Post surgery recovery and beyond

Two weeks ago I unexpectedly had an appendectomy via keyhole surgery. The first week after my surgery felt like the worst case of DOM I had ever had (which makes sense as they cut through my stomach muscles in 3 spots). Now two weeks on from the surgery I feel relatively normal (no more weakness/dizzy from all the drugs they had me on during my hospital stay). I have yet to test my strength (besides grip strength on grippers which is relatively unchanged) but I have lost ~7 pounds (was at 168 now 161, at height of 6' 2")

Prior to my surgery I was on week three of a SSC based around my needs as a climber. This was my first time using a SSC for my finger strength as well as my whole body conditioning. I performed my exercises in my cycle 3 times a week minimum, but this number did vary based on the number of times a was able to go to climbing (in and outdoor).

My cycle looked something like this;

workout 1

planche (frog stand) 30s x 2

front lever ( advanced tuck 10s x 6)

back lever ( tuck 20s x 3)

L-sit (15s x 4)

fingerboard deadhangs for time up to 60s on a beastmaker2000 fingerboard.

bottoms up press 24kg kettlebell for singles (replaced by military press if feeling week) 2-3 sets

plank walk outs

ab roller work

workout 2

planche (frog stand) 30s x 2

front lever ( advanced tuck 10s x 6)

back lever ( tuck 20s x 3)

L-sit (15s x 4)

5 bottoms-up press 16kg kettlebell for 3-5 sets

a few push presses with a 32Kg kettlebell (each arm)

In addition to this I would do extra pulling work based around this programme, again days varied based on when I was climbing. Extensor work done after each session ( rubber band opening, bucket of rice, sledge hammer work)

MO: weighted chin/pull-ups

WE: two-arm chin/pull-ups (high rep)

FR: One-arm chin-up progressions

SU: weighted chin/pull-ups

TU: One-arm chin-up progressions

TH: WE: two-arm chin/pull-ups (high rep)

SA: One-arm chin-up progressions

I believe that it will take me 4-6 weeks to get back to the strength that is needed for the cycle mentioned above, but with the front lever going back to a 30s x 2 tucked rather than advanced tuck. In the lead up to restarting the cycle will be prehab/rehab and mobility work along with basic pulling/pressing work for the next two weeks. Then testing my strength, and revaluating. Then I was planning to do a 4 week mini cycle deloading for 5 days then restart my cycle mentioned above.

I am open to any ideas people have for my rehab and recovery so feel free to comment.

If you go back to 30s holds that are relatively easy you may wanna experiment with upping the volume to 2-3minutes, but of course it depends on your work capacity Good luck with your recovery!

Aushion Chatman can definitely give very specific experience as he went through essentially the same thing.

You should be careful with abdominal stress for the first 6 weeks after surgery unless you have been specific guidelines by your doctors that contradict this. Maybe not worrying about FL for the next month would be a good idea, the last thing you want to do is rip something that is newly stitched up and still healing. I can't imagine you having any trouble jumping right back into your finger hands or anything like that though.

One thing to keep in mind is that your body is still healing from the surgery, so you need to limit the healing you force it to do from your workouts. That means don't work too hard right now!

Yeah definately watch out on the abdominal stuff!

2010-10-20

A very gentle prehab/rehab work session

Should rotator cuff work done with a resistance band

10 x 2 wrist push ups from knees

10x 2 push ups

10 x 2 body weight rows with feet on a wheelie chair

Forearm extensor work done doing reverse wrist curls, a sledge hammer and rubber bands.

Everything felt fine except I tried to do a few deadhangs on quite a juggy grip and this was very uncomfortable verging on pain. For such an easy grip I was surprised how much body tension was necessary. Looking like recovery maybe a little slower I hoped for, but I would rather it heal correctly the rush things and end up in a worse state. I guess I am no Pat Cash, as he won at Wimbledon in 1987, playing his first match just 10 days after an appendix operation. He only lost one set all tournament, which is so impressive.

