Your testosterone levels are likely vital to adding muscle.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Yes. If you're talking about getting muscle back that was lost due to (forced) sedentary lifestyle, I'd think bodyweight stuff can be quite effective. *Any* consistent weight bearing muscle stress should do more than just halt the loss.

I think @plant_based misses the point. This isn't about getting "swole" at age 54. It's about reversing body composition effects due to sedentary lifestyle. Testosterone may indeed increase with measured weight training, as long as it's not offset by a ton of endurance stuff. Sedentary behavior is known to not be great for male hormones.

At some point a plateau may be reached without heavier weights. But I don't think you'd need to rush to start in with weights until that plateau is reached.

My wife has severe degenerative disk disease.

I do not advise her on exercises due to the very sensitive nature of her condition. Except.... To tell her to see a qualified physical therapist to get evaluated and be given a set of exercises that will be beneficial and be least likely to aggravate the spinal joints.

As you are probably aware it's very patient specific: which joints, how collapsed are the disks, which nerves are compressed, etc.

If an exercise is done to exhaustion within less than 30 reps or so... You will build strength. More strength will help to support your spine and may allow for more / safer loads.

Thanks Tom. You're absolutely correct - I should talk to a qualified PT about this rather than trying to figure it out on my own. Finding the right PT is sometimes a challenge. I've worked with PT's in the past that were great at recommending appropriate exercises, and others that tried to get me to do stuff that was completely inappropriate and I had to tell them "I'm not going to do that."

How's your bone density?

Bone density appears to be unchanged from previous scans. The age-matched z-score was 0.3 which falls within the 50-69th percentile for my age group.

I will share me recent experience in case it is of any use. Been doing weights intermittently for many many years. Always with machines. I always end quitting, because it's boring, and I failed to see any significant results.

Since 6 months ago, I started a very simple routine called 5x5 with barbells. With some adaptations. On the suggestion of a coach, I do 8 reps instead of 5, and do ballistic dead weight instead of doing it slowly. Also I don't increase the weight weekly, because my aim is not to become connan. My body has changed completely, and I notice definite improvements in all three sports. It only takes 3x 30 minutes per week, and I am 59. I will now start introducing some kettle bells for further improvements.

Can't speak for the disc issues and what kind of adaptations you will need, as I am no doctor.

I’ve found awesome success with a daily regimen of extended planks, 30x push ups and 30x squats. Keeping it super simple / thoughtless helps me do it everyday

I supplement with a couple days of 15ish mins of more body weight work. I like the workouts from the “Knees over Toes” guy (you can find him on IG, and that’ll point you to website)

Their workouts start w ankle, calf’s and then move to deeps single leg exercises

Sometimes I use 25# kettlebell for squats, deadlifts and swings, too.

I’ve been very impressed w my gains - just using body weight (or occasionally a light kettlebell) and consistency

I think the basic answer to your question is yes, especially as it sounds like you're relatively untrained at this point.

As far as loading your spine goes, most strength training exercises aren't going to load your spine all that much, especially as compared to running. So if you're back to running you're already loading your spine to a greater degree than most strength training exercises (unless you're planning on doing something like Olympic lifting where you're in some sense "jumping" and catching a heavy weight).

Doesn't mean strength exercises couldn't cause back pain for other reasons, but it's unlikely to be the compressive loads if you're tolerating running.

As we age, it becomes increasingly difficult to add muscle mass. You can certainly tone what you have, even develop a fair bit of strength, at 54. Adding mass is another story. You didn't mention how much you want to add, but if you're talking about more than a couple of pounds, you're going to need to do a focused weight lifting regimen w/ a corresponding reduction in endurance activity.

I'm hoping to gain back 3-4 pounds, but that may be a bit of a stretch while also ramping up running and cycling. I've always been pretty small-framed, so I'm never going to be that guy with the bulging muscles. I'm just trying to prevent/slow the inevitable loss of muscle mass from aging.

From my wife's experience...its not "compressive" loads specifically that are the issue. Its the various movements that can pinch a nerve or aggravate a sensitive part of the spine and the nerve roots in affected joint spaces. A twist here, or a bend there that sends her into 3 days of pain management.

She has a very specific set of exercises, and has been trained through observation and feedback how to perform those exercises to minimize the risk to the sensitive nerve roots in her back. She's also been through OT, to help manage/perform day-2-day tasks in ways that don't impact her spine. Her case is pretty advanced, all of her joints are collapsed. She's had , a few fusions, multiple cortisone injections, and had nerves numbed, and may eventually have some chemically ablated.

Some or none of that may apply to the OP. I dunno....just that I know its an incideous disease that take careful individual management.

Your wife's condition sounds like it's a bit more advanced than mine. I have several degenerative discs but primarily two (L3-L4 and L4-L5) are symptomatic on both the left and right sides. An epidural cortisone injection three years ago provided me with relief for a while. A second cortisone injection several months ago did absolutely nothing for me and it's been a much longer recovery process from this last flare-up. You're absolutely spot-on that there are very specific movements that are triggers and they are very individual. For me, besides the obvious one (awkward lifting of heavy things) it's twisting motions that trigger my back as well as glute and hamstring tightness that throws the pelvis out of alignment. I haven't played golf in over a year and I'm not sure if I ever will again. It is a very insidious disease indeed. The fact that it is also a very common one in older adults means that there's a LOT of research going on in this space. There are no amazing breakthroughs that I'm aware of that are imminent on the horizon but with so much money being spent researching this I'm hopeful that if I can stay fit and delay the progression long enough, some great new treatments will eventually be available.

Are you able to swim (and even interested in swimming)?

This may not be a helpful response if not, but if you are able and interested, about 5-6 years ago I dramatically increased my swim volume and have put on 3-4lbs of muscle mass over a 3-4 year timeframe. Cycling/run volume has remained about the same. Average swim volume was 3-4k/week before increasing the volume, 10k/week after the increase. Not big volumes by any means, but over that 3+ year timeframe, my body composition has changed slightly. Weight used to be in the 155-157lb range. I'm now in the 157-159lb range, but leaner with the higher swim volume. I'm 5'10" and 57yo currently.

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

Thanks Tad. Yes, I'm definitely able and interested in swimming. Not gonna lie... as an adult-onset swimmer it's not my favorite of the three disciplines and I usually only swim when there's a race approaching on the calendar. My Chiro/PT has been prodding me to get back in the pool for a while. I know I should, but... (insert good excuse here).

Your gentle nudge is probably what I need to finally get back in the pool. Besides being good zero-impact cardio and good for my back, it might even help my race times if I swam more regularly. ;-)

Nope

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Andrew Garwood
http://www.2xu.com
http://www.newtonrunning.com
http://www.ascendsport.com.au