Post surgery CrossFit questions

[Fluffnomore 1,235]

I was sleeved 10/24. From August through the night before surgery I have been doing CF about 2-3 times per week. Obviously I have been completely off now…my doctor has a 4-6 week lift restriction.

At my one week post-op last week with the surgeon and the PA, the surgeon said his guideline is start the regular exercise program 4 weeks out, putting off any lifting over 25 pounds until 6 weeks. HIs guideline: If you do it now and it hurts, stop. If you do it after 6 weeks and it hurts, do it anyway. He said if I want I can do some limited PVC work now…but frankly, he doesn't really know how CF works. I said, "What about weight lifting, say anything over 50 pounds?" He said, "I don't want you ever to do that!" laughed, and left the room.

After, the PA stayed behind and said, "Do NOT go back to CrossFit until at least the 4 weeks and maybe the 6 have passed. He doesn't know what it is. And don't worry about the last comment either…though I hope you will be very cautious and work back up to where you were."

Well, duh. I fully plan to aggressively scale; I will have lost a lot of muscle tone. But for those of you who are CF people, how long after surgery did you go back (or start)? What were the issues you had?

I should add that I also had a hiatal hernia repair during my surgery, just in case it means something different for lifting.

Thanks!

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

All surgeons have different guidelines, but mine was no lifting more then 5-8# for 6 weeks. Honestly, I would wait 6 weeks and then start easing back into it. I did cross fit some this lat summer and loved it, I had plastics which has much more activity restriction then the sleeve surgery, but I am waiting more like 12 weeks before doing that level of intensity.

[laners777 145]

Fluff...the most difficult thing for me right after surgery was trying to curtail my workouts to what the DR ordered. I'm not in good enough shape to do whole crossfit exercises, although I want to try soon. My DR said nothing but walking for almost 10weeks after surgery and then I started doing more gradually. The hardest thing was giving up swimming laps for that amount of time...I love to swim but did what they said and have had NO complications whatsoever, so it paid off. Good luck to you. Side note...CowgirlJane...congrats on finally doing plastics. You are one of the first people I read comments on this site when I started 5 months ago and I know you have been wanting plastics for a long time...so good for you!!!!

[Fluffnomore 1,235]

Thanks to both of you. Listen, I'm no tough guy. I was the one in the back doing the knee push ups and ring rows and lifting about half of everyone else. I look like I'm having a seizure when doing burpees, and as for jumping and running, let's just say I could…but I would limp for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to attempting those things again with less weight pounding on my poor joints (only hope that the weight loss will reverse some damage.)

Laners, why no swimming for so long? Was it too hard on your core? I confess I have been wondering if I'll even be able to do sit-ups at 6 weeks. How far out from surgery are you now?

CBJ, I echo what Laners says. I am finding a great deal of inspiration from the vets who post. I want to do this correctly and with as few complications and injuries as possible. My surgery was smooth as could be and other than being tired I feel pretty good now, so I do not want to jeopardize that.

[gamergirl 4,609]

You should PM fiddleman. He is an avid cross-fitter and although several months from being sleeved, he will be able to guide you better.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I am not sure about guiding, but I can be anecdotal about it and tell you about how the progression from surgery to crossfit worked for me.

Before surgery, I did the typical cardio type exercises. You know - an hour on the ellyptical perhaps a few times a week. It was not helping me very much because my eating habits were so out of control. I did zero lifting mainly because it frustrated me and I would stop trying to figure it out.

After surgery, here is the progression:

Month 1-2 : built up from 5 min walks to 3 hour walks 2-3 x a day.

Month 3-4: inconsistent use of ellyptical. 2 x a week if lucky. Still walked a lot, but not as much.

Month 5-7: started running. First run was surprisingly a 28 minute 5 k. I thought this was really cool that I could run. I started out running 5 k for 3 x a week. I worked up to running 3 x a week, but different types of running: for time, HIIT and distance. My running distance averaged around 10 k in about 55 minutes. I did a few really long runs of 10-15 miles, but that is not as appealing to me as running fast.

I hit goal at this point, but lost so much muscle. That is when I decided to make a change from running to something else.

Month 8-14: I started cross fit as a brand new guy. Never really even heard of it before, but I wanted to build muscle and become more athletic. I worked with a trainer 2x a week during these 6 months, learning about the different exercises and different techniques. I also started getting into some Olympic lifting, but most of the sessions were based on metabolic conditioning. On 3 other days during the week, I did body weight workouts using a program called " you are your own gym". I thoroughly enjoyed doing this program.

Month 15-16: I could no longer really afford the personal training so switched to open gym format. I go to the box 5 x a week and try and RX the workout every day. I can do almost every exercise with the exception of double unders, muscle ups and hand stand push ups. I am still working on these for skill and when they show up in a workout, I need to modify and do something like singles, box hand stand pushups and floor muscle ups.

During these last couple months of open gym 5 days a week I have gotten really good at certain exercises and Olympic lifts:

Running: 4:45 minute mile (first in 3 mile set)

Push ups: 50 unbroken

Pull ups: 15 unbroken

Burpees: 50 unbroken

T2B: 25 unbroken

Box jumps (holding 20# ball)

Dead lifts: 350 lb max

Bench press: 295 lb max

Man makers: 30 unbroken with 25 #

Etc

I really like burpees. Not a lot of people like them.

I still cannot do an overhead squat or s n a t c h with weight ( use a PVC pipe). It is on my 6 month plan. I will get it eventually, once my lats and scapula learn how to operate properly. I am currently in physical therapy working on my lat muscles. They are way to tight, even in neutral position.

