OK everyone!  Here is an example of a complicated assessment from Australia I did today - note the kangaroo steak mention.  Those Aussies sure go hard!!!

I have been writing a lot about nutrition lately and want to start getting back to posting about exercises, though I still have a long post to do on the topic of Nutrition - anyway, this reader letter is a good one on which to transition from one element of fitness to the next...

3/28/07
Hi Greg, how are you and thank you for your time.  OK, here we go.
My Goal: To gain muscle mass in my legs and shoulders.
My injuries:

• At 12 years of age I hurt my right shoulder playing football. At 16 through heavy bench with little warm up, I hurt my right shoulder again. Also at 16 through heavy squats, I hurt my lower back.
• At 21 I severely strained my left ankle and broke a bit of bone off.
• Over the years of working construction starting from 18, I struggled at times with my back.
• Year 2000 I strained the lateral ligament in my right knee from football; came back 2 months later after strengthening it with weights.  Went to osteopath once a week at that time to get the right shoulder good enough to play football every week. 
• Year 2003 I hurt my lower back through constant repetitive lifting; with a twisting movement I would lose strength to my legs momentarily.  It took a good 6 months to get strong through physical rehabilitation.
• Year 2005 a doctor diagnosed me with scheuermann's disease - damage to my spine. 
• I also tore my left groin quite badly riding a mechanical bull. The tear started in my buttock, up through the groin, into my stomach. It is no problem now, though.

My Diet:
I haven’t drunk alcohol for 14 months.  My protein shakes average 24 grams of protein, so do the bars.  Kangaroo steak is high in its protein yield and very little fat.  Better than beef, sorry but I don’t have the grams to protein ratio at the moment.  The 3 day sample I gave you was over a weekend, where I eat more than during the week.  3 times a week I do karate, and try to fit in a weights session.  In October last year I started squatting again and still continue to feel good. Thanks again to yourself and Holistic Fitness for your help, it is much appreciated.

All the best,
Tony in Australia

Tony,
Sorry it has taken me a while, I wanted to really think and digest your e mail.
In a word...Damn!  You have been seriously hurt from the age of 12, when your tendons/joints/ligaments/ are all not even close to full development.  So sorry about all the injuries!

Actually, I analyzed you caloric intake and gram ration of protein, fat, and carbs.
Your diet is perfect except for possibly a bit more omega 3 and possibly some additional glutamine; they will really help in keeping you recovered.

Seems to me you work out very intense and your body just can't keep up.
You break your muscles down before they are recovered.  This can be fixed by supplementation and plain old rest Tony.  The most important thing is to remain injury free, thus slowing your pace down with your resistant training so your incorporate deeper muscle fibers.  This will build you in a big way with controlled intensity type training.

You may also want to think about some basic support, like neoprene knee sleeves, they keep you hot and compressed and really work.

You need also to watch the other training - martial arts; and how it supports you or sets you back.  Hyper-flexion, extension, and fast twitch multi-plane motions is what martial arts is about.  Building size and strength is heavy loading, close chain movements.  They are very different types of training and can support each other or burden each other.

You have to be conscious of what's going on in your body so you don't over train weak, repetitive, stress areas from your injuries.  You may have major scar tissue that has developed and with all this "stuff" going on, be very on edge of either muscle gain or simply breaking down your body again to the point of injury again.

Thus, you never get bigger, Tony!!!

I don't want to over talk this or discourage you, I just want you to be aware and to really focus when you train so you avoid further set backs.

Have you ever had a kinetic chain assessment?  I bet you have certain range of motion issues; some real strong and some weak.  You need to reestablish structural integrity and balance in regards to your strength and where it comes from.

My General Manager, Cam, told me your muscle endurance is amazing which is great and almost expected.  Now you need to train smart. Slow it down, load up the weight, and then let your body fully recover.  This means rest!!!!  This means get a soft tissue massage to bring circulation and energy to help restore, revive, and build.  You need to be in your body Tony, listen to it, train like an athlete and have major respect for your training so you go to the next level and not just set your self up for another injury.

Hope this helps!  Let me know, OK, and let's keep e-mailing.

All the best,
Greg

Full entry | posted by Gregory Joujon-Roche in Addressing Injuries , Community Questions , Nutrition , Supplements
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