At the age of 33,over 2 years after having 2 hips replaced,there is not
much I can't do.About 6 years ago,i was in awesome shape,cycling
hard for 20 miles every day.After the surgeries,i did ride my bike a
few times.When I did however,i felt the same euphoric feelings but
realized what my mind was feeling was different than what my body
was telling me.Simply saying that for every stressful thing I did,i would
eventually pay for it later with stiffness or pain.I did give up my very
physical mechanic job.Not that I could not do the job properly,but
that realizing that the risks I was taking were not worth getting hurt.
After any surgery of this magnitude,no one would ever unnecessarilly
want to have to needlessly do it over again.I hope this helps.
Good luck.
Dave

Hi jason,

sorry to hear about your hips. I too am a 31 year old male, and have been told that I require both my left and right hips & knees to be replaced.

I am also very keen on my weight training / bodybuilding, however have also been delaying the surgery because of a fear that post-surgery I will have to (even further) curtail my activity level.

The orthopaedic surgeon that I saw in australia said that due to my age the most appropriate type of replacement is 'hip resurfacing', which essentially seems to be a new ball in the socket. Apparently, this procedure has been performed in australia for the past 11 years, so unfortunately he was not able to inform me as to how long I could expect to get out of the replacement.

Do you know what type of procedure they are recommending for young active people in the usa?

Fyi, whist researching bodybuilding and hip replacements I came across an article that mentioned a fellow by the name of george turman, who apparently placed in a body-building competition post-hip replacement. Hopefully, I will be able to track him down and check his thoughts....

you can resume weightlifting and bodybuilding after a hip replacement. I had a reconstruction and replacement done. in my late 20 and am now 50. My Left hip was replaced 7 years ago now. I compete in natural bodybuilding and am able to compete/win again all level of athletes including those in there 20's. I am now nearing 50. My leg development is top caliber.

You will need to be thougtful and meticulous in certain exercise such s squats, legs presses, etc. Use slow careful mocvements. I can still squat 500 pounds at 160 bodyweight. However, I would not recommend this.

No reason you can't resume a fully active life without the pain,... Mike

I am a 30 year old girl and I had my left hip replaced (total hip replacement) when I was 16.( my hip is great with no problems) My surgeon has told me that basically more load applied across the hip joint is directly related to its longevity. I take that as meaning I could do squats, deadlifts, leg presses the lot for a while but I would pay later with extra wear and tear on the joint(plus possible dislocation - yuck). I am currently doing leg presses and leg extensions (it is something I have only started recently - this month)- I am too fearful of dislocations and wear and tear to risk doing heavy duty exercises such as squats and deadlifts. I wont touch lunges either for the dislocation factor. I am currently thinking that heavy controlled leg presses may be less stressful on the joint than say tennis or downhill skiing simply because of the motion invovled in those two sports although these are just my thoughts so dont take it as fact! I am still looking for case studies on hip replacement surgery and bodybuilding so if anyone knows of anything that might answer my question concerning total hip replacement longevity and leg presses I would be grateful.

I am 50 natural professional bodybuilder and had my hip reconstructed and replaced (2). The 2nd replacement was done 10 years ago. The weight training if done correctly is better than the stress of lateral movement in my experience. I actually ran thru my first hip in 5 years at 35 when I played tennis, ran,...Very foolish.

I do not do lunges. For me it is critical to keep the joint stable. So squats on a smith machine and leg presses (1 and 2 legs)are excellent. When doing legs presses go moderately deep, not extremely deep or this stresses the hip a bit much in my view.

legs curls and extensions are fine. Never go heavy on extensions they will kill your knees. Hack squats are also fine since they engage the quads a bit more. Again be careful with the depth of the squat. Do not go below parallel. You can do it, don't be fearful just careful. Best to you.

Hi Miller,
Thanks for the super quick reply. It was interesting to hear about your hip replacement experience. Yes, pounding on the joint is certainly bad for the prosthesis. Heavy duty weight is still a risk though. I dont think anything one legged is a good idea (unless you dont mind the risk that is),although after viewing these exercises done by other people, perhaps machine squats are at least worth investigating. Hack squats look interesting and I notice the angle the hip joint is put into is less acute than with leg presses (if done properly)so perhaps they are a good choice if done with correct form and with cuation. Anyway, again thanks for the information!

I'm 41 and just had a total hip replacement on my right side. I will probably need the left side replaced in another year or two. If you can get the muscle sparing technique do it. I was walking the next day, and driving after a week. I use to be into lifting about 10 years ago and want to get back into it but I am also afraid of my artificial hip, wearing it out prematurely. What leg exercises can I do to build up my legs without putting too much stress on my hips.

When I was relly unsure of my limitations of my new hip I used to ONLY do leg extensions for quad development. I do them now too because I DONT do squats or full deadlifts or lunges. I warmup THOROUGHLY before starting the 'muscle growing sets'. The warmups go like this: 1st set for 10 reps 50% of max weight;2nd warmup set for 6 reps with 60% weight of max, 3rd warmup at 70% for 4 reps, 4th set at 80% for 3 reps, 5th set at 90% for ONE rep. Then I do the heaviest weight possible until I fail within 5-7 reps. I do two max sets like these and then its all over. But my hip is 15 years old now and I know exactly what it can and cannot handle. If your hip is still new then I would recommend doing it like this but start off very light and dont go to failure (you will still improve). (I go to failure because that is what makes the muscle grow and keep growing - muscle only grows if you force it to so if you dont 'give it a fright' then it wont grow much)
I do this for lying leg curls as well. Bear in mind though that I only do the long warmups when I come to a NEW body part to train. SO for example if I am training quads I do this warmup for the leg press but not for the leg curl. I still do it for the leg extension because the knees need to be warmed up real well. I also do stiff leg dead lifts because they dont stress the hip too much. But whatever you do, start off light and get good at finding and performing the correct technique (and adapting for your hip) and you will lessen chance of injury. My advice is to start with the leg extension and lying leg curl and see how it goes. Taking into consideration your other hip is weak and in bad shape I would steer clear of all the other exercises if I were you. Perhaps after your other hip is done and youve recovered you may add in leg presses or stiff leg dead lifts...Anway, good luck!