Looking for advice...

[Sasquatch]

I'm not new to BB'ing, I lifted for several years between 1999 and 2006. I had just about reached my goals and was very happy with where I was at, physically.
In May of last year I was in a bad car accident in which my lower body was pretty badly injured. Recovery, rest, and physical therapy took several month, almost a year. During this time, I lost a lot of weight (went from 215 down to 175), and lost almost all the muscle mass I had worked so hard for. Needless to say it was disappointing.

Now I am beginning to hit the gym again. I'm eating right, and I really want to get back to where I was before.
I'm healed now, but due to the injury I find that I can no longer do those powerlifting moves I liked so well. I can't do squats or deadlifts anymore. Just too hard on the lower body.

I know these are some of the best exercises for growth (and I want to grow again!) but the strain is too great, I might never be able to do them again.

I can do bench press, military press, barbell curls, all that stuff. But does anyone have any advice on good mass-building exercises that can replace squats and deads?

 

[toby99]

Have you ever tried (trap bar deads) excellent for bad knees and back, not sure if your situation would allow this.

 

[Sasquatch]

Have you ever tried (trap bar deads) excellent for bad knees and back, not sure if your situation would allow this.

Not sure what trap bar deads are. Can you explain?
I work out my traps, but with dumbells.

 

[toby99]

Check out this link, it will explain better than I can. great mass builder!!
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/TBDeadlift.html

 

[oldfella]

If you can provide more details as to the extent of your........shall I call it......physical impairment with regard to legs I might be able to provide you with some exercises to work your legs pretty effectively. What are the injuries and what range of motion do you have??

 

[Sasquatch]

If you can provide more details as to the extent of your........shall I call it......physical impairment with regard to legs I might be able to provide you with some exercises to work your legs pretty effectively. What are the injuries and what range of motion do you have??

Thanks..
my original injury was multiple fractures and contusions to my right knee and leg, fracture of right hip, and bad pain in lower back. Took me a year to completely heal.
However, when I workout now, my lower body is actually weaker than it was before I every started working out (many years ago).
It's undoubtedly due to the injury, although the doc says I'm healed. I have good energy in the gym, I just cannot complete any squats or deads.
Example: when I begin a squat, even w/just a 20-lb bar, I can barely come out of the squat position, and am too weak to lift myself back up. I tried pushing it hard, and felt a little pain.
But doing the leg press, and leg extensions are fine. I have good strength on the press and extension leg exercises.

I think I have trouble doing routines that require core body strength and putting weight on my hips.

I guess I am looking for an exercise to substitute for squats and deads, an exercise that will help me grow! back to my previous size.

 

[oldfella]

Thanks..
my original injury was multiple fractures and contusions to my right knee and leg, fracture of right hip, and bad pain in lower back. Took me a year to completely heal.
However, when I workout now, my lower body is actually weaker than it was before I every started working out (many years ago).
It's undoubtedly due to the injury, although the doc says I'm healed. I have good energy in the gym, I just cannot complete any squats or deads.
Example: when I begin a squat, even w/just a 20-lb bar, I can barely come out of the squat position, and am too weak to lift myself back up. I tried pushing it hard, and felt a little pain.
But doing the leg press, and leg extensions are fine. I have good strength on the press and extension leg exercises.

I think I have trouble doing routines that require core body strength and putting weight on my hips.

I guess I am looking for an exercise to substitute for squats and deads, an exercise that will help me grow! back to my previous size.

Start off with building your trunk strength back up. Hyperextension for lower back and crunches, hanging knee raises for abs. try using a smith machine for squats and do partial range squats and gradually increase the depth as you go. Hack squats in a machine are also good. if it has adjustable lockouts you can start doing negs with this and get your torso used to heavier loads. Leg extension to build medialis (teardrops) and quads. Leg curls and stiff leg deadlifts for hams and Lower back. This is going to be a long slow rebuilding process but if you tough this out I bet you'll be squatting with a twenty kgs on either side in 9-12 weeks. persevere bro. This is not an easy task. But you have had some serious injuries and you have lost a lot of inner strength as well as physical. Be detremined and be strict with your form. But most of all work that torso. Weighted cable crunches are good for building strong abs. keep us informed on your progress.

 

[Sasquatch]

thanks for the help.
i think i'll try some smith machine squats @ very low weight to start with, I'd really like to be able to squat again. I'm gonna try weighted crunches at the gym tonight too. Gonna take it slow. Upper body strenght is great, but lower body has a lot of catching up to do.

 

[oldfella]

thanks for the help.
i think i'll try some smith machine squats @ very low weight to start with, I'd really like to be able to squat again. I'm gonna try weighted crunches at the gym tonight too. Gonna take it slow. Upper body strenght is great, but lower body has a lot of catching up to do.

Let us know how you get on and good luck!

 

[crazykiare]

At times I feel that people who revive the workout sessions after recovering from an accident which somewhat paralyzes their movements can call upon problems upon themselves. I saw this happen to my friend who took the able guidance of a trainer too to revise the set of workouts but he could not continue it longer. So does this indicate that accidents such as these cripples the body parts and therefore they are deemed to be unfit for any more workouts?

 

[oldfella]

At times I feel that people who revive the workout sessions after recovering from an accident which somewhat paralyzes their movements can call upon problems upon themselves. I saw this happen to my friend who took the able guidance of a trainer too to revise the set of workouts but he could not continue it longer. So does this indicate that accidents such as these cripples the body parts and therefore they are deemed to be unfit for any more workouts?

No, not always. Sometimes the mental limit you place on your self will determine your limits of physical ability. I have trained an athlete with cerebral palsy down the entire right side of his body. This guy is a world class athlete with gold medals in 200m sprint, long jump, discus, shotput and 100m sprint. He had serious range of motion difficulties but we overcame, or I should say he, overcame these through hard work, persistance and presence of mind. I threw the book at Ashley and he just sucked it up and went with it. We limit ourselves based on several things. Number one is our mind........it seems impossible, therefor it must be impossible. Number two..........we often place too much emphasis on what doctors tell us we CAN'T do!! Number three...........Fear, the fear of failure. No one like to fail so to avoid failure we simply don't try!!

There are ways to overcome any injury or any disability............Just give it an honest try. The road to recovery and rehab is a long and and often painful one. So we avoid the pain and thus set ourselves up for failure which then breeds the fear inside. Accept that pain will be part of it and the rewards are success and strength, both inner and outer. Do not place limits on yourself, instead place goals ahead of you and remove the obstacles..............because it is only obstacles you will see if you lose sight of the goals!!