In today’s diatribe I give you Old Man Conjugate: Another Surgery In the Books, and it’s a quick update on you guessed it: my latest surgery. And hopefully my last one too.

How many times have I had surgery?

Not sure.

  • 3 Knees
  • 1 Gall Bladder
  • 1 Total Hip Replacement
  • 1 Pec Repair
  • And finally Quato repair. (Hernia)

That’s 7. I think it’s all of them.

Anyway.

If you follow my logs, I was doing pretty darned good after the total hip replacement and I was feeling and moving like when I was 35 or younger. Strength was coming back, mobility, agility too. And I’ve been doing GPP/Cardio on the regular.

It’s like I was a new man. With new goals.

And then.

Quato came to live in my belly.

C.J. Murphy,; Old Man Conjugate, Another Surgery In the Books;
Photo credit: https://whatculture.com

The hernia (Quato) put a damper on my quest to be unkillable, but it didn’t stop it. I did not stop training because a primary rule of Old Man Conjugate is to find something that you CAN do.

And I did.

I kept up with my High Kinetic work with my Bandbell bar collection as well as lots of sled drags and Prowler  pushes. My training certainly went down quite a few notches in volume and intensity.

But it didn’t stop.

Because, Old Man Conjugate says you cannot quit.

Ever.

So, I booked the surgery and consulted with the Doc. I’ve spoken to a lot of Doctors in my day and I’ve never had one tell me what this one did.  Doctors typically downplay the issue and say things like:

“Well, it won’t be painful, but you will be uncomfortable.”

Or

“You’ll feel some discomfort in the recovery process.”

Not my guy.

He said as best as I can remember, “It’s going to hurt like a mofo.” (I am paraphrasing.)

He really did go on about how painful and how it would be after surgery and that the recovery would take 6 months.  It was odd having a doctor say the recovery would be long and painful. Really painful.

I’ll tell you, it hurt pretty bad the day of the surgery (Wednesday). Day 2 (Thursday) the pain was about 50% less. Day 3 (Friday) I had mild discomfort. I’d describe it as having done a hard 1980’s style ab workout level of soreness. By Day 4 (Saturday) I can say that I had no pain at all. Zero.  Sneezing, or coughing was only mildly uncomfortable.

As of today, I am 8 days out from Another Surgery In the Books and I feel like I could get right back into full idiot mode in the gym. I will not though. I did start training on Monday (Day 6) and will keep my usual schedule, just modified training.

The doc says I cannot lift more than 20 pounds for 3 weeks.

That seems like an arbitrary number doesn’t it?

So, I paid attention to the instructions and did the following on Monday:

  • 10 minutes treadmill
  • 10 minutes step mill
  • 10 minutes elliptical

Then I took a pair of 7.5 pound dumbells and did:

100 reps on:

  • Incline Press
  • Tate Press
  • Flys
  • DB Curls

Followed by:

  • Standing Leg Curls (empty machine-no weight) x 50 reps
  • 4”  Step Downs x 50 reps

And then on Wednesday (Day 7)

30 minutes Treadmill

3 MPH/High Incline

+

  • Leg Press (empty machine only): 200 reps using various foot positions
  • Standing Leg Curls (empty machine-no weight) x 50 reps
  • Bench Press (empty bar): 10 sets x 10 reps nonstop with 10 different grip positions from close to all the way to the collars  

And then:

Circuit of 25 reps each using 40 pounds on the cable stack using my Spud Inc Long Ab Strap

  • Overhead Extensions
  • Face Pulls
  • Low Pulley Curls
  • Pullthrough

For a total of 150 reps of each

Let me tell you, I’m sore! Good sore like a bodybuilder. No ill effects, no pain.

And I took the dog for 1 mile walk to boot.

I don’t know where the 20 pound limit came from but I don’t think I can stick to that for three weeks.

What’s the point of my Old Man Conjugate: Another Surgery In the Books update?

Simple.

You’ve got the rest of your life to train, if you mess up what the doctor repaired in surgery, it’s gonna take a lot longer to recover.

Hopefully he lifts the 20 pound limit when I see him next week.  

What’ll I rip open or off next time? Hopefully this is the end and I don’t tear anything else! Fingers crossed.

Did you miss last week’s log?

Read it here.

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Vincere vel mori

C.J. Murphy

January 11, 2024

Total Performance Sports