(NOTE: Cut to the last two paragraphs if you don’t care about my injury =P). I herniated one of my discs this summer, however I thought it was just a bad muscle pull or second degree tear so I kept playing sports, doing combat hapkido and working out through it. I just didn’t do any weighted lower body exercises. I eventually got an MRI and it turned out that I have a herniated disc, and that I wasn’t supposed to do any exercises where there is a load above my shoulders, resting on my back, or any exercise that brings my back to extension (notice, not just hyperextension, extension - so basically anything).
I still wanted to work out, and earlier in the summer I had ordered gymnastic rings from ringtraining.com and they finally came in about 2 weeks before my MRI. I devised a little training program to keep my upper body going without hurting my back. I just bring my knees up so that my legs are parallel with the ground during every workout I do (this naturally rounds my back), and I do pullups/chinups/neutral grips/dips. I also go as far out into the iron cross as possible and hold it for a second and come back, and do false grip holds and such.
Long story short - Pre-injury and during-injury before I stopped lifting I had a 1RM bench of 315lbs, weighted dip max of 135lbs on the belt, weighted chin max of 135lbs on the belt, and weighted pullup max of 100lbs on the belt. The dips on the rings at first were as hard as doing 90lbs on the belt (due to the stabilizing muscles getting tired), and I could only do about 15 chins max on the rings, compared to my 32 chin max I did about a month back on the chinup bar.
Also, I really haven’t lost any size and I haven’t touched weights in about 5 weeks now. Not to mention, my core looks beastly right now. In fact I’m so confident in the rings results that I think once my back heals I am going to do the Vert Jump Dev. Bible program to get my legs back in shape in the spring, and just keep doing rings for upper body, adding in more intense exercises as I progress. Does anyone else have some glory stories of the infamous gymnast still rings? ;p
-DTC
P.S. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do for my lower body in the meantime, besides the stretches the doc gave me?
Someone training on the rings will crush the same person training in the gym. Why? I dont know, but if you find out, let me know.
If you get a spot to help you with the rings, you can develop even faster with them. Also, not sure if you can use the pummel horse, but that will also speed your upper body growth.
A friend of mine is an ex-gymnast and knows a bit about this type of training. If you are interested I will ask him to provide you with some exercises you can do. Let me know.
You’re right. Rings ARE the greatest. When I first used them (around this time last year actually) my strength levels weren’t too far below yours, and I could do one dip. One. And maybe 3 pull ups. Thoroughly ashamed, I replaced my RE day with ring work, and by the time I was knocking out sets of 10 with my legs parallel to the floor, my forearms, biceps, triceps and abs (Do we say core now? I forget.) had changed beyond all recognition.
A friend I hadn’t seen for a while greeted me with 'Jesus! What happened to your arms?! And then I completely ruined my left shoulder doing floor presses.
But the damage has been repaired, and your post has inspired me to get back on the rings. I hope it does others!
Of topic, but what is “combat akido”? It’s not like their is a sport version. Isn’t it for self defense in the first place (combat). Glad to see you had good results with the rings. I would like to get some myself, they just seem too expenxive for me right now.
[quote]DTC wrote:
(NOTE: Cut to the last two paragraphs if you don’t care about my injury =P). I herniated one of my discs this summer, however I thought it was just a bad muscle pull or second degree tear so I kept playing sports, doing combat hapkido and working out through it. I just didn’t do any weighted lower body exercises. I eventually got an MRI and it turned out that I have a herniated disc, and that I wasn’t supposed to do any exercises where there is a load above my shoulders, resting on my back, or any exercise that brings my back to extension (notice, not just hyperextension, extension - so basically anything).
I still wanted to work out, and earlier in the summer I had ordered gymnastic rings from ringtraining.com and they finally came in about 2 weeks before my MRI. I devised a little training program to keep my upper body going without hurting my back. I just bring my knees up so that my legs are parallel with the ground during every workout I do (this naturally rounds my back), and I do pullups/chinups/neutral grips/dips. I also go as far out into the iron cross as possible and hold it for a second and come back, and do false grip holds and such.
