Thread: Weight Lifting

You do realise that just because a piece of paper says a bloke can only lift 25kg doesn't mean that's his actual limit...

I judge there was a bit of tongue in cheek with the original post and take mine that way too

I do weight training to try and keep the bone density up and reduce the body fat index. I have been doing weights for 50 years on and off with no lasting injuries. I have injuries from car accidents etc , but I am generally able to work around them, and i have actually been able to improve some injured joints.

There is a big difference between lifting weights correctly over a limited range and say lifting an awkwardly shaped 25Kg box off the ground,twisting, and putting it down above your head for example, and then doing it for 8 hours.

I don't know what you are getting at by asking who is laible if you hurt yourself at the gym. IMHO it's your responsibility to stay within your limits.

If something hurts you stop. If you are warm and doing say 15 reps , you are not going to hurt yourself anyway.

The personal trainers at Fitness First are ridiculously careful that you start slowly, and if you plan to start weights, I suggest you employ a trainer for a while to assess your fitness and show you the correct form for exercises.

I see people with bad form all the time eg locking knees on a squat machine, who just go at it and probably hurt themselves and then quit.

regards Philip A

I used to go to the gym, 3 nights a week.. Not anymore mind you!! But the one thing I learnt is that it wasn't so much the amount of weight that you lifted but how you did it..


Lifting 5kg very slowly, while you squeeze your muscles could give you better results than smashing out reps with 15kg weights....


The main reason I went to the gym was for my bad back... I used to laugh at Hero's who would stand in the mirror lifting heavy weights looking at themselves.. I think your right, you can hurt yourself lifting such weights if not done correctly.

As Philip said, what you do in the gym in a controlled exercise is different to lifting at work. What you lift at the gym is your business what you lift at work is also your bosses business specially if you get hurt.

25 kg at the extent of your reach is not going to be acceptable even if you are a male at work.

I have heard of some people who having got hurt in their own time have turned up to work to feign an injury for the work cover.

Check out this 70 year old fork lift driver! I'd better get cracking
70-year-old bodybuilder Sam Bryant shows age is a state of mind | News.com.au

The limits at our work are 20kg for a male, and 15kg for a female. It's all to do with limiting injury through bad manual handling techniques and nothing to do with what people may be actually able to lift.

I know V-line have the same 20kg limit as Mum tried to check a bag in when travelling down from her home town by train to go to the airport. She could move it and lift it, but when they put it on the scales, it was 22kg and they refused it so she had to lug it onto the train on her own. They are happy to allow a 70 year old to do this and aren't allowed to help as it breaches policy....

Go figure.

I very strongly suspect there are some steroids and testosterone supplements involved there.

I am 64 and lift quite a bit of weight but find it hard to increase muscle size .

No normal 70 year old could get that size without help, and IMHO very few 40 year olds could either.LOL.

I was talking to a 58 year old in the gym a couple of days ago and he agreed it is hard to increase muscle mass. He had a testosterone count recently and he said his count was 20 and a 20 year old is supposedly 30. This bloke goes every day so must not have a wife or family commitments.
Funny thing is I see heaps of young guys in the gym with bulging muscles everywhere but they are relatively weak. My son who can leg press 600Kg reckons they are the steroid junkies.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

I very strongly suspect there are some steroids and testosterone supplements involved there

I'm not so sure. Genes play a big part too. I started at the gym at age 15 along with my mate Pete. By age 17 he was entering comps and had at least twice as much muscle as I did, we ate and trained almost identically but he just naturally increased muscle mass and I didn't.

Here is an article on Sam Bryant that suggest the only supplement he has ever taken is protein powder. Age doesn't define 70-year-old bodybuilder | The Augusta Chronicle

"He married a third time in the late 1990s, feeling pressure to settle down but never loving her like a wife, he said. As they drifted apart and divorced in 2005, Bryant’s relationship with his body only grew.
He has stayed dedicated to getting ripped naturally and steered away from the competitive circuits that accept substance use. In his early years, he competed alongside steroid-injected athletes but realized it is more rewarding to achieve physical stature the honest way"