21-10-2010

rest

22-10-2010

3 mile walk

23-10-2010

3 mile walk

10x 2 push ups

5 x 2 pulls ups

24-10-10

Should rotator cuff work done with a resistance band

5 x 2 pull ups + a few pulls off my door frame ~ first finger joint

COC#2 gripper work

Thing are really feeling stronger each and every day. My appetite is slowly returning which is always a good sign. The scar tissue from my incisions feel like they are softening which means I am healing fast.

25-10-10

REST

26-10-10

rest

27-10-10

rest

28-10-10

30s x2 frog stand

5x5 pull ups

10x 2 wrist push ups from knees

plus grippers and extensor prehab.

29-10-10

rest

30-10-10

30s x2 frog stand

5x5 pull ups

10x 2 wrist push ups from knees

plus grippers and extensor prehab.

31-10-10

rest

Well it has been a long time since I last posted and I have been very busy since then. I thought I would share a little of what I have been up to, where I hope to be going, and of course how my recovery went.

On the recovery side of things I need feel like I was trying to push thing too much. So even though it was extremely hard, I only did a bit of hill walking until January.

By this time I healed nicely but unfit. I restarted a programme based around getting 5x5 dips and pulls back to nice level, as well as slowly introducing some core in the form of plank holds. Climbing was then introduced again once a week, and the loss in core strength was extreme. I continued like this until mid May.

By mid May my base strength was getting close to pre op levels. I could dip bw+20 Kg for 5x5 and pull bw+ 25Kg for a 5x5 and do 1-2 reps of bw+40Kgs.

At this point I decided to start a new SSC. I do L-sit, bl, fl and pl in it (scaled accordingly).

By SSC which ends 15/7/11 looks like this

3 rounds of

20 sec tucked back lever

30 sec tucked l-sit

30 sec frog stand

30 sec tucked front lever

I am more then pleased with my recovery as I tested on a day off my max tuck fl and it is over 60 secs as is frog stand. I am also able to hold an ok half/lay fl for 10 seconds. Bl and l-sit I have having more trouble with, bl for the next cycle is going to back to german hang, tucked l-sit just feels about the same as it started some maybe a 3-5 second increase at max.

I normally wouldn’t have used back lever in a SSC, but the more I read and the more my goals have changed to want to one day be able to do an iron cross, I realised it was necessary. I figured that I would test my tuck max and go from there which was 40s, but never tested my German hang.

Well I did that last night after reading something on the forum…….. it is about 15s. The inflexibility in my shoulders is much worse then I thought; the bicep tendon element does not hurt just my shoulders feel like they are being ripped out.

So figure from my playing around with max holds my next SSC will look something like this.

4 rounds of

15s german hang

10-15 seconds advanced tuck front lever

15 second advanced frog

35 seconds tucked l-sit

Any help or advice people have would be great.

6/7/11

warm up

10 pull ups

60s plank/reverse plank

60s inverted hang

5 skin the cats

SSC

3 rounds of

20 sec tucked back lever

30 sec tucked l-sit

30 sec frog stand

40 sec tucked front lever (was meant to be 30 but I wasn't paying attention and missed the clock)

8/7/11

This afternoon played around on the rings with a friend and did some weighted pulls. I am very close to getting a 48 kg pull (3/4). I am sure I could hit something around 44kg but I only have 3 kettle bells to use as weights and they are 16, 24, and 32 kgs.

This evening

warm up

10 pull ups

60s plank/reverse plank

60s inverted hang

5 skin the cats

SSC

3 rounds of

20 sec tucked back lever

30 sec tucked l-sit

30 sec frog stand

30 sec tucked front lever

10/7/11

3 rounds of

Ring supports 30s

bw+ 32Kg pull ups

5 ring dips

11/7/11

warm up

10 pull ups

60s plank/reverse plank

60s inverted hang

5 skin the cats

SSC

3 rounds of

20 sec tucked back lever

30 sec tucked l-sit

30 sec frog stand

30 sec tucked front lever