Hello all from injured 43 yr. old ironhead trying to stay in the game!!

[bigiron87]

Hello all,
This is my first post ever here. I am 43, had worked high-steel for 16 years and have been a devout gym rat and Vince Gironda fan more than half my life. Just introducing myself and am in desperate need of bodybuilder/powerlifter/gym rat advice on post-low lumbar fusion recovery tricks. I'm 95 days out of L5-S1 lumbar fusion and 8 months to the day earlier, i had a cervical fusion removing c4,c5,c6 with titanium plate installed in my neck.
I am a warrior and refuse to stay out of the gym and lifestyle, and refuse medication. Just squatted the first time yesterday since surgery. OUCH!! My back still so bad but poundages and workouts coming along well. I need contacts to chat about our surgeries and serious injuries and advice to feed back and forth about what works/doesn't work; and supplement experimentation which helps recovery. Hope to hear from some injured ironheads soon. I will give my email address to people i feel trustworthy after some communication on posts here first. I have a lifetime of experince in the gym, and many serious injuries LOL!!
-BIGIRON87

[Lunk1]

Welcome...while no where near the extreme of your situation. I had a discectomy on my L4-L5 nearly 3 years ago. I still can not squat or dead lift heavy without some irratation and the reminder of what will happen if I am not careful. I am afraid some of us are cursed and may never be able to include heavy back work into our routines. Instead I concentrate now on light to med weight and go slow and work on better form with higher reps. Still get a hell of a burn!

[Vettester]

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[Times Roman]

Welcome to the board mate!
As you age, you will realize that "not getting injured" should be a part of your work out routine. For me, I'm very cautious repping to failure, as a single injury can take me down for rehab for six months. So I'm more interested in the 90% of failure range, which usually means i'm one or two reps away from failure before stopping.
---Roman

[stpete]

Welcome

[brazey]

Welcome...

[bigiron87]

Thank you all for the replies. I'm going to surf around here for a bit and see if anyone posts about using certain equine supplements..

[Tigershark]

Welcome.

[oatmeal69]

Welcome to the board!