Zach Hits the Boards

[ZachPSU]

Hello Rebels,
 
This challenge is mostly focused on me passing my boards on July 29th, with a day-by-day study plan I have built (and will share).  The plan begins June 22nd, because that is the day I’ve secured childcare for the toddler so I will actually have dedicated time to study.  Until then it’s just keeping me and my wifes heads above water, and a roof over our heads.  I want to dedicate a goal to different areas still though, as to not lose sight of me as a person for just one pursuit.  AKA don’t eat like shit, shut out my family, be lazy and stop working out, and blame it all on having to study.  My style will probably be daily brief check-ins with a weekly full review of all goals.  Here goes!

 

STRENGTH:

• I will continue with my lifting sessions 3x/week.
• I will bench 215 for three sets of 5 reps. Progress through Greyskull LP without getting distracted by other programs and needless tinkering with workout plan when I should be studying for boards.

 

DEXTERITY:

• I will complete one yoga session per week.
• I will complete maintenance (foam rolling, ball smashing) for bilateral hamstrings, and left shoulder/left knee twice per week.

 

CONSTITUTION:

• I will floss nightly. (This could go under charisma, but my regular 6 month dental hygiene visit was cancelled due to Big ‘Rona, so I don’t want to be uber-shamed when the next one rolls around)
• I will make conscious decisions to avoid sugary food. (Vague, but I don’t want to binge ice cream nightly and tell myself I’m bulking.)

 

INTELLIGENCE:

• I WILL ROCK THE SHIT OUT OF BOARDS.
• Take the practice tests on my schedule to identify areas of remediation or improvement.

 

WISDOM:

• I will build awareness of when I am feeling stress and pause those moments to decompress before acting or speaking. (In general, I want to feel less likely to lose my shit when my toddler wants to practice scissors on legal documents, or when the dog stops walking directly in front of me in a planned assassination attempt).

 

CHARISMA:

• I will reach out to a friend I haven’t heard from lately once per week to see how they are doing (I can rotate this among friends).

 

 

Okay, enough typing, off to study!  Looking forward to cheering all the rest of you on as well.
 

[Bean Sidhe]

Sounds like a good challenge. Good luck. I just finished my student time. It can be hard.

[ZachPSU]

12 minutes ago, Bean Sidhe said:

Sounds like a good challenge. Good luck. I just finished my student time. It can be hard.

 

Tell me about it. Returned to school in my mid 20s for a Masters, and again in my 30s now this doctorate. Considering just becoming a fulltime student in life and riding student loans for the rest of my life!

[Bean Sidhe]

14 minutes ago, ZachPSU said:

 

Tell me about it. Returned to school in my mid 20s for a Masters, and again in my 30s now this doctorate. Considering just becoming a fulltime student in life and riding student loans for the rest of my life!

I just got my BS at 39 (I got my AS at 20). so I get it. I have a High school student and a Jr high student now, I am out before they are, but it gets harder as the kids get older since they have things they want to do in the evenings.

[ZachPSU]

12 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

but it gets harder as the kids get older since they have things they want to do in the evenings.

 

Yeah, as mine have gotten older (6 weeks and 3.5 years) Ive learned at each stage Im like “it will be so much easier when they’re older and.....” but it ends up just being a different challenge. 

 

Last night had a piece of a blueberry dessert the wife made, it was delicious, but definitely had sugar in it. Dont know how much, but it was still less than the amount of ice cream I might eat in a “serving” and the day was pretty sugar-free otherwise. 

 

Flossed last night too and my gums feel all kinds of weird today. Probably a good thing, so hopefully they just feel normal by the time week 1 starts and I get this part over with in week 0

 

workout went well this morning, wasn't bench day as per my strength goal, I will be going for 210 for 3x5 on Wednesday. I did let my phone distract me a good but during the lifts this morning and the workout took me closer to an hour and a half instead of the hour it should take. That was something I was working on last challenge and could probably do better with 

[ZachPSU]

Allllmost didnt floss last night. Thougt about doing it when I was giving toddler a bath in between convincing him to get his hair wet. His quarantine hair is a disaster of a mop. We cut it once and did a terrible job. I’ve been shaving my head with a razor for about 10 years so i dont use my clippers and we just wrecked it. So now its kind of wrecked and kind of longer. Like someone fertilized charlie browns christmas tree and it grew in all jacked up and uneven. 

