Bob's back rehab

[Jungledoc]

Probably left over from hearing a stern parent's voice using your full name! I have mostly only been called "Andrew" by a parent when I was in big trouble for something. Not that I every did anything wrong, you understand, but sometimes the parents got the crazy notion that I might have.

[robertscott]

yup I think that's exactly right.

Now get back to work Andrew!

[KPj]

Things are looking good Bob. You're getting to that point that I get to in a rehab situation where I have the strong urge to be an idiot....... "i'll try some very light front squatting.... see how it feels...."

5-10 minutes later... You finish you're last heavy-ish triple and are considering adding more weight. I'm terrible for this.

Planks are sounding good. For added motivation just know that every week I have a 53 year old woman who can hold them for 60 seconds whilst out breath no problem, and a 61 year old previously untrained over weight male who does the same... (we only typically do them for 30 seconds and include leg and arm lifts, though). This is just to keep you riled enough to keep hammering away at them ;)

On the wall slides - Good on you for addressing this. Think of these wall slides as bench pressing. If you're as bad at them as you say, then wall slides could be one of the best things you could do for your bench press. They're a good representation of the ability to get into a stronger, more stable bench press set up. As an example, if people are REALLY bad at them, I don't let them bench to their chest with a bar, and won't let them OH press. They don't need to be perfect but at least "decent" (I like to at least see elbows to come below shoulders with wrists and elbows against wall WITHOUT an excessive arch in the back).

[robertscott]

yup, I know exactly what you mean about being an idiot, I want so badly to try some front squats but I'm not going to let myself do it. I'm still getting stronger on the Bulgarian Split Squats and they've added a bit of size to my quads so I'm just going to keep on at those. Once I get to a respectable level on those and the hip thrusts I'll consider front squatting.

Christ that's embarrassing about those old folk kicking my ass at planks, I've learned though that everyone in the entire world is better at planks than I am so it's sort of stopped annoying me. I'll keep plugging away. I reckon by the end of the month I'll be able to hold them for 3 sets of a minute. Once I can hit a minute comfortably I'll try them with feet elevated, limbs lifted etc.

Ideally I want to be strong enough to do roll-outs before I start squatting again. It's far off but getting closer...

As for the wall slides I figure it's something that I'm going to have to do sooner or later so might as well be now. I do a set every time there's an ad break when I'm watching tv. My back arches all to hell and my wrists struggle to stay anywhere near the wall but I generally find it gets easier by like the third set or so. I've also taken out some of the chest accessory work I do and replaced it with more back stuff so I'm doing a 3:1 ratio pulling to pushing as opposed to the 3:2 I've been doing for the last while.

"Summer of Mobility" is in full swing! I'm almost halfway through and making ok progress. Seems weird focusing on something other than just adding weight to the bar but I figure once my core strength is up to snuff I might actually get my lifts up to a respectable strength.

[Oscar_Actuary]

your dedication is inspiring, patience to work thru the back and stengthening your core.
I could learn a lot from this. (I lack patience, which seems dumb for someone who ignored fitness all together for years and years and ...)

[robertscott]

thanks Oscar, thing is my back first started hurting in my mid teens, so it's actually my lack of dedication that's let it get this bad! Believe me I'd rather lie on the coach and eat crisps but enough is enough. If I don't fix it now it'll just get worse.

[Oscar_Actuary]

get well soon.

[robertscott]

Cheers Ozzy, I'm sure it's just a cold

[KenDowns]

Well, firstly I've learned that my lower back is pretty much untrained now, so although my legs are strong enough to squat, I have to be conscious of the fact my lower back is the limiting factor.

Secondly, I realise now that waiting for my back pain to disappear completely before I try squatting is a waste of time. My back is never going to be completely pain free until I stengthen the movement patterns. When my back is a little achey in the mornings, by the time I've foam rolled and done my mobility and core stuff, it feels fine. So I'm not going to wait another 3 months before attempting to squat again, more like a couple of weeks.

This sounds like a breakthrough. I have not been following every post, and of course I am not a doctor, but the default position is that exercising your back makes it stronger. If the pain is because of weakness, stronger would be good.

So starting light and and sticking with it sounds very reasonable. And as Jungledoc says, never apologize for your numbers. This is a rehab effort, not a prep for a meet, so pick the weight that will make you stronger but not aggravate an injury.

[Oscar_Actuary]

ah crud Robert, man that sucks.

I completely understand your ideas though.
I'm no expert and could be full of it, but I found the same with my elbow and to some extend ankle tendon situation. Time off made it "feel" better, as long as I was not putting stress to it
But I dont want to go thru life not putting stress on my ankle or bicep/forearms.
I mean, just weeding the garden would aggravate it - so - time to get back and do light work - but do some work

That being said, you were doing movements, but I guess not the ones that caused/aggravated the issue,
I'm rambling. I get it even though this disjointed.

[Jungledoc]

Rippetoe (and I guess he got it from Starr) says for muscle strains to give it 2 or 3 days off, then go in and do super high reps of super light weight for a few days (I don't remember how he says to end this routine). I'd guess that total rest shouldn't be for more than a few days, and then cautious re-start on strengthening.

[Jungledoc]

...and could be full of it...

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. Why do you present us with such easy opportunities?

[robertscott]

heh, thanks for all the advice guys. In a surprising twist of fate, it isn't actually that sore this morning. Makes me think it's definitely a strain, as opposed to an injury. Scary when it happened though!

I'm going to go in on tuesday and do ridiculously high reps of ridiculously low weight.

I'm glad it's a two or three day off type thing, as opposed to another couple of months

[Oscar_Actuary]

...and could be full of it...

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. Why do you present us with such easy opportunities?

I'm nothing if not self effacing

*****
back ot topic

Thats great Robert. Good to know you won't be down for the count

[robertscott]

ya I'm pretty happy about it. Who could've known it'd be my UPPER back to let me down?

At least me making all these mistakes means that hopefully someone else'll avoid them