Been a minute. Shoulder is doing great. Stitches came out and I’m healing up. Lately I’ve been spending more time without the immobilizer on. Just when hanging out at home. Still have limited range of motion, but more than 2 weeks ago. No strength. PT is set up for next month. Been hearing lots of rotator cuff surgery horror stories but I haven’t had any problems and very little pain. Guess this one thing in my life I got lucky with LOL.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
Got it in the oven right now!!! We’re not going to talk about how me and my 1.5 arms dropped a bowel full of a dozen scrambled eggs all over the refrigerator though. Anyone ever make it? It’s a little time consuming to make but it’s awesome. I haven’t made it an a few years now. I figured I have all the time in the world right now. My wife loves it too.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
As of now I still cannot raise my arm out in front of me or out to my side. Haven’t been wearing the immobilizer. My arm doesn’t really need the support. Tomorrow I start PT. Or at least I get my evaluation.
Fun Snack
OK so this is a little messy, but fun and really good
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
3 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
1 TBSP coconut oil
Microwave the honey and coconut oil for a few. Mix everything up in a bowl. Put it in a baking pan and refrigerate at least 2 hours. You can cut it into squares or bars but it doesn’t hold together so good. It’s easy to double.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
As of now I still cannot raise my arm out in front of me or out to my side. Haven’t been wearing the immobilizer. My arm doesn’t really need the support. Tomorrow I start PT. Or at least I get my evaluation.
Fun Snack
OK so this is a little messy, but fun and really good
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
3 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
1 TBSP coconut oil
Microwave the honey and coconut oil for a few. Mix everything up in a bowl. Put it in a baking pan and refrigerate at least 2 hours. You can cut it into squares or bars but it doesn’t hold together so good. It’s easy to double.
Therapy was little more than a q & a session. They used this protractor like thing to measure my range of motion at my shoulder and elbow. I got some simple exercises to do at home. Just some passive stuff. I knew my bicep tendon was moved but I found out for sure it was partially torn. So I had one partial tear, one tendon totally torn and the tear in the rotator cuff itself. The therapist said I had “a lot done” I guess I messed it up worse than I thought. Her brother in law power lifted out of Detroit Barbell. DB is who hosted the Relentless Detroit event. They no longer exist due to the owner getting a divorce and his wife got the gym just to spite him. Sold off everything. She didn’t just screw her husband, but everyone who trained there, everyone who competed in their events and everyone who benefited from the money raised at the charity events like Relentless. Chad, who owns Impact Strength where I was training filled me in on why they closed. Anyway, therapy again tomorrow. Real stuff this time.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
Therapy was little more than a q & a session. They used this protractor like thing to measure my range of motion at my shoulder and elbow. I got some simple exercises to do at home. Just some passive stuff. I knew my bicep tendon was moved but I found out for sure it was partially torn. So I had one partial tear, one tendon totally torn and the tear in the rotator cuff itself. The therapist said I had “a lot done” I guess I messed it up worse than I thought. Her brother in law power lifted out of Detroit Barbell. DB is who hosted the Relentless Detroit event. They no longer exist due to the owner getting a divorce and his wife got the gym just to spite him. Sold off everything. She didn’t just screw her husband, but everyone who trained there, everyone who competed in their events and everyone who benefited from the money raised at the charity events like Relentless. Chad, who owns Impact Strength where I was training filled me in on why they closed. Anyway, therapy again tomorrow. Real stuff this time.
This shit is going to test your mettle my friend. All in CD!! Failure is not an option!
