Hello, all –

I'm new to this forum, but have been low carbing on and off for years (mostly on during the off-season, off during meets). I'm a weightlifter (USAWA National and IAWA Heavyweight World Champion 2002) who is looking to move into World's Strongest Woman competition within the next 3 years. But I have a problem. I'm hoping other strength people or trainers can help me out with. Any and all advice, seriously, is welcome and needed. Please don't be shy!

I've had a nagging shoulder injury for some time now (one-arm barbell snatch that went over the top), and have been rehabbing and so on... My GP finally referred me to an orthopedist who immediately said, "Rotator cuff. You're gonna need surgery." I didn't like that – it seemed too much of an assumption on one visit with no MRI.

So I got a second opinion.

Long story short, he did x-rays in office and found a problem with the AC joint (where the arm meets the shoulder). (Forgive me here if I make a few medical spoonerisms here.) There's already some striations in the end of the shoulder bone, and some cyst formation in the joint, as well as a dandy case of bursitis. He told me this is a common injury for lifters, and gave me a cortisone shot in the bursa. I'm to lift nothing over 50 lbs with that arm and absolutely NOTHING over my head for 4 weeks. We'll re-evaluate then and he may have to go in and shorten that bone a bit. He'll also look for rotator cuff problems then on an MRI, just to be certain it's not a combination of things.

Anyone have an opinion on that? Anything I can do (or not do) to help it along (he says nothing beyond what I just told you, unfortunately)?

NOW – the shift.

This puts me out of the USAWA Nationals in June entirely. My follow-up is exactly one week before the competition, and even if the problem is taken care of, I can’t imagine how I can train up in a week without hurting myself or sucking stagnant canal water through a dirty straw. So I withdrew. I also cannot afford Australia, Hawaii, or England – the next 3 major meets for USAWA/IAWA – so I'm out of it for about 2 years – which I had planned after the Nationals anyway. I had planned to move into Highland Games/StrongWoman over that time, making lifting the secondary sport.

I'm also out of the Highland Games season for at least the summer, I estimate – I love it, but again for financial reasons I had planned to go only to meets that I can drive to and not have to get a hotel. Combine that with rehab time and not going to practice until I'm fully healed and the shoulder is completely stable, and that makes a limited schedule indeed.

SO – the shift now moves to fat loss. I need to lose a significant amount of fat still, and this may be my golden shot, since I can't do much over this time to seriously gain major muscle. I might as well just do it and get it over with and not worry about the strength, is my feeling – correct me if I'm being too simplistic here. All I can hope to do, I think, is spare as much muscle as I can while getting down to about 20% BF as the ultimate goal for StrongWoman competition. Of course I'll be healed long before I reach that goal, and can start training, but the primary goals will be fat loss, cardiovascular conditioning, endurance, agility, grip strength, and core (abs, back, obliques) strength during the healing period. Did I leave anything out that I could work on or need to think about for StrongWoman training?

This is a MAJOR paradigm shift for me, and to be honest, quite intimidating. For years, my goal has been to lift more weight. Period. To the happy exclusion of much cardio beond walking to work or the corner store or Mass (a 20-minute walk in all cases, pretty-much). I HATE walking/running, unless it's part of a relatively short-distance weight-bearing event (like Farmer Walks, Yoke Carry, etc.) I HATE biking right now, primarily because my fat butt hangs over too much, lol – and it's boring because I'm not a skilled rider and can't do interesting things with it. Jumping rope at my weight is asking for foot fractures. But I've lost about 12 lbs. since April, so maybe I can start that before too long. Heavy bag work, while one of my favorites, involves stressing the shoulders too much.

So – do I bite the bullet and learn to run? Or can anyone save me from the living hell that is cardio boredom? Anyone know some good Zen Koans I can chant while forcing myself to run? I have John Davies' book on agility drills - anything else I might need to know? God - I have to learn an entirely new and somewhat alien sport. It's learning completely new ways to use my body, that's certain.

Thanks for your time in reading this, all. Any advice you can offer on appropriate workouts that don’t involve shoulder movement or that can get my cardio stuff going better, please do let me know.

Cheers, and Thanks in advance!

Hi Maternan!

You are way out of my league!

I hate cardio myself and am grudgingly doing 20 Minute Aerobic Solution 3 times a week. I'm doing Body For Life and am half way done. I do the walk/jog/run/sprint for my 20 MAS and used to hate it but now I'm down to disliking it. I am not planning on doing much cardio when I've finished my last 6 weeks on it, but instead am going to keep on with the weight lifting that I really enjoy.

This may be a good time for you to seriosly low carb and lose that fat you want to. If you hate cardio like I do, then 20 MAS might be a good solution. I used to get myself to do it by telling myself it's only 20 minutes and then I can be done.

There may be more info on certain subjects you want to know about on the forum, you could make use of the search function to help you find out.

I think TrainerDan and Natrushka are both away for a while now, and I'm doing my best with my limited knowledge to try to fill in.


Beth