What a great rehab job you are doing! Its been such a long haul for you, and I’m delighted to hear that the passion for your sport is still keeping you doing the scut work. Awesome!
For me, the single best way to hit my hammies is the Romanian Deadlift. Second, I would say is the Barbell hip thrust. I have such terrible balance that single leg deadlifts are forever causing me to fall over.
[quote]LastStand wrote:
Throughout this rehab process I have had ups and downs, successes and disappointments so my motivation tends to ebb and flow as well. Really it is the passion that I have to return to the court that pushes me to spend the time in the gym plodding through my rehab exercises. When I get back on the court I want to be stronger and faster than all of the other women playing. I want the men to be wary of me and know that I am not a push over. I want to be a force on the court.
I think that aiming to be what I was before the injury is probably a bad idea because I have changed personally over the past year and a half. I am very bad at having ridiculous expectations of myself. Instead I will focus on becoming a new player. Leave the past accomplishments in the past and focus on coming back as strong as possible with a new respect and passion for actually being able to play.
Aww, now I’m all fired up and have to go to work. I’ll have to save a bit of that for tonight.
Anyway enough of my ranting…
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UGH! This got me teary. Its amazing how emotional I get when I think about the injury/recovery. The other day I cleaned out my closet and it was so weird to hold the cane and crutches, bandages, the brace…its so silly, really! I’m sure injuries affect everyone in different ways - mine hit me pretty hard. For me it was from the very start an incredibly emotional experience. Still is. shrug
Anyways, I think your passion for the sport is precisely what’s going to get you through the entire recovery process - your motivation to not just return to play, but return as an even better athlete than before. And you will! I think injuries have a very funny way of making you a better athlete because the body awareness you come back with is astounding. You’ll learn to perform better and be a more conscientious player, you’ll need to be stronger and more agile, understand when to push or take it easy, when to take a moment and regroup emotionally (lol!)…at least I think.
And I love this, “Instead I will focus on becoming a new player. Leave the past accomplishments in the past and focus on coming back as strong as possible with a new respect and passion for actually being able to play.” Really beautiful. I’m going to adopt this mindframe too.
You’re doing beautifully, LS!! Keep up the great work! You’re going to be exactly where you envision yourself. I’m proud of you, girl!
very inspirational moment you dropped on us LS.
injury or not, life is a cycle, the gym is a cycle. pushing through the lows brings us to new hights. I’ll admit, injuries makes the whole process tougher.
I like that you are not tying yourself to an old ideal but allowing yourself to pursue something more open.
I look forward to reading details on how your crushed your opponents without mercy. 
Kimba - Thanks! I plan on adding RDLs once I get my strength at full extension all sorted. I certainly prefer RDLs over stiff-leg DLs. I used to do barbell thrusts too. Time to start doing those again, thanks for reminding me!
Maschy - I don’t think it is silly at all. It has been an emotional experience for me as well. When I first did it I was pretty distraught because I lost my opportunity to play in Vegas. Not a day goes by now that I don’t think about my injury. Rightly so because I’m in rehab mode now. However, when I’m all done and back on the court, I don’t want it to define me.
N - I’m usually not the inspiring speech kinda person but, I was feeling particularly inspired after reading Patch’s link. Injuries certainly do make the cycle tougher as I’m sure you can attest to with your hip flexor issue. But does feel so good once you heal and overcome.
No mercy indeed, because I certainly don’t expect any!
Makes me think of a clip of me getting crushed - I’ll have to dig that one up for fun.
After watching the NHL All Star Draft, I was all inspired and ready to go, but my bf was actually had the night off of sports. We spent a little too much time goofing around in the basement breaking down different dodgeball throwing techniques (my sidearm discus style vs overhand), seeing how they differ and how you would teach them to new players. We enable each other in our obsession!
All was not lost though.
Warm-up: biking and hopping
Band TKEs: 3 x 10
1-leg SLDL: 3 x 10@10
A1)Box Squats: 10@45, 10@55, 10@65, 3 x 10@70
A2)Push-ups: 5 x 10
Done.
Whew… what a weekend!
