James Evans
07-31-2008, 04:26 AM
Sorry if this is in the wrong place, this part of the forum can be a bit of a dumping ground.
I've been asked by the father of some mates of mine for some guidance on regaining upper body strength after successful treatment for cancer.
He's in his early 60s. Considerable muscle mass has been lost in the upper body and the cancer caused damage to some of the bone in the shoulder area. His doctors have given him the green light to return to an active lifestyle and he has resumed gardening (I guess what you guys would call yardwork?) to a pretty physical level. He has also started cycling the 14 mile round trip to his office. Having seen him last week and cycled with him I was impressed by his condition.
He has received no follow up physio advice. Physio attendance during treatment was purely to ensure regular movement while hospitalised to prevent bedsores etc. - I'm not sure how many of you will be aware of the amount of work hospital based physios do in this area as opposed to our conception of them working on rehab from injury.
I have proposed the use of light dbs and/or bands. I think a gradually progressive circuit repeated initially twice a week, building up to three times is appropriate. In light of the amount of cycling I'm not so interested in lower body work although I would prefer a total body approach.
With dbs I'm always a little concerned with the limitations for pulls of a less dynamic nature - correct me if I'm wrong but we've got row variations (upright, bent, single arm) and ... er, that's it. Not sure of the value of v. light db movements.
Basically I thought something like this.
A) 5 Push ups
5 single arm row each arm
10 BW squats
Plank hold for 30 secs
2-3 rounds
B) 5 DB press
5 DB bent row
4-6 unweighed T-pushup (split between each side)
Side Planks for 20 secs each side
C) 10 lunges (5 each leg)
5 DB upright rows
10 Alternate DB press (5 each arm)
10 dorsal raises (or cobras or whatever you want to call them)/superman etc.
Not keen on the use of swings, snatches, clean variations here.
He'll work through these circuits gradually, maybe A) and B) week one, C) and A) week two until we reach the 3 circuits a week stage. Reps, weight, duration of static holds will increase gradually.
I have an extremely obedient subject here - to be honest if I told him to flip a tire up and down his driveway for an hour a day, seven days a week he would do it.
This is a simple sketch of my idea and I will work as closely as I can at monitoring progress.
I'm I on the right track? Should I include more pulls (advice here greatly appreciated)? Any comments/advice?
Thanks in advance.
I've been asked by the father of some mates of mine for some guidance on regaining upper body strength after successful treatment for cancer.
He's in his early 60s. Considerable muscle mass has been lost in the upper body and the cancer caused damage to some of the bone in the shoulder area. His doctors have given him the green light to return to an active lifestyle and he has resumed gardening (I guess what you guys would call yardwork?) to a pretty physical level. He has also started cycling the 14 mile round trip to his office. Having seen him last week and cycled with him I was impressed by his condition.
He has received no follow up physio advice. Physio attendance during treatment was purely to ensure regular movement while hospitalised to prevent bedsores etc. - I'm not sure how many of you will be aware of the amount of work hospital based physios do in this area as opposed to our conception of them working on rehab from injury.
I have proposed the use of light dbs and/or bands. I think a gradually progressive circuit repeated initially twice a week, building up to three times is appropriate. In light of the amount of cycling I'm not so interested in lower body work although I would prefer a total body approach.
With dbs I'm always a little concerned with the limitations for pulls of a less dynamic nature - correct me if I'm wrong but we've got row variations (upright, bent, single arm) and ... er, that's it. Not sure of the value of v. light db movements.
Basically I thought something like this.
A) 5 Push ups
5 single arm row each arm
10 BW squats
Plank hold for 30 secs
2-3 rounds
B) 5 DB press
5 DB bent row
4-6 unweighed T-pushup (split between each side)
Side Planks for 20 secs each side
C) 10 lunges (5 each leg)
5 DB upright rows
10 Alternate DB press (5 each arm)
10 dorsal raises (or cobras or whatever you want to call them)/superman etc.
Not keen on the use of swings, snatches, clean variations here.
He'll work through these circuits gradually, maybe A) and B) week one, C) and A) week two until we reach the 3 circuits a week stage. Reps, weight, duration of static holds will increase gradually.
I have an extremely obedient subject here - to be honest if I told him to flip a tire up and down his driveway for an hour a day, seven days a week he would do it.
This is a simple sketch of my idea and I will work as closely as I can at monitoring progress.
I'm I on the right track? Should I include more pulls (advice here greatly appreciated)? Any comments/advice?
Thanks in advance.