No lifting for a month

[ScooterLibby]

I've got an overuse (from tennis) injury to my right wrist and the Orthopedist just told me that I can't lift or play tennis for the next 4 weeks. I asked if I could do squats and deadlifts and he vehemently said no, explaining that squeezing my grip will just keep screwing up my wrist.

So my question is as follows: What can I do to keep to keep some of my strength in these next three weeks? I already plan on doing sprints at the track 3-4 times a week to at least stay in shape for tennis. If it matters any, I'm naturally a very weak person and had awful stats prior to SS.

Any help is appreciated, as right now I'm freaking out about the prospect of all my gains being ruined.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Well, you'll have to do just exactly as he says, because he is the doctor. I guess you just start back when you can, and hope that everything will eventually be alright.

[stronger]

squats are a non-gripping lift. You'll still be following doctor's orders

[Brad Davis]

Why would you squeeze the grip on squats? If you're using the SS:BBT method, then you'd have a thumbless grip and the hand would support no load.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Aren't you in prison anyway? On that political fall you took? Get a tattoo or something while you're there.

[Benny1981]

I struggled with recurring tendonitis from drumming for years. My best advice is...

1. Warm up warm up warm up.
2. Watch for excessive tension in muscles which don't need to be tense.
3. Anti-inflammatories help bring down the initial flare up a lot.

I found that after the flare up had died down, dedicated attention to warming the muscles, massaging the hand, and frequently relaxing it during performance have kept me tendonitis free.

It seems like you should be able to squat since you shouldn't be gripping the hell out of the bar anyway.

[Gottatri2lift]

If you do want to follow the doctor's orders and still want to do tax your back, do back extensions. Not really a subsitute, but it's something. What are you doing for bench and press and powercleans? Any substitute ideas for those? I was thinking knuckle pushups?

[ScooterLibby]

Tried doing squats before and just aggravated the wrist and yeah I squat thumbless, the way the book tells me to, and yeah Scooter Libby is in prison while Dick Cheney is hunting quail


Will the sprints do anything to help preserve strength?

And how should I eat when only doing sprints?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Can you not read the previous posts regarding this and derive my advice therefrom? Remember the discussions recently about heat vs. ice? Search.

[ScooterLibby]

Alright will do, thanks for the help everybody