First time with GB: injury history starting tips

[Rhys Sherring]

Hey all,

so I just signed up to GB's monthly subscription. This is my first time seeing all of the programs and material first hand after hearing Coach Sommer talk about it all on Tim Ferris' podcast way back when. It's a bit overwhelming having so much material on hand so instantly. 

I've had an interesting fitness journey thus far. After a parkour phase in high school, I started out at the gym after reading Arnold's bodybuilding encyclopedia. I got burnt out of gyms after a couple years of that and discovered body weight calisthenics for the first time through Convict Conditioning over at Dragondoor. Following that book religiously, I found I plateaued. I then caught kettlebell fever and thoroughly enjoyed the results of consistent kettlebell work. I then supplemented it with Al Kavadlo's more flexible routines and really dug into a lot of pull up work where I found the most gains. 

In October of 2016 I was unfortunately hit by a drunk driver in a head on collision who broke my left knee cap (clean vertical break to the patella, no serious ligament damage), and did some minor fractures to my spine. My backs fine, but I lost a lot of consistency since then with the leg. I was hill running, kettlebell swinging tabata and doing 20 laps on the soccer field before then, but haven't been able to since. The past couple of months I've also suffered golfers elbow in my right forearm from outdoor film camera work and haven't been able to keep up my heavy dose of pull ups at all in 2018. My osteo has at least said the knot in my forearm has been getting smaller these past weeks, but I still have to wait a bit more before I can go heavy again.

I thought I'd ask folks here what their thoughts are on initially starting the GB program specifically with my knee injury. I currently do hot yoga sessions once a week, and recently re-introduced two sets of 20 full body squats to my usual Kavadlo routine for the first time in a long time, so I still have a decent amount of flexibility, always have. I try to do a lot of cycling and occasional swimming to bring back strength to my left leg. I've made a 2018 new years resolution to run 20 laps of the soccer field again. I was trying some running recently but someone noted to me that running is the most tolling on the body and should be the last step to return to.

I took a peek at the 40 minute stretch videos; there will most likely be some things I'll have to ease into. How are beginners meant to approach those sessions? I will be starting fundamentals immediately. 

Sorry for the spiel. I get excited digging into new work outs. It's just a matter of maintaining some consistency with them. I've always dreamt of reaching new levels of fitness, being able to do archer pull ups, flags, free form hand stands, planche, etc, and body weight work just seems such a natural and primal way of getting there. Anyway, thanks for having me along. 

Cheers.
Rhys.

[Étienne Lajeunesse]

I Rhys,

Welcome to GB! I'm sorry to hear about your accident.  Apart of your Ostheo, do you have follow-ups with your doctor?

GB has a lot of tools to strengthen and mobilize the joints.  For the stretch series, start slow and don't go beyond what you're not comfortable to do.  So, if you feel it starts getting too hard at some point, you don't have to keep going directly.  Keep the intensity around 7/10.

If you have the ok of your doctor and you feel you can take a bit more, I suggest you to start the Foundation series right after fundamentals.  This will help you on strengthening your entire body.

You're at the right place