by now i have had all three orthovisc shots, the last one geing january 27th. so i am a few weeks post treatment and i am cautiously getting back into direct quad training. i have returned to my previous split of 3 training days on, one day off. although i have switched the order around a hair.
prior to the shots my quad training day was fairly limited. the only exercise i was capable of performing was a quarter squat, but i had to keep my ROM limited to 40 degrees. i would do somewhere in the neighbourhood of ten sets of partial squats and that would really be all that i could do.
post treatment the world has opened up a bit. i am still squatting high, as we call it, well above the 'hole'. i am also squatting ridiculously light for me i can handle a plate aside for 5 reps. this is a far cry from the 3 plates+ that i was doing before it all went to hell. but i have to continue to remind myself that i am still rehabbing and that rome was not built in a day. i am not limited by the weight of the bar, but rather my pain tolerance. anything more than 5 reps seems to really aggravate the knee and doing that intentionally just doesn't seem smart.
along with the high squats, i can use the hack squat machine and the horizontal sled press without pain. so far i am going the heaviest on the sled press. i suspect that i can use the leg press as well, but that was the first machine that i had difficulty using after my 'injury', so i have sort of been holding off on getting back to it.
which brings us to the next subject, my work situation. well i did have more than a handful of days on a freelance assignment with one of the most disorganized studio's that i have ever been in. as a contract artist it is not uncommon to spend much of your first day waiting, waiting for access to the equipment, waiting for your assignment, waiting for the assets for your assignment... but really this place... wow i have no words. they would book me for four concurrent days but then actually have me work every other day. they would give me a start time and then leave me idle for several hours, then next thing i know it is crunch time and i'm there till after 6 pm. anyway it was good to be working again, but my time there is done and i am continuing my search for regular, full-time employ. cross your fingers.
all in all my mood has still remained quite positive. sure i am battling a strange bug right now but other than that all is well with my world. i have friends with real problems and listening to what they are going through has helped me realize that as bad as it sometimes feels like it gets, it really could be a lot worse.
lets finish with good news. i already have my first 'client' for the 2010 bodybuilding season. the same guy who's routine i choreographed last year, he is the first one doing a show this coming year and has already confirmed that he will be doing a routine of my design. there are two more people at my gym potentially doing bodybuilding shows this season, so there could be another routine or two to do. again keep those digits crossed.
i am still trying to definitively see changes in my delts. i took another post shoulder workout shot on my cell phone and am trying to compare it with the post workout shot taken a month previous. it is really, really hard to shoot yourself post workout and it is even harder to shoot yourself exactly like you did the time before. so it is hard to see for sure if i am improving. when i look at myself in the mirror, in that narcissistic way that bodybuilders are reputed to have, i am confident that i am on the right track. yet when i compare the photos i am less sure. you be the judge. note: the january image is the one on the left.
