|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
Posted by Steve Freides
In Reply to: The McKenzie 7 Step Method posted by Josh Steinberg (MD), Syracuse
> I’m a 27 year old ex-triathlete. I stand about 179cm (5’11”) tall, and
> weigh about 90kg. Despite my triathlon efforts, I am much more inclined
> toward explosive exercise.
> Unfortunately, I have 2 separate areas in my lower back with bad discs.
> I am very broad shouldered, and I want to lose as much weight as I can.
> I do a fair amount of long, fast walking with wrist weights, but mostly
> swimming. Swimming helps my back enormously, but unfortunately I keep
> hearing that swimming is not a particularly good exercise for losing
> weight. I have heard this again and again. Although I am best at
> swimming, rope jumping and jogging are my favourites. Despite my liking
> for skipping and jogging, I cannot do too much because of my bad back.
> I am also struggling to work out EXACTLY what type of abdominal
> exercises I need to be doing to help support my back, as standard
> crunches don’t seem to work the LOWER portion of my stomach adequately,
> where my back needs the most support. I can guarantee I have found this
> out through experience. I am well aware that abdominal exercises are
> not going to “trim” anyone’s waistline.
> I would truly appreciate some advice for losing weight, as well as
> SPECIFIC lower abdominal exercises to support my lower back. Is it
> better to add weights for resistance when doing abdominal exercises ?
> At the moment, I am seriously considering surgery, as I have been
> receiving medical assistance for years.
"Treat Your Own Back" by Robin McKenzie.
A life-saver for me and many others, my first copy was given to me by my
orthopedist and endorsed by my phsyical therapist (two herniated discs,
L4-L5 and L3-L4).
Swimming can help you lose weight, too, but you have to swim pretty hard
and pretty far. Somehow running by its very nature is harder so it
takes less concentration to run in such a way as to lose weight.
For your abdominals, work the lower part of the muscle by doing any kind
of ab exercise that takes your feet off the floor. A few examples, all
lying on your back with your legs straight out in front of you, hands
relaxedly at your sides, all doable with a small pillow or rolled up
towel under your lower back if you find that more comfortable:
* Small bicycling motions with your legs. Keep both feet off the
floor, don't bring the feet or knees very high. Just little bicycling
motions, feet flexed (as they'd be on a bicycle).
* Feet/toes pointed, criss-cross your legs back and forth in a scissors
kind of motion, again keeping both feet off the floor the entire time.
* Raise both legs, pointing your thighs more or less straight up and
bending your knees as little as you need (but no harm done in bending
them a lot, cross your feet if you like). Do any variation of situp you
like from this position; I prefer to hold my arms straight out in front
of me and reach past my knees.
You can do all of these with an ab roller if you have one of those and
like it (I do). The first two exercises: May cause you to feel some
discomfort in your lower back but as your abs get stronger this should
go away or at least get less. Do them in relatively short sets, two or
three sets, and work up to doing sets of 15-25, counting the movement of
_both_ feet as a single repetition.
You can buy any one of several gadgets on the market that you hold onto
with your hands and roll your upper body away from your knees with. The
simplest of these is a wheel on a stick - you hold either end of the
stick while kneeling, wheel on the ground, and roll the wheel out as far
as you're comfortable, at which point you reel yourself back in. I've
seen them with a return spring, a supposed improvement, for about $40,
and there's the Ab Dolly for about $100 (which looks quite comfortable
to me and I'd buy one if it weren't so expensive). Any of these gadgets
will give your lower abs a good workout.
Generally you don't want to add weight when doing ab exercises because
you want those muscles to be small, not bulky.
Don't neglect strengthening your lower back, either.
When you swim, consider doing the butterfly stroke, which works your
abs. If you do kick-only drills, doing an inverted dolphin kick with
fins (laying on your back, facing the ceiling, doing dolphin kick with
either long training fins or a monofin) is an excellent ab worker.
On a bicycle, take all opportunities to stand while climbing. Standing
climbing works your abs. If you're used to sitting while climbing,
shift into a gear or two more difficult than you'd use sitting and tromp
up those hills. Be sure to downshift when you sit down again so as not
to overwork your lower back and knees.
-S-
