I've had 2 fusions and a laminectomy as a result of years of 650lb squats and deads. Stupidest thing I have ever done. My first surgery lasted over 8 hours and my surgeon said it was "a lot of work". Lost 100% of the muscle in my left calve and 90% in my right and it's never coming back. Still working out but a lot different obviously. Made it back to the gym less than a week after both surgeries. Keeps me sane.

I have changed my training as I got older, more as a preventative. I was cursed with crappy joints. Had shoulder pain in the gym since my mid 20s. Every once in a while i get a flair up and can’t lift my arm which happened last week out of no where 2 days after a perfectly normal chest day. 2 weeks before that I had a solid week in the gym with no issues or abnormal pain, took the weekend off as I Always do and woke up Monday morning with like tendonitis in my elbow or something, which still has not gone away. Luckily it hasn’t really hindered my workouts but it’s annoying. the knee pain started a few years ago. I still squat, but I wear a brace and I do higher reps. The burn from 20 slower reps staying under tension for 45 seconds is miserable, but it works well. But I’d much rather rep out 10-12 heavy reps with normal tempo, but my knee will be pissed off for a week after that. Every once in a while I’m feeling good and get cocky and do that and pay the price. I bought a hack squat machine thinking that would be easier on my knee but it is not, it hates that thing with a passion. Regular back squats don’t bother it if it’s not flared up. Then there’s issues with my lower back at L4-5 from a injury back when I was playing rugby. I’m all beat up lol.

I’ve avoided surgery so far. But based on how things have gone so far I doubt I’ll be able to avoid it forever. I’ve been at it consistently for almost 15 years. I hope my surgical record doesn’t look like yours after 45, but that’s probably where I’m headed.

Hope your recovery is fast and you’re back in the gym soon. Are you using any GH or other peptides to speed it up?

I tore my medial meniscus and damaged my ACL and MCL. I've been able to avoid surgery and have 95% function of my knee, but my leg training had to change immensely. I was the guy always going heavy for low reps. At 180ish lbs I was squatting 500+ for 3-5 reps. I'm no Tom Platz, but that was pretty good to me
Yesterday was the first time I squatted 315 in over a year. Now my leg days are very high volume doing 4-5 sets of 20-30 reps with 225.
It definitely fucks with you mentally and makes me feel like a little bitch, but at least my knee still works and I can avoid surgery as long as possible

Nothing near what you have going on. I have some disc issues in my lumbar. Switched to Hatfield and front squats. Bench with my feet up. Deads off of blocks or use a trap bar. Seal rows.

@Jimmy1048 is similar to yourself mate, he has had some big lower back surgeries. I've had a number of injuries at 45 now which could have easily been bad enough to warrant surgery such as Rotator cuff tears, left pec tear, 2 hamstring tears, left bicep tear etc but luckily they have not been total detachments - normally a grade 1.5 to 2 tendon tear that has always healed. The thought of not being able to lift for 6 months to 1 year after a surgery would drive me fuckin nuts - I guess you have no choice though.

I must say though that the injuries have always been my fault though, jumping up through warm ups too quickly and missing out weight increments, training too heavy when an area is still sore and not fully healed etc. They have never just come from nowhere when I have been fully healed on a normal training day so to speak.

Best of luck on your surgery!

I’ve decreased how heavy I lift, still pretty heavy but nothing crazy.