[00:00:00] Chris: This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Phil. Now, Phil is someone who’s slightly different to the other stories that we’ve featured. He’s actually seen me face to face in the clinic, rather than someone who’s found me through the blog. He initially came in with a bit of a knee problem and he had no intention of starting lifting weights or doing any form of strength training.

[00:00:18] Chris: It’s just something that naturally evolved as part of the rehab that we, that we took on. I’m pleased to say that he’s really embraced. He has done fantastically well, he’s on the verge of deadlifting his own body weight from the floor. I knew I had to get one to come and share his story because I know that it’s going to be inspiring to others and hopefully we’ll help get you going and starting your strength training story.

[00:00:42] Chris: Please watch this video. See what his his story is, his motivations, the benefits he’s noticed, and then leave a comment, let him know, let us know what you think.

[00:00:52] Chris: Thanks Phil. For coming to have a chat and sharing your experience with getting started into lifting weights and getting stronger. I wanted to set the scene a little bit first and kind of have a chat about when we first met. I don’t know if you remember, cause I had a quick look at my first set of notes to see when it was, but do you remember when, when it was at, you saw me?

[00:01:19] Phil: Yeah, I can’t remember precisely, I suppose it’s is a couple of years ago.

[00:01:26] Chris: Yeah, so August, 2019. You came in and saw my colleague, Mike, who had a session with you and then thought that I might be better suited to seeing you, and then you saw me at the end of August. First what I wanted to do is if you don’t mind share what brought you in initially to see us and what difficulties you were having. Then we can kind of explore how they’ve been since then.

[00:01:55] Phil: It goes back to the middle of 2016 when I had a bit of an accident, which injured my right knee and for a bit, I was very incapacitated. Then a couple of years later in the middle of 2018, I had a fall in, in the city.

[00:02:23] Phil: As a result, I had another year when well, neither knee was, was right and then a friend of mine who knew Mike suggested that I come along and see him. He sort of quickly, identified problems and and suggested that I should come and see you and that’s, that’s where we started.

[00:02:56] Chris: I remember at the time it was, it was fairly limiting to what you wanted to be able to do. Is there anything particular that you felt like you’re held out from that you wanted to be able to start being able to do again?

[00:03:12] Phil: Well, I suppose the one thing that I’m still not really able to do is any sort of running, but I’m not sure whether that’s a question of of confidence more than, well more than anything. One of the things that I couldn’t do was well really to kneel down. It was almost impossible to get down and if I did very uncomfortable and again, then nearly impossible to get back up again. That was obviously something that needed attention. I can certainly remember that in the summers of 2016 and 2018. Certainly, I was using a walking stick quite a lot of the time. So obviously I needed just to get back to being able to do the ordinary things. So it wasn’t necessarily a desire or, or a need to be able to do anything particularly, you know, what you might call a sort of a physical way it was simply trying to get back to moving around comfortably. Which I was not able to do.

[00:04:39] Chris: Okay. So yeah, it’s affected you quite a lot then. I know I’ve mentioned it a few times and we’ll probably explore it, but I think you also said you’d kind of given up on the garden for, for a couple of years prior to coming in.

[00:04:51] Phil: Indeed. Yes. I mean, for those, those two years, it was certainly one of the things that I couldn’t do, couldn’t do at all. So yes, I was keen to be able to get back to a moderate level of physical ability, just to be able to do the ordinary things of life.

[00:05:13] Chris: Before you came in, had there been anything that you’d tried to do yourself that either hadn’t worked or had some benefit.

[00:05:25] Phil: No, I don’t think I, no I hadn’t. I suppose I’d been to see the GP and I might’ve had a session with physio at the, at the surgery. It didn’t didn’t have any impact at all.

[00:05:49] Chris: Okay, and did you have any expectations of what the the treatment that Mike and then myself might entail before you walked in and any kind of thoughts of what might, what might help?

[00:06:06] Phil: None whatsoever. I was, I was sort of arriving at an alien environment.

[00:06:16] Chris: Obviously the setup that we’ve got it’s, it can be daunting to many. As you walk in we’ve got the squat racks and the barbells with the bars lying around in the dumbbells and kettlebells. Is that something that you felt wary of when you first walked in or was that something you hadn’t really noticed?

[00:06:36] Phil: No. Simply for the reason that I didn’t expect to be getting involved with those things. I mean, I just, I just had no idea of what what I might find myself doing. Simply hoping that something could be, could be done to improve the situation that I’d found myself in for certainly two to three years.

