Week 9: 100 Pounds

Yesterday I lifted 100 lbs on the leg press... with only one leg (the one with my reconstructed knee). I am very thrilled. This means I am closer to my goal of leg pressing my bodyweight 20 times. This is a PT goal which will mean that I am closer to getting back to racing. At the rate I am going, I should hit that mark within 2 weeks.

I have been lifting for that past month and not seeing a large change in my knee... until this week. The swelling is going down. All that I have left is what is right around and under my kneecap. My muscle tone in my quad is also looking better. The leg is now looking like a slightly smaller version of it's non-injured partner. I also have most of my extension back (thanks to over three weeks of the extension chair of which I have become quite accustomed to).

Just for anyone who is wondering, this is pretty much the schedule I have been following for the past 5 weeks or so. I have a lifting routine that I do 3 days a week and a balance/functional routine that I do two days a week. It varies a bit if I have to miss a day due to school/work/doctor appointment. Weekends, I take it easy and do some light cycling, stretching and starting this weekend... backwards treadmill walking.

I am just listing my Mon/Wed/Fri strength workout this time. It is the more important of the two right now. I'll give out my Tues/Thurs workout at another time. All exercises are done 3 sets of 15 reps unless otherwise stated. Most of this is one workout although often I do the straight leg raises and wall slides at home while I am watching TV.

Warm-up: Nustep or exercise bike 10 min

Calf stretch on incline board 5 x 30 secs
Hamstring stretch (sitting up, leg out in front, sitting tall and lean forward) 5 X 30 secs
Hamstring stretch with strap (laying on your back, lift leg with strap around foot, pull down on strap with one hand and push above knee with other) 5 X 30 secs
Supine wall slide 30 times
Prone quad stretch (lie on stomach, strap around foot, pull foot towards your butt) 5 X 30 secs

Standing knee extenstion (theraband around leg above knee and attached to wall or door, lift heel and then press heel down and contract quad strongly) 3 X 25
Leg press 2 legs
Leg press l leg
Leg press eccentric (2 legs up, 1 leg down)
Heel raises off a step

Squats on a two bosu balls holding a 6 lb medicine ball
slideboard squats (one leg on ground, other on smooth surface, squat on one leg while sliding other leg out)
Hip adduction maching
Hip abduction machine
Hip flexion machine
Shuttle hip extensions (using a shuttle machine but standing and pushing back on it with one leg)

Single leg raises in flexion and abduction
Nustep intervals (switching between moderate and hard levels every 30 secs) 5 minutes
Shuttle endurance (squats on one leg) 5 minutes

Knee extender chair 18-20 minutes (depends on how long I can tolerate that day)
Ice and electric stim. 15-20 minutes

This entire thing can take me up to two hours. However, the last 30-40 is spent sitting. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone but doing this intense of a workout consistently is really starting to pay off. The results haven't come instantly and it has been discouraging going into a weight room to do this day after day and not seeing results. The important thing that I have to continually remind myself is that the healing process does not follow a straight line. It is more like a bumpy road.