I'm born all over.

Monday I attended a beginner's class to 'wade in the water' a bit. Plenty of slow kick work and fundamentals.

That sucked!

Then I recovered and re-hydrated while watching sparring with a Cheshire Cat smile on my face, basking in the afterglow. It was tag-team drills, and an absolute riot to watch.

Tuesday was the intermediate belt core class.

The first half was open-hand form work, which came back to me quite well. However, while it looked good when I faced the mirror, somehow working form away from the mirror left me feeling unplugged, suddenly unsure of my moves. Strange.

The second half was spent working our Bo (staff) form. I had just begun this form when I was injured, but I still had fundamentals in place for holding the Bo, and remembering what each move was when it was called out by the instructor. By the end of class I could barely hold my Bo, and my shoulders were killing me.

That sucked--HARD!!!

But I got over that too and realized just how much I missed Karate.

How fun it is to push yourself, even with restrictions in place.

How nice my fundamentals still look.

How intensely focused I get while sensing all the feedback my body is giving me.

How priceless it is to come home dead tired and fall asleep with a grin so wide my cheeks hurt.



I.

Am.

Back.

Going Home...Again...and Lemonade

For the regular reader of this irregular poster, you'll notice the updated countdown clock.

After passing the mid-point of my 24 week rehab period, I made the decision to update the clock to reflect my return to Karate on Monday.

Am I crazy? No.
Just feeling fat, uninspired, and bored to tears.

The PT I currently do at home in many ways is more aggressive on my knee than perhaps 80% of my Karate activity. I may as well work out in the company of friends rather than in isolation!

Therefore I've decided to return--with certain restrictions until June 1st, the end of my 24-week "restricted" period.

Forms / Kata shouldn't be an issue, since they don't involve jumping or spinning kicks, and the few kicks that are present are with my non-operative leg.

I will make appropriate substitutions for the next 10 weeks:

- Instead of kicks with hard snaps, I do slow-count kicks, substituting a strength exercise for a power drill
- Kicks with my non-operative leg will be performed with the chamber action slowed down (which usually involves some degree of pivoting on the supporting leg)
- Spinning kicks? More slow-count kicks.
- Jumping kicks? More slow-count kicks.

So basically between now and June, I'll be doing a ton of strength work, deep stances, careful pivots, and drill on learning my new weapon form with the bo staff.

Come June 1st, I'll be more than ready to get back to sparring!

I want to thank Black Belt Mama for the "When Life Hands You Lemons" award:


Like any good blog award, there are some rules:

• Post the logo on your blog.
• Nominate blogs that show great attitude or gratitude
• Link to the nominees within your blog post.
• Notify the recipients of the award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link back to the person from whom you received your award.

Paying it forward, my nominee is a fellow Martial Artist, Bobspar.

Bob is a self-declared Middle-Aged Martial Artist, and the first blog I came across when seeking other Martial Artists with ACL tear stories. My own blog title is inspired from his attitude of not only embracing where he is in life, but also having begun his journey in the Martial Arts as a middle-aged person!

Bob found a particularly sour lemon to make lemonade--he was literally minutes away from completing his black belt exam when his knee decided to play a game of "Pop Goes The Weasel," tearing his ACL and delaying his black belt for over a year as a result. He is training hard for his test coming up this May, and I wish him the best of luck!

I've given up.

What??? Say it ain't so, Hack ol' buddy!
Big guy like you, strong like an ox, you say you've given up?

Yes, it's true. I'm done for a while, and giving up.

Giving up something for Lent, silly!

What, you read the title after hearing nothing from me for weeks and just assumed the worst? C'mon, gimme a bit of credit here!

As has often, but not always, been my practice in the past, I'm resisting nearly 7 weeks of temptation. This year I've given up alcohol (except Communion at church) and fried food--specifically hamburgers and anything deep-fried. Believe me, as casual as it sounds it truly is NOT an easy thing to do.

So why bother?

I don't consider myself a fundamentalist or terribly evangelical sort of person, but I do enjoy a good challenge. For those unfamiliar with the basic premise, before he faced his final series of challenges culminating in execution, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert and facing temptation by Satan to give up his mission.

These 40 days are represented by the season of Lent, during which the Christian church asks its membership to sacrifice some practice from Ash Wednesday through Easter. Somehow giving up red meat and opting for Fillet-O-Fish for 6 or 7 Fridays in the Spring just doesn't resonate with me as true sacrifice.

Instead, I chose something I take for granted in my daily life, like the evening beer I drink while whipping up dinner, or the Wendy's I have after band practice on Wednesdays. Besides, I was putting on too much weight. Quoting Joni Mitchell, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone!"

Temptation? You bet. Worst temptation so far was Tuesday night. I cooked Beer Cheese Soup, where the recipe calls for one beer in the pot and one in the chef. Somehow it tasted different.

In conclusion of this topic I'd like to suggest to those of you who observe Lent to really think hard about what practice feels impossible to give up. Then DO IT. Believe me, after nearly 7 weeks, you will be a changed person.

This coming Monday the 9th marks my half-way point. 12 weeks since surgery, 12 more weeks until June 1st when (barring any complications) I will have no restrictions on activity.

I'm meeting with my Karate instructor Monday evening to review leg movements. I'm going to review the various stances and core movements with my PT next Friday.

I intend to return to Karate within a few weeks. There's no reason to do exercises in solitude at home when I can do them in the company of my peers! I'm running nearly 4 miles these days, and will add plyometric exercises shortly. Heck, some of those go beyond the boundaries of what we do at Karate!

