I am not ashamed to say that my frustration and fears have prevented me from even venting here. There was a time not more than a few days ago when I was almost convinced I would be back under the knife in the every near future. However someone asked me whether I was getting better week on week and I think that was the one thing that brought me back to my painful reality. My initial recovery had been so fast and so impressive that after my “incident” I was incredibly disillusioned with my situation and although I am far from happy now, I am slowly accepting that my road to recovery may be longer and slower than I thought it was going to be.
I was  hoping that my day 90 would be like my old P90X graduation days, a celebration of achievement and a plan for the next level of participation. Not so. The only silver lining I have at this time is that I am not on painkillers any more and I am, at least occasionally, able to do some weight bearing workouts. I am resigned to the fact that things are going to be suboptimal for the foreseeable future, however that has not stopped me from planning for said future.
It’s time for me to drink the Crossfit Kool-aid. The new Crossfit box near my house, Crossfit Ark, has a half price sale, the membership is only $75 per month with unlimited use for a year so I bit the bullet and signed up. I realise it may be a while until I can really use the facility but I am confident that during the coming year I will get fair use out of it especially during the winter when I can’t really work out in my garage or on the deck.
I am happy to report that my humble little website has surpassed a MILLION hits this past month. Yup, it’s taken 4 years but I finally got there! Thanks to everyone for participating and at least pretending to be interested in my fitness journey. Let’s hope it starts to get a little more entertaining again now.
I have picked up another injury, I have a very sore shoulder, so bad in fact that for the first time in my life I am unable to chinup because of the pain. I guess I will be seeing my new friend Jonathan at Align to see if he can fix me. It is pretty bad though, I am hoping I will be back in action on the chinup bar in a  couple of weeks. Especially since I want to finally learn the bar muscle up.
So for now I will put faith in my body to heal, albeit slowly, and I will deal with the extra 30 minutes it takes me to get up in the morning. I don’t really have a choice in the matter, so I will make the best. That said, the reality is that for now, week on week, I am slowly improving and as long as that continues, the silver lining will continue to inspire my confidence.
As far as actual workouts go, I have been extremely careful but also diligent in making sure what I do is recorded and the after effects documented. Here is what I have found out so far.
Bench – I am able do do 250lbs bench which is a reasonable working weight for me at any stage. That makes me happy. That said, I have to be very careful since bench is what crocked my shoulder, and I am not sure how or why.
Squats – Not real squats, air squats. After several attempts and cycles I find I can go all the way down to my heels and still be OK. I also find I can squat holding either 50lbs in kettlebells or a 35lb wall ball and still be fine. This is also good.
Deadlifts and Cleans – I have tried, but so far this makes me far too sore to make them part of my workouts. However I have successfully worked briefly with 70lbs without a long term injury.
Pullups – These would be a staple of my workouts at the moment if I could do them but since my shoulder injury I have not been able to get on the bar at all which is a major glitch.
Kettlebells – These make me very sore indeed, too much to do anything at all.
Work – Standing at work is torture. This will improve once my stool arrives but all I know is sitting would be worse. I am now working 6 hours 4 days a week so I am almost up to full time but it’s the worst thing that I am currently doing for my pain level. Figures, right?
That’s is for the review. I have 4 days work next week then it’s back to full time by which time I hope to be able to push through and resume at least most of my previous life.
I have been going on about Body Beast and how much I am enjoying it but after doing a workout at Crossfit Ark last week I think my time would be best served as soon as possible to get back to HIIT functional movement. For me this means kettlebells, Olympic lifting and metcon work that includes weighted running, walking or timed sprinting. It’s the summer now and I am sure that my choice reflects that change but lifting weights in my basement seems so restrictive and to be honest a little boring if I can envisage myself doing med ball cleans, wall ball, pullups and low weight high rep olympic lifting movements.