[quote]Dude623 wrote:
brotardscience- Thanks great stuff, I will be trying the bear crawls, and the DB snatches on squat days. And the tumbling will get worked in ( I used to roll a lot) . Lots of good thoughts on some things to try, never done trap bar jumps but will give it a try at some point. Sorry to hear your laid up , it really sucks. Keep at it and go slow , make your mantra (No reinjury and no set backs). Thanks for the ideas.
Robert - I will find the (High Mileage WU) tonight. I think your right about tailoring at this point it may help alot, I have been probably working things I shouldn’t be just for the sake of not giving in to the injury (mindset). Maybe for the next six weeks keep some notes on day to day experimental exercises and see which ones work for me better than others.[/quote]
I hope it helps. Currently I am doing a bunch of TRX rows and pulls instead of pullups in the General Warm up, partly because I think it is easier to scale when I am banged up and mostly because the TRX straps are right next to the KB I do goblets with.
I find that as long as I do it 80% of the time I hold together better. If I have zero time I jump right into the specific warm up, but ONLY when I have less than 45 minutes of floor time.
As far as tailoring exercises for your low back history I would take note of how you feel when it is “injured” and even just “tweeked”. Two very prominent presentations for back pain are “flexion is painful” and “extension is painful”.
The following leans on the work of Robin McKenzie, among others, with regards to explanation but is in no way designed to teach or represent his fantastic methodology.
Flexion is Painful- These patients get worse if they “bend over”, sitting aggravates their pain and symptoms, coughing, bowel movements, and anything that jacks blood pressure up can aggravate things. It has been proposed that this is discogenic back pain(McGill strongly asserts a lot is due to vertebral end plate injury, not disc proper.) Good results early on can often be had with lumbar extension exercises, what many people think of as “McKenzie Exercises”.
You may not have much to do with these patients currently, but if in the past you did general paramedic transports or breeze through a lot of waiting rooms these are the patients who wince at sitting and prefer to either stand or lean on walls. These patients are usually on the younger side as well. This makes sense because disc herniation requires there to be enough moisture in the disc for herniation/bulging/extrusion to occur.
Extension is Painful- Just like it sounds, extension or “arching” is what brings pain. Proposed tissue involvement focuses on posterior structures, often either the facet joints or a narrowing(i.e. stenosis) of the spinal canal.
The “classic” here is an elderly woman or gentlemen who sits down and literally bends themselves over their cane while telling you what is wrong.
The McKenzie method involves assessing history and movement to classify directions involved, derangement vs dysfunction vs postural syndrome, and come up with a working diagnosis for tissues involved. Then a treatment course can be generated. The reason I am typing this is not so you start trying to do that yourself, but rather that if you have been around the block a bit than you already now how it feels when your back is “off”.
My suggestion is that if you fit one of these two general categories, than you go ahead and classify exercises that have a high degree of the painful component as “costly” and then ask if the juice is worth the squeeze. From your post I am gathering that you coach some type of striking, perhaps boxing? If so a whole bunch of dipping and twisting has to get done. It HAS to. Make the gym/other work support rather than hinder that.
So, for example if when you tweak your back flexing forward hurts/causes symptoms than you may want to limit exercises that load your back in a seated position unless they are REALLY helpful to your goals. Shit like seated Arnold presses can become standing presses with little issue. Avoid the misconception that machines/seated bench presses are “back safe”. The rowing machine may be a harsher form of cardio than running or elliptical, or a step mill. On the other hand if alternating a rowing machine with heavy bag work is what puts you in “fighting shape” than maybe you keep it because paying the cost is worth it to you. I would go ahead and do the cost benefit on any and all exercises. Part of “high mileage” is you have memories/stories for all the scar tissue so exploiting that as an asset is possible.
Does that make sense? If any of this seems dumbed down or condescending I am sorry and it is not my intent. If you want any more or different explanations for the above it is no problem.
The other factor is that you have mentioned feeling “off” sparring, but not sparring hard and doing it as a teaching tool. This can create its own problems. If you are trying to only push your students as hard as they can handle and not run them over or out game them then you are going to be working at the young man’s pace and denying yourself the benefits of art and experience. I am going to dig up a post I made in Ranzo’s training log about two strategies old men seem to be able to use well, and cross post it because from the sound of it you are not letting yourself do it, perhaps for good reason.
Regards,
Robert A
EDTA:
Link to the “old man” part. The background is on the page previous as is the video of the opponent.
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_boxing_fighting_mma_combat/ranzo_training_log_1?id=5428004&pageNo=5