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Workaround needed in the gym, help!

V

VikingBoss

New Member
Aug 3, 2022
7
2
Ok so I was lifting and progressing well on the 5x5 sticking to diet etc. Boom, varicose veins appear, very painful and they got worse with each lift. I stopped lifting altogether and fell into a slump/depression because I couldn't lift and that's all I cared about in the gym. Fast forward 2.5 months my gains are disappearing and gut is reappearing. Time to fix things and stop sulking.

Obviously lifting heavy on the squat and deadlift are out and even bent over row seems to aggravate my leg. I've started to do bench and overhead press again as well as adding in an incline press. What else should I be doing? Just lighten the loads? Anyone else on here have an issue like this? I've never been creative in the gym, just 5x5 really and hitting 12-20k steps a day.

My home gym is a rack, a bar, a bench and plates (no dumbbells), resistance bands and a rowing machine I plan to make my friend. Any advice/exercise suggestion is welcome!
 
genetic freak

genetic freak

VIP Member
Dec 28, 2015
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Maybe try a Cornerbar Row or Meadows' Row for back thickness. Cornerbar may still aggravate the leg, but you won't know until you try it. You could also do inverted rows.

For legs you could try split squats, sissy squats, reverse hamstring curls, adductor/abductor with bands, hamstring curls with bands, etc...

You could also stop the 5x5. I did it in the past and grew. Switch to the body building rep ranges 8-15 and grew. You will grow if you have good mind muscle connection and lift with intensity.
 
Pig Vomit

Pig Vomit

VIP Member
Nov 12, 2022
354
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I've had to radically re-think my workouts due to injury lately. Doing 25-30 reps per set (to failure), and I am fairly surprised at how well I'm keeping things. I had stopped completely for a couple months hoping the (shoulder) pain would go away, but then learned my only solution is shoulder replacement surgery. Back into the gym I went using higher reps and lighter weight, and it's manageable. Getting old sucks. Deca helps the pain, but AAS use can contribute to varicose veins, so there's THAT.

As for the varicose veins....

They don't go away. The only solution is surgery. If you have health insurance, the insurance company will want you to wear compression socks for *a full year* before they will authorize surgery. You may want to try wearing compression socks for a while to see if that at least gets you back into the gym.

As for the surgery itself....I didn't want to wear compression socks (these are *not* like athletic compression tights, these are much tighter, thicker and warmer) for a year, and I really only needed surgery on one leg, so I paid out of pocket, around $3K if I recall correctly. Surgery itself is easy peasy....local anesthetics only, but it was more painful than I anticipated afterwards. Not super bad, just more than I expected. After all, they were yanking veins out of my leg, so I don't know what I really expected, but it was more than the "mild discomfort" described by the doc and various websites.

There are various ways to remove the veins, and I thoroughly discussed them all with my doc. Laser is not the way to go....ripping them out (microphlebectomy) is. It's an office outpatient procedure.

So....if it were me....listen to Genetic Freak, because he's knowledgeable as heck about these things, but try different things and hopefully you'll find a combo that works. The compression socks will run around $30. They're dorky and "I'm an old man" enough so that you'll want to wear sweats over them.
 
HDH

HDH

TID Board Of Directors
Sep 30, 2011
3,386
2,812
Man, I do absolutely nothing heavy. In had to change everything about the way I train. I got tired of working around shit or sitting on the sidelines.

I didn't care much about being big when I was younger. Now that I decided to do some growing, this light to moderate training is doing well for growth. If I'm not growing, I'm not eating enough.

You still have to tear the muscle down properly, you just have to find ways to do it.
 
V

VikingBoss

New Member
Aug 3, 2022
7
2
Thanks all, this has been some amazing advice! Going to get cracking with it and quit sulking about I CAN'T do anymore.
 
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