We pained all Friday night. Saturday was an Ikea furniture building marathon. We build a bed, two end tables and a wardrobe with sliding glass doors. Miraculously the bf and I didn’t get on each others nerves too much as can happen when building Ikea furniture. Sunday we spent organizing. So now we have a sexy new bedroom that is no longer plain and beige. Woo hoo!
That being said, I didn’t get much done in the gym on Friday and Saturday aside from a few chin-ups when I walked past the bar in the basement.
Warm-up: Biking and hopping
Band TKEs: 3 x 10
1-leg SLDL: 3 x 10@10
OHP
Warm ups: 2x5@45
5@55
3@65
11@70 I dug back in my logs to find that this is a rep PR.
SLDL: 10@50, 10@60, 10@70, 10@75
1-leg eccentric ham curls: 3x10@15
Ball Ham curls: 3 x 10
Trap Bar calf raises: 16@60, 16@70, 16@80
[quote]LastStand wrote:We spent a little too much time goofing around in the basement breaking down different dodgeball throwing techniques (my sidearm discus style vs overhand), seeing how they differ and how you would teach them to new players. We enable each other in our obsession!
[/quote]
This sounds like a delightfully fun way to spend an off night.
Patch - It was pretty fun. We didn’t break anything this time either!
Warm-up: bike and hopping
Band TKEs: 3 x 10
1-leg SLDS: 3 x 10@16
Dips: 6 x 5
Band Pallof Press: 3x3@10sec es (pink band)
1-leg squats: 3 x 10es
1-leg eccentric ham curls: 3 x 10@15
This morning I feel the hamstring tendonitis starting to rear its ugly head again. The next few days will be stretching, rolling and eccentric movements only for my hamstrings. I’ve dealt with this once before so at least I know the warning signs and hopefully I’ll catch it before it gets any worse.
[quote]LastStand wrote:
Patch - It was pretty fun. We didn’t break anything this time either!
Warm-up: bike and hopping
Band TKEs: 3 x 10
1-leg SLDS: 3 x 10@16
Dips: 6 x 5
Band Pallof Press: 3x3@10sec es (pink band)
1-leg squats: 3 x 10es
1-leg eccentric ham curls: 3 x 10@15
This morning I feel the hamstring tendonitis starting to rear its ugly head again. The next few days will be stretching, rolling and eccentric movements only for my hamstrings. I’ve dealt with this once before so at least I know the warning signs and hopefully I’ll catch it before it gets any worse.
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Lol, I’ve always planned to eventually have a basement with tatami padded floors and walls. It would be great to have a play space where there’s no risk of breaking stuff.
It’s good that you’re self aware enough to catch your hamstring in time. I think as we get older that insight is going to be the key to longevity.
[quote]Patch2 wrote:
It’s good that you’re self aware enough to catch your hamstring in time. I think as we get older that insight is going to be the key to longevity.
[/quote]
Indeed it is! I certainly think I have learned to be more self aware over the past couple of years.
Nothing too exciting. My hamstring was feeling better yesterday, so I did a little more in the gym. Unfortunately me knee cap was tracking like crap.
I haven’t been logging it, but I have been doing that Waterbury PLP thigh where you do push-ups, pull-up (chins for me) and lunges everyday adding one rep a day. I started with one and yesterday was day 11. Now that I’m over 10 I feel like it is more interesting to log.
Push-ups: 11
Chins: 4, 4, 3
Lunges: 11/11
Warm-up: biking and hopping
Band TKEs: 3 x 10 - I really feel like I am benefiting from this movement. It seems to be improving my mind-muscle connection with my quad.
1-leg SLDLs 3 x 10
I decided to upgrade my single leg squatting so I am not doing it with the support of my dip bars anymore.
Left (to box w\4 risers): 3 x 8
Right pistols: 3 x 3
I hope to be able to do pistols on my surgical leg by the end of the year.
how do you know about the knee cap? noise? pain?
n - It is more of a feeling than noise or pain. When I go from full extension with weight to flexion my knee cap catches a little before it clunks into its proper place. It doesn’t hurt or make any noise, but the catching and rubbing does increase inflammation which tends to make the joint a little stiff.
