I can’t believe its 2020. When I’ve written it out, I have to double check myself. I wish you a Happy New Year if I haven’t already.

I finished Physical Therapy feeling a little beaten up. It was a wonderful experience that taught me a lot and I gained a lot of new strength. I know how to stabilize my shoulder better and will incorporate the exercises I learned into my workouts. However, I also lost a lot of strength in my chest and frontal shoulders. I was supposed to rest those places, so no bench presses, pec flyes, or overhead work. I still haven’t done much of any of that. I’ve done like 20 rep dumbbell bench presses with 20 pounds, which is super light. I’ve don’t light overhead work without going into full extension. And I’ve done more lat pullldowns where I stretch a bit at the top. Actually moving in those range of motions have helped tremendously. At the end of PT, I didn’t feel like I would heal and would end up needing surgery. But now I think I can actually heal.

I did I could with CrossFit during physical therapy, but wasn’t really feeling it. Now, I am totally feeling it. I scale way back on the exercises. The workout "Fran" is 21-15-9 reps alternating between barbell thrusters and pullups. I can’t do either of those exercises right now, so I modify. its been great: (21-15-9)

wall balls + lat pulldowns
plate or dumbbell thruster + ski for calories
goblet squats + ring rows

It is such a good feeling to feel the CrossFit burn without hurting myself. I have also been doing some of the other CrossFit girl wods. Instead of the regular (Rx) prescribed workout, I do (21-15-9):

back hyperextensions + light dumbbell presses
Romanian deadlifts with kettlebell + cable muscle ups (like a pulldown to tricep pressdown)

I also have spent a lot of time with Squats and have recently added more deadlifts. I was worried most about Deadlifts since my injury involves the long head of the biceps tendon connection to my shoulder labrum. But I’ve focused hard on deactivating my bicep when I pull. So heavy deadlifts have been nice. I just can’t bounce off the bottom; that hurts like crazy.

I’ve also set weekly goals. I pulled the entire stack on my close grip row machine. That makes me feel good. I’m also squatting heavier. My goal this week is a 10K row, which is going to hurt a lot. I’m really feeling good about my strength.

I still take it easy. Despite my aversion to cold treatment, I’m embracing the PT reasons for it. And since I can’t take ibuprofen or tylenol right now (another story), the cold numbs any pain so I don’t have to use medication. The other story is I’m flushing out my kidneys to get better numbers on my labs.

My biggest problem right now is Yoga. I teach yoga and its a problem when I have to demonstrate certain poses. I’m getting closer and more open, but my shoulder takes its toll. The rule from PT is don’t do anything that hurts. And some poses still hurt. I’m excited that I think I’ll be back to normal in a few months.