My return from two ACL surgeries in the same year

[Yes-Xplode]

Hello all,

I've been thinking of logging this for a while now, and probably should have started earlier, but better late then never. So to make a make a long story short, apparently I tore/partially torn both my ACLs and torn both my meniscus my Sophomore year of high school, one was getting ready for basketball season, and the other is when I tried to come back to practice too early and favored the other leg greatly. I had no clue what the symptoms for tears would be, and my backcountry "sports doctor" was convinced that I had a sprain and only a meniscus tear, even after an MRI, and never pursued scoping it. So as you can imagine, with two very unstable knees, I was unable to continue basketball or any other sport in high school, since my knees would often "dislocate" when running full speed or jumping.

Fast forward to college, I begin to become pretty competitive in intramurals and recreational sports, as my knee symtoms seemed to decrease as the years went by. I finally was able to maintain enough speed and ability to get by well enough, but even though my leg strength was through the roof compared to pre injury, I was only jumping the same height or less (rim on basketball goal). About once a year my knee would "slip" and swell up for 3-4 weeks, and then be relatively good to go after that. This past year after crashing down after a volleyball spike and having my knee give way, it didn't recover after 3-4 weeks. I was getting the continuous dislocations at random times, like walking down the stairs, even though I was able to carefully play rec flag football and continue volleyball carefully.

I finally decided enough was enough and visited one of the best orthopedic clinics in the area, who takes care of our local NFL team. After cranking my left knee around, he asked to see my right. He informed me that he didn't think I had either ACL. Of course I was shocked, I could believe the one tear, but not two. But being active and continuing to play sports is one of the most important things to me, so off to surgery I went. My right ACL was repaired with a hamstring graft in mid February and my left ACL was repaired with hamstring as well in Mid-May. I'm currently a few days shy of 24 weeks and returning to cutting etc. I will update this log weekly so I can track my continued progress as I try to see what my potential really is. If you have an upcoming surgery, feel free to ask questions, I've been through it all this past 9 months.

[Yes-Xplode]

I'm currently combining Defranco's WSBIII with the Vertical Jump Bible.

Current Progress: Box Squats are at 260 lbs x 3
Deadlifts are at 175x10 (still staying high rep since both my hamstrings were used for grafts, and taking it very slow with them)
Box jumps onto 24 inch box 3 sets of 5(easy, need to find a higher box at my gym)

Bench: 300x3
Incline: 255x3

This weeks leg workout:
Tuesday:
Biking 5 minutes
Agility Ladder Warm up
Defranco's Agile 8 for hip mobility and additional Warm up
Jump Squats 3x15
Ankle Hops 3x50
Lunge Jumps 2x10(per leg)
Box Jumps 3x5 on a 24 inch box (with emphasis on landing "quietly" and controlled since I could use a higher box)
Step ups onto bench with 25 lbs dumbells 3x8
SLDL with 20 lb DB 3x10 per leg
Glute Bridges 3x12
Ground Based Abdominal Circuit

[Yes-Xplode]

So I've unluckily developed bicep tendonitis, so taking 2 weeks off upper body workouts(already took 1 week off), split will now be:

Sunday : Sprint/Change of direction/Conditioning(Not all the same day, rotate by week)

Tuesday : Plyometrics and some rehab work (balance/step ups/calf raises etc)

Friday: High Weight Lifts


This past Friday, I managed to get 270 lbs x 3 on a parallel box, I"m proud of how the strength is returning but worried about pushing my knees too far at the same time. I'm over the 6 month hump by a week now, and it seems to be going well.

Worked on changed of direction and explosiveness today out on the field:

Jogging warm up
Agility Ladder work
Defranco's Agile 8 Warm up
2 sets of 20 seconds on Linebacker V Drill
2 sets of 20 seconds on Linebacker T Drill
8 5-10-5 shuttle runs
8 10 yard Hill Sprints
Stretched and foam rolled, now icing


Knee became a little sore on the shuttle cuts, although I was not doing hard cuts, and I continue to get some soreness around the area where my right meniscus was repaired, so hoping that's holding together okay and is more of a scar tissue issue in that area.


I continue to feel better then I have in years however, and I still have 2 months to prepare before playing again, definitely excited.

[Yes-Xplode]

Did heavy weight lower body today:

Ramped up and got
285x3 on a Parallel Box Squats
35x3x8 for step ups
150x10x3 on Straight Leg Deadlifts

Many exercises for hips with ankle bands attached.

Ground based ab circuit