[Adam Bishop]

What was the injury? Has lower limb strength and ROM returned to pre injury levels? Have these been measured?

Hi adam,

I had a lateral stabilization and arthroscopy of my left ankle.

Swelling is still noticeable a year post surgery and feeling hasn’t fully returned to the foot – as I believe the surgeon nicked a nerve.

Rom is still slightly limited on both dorsiflexion & plantarflexion. Im still prone to inversion on Uneven ground

[/quote]
Ok my check list from a rehab point of view:

1) Get the ankle ROM back as close to other side as possible. Knee to wall sets of 15-20 multiple times a day. Coming back from my Achilles reattachment I did this every time I went into the kitchen to get my meals and it made a huge difference.

2) Get stable. Are you currently doing proprioception exercises as part of your ongoing rehab? single leg balance work to strengthen ankle stability. You mentioned that your job requires running on uneven ground. I would suggest that getting your ankle resistant to inversion would be a must. It’s boring AF but I think it is super important in your case.

3) Get strong. Single leg, closed chain exercises for your strength work. SL leg press, step ups, skater squats etc. Get your ankle strong through its full range of motion.

All of the above should be recorded and compared to the non injured side. You are basically trying to get them back completely even or at worst case within 5%.

I hope this helps, I know it’s not the exact question you asked but understanding WHY your ankle is swollen is the real key here.

Also while you are working on the above you have to expect some inflammation to exist. Be mindful of how your ankle is when you wake up. I expect it to have some swelling at the end of each day but this should go down over time. Don’t be afraid to manage swelling with icing if necessary – while I don’t agree with icing soft tissue injuries such as muscle tears, I find it very beneficial to manage swelling in joints especially when trying to maintain function to keep training. Bucket of ice water is best here. 15-20mins at a time.

[Adam Bishop]

What was the injury? Has lower limb strength and ROM returned to pre injury levels? Have these been measured?

[Adam Bishop]

Started off with hill sprints this morning – 7x50m with walk back recovery.

Then got home and ate meal one before heading off to Physique warehouse gym for my squat session. Felt really good today, squats moved really well and my recovery between sets is amazing right now. Very confident that things are moving forward in the right direction.

Squat 277×8
Squat 176x5x10
Seated Leg curl 5×10
Standing calf raise 5×10
Cable curls 3 sets

[Adam Bishop]

Proper rest day today. Just got my steps in and had a physio session.

Hill sprints and Squats tomorrow.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day. Spent most of it sitting in front of a laptop but managed to get all my steps done and did my 20mins stairs.

Another rest day tomorrow then a new training week begins on Friday.

[Adam Bishop]

Really solid couple of sessions today. Felt great, a lot of energy and super fast recovery between sets. Kicked things off with Circus DB and some atlas stone complexes this morning then back into the barn in the afternoon after my sports massage at lunch time:

Incline Bench Press 152.5×3 162.5×3 172.5×4
Incline Bench Press 115x5x10
Seated Cable Row 5×10
EZ Tricep Extensions 5×10
Cable Rear delt 3×20

[Adam Bishop]

Great day today. Couple of check in’s health wise with BP at 122/76 and fasted BG at 4.6 this morning.

Hill sprints first thing on a new slightly less steep hill which was much better underfoot. Did 6x50m with walk back recovery. Then in the barn in the afternoon for my deadlift session:

Block pulls 305×3 325×3 345×6
SLDL 230x5x10
Bulgarian split squats 5×10
SL Calf Raise 5×10
BB Curl 5×10

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day. 20mins stairs done this morning then watched the rugby this afternoon.

Hot tub and evening walk done and now time to get some sleep before deadlifts tomorrow.

[Adam Bishop]

146.3kg

Morning session at the farm increasing the weight on the yoke runs and increasing the volume on the sandbag work:

Yoke 280x3x20m
Sandbag 4×2

Then back home for a couple of meals and into the gym this evening for my press session:

Military Press 100×3 110×3 115×6
Military Press 77.5x5x10
CG Pulldowns 5×10
Pressdowns 5×10
DB Reverse flys 5×10

[Adam Bishop]

Finished up at the lake early this morning and headed over to Physique warehouse gym for my squat session. Everything moved well but my TFL is starting to show signs of unhappiness so I need to keep an eye on that and be on my prep work over the coming weeks.

Squat 235×3 250×3 263×8

Squat 175x5x10

Seated leg curl 5×10

SL Calf raise 5×10

Incline DB curl 5×10

[Adam Bishop]

Morning Adam,

Scrolling back and reading through your diet, noting the higher food on NTDs – I’ve always read that the food you eat on ‘game day’s or training days’ doesn’t really count towards performance – it’s what you eat the day before?

Given your experience as a pro coach and pro strongman – do you think more people would benefit from higher cals on NTDs for recover and to fuel their workouts the following day?

Keen to hear your thoughts.

Enjoying the log.

Matt

Hi Matt. The difference here is that my food is relatively high on Both TD and NTD. If I was dieting hard then having more calories on my TD would make total sense. Furthermore with a higher food day which is usually 6-8k kcal for me depending on the time of year, it’s much easier for me to eat that food on days that I am not training and have more time to eat.

In regards to your question regarding athletic performance – it depends on energy expenditure and the athletes goal. For the vast majority of athletes having higher food days on their training days makes more sense.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day today spent at the lake fishing. Doing the night here too then heading straight to the gym for my squat session tomorrow morning.

[Adam Bishop]

Heavy rows. Barbell bent over rows, TBar, SA DB rows all the good stuff that is hard to do.

Any decent machines or cables you can load effectively.

The vast majority of my back work now is cable based (Pulldowns and seated rows) as I’m doing a lot of deadlifts but when the deadlift volume is lower I like single arm dumbbell and bent over rows.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day.

Got my daily steps done and did 20mins on the stairmaster.

Also saw my physio today for our weekly session as I’m training on Friday when I usually see him.

[Adam Bishop]

147.0kg

Another double training day to finish another training week. Started with a couple of events in the barn then incline bench press in the afternoon once again in the barn:

Circus DB 80x8x1
Stone of steel complex 90x8x1

Then the afternoon push session:

Incline Bench Press 142.5×5 152.5 162.5×6
Incline Bench Press 115x5x10
Seated Cable Row 5×10
EZ Bar extension 5×10
Cable Rear Delt 5×10