I am slowly realizing, more and more, how I have nocebo’ed myself in so many different ways over the years as I have gotten older. I’m only 46, but have somehow convinced myself that I was borderline over the hill and therefore had to ratchet everything way back. Basically there were walls in my head around things I felt I could no longer do, like train hard and recover from it. I’d make a little progress, then suddenly feel like I needed to cut back due to any number of nocebos.
With the training advice here, along with the pain lectures/info you guys have put out, and ESPECIALLY Austin’s repeated Instagram posts about the nocebo effect, I’ve been changing my thinking on many fronts over time. It hasn’t been overnight for me by any means, but I’m learning to arrest certain thought patterns in my head before they spiral towards a nocebo. The results have been great, as it’s allowing me to push harder, become more trained, and feel MORE recovered rather than less.
For example, I used to focus on how “wrecked” I would feel after working out, thinking I was doing too much, that I needed more recovery time, etc. In my head I’d attribute this to being older, " I’m no longer a spring chicken", or whatever else. I’d allow myself a moment to lament my situation, and unknowingly allow that to limit how far I would push. The same pattern would happen with little pains here or there that would grow into something worrisome. I’m learning how to deal with this better in my head. Like Austin has said in a recent IG past, I’m training more so I can recover more.
Anyway, huge kudos to everyone at BBM. Jordan, Austin, Leah, and Allan. You guys have been great and have each helped me in various ways.
Ditto on what Euby posted and many thanks to BBM. Also, I find that at my age I can either be a little sore and tired from working out, or a little sore and tired from not working out. So I might as well go out there and kick some ass in the gym!
Thanks for posting this, Jason. I’ve fallen for the old nocebo, too. I don’t know how many times I’ve read in other places, or heard on a different podcast that starts with “Barbell” that, because I have a 4 in front of my age, I’m OLD and would have to make adjustments, or that my progress and recovery would be compromised. I believed it. It’s been so helpful and liberating to find these resources and realize that I didn’t suddenly become fragile or compromised or broken when I turned 40. I’m training more than ever have and will keep getting stronger.
BBM helped save me from the clutches from a greedy (or maybe just zealous) chiropractor and my back is doing better than ever (in recent memory) despite my x-ray showing vertebrae pointing in all different directions and the curve of my neck apparently going the “wrong direction” due to some “trauma” I had that I wasn’t aware of.
At 45, I find all the verbiage from other sources about just how old 40+ is to be a bit odd. I know that I have a hard time doing CrossFit because of the high HR, high rep schemes where you lift in a fatigued state. That said, in the running world, masters athletes train with high volume often. Coming from that background, I didn’t really question when Jordan put me on higher volume training after my LP. It took a couple of weeks, but my body adjusted to the volume and performed just fine. As Matt Bulmer states, I am stronger at 45 than I have been in my entire life (and in better shape).
Yes, I come from a cycling background where high volume at relatively lower intensities is a very common off season approach. I had always believed that resistance training was uniquely fatiguing, and that lower volumes at higher intensities was the way forward as you aged.