Need advice on new workout program due to injury

cedarghost

Basically I have been in and out of the ER and various specialists for the past month and the final diagnosis is that my body is actually older than my mind thinks it is (my wife has been telling ......I have suffered the pain of severe tendonitis and what was thought to be either rotator cuff injuries in both shoulders or arthritis. I am 42 years old. I started lifting again back in August 2012 after being out of the gym for years. No previous injuries other than a left shoulder rotator cuff injury in my high school football days.

Where i have been.....
I started gradually back into lifting. I understand that proper form is what is important, not sacrificing it for higher weight. I have been around the gym since high school, except for the past decade. By December, I felt I was ready for a heavy lifting program and chose 5x5 Stronglifts. I did that for a month and got great gains (bench max to 225, a personal best EVER for me, and squat max to 450, again a pr). Things were going great, then I felt a "twinge" in my left shoulder and was experiencing some clicking in both shoulders, so I stopped lifting. I took a break. No lifting for 3 weeks and then BAM, shoulder pain and in the ER, orthopedic, regular doctor and rheumatologist. Various pokes and prods and tests and to make a long story short, NO lifting for a month, then 4 to 6 weeks of shoulder rehab only, then I can start a full body routine again, with one rule.....DON'T GO HEAVY.

This is what my doctor is telling me. I should do moderate to higher reps (10-12 or 12-15) with much lighter weights.
My goal is to cycle cutting and bulking in two to three month increments and I would ultimately like to end up below 15% body fat at whatever weight that ends up being. I am currently between 20 to 25% (just best guess using military calculator and calipers) and weigh 233. I was down to 219 on my lowest cut and I started at 250'ish with 30% + bodyfat back in July of last year.

I normally research the CRAP out of everything but I am finding a lot of conflicting advice on bulking using moderate (and especially high) reps. If I can't do it, I can't do it, but I HATE not being able to do something (which is why my body is half-wrecked right now, lol).

Anyway, I would appreciate any advise and/or references to actual meaningful studies to help me formulate a plan from here on out. For now, it looks like I am going to start cutting again using just cardio since I can't lift anyway (which is going to mean more muscle lost than I would like, so I will probably shoot for 250 cals below tdee to save as much as possible.

Thanks in advance for reading my long-winded post!

SideSteel

Are you at the point right now, that you can do light load higher volume training?

cedarghost

Not yet, I have just finally been diagnosed and am about 4 to 6 weeks out from that at a minimum. I was always taught that nutrition and intensity were the most important things, but on the flip side I've also always hear the "lift heavy for strength, moderate for muscle gain and high rep for endurance" mantra (which I have never wanted to really believe.

cedarghost

And then I wonder about tempo too if I go to a high rep program. Should I go slow tempo/high rep, normal tempo/high rep, etc?
Or should I shoot for the same volume as I did with 5x5's for example but just use more reps to get there?
like 5 x 200= 1000, but so does 10x 25 x 4

dandur

Bumping because I, too, am 42 and dealing with bilateral RC injuries (tendonitis in both supraspinatus).

cedarghost

Bumping because I, too, am 42 and dealing with bilateral RC injuries (tendonitis in both supraspinatus).

Did they tell you to listen to your body instead of your mind???? I tried to tell my doctor I was the Juggernaut, but he didn't buy it...:laugh:

Chief_Rocka

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't simply accept the notion that I couldn't lift heavy, I would focus on improving my joint mobility and flexibility

I would start here: http://www.magnificentmobility.com/

If I wanted to get super-nerdy about the shoulders specifically, I would go here: http://www.shoulderperformance.com/

cedarghost

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't simply accept the notion that I couldn't lift heavy, I would focus on improving my joint mobility and flexibility

I would start here: http://www.magnificentmobility.com/

If I wanted to get super-nerdy about the shoulders specifically, I would go here: http://www.shoulderperformance.com/

Oh, I've accepted it. lol, the pain doesnt lie. That's what I'm asking you guys. What is the best way to gain mass without lifting heavy. Every coach I have ever had has had the mindset of " eat at surplus and lift heavy to bulk".
Thanks for those links. I will read through both of them.

cedarghost

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't simply accept the notion that I couldn't lift heavy, I would focus on improving my joint mobility and flexibility

I would start here: http://www.magnificentmobility.com/

If I wanted to get super-nerdy about the shoulders specifically, I would go here: http://www.shoulderperformance.com/

Alright, I checked out magnificentmobility.com. Have you, or anyone you know used it?

cedarghost

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't simply accept the notion that I couldn't lift heavy, I would focus on improving my joint mobility and flexibility

I would start here: http://www.magnificentmobility.com/

If I wanted to get super-nerdy about the shoulders specifically, I would go here: http://www.shoulderperformance.com/

Checked out both sites.

cedarghost

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't simply accept the notion that I couldn't lift heavy, I would focus on improving my joint mobility and flexibility

I would start here: http://www.magnificentmobility.com/

If I wanted to get super-nerdy about the shoulders specifically, I would go here: http://www.shoulderperformance.com/

Meant to say I've accepted the fact that I can't lift heavy RIGHT NOW.

SideSteel

I haven't looked into any available research (if it even exists?) that specifically compares hypertrophy over various rep ranges with matched total poundage. (I do recall a study showing mass gains on something like 30-rep sets or something of that nature).

My guess, and this is really only a guess, is that you'll be able to gain mass if you're able to combine enough volume at whatever intensity you can handle at that volume, with proper diet.

So for example, if your limitations due to injury allow you to bench 140 x 15 instead of 225x5 (I'm making up numbers) then you would just do a 3 or 4 x 15 or something to that nature and hopefully as time goes on you can still increase loading incrementally.

Now at some point I would think that the above logic fails, say for example you can only bench the bar and have to do 3x80 or something silly like that. At some point you're just doing glorified cardio.

So that's just my rather random opinion on this. I still think you should look into what Rock posted (I haven't yet but I plan on it) but I wouldn't write yourself off as permanently stuck with the pink dbs while sitting on an inflatable ball, or anything like that.

cedarghost

My guess, and this is really only a guess, is that you'll be able to gain mass if you're able to combine enough volume at whatever intensity you can handle at that volume, with proper diet.

Now at some point I would think that the above logic fails, say for example you can only bench the bar and have to do 3x80 or something silly like that. At some point you're just doing glorified cardio.

This is exactly what I was thinking. I will let you guys know how it goes, but in any case, it is going to be a long road.