Wednesday 3rd August 2022 was the first day back at the gym.

Daily 1 to 9 exercises done. The bike is still, just rocking the pedals back and forward as far as possible. My mobility still doesn’t allow for a full rotation.

Set myself up in the corner where the rope hangs so I could pull myself up and down.

10 rounds of 10 straight leg sit ups, 5 press ups, 5 pull ups

Had to change the press ups to floor press as it was uncomfortable but was more than happy to be back in the gym.

Thursday 4th August

Managed to get my right leg to do a full revolution on the bike, still working on the left.

Full 1 to 13 exercises and then I built a barbell floor press to 80kg over 12 minutes, followed by 20 minutes, or 4 rounds of:

In 2 minutes 15 calories ski erg arms only and 15 seated dumbbell press at 10kg. Rest 3 minutes.

From here on this is a personal account of me adapting our local CrossFit IOM programming to maintain my fitness and get the best possible outcome of my new parts.

I didn’t set myself a time scale, it was just about moving forward safely and as my rehabilitation allowed.

I was also applying ice after exercise and continued to do indefinitely until gone as well as the compex machine daily.

I could walk around the gym on crutches and join in with everyone else again.

Friday 5th August

I was able to take my first steps unaided but will still use my crutches when out and about.

I got my left knee to do a full revolution so I was able to cycle. This was definitely the best machine in the early stages of getting mobility back – even slowly my knees felt less restricted and it helped reduce swelling.

I have Sunday down as a rest day but our gym is open and can be used for catch up sessions from 10am until 12pm. I did 10 minutes on the bike , knee extensions, TKE with band and hamstring stretches.

WEEK 2

Started the week by using one crutch to get round the gym but by the end of the week was comfortable not using them to get from station to station.

The workouts listed would all have, on average, an 8 to 10 minute warm up, relevant to the movements required. I would arrive 20 minutes early so that I could do my 10 minute bike and rehab exercises before joining the warm up.

By the end of August you can see from the workouts I was getting more confident in the movements and getting stronger on the bike and could push harder on the pedals. I was also starting to do the lifting movements with an empty bar. I could air squat to a 20” box for reps and was also back on the rower with limited seat travel. I had full rehab days and rest days as need.

I had light pain in the joint and across the top of my knees, while the left one was slightly more swollen. However the left knee was slightly swollen for a few years before the operation so it was to be expected.

It was great to get back coaching on the 19^th August – I had some help with the movement standard demonstrations.

By September I have started to add small amounts of weight to the bar, mostly using a 15Kg bar with 10Kg plates or a 20Kg bar with 5Kg plates. For burpees I could step back and jump forward while rowing was improving, almost back to full range. Power on the bike was also getting there.

On the 19th September I had a check up with Mr Barton, the surgeon, including x-rays which showed everything still where they should be thankfully. On the 20^th I saw Sophie, my Physio, and got a new rehab programme. I could now officially weight my movements. I reduced the bike to between 5 and 15 minutes as I was doing quite a bit during other workouts.

Box squat I was doing 30Kg to an 18” bench

Deadlift 60Kg

RDL 40Kg

Single leg RDL unweighted

Step up 12” box 5Kg dumbbells

Lunges, starting with reverse (this was the scariest movement to try for the first time)

Single leg squat I was doing 2 x 20Kg control down and up

I was continuing with my original rehab 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 before sessions.

Coaching was going ok, people were very helpful during the start of sessions and happy to demonstrate movements for me. They are also very complimentary about progress to date. I had a couple of weeks where I felt like I had plateaued but then I get a little success and the cycle continued.

OCTOBER 2022

Going into October I was very happy recycling power cleans and snatches at between 20 and 30Kg, if low reps maybe 35 to 40Kg. Back squats I built weight still to a 20” box, up to 60Kg. As the month progressed I was able to increase the depth of my air squats and on the 17^th managed 2 very slow squats to a 12” box which took me below parallel. It did feel quite a strain at the time so took my wall balls to a 16” box for the rest of the month, also by the end of October I was overhead squatting to a 20” box comfortably. On the 26^th I saw Sophie for a physio update and she gave me more exercises involving jumping. I have included some short clips of various exercises I had been given. I was also walking more as it’s something I had previously ignored, not on purpose, but my stride length was restricted so it was important to get a more natural gate. I could do very short runs, 3 x 30m but I hadn’t run for 4 years prior to surgery because of the pain.

It was a good month, my depth improved gradually and I could now skip and do Toes to Bar again. From last month my box squat reached 40Kg for 10, my deadlift 70Kg and my RDL 50Kg. Managed box over burpees, which I could jump but I still stepped over the 20” box. My rowing and bike were still improving. The one thing I was finding hard were split squats, which I stopped raising my back leg as in Bulgarian, because I couldn’t weight them. I instead tried to improve the weight with both feet on the floor. I dropped the 12 minute rehab at the start of the session on the 28^th but if I was in the gym early I did them as a pre warm up and will probably always do them a few times a week before or after.

By the end of the first week of November I felt a noticeable improvement in speed and movement. Knees were feeling more natural to me. At the beginning of the month I tried 6Kg wall balls to the 10’ target with no box and was very close to the depth required. On the 10^th Rose (my wife) and I travelled to La Santa in Lanzarote for a week. Rose also trains and coaches CrossFit and has competed very successfully in the past.

It was a great place for people who enjoy different types of exercise and rehabilitation and I have listed the different exercises in the workouts. We started every day with either an hour of mobility or body balance which is a mixture of thi chi, pilates and yoga, then a coffee and onto the next classes. We finished most days with stretch and relax.

