Tuesday’s PT was straight from Scott Helvenston’s SEAL Training Camp Pocket Manual that he put out under his Amphibian Athletics company. I was feeling a pretty decent leg workout coming on, so I chose the Lower Body section of the “advanced” workouts. As follows:
2 sets
– 4 count standard squats, 15 repetitions, 1 min rest interval
2 sets
– 2 count lunges, 15 repetitions each leg, 1 min rest interval
2 sets
– 4 count alternating lunges, 15 repetitions, 1 min rest interval
2 sets
– 4 count rear kicks, 10 repetitions, 1 min rest interval
2 sets
– ten 4 count jumping jacks followed by 10 squat thrusts, no rest interval
All timed with the GYMBOSS, natch. I followed that with 10 hanging knee raises and ten 4 count squats.
I definitely felt it in my legs, starting after the 2 count lunges. Later in the evening, I took a fall down the stairs, and I’m of two minds about the result.
What happened was that I was carrying laundry down the stairs and missed the last step. In doing so, the “downhill leg” (the right leg) missed the step and came down hard on the floor. I basically dropped the laundry and crashed forward into the wall at the bottom of the stairs, and bumped my knee on the the cooler there. Barely felt it, and still don’t have any repercussions on that leg.
However, the left, “uphill” leg continued to move forward, whilst the left foot remained stationary, and I heard/felt that ugly “pop” you should never hear from a human body (esp your own!). Again, I felt no pain, but I knew something had happened, and immediately my ankle was stiff and sore. I put it down gingerly, and walked on it, to keep it from majorly stiffening up. And walked. And walked. And paced…
Until I finally had to sit down. I even ate dinner standing up, wanting to not sit down and have the joint get all swollen and immobile. Apparently it worked. I finally settled down in front of the TV and put my leg up on my cheapy fabric camp stool, with a cold pack wrapping my ankle and Achilles tendon for a while.
I woke up this morning and the ankle is very stiff and sore, but not so stiff I can’t rotate the foot through almost all range of motion–not as bad as I thought it might be. But I have a hard time putting pressure on the ball of my left foot, because my Achilles tendon *really* doesn’t like that right now. Again, no noticeable swelling of the foot or ankle joint.
So what I believe happened is that I simply dislocated, momentarily, my ankle joint. Maybe my tibia, or fibula, or both. And then they snapped back immediately, and the stiffness and soreness is just the muscles clamping down in reaction, to protect the joint for a little while. So–no throbbing, aching, or pain, really. Just not “allowed” to put pressure on the Achilles tendon yet. Not as bad as it could have been, I suppose.
But as for my two minds… I would like to think that because my muscles, tendons, and ligaments were warm and well stretched from the earlier workout, I sustained almost no injury. I actually believe that to be the case. Just a little dislocation, and no bones breaking, or tendons, ligaments, or muscles tearing.
However–I got to wondering that maybe because of the workout the muscles, etc. were tired, and they *allowed* the dislocation to take place, instead of holding steady and nothing else really happening.
Just don’t know, and no way to find out, really. But food for thought. As I stated, I lean toward the thought that earlier workout decreased the severity of the result. But hey, that’s just me.
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