[00:07:03] Chris: What was your exercise history before this? So first out to, do you mind sharing how old you are?

[00:07:10] Phil: Just turned 78.

[00:07:12] Chris: Fantastic. So let’s go back, I suppose, say, twenties and thirties. In terms of any sports or hobbies activities that you did back then, was there anything?

[00:07:26] Phil: No. I mean, I’d never been very athletic. I’ve done the things that I’ve been required to do at at, at school level. But beyond that, apart from a little bit of casual swimming. Oh, and a little little tennis. Yes, yes. But that, neither of those went much beyond the 1980s, really. So and, and not not with any, any intensity, not with any frequency or regularity. So very little.

[00:08:14] Chris: Do you have any kind of memories of what your feelings were as we started to introduce weights and was there any apprehension or were you…

[00:08:23] Phil: I wasn’t apprehensive. Partly I suppose, because it just sort of, sort of started. I didn’t really have any, any opportunity or, or time to sort of think “oh, I’m not going to like doing this”. That was never an issue.

[00:08:51] Chris: No. And I suppose for anyone that’s that’s listening and you’ll see, we’ll share some of your, your more recent, the weights that you’ve been lifting. Which is amazing. But initially everything was scaled back and it’s something we have progressed over time and obviously we had the interruption inconveniently of of lockdowns and COVID. But I suppose even initially I still remember the split squat. The static lunge where you just trying to lower your back knee to the floor and then lift back up again. We were a very, very long way from the floor initially.

[00:09:31] Phil: Indeed.

[00:09:32] Chris: And there was no way that you’re able to kind of get up without pushing up with the box or the support to your side. Now I think we haven’t done that one for, for a month or two now, but we were holding a weight whilst lowering down and lifting back up again. For anyone listening who feels they can’t do any of the exercises. We didn’t start at the videos you’ll see later on of, your current lifts. It is a very gradual process and we have to make a lot of modifications and adaptions to get you started. But at that point, do you remember how early you started to notice a difference in, in how your knee felt?

[00:10:22] Phil: I suppose really from the start, if you sort of thought about it each week, there was a marginal improvement. Like a lot of things in life, as things develop, you don’t actually notice any, any change. But over a period of time, there is a change and it doesn’t happen at any one particular point. It is a a gradual exercise. So yes, right from the start I’ve felt a benefit. I suppose, if I hadn’t have been feeling a benefit, then I wouldn’t have, I wouldn’t have kept going. I would have sort of thought, “well, I’m not getting anywhere, there’s not really much point in doing that”.

[00:11:26] Phil: I was just going to say that. I think that in the context of the last 18 months. I think it was very good to keep going in the minor way that we were able to do with with, with, with the zoom meetings at, home. I think that if we hadn’t been able to do that, Then I might’ve of you know, sort of dropped off the radar that that storage, but it was good to keep that to keep that going from a continuity point of view and from the, obviously that the benefit especially since then, of course, since we were able to get back into the personal visits to the gym, which I think was about early June, I think you recommenced. It’s since then, you know, the emphasis has changed a little and obviously with the availability of the equipment.

[00:12:42] Chris: That’s what limited us at home and you did well. Cause you bought the the resistance band and that added some form of resistance we could work against. Then you, I can’t remember what you were using, a cleaning bag from your car or something?

[00:13:00] Phil: That’s right. Yes, it was a largish bag, which contained any number of bottles of things for, for cleaning or what have you. But it was a squarish. Very easy to pick up. I think it weighed about five kilograms. But it was, you know, it was, it was good for what to, what was needed. You know, gave a purpose to the to the Zoom meetings, which we had. I thought they were very good indeed. In the the context of the problems that we were all enduring.

[00:13:48] Chris: Yeah, definitely, and I’m glad we were able to keep those going and that you did commit. I know a lot of people, because it wasn’t the same as you can do in a gym, some people feel “well, what’s the point. It’s not the same intensity”. I know a lot of people might feel like they give up on it. But actually I think it kept you in a better position to be able to restart once everything to open up again.

[00:14:13] Chris: When that first locked down began everyone with a garden jumped into the garden and suddenly spent a lot more time there than they ever would have done previously. How did you feel going back into the garden at that point, given that you’d have to give up on a lot of projects over the previous two years?

[00:14:35] Phil: Much more confident of being able to move around and, you know, be comfortable and make, as gardening is not a furious exercise, but it does require a certain level of agility. Which I hadn’t had for a couple of years or so. So, yes it was immediately one of the objectives was being achieved in that I could get back to doing something, which I hadn’t been able to do for a couple of years.

