In today’s diatribe I give you Old Man Conjugate: Another Surgery In the Books, and it’s a quick update on you guessed it: my latest surgery. And hopefully my last one too.
How many times have I had surgery?
Not sure.
- 3 Knees
- 1 Gall Bladder
- 1 Total Hip Replacement
- 1 Pec Repair
- And finally Quato repair. (Hernia)
That’s 7. I think it’s all of them.
Anyway.
If you follow my logs, I was doing pretty darned good after the total hip replacement and I was feeling and moving like when I was 35 or younger. Strength was coming back, mobility, agility too. And I’ve been doing GPP/Cardio on the regular.
It’s like I was a new man. With new goals.
And then.
Quato came to live in my belly.
The hernia (Quato) put a damper on my quest to be unkillable, but it didn’t stop it. I did not stop training because a primary rule of Old Man Conjugate is to
find something that you CAN do.
And I did.
I kept up with my
High Kinetic work with my Bandbell bar collection as well as lots of sled drags and Prowler pushes. My training certainly went down quite a few notches in volume and intensity.
But it didn’t stop.
Because, Old Man Conjugate says you cannot quit.
Ever.
So, I booked the surgery and consulted with the Doc. I’ve spoken to a lot of Doctors in my day and I’ve never had one tell me what this one did. Doctors typically downplay the issue and say things like:
“Well, it won’t be painful, but you will be uncomfortable.”
Or
“You’ll feel some discomfort in the recovery process.”
Not my guy.
He said as best as I can remember, “It’s going to hurt like a mofo.” (I am paraphrasing.)
He really did go on about how painful and how it would be after surgery and that the recovery would take 6 months. It was odd having a doctor say the recovery would be long and painful. Really painful.
I’ll tell you, it hurt pretty bad the day of the surgery (Wednesday). Day 2 (Thursday) the pain was about 50% less. Day 3 (Friday) I had mild discomfort. I’d describe it as having done a hard 1980’s style ab workout level of soreness. By Day 4 (Saturday) I can say that I had no pain at all. Zero. Sneezing, or coughing was only mildly uncomfortable.
As of today, I am 8 days out from Another Surgery In the Books and I feel like I could get right back into full idiot mode in the gym. I will not though. I did start training on Monday (Day 6) and will keep my usual schedule, just modified training.
The doc says I cannot lift more than 20 pounds for 3 weeks.
That seems like an arbitrary number doesn’t it?
So, I paid attention to the instructions and did the following on Monday:
- 10 minutes treadmill
- 10 minutes step mill
- 10 minutes elliptical
Then I took a pair of 7.5 pound dumbells and did:
100 reps on:
- Incline Press
- Tate Press
- Flys
- DB Curls
Followed by:
- Standing Leg Curls (empty machine-no weight) x 50 reps
- 4” Step Downs x 50 reps
And then on Wednesday (Day 7)
30 minutes Treadmill
3 MPH/High Incline
+
- Leg Press (empty machine only): 200 reps using various foot positions
- Standing Leg Curls (empty machine-no weight) x 50 reps
- Bench Press (empty bar): 10 sets x 10 reps nonstop with 10 different grip positions from close to all the way to the collars
And then:
Circuit of 25 reps each using 40 pounds on the cable stack using my
Spud Inc Long Ab Strap
- Overhead Extensions
- Face Pulls
- Low Pulley Curls
- Pullthrough
For a total of 150 reps of each
Let me tell you, I’m sore! Good sore like a bodybuilder. No ill effects, no pain.
And I took the dog for 1 mile walk to boot.
I don’t know where the 20 pound limit came from but I don’t think I can stick to that for three weeks.
What’s the point of my Old Man Conjugate: Another Surgery In the Books update?
Simple.
- Never quit.
- Never give up.
-
Find something that you can do to stay fit and healthy. - And the big one, take your recovery slow.
You’ve got the rest of your life to train, if you mess up what the doctor repaired in surgery, it’s gonna take a lot longer to recover.
Hopefully he lifts the 20 pound limit when I see him next week.
What’ll I rip open or off next time? Hopefully this is the end and I don’t tear anything else! Fingers crossed.
Did you miss last week’s log?
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
January 11, 2024
