From the PT

[WenB]

I've been in Physical Therapy for my back since October of last year

However, she is now working with me to build some muscle so my back will stay in the right spot. She fixes it, and then the lack of good solid muscles, makes it go elsewhere only for her to put it back into place again. Rinse, repeat, ad nauseum.

However, she knows I'm on a LC diet (she wants me on more carbs, but has agreed to disagree), and is helping me with overall fitness.

She is a firm believer that I don't need the constant cardio which my doctor recommends. At this point, it would do more harm than good since this flare up all started with an injury from too much aerobics. Her opinion, and I trust it since I'm seeing the results is that for now, I need to do 30 reps of light weights 3-4 times a week, unless I stall. And that will kick my fat burning back into overdrive.

She also had some tips for when I hit the next plateau, but I'm not there yet.

[inatic]

why 30 reps and blech!

If you need to that light for rehab, maybe but for fatloss, um not so.. There are numerous ways to skin a cat as they say but id rather die then do 30r of anything.

This is written by my coach:

Optimal Weight Training While Dieting

[BrianSCohen]

Originally Posted by inatic

why 30 reps and blech!

If you need to that light for rehab, maybe but for fatloss, um not so.. There are numerous ways to skin a cat as they say but id rather die then do 30r of anything.

This is written by my coach:

I have to back up what Ileen has said. If you really want to use resistance to gain strength and muscle mass and improve your fat loss, you need to lift heavy. If you are still working on rehab, then keep your reps in the upper range, but a good upper range is not 30, that is cardio. I would recommend that you lift the heaviest weights that you can use in perfect form for 8-12 reps. Don't go to failure, particularly if you are working through injuries. When you can get all 12 reps perfectly, increase the weight.

You should also try to use compound moves as much as possible. If you are sitting there curling a 3 lb dumbell for 30 reps, you are not going to get much fat loss. Also, I am not sure how you can stall doing 30 reps, do you just get to 30 and can't do another rep?

I am glad your PT is able to help you. I do agree with the assessment that excessive cardio is just not good. Building strong muscles in your back really can do wonders for aligning your posture and really fixing back problems.

Good luck.

[WenB]

I appreciate all the advice, but considering that I have problems in every large joint in my body as well as my back - lifting heavy could throw me into a HUGE tailspin.

I have problems in both hips, both knees, and both shoulders. Plus the sacroiliac joint on both sides of my pelvis, not to mention my back.

[KajunDC]

WenB,

If you have never lifted before, follow your PT's advice in the beginning. Don't mean to disagree with Ileen and Brian but it is important in the beginning to get all your stabilizers of equal strength and the lighter weight, higher rep will accomplish that without the risk of injury... especially if you have had injuries. Excessive cardio does not cause injuries in and of itself. It is uncorrected muscular imbalances over time that cause injuries. And cardio can exacerbate those imbalances by strengthening only certain muscles/areas. This is why free weights are so important. You must use all your stabilizers to create proper form and that will balance strength in imbalanced muscles over time.

Once your strength and muscles are balanced, then go to what Ileen and Brian describe as that is the best to reach your goals. But I cannot emphasize enough that muscular balance is the key to avoiding and preventing injuries. Your PT has done an eval and is basing her recommendations on that eval. In other words, your PT knows more about your particular situation than we do.

The one area I will disagree with your PT is how to strengthen postural muscles - which are the muscles that hold our spine in place. They respond best to isometric exercises, which is against resistance over time but without movement. When you take muscles through a range of motion, you are focusing on the phasic muscles - which fatigue quickly. Postural muscles are high endurance muscles that fatigue very slowly and must be worked differently than phasic muscles for optimal results.

I specialize in spinal postural correction in my office and have been training people in strengthening postural muscles in this way for over two years now. All the research shows this is how postural muscles must be strengthened and results I've gotten speaks for itself.

Good luck and have a great day.

[WenB]

Kajun,

You hit it on the head. The most frightening thing is that I've been "out of place" for so long my body doesn't remember what the normal position for a lot of the joints is. She'll fix it, and I'll exercise according to the plan, go about my normal day, and within 48 hours the joint that was functioning normally is back out of whack again.

At home, when I'm on the PC, I'm not in a chair but on a stability ball. One step at a time right now, but that seems to be helping wtih the spinal issues.

[KajunDC]

Reasearch on muscle physiology shows that it takes 90-180 days of rehabilitation (depending of the amount of degeneration) to strengthen postural muscles enough to maintain change/correction. That is 3-6 months doing the exercises, optimally, two times a day. It definitely takes time and repetition.

But you are on your way. Keep at it and you will see those results.

[inatic]

Kajun...

what will 30 reps accomplish that say 20 wouldnt? In this case, does it really need to be this high.. (asking because NOT qualified to make any judgement) In someone whose just starting out, you would not recommend reps that high? (barring injuries like in this case)

I totally agree with listening to her PT.. which is why i said, if you need it for rehab, then by all means, do it but i still dont know (again not qualified) that it needs to be that high.

EDIT:

Her opinion, and I trust it since I'm seeing the results is that for now, I need to do 30 reps of light weights 3-4 times a week, unless I stall. And that will kick my fat burning back into overdrive.

this doesnt sound like its for any reason other than 'fatloss/fatburning' which isnt true. So i'd say ask her exactly why you are doing such hi reps is it to strength you body as Kajun says or is it because she believes its for fatloss...

[WenB]

The way that it's been working - the first day I started with 10 reps of 10 pounds, and if nothing hurt, I got to go to 20 reps of 10 pounds, and then 30. When nothing hurt, I moved up by ten pounds at a time and drop down to 10 reps.

For a lot of the different machines, 30 pounds hurt my joints and I'm stuck there until I get additional mobility and strength. That light weight made me hurt - not an ache, but a deep down, difficult to move pain that kept me in bed for a day because I couldn't make one hip work properly without pain. 10 reps of 30 pounds actually threw my left sacroiliac joint out of place.

For eight months I wasn't allowed to lift anything over ten pounds. I wasn't allowed to do anything more difficult than going up the stairs in my house. All the while I got weaker and worse while under the care of my primary care doctor. When it got to the point that I was in agony all the time even with the steriod injections into the joints, she sent me to pain management who threw me into physical therapy and did two rounds of epidural steriods.

It took two months to get my joints to the point they would allow me to use 10 pounds for 10 reps. And while I had considered that to be a wussy weight, I changed my tone completely!

When I know I can add without screwing up anything, then I'll consider moving on, but for now, I deal with the reps.

[ChrisNTX]

Sorry to hear you have so many issues. I agree with Kajun, go with your PT recommendations. Based on my personal experience in going through rehab, the high reps were to reeducate the cns in a specific movement pattern, muscular endurance, increase blood flow and minimize stress on connective tissue. Regarding doing 30 reps for phasic and tonic muscles it's hard to say what's really going on as it looks like a rehab and a fatloss program intermingled or something.

Alot of times it's not a "strength" issue per se, but a timing issue. It could be the stabilizers not firing at the right time, meaning the prime movers have to pick up the slack. A lack of mobility at one joint can create instability at another joint. Not to mention poor length/tension relationships and how they can alter joint alignment and decrease neuromuscular efficiency and lead to poor movement patterns." Strength training" in the traditional sense would only reinforce these dysfunctions.

Kajun, you have any research you could email me

[inatic]

post it for everyone if you can

[ChrisNTX]

Sorry, my last part of my post got chopped off. I meant to ask if you had any research you could email me regarding postural adaptations and corrective exercise intervention? Thanks?