Anyone want to help me come up with a split to work around injury?

[Lock it Up]

Ok, so I have a bulging disc in my lumbar region of my back, so, for a while at least, I'm really trying to avoid movements that load the spine, namely back squats, hacks, deads of any sort, etc. Just for a few months to let myself go through some therapy and hopefully avoid further injury.

Now, also, I am trying to really bring up my arms, which is my weakest point.

What I am thinking of doing is pre-exhausting much of the time. So, for legs, I would normally do squats first (this is of course when I utilize a volume approach, I don't always). However, it stresses that disc a ton because of the weight I am pushing I guess, so I have been doing a pre-exhaust with something like DB lunges or extensions, so I won't have to lift as heavy overall.

What I am basically asking, is suggestions for a good volume split that will allow me to bring up my arms, because I can really still go heavy with curls (seated) and stuff like dips. The only things that are out are what I mentioned above basically, and heavy curls (tend to cheat a bit and stress that disc).

I want to be in the gym 5 days a week, 3 days on, one off, two on, one off.

I was toying with the idea of:

Arms+calves
Chest
Quads+hams
off
Back +tri's
Shoulders, bis
off

But I would like some suggestions if possible. Again, I am trying to bring up my arms as my main focus.

I wouldn't normally lift volume like this, but when I am limited from doing a lot of the big compounds, I feel like this will allow me to still progress as I heal up, as long as I don't get stupid and try to push too much with back movements...

Any thoughts?

[Carlito Gambino]

Hmm...well I have a bit of experience with training with a bad back. So this is what I'd do with your split.

Arms+calves

Curls
Tricep movement (you said you could do dips, so do those and maybe some floor skulls or tricep pushdowns to hit the long head well)
Calf movement (seated + standing)

Chest

Decline bench or hammer strength chest press
Chest iso movement (pec deck or cable flies)
Quads+hams

Vertical leg press or front squats
Lying leg curls or seated leg curls (any sort of leg curl will do I guess)
off
Back +tri's

DB row or chest supported row (might be able to do Yates rows)
Shoulders, bis

Wide grip upright rows or lateral raise machine DC style (might be able to do standing presses, I could when my back was fucked, DON'T do seated pressing though)
off


This might also be a worth wile read:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/how_to_train_like_a_bad_ass_even_with_a_bad_back

[zalex999]

Not advanced enough to be giving anyone training advice but having ruptured 2 discs at the beginning of the last summer i feel where your coming from.

Couple things i would offer:

1) If you have not already read the work done by Stuart Mcgill lots of good info that can help you identify preventative measures and exercises to get your back into working condition asap.

2) I Unlike Carlito was unable to even think about a standing press without pain as the spinal load holding the weight overhead as as bad as a squat or DL. So i guess with this, test carefully and see for yourself.

3) It may feel ghey, but you can use the Smith for some standing Bicep work as it will prevent you from bringing your back into it. I found smith drag curls were a great compound i could hit bis with, while avoiding any "cheating" that would pressure the discs.

Last but not least, hang in there man, i know how much it sucks, im glad your taking the initiative to be smart and work around it. I have no doubt you will be back to working order and crushing big weights ASAP. Thoughts are with you lock.

[Carlito Gambino]

Not advanced enough to be giving anyone training advice but having ruptured 2 discs at the beginning of the last summer i feel where your coming from.

Couple things i would offer:

1) If you have not already read the work done by Stuart Mcgill lots of good info that can help you identify preventative measures and exercises to get your back into working condition asap.

2) I Unlike Carlito was unable to even think about a standing press without pain as the spinal load holding the weight overhead as as bad as a squat or DL. So i guess with this, test carefully and see for yourself.

3) It may feel ghey, but you can use the Smith for some standing Bicep work as it will prevent you from bringing your back into it. I found smith drag curls were a great compound i could hit bis with, while avoiding any "cheating" that would pressure the discs.

Last but not least, hang in there man, i know how much it sucks, im glad your taking the initiative to be smart and work around it. I have no doubt you will be back to working order and crushing big weights ASAP. Thoughts are with you lock.

Yeah it all depends on what you're personal back problem is. Backs are notorious for being very individual problems and the shit some people can do will fuck others up beyond belief. So play it by ear and see what you can and can't do.

[Lock it Up]

Thanks guys.

I am still figuring out exactly what hurts it and what doesn't, so it is going to take some time to establish my can do's and don'ts (OHP seems to be a non issue though, at least seated for me)

Thanks for pointing me towards McGill, Zalex. I will be sure to read up on what he says is best. I already know re-hab techniques for back, but maybe strengheing my core from the deepest layer out like he talks about will help.

Anyone care to give an opinion of the split I posted though? My idea behind it was to hit arms right after an off day, then structure the rest of the week to try and hit bi's and tri's again, but with carry over from back to bi's, and chest to tris, so I would essentially be working arms by them self one day, tris when I hit chest, tris when I hit them paired with back, bi's when I hit back, and then bi's when paired them with shoulders...Trying to set up something for a lot of frequency, but ample rest...figuring out how to get these things growing again.

I have trained with a split similar to this in the past, but found that doing chest one day, followed by shoulders is hard to recover from, and also found out that doing shoulders back to back with my back day is also troublesome for me recovery wise only because I am training with a very messed up rotator cuff (have been for quite a while, so I don't even think of it as an injury, it's just how it is)

Any other thoughts? I am going to give this split, and the ideas above a whirl for a while and see how it goes if no one has any other suggestions.

Thanks again guys.