Ugh. How long?

Sqeekyjojo

Well, I'm finally back in the gym after a long period of injuries and inflammatory arthritis making it almost impossible to hold a cup properly. Apparently, I've still got good technique on the rower/erg. Great. Over to what I actually want to do. Joint stabilization first, then back to pushing it as far as I can. (I wonder how i got injured so many times? )



But I'm restricted to machines and Swiss Ball squats for 'three months minimum' because there's too much risk of going past the safe range of motion using free weights, as well as being banned from doing any weightbearing exercise whatsoever until I can do full squats without any difficulty. Got to love my new doc, he gets to the point, especially when he said he doesn't want to see me back there in a month's time with another borked joint.


I'm fine with that in the short term, it's medical advice and I'm not going to argue with it. Well, not argue exactly, I did go and swim for an hour afterwards each time I've been this week, but I'm justifying that on the basis that it's supported stretching (I do a lot of that in the pool) and cardio.


I struggled to overhead 2.5kg. Really, really struggled. It hurt. For goodness' sake, that's a bag of sugar, my children weighed more than that when they were born, the cat weighs more than that. I've trained with weights pretty much since I was 14/15, used to kick box (full contact) three times a week with 90 minutes circuits before bouts, yoga, pilates, went rock climbing, rowed 2000m in 6:22 as a gentle warm up, swim for hours and still have energy and strength. I may not have been aerobically fit 100% of the time, but I was always strong.



I can't ever remember being this weak in my life. And I don't like it.


I'm going to continue going 3 times a week minimum, but I can't begin to imagine how long it's going to take to actually feel strong again. I won't go full out effort/go every single day because that's usually accompanied by something going snap, pop or otherwise imploding to the point of yet another hospital visit, but I don't give up or sacrifice proper form just because my muscles are protesting - I WILL finish that set. And the next. And the next. And I got the buzz within a few minutes of starting again. Man, I love that buzz.




If any other MFPrs have returned after a prolonged period of inactivity due to injury/illness and found out that they were weaker than the first day they ever set foot in a gym as a scrawny teenager, how long did it take you to feel 'normal'?

CincyNeid

I broke my left arm's radius bone in 2012. I was working on my car 1994 Volkswagen Jetta . The jack stands kicked out and the car came down on top of me. 2,600 pounds laying on my chest. Broke a 4 inch section out of my radius bone. Did some nerve damage, and bruised a couple ribs. I was so weak that I couldn't even open a packet of sugar to pour in my tea. I've got a 8 inch Titanium rod and 8 Titanium screws in it now.

With that being said, I did take me a while. And I'm still not back to where I was before the accident. All I can say is just keep on keeping on. You'll get back there, just might take a while.