Team ShoNakamori.com???
So you’re probably looking at the above pic and wondering to yourself, “what in the world are these?” Well just for checkin’ in, I’ll let you in on a little secret. The above pictures are of the offical competition uniforms for “Team ShoNakamori.com”. Yup, you got it right, someone will be wearing it in competition, and actually really soon. In fact, it’ll be my teammate, David Sender at this week’s USA Championships!
This was a last minute idea but Dave thought that this would be a good way to get my website recognized. Also, being the nice guy that he is, he also thought it would be cool to wear the logo because I won’t be able to get to compete at this week’s Championships due to my leg injury. Definitely can’t wait for the meet to begin. We’re both really excited!
Anyway, good luck to all the guys that are competing this week. It should be a fun and exciting one!
Good Luck E!
Aside from training in the gym, I spent most of the day yesterday just relaxing at home. I even got the day off from PT, which was good because I’ve been going non-stop with rehab ever since I got my surgery last Friday. And as well all know, we need recovery time to get stronger.
Things are going well though. I pretty much have full extension and I’m up to 90 degrees on the CPM machine! With my leg gradually getting better, I’m able to do a little more in the gym in terms of upper-body strength. You’d actually be pretty surprised by how difficult upper-body conditioning can be when you can’t fire up your leg muscles. I tried to do some handstand push-ups the other day and those definitely felt difficult. Mainly beause it was hard to balance my body beause I couldn’t tighten up my quad muscle. However, after trying the same thing after relearning how to fire up those muscles, I realized that the exercise became much easier. I guess it just comes to show that gymnastics requires every muscle of your body.
As for the rest of the day, I visited my teammates’ house for a little get-together. It was fun but a little sad that I had to say goodbye to my teammate and good friend, Eli.. Eli, came to Stanford the same year as me (he was also my roommate all throughout college), and after sticking around the area for a year to gain some work experience, he has decided to attend law school at UCLA. I’m definitely happy for him but it’s always a bit sad to have to say your goodbyes considering we went through a lot of experiences together during our college years. We hardly knew each other before entering our freshman year but he has definitely become one of my closest friends through working towards a common goal. I’ve gotta say, I think that’s the best part and the beauty of teamwork.
Me and the '08 class (Eli is 2nd one from the left)
Anyway, I’m really happy for Eli and excited for his new adventures. He’s moving away, but in the internet age, nobody is all that far away. You can basically get in touch with anyone whenever you want. Plus if I really wanted to visit him, he’s still “only” about 6 hours away from where I’ll be.
Good luck man!
I Can Make a Muscle!
Yup that’s right…I was finally able to fire up some muscles in my leg since having surgery! I’ve gotta say that this is pretty exciting stuff considering my leg was just a blob of meat for the first few days. However, after a couple of sessions with the physical therapist, my leg is starting to function again. Movin’ in the right direction for sure!
Now, my goal is to get some flexibility back and from then on it’s just slowly rebuilding the muscles again. Flexibility isn’t too shabby either. I’m in the CMT and have it so that it bends the leg up to 85 degrees (almost 90!). As for strength, haven’t gotten to that part just yet. I have to be patient and make sure that the swelling goes down before I do anything too intense. It’s easier said than done but I have to make sure that I don’t get too antsy because rushing into things will slow down my healing process. Either way, I look forward to going to PT all the time because it’s exciting for me to see how much more I can do than the day before.
As for my life in the gym, I’m told to take it fairly easy with my conditioning, at least until they take out my stitches, which is on Monday. As soon as they do that, my focus will shift on not only getting my leg stronger but my upper-body stronger as well!
First Day of PT
As expected, my first physical therapy session (which was this morning) was pretty low key. We just did some light leg tightening exercises and some easy massage to flush out the swelling. Nevertheless, it felt good to go in there and get my leg working again! My leg feels a lot better already and I can almost fully extend it even though it’s only been a couple days since getting it repaired. I’m also able to bend my leg up to 70 degrees with the help of the CPM (continuous passive motion) machine! I’ve gotta say, things are looking really good and the physical therapists were impressed with my knee, saying that I’m farther along than average.
Aside from that, I was able to go to the gym today and do some light conditioning exercises. It wasn’t much but it was good to get a little bit of sweat going. I’ll gradually increase the intensity, and will start doing upper-body strength like it’s my business!
Anyway, more physical therapy tomorrow. Can’t wait to see what kind of exercises are in store for me and to see the gradual improvements with my knee!
Oh, and I’ll be going to watch Funny People with my teammates later on tonight. Should be a good movie!
Funny People
"Debulked"
Met with the PA today to debulk my bandages, and boy does it feel good to take off the layers! I feel so light I feel like I can fly (ok not really, but kind of). My leg definitely does feel better and I don’t feel as restricted as I did over the weekend. Can’t wait to start my rehab tomorrow with my PT, Melissa. I’ve worked with Melissa with a ton of stuff including my shoulder after my bicep surgery so she knows knows me really well. Either way, I feel like I have so much pent up energy inside me that I can’t wait to start doing some exercises, even though it’ll probably only be minor stuff in the beginning.
In a week, I get to take out the stitches. Can’t wait for that either! It’s crazy how the smallest stuff makes you happy when you’re injured. It definitely helps me realize I shouldn’t take things for granted and I should always be appreciative of being healthy. Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the “get well” wishes. Leg is getting better by the day!
Bank of the West Classic
Just got back from the final tennis match of the Bank of the West Classic, and it was great to see Venus Williams battle it out with France’s Marion Bartoli. I have to say, it doesn’t matter what kind of sport I watch, the final competition is always intense because so much is on the line.
Bank of the West Classic
In the end, Bartoli won the match but it was exciting to see Venus bring it close. As always it was motivating to watch such an intense match. I’m starting to feel antsy because I want to get in the gym. I took it pretty easy this weekend because I just had my surgery on Friday but I’m hoping to start some exercises by tomorrow. Plus I’m having my post-op appointment tomorrow morning so after talking to the doctors, I should get a better idea of the things I’m capable of doing and things I should still be careful of. Can’t wait to see what’s up!
On the Road to Recovery
Good news! Finished surgery yesterday and according to my doctors, everything went as planned. Although I couldn’t hold a conversation with the doctors because I was too groggy from the anesthesia, they did give me the thumbs up so I’m assuming everything went well. Either way I’ll be having my post-op appointment on Monday to talk about the surgery in detail.
My leg is actually feeling pretty good. I’ve been told to do a bunch of ankle pumps to keep the circulation going so I’ve been doing about a thousand of those a day. I’m also hooked up to two machines: One runs ice water through some pads attached to my leg in order to keep the swelling down. The other machine bends and straightens my leg so that it doesn’t get stiff while I’m laying around.
Me hooked up to some nifty machines
I’m supposed to stay in these for about 8 hours a day. And yes, I’ve gotta admit, I do get pretty bored. That said, I’ve been playing a lot of games, reading, and doing a bunch of sit-ups.
Anyway, thanks everyone for all the good wishes. I’m gonna take it easy this weekend but I’m definitely on the road to recovery! Can’t wait to get back in the gym and start doing gymnastics-related strength training!