There is always something to improve athletically every single day. Keep in mind you are a work in progress. You look at all the really good cross fitters and it is a little frustrating to see how in the world you can do what they are doing. It is a bid chasm to cross.

My suggestion is to think of cross fit as a progression. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of dedication to get it to the point where you can do a prescribed workout and not question yourself afterwards because of the difficulty, pain, soreness, etc. It gets better over time.

Always remember to do the following every day:

1. 4-5 g fish oil

2. 8-9 hours of sleep (I struggled with this until recently)

3. 90 oz Water or more

4. Take 2 rest days a week (not doing this will break you eventually)

5. Journal and keep track of your daily progress( I used a site called beyond the whiteboard)

6. Try and eat paleo. Your workouts will be easier if you put good food into your body.

7. Consider some caffeine, creatine and beta-alanine before your workout to improve endurance. Beta-alanine takes a month to load, but will protect you from fatigue both during lifts and metabolic conditioning.

8. Always eat a post op bar or shake.

9. Consider a recovery shake that has BCAA in it. Glutamine is important.

10. Be consistent. Do not cherry pick your workouts. You want to get as wide exposure as you can so only stay home if it is a rest day or you are sick.

Good luck. Hopefully you got something out of my rambling.

[Fluffnomore 1,235]

Thanks, Fiddleman! I will be fine with burpees when I can DO them. In high school I was pretty good at their precursor, squat thrusts (insert juvenile joke here.) I'm an Irish fireplug; ultimately there's plenty of strength in my legs.

Our box has daily sessions, so you pick a time and go. Small group of people, dedicated coaches. There are usually at least 2 and sometimes up to 4 coaches there. So I'm fortunate, they took me as I was and worked to scale everything. And I have never been much of an athlete. Strong, maybe but slow. I always have done the WOD when I'm there, sometimes even one of the girls (named WODs, in case someone else is reading and thinks I'm being creepy.) Have never RXd. I know that the head coach was hoping I'd find everything in CF and abandon the idea of WLS. Another coach watched his mother and sister fail at lap bands and so was also skeptical. But I think the end result will be that I am able to do more with the weight gone, will eat much closer to Paleo and be better able to try all the things he wants me to explore.

So I am anxious to get back but more anxious not to get hurt. I'm going to pace myself. Even though I am not crazy about the time off, I will say that I feel so fortunate for having a few months under my belt. I feel like that kind of conditioning, even at the rate I was going, really made a difference in my surgical experience. (Just having some ab muscles the first week was great.)

I know that is a longwinded response and you didn't ask for my story. :-) I am fascinated that you can run so fast…were you athletic prior to doing CF?

Edited November 3, 2013 by Fluffnomore

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Was I an athlete before? A big fat no!

I am a computer guy that writes code all day for the financial industry. My weight has been obese or worse for most of my life (a few short periods when I dropped and then packed it back on again). I did a short stint with cross country running when I was in 8th grade (after my first successful weight loss), but always came in last place. I skipped out on PE most of high school and did orchestra instead.

See a pattern? Lol. I only started on my athletic chops after VSG. It has been a lot of work. However, now I have hope that I can be an athletic guy, a computer guy and a musician.

[Fluffnomore 1,235]

Love this. Lots of similarities. Although I wasn't obese until my 30s, I was a benchwarmer for a number of sports. Ran a marathon in 5 hours in my 20s. And that's it. Also a musician (and so is my pre-sleeve husband.)

I am so glad to hear this! It gives me hope. :-)

[laners777 145]

Fluff, the restriction for swimming was mostly because the wounds from surgery had to be COMPLETELY healed, meaning no scabs everything had to look like a scar only, not a wound. I heal fast but didn't look like scars for quite awhile.

[Brighteyes 237]

My surgeon is an avid fitness guy too. He gave me very different advice about working out than your docs did. He knew I was doing crossfit for two months prior to surgery. He told me I could work out as soon as I wanted, but at first he wanted me to keep it to things that didn't make me sweat much (worried about hydration). But he said my body was the best gage of what I could and couldn't do. He also suggested that whatever I was doing prior to surgery that I would only be able to do 10% of that post op. He was pretty right on. Have fun getting back at it!

[Fluffnomore 1,235]

Brighteyes, how soon did you go back? When was your surgery? And what specifically did you start with when you went back?

[Brighteyes 237]

Brighteyes' date=' how soon did you go back? When was your surgery? And what specifically did you start with when you went back?[/quote']

I had surgery on the 28 Oct. Several hours after surgery I got up and walked 30 mins straight, twice. Since being released I walk at least an hour twice a day. I can't do anything that requires a lot of core strength so I haven't gone back to the box I go to, but am looking forward to it.

[Brighteyes 237]

Just wanted to follow up with this (had to change my username cause of this new app). I am almost three weeks post op. I did a crossfit workout twice this week with my trainer. Biggest differences I had:

1. Any weight I was able to do beforehand I had to dropped in half

2. It took me twice as long to get through my work out

3. Started to have some discomfort with any core focused exercises

4. I am more tired and falling asleep earlier - still getting my 8 hours of rest in though

[Fiddleman 4,376]

That is really something that you are doing cross fit post op 3 weeks. Really! Most of us were still figuring out how to walk without getting winded and /or dealing with pain, fatigue, etc. does your doctor approve of this? Regardless, be careful! Exercise, in general, will get much easier by post op 5-6 months. You are way ahead when I started my cross fit journey (month 7 for me) , so it is definitely new territory. Maybe 1-2 days a week for you and heavily modified. Go easy on the weights and intensity of the met cons. I still struggle with days feeling like crap after 3-4 days in a row @ post op 16 months. Just saying. Cross fit is not easy.