Getting back in the groove... almost

18 weeks, 5 days post-op original surgery. 6 weeks, 5 days post-op 4th and final surgery.

Late last night, the grown-ups finally made it out to see The Hunger Games. After the movie, I stayed up until around 3 am baking delicious cookies to share with my dentist today. I've never had half of my mouth numbed at once, so I wasn't really up to eating much before my workout. My breakfast was milk and honey Amasai  in the car on the way to my appointment and my lunch (pre-workout meal) was a raw cheddar quesadilla with a mashed avocado and sugar plum tomatoes for dipping and eating. Yummy.

I started my workout on the school playground with the usual joint mobility drills and moved on to two pressing ladders of 1-2-3-4 with the 8kg. Increasing the rungs on the ladder has been painfully slow but I'm making sure I'm completely solid before increasing the reps, sets, or weight. I don't want to inflame my left trapezius again. That wasn't fun and is completely avoidable with enough focused practice, now that I'm fully aware of what I'm doing.

From the presses, I moved on to attempting a full naked Turkish get-up. The right side was solid, so I was comfortable doing it with the 8kg. Then came the naked left side. It was great until the lunge up and back down. My right toes can't bend under my foot to push up or anchor for the lunge back down. Had I been confident with my right side and tried the left without a dry run-through, I probably would've ended up with some iron falling onto my head when my stability went away. It is from the constant reminder of safety and checking your ego at the door in the RKC School of Strength that kept me from blindly going forward and getting hurt. Of course it's frustrating that the complications from all of my surgeries are keeping me from being able to do a full get-up, which was one of my first recovery goals, but I have to be grateful to be almost walking and able to do a get-up on at least one side. It wasn't too many weeks ago that I wasn't weight-bearing or exercising at all. Perspective is everything. So is safety.

I finished my workout at home with two rounds of a circuit. I led with the right side on the first round and with the left on the second.

Snatch, 8 kg, 5+5
Overhead squat, 8 kg, 5+5
Alternating 1-arm swings, 10 kg, 20
Goblet squat, 8 kg, 5
1-arm swing-snatch combo, 10 kg, 5+5

For the goblet squat, I can almost get my hips parallel to my knees. Almost. My limiting factor is the very stiff right ankle. I am gaining more range of motion each day, but I still have a long way to go. The circuit felt wonderful, and I actually had sweat dripping down my face. I hadn't gotten to that point in months!! Definite progress.

Here's my range of motion as of today, in a completely non-scientific format:

Plantarflexion  

                                           

And dorsiflexion