Seven Weeks

Wow... just realised when I came here to post something that I'm Seven weeks post op today. :)

Let's see.... swelling's mostly gone. I've got "most" of my range of movement back... they say the last bit is the hardest. I'm on the leg press at the gym, the single most effective tool for building my quads back up. Quads and hamstring's are the most effected muscled in ACL surgery.

I can jump on the exercise bike and just go. I can use the rowing machine and ellipital machine now too. There's an other bunch of machines and exercises I can do now too. I'm back in the hot tub without having to worry about overheating my leg. I still do the hot/cold routine cuz it works however. Suffice to say, things are going well.

This is the point people call the "plateau".
The dramatic "holy crap I can walk" moments are over. This crosses over into straight up body building land. The "gains" are "slower" and less apparent, so you can get discouraged. It's a lot of more of the same. It can feel like the improvements have stopped.

I won't lie, there was a day at the gym where I felt it creeping in. Then I realized that I hadn't ate properly and had gone to the gym tired. Big mistake. Especially as my workout routine has gotten kinda extensive. I've added a lot of machines and spend a long time there. Going on an empty tank just ain't gonna work.

The next time, I was prepared. I had a good feed at the right time and had more and more of the right stuff. Big difference. I've started bringing bananas and protein bars to the gym too.

I'm finding it important to track what I'm doing too. Without the markers, you don't see the changes. In the "holy crap I can walk" phase, there were built in markers. I think that makes a big difference. When you can't pedal all the way around on the bike, you've got a clear marker ;) As I pay more attention to them, it seems to help mentally.

Jim