Day 7: Compromising Positions

Today was a tough day. My regular aide was not there so I got this young buff guy who's voice was extremely calm, but his method was a bit tortuous. Just keep in mind this picture shows a shuttle which is something I have to go on every session. I'll explain later...


My physio heard about my progress and is aiming for next week to remove the tape. Although it makes my knee feel invincible I have to learn to be without it if I am to see if I really can heal on my own. Oh, and apparently supplements hit a sore spot with my physio. I asked him about MSM and glucosomine, you know the supps that are for joint nutrition. He visibly got disturbed. Guess he doesn't believe in them. He said just take my vitamins and anti-inflamatory meds. I had cut down on motrin because it was messing up my stomach and decreasing my appetite, which is not a bad thing when you're not exercising as much. I actually lost a good 5 lbs since I got hurt. Go figure, last time I injured my knee I blew up a bit from the decrease in activity. Anyways, the workout in general was tougher due to a new more detailed aide so I can imagine I will be sore tomorrow.

Lastly, I hit my mini-gol. I took the train yesterday. The stairs were not a problem going up or down. I even jogged a little bit to catch the evening train. That did not feel great, but no pain. Hmmm so what should be my next mini-gol? No more tape obviously, but let's go further. How about jumping without pain, but this is jumping on the shuttle. The contraption you see in the picture. they did lay down the agility ladder today for someone else and I saw a soccer ball in the clinic. My little feet just wanted to grab that ball and start dribbling it around. :) Pretending I just got back to GOOOOOOOOOOLLL! (A girl can dream)

Today's Routine:

• 7 minute warm up on spin bike
• 7 30 second sprint then 30 second rest on spin bike
• Bridges - on my back, legs a bit bent with weight on my heels, 15 second hold bridge, 15 small pumps, 15 second hold. 5 of these. I had a mirror next to me and I could really work on my form here. Not bad muscle tone in my thighs. hehe I know I'm a bit narcisistic :)
  
• Side leg raises, hold 15 seconds then 15 pumps. On my right side the aide had me lift my straight left leg up while he pushed down on my hip. He made sure I was in perfect alignment. Then I bent my knee and in this position did the same thing. The last position was bringing the bent knee more towards my chest and doing the reps. Here after my 15 raises the aide made me do 10 mini pumps with my leg up. I looked like a dog going pee and I probably should have worn pants. oopsie! After the 10 mini-pumps he made me push against his hand while my knee was way up there. Felt like I was doing a spread eagle but on my side! Then he asked me my muscle burn count from 1 - 10, when I hit 10 and thought my hip was going to fall off he made me hold for 5 more seconds! Crazy! I repeated this 3 times.
• Knee cap got taped
• 20 x 3 quad set - felt strong
• Shuttle work - The new aide made sure my knee was slightly out which put a bit more tension on my knee itself, but forced my quad to work harder to keep my knee from doing the work. At the same time he made me bend my good knee toward my chest. Then he went through holds with me and when I reached the high of a 10 burn he'd hold it for 5 more counts. Ouch! He had me in a compromising positionand you know when it gets tough you get that strained look on your face, start breathing hard... How embarrassing! Oh well all in the name of rehab. Went through 3 sets of this.
• 20 x 3 calf raises - not bad. A nice break from the shuttle exercises.
  
• squats x 3 sets - squatting and holding at different depths of the squat. This aide really made me work on my form. Butt had to be all the way back like I was trying to sit and legs felt a bit more wider than usual which made me work harder. Once he had me perfectly squatted in a deep squat 15 pumps up and down then hold. And then came the blasted 5 count after hitting 10 on the burn meter. I seriously had to walk a couple laps after each set to let my legs recover.
  
• 15 x 3 quad set with leg raise. I jumped back on the table for these relaxing exercises considering the torture I just went through.
  
• (5 x 40 x 5 30 x 5 x 20 x 5) x 3 sets: Quad pumps on the table. Same position as quad set except heel is off the table. Hold 5 then pump 40 then hold, then pump.... All the while keeping your biofeedback reading at maximum activation. Tougher than before because the aide made me do them correctly.
  
• Ice to go