Testing times

It was time for the first dreaded strength test at Activ8. I felt like I was going into an exam, I was so nervous! I was getting closer to the season and closer to the time that Tom could put a stop to my return to the water if he thought that I wasn’t up to speed, if I wasn’t strong enough. However, he soon explained that this was merely a ‘benchmark’ test to then compare progress four weeks along the line. The real time to stress would be in a month’s time as he could then see specifically how well I was doing. Awesome… delayed pain!

So for this test, he compared my ‘bad’ quads and hamstrings to my ‘good’ leg just before the operation when I’d had 3 months of gym work in preparation for the reconstruction. This was as close to a fair comparison of what we were hoping to achieve in a month’s time as we could get. Tom was really pleased with the results. He even mustered a “very very very good! Top end of ‘on target’ ”, exactly where he hoped I’d be, phew! I hadn’t managed to get to the gym as much as I’d have liked so I was quite surprised by his response.

So my quads were good, but my hamstrings were pretty much the same. I’d like to think that was due to good hard work in the gym, but the reality is that I had very weak hamstrings to start with! This may have played a contributing factor in the injury in the first instance. Tom explained that weak, imbalanced hamstrings in relation to strong quads (a common situation for wakeboarders) puts greater strain on the knee ligaments, making an ACL rupture all the more likely. I’m certainly having a new consideration to making sure hamstring work plays a significant role in my gym routine.

Bouncy Bouncy

It’s so easy to get bored in the gym, so I headed off to an adult gymnastics evening at Heathrow, where I could really experiment with my knee and different exercises and activities. The warm up was testing enough! I very gingerly tried cartwheels, but landing with my bad knee first wasn’t comfortable. Squats, I could only manage so far, and tuck jumps were just left out. I wasn’t going to push myself beyond what was comfortable, but make a note of what highlighted weak spots. As much as Tom had said I was right on target, I realised I really needed to a heck of a lot more work over the next four weeks.

So the warm up made me a bit unsure of whether a trampoline was the best idea, so I just bounced VERY carefully and instantly felt the weakness in the landing, so I made sure I clenched my knee as firmly as I could for the landings and felt a lot more secure, but that my knee was getting a really thorough workout. I remembered that I had a trampette back in my cupboard at home, so I could take this exercise to my living room and really work on making it all feel stronger.

Juicing

It’s all too easy to have a less than perfect diet when you’re wakeboarding for hours a day, burning off a gazillion calories, but the state of my physique having not ridden for nearly eight months suggested that I needed to make up the shortfall in a better diet. I’ve always loved my juicer, but it’s had a real resurgence of activity lately! Whether it’s really an exercise in virtue or not, I’m feeling a lot better about getting back on the water knowing that I’ve not been eating tonnes of junk whilst I’ve been relatively inactive. The good old Maximuscle Promax shakes after gym sessions are also going to help rebuild any weak muscle as well. The water can’t come quick enough.