Road to Recovery

Trusylver

Trusylver

Sport and Exercise Coach
Staff member
I am back again, for those who know me this diary will not have the same type of training sessions that were in my old diary. Age, wear and overuse has been taking its toll on the body. Illness kept me out of this years state powerlifting titles and I am struggling with a major shoulder problem. my supraspinatus tendon has calcified as has my glenohumeral joint. my goal at the moment is to get back into peak condition but without the old level of upper body strength.

the doc and specialists tell me that the calcification is not due to a specific injury but just over use competing in a number of sports over a long period of time combined with the effects of age.

regular physio is helping but there is very little that can be done to actually fix the shoulder.

In 2 weeks I will be attending the Queensland university to increase my existing qualification level as a sports trainer but will do my best to keep this diary moderately up to date.

for those who don't know me feel free to ask any muscle, strength or exercise related questions and i will answer them here.
 
Got myself into the gym this morning for a rehab and cardio session.

Treadmill: Incline 3, Time: 20 minutes, Distance 2 km, Speed 6 kph
Rotator cuff rehab exercises 5kg on each for 4 sets of 10
Bench Press: Bar Only (20 kg) 3 X 10 ----This is soooo depressing going from National champion to lifting only the bar
Seated row: 5kg 3X10 -----this is also very depressing but the road to recovery has got to start somewhere.


Going out shopping now, time to get back to healthy training diet and stop eating all the foods I am allergic to.


Watching the commonwealth games weight lifting on TV has been very depressing but watching Geoff Huegill's comeback in the swimming after loosing over 40 kg was great.
 
Taking a look at my food today, way to low on calories but nutrient ratio has been ok.

Carbs Cals: To Low
Protein Cals: To Low
Fat Cals: A little low but not to bad
Gluten: None :)
Other Allergens: None :)
Water: 3 litres

Will have a couple of cans of tuna later to bring calorie count and protein up.
 
woke up feeling ok this morning with the hope for a good day as I have full ROM in my shoulder this morning which makes a change.

one of the other reasons my shoulder has calcified is due to my allergies, A specialist I was teamed up with when working at a sporting event told me that those who have bad allergies are prone to build up calcium deposits a lot more than others and considering that when i was younger I had the calcification scraped out of my knee what he said seems to be very accurate. the calcification on my tendon cannot be scraped unfortunately as if it was i would end up with a thin weak tendon prone to tearing which would be worse in the long run.

Time to go and do a few hill sprints outside before the snakes come out to sunbake.
 
Total Cals: Good
Carbs Cals: Good
Protein Cals: OK
Fat Cals: To High
Gluten: None
Other Allergens: 1/4 of an orange, 1 small mandarin
Fluid: 1 litre
Training: 5 X 100 meter hill sprints (40 degree grade), jog back, legs were wobbly


I need to get my cardio fitness levels up to scratch ready for next football season as I will be taking on the strength and conditioning coaching role for a ladies team and would like to be up to speed for demonstrating some of the drills I have planned for cardio training.
 
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Shoulder ROM not as good as yesterday, i can get to approx 60 degrees abduction above the horozontal before it begins to hurt a little and catch on the calcification.

As always today being Sunday it will be hard to keep my nutrient balance on track with having friends visiting for our regular roleplaying session. I realy need to go Alergen free today as my skin is showing the effects badly due to having gluten a few days ago. Normally I can cope with the external signs of my allergies and being a coeliac but I have to realy think about what damage i am doing to myself internally and avoid the chance of calcification of my other joints.

time for breakfast as i can hear the kids waking up. I think i will have some tuna and cottage cheese on rice thins.
 
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Yesterday worked out ok

Total Cals: Good
Carbs Cals: Good
Protein Cals: OK
Fat Cals: Good
Gluten: Nil
Other Allergens: Nil
Fluid: 1 litre
Training: Nil

so far today sitting right on track, going to do some plyometric an BW training now.



1 X 100 BW squats (ATG)
2 X 10 Pistol squats (1 set each leg)
10 full Single Arm Pushups (Left only due to shoulder)
20 Burpees
10 minutes shadow boxing (Heavy bag is hanging in the shed and didn't feel like getting soaked going outside)
 
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yesterday finished ok nutritionally

Total Cals: Perfect
Carbs Cals: Slightly low
Protein Cals: Perfect
Fat Cals: Slightly high
Gluten: Nil
Other Allergens: Nil
Fluid: 2 litre
Training: As Above


Today has not had a good start, woke up with a killer caffeine headache which is only suppressed a little with headache meds. Have not had brekky yet.
 
I think i must be punishing myself, watched some more commonwealth games weightlifting and seen one of the men I have trained with win gold, It feels good that he won but it is realy making me depressed knowing that I can't lift at the top level of competition in my lifting anymore :(

I should feel good that I have been a National champion but It just feel bad to have no chance to get back up to that level.

