“Let the Recovering Begin” a look at Coach Mash’s Recovery

My latest E-Book “Mash Method” is live and it’s FREE! Check it out now at: http://www.mashelite.com/mashmethod
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This book has several of the techniques that I used to set personal records and world records along with some of my latest techniques that I’m using to get my athletes and me hitting all-time numbers.
-wave training
-bands and chains contrasted with straight weight
-walk outs
-partials contrasted with full ROM
-Squats for vertical leap -Sled drags to set PR 40 yd dash times
And more!

http://www.mashelite.com/mashmethod

Let the Recovering Begin

For all of you that don’t know, last week I underwent a surgery to repair a ruptured triceps tendon on my right arm. It was just a freak thing that happened when I was snatching. There were signs that I ignored like a super achy right elbow. Here is my advice. If you are having chronic pain, there is a reason. I would simply get it checked out. Getting it check out could easily prevent 4-6 months of recovery.

Coach Ox Mason, my longtime friend and training partner, pointed out that he believes the whole thing was caused from my right side constantly compensating for the weaker left side. In 2007 I sustained a fracture in my cervical spine. The injury caused a weakness in my left arm. This weakness has caused me to spin to the right on snatches, cleans, and jerks to compensate. My right arm tries to take most of the load on all presses as well. It’s even hard for my scapula to stay tucked in the right position when weight is overhead.

As you can see, I was compensating in a lot of different ways leaving my right arm susceptible to this injury. A little more patience with the muscular balance work towards my left side could have prevented all of this as well. However, like you I want to get to the heavy stuff. The big six (snatch, clean, jerk, squat, bench, and deadlift) is what I love to do. However this impatient approached led to surgery and six months of rehabbing. A wiser approach could have left me doing what I love for a lot longer time without surgery.

I am telling all of you this, so you can make wise decisions for yourself. Hopefully some of you can learn from my mistakes. The only benefit to an injury is the ability to share with others. If my injury helps just one person, then it was all worth it. In my experience, my mistakes have led to better life lessons than my successes. If you are someone that is injured, I hope that you can cling to this positive.

My rehab workouts started two days after my surgery, and they consisted of range of motion work to the injured arm. Basically I curl my arm to 90 degrees, and then I let gravity straighten the arm as much as possible. I am trying to perform 3 x 10 with 3 sessions per day.

Today I am going to start working out in the gym again. Here is what my workouts are going to look like:

Day 1
SS Bar Max Effort 5RM, then -15% for 2 x 5
SS Bar Goodmornings 3 x 8
Left arm Bench Press 3 x 10
Left Arm KB OH Carry 3 x 40 yd

Day 2
Belt Squat Deep Squats 3 x 10
Belt Squat Glute Marches 3 x 6 seconds
Left Arm Strict Press 3 x 10
Sled Drags 3 x 40 yd ea direction

Day 3
SS Bar Max Effort Mash Method (1, 5)
SS Bar Goodmornings 3 x 8
Left Arm KB upright Row 3 x 10
Left Arm Farmers Walk 3 x 40 yd

The goal is to take advantage of this time to get the left arm stronger in all directions. The secondary goal is to keep my legs strong. I will also be adding in some Yoga in about a week along with some aerodyne sprint and distance work. I will stick with this style of workout until I am allowed to start loading the right arm.

The key to mentally surviving this moment in time is focusing on the positives:

• A chance to address my left arm weaknesses
• A chance to influence and encourage others
• A chance to be an example of perseverance for my family, team, and friends

I have already experienced moments of sadness, and I am sure that there will be some more. However my faith in God and my willingness to reflect back on the positives will sustain me through this time. Here’s the thing. It’s just a triceps tendon. It’s not cancer. There are people out there going through much worse than me.

I am excited to get back on the horse today, and at least feel some weight on my body. I think that when I come out of this, I will develop a different mindset towards training. Don’t worry I will never be the old man lifting light weights, but I will definitely take a slightly different approach. I will take a more balanced approach like:

• Focus my training on squat, bench, front squat, deadlift, and press
• Olympic lifts will be done once per week each with a focus on technique and movement.
• Yoga will find its way in there somewhere.
• Ox Mason Conditioning
• No Weaknesses Accessory work

I want to be able to train until the day that I die. I also want to be able to move well, so that I can play with my children as they grow up. I am actually excited to see what I come up with. I believe that God allows things to happen to us to either teach us a lesson or show us a new path. In my case I think that it’s a little of both. I guess time will tell.

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My latest E-Book “Mash Method” is live and it’s FREE! Check it out now at: http://www.mashelite.com/mashmethod
===================================
This book has several of the techniques that I used to set personal records and world records along with some of my latest techniques that I’m using to get my athletes and me hitting all-time numbers.
-wave training
-bands and chains contrasted with straight weight
-walk outs
-partials contrasted with full ROM
-Squats for vertical leap -Sled drags to set PR 40 yd dash times
And more!

http://www.mashelite.com/mashmethod