I am so happy to report that after about 5 weeks, I am feeling like me again. My back is feeling so much better (finally), the inflammation is down and I can stand and walk with no pain. The rest test is when I sit down and then get up, since sitting down puts lots of strain on my spine…. and I pass!
That means I am ready to start lifting real weights,well technically I started this past Wednesday. It wasn’t heavy but it was weighted exercises which pumped me up and now I am ready to go. I started light just to make sure my back was good to go… and now I am convinced it is!
That means… next week is full blown project:
BUILD STRENGTH
I lost a lot of strength during my sabbatical, even with keeping in shape with body weight exercises, my muscles lost their “strength memory” so now I have to work to get it back. The best way to get my strength back?
Pyramids. For the next few weeks I will be doing each set with increasing weight. Which means decreasing reps. So take for example deadlifts… the first set I will do a weight that allows me to get to 8-10 reps, then I will increase it so I can only lift 6-8 reps and then finally the third set will be so heavy that I can only perform 4 -6 reps in proper form.
The proper form part is important because you want to make sure you don’t use momentum to move the weight, no swings or jerks. Concentrate on the muscles that you’re working on. If it’s a bench press, make sure the movement is coming from your chest and don’t arch or break form.
Today I was deadlifting 80 pounds this is about 40 lbs off my max… next week I plan to get it back up to atleast over 100 pounds for 8 reps. Wish me luck! And my goals for bench? I want to break my wall of 85 lbs… getting 90 or 95 will be awesome.
