Knee Surgery Recovery (and beyond)

[anonymous]

On Tuesday I'm getting a bone spur cut out of my knee which will hopefully help with the nagging knee pain I've been having for years and the really bad PTF I've had manifest in the last couple of months.

I'll post what I can do as a way of trying to stay motivated during yet another recovery from surgery, lol.


Yesterday

Back

Hammer iso row, parallel grip with no straps

4 plates a side + a 25 for 22 reps each arm. The last few reps were a little more jerky than the first.

3 plates a side 3 setx of 8 slow and squeezed


Rack RDL, slow negatives to mid-shin, deloading on the rack pins. I put 2 pussypads on the rack pins to make sure the bar slowly sinks into it and doesn't move


365 x 15

High rep hammer pulldown with freemotion handles looped on the handles

Shrug bar shrugs high rep low weight

Preacher curl machine, hammer curl grip, very light weight, not the last 10 degrees of ROM to keep the bicep safe

Cable curls


That is all.

Monday will be my last pre surgery workout, thinking I might try benching to see how terrible my bench currently is even when fresh

[anonymous]

Bench was as hilarious as expected

225 x 3 sets of 7 reps, close grip, slow reps, paused.

I've had horrible impingement in the front of my repaired left shoulder for months so haven't been able to DB press, but was up to 100 x 20 paused, so the bb bench is really, surprisingly bad. At least it doesnt trigger the impingement pain.

Hammer incline high rep one arm x 5 sets
Cable presses multiple angles, one arm

Push downs 5 sets

Home to cry

Surgery is tomorrow at 830 so I doubt I'll be benching again for a while

[Fang2]

Glad you're doing well.

[anonymous]

Spur came out this morning, the ortho said it was the biggest he's ever seen and had no idea how I was able to squat with it cutting into my leg. He estimated it at about an inch and a half long, and nearly an inch wide but it was fractured and broken in multiple places.

No anchors were needed and amazingly it didnt seem to have badly damaged the tendon it was cutting into.

He's going to send me pictures lol

Pains not terribly bad but having to wear a locked knee brace for 2 weeks is going to suck

[anonymous]

3 days post op and it hurts way worse than any other surgery I've had done, that I can remember at least

Brace is off, trying to get passive ROM back and my leg looks like it lost 3 inches already, absolutely crazy! Im cleared to weight bear just not with flexion, hence the brace when I'm moving around.

Hopefully I'll be back to walking in a week or so!

[BigFattyDaddy2]

Brace is off, trying to get passive ROM back and my leg looks like it lost 3 inches already, absolutely crazy! Im cleared to weight bear just not with flexion, hence the brace when I'm moving around.

Hopefully I'll be back to walking in a week or so!

Good luck man, hoping for a quick recovery.

I ruptured my Achilles tendon recently and it’s nuts how fast you lose muscle. I’m a noob, but a year’s worth of progress is gone in a matter of weeks.

Hopefully the gainz come back strong for you!

[anonymous]

Good luck man, hoping for a quick recovery.

I ruptured my Achilles tendon recently and it’s nuts how fast you lose muscle. I’m a noob, but a year’s worth of progress is gone in a matter of weeks.

Hopefully the gainz come back strong for you!

Hope you're back to 100% soon, being out the gym for any length of time is terrible.

Finally got back to the gym yesterday after a week, strength was way down as expected

Hammer iso row 2 plates and a 25 a side

20,20, 5x8 for volume, slow squeeze reps (did 4.5 plates x 22 reps last time for comparison)

Some other high rep stuff

Hopefully I can do some kind of chest workout tomorrow.

Merry xmas all!

[anonymous]

First chest workout since the surgery and strength was still down quite a lot. I'm now able to hobble around without crutches but had to be very careful not to put any pressure on my knee while pressing


Hammer strength decline, one arm a time

3 plates a side x 20
3.5 plates x 20 (super hard)
3 plates x 15 (massively fatigued at this point)

Hammer incline - hurt my left shoulder so I just did one set. My left side is still significantly smaller and weaker than my right, which may have contributed to the impingement in the shoulder. At this point I'm worried it might never catch up.

Cable presses and pushdowns

[Mark1T]

Way to stay at it, Half. No matter what, you work around it. I have been there. Not to the extent of your injuries, but the day after crashing my shoulder to almost surgery, kidney stone, family death, snow and ice. I have always sped up healing by moving around and getting the blood moving rather than being a potato.

All the best on your recovery.

[anonymous]

thanks Mark, it sounds like you had it rough too along the way!

Finally walking again, albeit not with a completely normal gait. There's no way I could climb stairs but it's a start. I'll try taking my dogs out tomorrow and see how that goes, my wife will appreciate the break from dogwalker duties as it's 32 in the AM here now.

Last night - Back

Hammer High row, dropped my reps down to 10's from the usual higher ones.

1/2/3/4 plates a side for 10 reps each

3 x backdown higher rep sets with 2 plates/side

Hammer iso row with freemotion handles for 8x8 with joke weight

Cable pulldowns at various angles

Hammer strength preacher curls and kettlebell hammer/reverse curls

I've noticed that since going 'virtually natural' I no longer get any kind of pump in my biceps when training them

[anonymous]

That's the spur that was growing off the top of my kneecap, no wonder my knee hurt.

