Reply With QuoteIf the motor units will not fire, they cannot be trained. Nerves heal slowly, but they do heal to a certain extent, so I'd keep working it. You may be surprised next year that some improvement has occurred.
Member
Training with nerve damage
In the summer of 2020 I had a cervical disc replacement and also a fusion. It has healed fine but the neck injury affected my right lat, shoulder and tricep. The lat and shoulder, while not as strong as they were pre injury, have shown some acceptable improvement. The tricep, while it has improved, is still atrophied and very weak. My max bench is only about 170 pounds and has been stuck there for a while. It's not due to lack of effort but the tricep is just not there. I still train pushing movements and triceps with the same dedication as I always did, hoping that one day things will start firing again and while it seems somewhat pointless I will never give up.
My question is, do you have any suggestions for a training protocol for a muscle that just isn't working like it should? Normal progression won't work because I can't systematically progress if the muscles are simply incapable of that but I still want to bench and press. It's my understanding that nerve damage of this nature is unlikely to fully recover and since it's been 17 months since surgery I'm inclined to believe it. Any ideas? Thanks
TMPHBITEU
If the motor units will not fire, they cannot be trained. Nerves heal slowly, but they do heal to a certain extent, so I'd keep working it. You may be surprised next year that some improvement has occurred.
Member
I appreciate your comments. I'll do that for sure. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months. Thanks again for your input.Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
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