Any serious weight lifters (4-6 days per week, heavy lifting) have transplants and how soon did you resume your heavy and intense routine? Is a month of no lifting enough time to wait? Does heavy lifting have any negative side effects if done too soon? ie. lack of hair growth or scar stretch? Anyone with some negative results from heavy lifting too soon? Anyone lift heavy with no negatives? Are there any scientific or clinical data or standard protocol on this topic?
truth...seems to me i read a post about six months ago..where someone had gotten back to lifting prior to his surgeon's allowing it, and did a nice stretch number on his donor scar...i would think the amount of time you need to heal the scar is somewhat dependent on the closure method...whether its sutures, staples, or a combination of internal dissolving sutures and exterior sutures or staples...i would check with your doc and let him decide...im also sure it depends on whether your lifting excercises put a strain on the scalp or not...some would, some wouldnt ...
started at around 22 days post op. I train very hard now(for mass), the first two weeks I dropped my weight in all excercises by 35%.. the reason for this was to avoid injury due to absence of training and to gradually monitor the scar as training and wieght was increased.
I have experienced no scar scretching at all.
Just be careful you do not strain or twist your head on a bench in a way that could physically stretch the scar.
If you are pushing the limit of extraction for your laxity at the time of surgery I would wait a lot longer than 22 days. In my case, I was much under my limit and did not have a very tense scar after the first procedure on my virgin scalp.
Just remember that every case is different, so evaluate your own particular situation.
You want to take at least 2 weeks off from workouts. Then when you start back, only do light high reps to get the blood back in your muscles without intensity/stress. Then at about the 4 week month, you can slowly get back into your normal routine-- 5th week start with moderate weight, then 6th week adjust accordingly. Your scar can stretch up to 3 months, so you shouldnt try to be breaking any world records or doing 1-3 rep max until then. Pro Body Builders take off 1-2 weeks every few months to "shock the system" and usually take 3-4 weeks going from competition to off-season(putting weight back on).
Do you think it is just safer to take the 3 months off? I hate to do it, cause you lose so much in that time, but i can always get it back. By the way, at 6 weeks, are you at full intensity with your workouts?
3 months off? I would think 6-8 weeks would be adequate. Then when you start back- cycle your weeks-- starting with light weights/high reps, then couple of weeks with 10-12 reps, then couple weeks with 8-10 reps, then a week with heavy 5-8 reps. Then you can get back to your normal routine.