 

About the sugar.. my wife dished up the blueberry dessert she made which is fine I was gonna allow that but also put some big ice cream scoops on top of it. Not like I could just put it back in the container, so I ate that last night. I regret nothing  but I wont let it get me on the sugar craving train for another round tonight. 

 

Today should be good, nice weather so try to get toddler outside today. 

[RedStone]

omg I love how everyone is flossing every night! Yes, it'll feel better after a week or so  You're reconditioning your gums!

 

Also, PASSING THE BOARDS PASSING THE BOARDS! Which is basically the opposite of....?

 

 

 

[ZachPSU]

7 hours ago, RedStone said:

Also, PASSING THE BOARDS PASSING THE BOARDS! Which is basically the opposite of....?

 

Pretty much!  I saw you say you are a fitness related professional in the juice bar, what do you do if I may ask?

 

 

Todays been good but toddler really pushed my patience this morning. I was grilling lunch after we went on a good 2ish mile walk (he was in the stroller about half of it) and he was getting into EVERYTHING while I was trying to grill. Digging in my raised veggie beds, throwing water at my tenants car, playing by the english ivy my neighbor planted and has taken over my back corner of my fence. Burned the burgers while I was trying to do a deep breathing break with him on my rickety ass grill. The heat shields are all jacked up so I get flareups pretty often. 

 

He responded well to the deep breathing break at least. Better than the burgers and dogs anyway. 

[RedStone]

Oofta, toddlers are tough! Glad to hear he took the chill exercise, I've heard good things from parent friends.

 

I did a late in life career change  I'm a personal trainer and health coach, and specialize in functional fitness and orthopedic exercise, working towards a cert in Intuitive Eating counseling now :DD which involves several lectures on a CD for some reason. I should ask friends if anyone has a walkman I could borrow 🤔

 

[ZachPSU]

Very cool, I am a career changer too but I don't consider it late in life yet   The last personal trainer I worked out with at a buddys gym was a really cool guy, worked IT 20+ years, was obese, out of shape, made a personal change and became an amateur bodybuilder and got into personal training full time.  Never too late!

 

I'm interested in the orthopedic exercise, given 2 of my last rotations were in outpatient ortho clinics (I don't think I want to work outpatient ortho in the model it exists in here in the US with multiple patients per hour, but the creativity you can have with ortho-related exercises was pretty fun).  

 

I changed a strength goal today, I switched my programming to Greyskull LP.  I've done GSLP before with success but got back into a basic broscienced PPL homebrew that I was honestly just tapping out.  Doing a program I'm familiar with will help me not have to spend any energy at all thinking about what my lifts for the day will be and I can then focus directly on boards studying beginning Monday.  Did the first lift for GSLP today, putting my upper body lifts close-ish to what I know them to be, with my lower body lifts more of a baseline 0 just for safety to ease back into the compound back squats/deadlifts.  I have a congenital fusion of L4/L5, so I have a lot of extension overflow demand placed on L5/S1 and L3/L4, making deadlifts and squats very slow for me at times.  I've learned slow and steady wins that race.

 

Finally, I'd like to add that I think I am a hostile flosser.  Those little floss picks last about five/six teeth for me before the string breaks.  Maybe I'm just too aggressive, or maybe the pack is 5 years old and the string is weak, but I am switching back to traditional wrap-around-fingers-turning-them-purple floss for the time being.  

 

[KeysMcGee]

9 minutes ago, ZachPSU said:

Very cool, I am a career changer too but I don't consider it late in life yet   The last personal trainer I worked out with at a buddys gym was a really cool guy, worked IT 20+ years, was obese, out of shape, made a personal change and became an amateur bodybuilder and got into personal training full time.  Never too late!

 

Fellow career changer here too! Awesome challenge, btw.

