MY JOURNEY BACK TO THE PLATFORM
1 Year Post Shoulder Surgery
How is it I keep defying the odds? I keep getting knocked down but still manage to get back up with both feet kicking. I am RELENTLESS that’s why. I refuse to give up, I refuse to crawl into a hole and accept that I will never be as good as new, or as strong as I was before injury. I refuse to feel sorry for myself and definitely REFUSE to stop training.
I am not going into all my injuries in this blog; this is about my recovery after shoulder surgery, one short year ago. What I will say is that I have had several Doctors tell me “You should NEVER squat again”, you will NEVER be able to lift heavy again”, “and you WON ‘T be the same again”.
And yet here I am, back on the platform for the second time post shoulder surgery. What does this even mean, you won’t be the same again? What is the same?? As strong, pain free, resilient as before surgery/injury? I can never figure out why Doctors are not more Pro-Active. Here, take a pill for this, a pill for that. Don’t overdo it, stop doing this, stop doing that. How about get strong, stay strong so when Injuries do occur, and yes they will occur then you will be able to bounce back quickly. Recovery is not only a state of mind but it’s what kind of shape were you in prior to injury.
I’m going to tell you right now all my surgeries have been a success with a happy ending because I was strong and in good physical condition at the time of injury. This is what drives me to become as strong as I can, while I can. You never know when injury will hit you, you can’t prepare for a certain injury but you can make your body as bullet proof or as resilient as possible so when it does hit you, you have the ammunition to fight back hard.
Let’s go back a little bit so you get the whole picture. June, 2015 my best lifts were 355 lb squat, 200 lb bench and a 440 lb deadlift, a 995 lb total at the age of 53 years old. I was only 5 stinking pounds off my 1,000 lb total goal.
I had been battling for months what I thought was a bicep injury. I fought through it and had two Doctors misdiagnose this injury. I kept pushing on through training, if it hurt I avoided it such as dumbbell presses. Silly, I could press a kettlebell but not a dumbbell, go figure.
Aug 15, 2015
I was attempting a bench press P.R. of 205 lbs during a training session at EliteFTS and at the bottom of my press I felt a pop, pop tear. I knew it was serious, I tore my rotator cuff, shit shit shit. This was the week I was supposed to register for the WPC World’s in Portugal. Well that didn’t happen, instead the week of the World’s I underwent shoulder surgery on November 6, 2015.
205 LB BENCH PRESS FAIL & INJURY
Now, where was I, oh yes, how did I stay so strong while injured. Well I have to tell you the rule I live by is “Just because one ride is broken, the whole park does not have to shut down”
So many people I know STOP training all together because something hurts, or they have a sore toe, or they have a cold or they whatever whatever whatever, excuse after excuse. Chances are if you are one of those people then you and I don’t have much in common. I don’t use excuses, the word “I Can’t” does not enter my gym or my vocabulary and if my clients use it I quickly put them in the right frame of mind.
Sure I could have felt sorry for myself but I chose to use this as a gift, an opportunity to rebuild my body. Make it a fine tuned machine and so far I have done just that.
So what did I do with only one arm. Well, I still did Kettlebells and lots of them. I did everything possible using one arm in fact I even entered a kettlebell competition and did the entire 10 min set using only one arm. Let’s see that was a 5 min 75 rep P.R. Mind over matter is what it came down to on game day.
OUR HOME GYM
So what’s a powerlifter going to do when she can’t squat, deadlift or bench press. Hmmmmm
I was so fortunate to have the proper tools to train with. Having a husband who builds equipment and likes nothing but the best equipment in our gym I was equipped with enough tools to keep my body strong using the body parts I could.
* I used our GHR, I did GHR’s. ladders, banded GHR’s, Back extentions on the GHR with one arm Kettlebells
* I did sit ups on the GHR, Banded Sit ups, I superset my GHR’s with situps. I did banded ab pull downs.
* I did Leg Raises on our Reverse Hyper
* I did a shit ton of kettlebell work
* I was able to use the safety squat bar and the rackable cambered squat bar just to get used to having some weight on my back still.
POST SURGERY
Now this was the tricky part, pay close attention now. I did my rehabilitation according to the Doctor’s instruction and the physiotherapist. I trained smart, I rehabbed smart and it wasn’t long and well before my time was up the physiotherapist kicked me out and said, “you obviously know what you are doing” keep on doing it.
