str8flexed’s BodyBlog

Ok got back from the doc today

He says I am healing great.  We are still touch and go though according to him, I’m still being held together by "superglue" LOL.  He said at 8 weeks post surgery I’ll "start to have tissue that’s worth a damn."  LOL.  So we won’t be doing any loading for 2 more weeks.  BUT he did take my brace off… OH MY GOD IT FEELS SO GOOD TO MOVE!  I cannot stress how much we all take our daily functions for granted.  We really do.  Not being able to reach with your right hand, or play sports, or even hold Isabel with my right arm… it sucked.  He gave me some stretches to do and said I’m already pretty flexible compared to where he thought I might be so that’s good.

I also talked to him about my leg workouts.  He said he wants to wait 2 more weeks for the safety squat bar; said he’s concerned about it pressing on the tissue, so that’s out for 2 more weeks; but that’s ok.  He said one armed smith machine is totally fine so I’ll be hammering lots of those.  I just feel so blessed that I’m pulling through this and it looks like I just might get out with nothing but a scar.  Once again; I know these things are not life and death, but I love bodybuilding and am so excited at the prospect of being able to continue to do it.  I didn’t take pics today but I am going to take some tomorrow.  My right arm is down just over an inch, and my right pec is now visibly atrophied… still not as bad as I thought it would be.  But I have gained some size on my legs… I’ll take it!

-Layne

Hi Everyone,
First off an update on my injury.  Yesterday I went in
for another check up and this time I actually got to
speak with the surgeon.  He felt around on the tear
area and was very pleased with the progress.  He said
he believed I was healing ahead of schedule.  He
thinks I may be back lifting heavy in around 6 months
which is great news.  I also got to talk to him more
about the actual tear itself.  He told me that the
lower head of my pec completely tore away from my
tendon.  I had always assumed it was merely a partial
tear, but in fact I had completely separated the
tendon from the muscle!  The doctor told me that he
honestly was worried that the sutures would not hold,
but now he is very encouraged because it seems to be
healing well.  In his words “we’re holding that thing
together with shoe laces and bubble gum man.”  He
wants me to keep the brace on my arm for another 3
weeks to ensure that I do not tear my sutures away.
After 3 more weeks I’ll begin physical therapy and
start to get some of my function back.  As you can
imagine, I am thrilled to death with how well
everything has gone.  It really puts everything in
perspective when you have something you love very
nearly taken from you.  Next time you think about not
wanting to do a workout or complaining about how hard
your workout is, think about how lucky you are to be
able to workout and be healthy.  It’s a gift and we
should all be more appreciative of it, myself
included.

In other news:  I recently entered a new abstract in
the University of Illinois Nutritional Sciences
Symposium poster competition.  I won this competition
last year and so I knew it would be difficult to do it
again as Illinois is extremely competitive in the
field of nutrition.  The title of my abstract I
presented was “Isonitrogenous protein sources with
different leucine contents differentially effect
translation initiation and protein synthesis in
skeletal muscle.”  The short of the research was we
fed subjects whey or wheat protein at 3 different
total protein levels and looked at the differences in
anabolic response to the meal (protein synthesis and
translation factor activation).  We found that whey
was superior to wheat protein at stimulating protein
synthesis and translation factor activation even
though the total protein intake was the same.  We also
determined that leucine content of a meal was a better
indicator of the anabolic response than total protein
content.  The judges for my section were very critical
and asked me very insightful questions.  I wasn’t sure
how well I had done as the judges were very critical
but in the end my name was announced in first place!
Obviously I feel very honored to have won the award
twice in a row, it is really great to know that other
experts think your research is worthwhile.  Hopefully
I can keep it rolling!

Until next time,
-Layne