Hello all!
I am putting together a program for my andropausing father.
I feel good about it in theory, but what does the Wisdom of Experience have to say about this plan?
That’s where I need you guys! 
My father is about 55, 210-220ish pounds, and has worked as a tradesman his entire life. Lots of pounding on the joints + inflammatory “construction site diet”.
He’s gotten osteoarthritis in one knee pretty bad and it’s not that great in the other one, either. Hips too. He wants to start a fitness routine to get his bodyweight down and increase his mobility.
I’ve printed off “18 Tips to Bulletproof Knees” and will be getting him on some glute activation and rectus femoris stretching shortly.
His pain gets really bad close to and past 90-degrees so for the time being I’ll keep him restricted to above-90.
Other injuries include a 30-year-old lumbar disc rupture that pinches a motor nerve. When his lumbar vertebrae [flexes?/extends?] rounds instead of arches it fires off his hamstrings and they can contract pretty painfully.
Also, about 15 years ago he dislocated a shoulder, but has been working with it without too much trouble ever since.
Here’s what I’ve got so far for a rough draft of his first two months…
Supplementation:
Glucosamine 1500mg / day
Chondroitin 1200mg / day
Collagen hydrolysate 10g / day
Flameout - suggested serving
ZMA - suggested serving (boost natural Test and IGF-1)
He takes these already but couldn’t recall the amounts:
Vitamins A, B-complex, C, and D.
Flaxseed oil, lecithin, fish oil, glucosamine,
and aspirin.
I have a slough of other supplements I’d have him taking, but I don’t want his days spent consuming more mass in pills than actual whole food. On that note…
Diet:
Introduce him to the organic section of the supermarket. Switch him to range-fed and organic meat, eggs, and dairy. Incorporating fruits and vegetables at every feeding. Berardi’s supershakes from Precision Nutrition book are a starting point and go from there.
Training:
“Cardio”: Cycling @ 60% HRmax, 30-40 mins x 3-4d / week
Ease back into cardio and the new joint stimulus after several
years’ lay-off.
Resistance:
Upper Body - “Pre-hab” movements for the shoulders including scapular depression, elevation, pro-and-retraction, as well as humeral external and internal rotation. 2 x 10-12
Basic vertical push-pull, horizontal push-pull, biceps and triceps. 3 x 10
Core - Basic floor-based exercises to relearn how to activate the lower back, rectus abs, internal and external obliques. Neuro-control exercises such as “Russian ballet thrusts”, etc.
Lower Body - Box squats to 90-degrees, hypers, learn deadlift technique, several stretches for hip and ankle mobility. One-legged training for asymmetrical lower-back stimulation.
Will integrate “third-world squat” stretching after 4-5 months of supplementation if accompanied by increase in joint quality.
Other - Foam rolling of rectus femoris, lateral thigh structures, glutes, lats, pecs, triceps. Tennis-ball-torture-device for entire spine.
A co-worker also has a solid connection for anabolics if anyone has recommendations and/or suggested reading in that regard. Dad has been doing his own reading and expressed interest to me in taking GH. I don’t know enough about it to counsel him, though.
I’m stoked to get my dad into the “iron game” after years of prodding!
Thanks a ton for your feedback!
ElbowStrike
