Return to the pursuit of fitness

Sunday, I started on Mike Boyle's regime of rehabbing the abdominals. In 4 weeks there has been zero improvement in my injury. If I wasn't an athlete, this injury would not be an issue. It doesn't hurt when doing anything in normal daily life, although I do feel it when standing on one leg to put my pants on, or making a sudden reaction movement. I know it hasn't improved because of the way it feels when I try to run a few steps. The pain is never severe, just nagging. It's definitely coming from the inguinal ligament /canal area.

The rehab workout involves lots of glute, psoas, abductor, and some adductor work. Mostly repeated isometric holds and single and double leg squats. Today, I did 20 min on the aerobic machine at the gym (a Stairmaster-type machine). After two days of rehab, the affected area goes from feeling good during the workout to just slightly sore afterward. I always start each workout with by warming my body in the hot tub and doing static hip and groin stretches.

I've been learning many anatomical terms and doing quite a bit of research. It's a very complex injury and it's hard to know how much is too much. Since a month of rest has done nothing to improve my condition, a proactive approach seems necessary. One source says,

"Take the time to rehab proactively. The tendency is to just rest and maybe cross train a bit until the pain goes away. The athlete and support team erroneously assumes that the issue is healed because the pain is gone, and beings to train hard again, leading to a recurrence. Instead of just resting and haphazardly cross training, an athlete needs to address tissue quality, length, and function of the tissues above and below the injury site at first."

That is what Boyle's regime seems to do.

It looks like my Core-x rehab order was received and I should be getting it within a week.

It feels good to finally get some cardio in. I plan to do cardio at least every other day. I have developed band of fat around my middle - per normal for most humans - and have settled in at around 150 lbs. Was 149.2 after workout today. Hope to get my weight back below 145. I just feel so much better at that weight. I never had shoulder pain doing pushups and upper body when I was lighter - but now it's starting to return. Fat just ages a person. Makes me feel old. This past month has proven to me how being sedentary and 'food sport' eating habits are addictive ... the more you eat, the more you want to; the more "ass time" ... the harder it is to get off your ass. It's making that initial change that is the hardest. That change, I made today. Now I need to maintain it.