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Need Help with some alternatives

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RobertHendrix
RobertHendrix Posts: 98 Member
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So I need some help with figuring out some alternatives to Squats and Deads that I can do for the next couple weeks (hopefully not longer) while I recover. One of the dangers about being over 400lbs (besides the health risks) is that when you start trying to work running in you really chance messing up a knee and looks like I may have done some LCL damage this past week. Seen an Ortho Dr today and need to have an MRI done but it is going to take 2-3 weeks to get the scan in because they are backed up on the Open MRI machine (another setback to being this big and being in a realatively small area is there are limited medical equipment to support people my size). Dr has put me on low to no impact exercises for cardio and recomended no weight bearing exercises that requires bending the knee until after the MRI so we can see what is going on. So squats and deads are out for atleast 2-3 weeks but I dont want to ignore some of the core muscles that doing combo lifts works in conjunction with the legs.

The old me would just keep lifting and pushing through the pain until I ended up causing more damage and then use that as an excuse to stop but part of accepting this as a lifestyle change and trying to live healthier is also learning to listen to my body and trying to keep it in a more optimal operating condition so going to try to listen to the Dr and follow the rules but not really sure what I can subsitute in on the lifting side to help continue breaking down fat and rebuilding with lean mass.

The gym I go to has pretty much all equipment to use Hammerstrength, Precor machines, cable machines, free weights so any suggestions will be welcomed.

Thanks in advance

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  • djfriedman81
    djfriedman81 Posts: 125
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    Does your gym have a pool?
  • RobertHendrix
    RobertHendrix Posts: 98 Member
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    yes it has an indoor pool with lap lanes and current circle (not really sure what to call it other than a current circle but is a ring around the hot tub area that has a current that you can either go with or against depending on the time of day)
  • djfriedman81
    djfriedman81 Posts: 125
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    I would really just work on swimming and running laps for now, very little weight bearing and really works your core and gets heart rate up
  • jfan175
    jfan175 Posts: 812 Member
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    I'd stick to the upper body weights and walking (if it's permitted). At your weight, walking is good resistance training for the lower body. Leave the running out until you've dropped a considerable amount of weight. I'm sure a 200lb man wouldn't entertain the thought of running while carrying 200 more lbs. The weights, walking and a moderate caloric deficit will melt the fat off.
  • RunDoozer
    RunDoozer Posts: 1,699 Member
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    I would really just work on swimming and running laps for now, very little weight bearing and really works your core and gets heart rate up

    Gonna second the pool.Swimming and running in the pool is low impact and still will give you a hell of a workout. You can also google pool exercises.
  • Slamdunkpro
    Slamdunkpro Posts: 88 Member
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    Another vote for the pool. If you want to lift. I'd hit the upper body machines that you can do seated. You can probably do bench presses and seated OHP but the rest of the SL program involves legs to some degree.
  • winf
    winf Posts: 764 Member
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    My starting weight 2 1/2 years ago was 420lbs. I ate a huge caloric deficit (not healthy, but neither was being 420lbs, so hey, whatever) and went to the gym. The treadmills at my gym actually have a posted weight limit, so I just used the eliptical at first. I would get on the eliptical and stay on it until it said I burned 1000 calories... usualy took about 45min to an hour depending on how much I was getting with it. I did this about 4 times a week. The first 100 lbs dissappeared in months. I was so happy when I hit 299 lbs. After about 6 mos I hit a serious plateau and was stalled at close to 300 lbs. I changed my cardio from steady state to intervals and added resistance training on the machines at my gym. When I started to use the machines I was immediately humbled to realize how much lean body mass I had lost in the process. In highschool I was into competitive powerlifting, and my best lift was my 580lb deadlift, and here I was struggling with pansy machines. Anyway... adding in the resistence and doing intervals and hiit for my cardio restarted the fat burning process. Over the next year I got from 300 to about 242 and stalled out at 242 for several months. Thats when I started stronglifts and added running into my cardio. I used the c25k app on my phone to get started running. Now 2 1/2 years from where I started I am down to 215. Im not the fastest runner and Im not the strongest lifter, but I can out lift all the runners I know and I can out run all the lifters I know, so that has to count for something. I run 5k every time I run so I stay trained for doing that distance, although I have been able to run up to 10k without stopping (although at a slower pace). I hate to run. I hate every second I spend doing it, but I love being ABLE to do it since I spent several years too fat to do it. Ok, anyway, the moral of this story is that I would focus on loosing weight first and formost, because you have to have a calorie deficit to loose fat and that will also cause you to loose lean body mass and some strength in the process. Loose all the fat you possibly can before you start to rebuild your strength, because you when you start to add enough calories back in to support your new weightlifting habit your gonna considerably slow your weight loss. Also, speaking from experience, it is a lot easier to do the lifts correctly after loosing some of the weight, and youll be mush less prone to injury. The reason I reccomended the eliptical to get started is not just that it is low impact for us bigger guys, but that it burns about twice as many calories in the same amount of time spent walking. Good luck with everything!

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