Missing gym :-(

MsVino

Would love some ideas for low intensity leg exercises that can be done at home. I'm currently one very injured individual, torn cuff rotators (waiting for surgery) and broken ribs so have been unable to do gym. I was powerlifting up until 4 weeks ago and am now going crazy without gym:-( just in the last few days I've been able to move around a bit more and want to start some leg work this week. I have very limited movement in my upper body ATM but would be able to body weight lunge, squat etc. please if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them :-)

oedipuss

That sounds like no fun at all, I would be going stir-crazy too!

Do you think you could do something like split squats (either bodyweight or dumbbells if you have them at home) using a chair to put your leg on.
Or leg extensions....sit in a chair and drape a bag of frozen veg or sack of something over your ankle and raise thusly?

Take it easy with those ribs though, things like this take an annoying amount of time to heal...........and good luck with your surgery.

MsVino

Yes stir crazy is an understatement :-/

Ahh split squats they are a good idea thanks! I'll do them body weight as I can't hold any weight they'd just drop out if my hands. And might get some sand bags for the leg raises :-)

Thank you for the ideas (in a fit of frustration I've been drawing blanks) and the well wishes :-)

jimmmer

Volume bodyweight exercises and BFR + any unilateral arm training you can bear on the non-injured side.

Read Greg Nuckols' article on blood flow restriction training (on strengtheory.com). You can actually build muscle/strength with 20-30% of your 1 RM using BFR. If you translate this to bodyweight squats, lunges, split squats, step ups and calf work you can continue to make lower body gains whilst using light to no loads.

I recently dislocated my shoulder and am due back this week. Whilst I can't lift with my right hand yet (apart from physio theraband stuff - yuk), I'll be pressing and pulling with my left hand (contralateral effects on the strength of the injured limb.... you can gain/maintain strength in the non-functioning limb and actually facilitate a faster return to normal after you're fully healed) and if I can't get into a good rack position for squats (either front or back) I'll be using BFR and goblet/bodyweight squatting and light RDL's to maintain/gain leg strength probably couple with stuff like GHR's.

Being injured is a bummer. But there's always something you can do (and doing something keeps neuromuscular connections alive and makes you body want to hold onto muscle mass). Doing nothing at all is the wrong approach, just avoid stuff that a) hurts more than 3/10, b) makes any injury worse c) puts you at risk of reinjury.

Good luck!

dawniemate

MsVino wrote: »

Yes stir crazy is an understatement :-/

Ahh split squats they are a good idea thanks! I'll do them body weight as I can't hold any weight they'd just drop out if my hands. And might get some sand bags for the leg raises :-)

Thank you for the ideas (in a fit of frustration I've been drawing blanks) and the well wishes :-)

I feel your pain.....had rotator cuff surgery last August. ...still have issues with it, but a lot better than it was. hope you soon feel better. I started long walks then they turned into runs, I'm now a 5km runner! !!!

MsVino

Thankyou so much for the post, great idea. I'd read about BFR a while back. Seems very appropriate given my circumstances I'll definitely be giving it a try. I'm not someone who can just casually train, I need to feel some kind of pump.


Sorry to hear about your shoulder, I hope you have a speedy recovery and by the sounds of it you've got training in the mean time covered :-)

Yes will do and thank you again for the advise I am feeling much more optimist about it all after reading your post.

MsVino

Hi Dawnie, sorry to here you are still having issues :-( yes it's not nice at all and I've done both side because I'm extra special :-/

Haha re the accidently transitioning into a 5 km runner! That's fantastic though, great work :-)

jimmmer

MsVino wrote: »

Thankyou so much for the post, great idea. I'd read about BFR a while back. Seems very appropriate given my circumstances I'll definitely be giving it a try. I'm not someone who can just casually train, I need to feel some kind of pump.


Sorry to hear about your shoulder, I hope you have a speedy recovery and by the sounds of it you've got training in the mean time covered :-)

Yes will do and thank you again for the advise I am feeling much more optimist about it all after reading your post.

Ha ha, thanks! You too...

I tore a bunch of ligaments in my SI Joint about a year and a half ago at work and had to start from the ground up (literally). This shoulder thing is really small potatoes compared to that...

Anyway, a lot of this "coming back with a vengeance" stuff is mental rather than physical. If you conceive, you can achieve! The main thing is to want to get back so badly that you can taste it, but realistically temper that with standing back and making sound judgements about what you do going forward.

Example: Monday is supposed to be OHP/Push press day, followed by accessories. So, I'll just sub in unilateral dumbbell and cable variations and ride the contralateral effects as best I can.

Example: Tuesday is supposed to be squat day. I'll test out rack positions tomorrow and then judge whether volume BFR goblets are the way to go or whether I can squeak in some intensity front/back squats. If the rack position feels funky, then I'll back off and get the most out of BFR that I can for a week and then try again. Rinse/repeat.

So, whatever I do, I'll be capable of going hard and getting a good training stimulus (esp since I just had a deload week). Like you, I don't want to go somewhere to mess around or halfarse something. So I'll pick stuff I can do and do properly while I continue to do the physio work on tightening the capsule on my messed up shoulder (I'm over 40, so I have gnarly connective tissue in my favour now, so should be able to get a more or less stable shoulder in shorter order...)

meritage4

Try stationary bike-without holding on. Let those ribs heal.

MsVino

Hmmmm you hit the nail on the head... 'Sound judgement' is always an issue when it comes to setting limitations personally that's kinda how I ended up in this predicament :-/ the ribs are old fractures some from years ago, some more recent but weren't really an issue with gym up until I did my shoulders for some unknown reason (specialist can't even work out why all he's said is that he doesn't understand how I've been functioning relatively comfortably with them prior to this flare up)

I could only imagine how you felt getting back into things with the SI injury they are nasty but great work! I like your rinse and repeat approach it really puts things into perspective. We just need to remind ourselves injury isn't the be all and end all and to take it easy at times in preparation for bigger things in the future as you demonstrated in your upcoming weeks training examples. Thankyou again

Meritage4 thankyou for the suggestion I've never been a fan of the bike but I guess I'll give it another go once I can drive to the gym as I don't have one at home :-) and yes I really don't have much choice this time round I literally can't move the upper body without them giving me a swift reminder not to push it :-/

Thankyou again guys you have all been really helpful :-)