Leg workout

[Ebertii]

I am an old Football player who is getting back into lifting but since my prime I have developed a bad back. Actually I have Degenterative Disk Disease in my Lumbar spine and have had surgery about 4 yerars ago. Now my question is what leg workouts are there that do not put pressure on my back. I am forbidden to do Squats (for a bad knee also), any style of dead lifts, the only thing I was told I can do is leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises(in a leg press machine) and leg presses. Is this enought to completly work my Legs??? Please let me know becuae I feel that I am not doing enough on my leg days.

[Jean-Paul]

Did the doctor who forbade you of ever doing squats or deads happen to lift weights at all? This kind of diagnosis by doctors is so common and it seems in over 90% of the cases it is dead wrong!

I am sure that Bill will want to add more to this discussion, being a phsyical therapist, but I will share what I know with you. Often-times squats are the VERY exercise you need to strenthen your back (and the muscles of your "core") and possibly even your knee. I doubt your back was hurt by doing squats in the first place (unless you were just doing them wrong)... Your back and knees were hurt by lots of impact, and then by years of non-use, letting all those support muscles in your body weaken.

That being said, I have seen more people re-injure their backs on a leg extension than on a squat. Leg extensions and curls may be okay as supplemental exercises (although I never do them personally), but they shouldn't be the base of a routine. I will argue that, properly learned and executed, squats or deads would be the very exercises I would use to get your leg/back strength back up.

[Master Trainer]

I agree with JP on his opinion of most of the general practitioners out there and maybe even a few orthopedics surgeons who may have become "clinicized" over the years. Just make sure you get plenty of second, third, and fourth medical opinions before you completely exclude forms of squat and deadlifts exercises. As a matter of fact, my doctor told me that following my two consecutive knee injuries I should never squat again either or I would be back to see him again. Same goes for my shoulders. But three years later, I have no pain in any of my joints and I'm stronger than I have ever been before. Testimony that smart training and knowing when to say when can take you a long way.

Now to completely contradict what I just said---- " That doesn't give you a license to do anything stupid!+", as one of my former mentors would say.

Also, I can see why the good doc would want you to avoid squats do to the heavy vertical forces applied to the spine (degenerating disks) during such a lift. Hoever there are plenty of assisted and non assisted one leg squat options that would require much less of a load on the spine.