maurice197
Level 4 Valued Member
I'll start with the crux of my question and add a detailed background later to save folks some time.
Question: Other than range of motion and clearance from a doctor, what benchmarks would you want someone to be able to meet before they return to swinging after a back injury?
Background:
I'm currently working with a good physical therapist (after 5 years of looking for a doctor/chiropractor/physical therapist that could identify the cause and appropriate rehab for my back issues --Pinched Femoral Nerve with radiating pain/numbness and localized pain in lumbar spine and hip).
I'm a 38 year-old former college athlete and competitive weightlifter. I am out of shape, weigh 270, but have good mobility and reasonable baseline strength. I don't have any other major issues, although my thoracic mobility leaves something to be desired and a contributing factor to my back/nerve issue is overactive lats/underactive diaphram (which is part of the focus of my PT). I'm currently rebuilding my deadlift under the close watchful eye of my physical therapist using elevated deadlifts (and several other hinge variations like one arm/one leg KB DL's and Suitcase DL's), and plan to introduce swings when its appropriate. I realize that eventually, I'll just have to start swinging to see whether swings hurt or help my back, but before then, I'd like to plan out some benchmarks to hit before I try them.
Some notes: I won't do any swinging until my PT gives me the green light. I will share with her the benchmarks I'm aiming at in order to talk through any potential contraindications. My PT and I have discussed it and she's open to swinging and wants me to have a major say in when I feel ready for them, so I'm trying to put together a plan for her to review.
So far, I think it makes sense to have a minimum dead lift # and maybe a minimum plank or side plank duration. I like the idea of being able to pull 400lbs off the ground with perfect technique before I start ( I was closer to 600lbs before my injury). That puts me to pretty close to a 1.5 x body weight dead lift before swinging. Are there any other obvious (or not so obvious) benchmarks? For example, 30 second plank duration, or 10 perfect push ups?
Generally, I don't like the idea of starting with anything under a 24kg bell, since I'm likely to want to use more arms with that (which is another reason I want the DL to be pretty high before starting to swing). Also, I'll start with pretty short sets of swings (4 or less maybe).
Thanks for your time and info.
Question: Other than range of motion and clearance from a doctor, what benchmarks would you want someone to be able to meet before they return to swinging after a back injury?
Background:
I'm currently working with a good physical therapist (after 5 years of looking for a doctor/chiropractor/physical therapist that could identify the cause and appropriate rehab for my back issues --Pinched Femoral Nerve with radiating pain/numbness and localized pain in lumbar spine and hip).
I'm a 38 year-old former college athlete and competitive weightlifter. I am out of shape, weigh 270, but have good mobility and reasonable baseline strength. I don't have any other major issues, although my thoracic mobility leaves something to be desired and a contributing factor to my back/nerve issue is overactive lats/underactive diaphram (which is part of the focus of my PT). I'm currently rebuilding my deadlift under the close watchful eye of my physical therapist using elevated deadlifts (and several other hinge variations like one arm/one leg KB DL's and Suitcase DL's), and plan to introduce swings when its appropriate. I realize that eventually, I'll just have to start swinging to see whether swings hurt or help my back, but before then, I'd like to plan out some benchmarks to hit before I try them.
Some notes: I won't do any swinging until my PT gives me the green light. I will share with her the benchmarks I'm aiming at in order to talk through any potential contraindications. My PT and I have discussed it and she's open to swinging and wants me to have a major say in when I feel ready for them, so I'm trying to put together a plan for her to review.
So far, I think it makes sense to have a minimum dead lift # and maybe a minimum plank or side plank duration. I like the idea of being able to pull 400lbs off the ground with perfect technique before I start ( I was closer to 600lbs before my injury). That puts me to pretty close to a 1.5 x body weight dead lift before swinging. Are there any other obvious (or not so obvious) benchmarks? For example, 30 second plank duration, or 10 perfect push ups?
Generally, I don't like the idea of starting with anything under a 24kg bell, since I'm likely to want to use more arms with that (which is another reason I want the DL to be pretty high before starting to swing). Also, I'll start with pretty short sets of swings (4 or less maybe).
Thanks for your time and info.