after long layoff...best way to come back?

You sound serious about lifting. I can give you more info but I need a
little more data. What kind of back injury did you have and how was it
treated? Have you ever torn a muscle? During your layoff, did you
stretch? Are you younger than 27? Bear with me on the age thing.
Around the age of 27, the cortisol bump athletes get after training
starts to deteriorate and they are more prone to injuries. So if you
are older, and jump back into heavy weights after a significant layoff,
you are more likely to tear a muscle within about three months. I got
a small tear in my quad with 225 about three months after a layoff and
I was squatting 495 for reps every week at the time. Your muscles are
a lot stronger than they should be after a layoff so if you train heavy
you start to go into recovery deficit and eventually... zip. Of
course, that's if you are old. When you are young you can get away
with murder.

There is a lot of rehab information out there for weight lifters and
track athletes that are coming back from injury, but it was developed
for the most part on college age individuals. If you are older it
might be a formula for a torn muscle.

My recommendation is that you start light and graduate slowly. Get
yourself in great shape first - lean, cardio, stretch. But if you
stretch too hard you can set up for another injury. Keep your back
arched when you stretch your hams. If you get a backache from
stretching this is usually the reason. After my torn quad I spent a
year slowly coming back and now I'm stronger than ever and I even
rehab'd the shoulder I tore 20 years ago. If you want more info email
me at [email hidden]

Well, let's see....the back injury was from deadlifing a max double - I
rounded on the second pull. You know those two teeny little muscles
(about the size of your thumbs) that feel like they connect the
erectors to the pelvis, on either side of the very bottom of the spine
before it turns into butt? I felt the right one of those muscles pop
during the pull, and then later it hurt like hell, all the time,
especially when I was sitting down. For about 8 months. I don't think
it's ever going to be exactly right again - if I sit in a certain way
for too long it twinges like crazy, but it's as better as it's going to
get, and I'm just going to be super careful about deadlifting. I never
got it treated by a doctor- I know the stats on how well medical
treatment for back injuries works. I just iced and heated, took advil,
quit lifitng, and sat careful.

I walked some and stretched (not all the time, or anything - but I
didn't get inflexible over the break) - I'm fatter than I'd like to be
from the inactivity, but I'm not horrible. However, I am 34. I guess
I'll have to work back in easy, then.

So...cortisol is the one that repairs connective tissue, right? Does
that mean that over a layoff you lose more strength in the connective
tissue than in the muscle itself, and that if you just get back in
heavy you'll eventually get to the point where you can lift more than
your connective tissue can handle, or what?

Thanks for the post. I will email you for more specifics - thanks for
that, too.

Heath

Heath said:

Is this a good plan? I knew enough back then to design my own (basic)
workouts, but I have no idea what's the best way to go about coming out
of a long layoff. Never had to do it before. (And I DAMN sure never
will again...nothing more enraging than seeing little plates on the bar
where there should be big ones!!)

Hmmm... I don't know what the experts will say (I am interested in
finding out), but common sense would argue for starting back more gently
and working your way up. It seems that there would be little lost in
building up more gradually, and potentially a lot of downside in ramping
up too quickly too soon. Like not being able to lift for another year.
Is there a compelling reason to push hard early?

No, nothing compelling - except that I'm competitive with myself.
(Which is what got me injured in the first place.) I know it should be
fairly gradual and I'm planning to be sensible about it (assuming I can
curb my raging lust to pick up very heavy things) - I'm wondering about
specifics like volume of work, rep ranges, etc. I know I shouldn't be
working heavy singles and doubles or anything, but I haven't done a
BB-style routine in a while, and I wanted to check with the
Knowledgable Ones on my plan.

Heath said:

No, nothing compelling - except that I'm competitive with myself.
(Which is what got me injured in the first place.) I know it should be
fairly gradual and I'm planning to be sensible about it (assuming I can
curb my raging lust to pick up very heavy things) - I'm wondering about
specifics like volume of work, rep ranges, etc. I know I shouldn't be
working heavy singles and doubles or anything, but I haven't done a
BB-style routine in a while, and I wanted to check with the
Knowledgable Ones on my plan.

Sounds reasonable. Good luck with the comeback.

"Heath" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

After training HARD for 3 years, I had a back injury and subsequently
got lazy - I've been out for about a year now. I'm getting back into
the gym (for about 3 weeks now), and I haven't lost as much strength as
I was dreading. Still squatting 115 (i'm a girl), pulling 155,
benching 95, etc. (I thought I'd be back to thinking the bar was real
heavy after that long away.)

My question is, how slow should I start back? [snip]

Since I didn't go COMPLETELY back to ground zero, should I just barrel
back into it and do the most I can do? Or should I try to ease back
into things? [snip]

Heath,
One thing that hasn't been mentioned occurred to me. You might want to
spend a day a week working on the foundation-type stuff. You know,
connective tissues, abdominals, small muscle groups like the rotator cuff,
that sort of thing. Seems like these probably need as much attention as the
bigger muscles when you're coming back from a layoff.

I had an injury-based year off a couple of years ago, and I spent a few
months conditioning before I returned full force. I think it made a
positive difference.

Good luck,
Selene