Day 8: Going Topless

OOopsie I meant going "Tapeless", but now that I have your attention..... :) Yesterday the physio had me do my PT without my beloved tape. This was my toughest session yet. I was already a bit tired from all my activities this weekend. I walked normal distances and danced up a storm, which I have not done in a while so I was fatigued. I had my regular aide back so I thought I was in for a walk in the park. Nope! I should have picked up something would change when I saw him consulting with the physio. I was in for some hurting.

Anyways, so I've reached my mini-gol of no tape. I am not sure when they will let me start jumping on the shuttle. I hope soon. My knee does feel sore when I bend it all the way quickly so I'm not ready for any leap frog exercises, but some little jumping should be ok. We'll see if I can get that gol done soon.

Routine

• 7 Minute warm up on spin bike
• 7 30 second sprints with 30 seconds of rest in between
• 20 x 3 quad sets with 5 second hold - not too bad without tape
• 15 x 3 quad set with 3 second leg raise. These were really tough. I could not keep the bio feedback monitor lit up once I lifted my leg. This was disappointing, then the aide came and adjusted the bio feedback thing and I was able to to it. Phew I thought I was a wimp.
• 40x10x30x10x20x10 times 3. Quad pumps on the table. Same position as quad set except heel is off the table. Hold 10 then pump 40 then hold, then pump.... All the while keeping your biofeedback reading at maximum activation. I could see my quad really bulking up for this one. Nice. Of course not as big as my right leg.
• Hamstring Bridges - 15 second hold, 15 little pumps, 15 second hold x 3 sets. Legs were tired so my holds were not as straight as usual and the pumps were tough to get through.
• Side leg lifts - On my side, position 1 is my left leg out straight and I push up on aide's hand for 15 second count then do 15 pumps with the weight of his hand on my leg giving resistance. Position 2, same thing except leg is bent 90 degrees but knees still aligned. Position 3, bring knee into my chest and do leg lifts. Do this for 3 sets. Another aide stepped in the help and this guy was straight up pushing on my leg and making me do the pumps slowly against his hand pushing down. Yikes!
  
• Shuttle work - on my back and leg up on vertical platform hold at various degrees close to 90. Then 10 small pumps after holding. This was tough since legs were tired. I did not go to full burn like last time since this aide is more kick back, but I still was burning. At one point he made me do almost full range pumps which really made the muscle burn since you go through such a wide range of motion.
  
• Calf lifts - 20 x 3 - not bad
• Squats - not your grandma's squats though. Aide seemed to consult the physio with my chart in hand then he tells me to squat and hold and do 10 pumps up and down. No tape and tired legs I did. Then he said position 2. huh? It's a deeper squat bringing chest almost to top of knees while your arms are out in front like you super man. Then hold that. Then he said reach for my foot. I was like "double huh?" His foot was behind me so I had to reach between my legs to reach for it. OMG! This made my quads burn in a new way. Not just one section of the muscle but all of it. Then back to normal squat position and hold. He had to really square my hips because I was trying to cheat so bad by shifting so weight would go on my good leg. So he did another round of this. I thought "ok I'm going to die here", but I made it. But the third set, the holds were killing me and he had me reach for the floor between my legs again and I got through 3 before my quads were ignited and I had to come back up. He kind of spotted me as I tried to stay in squat position but I couldn't hold for that long. And that was it!
• Ice to go. Physio told me to relax the rest of the day. "You think?"