Quote Originally Posted by Gunny View Post
I would suggest if you have a bad back to lay off the standing overhead presses with dumbells. Puts a lot of compression on the spine. The more weight you use usually means more arch which means means unaligned (spinal column) compression. Dumbells being harder to control than a barbell can also cause leaning side to side which is also unaligned compression.

Since you say you have Nautilus machines (still make those, huh?) I would suggest using the overhead press on it to alleviate some of the lower back strain.

Just my opinion
Nautilus is still in business, they also make stair climbers and brands like Schwinn Fitness. The overhead press is one machine the gym doesn't have. I could do a seated or inclined overhead press, but I like standing and moving. And my back is getting better, the stress of it, as long as the disks are in place, so I do back stretches and yoga between sets. Stress achieves growth and life is growth, so says Nietzsche and me. Your opinion is valuable to me, Gunny, but I've been coddling myself too long, living la dolce vita.

The past 5-6 months, I've had little to no breads and grains, maybe a plate of pasta, maybe five potato chips, I'd a mini pretzel with dip yesterday, very little alcohol. I do eat too much cheese. As for the dumbells, the 80 and 90 is light at this point, 100 is still a bear. The 120 is a challenge but it feels lighter each time. I hope by this time next year to be at 150. They've no dumbells between 60 and 75, so I may buy a pair of 65 and 70 for them. By this time next year, I hope to weigh 205 and be doing butterfly laps in the HOA's indoor pool; although I've been doing little cardio, I want to build my muscles first.

I too was never one for that "how much do you bench" stuff, since bench pressing alone isn't a good measure of fitness, let alone fighting strength. A person can lift all the weights in the world, but then go chop wood, they find out quickly what real fitness is, so I sometimes hack at dead fall out back. I also have a big pile of septic stones in the driveway that I move around, shovel into a wheelbarrow and move to the other side of the driveway; my neighbors must think I'm crazy (I am), and it might explain why I don't get invited to neighborhood parties any more.