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?????