Holy moly I'm outta shape.

[rhendrix]

Pretty much stopped working out at the end of August before my mule deer hunt. Just now got back into the gym and subscribed to Train To Hunt (all the cool kids are doing!). Today's workout was work your way up to a max single in the back squat and then 4 rounds of sit-ups, lunges, and box jumps. I'm already sore and I just finished a half hour ago. I wanted to throw in some LISS work to help rebuild my base level of fitness up, does anyone think that's breaking off more than I can chew right now?

 

[Ironman8]

I'd probably only do one or the other for the first month or so to acclimate your body to working out again. (If I was to pick, it would be the lifts). But only you can gauge what you're capable of. When you do start doing both, if your schedule allows, I like to break up cardio and lifts at separate times of day (ie. morning and evening sessions).

 

[justinspicher]

As I get older, I seem to work out with weights less and less and do more body weight stuff. I've also started to do more stretching and longer runs to maintain my weight. I still exercise with the same frequency and intensity, just in a different way. I still have a hard time paying anyone to give me a workout when the internet is free.

 

[Ross]

I would slowly build back into your workout program or anything new, as noted to get your body used to the workout, otherwise risking injury and down time sucks! With Justin here on more and more body weight stuff as I age just isn't worth any new injuries and when i now strain something it just takes forever to go away and who has time to just sit around waiting to heal.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I would slowly build back into your workout program or anything new, as noted to get your body used to the workout, otherwise risking injury and down time sucks! With Justin here on more and more body weight stuff as I age just isn't worth any new injuries and when i now strain something it just takes forever to go away and who has time to just sit around waiting to heal.

Well said. Injuries suck, prevent them at all costs.

 

[307]

Repetitive lumbar flexion exercises are terrible for your lumbar intervertebral discs. Sit-ups and crunches are not worth the risk. Stick with plank, stir the pot, deadlift, kb swing, squats, etc for trunk training.

 

[rhendrix]

No worries, my feet weren't anchored. Thanks though.

 

[Lawnboi]

Take your time, and don't forget to stretch, a lot.

 

[307]

It has nothing to do with anchored feet or unanchored feet. Sit-ups damage the spine.

 

[rhendrix]

It has nothing to do with anchored feet or unanchored feet. Sit-ups damage the spine.

I'm pretty sure that lugging around 60-70# packs in the high country and hauling 50-60# of gear up and down ladders and through residential and commercial structures fighting fires is going to ruin my lower back long before doing sit-ups ever will.

 

[307]

Actually, no. The other activities you mentioned can be done safely, a sit-up cannot. The disc will be weakened by the buckling motion of flexion/extension cycles. Then there will be a herniation that the uninitiated will attribute to whatever task you were doing at the time.

Seriously, don't do sit-ups. But don't take my word for it. Google Stuart McGill, lumbar disc or some combination of those terms.

Any trainer that gives you sit-ups should be fired on the spot IMO.

 

[rhendrix]

My point is...the activities I do normally have given me a strong posterior chain already. The use of a dynamic sit-up in a work out aren't going to negatively affect my lower back anymore than my chosen profession or extracurricular activities.

It was 3 sets of ten sit-ups. Relax.

 

[307]

To put this bluntly, you are wrong. It has nothing to do with strength. But, it's your back, so good luck.

I'll refrain from further comments.

 

[rhendrix]

To be equally as blunt...I never said the risk of herniating my back was low because of how much weight I can lift, my risk of herniation is low because my posterior chain gets a lot of work because of my job. Furthermore, I've never seen someone have a herniated disc due solely from doing sit-ups. If I was doing weighted decline sit-ups, I can understand concerns about spinal loading, and I'd agree with you that there are better alternatives than decline weighted sit-ups. But dynamic sit-ups, barring no physiological ailments that were present beforehand and done in low volume, are statistically not going to cause spinal herniation in a healthy adult male in his 30's. Bad posture, large spinal loads combined with rotational forces, and musculoskeletal imbalance are more likely to cause disc herniation.

Not trying to start an argument with you, but your smugness about this is a little ridiculous. They're f'n sit-ups, relax man.

 

[307]

Are you a doctor who specializes in spine care and manages disc cases on a daily basis for over a decade?

 

[307]

Its not smugness, its a genuine desire for people to avoid this debilitating condition. It is my life's work. Sorry if the tone has rubbed you the wrong way.

 

[rhendrix]

Are you a doctor who specializes in spine care and manages disc cases on a daily basis for over a decade?

No but I'm an EMT-P that has seen plenty of acute injuries to peoples lower backs, most have occurred because of improper lifting techniques, i.e. loading their spine and applying rotational force. I understand your concern if you're a chiropractor and this is your bread and butter, but were talking about a very modest number. 30 sit-ups are not going to cause me problems. 300 might, but 30, come on?!?

Its not smugness, its a genuine desire for people to avoid this debilitating condition. It is my life's work. Sorry if the tone has rubbed you the wrong way.

No worries, just realize that within every body of thought there are opposing ideas and both sides have validity.

 

[307]

Do some research on disc injury mechanisms. All of the labs that study the spine are in agreement on what I said. There really are no valid mechanisms in opposition to what I'm saying. There is a lot of misinformation and its probably part of the reason that lbp is the number one cause of disability in this country.

 

[justinspicher]

I always thought that number one cause of disability in this country was effort because they can get a free hand out........

 

[tipsntails7]

Ok, 307 is right that sit-ups do put unnesasary strain on the back and is unhealthy to a certain extent. With that said my grandfather did who knows ... 300 thousand sit ups while in the military. He is 86 now and he just built his house last year with the help of my father and I. So doing a few is not going to kill you. There is also a difference between acute and chronic injuries. It's unfair to say that sit ups are the sole reason for the degradation of people's lower backs, there is to many unknown factors in people's everyday life, improper lifting, lack of exercise and the fact that more and more people are sitting at a computer for 8 hours a day without proper lumbar support.

I've seen more people that are injured doing squats or deadlifts improperly then anything else.

The reason lower back pain is a leader in disability is people are lazy, fat and it is extremely difficult to prove people don't suffer from severe back pain.

It's a difficult thing to figure out, what really caused the back injury? The long term degrade or the traumatic instantaneous injury.