Herniated spinal disk

Hey GSP sorry about that! both my brothers and one of my uncles have back problems, my brother(21) recently slipped a disk and pinched a nerve and i found out very quickly that ur spine is one thing you definitely dont want to fuck with...

if you ask your doc there is actually little they can do with spine injuries in terms of a 100% cure (obviously it varies) but once they operate almost all people are never the same again and all it does is lead to future surgeries, in my brothers case the specialists wont touch him with a knife until he is over the age of 35 because of the big possibility of more operations and there is no guarantee with the spine that an operate will even stop the pain, in my fathers case it made it worse...

My Bro lives on stilpane, cortisone and voltaren shots and the pain is still so bad he needs sleeping pills to sleep, its literally screwed up his life

IMO even if you lose 20kgs who cares, you can always get it back! let ur back heal 100% its way better than living a lifetime of regret and pain...

Glad to hear you are feeling better hope its nothing but be careful man, all the best with the scan!

Eish, sorry to hear - hope you heal soon!!

Good luck with your recovery GSP. Take it easy man, I'd be worried about seated military press as well. That can put a lot of strain on your back if form isn't 100%.

Thanks so much for all the well wishes guys. Pain in my lower back is reduced significantly but was informed by a chiropractor this morning that a lack of pain does not mean that all is ok. We did the leg test this morning and he is also convinced that it is a herniated disk, however, he believed that the range of movement I have means that the injury may not be as bad and debilitating as others. He has also echoed MA's belief that the seated dumbell press is not a good idea, particuallry as no matter how good your form is, its near impossible not too cheat on the exercise when you doing heavy weights. He also says that the most dangerous aspects of doing heavy exercises is the initial lifting and the final release of the weight where one often loses control of form.

He mentioned that i could continue training but should definitely consider negating all compound movements and instead focus on isolation exercises with a moderate weight and informed me to get a weight belt which will also ensure that my lower back and overall posture is kept straight at all times.

My biggest issue is, is that I am currently at the prime of my cycle. Its week 8 of the test and the var is seemingly coming to the party as well. I feel incredible at the moment and its a real mind bog to not hit the weights hard even though i know its detrimental to my recovery. I know im sounding a bit ungrateful and possibly ignorant, but as fellow users you know that feeling of bear invincibility and how difficult it is to control in these circumstances.

GSP wrote: Thanks so much for all the well wishes guys. Pain in my lower back is reduced significantly but was informed by a chiropractor this morning that a lack of pain does not mean that all is ok. We did the leg test this morning and he is also convinced that it is a herniated disk, however, he believed that the range of movement I have means that the injury may not be as bad and debilitating as others. He has also echoed MA's belief that the seated dumbell press is not a good idea, particuallry as no matter how good your form is, its near impossible not too cheat on the exercise when you doing heavy weights. He also says that the most dangerous aspects of doing heavy exercises is the initial lifting and the final release of the weight where one often loses control of form.

He mentioned that i could continue training but should definitely consider negating all compound movements and instead focus on isolation exercises with a moderate weight and informed me to get a weight belt which will also ensure that my lower back and overall posture is kept straight at all times.

My biggest issue is, is that I am currently at the prime of my cycle. Its week 8 of the test and the var is seemingly coming to the party as well. I feel incredible at the moment and its a real mind bog to not hit the weights hard even though i know its detrimental to my recovery. I know im sounding a bit ungrateful and possibly ignorant, but as fellow users you know that feeling of bear invincibility and how difficult it is to control in these circumstances.

this is a very difficult situation but there's only one thing you can do bro, take it on your chin.... forget about the cycle and concentrate on healing first bro. You can always start another cycle again but you cant get a new back. I know this is not what you want to hear. good luck bro, hope you heal very soon.