The classes we attended include:

Circuit fusion, which is circuit training.

Dance fitness, which is ballroom dance steps on your own but as if with a partner. I was terrible at this but I haven’t seen Rose laugh so much for a long time.

Aqua jogging, which was perfect for knee rehab. It’s done in deep water with a foam float belted round your waist. It involved jogging, running and sprinting intervals with the help of arms and also with arms above your head.

TRX, which is band assisted exercise. It was good because you can reduce the load through your knees and move quicker.

Ariel fitness, which is done in a silk hammock. It involves core work, swinging and inverted movement. The best bit is relaxation where you get into the hammock and try not to fall asleep.

Swim fitness, which is circuit training involving swimming elements.

Pilates reformer, which is a machine with ropes and springs which you can change tension on. This was a beginners class as you had to learn how to use the machine, so didn’t really get a lot out of it. Think I would need to go to a couple more classes to get a feel for it.

Fitball using an exercise ball which was a great core session and really good fun.

Deep water aqua, which was set up like aqua jogging but you also get 2 foam dumbbells which you use to assist when in your hands. This is just a fun 40 minutes.

CrossFit conditioning, which takes the Olympic lifting and gymnastics out. These were hard work.

La Santa was really well organised with on site restaurants, a supermarket, lovely apartments and everywhere was really clean and the coaching staff where enthusiastic and good with all levels of athletes.

We then had a second week in Lanzarote, staying at Caserio De Mozaga, in the middle of the Island where I was back to my Isle of Man Crossfit programme. I did this at Crossfit Lanzarote although we used Monday and a bit of Tuesday to try workouts we had set for a masters competition we are running on our return to the island. I got a bit more walking in for the rest of this week, checking out and walking up some volcanos.

I benefitted most from the movement and stretching every dayat La Santa and not doing any heavy exercise. The second week was fun training in CrossFit Lanzarote and getting back to some more intense sessions. Thankfully my knees were still going in the right direction, and I backed off during some stretching where you had to stay on your knees for a while, such as child pose, but was able to do a lot and find current limitations.

I was back on the Isle of Man for the last week of November and trained as normal, getting ready to run our masters competition. We held the event on Saturday 3^rd December and categories where up to 85 years combined and 86 years + combined. We managed to run to schedule and workouts where all well received. Our coaches all judged as did our 2 sons. Rose ended up competing as we had a late drop out.

On the 9^th December I stopped the daily workouts I had been listing as I could now do our Isle of Man CrossFit programming as written. I still scaled the weights but that is all. As you can see on the 9^th I was doing back squat percentage work, which I worked off 60Kg. Before my Knee operation I would have worked off between 120 and 140Kg depending on the day. I saw Sophie, my physio, on Monday 5^th December and after putting me through a range of exercises, she was happy to just be on the end of the phone if I had a problem.

By Christmas it was 5 months of rehabilitation. I had quietly given myself 6 months to get to this stage where I was back to the CrossFit programme and could work on improving my all round performance. As I put at the start:

“I don’t have any real expectations, but I do have aims that I hope to achieve.”

So my first aim had been reached and on the 19^th December I managed during 15 second sprints to row at 2000 calories per hour for the first time with new parts.

JANUARY 2023

For the New Year Rose and I went to Morzine in the French Alps for the month of January. Mr Barton gave me the all clear to ski and we joined a local gym called Buzz Gym. I’ve always skied and it was actually one of the reasons for undergoing surgery and we’ve got to know the gym owners ** and Joe. For the first 10 days there was no snow which meant we did some great walks and used the gym every day.

At this time my biggest problem was a shoulder injury which was diagnosed as a problem with my Long Head Bicep Tendon. I am still following our CrossFit programme but having to modify or reduce weights significantly which ended my hopes of entering the CrossFit Games 2023.

I was also doing one or two Hyrox workouts each week, which put less strain on my shoulder and allowed me to incorporate ore running into my training. I found running exciting but was still doing small distances of 5 sets of 400m during a session – to compete in a Hyrox event I would need yo build up to 8 x 1000m sets. I returned to the Isle of Man at the end of January set running as my main goal for February.

SPRING 2023

In March we went to Cypress for crown green bowling. I had never done it but Rose has played for Ballaugh, our local club for a few years. It was a great week with a lot of laughs – I was terrible but got lots of Smarties for coming last. However they are a great bunch of people and I am currently on the over 60s B team.

Back to the knees. I was lucky in that the progression carried on. By May/June I could take part in any of the CrossFit workouts as written, but tended to reduce the weights. This is as much my age as my knees. My percentage squat work was taken from 80-100Kg maximum depending on the day. I felt comfortable here and my depth, although deep enough, was a couple of inches less than previously. I don’t think I will ever try to push the weights for this type of work again as it seems pointless.

Currently my focus has changed to Hyrox. Our gym is now an affiliate and August saw a full program for the first time. I have entered London at the end of November with Rose in the mixed pairs and I am up to 5Km in certain workouts – I still have to hit the 8Km necessary for me to complete the full workouts but I’m well under way. I think having missed the CrossFit open competition this year with my shoulder, which now looks like cartilage damage, I will leave it until I am 65 and in the next age group.

So one year in with the new knees and still pushing. I have been to see Mr Barton, my surgeon, for a one year on check. I had x-rays and everything is still in place and he told me to carry on as I am. He did his first Hyrox event in Manchester this year and has given me a time to try and beat (unlikely).

I will update if any interesting stuff happens. Below are some before and after movements – depth is slightly less and I’m not over my toes enough, but well under way.