of 6 at 200, 205, 210, 215, and 220. That gives the same tonnage (6300) and the same total number of reps (30), so hopefully the training effect would still be in the same ballpark, though probably not identical. Would this be a reasonable approach? Or should I just go do a bro split instead if I’m going to be such a wimp?
Thanks very much,
Jim