Some people have posted that one can use dumbbells instead of barbells for some of the weight work. Can you explain the positioning for me? I used a bodybar (16) last night and my neck was a bit achey. The problem is I've had two discs replaced in my neck and have a titanium plate. I'm just a little nervous about messing up my neck with weight sitting on the base of my neck. Please give me some alternatives. Thanks, Cheryl
Without Barbell
- Thread starter Alexis52
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Aquajock
Cathlete
Hi, Cheryl!
Ouch! Neck disc replacement! That's gotta be a challenge . . .
As an alternative with your body bar for weighted squats and plie squats, consider holding the bar at the front of the neck and across the front of the shoulders, gripping the bar with an overhand grip and hands placed together, elbows pointing forward. Cathe demonstrates and uses this grip along with certain of her crew in Boot Camp in at least one set of plie squats. IMHO that could be a good bar placement for regular squats as well.
Not so much for lunges. Simply use two dumbbells whose combined weightload equals whatever you might use for a barbell, and let the dumbbells hang naturally down by your sides, palms facing the sides of your thighs. Something, however, to keep in mind is that, the heavier the dumbbells, the more you might experience hand, forearm and shoulder muscle strain if you do lengthy sets of lunges, so just pay attention to that and rest if you need to.
In the Slow and Heavy series, Cathe also does a pre-exhaust set or two for legs with squat and/or plie squats holding one really heavy dumbbell (I think her weightload is 40 lbs) in BOTH hands right in front of the body near the pelvic area. I think you could hold it sideways with both hands, or hold only one side of it in both hands with the dumbbell hanging down. OR, you could hold two dumbbells of equal combined weight in both hands, pressed together in front of you.
Hope this helps -
A-jock
Ouch! Neck disc replacement! That's gotta be a challenge . . .
As an alternative with your body bar for weighted squats and plie squats, consider holding the bar at the front of the neck and across the front of the shoulders, gripping the bar with an overhand grip and hands placed together, elbows pointing forward. Cathe demonstrates and uses this grip along with certain of her crew in Boot Camp in at least one set of plie squats. IMHO that could be a good bar placement for regular squats as well.
Not so much for lunges. Simply use two dumbbells whose combined weightload equals whatever you might use for a barbell, and let the dumbbells hang naturally down by your sides, palms facing the sides of your thighs. Something, however, to keep in mind is that, the heavier the dumbbells, the more you might experience hand, forearm and shoulder muscle strain if you do lengthy sets of lunges, so just pay attention to that and rest if you need to.
In the Slow and Heavy series, Cathe also does a pre-exhaust set or two for legs with squat and/or plie squats holding one really heavy dumbbell (I think her weightload is 40 lbs) in BOTH hands right in front of the body near the pelvic area. I think you could hold it sideways with both hands, or hold only one side of it in both hands with the dumbbell hanging down. OR, you could hold two dumbbells of equal combined weight in both hands, pressed together in front of you.
Hope this helps -
A-jock
You've been a tremendous help! I had the surgery about 2 years ago cuz my spinal cord was severely compressed from the herniations. I've never felt better since the surgery. However, in a recent check-up, one of the disks didn't totally fuse. Causes no pain but it's not as strong as it should be and it freaks me out that I might hurt it again. The doc says no, especially cuz I'm stronger than ever muscle wise, have no symptoms, and the plate is holding everything in place. But just cuz I know it's a weak spot now, I'm not too anxious to throw 35 lbs behind my head! So yes, I feel much better that I can continue with heavy weights in other ways. Cheryl