Pain is a trigger, if something hurts that usually means something is going on. When I became “Pain Free” I was so happy. The first time I attempted bench press post shoulder surgery I was so nervous I almost got sick to my stomach. Wow this surgery really worked, again, I defied the odds and got back under the bars.
I had different stages of rehab, and when I heard the news from my Doctor that I could lift up to half of the weight I was used to I got really excited to train again. Hell, who gets excited to bench press 100 lbs, I did ! It was a really strange feeling I’m not going to lie. I broke down my bench press and started from scratch. I learned how to stay tight, how it should actually feel so I used this set back as a gift.
My deadlifts came back strong and easy. I didn’t want to overdo it, which I easily could have done as they felt too easy. Why? Because I kept a strong back, strong core and strong legs throughout. I also kept a strong grip still using my kettlebells plus I used the gripper on my surgery arm so that hand wasn’t weak and too far behind.
Squat were the hardest, to get my ROM with my shoulders under the bar was difficult. I had to make several trips to Mississauga to see Dr. Ken Kinakin for some treatments before I was comfortably able to get under a straight squat bar again.
So now what? I’m training, I’m re-learning the big three again but I need a goal. I personally need something to train towards. I had been working hard to get back under the bars so that goal was accomplished but I needed more. I signed up for my 1st Powerlifting meet and it would be 7 months post shoulder surgery. I did not have big expectations as I still had not been given the green light to go balls out in my training. Ken wasn’t too happy about this, he didn’t think I was going to be ready but I needed something to work for. I knew it wouldn’t be a stellar meet but wanted to do the best I could do. I would not have had the opportunity to run a proper training cycle for this meet but I set some goals and WOW did I surprise everyone, including myself. I surpassed my goals and left some on the platform.
I had an amazing meet and could not have been happier.
WORLD’S HERE I COME!
Ok, so I have confidence in my corner, coming off a great come back meet, I’m ready to face the world full blast and run a nice smooth 12 week training cycle for World’s. I wish it was just that easy. I had a few distractions this round. On top of working full time, teaching Kettlebell classes, Teaching Kettlebell Workshops, Coaching powerlifting clients and keeping on top of my Elitefts sponsorship of blogging 16 times a month I had some personal stuff take up alot of my training time which I would not trade for the World.
In Aug my beautiful Daughter got married and I was not only the Mother of the Bride but also the Matron of Honour. I will cherish this day and journey forever.
My beautiful Granddaughter turned one in September, a big party was had, she is my precious girl.
In Aug as well my Sister took seriously ill and eventually on October 4th she lost her fight. Surrounded by her family to the end, the pain and suffering was gone, may she Rest In Peace.
On Sept 19th I started a new career as a Legal Secretary with the Minstry of Finance Legal Services Branch. A new routine a new learning curve, new challenges and fresh start. All good things of course but a change in my daily routine with different working hours has been an adjustment.
Nov 2, 2016 another Grandbaby is born, she makes #3 for us and we could not be happier. We will strive to be the strongest grandparents on the planet.
Next hurdle was my flight to Baton Rouge. We had originally thought I lifted on Tuesday so we booked a flight from Sunday to Sunday. When the Roster came out last Friday I discovered I lifted on Monday. What did this mean? Well, I panicked of course as our flight was not arriving until Sunday night at 11:30 p.m. and I had to weigh in on Sunday by 6 p.m. This would not do, so three hours on the phone with the airline and I ended up purchasing a one way ticket by myself to arrive at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. This means I am travelling alone and Ken will have to follow later on in the day. Now I’m nervous, I have never travelled alone like this. I pray everything is on time, I don’t get lost and I am within my weight as I will have no time for errors.
At least I decided not to cut weight at this meet. I am going in hard, heavy and strong!
Stay tuned, my World’s update will come next week, so far I have set my openers pretty big. If I feel ok on Sunday my openers will be a 340 Lb Squat, 175 Lb Bench and a 400 Lb deadlift.
#livelearnpasson #driven #wpcworlds #teamelitefts #teamoutlaws
Thank you for all your efforts that you put into it.
Stay strong