Broken but not beaten

[Grough]

Hi all,

I stumbled across this website while on a business trip to Tokyo. The gym attached to my hotel wouldn't let me in unless I covered up my tattoo (Big Japanese social no-no apparently.) and I wasn't particularly keen on wearing long sleeves in 90F heat with 70% humidity. So a quick search for 'hotel room workout' brought me here and I must say I'm very impressed.

Up until two years ago I was extremely active, at university I played American football and did some part time boxing. I carried on playing football up until I was 32 when I had to make the decision to step away as my body was getting wrecked. Specifically my shoulders; my right shoulder has next to nothing left of its rotator cuff. This coincided with my company making some big deals and my travel going through the roof. Being limited to hotel gyms (when they let me in!) and restaurants has left me weaker than ever and I've been piling on the pounds around my waistline. While reading some of the posts on here over the weekend I glanced down at my chilli beef pizza and thought "How the $% did I get here??". So now I'm on board 100%.

Short term goals:

Strength train 3 times a week

Get on the bike that's slowly been gathering dust

Find a "fun" exercise (I'm heading to a boxing club tonight for this)

Clean up the diet

Long term goals:

Get strong in the 3 main lifts (bench, deads, squat)

Actively train everyday

Get competing again (whatever this may be in)

Feel like I can take my shirt off at the pool/beach

Challenges I face:

Work - Travel. Travel. Travel. Between now and Christmas I have to be in Australia twice, Germany, Seattle and Boston. I'm not even sure there's enough weeks left.

Friends - Odd to say, I know. But I am in London and my friends here tend to meet in the pub.

Injuries - My stupid shoulder. Or lack thereof.

That about wraps it up. I've taken the obligatory 'before' photo and I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can change it in the coming months.

Cheers,

Bruce

[Tom Kenobi]

Welcome to the Rebellion Bruce! There are some amazing blog articles that Steve has written up over the last few years, some even dealing with injuries. In the "How To" category Ithink there is an article on "How to train while injured" or something like that. Steve also has put in some links to some great articles within his to cross reference and gather more info. I can't remember if its in the "how to/injured" article, but there is a nice link to a men's health (i think) article which talks about specific exercises to due in order to correct/strengthen injured areas of the body. Looks like you are getting your goals lined up. Whether you post them or not, I would write down some reasons that you want to achieve your goals, whether you think they are vain or not, as long as those reasons deeply matter to you, writing them down will help motivate you. One of mine (a 'vain' one is) that I want to be able to wear the "tailor fit" dress shirts to work, the slim ones; why - because even though I dress fairly well in the business environment, I want to be able to stand out in how I put myself together, including the way my attire fits my body.

You can do it man! Again, welcome to the Rebellion!

PS - sorry if this was "preachy or long winded". One of the reasons I joined the Rebellion is to encourage and to be encouraged.

['Roos]

Welcome! On the subject of shoulder injury, I partially dislocated (and relocated!) my shoulder at work in November, and though it is not nearly the repetitive issue that you have, I have gotten very good recovery (Probably about 85% now) using high glucosamine suppliments and regular exercise of the joint. From some of the studies I've read, it's one of the few things which encourages cartelagenous rebuilding (the whole, your cartelage is gone forever thing is kind of not true) provided you exercise the joint. Good luck with all the travel and hotel gyms!

[Grough]

Thanks guys. I'm going to check out those 'How to' guides later and have a go at making my goals more specific. I must admit that when you mentioned 'vain' reasons I immediately thought "Dating Jessica Ennis". (I'll try to come up with something better!)

'Roos - What was you daily dosage of glucosamine? I did a quick search and found recommendations ranging from 500mg - 5000mg.

['Roos]

I take a 750mg/600mg glucosamine/condroitin pill. I know you can get ones that are double that (which may be better for a more severe/long term injury?) and I haven't ever heard of a glucosamine overdose. That said, not a doctor, not claiming to be one.

[metalchick]

Welcome to the boards! I understand the travel stuff for sure. I spend about 40 weeks on the road and I'm trying to figure out how to manage the workouts and eating regime while traveling for work. So I hope you'll share what you learn. I can't wait to see how great you develop! Good luck.

[Grough]

Cheers Metalchick! Perhaps we should gather the community to create a list of good gym for travellers??