First Workout Post Surgery

I am sitting here at my computer breathing slightly hard. During my post-op visit yesterday my surgeon said I could start light workouts. Considering how badly my surgery knocked me on my ass I took him very seriously.

So I sat down about half an hour ago at my workout bench and did the following exercises:

1. Rows, 5 sets of 10. 50lbs weight. Alternated underhand and overhand.
   These were really easy and I didn’t feel like I was working out at all. But as my doctor suggested, I kept the weight low.

2. One Armed Curls, 3 sets each arm. 30lbs weight.
   These were also really easy and I had no problems.

3. Bench Press, 3 sets. 50lbs.
   This is where it started to get interesting. As I did the bench press, I noticed a warm feeling in my neck, right where the neck muscle that was taken used to be. I also noticed a tightening in my left shoulder. Still, all in all, it was not that hard.

4. Arm raises, never finished, 10lbs.
   This is where I immediately hit failure. Remember, in a previous blog I said that my surgeon had to move a nerve that controlled my left shoulder to get to the cancer. He told me I would have some weakness as a result.

   No shit! With my left had at my side and with a 10lb weight I could not lift the weight more than a foot before my shoulder gave out on me. So I lowered it to 5lbs and barely got any higher. I grabbed a 2.5lb weight and managed to get it and my arm parallel to the ground but no higher. I cannot list my arm higher than my shoulder right now in a stiff-arm raise.
   

Pretty crazy stuff. To top it off, when I came in Carey said my scar was glowing red. I forgot that blood rushes really show up on scars and since my is so new it looks very wicked.

Still, for a 20-minute workout it’s a start. Tomorrow I’ll try again and, knowing my limitations now, I’ll target the workout to address my weak area.