[00:15:15] Chris: Are you doing kind of all the jobs you need to in the garden in terms of any kind of heavy weeding and digging?

[00:15:20] Phil: Oh, yes, I do it all, yeah.

[00:15:25] Chris: Good. So obviously gardening is one we keep coming back to, then you mentioned another benefit earlier in the week when I saw you, that I had not even considered. That was kneeling in church. When did you notice that you could suddenly start doing that again?

[00:15:46] Phil: A few weeks ago, I could, I realised that I could do it readily. That it wasn’t uncomfortable having got down and getting back up again was much, much easier. There had been a time when it was very difficult to kneel down.

[00:16:10] Chris: Is it something that you, you did, but you knew you’d struggle with, or is it something you kind of gave up towards the end of actually you didn’t bother kneeling down?

[00:16:20] Phil: One avoided if you, but I mean, sitting is, is accepted. So yes, that was the that was easier way of doing it. If not the only way of doing it to some extent, certainly during 2017/2018.

[00:16:40] Chris: Good. So when you started, we’ve talked before a lot of the exercises were body weight, and for many of those, they were a challenge at that point. If I share the numbers from the week we’ve just had this week, the two that stand out to me: We’ve started the deadlift. So we’re using a barbell. We’ve raised it up slightly so it’s not from the floor, but you did, you did 10 reps or 10 repetitions of 55 kilograms. If you don’t mind me sharing your, two weeks ago, you told me you’re 60 kilograms and you said you had a nice week away. So you’re more like 61 kilograms now. But yeah, your 5-6kg off lifting your own body weight off the floor and that’s for 10 repetitions, which is amazing. As we worked through the process, and it’s the same process that I, I worked through in the Never Too Old to Lift book, where we gradually increased the weight to bring the repetitions where we hit fatigue down. I thought we would have achieved that kind of closer to kind of maybe six or seven repetitions. So I don’t think it would be long at all before you can lift, lift your body weight off the floor. Maybe even within the next few weeks. Your squat slightly less, but still 45 kilograms, and that’s still way over half of your body weight that you’re squatting. Yes, we’ve adapted it a little bit again, you’re not doing a deep squat. We’re going down to a a surface that you can sit down to and then come back up from.

[00:18:27] Chris: Would you ever have considered that you’d be doing that?

[00:18:30] Phil: No, no. Crikey no, it’s something I never, never really I I’d just not thought about it. So no wouldn’t have had any idea of what I might’ve been able to to, to achieve. So yeah, it’s very gratifying.

[00:18:56] Chris: Yeah, definitely and you were saying when I asked today since Monday when I saw you, that you’d not had any kind of adverse reactions. You didn’t even get any kind of muscle aches afterwards, did you?

[00:19:08] Phil: Nothing at all, no.

[00:19:10] Chris: Good. I’m interested. How, how do you find your family or any friends react to hearing about what you’re doing in the gym? Or is this something you don’t actually share with them as much?

[00:19:24] Phil: I don’t talk to them about it. They don’t ask. So no it’s not something that I’ve I’ve, mentioned to people. So I don’t, I don’t know what their, I haven’t a clue what their reaction would be.

[00:19:47] Chris: Have your family and friends noticed the benefits that you felt? Have they noticed that your moving around more easily?

[00:19:58] Phil: Yes, they certainly have, have noticed, but they would probably, they would probably attribute that to the weight loss. As much as to to anything that I might’ve been doing in, you know, in the gym.

[00:20:17] Chris: Let’s come on to that, the weight loss,. How much weight have you, have you lost?

[00:20:25] Phil: Certainly, a couple of stone, perhaps a little bit over that.

[00:20:30] Chris: How long a time period is that from?

[00:20:34] Phil: Since about the middle of last year, it was, I had been feeling that I was was certainly more like I should be. So that doing up ones shoelaces was becoming a a bit of a struggle. Then of and then of course we were hearing so much about obesity and COVID. Well, I sort of thought perhaps I ought to do something about this. So I did make an effort to, to adjust the eating habits, cut down on excess carbohydrates, and just generally not eat not eat so much.

[00:21:35] Chris: That’s fantastic. Two stone is a huge achievement. I think to have the combination of the diet and the exercise and a lot of people think they can just manage it with the exercise alone, but diet is an important factor to get right in there as well. So the fact, you’re doing both is fantastic.

[00:21:54] Chris: What would you say to anyone that, kind of, knows they might need to get stronger, but are fearful of it.

