Medical Probs- Need a New Plan

[Faded]

Hello everyone, I had testic cancer a couple years ago with a load of complications that left me hospitalized 4 months, screwed up my left leg (cannot run more than 5min without it aching horribly and swelling) and left me with a slight abdominal hernia that I am not going to fix unless it becomes troublesome. I've finally recovered as completely as I'm going to after a year post-chemo and recently signed up at the local gym. I've mostly been taking their yoga classes and doing a lot of cardio on eliptical trainers about 45min/day 5days a week moderate intensity. So my concern now is getting as in shape as I can in this condition once I finish off a little more of the fat. Doctors and personal trainers have all shrugged at me so far when I ask about this each referring me to the other. I'm 23 years old, 5'11 and weigh 190 at the moment, I gained a lot of weight after the ordeal and lost 40 pounds already in the past 6 months, probably need to lose about 25 pounds of fat and gain 25+ of muscle to reach my previous level as I have very little muscle right now. I have an unholy pain tolerance but I am fearful of working my abs and making the hernia worse. I do not want more surgery.

What I do want is a good plan for the main muscle groups other than my abs that do not work my abs and if possible, a way to improve the abs that is low impact but will show slight improvement. I've read many of the articles here and as with my previous plan the abs are too involved in all of the ones I've read whether directly or as a secondary muscle group. I'm a bit skittish about just using random exercises that seem to isolate, but it looks like my only recourse at the moment. If any of you can think of a better plan off the top of your head or an established one that would fit my situation, I'd really REALLY like to hear it. I'm not trying to max out as I know that is basically impossible as I don't want to become too imbalanced against my abs, but I have the tolerance and will to do something hard not to mention I feel like I'm flowing with energy as compared to when I had the tumor.

[Mr BJ]

Get the hernia fixed...that probably the most sound advice anyone can give you. Working abs is a must. You need a strong core in order to effectively work your other muscle groups. If you decide to follow your own advice and not get the hernia repaired, I would be extremely careful there are a lot of exercises that will recruit your ab muscles as well as your lower back and obliques. They will all aggravate a hernia. Please be careful.

[nozzle]

I agree. You need to get the hernia repaired. Nearly every single weight lifting exercise incorporates the abs.

In order to rev your metabolism, which I would think is pretty shot after all you've been through, you're going to need to build muscle. You cannot build muscle from cardio. You need to be lifting weights.

In the meantime, you can clean your diet up, if it isn't already.

[sta63bmx]

I will second the hernia repair, since they only get worse. I had an inguinal repair, and I was back doing everything like you're doing (riding a bike, cardio, light exercise) in a matter of weeks. here's a thread on mroe serious stuff...

http://www.powermagonline.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=000482

We are talking about SERIOUS powerlifting here. The kind of things you want to do, you will probably be back in no time flat.

Once you fix it, I make sure to incorporate a lot of ab work all the time. Some hernias are genetic, and you may be predisposed to them, but you can definitely cheat the odds your way with a lot of ab work. /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I would say that within a month after your surgery you'd be back running, doing whatever you're doing now. It won't be much time off, I swear. And you'll be ready to move forward into resistance training with a solid core. Good luck!

[Faded]

Thanks for the backing guys but I have tried to have it fixed before and I got a fistula shortly after from the mesh they used, which is why I have a hernia now... they fixed the fistula and removed the mesh, and there is a hole in the abdominal wall. I've asked about trying again with the new bio-meshes they have and the response from 5 doctors has pretty much ranged from 10%-25% chance of success and a higher chance of coming out worst than I go in or having just slight improvement since they'd have to remove adhesions to my intestines (lots of scar tissue there). Best case it would take at least 3 months to recover, this is not a simple hernia that area has been sliced and diced to remove my cancer tumor and is full of scar tissue.

I was hoping there were some isolated things I could do to push my strength a little bit at least as I initially had the same conclusion about workouts without abs that you are telling me now. It's the main reason I haven't done any strength training, if putting any sort of real pressure on it could make the hernia worst I will just stick with my weight-loss diet that has already melted 40 pounds off and keep doing cardio. Thanks for the responses guys.