It has many potential causes including tight hips and ITB, weak glutes and VMO. Basically the imbalances in my leg are causing my knee cap to not track properly along its little groove. Fortunately, I know enough about dealing with that now that I can take action right away to fix the problem. Prior to surgery I actually had this problem in my good knee because I was over compensating.
I don’t have much to log from this weekend. It was the biggest dodgeball tourney of the season - the Battle of Alberta in Red Deer. It is a super competitive event followed by a pretty wild party. Good times were had!
I did keep up with my physio exercises, but that’s about it so nothing exciting.
[quote]LastStand wrote:
I did keep up with my physio exercises, but that’s about it so nothing exciting.[/quote]
Not exciting, but still essential; good you’re keeping up with it even during fun time.
Patch - Yep, it seems that my focus is finally starting to pay off too.
Yesterday was a big day - I finally got to have a little run on the treadmill! I only ran for a few minutes, but damn did it feel good. My knee did feel a little weird and it fatigued quickly, but that’s to be expected. I also added a jump from a step landing on one foot. That was a little challenging to do mentally. It is all about getting my confidence back now.
I’m going to try k-taping my kneecap when training to help alleviate the tracking issues while I re-build my muscle. My physio did it yesterday and I though that it really helped.
So I have a running schedule now which means I am going to have to find myself a gym membership for the next couple of months so I can use the treadmill.
Here’s the plan:
5 min run every other day - 3 total runs
10 min run every other day - 3 total runs
15 min run every other day - 3 total runs
Once I hit 25 min I can move to the indoor track (or rubber outdoor track) and drop back to 10 min runs.
Then, once I hit 25 min runs on the track I am free to run outdoors.
I also got the okay to start deadlifting again. Woo Hoo!
Monday
I did my usual rehab exercises and…
OHP
5@55
5@60
8@70
I think I was still recovering from the weekend because my numbers were pretty weak.
Tuesday
Warm-up (Bike, hopping, TKEs, 1-leg SLDLs)
A1) Sumo DLs: 7@70, 5@95, 3@115, 2 x 5@95
A2) Push-ups: 5 x 10
Ball Ham curls 3 x 10
B1) RDL: 10@65, 2 x 10@75
B2) Pallof press: 3 x 3@10sec es pink band
I tweaked my elbow on my last set of Pallof presses. It is bothering me a little this morning, so I am going to lay off the elbow movements for a few days and see how it feels. I don’t want a repeat of last year’s tendonitis issue.
Starting to pick up steam - looking forward to squats tonight!
That is SO AWESOME that you are running again! You’ve worked so hard to get this. Congrats.
Kimba - Thanks!
Warm-up/rehab exercises
Squats
10@45, 10@65, 3 x 10@75
Today I venture out of my basement and into the public gym world. I’m getting a free week trial at the 24hr Snap Fitness just down the street from me. All I really plan on doing is getting a membership for a couple of months so I can use their treadmill. Fun times!
running and squats!
you’ll be playing dodgeball in no time 
That’s great you’re running and squatting again. I hope that knee gets stronger quickly and those tracking issues resolve.
Squats, Running? You’re going to be back to throwing wrenches in no time. That’s how you practice, right? I hear if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge anything.
n - yep, I’m on a roll now!
Nadia - Thanks! I’m pretty confident that once I build up my muscle mass the tracking will resolve itself. In the mean time the k-tape seems to be working wonderfully.
Patch - Haha! Of course, there’s more incentive to dodge a wrench. Though, catching them is a little difficult and that’s my bread and butter.
I went and got my free 7-day pass to the gym down the road from me. Seemed good, not too busy.
5 min bike
Treadmill (5min rum #1)
2min walk - 5 min run (4.5 mph) - 2min walk
I managed to run for the full 5min. At physio the other day I had to take it in 1.5min increments.
1-leg landings from step (4 risers) 3x10
A1) 2-leg hops 3 x 10
A2) Push ups 3 x 10
1-leg hops: 3 x 20
Quadrant hops 5 x cw, 5 x ccw
I thought the squat rack seemed lonely so I finished off with some front squats
10@45, 8@65, 3 x 5@75
just caught up!
congrats on all your accomplishments!!!