Day 2: Wanting a sore quad

Not my best work in this session. They were a bit surprised my quad wasn't sore from the last session. I did not try that hard since I had no idea the limits of my knee. They were a little concerned that it was my knee, right where the tear is, that was sore. I was determined to give it all I had in this session so from jumping on the bike I pushed myself.I was gonna rock this session. Show them how strong I really am. Yay! Watch me!

....um and then I fell to reality. The bio feedback gadget was NOT my friend today. Exercises that were easy for me before got really tough. WTF? In physical therapy as with most things in life, you get out of it what you put into it. To be elite, if better is possible good is not enough. Meaning that it's not enough to just try to do the exercises without thinking and let your body do the work. You're hurt! Your body has already been adjusting to your injury from the second it happened. Building habits that are bad so that it can keep you from feeling pain. This is why you get a limp or start to only put weight on your good leg. Physical therapy is the battle against that. You have to really consciously focus on the muscle you are trying to isolate and build it up. Your muscle-joint system is messed up and the only way to get it back is to build your strength back up and reprogram how your muscles need to work. But of course your muscles aren't used to doing this kind of isolation so it's mind over matter to kick your muscles into shape. This is a lesson I know, but had forgotten since I've enjoyed a relatively injury free couple of years. Getting back to GOL seems further off now. I need to strive for smaller milestones that will get me there starting with getting a sore quad, not a sore knee. Then I will know the muscle is growing. Hasta la proxima!

Today's Routine:

• 15 minutes on spin bike - higher resistance I worked up a sweat
• 20x3 quad sets - not too bad
• 15 x 3 quad sets with leg lift - I was failing. I could not maintain my quad activated and lift my leg for a 3 count. I was really trying too. :(
• 10 x 40 x 10 x 30 x 10 x 20 = quad set and bounce. This was easier for me. With my heal off the table with no back support I flexed my quad for 10 count then bunced the heal in a real small range of motion.
• Shuttle exercises - isometric hold of my knee bent at 90 degree angle while flexing my quad, then a little bounce. Another near fail. I could not get my quad muscle right by the knee to activate consistently. My azz kept helping out. Just like my bum to want to get into the mix. :) It was really frustrating that I would start feeling my glute burn and then my shin and my quad. Basically my quad was not doing it's part so the other muscles had to help out.
• 20 heal raises - no problem. My calves are still pretty strong.
• NEW - bridges - 30 sec hold x 5 times = on my back, bent knees, feet flexed so only the heel is on the table, I lift my bum and then try to squeeze my it as close to my heals as I can. This was quite a workout on my hamstrings.