Tonight, chest

Hammer decline 4 plates and a 25 x 12
3 plates x 30 (pause for 3 breaths at 25 and 28 reps)
2 plates x 43 (pause at 30 and 37 reps)

Hammer flat hurt my impinged/RC irritated left shoulder

Pushdowns 5 sets x 20
One arm dip machine dips, 5 x 20 last set rest paused

[anonymous]

I had picked up MRSA in the hospital, which got pretty bad last week until the antibiotics finally started working

Been feeling tired and achy as a result so my last night workout was quite chit

Hammer strength wide, one arm

5 plates / side for 2 sets of 8 reps

Drop to 30 reps (rest pause) with 3 plates

Machine dips (one arm for shoulder health) for 10 x 10 then pushdowns and rear laterals

[Mark1T]

Way to keep going, Half. That spur is no joke. Wow. Not sure if you already answered this, but how did that spur develop in the first place? And, could it develop again? Very strange. Is it calcium or some other mineral build-up?

You'll be brand new soon

[anonymous]

I hope so Mark, this has been a depressing period with the knee pain.

My gait is still all messed up and my right leg now looks like a stick

Last night, hammer iso row, one arm, no straps

5 plates side x 10 reps

3 plates side 8x8

Light vertical pulls
Super light seated shrugs on hammer shrug

No biceps, too tired

[anonymous]

Hammer wide chest, one arm at a time

4 plates a side x 20 reps

then AMRAP during a 5:30 song, each rep has to be perfect, no cheating or loose form

100 for the right, 99 for the left

Pushdowns

walking one arm laterals

tried the landmine press with a super light weight, not bad

[anonymous]

Tried benching again, without leg tension

225 x 7,6. close grip, paused, slow negatives

Then tried light dumbbells which immediately flared up my impingement in the left shoulder. I think I may have to have the bone spur in there ground down too as its really annoying now


Machine stuff for volume with moderate reps (15 reps average per set)

I really want to get back to 225 x 10 paused asap

[BigFattyDaddy2]

Tried benching again, without leg tension

225 x 7,6. close grip, paused, slow negatives

Then tried light dumbbells which immediately flared up my impingement in the left shoulder. I think I may have to have the bone spur in there ground down too as its really annoying now


Machine stuff for volume with moderate reps (15 reps average per set)

I really want to get back to 225 x 10 paused asap

GJDM! Slowly but surely.

I got in my first deadlift session since my Achilles rupture. Feels good man.

We’re all gonna make it!

[anonymous]

GJDM! Slowly but surely.

I got in my first deadlift session since my Achilles rupture. Feels good man.

We’re all gonna make it!

Nice, hope its holding up ok!

Im now about 8 weeks post op, so did a light leg workout myself

RDL in a rack (few inches below knee) 315 x 15 slow reps

Felt ok

Leg press one plate for 3 super high rep sets

I pulled up my pant leg and my atrophied right quad muscles were twitching and spasming lile crazy

Leg curls super light

Leg extensions, first time in years these didnt aggravate the quad tendon, for obvious reasons, super slow barely any weight

No calfs

[anonymous]

3 months since the surgery and I'm finally cleared to work quads

I have full ROM and flexibility back as I worked on that daily,but this is the first actual workout since the OP

RDL off 4" block, reset on each rep,slow reps

365 x 9 - wanted 10 but my back wobbled on 9 so I didn't push it.

Hammer 45 degree leg press

2 plates a side 3 sets of 8 very slow

Unfortunately my knee hurts a little bit now, hopefully it passes

The surgeon told me at this mornings final follow up that he dug out multiple spurs and jagged chunks, it wasnt simply one big spur it was the whole edge under the tendon that looked like a broken bone it was so rough and jagged. Hopefully the pain passes soon

[anonymous]

now my left hip is messed up again. Getting old is fun isn't it?

After a month of slowly building up, finally did a 'heavy' workout for legs last night working up to a mighty 5 plates a side on the leg press for 10 slow, slow reps

doesnt really hurt which is nice. I can also still do leg extensions pain free which is surreal after a decade of not being able to do them even with 30lbs

[anonymous]

Leg pressed a 2nd time, on a much harder icarian leg press

5 plates x 12 slow reps


Then 4 x 17

Looking at working up to 5 x 20 on this peice as a alternative to hammer leg press

I tried squatting and even 135 hurt my knee

I have a feeling I wont be doing any kind of squatting for long time to come, but if I can leg press then I'm ok with that. My legs were 29" last time I did only leg presses and RDL as my leg mains

[Athena]

That's the spur that was growing off the top of my kneecap, no wonder my knee hurt.

Holee sheet. I need to go back and start from the start here. You're dealing with a whole mess of stuff. I'm an orthopedic exercise specialist (well, i'm letting my cert lapse this year...but...), so I can appreciate everything you're going through.

It's hard to take it slowly, I know. But the MRSA is some serious stuff...it can mess you up for a long time even after you think you're feeling better. Take it easy on yourself, both physically and mentally.

Cheers,
Athi

[anonymous]

5 x 20 on the icarian legpress came last night, so I guess the next target is 6 plates x 20. Thankfully muscle memory seems to be a thing

Knee is ok, a bit twingy but otherwise seems good