[ZachPSU]

Yesterday was good.  Daughter had 2 month vaccination appointment and she did not take it well at all!  My son was not bothered at all by the pricks so I was hoping she'd be chill as well, but no dice.  Would not settle all afternoon finally conked out laying on me and I dared not move as to not push on the bruises on her thighs.  Family got to eat their warm dinner while I sat on the couch with a babytumor attached to me - trying to attach a picture, first time so no idea if it will attach right in the spoiler box. Edit: the picture loads huge, if anyone knows how to scale that down please let me know lol.

Spoiler

 

Earlier in the day knocked out the yoga goal for the week (sorta).  If you count the video below, which I did with my son after a quick search for 'kids yoga' and this being a top video.  It was a little entertaining and actually kept his focus for MOST of the 30 minutes.  Later in the day he asked to do yoga again so I think he liked it and hopefully this can help with his general being-a-toddler-not-knowing-how-to-deal-with-stuff-ness while he gets through this stage.

 

 

Trying to get the whole clan out to a park nearby today for a longer walk and maybe a picnic, will see how that shakes out!

[RedStone]

On 6/17/2020 at 7:36 AM, ZachPSU said:

Very cool, I am a career changer too but I don't consider it late in life yet   The last personal trainer I worked out with at a buddys gym was a really cool guy, worked IT 20+ years, was obese, out of shape, made a personal change and became an amateur bodybuilder and got into personal training full time.  Never too late!

 

Yeah, it was kind of a tip of the scale, I taught Kung Fu in the evenings and did my design jobs all day. When we moved out of the city I realized how much that lifestyle wore on my anxiety and I went for the full time switch! No regrets  

 

On 6/17/2020 at 7:36 AM, ZachPSU said:

I'm interested in the orthopedic exercise, given 2 of my last rotations were in outpatient ortho clinics (I don't think I want to work outpatient ortho in the model it exists in here in the US with multiple patients per hour, but the creativity you can have with ortho-related exercises was pretty fun).  

 

Yeah, the pre-hab/hab/and post hab worlds are all pretty different - the client versus patient mindset really made a big difference when I was learning from physical therapists in their offices. People who choose to see a trainer are much more in the prevention or lifestyle camp and I really like that attitude. I went through a period where i was working with folks that were discharged early based on insurance but their hearts weren't in it. Of course I think the work speaks for itself - everyone benefits from thoughtful programming and training, fixing week links, all that jazz.

 

I have several parent friends I'm going to send that frozen yoga too 😂

[ZachPSU]

Long days, the past two. Missed my flossing yesterday! (Maybe missed isn't the right word exactly  ). Just been really tired and run down. In the final legs of a long quarantine with toddler and infant with help coming for the toddler starting Monday. Also a pesky tendonitis returning on my left triceps tendon. Ive been dealing with it on and off over the years, it probably flared up with the skullcrushers I was doing before just switching to GSLP this week. Taking it easy on that during these workouts where the weight is catching up to where it should be. 

 

Did manage to get my entire garden hooked up with a soaker hose to reduce time needed outside for watering, and the plants all doing well except the carrots. I believe those are a lost cause this year. Beets will need thinned soon already and thy are in the same bed as the carrots, so thinking it was the seeds there. 

 

For anyone curious, wife and I are up to the Guardians of the Galaxy in our MCU watch-a-thon  based off of this list https://www.amctheatres.com/amc-scene/the-best-way-to-rewatch-the-mcu

 

 

[PaulG]

Follerin’!

 

On 6/14/2020 at 12:36 PM, ZachPSU said:

I will make conscious decisions to avoid sugary food. (Vague, but I don’t want to binge ice cream nightly and tell myself I’m bulking.)

Just call it maintenance. 😁

 

On 6/17/2020 at 4:36 AM, ZachPSU said:

I have a congenital fusion of L4/L5, so I have a lot of extension overflow demand placed on L5/S1 and L3/L4

Ooh, sounds a bit rough. Does that put you at increased risk for spondylolisthesis? I hear that can be nasty at the L5-S1.

[ZachPSU]

37 minutes ago, PaulG said:

Ooh, sounds a bit rough. Does that put you at increased risk for spondylolisthesis? I hear that can be nasty at the L5-S1

 

Good question, not a clear answer but a screenshot of my MRI shows why. Its an incomplete fusion (actually error in segmentation process in utero— also called block or wedge vertebrae). 

