59 Male LL exp w/ Dr. Assayag

My progression has been kind of crazy. Just on the 3rd of this month, I could not get up from a seated position. Yesterday I hit full body weight, ass to grass squats for 2 sets of 6 while resting at the bottom.  When I first started squatting from 2 chairs (1 stacked on top of the other), I felt like I was about to pass out because of how hard I had to push just to stand up.

My flexibility: I can sit on my ankles with no issue. I can sit there for 5 minutes for no issue. I can garland pose with no issue and then stand up from the position. I can’t touch my toes yet but I’m pretty close. I’m like 5 inches off. I think my flexibility already exceeds the average person.

My strength: I am still very weak. I cannot do lunge walks yet. On the horizontal leg press machine, I do 50 to 85 pounds for 8 reps. On the 45 degree leg press, I do 118 pounds for 8 reps with no issue. I could probably do more. I deadlifted 105 yesterday for about 6 reps.

My Stamina: I walked a mile last week and it was hard. I do all sorts of cardio like cycling, rowing, walking, and the elliptical machine.

My standing: I think I’m in a great position because I haven’t been cleared for fwb on my right leg. Once I get the clearance, I’ll be able to slowly and carefully do more explosive training. I feel really soar a lot. I got a pretty bad charlie horse yesterday in my right hip. My right leg is weaker than my left. I still use a cane.

I am now 9 months post surgery. I took a 2 week break from working out for personal reasons but I still got stronger which is a little odd.

It’s been a while since my last update. I’m just going to list the things that I couldn’t do before that I can do now. I will also mention how long it took me to do these movements with day 0 as the first day of weight bearing. I’ve been full weight bearing for exactly 3 months now.

Lunges - They were extremely difficult at first but after many reps, I can do them with weights now. It took about a month to do lunges comfortably again.

Side Lunges - I just started doing full/deep depth side lunges like two weeks ago. These are not easy at all. I have not added weights to this exercise yet.

Body Weight Leg Extensions - These are difficult for like 95% of the able bodied population including me pre surgery and I was someone who was athletically gifted (I was dunking at 174cm tall). I can do these for 3 reps after a warmup. It took 3 months to do this.

Duck Walks - These were not too difficult for me. It took 2 weeks to do them and 4 weeks to do them with 45 pounds.

Side Plank Hip Abduction - I accomplished this prior to full weight bearing. Do not do this while lengthening. It can irritate the muscles around your hips.

Jumping - I can jump right now. My vertical jump is probably 12 inches lol. It used to be 40 inches. I can do things like jump onto my 2 feet high bed or couch. I did this for the first time in the last week.

Running - I am capable of running. It feels like a lot of effort. I ran for the first time earlier this week as well. I did about 2 miles or 3.22 kilometers.

Sprinting - This is still very awkward. I tried sprinting in the past week but I’m not sure if the speeds I accomplished would qualify as sprinting lol.

Single Leg Dead Lift - From the moment I started full weight bearing, my left leg had no issues doing this but my right leg took 2 entire months to finally do it as well as my left.

Body Bridge - This took 2 months to accomplish. My legs just didn’t have enough strength before that.

Back Squats - I am doing 135 pounds for reps. Front Squats - Same here. 135 pounds. My squat progression has been extremely gradual. I started out barely able to do bodyweight squats. I had to use support to do squats because I couldn’t support my body weight. Eventually I didn’t need the support anymore. I progressed like dumbbells and then a 45 pound bar and I eventually started adding weight to the bar. I could probably do more but I’m in no rush.

Conventional Deadlifts - Not sumo deadlifts I deadlift 205 for reps right now. This was gradual as well but my starting point was much higher.

Single Leg Body Weight Squat - I am still working on this.

As more time passed I noticed my legs felt less heavy and more explosive. My main goals right now is improving my middle split, squatting 225 for reps, and deadlifting 305 for reps. Once I accomplish this I will switch my focus to sprinting faster and jumping higher while lifting less and doing the same amount of yoga.

9 months is nothing with regard to full bone recovery - the bone fully consolidates in 3 years - you're getting there - and will get there - good stuff 👍

congrats man this is a huge milestone

9 months post op and 3 months full weight bearing then you’re already back to lunges deep side lunges duck walks with weight jumping and even running a couple miles, that’s seriously impressive progress

also the way you wrote how long each movement took is super helpful for people who are behind you in the timeline

right side lagging a bit sounds normal, just keep building it up steady and don’t rush the sprinting yet

keep the updates coming 💪