[00:21:59] Phil: I think that the important thing is to be in the hands of somebody that you feel is, knows how to encourage and knows what is the appropriate rate of progress. I think that if you set, if it was something that you set off to do on your own, then you could create problems for yourself. You need to be guided by, by professionals. I think that’s the important thing. So I can imagine that people would assume that because you’re venturing into areas that you haven’t been used to, that it must therefore be dangerous. I can see that he could be dangerous, but if you tackle it in the right way with the right help and guidance, then I think the, the fear should be is unfound

[00:23:21] Chris: Totally agree. It’s the same with anything and same as when we will discuss, maybe in the future, returning to running. If you decided now that you felt strong enough to go and run a marathon tomorrow, you’re probably not gonna, you’re not going to come off too well. But if you start off very slow, gradually build up potentially like a couch to 5k approach and you follow a structured program to gradually build you up and you might have to take it slightly slower than, than someone in their thirties or forties, then it’s definitely possible. But like I say, both scenarios. Whether it’s the running, whether it’s lifting weights. If we do too much too soon, then it can cause problems, pains and aches potentially be cause injuries and can be dangerous. Also not doing these things and allowing the natural decline in muscle to kick in is also dangerous and causes more problems. It’s like anything in moderation. So yeah, I think you’ve hit that there.

[00:24:25] Chris: It doesn’t necessarily have to be one-to-one training with people. There are resources out there that can help guide people through the progressions. I suppose that’s one small plug for the Never Too Old to Lift book is if anyone’s watching this, it’s taken into account the things that can crop up as we get older, but also aches and niggles and how you might adapt and progress things.

[00:24:55] Chris: You creating your own program to work at your own pace to get up to there. Equally, like you say, if you are struggling and you’ve got the means, then do reach out to someone and physiotherapy is a good start, but there’s plenty of other rehab professionals and good PTs out there. It’s worth reaching out to someone.

[00:25:17] Chris: So I suppose in the future, is there any barriers you feel that could derail you from continuing and progressing? Or is it something that you feel like you’ve kind of a bit hooked on now and you’ll you’ll continue for as long as you can?

[00:25:38] Phil: I can’t see any barriers apart from an injury, however it might come about. I mean, I think that’s always possible for, for anybody, but I suppose the older you get, even if you maintain a level of fitness one is more susceptible to to injury. I think that’s probably probably inevitable. But otherwise no, I mean, I’ve, you know, I’m interested to to keep going. For the benefit both physical and social as well. You know, I mean, I live on my own for the most part. So it’s good to have some objectives in the week, somewhere to go, something to do and what have you. Cause you know, life can become a little bit so I isolated when, you’re on your own. So, no, I can’t see any reason why I wouldn’t want to and will be able to keep going.

[00:27:09] Chris: So I think that’s everything I wanted to cover there. I think there’s a lot of people watching that will have these small complaints that they’ve always thought it’s something that will stop them starting. I think just hearing that, you’ve just been able to do it and especially if you didn’t really know what you’re getting into, when you, when you first came to see me. I’m pleased to say you’ve gone with it and you’ve just, it’s been great to see how you’ve progressed. To see and hear about the benefits you’ve noticed outside of our sessions as well is fantastic. I think it’d be really inspiring to many, so thank you for sharing. Anything else you wanted to add before we, before we go?

[00:27:52] Phil: Yeah, I should add this, that my copy of your book is on order at the moment.

[00:27:59] Chris: Oh, fantastic. Thank you for that. So yeah, no, it’s really exciting this week for anyone that listening, it’s been available as an ebook to buy on the site for a long time, but from this week, it’s now as a paperback on Amazon. So yeah, head over to Amazon and just search ‘Never Too Old to Lift’ and you’ll find it there. But no, thank you for ordering that.

[00:28:18] Chris: I just wanting to thank Phil again for giving us his time to share his story. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s really inspiring to hear someone who started this late in life and has embraced it as well as he has. It’s great to see that he’s noticing the differences and then the benefits.

[00:28:36] Chris: If you’re interested in getting started yourself, then you will have heard us talk about the book. Now if you want to find out more about this, you can go to nevertoooldtolift/ebook or if you go to Amazon and search for Never Too Old to Lift you’ll find us there as one of the first search results. If you have any questions, please reach out to me. Please comment below with what you thought of the video, what you thought of the chat with Phil. Have you got any words of encouragement for him? I’d be more than happy to share those. So I hope you enjoyed it and we’ll see you again soon.