I'm about to start supercharged (w/ an injury).

FootsoreRambler

I thought it might be useful to start a thread about my adventures doing NROL Supercharged while I am recuperating from my brachial plexopathy issues. I did NROLFW a while back, and while I enjoyed it, I was a bit tired of how complicated it was toward the end. So once I was done, I started Stronglifts. However, once I injured myself, I couldn't do any of the 4 lifts in that program at all. My arm is slowly getting better now, and I want to back in the game! So, NROL again. Supercharged, this time, since it is the most recent, and since there is so much flexibility at each stage.

I'm going to start with Basic Training 1, and I'm going to treat it as rehab work, not progressive work. So I may be doing variations even easier that what he has in the book, especially at the beginning. I'll do my first workout attempt on Thursday. I'm not even sure I can do all of the RAMP exercises, but I'll try them out, do what I can do, and sub in stuff when my arm won't let me do even the easiest variations. Anyone else who is doing supercharged or NROLFW, and is curious about how to approach it when you can't do X because of an injury, is welcome to read along, ask questions, etc.

BrittanyGQ

I'd love to follow your story! I have a brachial plexus injury from birth, so I've been doing a lot of my own substitutions/variations/omissions as needed. I was doing really well for Stages 1-2, but looking forward, I feel like NROFL4W might not work so well with my injury, and I've been getting discouraged. =(

FootsoreRambler

I'd love to know what kind of substitutions you've been doing, thenewbritt.

I met with a new physical therapist. He seems nice, but as usual, it seems like he doesn't really know much about weight lifting. He was very leery of me trying to 'do too much' at the gym. He promised to look up the program, though, and I think I will show him my workout logs next time so he can see where I've been relative to where I am now.

The 'do too much' thing is a fair warning, to be sure. I will try to keep things dialed waaaay back.

BrittanyGQ

My injury is "unique" in that I had the nerve damage from birth, so I've learned to live with it. I have no pain, just some weakness and a decreased range of motion about my shoulder (can't fully adduct or raise it above my head). I have to overcompensate with my good arm and try to do moves that involve both my arms on a cable. Or even just changing positions...like in stage 2, I can *kinda* do the DB Cuban snatch on my back rather than on my stomach at an incline. Things like that. I haven't had PT since I was a child, and the specialist I recently saw pretty much said there's not much more I can do since I already work out. :grumble:

Isn't Supercharged a more flexible program? Someone suggested I try that (I think) instead of NROL4W so I can customize it better, though I can imagine they're pretty similar.

Good luck with the new PT! Yeah, you definitely don't want to risk injuring it again! I'm a big proponent of just listening to your body on what you can or can't do.

FootsoreRambler

Yep, Supercharged is much more flexible. Instead of doing a specific exercise during each stage, you pick one from a particular category (for example, 'hinge' moves, which include the deadlift). Each category has a range of exercises of varying difficulty.

I did my first workout this evening, and I'm pretty happy so far. I will post more details tomorrow -- it's bed time for me.

FootsoreRambler

Well, my legs are sore today, so that's a good sign! I was able to do almost all of the warmup, except the spiderman climb/reach thing. And I guess I couldn't reach for some of the other things, but it didn't matter that much.

I'm going to have problems with the core things for a while, since I can't hold myself in a plank position yet. I was able to do a plank with my arms elevated, but it wasn't very challenging to my core, even with extending the time to 60s. I'll have to play with that one.

For the dynamic stability core move, I tried a variation of the side plank with row that worked really well -- I used that angled leg support thing that leaves your torso free -- know what I mean? I got in it sideways. And just moved my arm back and forth, since I don't yet have the strength to actually row yet.

I tried a goblet squat with the heaviest weight I felt I could hold (10 lbs), and that worked, although I might have to try an even lighter one, since my right arm was holding most of the weight. I did box jumps with no weight, and the stepups with knee raise -- again no weight, but with a really high step. It was good enough.

For a pull exercise, I did the standing cable row, but I had to use both arms, even with the minimum load. Right now just having my arm support its own weight is achievement enough. I also did wall pushups, very carefully.

In all, it went well. We will see how 1B goes tonight!