Help training my 55 year old mother

[NYhomeboy]

Needed some help determining the amount of volume for training my 55 year old mother. She eats very healthily (she takes whey! half a scoop before/after workouts), does cardio and is in fabulous shape for her age. She would like to be as strong as possible (and prevent osteoperosis) with resistance training. I decided to keep it low volume, and keep it relatively anaerobic (8-12 reps until failure), as she already does cardio. I have suggested the following split:

Chest/Back
Legs
Shoulders/Arms

Chest will be 6 sets (3 flat db, 3 incline db)
Back will be 8 sets (3 sets of rows, 3 sets lat pulldowns, 2 sets db deadlift)

Legs will be 9 sets (3 sets of squats, 3 sets of leg press, 3 sets lunges)

Shoulders will be 3 sets (db raises)
Biceps will be 4 sets (2 sets of db curls, 2 sets of hammer curls)
Triceps will be 4 sets (2 sets closegrip dumbbell benchpress, 2 sets of pulldowns)

What do you all think? Frankly, these workouts will be too easy for her in terms of volume... but there's no point in making it too aerobic if she does cardio and wants strength gains, and I'm worried about increasing the amount of volume too much as she might not be able to recover fast enough.

 

[CDONDICI]

Put her on a fullbody routine 3x per week.

3 sets for chest, back, and legs, 2 sets for shoulders, bis, tris, abs, calves.

Main reason for fullbody is for recovery purposes.

 

[CRUNCH]

Put her on a fullbody routine 3x per week.

3 sets for chest, back, and legs, 2 sets for shoulders, bis, tris, abs, calves.

Main reason for fullbody is for recovery purposes.

I agree if she's just getting started. You can take her up to a more advanced split after 8-12 months if she's really getting into it.

My mom started at 53, is 66 now. Went from a size 16 to a size 4 then started powerlifting. She's got all four state records in powerlifting for the 60-64 yr, 132 lb class in the state she lives in. She did a 70 lb bench, 245 dead, and 190 squat (485 total). Not bad for an old lady!!

She'd never exercised a day in her life prior to starting when she was 53, it has completely changed every aspect of her life.

If you'd like more help with anything, let me know. Good luck with your mom!

 

[Mulletsoldier]

I agree, a circuit oriented routine 3x weekly for the first year would ease her into it very well. Elongated rep counts would also be, IMO, alot easier on her joints that ballistic or even shortened ECC/CON movements.

 

[NYhomeboy]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. The thing is I already had her doin a full body workout for about 6 months, and I think she wants to change it up and do a little more advanced split. I can keep her on the full body workouts, but she seems to be getting bored training wise... she jumped from doing 10 lb. DBs to 30 lb DBs! I could keep her doing full body workouts, but I think she really does want to gain as much strength (and lean mass, as much as a 55 year old woman can anyway) as possible to prevent osteoporosis.

 

[Mulletsoldier]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. The thing is I already had her doin a full body workout for about 6 months, and I think she wants to change it up and do a little more advanced split. I can keep her on the full body workouts, but she seems to be getting bored training wise... she jumped from doing 10 lb. DBs to 30 lb DBs! I could keep her doing full body workouts, but I think she really does want to gain as much strength (and lean mass, as much as a 55 year old woman can anyway) as possible to prevent osteoporosis.

Ahhh..I did not know she had already been trained a little. Then, by all means move her to a more advanced program. See how the split you have outlined works out to begin with, I am not a big fan of more than one bodypart a day unless it is very low volume.