Long story short - Pre-injury and during-injury before I stopped lifting I had a 1RM bench of 315lbs, weighted dip max of 135lbs on the belt, weighted chin max of 135lbs on the belt, and weighted pullup max of 100lbs on the belt. The dips on the rings at first were as hard as doing 90lbs on the belt (due to the stabilizing muscles getting tired), and I could only do about 15 chins max on the rings, compared to my 32 chin max I did about a month back on the chinup bar.
Also, I really haven’t lost any size and I haven’t touched weights in about 5 weeks now. Not to mention, my core looks beastly right now. In fact I’m so confident in the rings results that I think once my back heals I am going to do the Vert Jump Dev. Bible program to get my legs back in shape in the spring, and just keep doing rings for upper body, adding in more intense exercises as I progress. Does anyone else have some glory stories of the infamous gymnast still rings? ;p
-DTC
P.S. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do for my lower body in the meantime, besides the stretches the doc gave me?[/quote]
Was there an article a while back about rings? Where can I buy a set? Does anyone remember?
[quote]jedidiah wrote:
DTC wrote:
(NOTE: Cut to the last two paragraphs if you don’t care about my injury =P). I herniated one of my discs this summer, however I thought it was just a bad muscle pull or second degree tear so I kept playing sports, doing combat hapkido and working out through it. I just didn’t do any weighted lower body exercises. I eventually got an MRI and it turned out that I have a herniated disc, and that I wasn’t supposed to do any exercises where there is a load above my shoulders, resting on my back, or any exercise that brings my back to extension (notice, not just hyperextension, extension - so basically anything).
I still wanted to work out, and earlier in the summer I had ordered gymnastic rings from[/quote] ringtraining.com [quote]and they finally came in about 2 weeks before my MRI. I devised a little training program to keep my upper body going without hurting my back. I just bring my knees up so that my legs are parallel with the ground during every workout I do (this naturally rounds my back), and I do pullups/chinups/neutral grips/dips. I also go as far out into the iron cross as possible and hold it for a second and come back, and do false grip holds and such.
Long story short - Pre-injury and during-injury before I stopped lifting I had a 1RM bench of 315lbs, weighted dip max of 135lbs on the belt, weighted chin max of 135lbs on the belt, and weighted pullup max of 100lbs on the belt. The dips on the rings at first were as hard as doing 90lbs on the belt (due to the stabilizing muscles getting tired), and I could only do about 15 chins max on the rings, compared to my 32 chin max I did about a month back on the chinup bar.
Also, I really haven’t lost any size and I haven’t touched weights in about 5 weeks now. Not to mention, my core looks beastly right now. In fact I’m so confident in the rings results that I think once my back heals I am going to do the Vert Jump Dev. Bible program to get my legs back in shape in the spring, and just keep doing rings for upper body, adding in more intense exercises as I progress. Does anyone else have some glory stories of the infamous gymnast still rings? ;p
-DTC
P.S. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do for my lower body in the meantime, besides the stretches the doc gave me?
Was there an article a while back about rings? Where can I buy a set? Does anyone remember?
I’ve always had an interest in gymnastics; specifically the still rings.
Where do you have them set up?
I was actually thinking about considering getting some, but I’d have to think of where I could put them here, and then when I go to college…well, yeah.
Combat Hapkido is a martial art which is pretty much entirely based on becoming the agressor. It involves a lot of joint locks, and pretty much every advanced move is designed so that if you take it 1 step further, the person will wind up in a cast with probably permanent injury to their tendons and a few broken bones. Part of the system is taught to special forces as part of their martial arts training.
As far as the rings go, I bought them from www.ringtraining.com . They have adjustable straps so you can set them up anywhere. Recently I have just hang them from a pullup bar at the gym, and since they’re adjustable I just adjust the height based on if I’m doing dips, iron crosses, or pullups.
Cool. The only thing I’d be worried about is not having a high enough place to hang them, but I can probably sort that out (maybe build a pullup station in the back yard; home depot here I come!).
