Back Surgery

Jesse James · 01-31-2004, 04:42 PM

Hello there JP sent me over to this board from MF since I posted a routine... here it is...
Posted: Jan. 29 2004,17:09

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My goals are to build mass and trim down a little for now. I am at 16.68%bf according to mybodycomp. 5'10 and 190 as of now (big bones). I have gained about 10 lbs since I started seriously training about 3 months ago and my bf has gone down from 21%.
The only area I am lacking as far as effective is a solid tri routine. I will be doing these with chest.
Here is the rest of my split

Day one chest
Flat DB press, incline DB press, cable cross and dips.
Triceps
?? I need order!!!! Ive got order now!!!

Day 2
Cardio

Day 3 back
Wide grip pullups, t bar rows, hyperextentions (cant do deads...)
Biceps
Close grip pullups, hammer curls, preacher curls

Day 4 Shoulders (thanks for suggestions!)
military press, side laterals, rear laterals
Traps
shrugs
Abs
Swiss ball crunches, hanging leg raises, rotational motion with cables... dont know what its called...

Day 5 Legs
Squats ( I started these this week!!), leg press, leg ext., ham curls, seated calf raises, lunges for a great finish.

All are 4x 15, (warm up light weight) 10, 8, 6, with moderatly heavy weight. I plan on pyramiding as the weeks pass.

He noticed some flaws and asked about why no RDL's and I told him about my back surgeries...

"I had 3 back surgeries between may and august of last year. 1st was a L45/L5-S1 fusion for ruptured discs, 2nd was a repair on my spinal cord, 3rd was a cleaning of infection (mrsa). Needless to say I have very little muscle left in my lower back and doing DL's is frightening for one and two my flexability in my lower back is quite pitifull. I will attemt DL's only when I have enough confidence that I will not destablize. The fusion was done with cages, which do not have the best reputaton, 3 screws and a rod connecting 3 vert."

He stated that I may be able to get my workout in order here.
I have been through PT and began my training 3 mo. ago as stated above. I am very careful in all movements no matter what I am doing. What do you think?

Bill Hartman · 01-31-2004, 05:31 PM

Jesse,

What clearance do you have from your medical professionals regarding your program?

Your concerned about "destabilization" during deadlifts but you're doing squats, leg press, t-bar rows(!), military presses, and shrugs????

Each of these exercises requires quite a bit of stabilization (some more than deadlifts) and loads the spine rather heavily.

As with any exercise, it's not just a matter of the exercise technique that determines the stress factor, but also the load.

I'm assuming based on the number of exercises you're performing and the total volume that you've been training for many years? (I know you said 3 months...it's a hint

)

Your pyramid is also too broad to be optimally productive. Search the forum for recommendations of how to progress your warm-up weights. You true working weight sets for each exercise should be within a 10% bracket to be effective.

Bill

Jesse James · 01-31-2004, 06:25 PM

Bill,
Thank you for the reply! My doctor said that if I begin to feel even slightly uncomfortable then stop the movement, check form and try again. If it is still "wrong" then move to a different movement. I have fused according to the imaging studies and I am maturing.
Just FYI... the military press will be done with a "shoulder press" machine, squats are in a "safety squat" smith machine type unit, we axed the idea of t-bar rows yesterday. The t-bar rows which were actually "lying t-bar rows" to a "low row machine" because it felt wrong. Leg press is done in a unit that is seated rather than lying on my back. Shrugs are light weight and are preceded by upright cable rows. Any movement is preceded by finding a neutral possition and tight abs.
I did train quite a lot when I was younger, teens and early 20's (29 now) and this split was somewhat like what I used to do. I lost all of what I had do to drug use.
As far as the pyramid is concerned, do you think I would be better off starting at 12 reps rather than 15 for warm up?
I would keep my trainer but the family comes first and I cannot afford him at this time and dont want to stop training. Yesterday was my last day for at least a month with a trainer.

I will look around a bit to find other suggestions from others in here.

I am glad I ran into you and thank you in advance for any help you bring in the future! It is hard to find a way to train in my condition, but anything sure beats the pain I was in for so long.

Bill Hartman · 02-01-2004, 03:43 PM

As far as warm-up goes, don't waste effort and energy with specific warm-up. The goal is to prepare your nervous system for the task as hand not increase blood flow, body temp., or any of that other BS.

If you want to work in the 5-7 rep bracket with 200 pounds your warm-up might look like:

150 x 5
175 x 3
190 x 1
then do your sets at 200#.

Does that make sense?

Another point...get off the machines. Artificial stability will reduce you own production of stability. It would be better to stick to barbells and dumbbells and just use less weight. If you're concerned about squats (or your doc has warned against them) try split squats, lunges, and step-ups with dumbbells.

Which reminds me (and sounds like you're doing)...monitor technique closely. A set ends when technique must change to complete a rep. Limit load, speed, momentum, etc. so YOU control the movement.

Keep us posted

Bill

Jesse James · 02-02-2004, 06:11 PM

Well the new news is that I read through the site a little and got a great understanding of how important a trainer is to me and how I NEED one unlike most people out there. The guy I have been using is very good about letting me know my limits (my brain tells me one thing and body says another). Basically he keeps me in check!!! So I asked him back and had a great session in the gym this morning.
I will figure out the money as time goes by.
We will be working off the split I posted rather than training "blind" on my end anyway. I will still be able to look foward to what my training days are going to look like ahead of time rather than being led around the gym like a lost puppy. This is going to be a great mental charge! We will gradually leave the machines as time goes by. We try some things like the t-bar rows and my back is simply not ready yet. Most others will be working with free wieghts. Are you familiar with the "safety squat" smith machine? It still makes me have to stabilize the movement and I am only working with about 150lbs working weight.
As time goes on my body will grow strong again and I will look in the mirror to keep up with the progress. It feels great to be healthy again!
Thank you Bill for your words of wisdom!!

wauhawk · 02-03-2004, 02:56 PM

Be carefull! The Dr says I need that same surgery (fusion of the L5/S1, L4/L5, L3/L4) Granted I need three done. However they won't do it cause even the specialist said I would only have five years tops before the discs above would be in just as bad a shape if not worse. Since I'm only 26 they don't want to garentee me to be crippled at 31. They have me trying this pain clinic thing later this month. It's a program designed to re-teach me to do things in ways as not to strain my back and to make the rest of my body pick up where it should have all along. I'm sure you learned alot in PT don't forget it and keep doing the stretches.