Changing routine

Hi all,
 
Being a recent over 40 i am thinking of changing my routine, I have trained for many years and have allways gone heavy with between 8 - 10 reps in sets of three and allways acheived good gains in strength and muscle, however over the last year or so i have noticed more and more joints starting to ache and clicking particularly in the morning.
 
My question is, if i go lighter and do sets of fifteen keeping form propper strict am i likely to still make gains and yet put less pressure on my joints ? 

astonvilla6621


Hi all,

Being a recent over 40 i am thinking of changing my routine, I have trained for many years and have allways gone heavy with between 8 - 10 reps in sets of three and allways acheived good gains in strength and muscle, however over the last year or so i have noticed more and more joints starting to ache and clicking particularly in the morning.

My question is, if i go lighter and do sets of fifteen keeping form propper strict am i likely to still make gains and yet put less pressure on my joints ? 

i should`nt think so.
the pressure will still be on your joints, with even more movements, and less weight generally means less mass.
sorry to sound a bit negative, but there you are.

You dont have to lift heavy to make gains,since joining the 50s club i have reduced weight and increased reps per set,in total the poundage i lift within a session is usually higher than that of lifting heavy per se,
 
So i still increase mass,but have better definition.i also have increased sets, my usuall routine is sets of 20/25 reps.
 
Now and then i lift heavier with less reps ie:5/10 reps.rare now though.

It's really no harm to train with lighter-higher rep weights from time to time. I train in cycles like this, usually going from progressively higher reps (Loading Phase) to heavier lower volume reps (Growth Phase) and the stick in a Rest week in between these cycles. I find it actually allows be keep making gains with hitting a plateau.
 
I still make some gains when on the Loading Phase but once I hit the Heavier weights I seem to come on really strong again. No harm in keeping your body guessing and it keeps me interested and motivated to train hard.

Hi, you don't say how often you train , I found lowering the frequency of workouts worked for me, also try pyrimiding, maybe 15, 12, 10 and maybe 8 - 6,  I find that the high rep first set warms my joints up for the heavier sets and you get all the benefits of the different rep ranges