[quote]etaco wrote:
jedidiah wrote:
DTC wrote:
(NOTE: Cut to the last two paragraphs if you don’t care about my injury =P). I herniated one of my discs this summer, however I thought it was just a bad muscle pull or second degree tear so I kept playing sports, doing combat hapkido and working out through it. I just didn’t do any weighted lower body exercises. I eventually got an MRI and it turned out that I have a herniated disc, and that I wasn’t supposed to do any exercises where there is a load above my shoulders, resting on my back, or any exercise that brings my back to extension (notice, not just hyperextension, extension - so basically anything).
I still wanted to work out, and earlier in the summer I had ordered gymnastic rings from ringtraining.com and they finally came in about 2 weeks before my MRI. I devised a little training program to keep my upper body going without hurting my back. I just bring my knees up so that my legs are parallel with the ground during every workout I do (this naturally rounds my back), and I do pullups/chinups/neutral grips/dips. I also go as far out into the iron cross as possible and hold it for a second and come back, and do false grip holds and such.
Long story short - Pre-injury and during-injury before I stopped lifting I had a 1RM bench of 315lbs, weighted dip max of 135lbs on the belt, weighted chin max of 135lbs on the belt, and weighted pullup max of 100lbs on the belt. The dips on the rings at first were as hard as doing 90lbs on the belt (due to the stabilizing muscles getting tired), and I could only do about 15 chins max on the rings, compared to my 32 chin max I did about a month back on the chinup bar.
Also, I really haven’t lost any size and I haven’t touched weights in about 5 weeks now. Not to mention, my core looks beastly right now. In fact I’m so confident in the rings results that I think once my back heals I am going to do the Vert Jump Dev. Bible program to get my legs back in shape in the spring, and just keep doing rings for upper body, adding in more intense exercises as I progress. Does anyone else have some glory stories of the infamous gymnast still rings? ;p
-DTC
P.S. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do for my lower body in the meantime, besides the stretches the doc gave me?
Was there an article a while back about rings? Where can I buy a set? Does anyone remember?
[quote]etaco wrote:
jedidiah wrote:
DTC wrote:
(NOTE: Cut to the last two paragraphs if you don’t care about my injury =P). I herniated one of my discs this summer, however I thought it was just a bad muscle pull or second degree tear so I kept playing sports, doing combat hapkido and working out through it. I just didn’t do any weighted lower body exercises. I eventually got an MRI and it turned out that I have a herniated disc, and that I wasn’t supposed to do any exercises where there is a load above my shoulders, resting on my back, or any exercise that brings my back to extension (notice, not just hyperextension, extension - so basically anything).
I still wanted to work out, and earlier in the summer I had ordered gymnastic rings from ringtraining.com and they finally came in about 2 weeks before my MRI. I devised a little training program to keep my upper body going without hurting my back. I just bring my knees up so that my legs are parallel with the ground during every workout I do (this naturally rounds my back), and I do pullups/chinups/neutral grips/dips. I also go as far out into the iron cross as possible and hold it for a second and come back, and do false grip holds and such.
Long story short - Pre-injury and during-injury before I stopped lifting I had a 1RM bench of 315lbs, weighted dip max of 135lbs on the belt, weighted chin max of 135lbs on the belt, and weighted pullup max of 100lbs on the belt. The dips on the rings at first were as hard as doing 90lbs on the belt (due to the stabilizing muscles getting tired), and I could only do about 15 chins max on the rings, compared to my 32 chin max I did about a month back on the chinup bar.
Also, I really haven’t lost any size and I haven’t touched weights in about 5 weeks now. Not to mention, my core looks beastly right now. In fact I’m so confident in the rings results that I think once my back heals I am going to do the Vert Jump Dev. Bible program to get my legs back in shape in the spring, and just keep doing rings for upper body, adding in more intense exercises as I progress. Does anyone else have some glory stories of the infamous gymnast still rings? ;p
-DTC
P.S. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do for my lower body in the meantime, besides the stretches the doc gave me?
Was there an article a while back about rings? Where can I buy a set? Does anyone remember?
[quote]buddhabellybum wrote:
Hey man,
I’m in your shoes… I have scoliosis and have been advised by my back doctor not to do squats, military presses, or deadlifts.
I still do rack pulls (limits the range of motion) and dumbbell presses. I’m getting into doing pistols and glute ham situps.