First day of actual PT. I pull up, do a double powder shot of Animal Rage. Wash that down with a Monster. Black hoodie on, hood up, earbuds in. You’re not hardcore unless you look like a Nazgûl when working out LOL. Seriously, therapy went great. Surprised at what I can and can’t do at this point. I was given a copy of my doctor’s rehab protocol and looks like I can’t return to normal activities for 6 months post op. So end of September/ early October I can train again for real. At the 3 month mark I can lift up to 10 lbs progressing to 20 lbs by the 4.5 month mark. Not sure what that means though. Anyway, good start
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
This is getting old. I want my arm back. I can’t even change a lightbulb. I still can’t hold my arm straight and raise it to the level of the bottom of my pecs. I was hoping to be back to work in about a month but not so sure about that now. I worked with a different PT and he said he had a buddy who lifted and had similar surgery and came back better than ever. Then he started telling me about some one who couldn’t raise their arm straight up anymore and the doctor asked them “why do you need to do that?” Then he talked about only doing neutral grip DB bench press. Telling me about different stressors on the shoulder and biceps tendon with the different grips. I don’t know what I’ll be able to do at the end, but I’m getting frustrated. I know, patience. Patience and discipline are probably the 2 hardest things to master in life.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
This is getting old. I want my arm back. I can’t even change a lightbulb. I still can’t hold my arm straight and raise it to the level of the bottom of my pecs. I was hoping to be back to work in about a month but not so sure about that now. I worked with a different PT and he said he had a buddy who lifted and had similar surgery and came back better than ever. Then he started telling me about some one who couldn’t raise their arm straight up anymore and the doctor asked them “why do you need to do that?” Then he talked about only doing neutral grip DB bench press. Telling me about different stressors on the shoulder and biceps tendon with the different grips. I don’t know what I’ll be able to do at the end, but I’m getting frustrated. I know, patience. Patience and discipline are probably the 2 hardest things to master in life.
CD Find an ortho guy with a sports/lifting background. Some years back I tore my achilles. I was assured by one of these bozos that surgery was not necessary and that 12 weeks in a cast would surely remedy the situation. He was confident I would regain full mobility with some PT. First forward 6 weeks. Shit was not happening!! When I questioned the "doctor" about why things weren't progressing as he had predicted, he smugly added that I shouldn't be impatient
and that eventually I will regain a "normal" range of motion. This asshole couldn't have cared less about how as a bodybuilder this drastically affected me. DO NOT SETTLE FOR LESS CD!! PUSH THE ISSUE!!
Update. I had my PT reevaluation this week. It started out with me just sitting on the edge of a table and showing how far up I can move my left arm with it straight and my thumb pointing up. The therapist says “is that all you got?” Then I get asked if I’m doing my exercises at home. In the beginning I was told to do a couple things to passively move my arm while dangling it and that’s all I’ve done since I was told not to actively use my arm. So I get information I should have gotten a few weeks ago to actively assist my arm to move. Aaaaaand I had to reschedule my appointment with the surgeon due to another conflicting appointment I can’t change. So I won’t see him for a couple more weeks. Therapy continues.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
Seeing the surgeon in a week. Hopefully I can go back to work. I have maybe 2/3’s of my range of motion back. I’m allowed to work with bands now. That’s something
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau
Seeing the surgeon in a week. Hopefully I can go back to work. I have maybe 2/3’s of my range of motion back. I’m allowed to work with bands now. That’s something
Saw the surgeon yesterday. He won’t let me go back to work. In reality I can still use my shoulder less than before surgery. So I’m off until the end of July. Which means I probably can’t start training until the new year? I thought I’d be back around October in the gym. Who knows, maybe that can still be a thing. He said my tear was real bad and this time he said I would probably have needed a shoulder replacement in a few years if I hadn’t had the surgery. Seems like the further out from my surgery I get, the more dire people tell me my injury was. Not sure if it’s true or BS to reassure me that I’m on the right track. At PT my therapist asked me if I was doing any yard work. Red flag popped up. I talked to him once about this a couple weeks ago. I brought it up then and told him I couldn’t lift a bag of mulch off the ground. It sounds like regular guy talk. So I told him pushing a lawn mower is about the same as pushing a shopping cart. My left and is on the handle mostly for support but I’m pushing with my right hand. This is true. I felt like he was trying to get me to tell on myself. I’ve done this at work with patients too. Then as I’m doing my exercises I hear another therapist ask their patient the same thing LOL. really? What kind of yard work do you really do raising your arm up? My elbow is fine. So I’m doing more strengthening exercises and less assisted stuff with my shoulder. Lots of band stuff mostly. My shoulder is basically just horribly weak at this point which is why I can’t move it.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau