Racer X Virtual Trainer

So what would you recommend to maintain a decent fitness level while dealing with a meniscus injury? Normally mountain bike, trail run and do high intensity weight training and now I'm stuck for the next six weeks. Pretty common injury for motocrossers.

Ed - Sorry for the delay. Been a busy few days here at work.

Here are a few articles from the site that may answer your question. I'm not a big believer in training too intensely while injured. Take it easy and use this time to completely recover. I assume you are seeing a PT so I would ask them this question. To me, your Doctor and PT are the only people who should be prescribing exercise, both volume and intensity. Hope this helps and again, sorry for the delay!

http://www.racerxvt.com/article/trainin ... d-training
http://www.racerxvt.com/article/dealing-with-injury
http://www.racerxvt.com/article/acl-reh ... -nutrition

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Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com

Ed-Def take Tim's advice! I would look into strengthening glutes, hip abductors, hamstrings, calf muscles, when ready to do so. Also look into hip mobility and ankle mobility. If I were you I would figure out and find someone good at what they do, to figure out why you tore your meniscus in the first place and address those issues ASAP.

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www.jytraining.com

Prepare for Success!

Thanks Tim, I'll have the surgery tomorrow and will be seeing a PT to get the program started. I want to make sure that I include the correct exercises and exclude exercises that put the knee at risk. I covered most of that with my surgeon during the last visit. Unfortunately I have had more than a few injuries over the years and am pretty familiar with the routine. The biggest concern I have is losing the hard won fitness level that I had before the injury. I participate in MX, MTB and XC running and it will be a challenge to maintain my fitness level because, at 50, it seems to go away pretty fast.

I'll review the info from the provided links and really appreciate the advice.

Joel, thanks as well. Core and lower body strengthening is one of the foundation blocks of my program. Docs seem to think that the meniscus and partially torn ACL are part of the same incident that left me with an avulsion fx of the ankle of the same leg a year ago.

Ed - You definitely need to read Coach Seiji's article on recovery. The balancing act between allowing your body to rest and recover and doing too much is one of the hardest things an athlete has to deal with. Trust what Coach Seiji is telling you and let your body heal. Use all your available energy to heal (faster than you would if you pushed things) and then come back and regain what you have lost. And have no doubts you will lose some fitness but it sounds like you are the kind of guy who has the will power and drive to gain back what you may have lost.

One thing you can do while injured is make sure your diet is spot on, get tons of sleep, and work on things like stretching and mobility. Have you tried yoga or Foundation Training? Now would be a great time to start those activities!

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Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com