Recovery, Strength, and thatgoodfeel

[S1D3SW1P3]

Figured I'd start a journal to keep myself and others motivated and to better track my progress. A little background:
As a kid, I was always overweight. Until I discovered wrestling, which I did my junior and senior years. I went from 200lbs my first season to 150lbs, wrestled the 160 weight class as 'the little guy' in the class and did well. I joined the Army National Guard after High School, did very well there, was maxing out my PT test. Fast forward a few years of heavy smoking and drinking and an oncoming deployment. I was out of shape, 240lbs round to be exact. I went to Iraq with back problems from my weight and decided to do something about it. I found lifting there, and dropped 50 lbs and gained a ton of strength. I came back home, slacked for a while, drank a lot, and put on about 25 lbs. I began to do cardio primarily again and went down to 200 lbs, felt alright, but I didn't like how I looked. I got back into lifting about 2 months ago, and all was well until 2 weeks ago. I was snowboarding in Wolf Creek and took a BAD fall, separating my shoulder pretty badly. Doctor said I won't need surgery but it will be a while before I can lift again. So that's where I'm at now.

RECOVERY:
2 weeks into my injury (Grade III AC Separation) and I have my FULL ROM back with minimal pain. Apparently this is excellent recovery time.
I've been primarily doing cardio, at first I could only ride the bike and do the stairmaster (both of which I HATE). Yesterday, I was finally able to run on the treadmill pain free, running at a decent pace (7:45min miles). I still don't trust my shoulder to handle the strain of doing HIIT (which I love, sadly) but it feels good to do something more intense than a bike. I've also been doing strengthening exercises with my shoulders, working my ROM, doing EXTREMELY light weight front shoulder raises, side raises, and military press, as well as push ups from the knees.

STATS BEFORE INJURY:
I was pretty happy about my 2 month gains. I have been on a deficit (1800cal/day) and strength has been going up steadily and I've dropped weight. I started at 205 and my last weigh in (last week) was 194 lbs. I don't have a goal weight in mind because I'd rather look in the mirror and see the difference rather than bounce around on the scale every day. But my lifts were as follows:
BB Bench:
200x10
DB Military Press:
60x10
Squat:
225x8
DL:
255x4

In 2 weeks, if the Dr. clears me, I'll start lifting LIGHT again and see how it feels. This is one of those injuries that is going to hurt me for a while I think. I will update this log when I can, tomorrow and Tuesday I work 14 and 15 hour shifts so no gym time for me those days.

[S1D3SW1P3]

2/1/2012-
Had a short day at work that turned into an hour and a half extra but it was overtime so whatever.
Shoulder is feeling pretty good, starting to be able to do pushups and put weight on it without pain. Some discomfort, but I wouldn't call it pain.
Went to the gym around 430 PM, it was starting to get busy.

CARDIO:
20 min running 7.5mph
20 min HIIT

SHOULDER REHAB:
Shoulder rotations, front and back, small circles to full ROM
Military press 10lb db (feelshorribleman) 3x10 felt pretty good, I just feel like a b*tch.
Front shoulder raises 5lb db 3x10
Side shoulder raises 5lb db 3x10

2/2/2012
Today, haven't been to the gym yet. Waiting on my cousin to come with me, he's been a good gym partner the past 6 weeks. I did decide to get my diet back in check today, as it's been a little out of whack for the last week or so.

Will update later.

[Coleman69]

2/1/2012-
Had a short day at work that turned into an hour and a half extra but it was overtime so whatever.
Shoulder is feeling pretty good, starting to be able to do pushups and put weight on it without pain. Some discomfort, but I wouldn't call it pain.
Went to the gym around 430 PM, it was starting to get busy.

CARDIO:
20 min running 7.5mph
20 min HIIT

SHOULDER REHAB:
Shoulder rotations, front and back, small circles to full ROM
Military press 10lb db (feelshorribleman) 3x10 felt pretty good, I just feel like a b*tch.
Front shoulder raises 5lb db 3x10
Side shoulder raises 5lb db 3x10

2/2/2012
Today, haven't been to the gym yet. Waiting on my cousin to come with me, he's been a good gym partner the past 6 weeks. I did decide to get my diet back in check today, as it's been a little out of whack for the last week or so.

Will update later.

Hello my friend,

First of all sorry for my bad english. I am writing because I am quite desperated. 2 weeks ago I dislocated my AC with grade 3. Some doctors tell me that surgery is not neccessary and that I will be able to lift as I was used to. Some other doctors say that I need a surgery and that I wont be able to lift as I did before.
I found your post and see you are progressing quite well. Almost 1 year after your injury, how are you feeling now? Are you lifting with the same weights as before the injury? Did you tear all your ligaments? How long did it take you to fully recover? Many people report that they couldnt lift as before in bech and shoulder press i.e.
I am very frightened because this injury can kill my dream of performing a bodybuilding contest one day.
Thank you in advance

Thank you in advance