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Monday, February 23, 2009

Starting rehab

I'm quite frustrated at the rate of recovery for my shoulder. What frustrates me more is that I can't seem to find a stretch that hits the spot. Thinking back to a neck injury I sustained back in college, my doctor had told me to strengthen the surrounding muscles so they would take off some strain in the injured muscle. So that's what I decided to do. Isometric exercises are cool and all, and I will continue to fit them in during my mini-workouts, but they're just not the same.
I decided to start rehabbing the shoulder. I still feel some pain during certain movements, but instead of starting at 15lb dumbbells, I got my hands on a pair of five-pounders. Used in high rep sets, I can give my muscles a good burn without stressing the injured muscle. Besides, I'm way overdue for switching to a workout that targets the endurance/slow-twitch muscles (should try to mix my workouts more often). I'm hoping these exercises with the high-rep sets and light weights will strengthen the surrounding muscles in my shoulder and take some load off the injured one. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40)
Tuesday: Counter pushups - less weight (40), various isometric exercises w/focus on chest and triceps (220 total)
Wednesday: Lunges (20 each), squats (40), various isometric exercises w/focus on back, biceps, and shoulders (240 total)
Thursday: Calf raises (90), one-legged calf raises (20 each)
Friday: Squats (45), various isometric exercises w/focus on chest and triceps (240 total)
Saturday: Hammer curls (10, 10), Biceps curls (10, 10), lateral raises w/5lbs (20, 20), rear lat raises w/5lbs (20, 20), eyebrow kicks (10 each, 10 each), front raises w/ 5lbs (20, 20), bent-over rows w/5lbs (20, 20), shoulder presses w/5lbs (20, 20), shrugs w/5lbs (20, 20), hammer curls w/5lbs (20, 20), biceps curls w/5lbs (20, 20), standing external rotator w/5lbs (10, 10), diagonal raises w/5lbs (10, 10)
Sunday: Dumbbell press w/10lbs (20, 20), triceps extension w/10lbs (4 sets - 20 each), chest flies w/5lbs (20, 20), ab work

After the high-rep sets, my shoulders do feel tighter (like they normally do after a good workout). I seem to have a bit more range of motion, but it's really too soon to tell. We'll see how it goes.

Last weigh-in:
179.5lb

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