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Hi! I already kind sorta introduced myself and my workout plan here . Here's some info on the condition I'm dealing with: HNPP. It's been hard to find info about how to work around neuropathic issues that doesn't amount to 'don't lift weights', so I thought keeping a log on here about my experiences might be useful for other people too. Tonight I'm doing my 3rd A workout (Yay! Deadlifts!). Stats for A1 & 2 were: Deadlift (lbs) - 95, 105. Planning 115 tonight. I'm impatient and want to put the big plates on, but I will get there soon enough! Pushups - standard, form degenerated last set of A1, all good throughout A2. Gonna do them with one foot stacked on the other tonight, and keep working on using my fingertips rather than the flat of my hand. Avoiding extended pressure on my palms is a good thing. Box Jumps - 2x8 2nd stair, 2x8 2nd stair (attempted 3rd but mental block). I'm too afraid of missing on the stairs, so I guess I need to switch to box steps or a bench, and maybe add a bit of weight before trying to move too far in height. I think I will switch these to 5x2-3 also. Pullup variations - tried bands during A1 and did not like them, so sticking to negatives for now (overhand, from the Smith machine bar). At my best I could do about 1.5 chinups, but at my current strength, I can just barely get a few inches up from the dead hang. I'm pretty confident that I can get back, though! Anyway, 2x5 for both workouts, aiming for a 5 second drop each time. A2 was more consistent than A1, and I actually cranked out a couple more as an extra set at the very end of the workout. Will go for 2x6 tonight. Pistol Squat variations - tried unassisted (2x5) during A1 just to see how bad it was. I used to be almost able to do one -- just needed a doorway assist, or something equivalent. Well, I could go partway down, but I had both physical and mental weakness holding me back, so I decided to do them to a box next time (to help with the mental part). I did them to stacked steps for A2, and was chagrined to find it took me 3 tries to get the height right (because I kept overestimating my ability). I finally got a decent setup (3 regular height steps + 1 half height). I did that for 2x5, and will do 2x6 tonight. Here's how B1 and B2 went: Squat (lbs) - 45, 55. I was only planning on moving up 5 each time, but I couldn't find the 2.5 lb plates. The low back position is new to me, and so far it feels good. I had a bit of thumb soreness the first time, and I could definitely feel that it required more stretch in my pecs, but these didn't feel like they are going to be persistent problems. I may start switching between low back/ high back/ front in the future, if I feel like repetitive stress is going to cause nerve issues for me. It's hard to tell while everything is still so (relatively) light! Inverted Rows - off the 4th hook of the Smith machine for both workouts. As with the pushups, my form was better and more consistent the second time. Power Cleans - 20 lbs, 2x5 for B1, 2x6 for B2. I will be switching to 5 sets of 2-3 for these from now on. I think I want to try 30 lbs for 5x2 next time. The 20 lb barbell is ridiculously easy, but I wanted to start as low as possible for this one. I will be excited to get to the point where I can clean the bar, because that will be a super useful skill. I, uh ... I may have hit myself in the face during one of my first few reps. Gonna try not to do that anymore. Pike Pushup variations - 2x8 during B1, with my feet on the floor. 2x5 during B2, with my feet on the wall about 3 ft high. I will stick there for a little bit and work on form. One of my biggest contraindications was against any form of overhead lifting, but I do occasionally have to lift heavyish things over my head in life, so I figure better to go with cautious, moderate, low progression exercise than to be weak and have lousy technique when I do need to lift things. We'll see. I am certainly not going to be stubborn about these. Reverse Lunges - 2x8 w 10 lbs for B1, 2x8 w 20 lbs for B2. I hate lunges. I am terrible at not banging my knee on the way down. I'm not really going to use these as a progressive loading exercise so much as a balance/core one, so I may experiment with weight placement for a while. Or maybe I will just hate doing them so much that I switch to Turkish Getups instead -- I've never tried those, but they look neat.

Hi guys; I'm female, 37yo, 5'4", 126 lbs. I just put together a new routine for myself, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I wanted to share it in order to get feedback and ideas in case I find the need for tweaking things as I go along. My overall fitness goals are to: - gain strength - gain power - improve functional strength skills (i.e. get better at balancing, keeping back straight, etc.) I've been lifting weights since about September 2012. I started with NROL For Women, and when I was finished I was keen to try something a little simpler and more focused on basic progression, so I started SL5x5. Not long after I started, I had to bail due to brachial plexopathy issues (left arm was palsied for several months -- it's not clear how much weightlifting contributed to this). I learned I've got a fun (!) and interesting (!) hereditary neuropathy, and basically, it's super easy for me to get nerve damage. I was warned by one doc to avoid lifting weights, but my neurologist encouraged me to 'do it sensibly'. I spent about the last year just kind of flailing around at the gym, doing this and that, trying to figure out how to get a routine going that I can flexibly alter in case of nerve issues, and it was not very satisfying. But after some reading and experimentation, I think I have a plan that suits me and will allow me to progress. Here are some of my specific constraints: I need more recovery time than typical, so I've been aiming for 1-2 sessions per week, rather than 2-3. I'm being extra cautious with neck/shoulder/hand stress, since that's where I've had most of my symptoms. For that reason, I'm mostly sticking to body weight stuff for upper body work right now (I have plenty of room to make progress there). I am trying to avoid spending too long (or being too repetitive) in positions that can compress nerves (such as elbow planks). Anyway, here's the workout. Warmup: about 20 minutes of yoga and functional stretching. Workout A: Deadlift (4 sets of 1) alternating with Pushups (4 sets of 5) Box Jumps (2 sets of 5-8) Negative Pullups (2 sets of 5-8) alternating with Pistol Squat to box (2 sets of 5-8) Workout B: Low Back Squat alternating with Inverted Row (4 sets of 5, both) Power Cleans (2 sets of 5-8) Pike Pushups (2 sets of 5-8) alternating with Reverse Lunges (2 sets of 5-8) I feel safe progressively loading the deadlift and squat in a linear fashion similar to most newbie programs (although the low back squat is new to me -- I was doing a high back squat, and worried about the bar resting on my traps with too much weight. I think the low position will work better). Pushups and inverted rows may be swapped out with dumbbell presses and rows when progressive loading through variations gets too hard. I've been scared to try cleans, because of my shoulder issues, but it would be a really useful functional lift for me to apply in a lot of work situations. So I am starting light with them, and will scale up slowly. So far I've done 2 of each workout (A and , and I like what I am feeling. Any thoughts?

Hey there everyone. I've been battling Type II Diabetes for a few years now and it wasn't until recently that I began to take it seriously. Here's the deal, I've developed Peripheral Neuropathy in my feet and it's getting worse over time. To the point where standing for any period of time is really painful. I know I must lose the weight and it will all go away. But it's been hard to do the treadmill and any lifting while standing. So my question is, besides spinning and swimming, what other good cardio and/or lifting can I do until my feet get better? I'm open to any suggestions, cause this really sucks, and I'm scared.