My restrictions are fairly self-explanatory. Obviously I won't risk re-injury:
- No sparring (DUH!)
- No jumping kicks
- No turning kicks
- No snapping kicks (slow-count or slow-motion only)

But even with these restrictions, there's TONS that I can still accomplish.

I'm giving up on waiting.

Old doc, new tricks

Thursday's visit with Dr. K went as expected. No surprises, and I'm cleared to begin running. Granted, in the chilly state I live in it's not been above freezing the entire month of January, and mornings are still dipping into the negative numbers even today. Combine that with a nasty cold I've been dealing with over a week, and I'm just not ready to head out for an early morning jog! I do promise to post some pictures when I do, however, since the mornings are so beautiful this time of year.

Having been through all this before, I had some fun with Dr. K and the medical student working with him. As I sat on the table with my legs dangling down, he asked "OK, which knee are we looking at today?" I told him to guess. "Well, they both look the same," he quipped.

I replied, "If you can't tell, then you must have done a pretty good job!" as I pointed to the left knee. Truth be told, they did look very similar in terms of minimized scarring. The only real give-away would be the slightly shorter patch of hair around the left knee and shin, still growing back from being shaved.

He demonstrated good surgical results to the student with a cursory Lachmann test and a pivot-shift test that months ago would have insulted the MCL sprain accompanying my torn ACL. We also chatted about the mechanics and root cause of injury to each knee, making for really rich conversation between surgeon, patient, and student.

At my 6-week appointment last year, I was asked if I had any more questions. "Sure," I said, "Am I going to be able to play drums??"
A puzzled Dr. K: "Well, I certainly don't see any reason you couldn't."
Me: "Great! 'Cause I can't play them at all!"
(insert rim shot: ba-dum bum)

This year: "Am I going to be able to pilot a plane?"
A year wiser Dr. K: "Could you do it before?"


See, you can teach an old Doc new tricks!

One down, four to go

Monday was my 6 week mark. This represents being 1/4 done with the 24 week protocol!


I celebrated today by forgetting my appointment to check in with Dr. K, and re-scheduled it for Thursday morning after my PT session.


Today's report: 30 reps @ 4 pounds, 32 sit-ups and push-ups. Numbers keep going up as the days go down!!!

Equality.

This morning's PT report:

- Flexion at 138°, full extension.
- Approved for slow-count kicks with the operative leg only, supporting on the non-operative leg. Cool!
- Step-down exercises are assigned to work further on strength and smoothness of transition when walking down stairs.

My last measured flexion in the other knee was 138°, so they both seem to be about the same. Further flexion is limited simply by my physiology, at least until I can kneel and sit on my feet!

Using 2lb. ankle weights for straight leg exercises (raises, abduction, adduction, standing hamstring curls). I can do about 20 reps without a pause, working up to 30 solid reps before increasing weight. By the end of the program, the goal is 10 pounds, 30 reps.

My non-operative leg is no stronger than my operative one, so I'm making an effort during PT to emphasize both legs equally.

For those who don't know what they are, slow-count kicks are an excellent exercise for strengthening your hip flexors. Their purpose is to enable greater height and control of kicks.

You begin in a fighting stance, then kick in 4 steps.
This example is for round kicks:

1. Pick up your kicking leg in its chambered position.
2. Slowly extend it out.
3. Slowly swing it just across that centerline.
4. Slowly swing it back.
5. Repeat 3 and 4 until your leg drops like a lead weight.
6. Re-chamber the kicking leg.
7. Put your kicking leg down (if it hasn't dropped of its own accord!)
8. Switch your stance and repeat with the other leg.

They are murder to do at first, but I've grown to enjoy slow-count kicks. When you begin, start on a wall or with a barre to grab, gradually progress to doing them without holding anything for support. Your hip flexors will be crying for mercy, so watch those first steps when you're done! If you do them for a while and they start to feel too easy, try adding ankle weights. Even 1/2lb. at the end of your leg is a huge challenge.

Kicking high takes two things: flexibility and strength. Leaning the torso way back does very little for improving kick height if you don't have strength, and slow-count kicks are probably the best exercise I know of to develop that strength. Enjoy trying them out--I know I will!

The 30's: Arriving and Leaving

Tomorrow I enter my 40's.

Today my PT confirmed that I've entered my 30's, so to speak...I have 133° of flexion in my knee!

That gives me a great feeling of accomplishment, especially in light of being just over 3 weeks out of surgery. By comparison, I was at 126° at this point with my right knee.

My final ROM in the right knee settled in at about 138° of flexion, -10° extension, so hearing my left knee is "in the hood" is quite exciting.

My extension still needs work, as I'm not quite into negative (hyper extension) numbers, but that mostly comes with time. I plan on prone leg extensions to push that issue. You lay on a bed face down, dangle the leg out with your knee at the edge of the bed and allow gravity to gently stretch things out into a slight hyper extension.

Taking stairs going up has become quite easy, but I'm still a bit unstable bending the operative knee going down. I'm fine until the last inch or two before my other foot lands, so I need some more strength work in that part of my range. I expect massive improvement when I begin squats in the next week or two.

I'm hoping my nighttime leg cramps go away soon. Other than ibuprofen--which is eventually gonna wear a hole in my stomach if I'm not careful--the practical solution has been a combination of a hot water bottle applied to the thigh and a large pillow between the knees.

The pillow keeps stress off of my sprained MCL, which I'm still nursing while in rehab for the ACL. Padding between the knees gives Mrs. Shaft a better night's sleep; I can sleep on my side comfortably and avoid waking her with snoring!

The weather around here is hovering near zero degrees, with forecasts into the negative double-digits next week. Boy I sure hope it warms up a bit before I start running!!! I'm looking forward to Robert Frost moments.

Happy Thursday, everyone!