I'm 50. Been that way since January, when my back hurt fulltime, so badly I didn't think I'd make it another 10 years. Now, just a few months later, another 50 looks good. The payoff is big -- already parts of me are stronger than ever. Here's how it went down.
For reference,
this is where the story begins.
Perhaps there was a little waste of energy and money, but not much, and compared to what might have eventually been spent on doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapists -- mental therapists! -- well, hey, not bad. Not bad at all.
What worked, in order of presentation, but not necessarily importance:
Back extension exercises to strengthen posture muscles
Foam roller and
myofascial release ball to release spasming muscles and break down
trigger point knots
Attention to
upright posture, five minutes at a time, hour after hour and day after day
Heart rate monitor, clipless bike pedals, mp3 player to propel aggressive interval cardio work --
Follow that story here.
Back stabilization and fundamental core work
A few minutes daily of
joint mobility and
muscle stretching
Kettlebells, three types of workouts in support of the above (cardio conditioning, core strength and back strengthening)
Bumping against a genetic ceiling after 25 years under the weights and as earlier mentioned, age 50 -- female, as hopefully you know -- I'd gotten lazy in the gym. You see, once a person gets fairly close to the top of the strength curve, the return on workout investment is tiny. And many of us back off because maintaining 80% is simple, and seems like enough� in fact, is enough for most.
But guess what. Last week in the gym turned up a couple of PR sets. Nothing spectacular -- I haven't gone to low reps, heavy work on anything -- but notable after not seeing any gains for years, and while not working toward them. Accidentally and without planning, one-arm dumbbell rows felt easy with the 40, so, heck, why not move up to a 50? 10 strong reps later, I grabbed a 55 for a test run, 6 solid reps� never been above a 50 before. That is, never, ever. 6 reps with the 45s on incline press felt good, and that in the midst of a no-rest chest/back triset. The workout before? Alternate dumbbell curls with the 30s, 12 reps, followed by 6 with the 35s. Never curled with the 35s before, not that I can remember.
Why do I think this is happening? A few contributions:
The stabilization work is strengthening weaker muscles, so there are more overall muscles firing. The cardio fitness gets me past the reps where perhaps the muscles would have been strong enough before, but gasping for breath stopped the set early. Core strength adds an extra percentage of oomph that can't be measured, or even noticed to the uneducated. Ballistic kettlebell work is contributing to fast-twitch muscle fibers not used in bodybuilding or powerlifting.
It's a big picture effort that will take attention. Speaking as one a few months down the road, it's worth it, folks. You may have been watching as Dan Martin has gone through a similar process and, I daresay, is in the best shape he's been in for probably a dozen years. And you can check in lately to see Wicked setting off on the same path. Byron (ccrow) is a stellar example for us as someone who blazed the trail and is now testing his all-time PR lifts.
Ingrid even, who's a competitive Olympic athlete, told us of the near end to her athletic career when back problems almost took her down, only to find quick relief with
bridges and
planks and other stabilization work.
What I'm saying here is this stuff is for everybody. You young members, dedicate a few minutes a day toward this now and you'll never have to drop back to basement-level rehab. Youth will compensate for the weakness for a while, but eventually the weaknesses will get your attention. Oh, man, will they get your attention.
If you've been nursing an ache forever, address it now. Unless you remember a specific injury, it's likely there's a weakness showing itself, or you're doing something wrong -- either at work or in the gym -- or, very likely, it's posture-related.
Overcompensating with the stronger muscles works for awhile, and the stronger you are, the longer this may work, but when the weakness shows through you'll be at the least slammed to the ground, and at worst, doing rehab not only on the underlying weakness, but also on your newly injured compensating muscles. The longer you ignore it, the more complicated it becomes to sort out the mess.
But. There's a huge upside: Rehab works astoundingly fast. A month, two months� the progress can happen so quickly it's hard to remember what the bad times felt like. Some of the things I tried didn't work, like
the magnassager for instance, which felt good, but I didn't keep up with it, or other solutions that were perhaps unnecessary for me; others are still on the template for next efforts, stuff like
the medicine ball I ordered last week and maybe a
stability ball
Again, the
link to set you on the right track is here.
You'll have to put yourself and your physical wellbeing at the top of the priority list for a few months to pull this off. Once finished (knowing, of course, that we won't be completely finished until that final day), you'll be in a much greater position to effect your family and friends, your work and your projects because you'll feel good -- excellent even -- and you'll be strong and hearty. Things that were difficult or impossible will seem effortless. Go for it!