 

 Spondys are often asymptomatic but yeah a 50% or greater slippage can cause some problems. Also mistype earlier, its a L3/L4 block. See enough L5 herniations in a rotation and you start doubting where your own problems are, lol. This was totally unknown for me until I was 25 and took a bad bump in BJJ practice one day and couldn’t feel my legs for about an hour. The MRI is from about 2 weeks after that, some small residual protrusions above and below the L3/L4 segment. 

 

Long story short, Im more likely to fracture at the thin point and get it cemented together but hopefully never to that point. 

[Chesire]

On 6/14/2020 at 3:36 PM, ZachPSU said:

I will build awareness of when I am feeling stress and pause those moments to decompress before acting or speaking. (In general, I want to feel less likely to lose my shit when my toddler wants to practice scissors on legal documents, or when the dog stops walking directly in front of me in a planned assassination attempt).

This is definitely an admirable goal and obviously will ultimately serve you well in many aspects.  But I do want to call cahoots on your toddler and dog.  I don't doubt the dog's assassination attempt at all, but I think the toddler may have had some planning help from someone without thumbs. 

 

I like the vagueness you left in your plan.  Hopefully it will allow for adaptability once the board stress really ramps up, like when the blueberry dessert with ice cream is absolutely necessary.

 

10 hours ago, ZachPSU said:

took a bad bump in BJJ practice one day and couldn’t feel my legs for about an hour.

well, that's a scary way to find out

[Rookie]

Hey flossing buddy! Your challenge reminded me I should floss 🙈 weekends are clearly going to be hard for me. 

 

Also, I love Guardians of the Galaxy

[ZachPSU]

1 hour ago, Chesire said:

well, that's a scary way to find out

 

Yeah it was pretty scary at the moment. It was before Id began any of my PT coursework so now that Im more educated about how resilient the human body is and how to take care of my spine, I feel like it is more of a fun party trick without the trick part. 

 

9 minutes ago, Rookie said:

 

Hey flossing buddy! Your challenge reminded me I should floss 🙈 weekends are clearly going to be hard for me. 

 

Also, I love Guardians of the Galaxy

 

 

Ughhhh I forgot again last night!  And Guardians feels much more of a comedy than the others so far which is kinda nice. Also Chris Pratts transformation from his parks and rec body to his marvel body is impressive!  Now if only we all had all day to workout with professional guidance and a personal chef doing our meal planning we could all do it. 

[ZachPSU]

2 days in a row of consecutive flossing!  Definitely less blood and 'weird' feeling now.  Okay, first day of studying starts now!  Here's my week-by-week plan leading up to the exam.  Some explanations:

MSK = Musculoskeletal (Week 1)

NM = Neuromuscular (Week 2)

CP = Cardio-Pulmonary (Week 3)

"CP's" = "Content Prompts" - sort of like broad knowledge areas within each section, almost like chapters in a book.

"CAT's" = "Critically Appraised Topics" - kind of like key diagnoses I need to know in each area, broken down into Gold (common/important) to Silver/Gold (Less common).

PEAT 1 and 2 are my remaining 2 practice exams I have purchased.  I need to have passing marks on those to feel confident going into the boards on the 29th.  

CWA's = Kind of like case studies, review of evaluations, treatment planning, interactions with patients, etc.

 

Plan picture in Spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

So today's work is: 

 

• Active-Passive Insufficiency
• Arthrokinematics-Osteokinematics
• Body Composition
• Capsular Patterns
• Circumferential Measurments
• Close packed-open packed positions
• Dynamometry
• End-Feel
• Gait
• Joint plan
• Joint receptors
• Levels of limb amputations
• Manual muscle testing

 

Godspeed!

 

[ZachPSU]

Successful day!  Hit all of the boxes, need to go back and review some specific Arthrokinematics and the Gait nuances, but the rest of today ended up being mostly recall learning.  Tomorrow gets a little more intricate with some pharmacology (we don't have to know crazy amounts of medicines, but we need to know enough to be aware of side effects -- particularly more in the CP section).  Also the section on fracture types and pain are pretty involved.  

