September 2023 Progress Picture

Progress

To be honest, I didn’t think this month would be an improvement. With the pile of injuries not going away, the beginning phase of a bodyweight program, and a jam-packed round of travel including a trip to San Antonio to see Jason and eat too much, Las Vegas to gamble and eat too much, friends coming in and being hosted which leads to eating and drinking too much, and Albuquerque for a Wine Festival,  I was positive August was going to end with a higher body fat percentage and a continued loss of muscle.

BUT I WAS WRONG! Yay!

Nothing huge on the improvement side, but it would seem that this bodyweight program is doing more for me than I would have expected. I'm guessing it's the "intensity" of the body weight movements compared to the lower intensity of lifting weights as I've traditionally done. I also started seeing a PT for the knee (shout out to In Power PT here in Amarillo). I’ve been a little more consistent eating protein oatmeal for breakfast, but beyond that I don’t think I’ve made any “solid” improvements on the nutrition front.  I'm a bit disappointed in my lack of discipline, but September will be a great month.

Program

HTK Bodyweight

I’ve enjoyed this program despite my knee throwing shade (more on that below). So far, I’ve been skipping out on a lot of burpees I wished I’d done, but my pullups and pushups have increased these last 3.5 weeks of the program. I’m wrapping up the final week of phase one, and will be transitioning into the second and final phase (weeks 5-8). I looked ahead, and the intensity is dialed WAY up.

Injuries

Plantar Fasciitis (left foot)

Jeez. This guy needs to give it a rest. It’s been about three months with this injury. I’ve definitely noticed that calf raises, foam rolling and scraping, and the ol’ ball under the food massage help cut down on the pain and consistency a lot. That said, the On Clouds I’ve been wearing don’t seem to help a ton. I ran a few miles this morning and it was miserable for the first 15 minutes and then went away. Pickleball was fine too, but once I got in the car and drove some errands the pain came back when I got out.

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Knee (right)

So this one scared me straight, in a sense. About two weeks into August, actual pain began to show up in the knee, and my range of motion was getting worse. I tried massage, rest, ice, and working it out. I was probably too impatient, but I ended up heading into physical therapy to get it fixed up. I’m four sessions deep as of right now, and it’s been good. I won’t go too deeply into the exercises, but the short version that’s made the pain and swelling go way down are as follows:
Time.
Weighted squats.
Leg extensions.
Hip Mobility improvement.

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Groin (right)

Still randomly there. Nothing new to report on improvement or worsening symptoms.

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Scapula/Rhomboid (left)

The pains just keep adding up. I went a little hard on pullups (aka, bad form) early august, and this dang shoulder blade won’t heal up. Foam rolling hasn’t helped, and neither has about anything else in terms of mobility, stretching, or loading. I’m going to be trying to incorporate more rowing motions with weight in, as the HTK Body program doesn’t seem to have much in the way of pulling so far, so I’m guessing it’s something out of wack on that front.