Saturday, May 31, 2014

What can you do one month out of surgery?

Before surgery I found it very helpful to hear what others were able to do in the weeks post-surgery, rather than always focusing on all that you can't do.  I haven't yet set up my TRX as I had planned but I am still planning on adding that in at some point.

At four weeks, here is my standard workout/PT session:

20 minutes on the arm bike

Bridges

Lateral leg raises

Adductor work (on my back on the floor, knees bent, feet on the floor - gently drop the knee outward to the ground)

Prone leg lifts

Hamstring curls

Mini-squats
One leg balance, eyes open and closed
Calf raises
Hamstring stretch
Hip flexor stretch

That's all my PT work at the moment, then I move on to:

Planks

Modified push ups (I did these and the dips on the stairs when I was not up for going to the gym early on)

Modified dips


And then since I'm not cleared for free weights yet:

Chest press machine
Back row machine
Tricep/bicep machine


5 comments:

  1. Funny, one month post surgery and you do a LOT more strength work than I do! You are such a good patient/athlete. I need to try out those modified push-ups. You think after enough of those I could be better at "real" push ups? Glad you're progressing so well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Yep - my opinion is starting with that modification is the best way to progress to a full push up. This way, you can gradually work on lowering the angle until you are on the floor. The problem with the "knees" modification is that there's no progression - you are either on your knees or in a full push up position and it's too big a jump for most women!

      Delete
    2. EXACTLY and that's why I haven't ever been successful w/ push-ups! My arms are so wear. I will try this!

      Delete
  2. Phew, I could use a protein shake just reading all of that!

    ReplyDelete