I can’t believe it has been a week since my last post. time has flown by.

I haven’t been able to train on the mat so I have been doing lots of cross training instead. I have also been in physio for several hours each day. I have done some base cardio work as well as intervals on the bike. Pushups and core exercises are a constant. I can now do 53 pushups in a row and 40 of slavi’s core torture exercise. We started with sets of 10 just a few months ago. I also did dumbbell bench press with just my left arm. Today I did a set of 10 at 80 pounds. My left pec continues to get stronger. Once I get to 110 pound dumbbells I will be where I was at last year. I hope to do this before the end of July.

A few years ago one of the retired wrestlers in Calgary who is known to be a pushup king did 110 pushups in a row. He is a little guy – weighing about half as much as me. I keep thinking of that number as my goal for pushups. We will see how close I can get.

It is now apparent that my shoulder injury is worse than I had hoped. I partially tore my right triceps and lat as well as enlarging the slap legion that already existed in my right shoulder. I need to be careful with my rehab because there is only enough time for one recovery. If I re injure this area then it is unlikely that I will be healthy enough to compete effectively in china. This is a difficult situation because I really want to get back on the mat in order to prepare optimally for china. I made significant progress this week and as a result the pain in my shoulder is much reduced and the strength is up. I am constantly being reminded by Slavi and Murray to be careful and not push too hard. I have a history of continually striving for more when I feel comfortable with the status quo. This has often got me in trouble as I get sick or hurt and then take a step back. I think Slavi will let me do some ground movement drills on the mat on Monday. I think I can also do some seated rowing which I couldn’t even think about last week. Hopefully next week I can start doing some technique on the mat.

The weather has been hot – it was 100 degrees on Friday.

I have been using 2 new puffers – one is Flovent, a corticosteroid and the other is an older version of Ventolin which is only available in Europe. I think they have eased the tightness in my chest from exercise induced asthma. My symptoms are worse in hot, humid and polluted environments. Think I may need this medicine in china?????