Hey all,

Another question or list of questions, I am about 9 months in, I have backed off working out at all because it was causing a rise in symptoms, my problem is, I work out and its not as if I immediately feel symptoms, not all the time anyway, I will often feel "gross" later on, 20mins to 60 mins later. So I backed right off. Then I am left to wonder, was it that, or the driving, or the day.. etc etc

I know light exercise can be a boost for many of the things we suffer from. I am considering on a good day, going to the gym to actually have a workout, no running or anything that shakes the head, but bench, rows etc. I do a little bit at physio but often it is at the end of the day and I am mostly just going through the motions and forgetting to keep track of syptoms.

I guess my question is, if I do go in, push a little bit feel ok and get through it, is it possible its going to set me back, or is the timeline getting to the point where its not so much a set back just provokes symptoms?

I often feel like I have a hard time tracking what exactly sets off my symptoms, I think I have become ultra sensitive to weather changes as often I will get sick, headache or really bad vision when the temperature or weather change, which where I live is ALWAYS. But because of this I have a hard time figuring out if I pushed to hard or the weather did it or sometimes it just seems to happen.

I initially thought maybe anxiety, and to some level I am sure it still plays a part, but I am much better at managing that part.

Anyway, advice is always welcome, especially in regards to tracking symptoms and so on, I would love to work out again on some level, but dont want to damage my brain further. Thanks for taking the time to read this....

Unless it is a concussive like force, you are just provoking symptoms.

Getting back to training at the gym is going to be a learning process for you.

I used to compete in pwerlifting and strongman and was in very good shape before my accident .

After my injury i wasent able to train for a year. This makes it worse because of being in terrible shape physicaly and zero cardiovascular .

i had many sick days finding my threshold .

i train 4 times a week 2 upper 2 lower. On gym days i rest all day just to go to the gym. I dont work my wife drives me.

I used a heart rate monitor to keep my heart rate on target and used it to slowley increase my work endurance.
Use headphones to block out distraction to focus on training.
I started out doing high reps ,sets of 10
Try not to hold your breath dont strain go easy and slowly build up
Find a workout that dosent make you sick the next day and stick with it for a while.
Monitor your symtoms while training - pressure in head , headache growing dizzyness nausea. Sudden extreme fatigue . Get in tune with yourself so you notice changes.
Also after training you may need a sleep
Also monitor emotional symptoms such as anger irritation crankyness , these are also a sign of overdoing it.

After nearly a year of many sick days and set backs ive learned what works .

Im training at 75% of my max on bench squat and deadlift and my numbers are going up and im gradulaly increasing my work capacity.

When your in better shape physicaly it helps with the mental problems.

Can I please ask what keeping your heart rate on target is? Is there a protocol for this?

What i did at first with the heart rate monitor is got on the treadmill or bike and got my heartrate higher untill i would start to get changes in head pressure , more headache, nausea, dizzeyness .
I would record the heartrate number and then each time i would keep my heartrate just under so as not to aggrevate the symptoms .
Also i would note if i got sickly the next day. I think my heartrate at which i could excersise was 115 beats per min. Its going to be different for everyone though. Then i would slowley push my threshold every week to see what happened .
Sometimes it would be ok to increase my heartrate other times i would go to fast and make myself sick
Its a learning process with lots of failures but now im winning more often .
You have to be patient and just work at it and never give up.

Though I was no powerlifter I was working towards some decent numbers on bench squats and deads, I miss that challenge, did you ever find you were able to get anywhere close weight wise to where you were?, I suppose I could start working towards bodybuilding type work outs with more volume, and I guess something is better than nothing, I try not to workout unless I feel great, which isn't very often.

Frustrated to lose gains! but hopeful I can get it figured out like you did on some level, my job is physically demanding and unless I can get back to working out I might have to change my career path or at least find different work in the organization, I appreciate the input. It's tough sledding, I miss putting plates on the bar for sure! I likely would feel much better psychologically If I could get back to somewhere close to where I was.

On the bright side the fact I am even discussing leads me to believe that maybe one day I will get there!

And sorry I re read your post and saw the 75% oops! maybe I need a rest ha........

All of my workouts are 3 sets of 8 at the 75% and increasing by 5 lbs when its easy.
The reasoning for this is -max reps 3 to 5- tax the central nervous system which is weakened or damaged by the brain injury.
6 to 8 reps taxes more the muscles for growth and strength. Teases the cns a bit.
10 reps or more muscle endurance.
Im no where close to where i was, but am seeing progress doing the high reps thing so ill just keep working and see what happens .

When you dont overtax the cns it doesent matter how you feel the muscles can do the work.
Once you find your weight for reps of 8 or 10 you ahould be able to hit your numbers .

But at this point your job may be all your able to do and going to the gym might be too much for one day.

Its a tradeoff for sure, I think I will start at about 40-50% of 1RM and work on pace and time under tension, see if I can spark some growth without fatigue, I know the feeling two days after the gym I still feel like I am dragging around. Maybe Ill sneak in cardio just to build a fatigue tolerance, much as I despise cardio.

Good luck on your way back, keep me/us posted with anything you learn along the way!