@Ganymede said:
If I recall correctly, you hurt your lower back not too long ago. And then I read that you went and tried to hit some deadlifts again. That injury was, what, maybe a few weeks ago? Three or four? I could be wrong, and, if so, then my comment doesn't make sense.
Hm, I seriously hurt my back the first time around... 2005. Something like that - nothing actually happened, I still don't know 'what' happened. I think it was just a weak core, extra fat and a desk-jockey job that herniated my discs over time. The last time (before now) my back was hurt was in 2014, doing romanian deadlifts. I was out for a couple of days, then was okay again but took a very long break from them anyway.
I started working out in my early 20s, and have been keeping in okay shape since then. I'm not perfect; I'm not rigorous; I could be more zealous. And what I've learned is that lower back injuries are tricky beasts because it is difficult to pinpoint if a strain is myalgia or tendinitis. If it's the former, you'll be back in a reasonably short period of time; if the latter, not so.
Yeah, all joints are. A friend of mine at work plays soccer constantly - he basically has no knees left to speak of after multiple ACL surgeries but he keeps at it because he's crazy.
Me? In 2005 when I hurt my back doing nothing I'd spend almost a month limping around, being unable to get out of bed, taking heavy anti-inflamatories and doing physical therapy. Now, this one? I fully expect to be able to do a 2-hour basketball run on Sunday (which is still stupid, I should rest more, but if I can I will so why linger on that? ). My point is, exercise worked; it's not just for looks, it's not just that I like seeing some muscle tone there... it changed my life for the better. It's the difference between "I do nothing and I'm in big, constant pain" and "I lifted 150 pounds off the floor and I'm in discomfort for half a week".
Given how delicate that area is? Best not to take chances, I figure. I had a minor tear of a pectoral near the clavicular area, and it didn't heal for 4 months. Recently, I fell down the stairs and got tendinitis around my obliques; another 3 months out of commission, basically. I'm basically your age, so I have an idea on how long things may take to heal.
That's the only big fear here. A torn ACL, a shoulder cuff injury, an actual structural disc problem at the back and ... well, it's over for a long, long time. Form has to be perfect, if you allow yourself to run on ego it's not gonna have a happy ending.
I tried pilates before but you know what? You might not get it, I'm not sure... I was the only man in a class full of chicks - pilates is amazing but the chromosome composition is very biased. At first they seemed a bit ... taken aback, maybe. Before long those chicks took me under their wing and it was great, but at first - and this could be my own paranoia speaking - maybe the only guys who join things like that do it to hit on hot chicks, so it's treated with a degree of caution. Maybe. But it's a thing for me, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.
That said, I'll say it again: try interval sets.
How long does it take you to blast out 10 chest presses? I'll bet it takes 20 seconds. Lengthen that to 30 seconds; how many can you do at 80% of your lifting capacity? Keep challenging yourself to do more in 30 seconds, until it is almost physically impossible to do so. Then move up 5 pounds, and start all over. I'll wager that if you do 30 seconds of chest presses, then 30 seconds of rest five times, you'll feel a better burn over 5 minutes than doing a boring 10 x 5 set.
I've done HIIT in the past. What I don't like about it in combination with freeweights is that it's easy to sacrifice form. It's the same issue I have with stuff like crossfit; when I go in thinking 'this is 5x5, I just need to move this damn thing up and down five times and the set is over' I can focus on doing it exactly right. The other issue is lack of resources; there are a lot more posts, blogs and documentation about how to perform the perfect bench press than to do interval training.
I find this has worked wonders for me. I can go as fast or as slow as I want on the reps, but the faster I go, the harder I burn. In 35 minutes (6 sets with 1 minute break in between) of interval sets, I can get a better workout than I did doing 15 x 3's or 10 x 5's. The added bonus is how the exercise becomes aerobic: your cardio mixes in with the lifting.
Oh I have no doubt at all it's worked for you. We're not insects! There's more than one way for us to be fit and healthy. For me the main thing - other than not dropping a few hundred pounds of iron on my face - is to make sure I'm enjoying what I do enough that I keep at it. For example if I did 35 minutes now and 35 minutes next week I wouldn't know if I'm progressing; am I? Did I do better? Am I advancing?
With free weights (and that's one of the reasons I love it) there's no guesswork. Did you lift more today than you did last time? Gratz! Now back to work because it's gonna be five pounds heavier next time, sucker.
It's a different mentality. You're not going for weight; you're going for speed. And I'll bet you you'll burn more fat, and have a better basketball game in 3 months.
By the way, I love you, man. Honest. But I think you could work out smarter.
I you too! It's awesome to share insights on that sort of thing with people who're into different stuff. And no one has ever accused me of being smart, as you should know by now.