I need to choose another sport, I need the competitive aspect of sport to keep me sane.
 
Yesterday ended OK food-wise today has started a little better and the withdrawal headache from the lack of caffeine is a lot less. When I take my youngest to school in his special ed class at mid day I will hit the gym for some more shoulder rehab work and add some weight to my the bench press bar. Its going to be a long slow grind to get my weights from the bar only back up to my 92.5 kg (203.5 lb) pb. as far as doctors and coaches are concerned it shouldn't be possible but I am going to give it try and get as close as i can.
 
Bronwyn, I'm sorry to hear of the unfortunate situation you are in with your shoulder... I know how much lifting meant to you. I'm glad to see you around though. I have not been on this forum for some time, although I've decided to check it out again for a bit. Primarily I have been over on Kara's. I too have gone through some major changes in the last year or so, mostly with positive results, but drastic nonetheless. My strength training has also fallen off dramatically due to necessity, and is only just now being ramped up, and not without some growing pains.

I look forward to chatting with you going forward. Take it easy!
 
Good to see you here, I am only just back here as well, it gonna take a lot of time and effort but things will come rightish eventually
 
Sorry to hear about your shoulder. Your positive attitude should be applauded though; if anything's going to get you through this it's that. It's good you're not giving up right away. You never know, the problem might fix itself; doctors don't know everything. Can I ask what things you're allergic to?
 
It has been a flat out week with specialist appointments for the kids with blood tests and xrays etc. spent the weekend at the uni for the first part of an intensive course to upgrade my existing sports trainer qualification.

Training including advanced resuscitation, legal studies, along with pre and post event massage including deep tissue. This week i have coursework and assessments to work on for next weekend. We also worked on networking and learning new drills to achieve assorted fitness objectives for the teams that we take care of. It felt good to be told i have magic hands when it comes to massage because i want to start on a diploma in massage at the beginning of next year.

made it into the gym for continued rehab on the shoulder and my coach/friend/gym owner loaded up the leg press for me so i could put the show off men to shame that were in there and to help make me feel better about not being able to lift anymore. ended up doing single leg press 3 sets of 10 for each leg at 150 kg (330 lb) followed normal legpress 3 X 10 @ 300 kg (661 lb). it was only warm up weights but felt good to be lifting again even if i had to have the machine loaded for me.

Shinsplints i am a coeliac which means I can't eat anything with gluten in it which wipes out a huge chunk of potentially good foods to eat but I also can't have white rice (brown is ok), citrus fruit gives me hives, cherries and coconut are out which means i cant eat my favorite chocolate bar (cherry ripe) i also cant have avocado and a few other things so big list of NO NOs means a very plain diet.
 
Yesterday finished up ok, food was ok and didn't eat anything i am not supposed to exercise was limited because if still being tired from the weekend.

had a look at the size on my club shirt that i needed to wear on the weekend which i had not worn worn in 2 years, it was not only felt like a tent it was an XL and i normally wear a S or M for shirts now.

a bit later this morning i need to type up the warm up routine i am going to give to the football team i am coaching for strength and conditioning before going to the gym to work on my rehab exercises and get someone to load weights on for me so i can hit my legs hard enough to actually feel it. I also need to find someone to practice my new massage techniques on, i am fine with my deep tissue but i need more practice with my relaxation techniques. hubby doesn't like getting massaged.
 
wow!! i bet although it felt like a tent, it also had to feel great seeing how far you've come!!! So proud of you :)
 
thanks Korrie :)

made it into the gym for a session, I am not feeling so down when i go in now so i may be getting over and coming to terms with my forced retirement from competition.

done a warmup on the treadmill for 10 minutes incline 10 speed 6 followed by a thorough stretching routine.

Shoulder rehab exercises, added a little weight to external rotations and was able to get my arm to move in close to what you might call a circle with the fitball held against the wall with the arm out stretched so my fine motor skills are beginning to improve.

Still cant get my arm and shoulder in position to hold the squat bar but did hit the leg press for a semi satisfying session with the boys loading the weights on for me.

Leg press

sets X reps X weight

1 X 10 @ 240 kg (529 lb)
1 X 10 @ 340 kg (749 lb)
1 X 10 @ 400 kg (882 lb)
1 X 10 @ 460 kg (1014 lb)
1 X 10 @ 540 kg (1190 lb)

only doing lower weights so far till my legs become accustomed to training again, next session will ad in some hamstring raises.

Cool-down 10 minutes on climbing machine using only 1 arm on the climbing handles.
 
day two after doing my legpress session and no sign of DOMS or any soreness at all so the weights must have been about right. this afternoon it will be either running through some football drills to test them out or a gym session at the busy time. I would like to be able to see if my shoulder will handle some light benching.
 
screwed up this morning by giving into temptation by eating a crumpet damn i am gonna regret it tomorrow.
 
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