The PT Extravaganza Gets Serious

It's been a little over three weeks since I started PT and began addressing my dumb butt situation and the rebuilding of the strength in my lower legs. I've been making steady progress and last week I was graduated to more reps, new moves, and given weights. In short, I reached a whole new level of torture! (And they're still doing the Graston/Butter-Knifing each visit!)

First up he added free weights to my theraball partial squats. Nothing too crazy there and honestly, I don't really notice too much of a difference to the moves. Then he had me up my reps of everything. Some only up to 3x but others, like all my various different squat moves, he upped to 6x. My butt never hurt so bad come Saturday!

Some of the new moves he's added include:

Bosu Squats w/ Medicine Ball; After I find my balance on the bosu ball I do a regular squat while raising the medicine ball above my head. This started off only two sets but he upped it to six on Friday and combined with all the other stuff he upped I was dying!

20 x 2 (or 6 depending on how evil he's feeling)

Next up are stool scoots. It's literally exactly what you're picturing in your head, I scoot on a stool across the room. Kinda like this, only on a stool:

2 (or 6) lengths of the room

Hamstring Curls; Pretty straight forward but man do my hammies crap out fast.

12 x 2 @ 30 lbs

I'm of the "play it safe" camp these days and didn't want to push it this weekend when I was still feeling the affects of Friday's butt kicking on Sunday so I skipped my long ride. When I arrived to my Monday session yesterday, I made sure to let him know and he responded with "Does this mean you don't want to start on plyometrics today?"

When you graduate to plyometrics that means running will soon follow and I wish I could accurately describe how my heart fluttered upon hearing those words. Of course I assured him I was ready to take on the challenge and he warned me that we were starting out on the lighter end of the spectrum. He wasn't kidding, because my plyometrics consisted of standing on a trampoline and doing bouncing squats without my feet leaving the trampoline and then simple hopping.

Exciting huh?

And yet, I was nervous standing there on the trampoline. I haven't hopped, skipped, or jumped in over four months! I made him show me what to do at least 3x before I was able to talk myself into doing it. I ended up doing about 20 x 2 of each and I have never been more aware of all the muscles in my lower legs than I was while hopping. I spent the entire time just mentally assessing how it felt doing them and if my fracture site was ok. This exercise made me realize that when I am finally cleared to run it's going to take some serious reassuring by my docs to get me going and not let me psych myself out.

Or maybe it won't be that way at all as I continue to progress and feel more comfortable doing them... Time will tell but I'm happy to report I'm one step closer to running again!

T-minus one week til the next (and hopefully last) sports doc appointment.