[ZachPSU]

Today's gameplan, some heavy topics.  I'll add that I am studying at my parents vacant house here to have some sanctuary while MIL helps at home with toddler so wife can focus on our infant.  I felt some strong pulls towards shutting down and playing some games on the laptop, but resisted yesterday.  That was the biggest sticking point of my level 1 challenge was staying off of games, specifically MMORPG's.  Just counted and it has been 26 days since I have played one, I'd like to keep that distraction at bay as I plow through the studying and keep focused on the main quest of my real life right now.

 

• Mobilization
• Muscles - Origin/Insertion/Action/Innervation
• Musculoskeletal Pharmacology
• Orthopedic Special Tests
• Pain
• Palpation
• Planes of the Body
• Postural Awareness Training
• Postural Stabilization Training
• Posture
• Range of Motion
• Resistance Training
• Stretching
• Types of Fractures

[ZachPSU]

Okay, yesterday was some win some loss.  Didn't finish the whole list, but some of it is sort of on-going and will be rehashed in more specific cases over the next 3 days.  Didn't focus on the AOIN charts for muscles because there's just so many and its kind of just a recall thing from being hammered into me during the human cadaver dissection lab for anatomy and then a year of clinical rotations for the more common ailments/muscles.  Also didn't focus much on range of motion (ROM) values because again, mostly a recall thing.

 

With the time instead I did fill out my candidate profiles for the 3 major hospital networks in my area, a travel company that might have contract work near me, and a few other smaller groups, so that once I get my licensure number I will be ready to become gainfully employed.

 

Today's list, getting into some fun stuff now!

 

• Achilles Tendon Rupture
• Adhesive Capsulitis
• Ankle Sprain - Lateral
• Anterior Cruciate Ligament Sprain- Grade III
• Bicipital Tendonitis
• Lateral Epicondylitis
• Medial Collateral Ligament Sprain -- Grade II
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteogenesis Imperfecta
• Patellofemoral Syndrome
• Plantar Fasciitis 
• Rotator Cuff Tear
• Rotator Cuff Tendonitis
• Scoliosis
• Spondylolisthesis - Degenerative
• Tempromandibular Joint Dysfunction
• Torticollis - Congenital
• Total Hip Arthroplasty
• Total Knee Arthroplasty
• Total Shoulder Arthroplasty
• Transfemoral Amputation due to Osteosarcoma
• Transtibial Amputation due to Arteriosclerosis Obliterans

 

Fortunately, much of this I have seen in clinicals first hand and developed treatment plans and performed interventions with.  Most of the rest of it I recall a good bit of from just reading the name, so today should be a good day!

 

Adding a picture of my son doing yoga, we got him his own mat yesterday and he loved it (has a thing with giraffes at the moment). I highly recommend Cosmic Kids Yoga for any parents looking to direct their toddler-ish aged childrens attention and energy toward something if you’re stuck indoors. 

[RedStone]

22 hours ago, ZachPSU said:

Adding a picture of my son doing yoga, we got him his own mat yesterday and he loved it (has a thing with giraffes at the moment). I highly recommend Cosmic Kids Yoga for any parents looking to direct their toddler-ish aged childrens attention and energy toward something if you’re stuck indoors. 

 

😭 😭 😭 😭 😭ermegerd I love this so hard!!!!

[Rookie]

On 6/20/2020 at 9:03 AM, ZachPSU said:

Ughhhh I forgot again last night!  And Guardians feels much more of a comedy than the others so far which is kinda nice. Also Chris Pratts transformation from his parks and rec body to his marvel body is impressive!  Now if only we all had all day to workout with professional guidance and a personal chef doing our meal planning we could all do it. 

Ohhh no but it sounds like you have been on track so far! I was reminded again by your thread so thanks

I do enjoy the humour for sure ❤️ Groot is my favourite then Rocket. I would be down for a personal chef lol  and yah if I had all the time and money I could justify just getting a personal trainer to keep me on track haha. And while we are at it a personal stylist. 

 

I really like those kids yoga videos lolll better than the adult ones. I could see myself doing that frozen one. The picture of your son is so sweet!

 

I am probably too young for a career change at the moment but its definitely something I am open to in the future if I find something I am passionate about but so far nothing I would like better than my current job. Plus it would be hard to walk away from my salary lol.