At 10.15am yesterday morning, I was in the studio working with my client Dan when a grinning Kenyan cyclist popped his head through the door to announce that he had just completed a solo 2 hour recovery ride and that he had made it!!(As if he wouldn't..now really..did you ever for a split second think that he wouldn't make it? Exactly!) Anyway, seeing Dedan's face beaming from ear to ear was delightful....he was definitely pumped to have done his ride 'alone'. I asked him where he had decided to go and he replied that he had gone 1 hour up the coast and 1 hour back. I kinda figured that he would have done that as the coast line here really is beautiful and you never know when you may spot a whale or the odd dolphin jumping out of the waves. Recovery rides you can look and smell the ocean.....makes up for all the other rides which are usually head down, butt up, pumping legs and lots of hard breathing while trying to stay with the pack (ala Swamis group rides!!)
California Coast Line - Moonlight Beach by day:
Moonlight Beach by sunset:Dedan chilled for the rest of the morning, had some lunch, sat in the sun and then in the afternoon I put him through a weight training session. Being a cyclist his scapular adductors, mid thoracic spine and lower lumbar needs to be strengthened to counter the 'is that a turtle on a bike? look'....you know what I mean! Some cyclists are very hunched over and so the extensor muscles become long and weak from hours in the saddle.
Dedan has never really lifted weights in a gym setting before and so our plan is to slowly expose him to weights with regular sessions, maybe daily but keep them short and sweet. After the time trial race on Sunday he said he wanted to learn how to use aerobars and so my focus of Monday's workout was to get him into the aero position. 16 years on crutches and 8 years riding a bike has made for one strong flexion pattern and so I knew my work was cut out for me.
Aerobar position - Cable and cuff one legged hip flexion/extensions:
Every time he said he was tired I just asked him what color he wanted. I initially got a 'huh? look' and then a 'what are you talking about you crazy kiwi lady with the funny accent and who speaks waaaaaaayyyyyy too fast?' look one after the other. I then explained the three choices: 1.Gold, 2.Silver or 3.Bronze. Which one did he want? Ahhhhh!!! you didn't need to be a brain surgeon or to know much English and/or Swahilli to understnd the response to that one now did ya honey!!! Yes the answer was gold and so three more sets of 12 reps were promptly pushed out of a supposedly 'tired' body!! Motivation..isn't it a fab thing!
Dumb Bell Three Point Row:
I gave three point rows to Dedan to try to balance out the right side of his body which is not used to working but will have to once the new leg arrives. I stabilised his right stump on top of a Bosu, balanced on the bench as his stump is still quite sensitive and so the Bosu is soft enough to allow him to press down and place some force up through what he has left of a femur and up through the right hip.
Pull Ups:
The pullup was my compliance exercise as Dedan had seen one of my other clients doing them in the gym earlier and so he wanted to 'give it a go'. Hey he's young, has a strong upper body and so punched out a set of 10 with total ease. Ahhh...I can hear all my regular clients saying..silly boy..she's now going to up the ante..you should have faked the first set Dedan and saved something for the next two! Yep..he should have but I only asked for two sets this time...I'll let him ease into it..another week and we'll go full steam!
Swiss Ball Seated Cable Wood Chop
Dedan was amazing with this exercise and his balance is insane! I had him working both directions and yes his core was on!
After the weight session we went to Seaside Market in Cardiff to get things for dinner and we had an impromtu English/Swahilli lesson in the vegetable section. More or less a show and tell, a smell and nod session. It was very funny and once again involved all who were shopping at the time. I was looking for things to go with our fish tacos which was on the menu for dinner and Dedan was looking for some herb which he could not find, he knew the Swahilli word but had no idea what the English translation was. However, the cool guy in charge of the department prompted a 'smell and is this it? lesson. Out came mint, thyme, sage, basil,rosemary..all to a resounding no, other shoppers politely suggested other herbs but we couldn't find it. Meanwhile I had picked up some cilantro and thrown it in the basket not thinking that maybe that was what he wanted. We get to the counter, I pick it up to add to the pile of all my 'stuff' and Dedan gets a whiff of it as it lands on the conveyor belt. It was quite the priceless moment. A light goes off - he says the Swahilli word, I say the English word and then we both start laughing. Yes..you definitely had to be there...the poor check out girl was left wondering what was up with us....communication it's a beautiful thing!
Over and out...
Janet
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