Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Workout

Under the heading "aging ain't for sissies", I've been working out to strengthen my damaged shoulder in preparation for the spring river season. I had been consistently doing my physical therapy exercises since the surgery a year ago, but now I'm cranking it up a couple of notches. And it's not a pleasant experience. Having just finished a 45 minute workout focused on my right shoulder, it's now 'barking' back in pain and soreness. Not that I'm going to let a 'little' pain stop me, but, damn, it was so much easier when I was younger.
But this is something I must do. There are rivers to row, and I must be ready to take up the oars. I basically lost most of last season to the broken shoulder; I refuse to miss another.


(photos from the San Juan River, 2008)

4 comments:

BadTux said...

Just be careful. It's real easy to tear it up again, and then you have to wait for it to heal again. A bit of soreness is fine, but you shouldn't force it far beyond what it's comfortable doing. Slow but certain wins the game here.

- Badtux the Formerly Gimpy Penguin

pygalgia said...

Absolutely. I thank you for your concern, and I'm quite aware of the limits that I need to recognize. But I also need to push right up to that limit if I'm going to have the needed strength in the shoulder.
Again, thanks!

Justin said...

i hope you get a full season of river rowing revelry!

Demeur said...

I can relate to that. About six months after being laid off my right sholder froze up. I went to a doctor (my regular was on vacation) and was told to take two asprin and see another doctor. For that I paid $100. I went to the U.W. medical website and looked up frozen sholder. It had a complete series of stretching excersizes that got me back. I'm about 99% now.

I'm sure you'll now have a greater appreciation for what you couldn't do last season. Like the smart Penguin said don't push it too hard. Light, medium then heavy workouts work best.