It took me 7 weeks to get back to the gym
Injury Diaries, part six. “She doesn’t even lift.”
At the start of this series, I promised to share what I’m doing to stay active while recovering from ankle surgery. But you may have noticed I haven’t written a single thing about adapted workouts or navigating the gym in a boot or focusing on core and upper-body work. That’s because until a few weeks ago, I did basically nothing in the realm of exercise.
That’s right. I — Meredith Sell, self-described fitness enthusiast to the point that I run this newsletter — didn’t work out for a solid month post-surgery.
Weeks five and six, I pulled my dumbbells and kettlebells out of the closet for one seated workout in the middle of each week. Then last week — seven weeks post-surgery — I finally made it back to the gym. One time. On Thursday.
This week, I went to the gym on Monday. I had all intentions to go again on Thursday, but that didn’t happen due to heavy fatigue that hit me like a load of bricks. I napped instead and wrote this.
Waiting that long to go back to the gym was somewhat intentional. I know myself. I know my tendency to overextend myself. I knew the chances of me doing something at the gym — even a seated lift — that put too much pressure on my ankle and slowed down the healing process were not zero.
As much as I didn’t want to lose loads of strength, it was more important to me not to mess anything up in my recovery.
Main goal: Heal and recover well.
Secondary goal: Don’t shrivel up.
Important reminder regarding secondary goal: Muscle/strength can be rebuilt.
Then there was the fact that my gym is highly inaccessible. You have to walk across an entire complex and climb a flight of stairs to get to the fitness area. I certainly wasn’t going to do that on crutches, and the first few weeks in my boot, just thinking about that walk made my ankle ache. So I waited. And you know what? I’m okay with that.
My first time back, the gym was eerily quiet. Last Thursday, I climbed the stairs to the main fitness area and was met with silence and emptiness. There was maybe one other person on the floor. Denver has been enjoying a lengthy false spring, so I’m guessing the normal crowds were outside enjoying the weather.
It was nice to have the place to myself. Nobody looking at me or getting in the way. I’m definitely a loner at the gym. I do my own thing. I don’t really talk to people. I’m there to work out, not navigate social dynamics.
I did seated overhead press with the barbell, followed by chin-ups and alternating dumbbell bench press — a good first upper-body workout to wake everything up. I definitely went lighter on the dumbbell bench than I would have pre-surgery, but I was happy with how things felt, especially the chin-ups. My time away didn’t melt off all my strength. Yay.
Monday, I did seated overhead press again but went heavier. Followed that up with incline dumbbell bench, tricep dips, and ring rows. The main movement that felt weaker was the dips. I’ve never felt strong doing them, but pre-surgery, I could at least do controlled negatives on the rig. This time — either because my chest was super tight or because I’ve lost my triceps — I had to do dips from the bench and bring my feet super close to take some weight off. I might be drilling dips in the coming weeks to rebuild what I’ve lost.
While I’ve lost some strength, I’m not surprised that overall my upper body feels all right. I’ve been able to do pushups and pullups at home, and my arms and shoulders got some work when I was on crutches for three weeks. I’ll feel the real difference when I’m able to do lower-body lifts again. It’s been 18 weeks since I moved the barbell in a deadlift or squat, eight, almost nine, since air squats and lightweight kettlebell RDLs. Whenever I get the green light to start squatting, that DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness) is going to hit hard.
In other news: I’ve been going around the house sans boot or brace for the last week, and Tuesday, my physical therapist told me to ditch the boot, so I’ve transitioned to wearing my lace-up ankle brace when I leave the house. No long walks yet, but I can see them in my future.
At the beginning of all this, I was expecting it to feel like everything was taking forever, like I was never going to be back to normal again, but since getting off crutches, time has seemed to speed up. Part of me misses the slower days and the excuse to lounge around the house. I think I needed that break, the forced slow-down. I might end up looking back at this time as a pseudo-sabbatical. That’s not too bad, for how much I was dreading surgery and everything that comes with it. We’re on our way up.
Recommended Reading
Here’s One More Reason to Try Exercise (NY Times)
“Women Will Not Be Admitted on the Climb”: Inside a Groundbreaking Trek up Denali (Vanity Fair)
How Often Should You Wash Your Reusable Water Bottle? (Discover)