I've herniated 2 discs within a ten year period the first at 25 at L4 doing heavy deadlifts.The 2nd a few years ago doing a warm up for a deadlift while on juice an feeling invincible( my friend tried to convince me not to but i was stubborn and he ended up carrying me out of the gym laughing his ass off).I can tell u from experience you either rest it and it heals or you rest it and it doesnt.You cannot train with this injury as u will carry it around with u for the rest of ur life.I walked around for 2 years with a pain down my leg played rugby,cricket and went to gym before i messed it up so badly i had to have an op (trust me u will know when u need this)
Then i was pain free plus minus 10yrs until my stupidity got the better of me and i tried to deadlift again.Waited the 7 weeks pain eventually got worse and got to the point where i had to slide like a snake to the toilet to take a piss.Went for another op 6 month recovery and am back in the gym again pain free and yes i have deadlifted heavy again but never without a belt.
What im trying to say is rest the injury and dont make things worse u can permanently damage the nerve.i still dont have any feeling on the outside of my right calf

quint wrote: I've herniated 2 discs within a ten year period the first at 25 at L4 doing heavy deadlifts.The 2nd a few years ago doing a warm up for a deadlift while on juice an feeling invincible( my friend tried to convince me not to but i was stubborn and he ended up carrying me out of the gym laughing his ass off).I can tell u from experience you either rest it and it heals or you rest it and it doesnt.You cannot train with this injury as u will carry it around with u for the rest of ur life.I walked around for 2 years with a pain down my leg played rugby,cricket and went to gym before i messed it up so badly i had to have an op (trust me u will know when u need this)
Then i was pain free plus minus 10yrs until my stupidity got the better of me and i tried to deadlift again.Waited the 7 weeks pain eventually got worse and got to the point where i had to slide like a snake to the toilet to take a piss.Went for another op 6 month recovery and am back in the gym again pain free and yes i have deadlifted heavy again but never without a belt.
What im trying to say is rest the injury and dont make things worse u can permanently damage the nerve.i still dont have any feeling on the outside of my right calf

hey bro, thanks for the input.

I have actually taken everyone's advice and stopped the cycle. The pain in my back has dissapeared but i noticed that i started developing a numbing pain in my left hamstring which often runs down into my left calf. It seems that the disk may be placing pressure on the sciatic nerve which may be causing this numbing pain. Its been really tough letting go of this cycle but I am still in the gym almost every day, doing light to moderate weights at high repetitions. However, all standing compound movements have been limited from my training regiment and I have also used a weight belt for added stability for all exercises.

Still running my cutting diet though and hoping that I can at least reach my goal of dropping my bf% below the 10% mark.

Hey bud how is your back doing?

GregB1 wrote: Hey bud how is your back doing?

Rehab is going well Greg. Doing girly weights again, but I am getting in pretty decent knick. Hard as rock at the moment due to the var and I am noticing that the increase in training volume as oppossed to output is actually aiding me in getting more shredded. Still bummed when I see other guys squat and deadlift but then I remember how fortunate I am to actually be in the gym.

Trained today and there was a dude in a wheelchair doing some bicep curls. He looked like he may have cerebral palsy or some other debilitating disease. Watched him try and train and it made me realise how ungrateful we sometimes are for bitching about minor injuries, diets, work and other things which hold us back in life when someone who has been dealt such a hard blow in life can still come out and face the world and try and conquer the metal. Put things in perspective for me.

But thanks so much for asking mate, really appreciate yours and everones concern.

Glad to hear you getting better and still in the gym, did they say when you will be able to squat or deadlift again?

He said no less than two months but that six months will be best. Ive decided to not rush the injury and i usually take 6-8 months break between cycles, so ill look at just strengething my core for the next few months.

GSP wrote:

GregB1 wrote: Hey bud how is your back doing?

Rehab is going well Greg. Doing girly weights again, but I am getting in pretty decent knick.

Girly weights, cool, so that means i can train with you now...lol..
Well thats great stuff GSP, take it easy. Like you said, you getting shredded and you're hard now, so youre doing great bud... dont stress about it.

Thats not too long, before you know it you will be good to go for another cycle :woohoo:, i wish you a speedy recovery bud. Ha Ha Ha girly weights now i can train with you and gambit :lol: :lol:.