Kelly Frankson DOT COM

So…8hrs of stretch therapy latter my quad is doing MUCH better. Big issue was re-aligning my body-pelvis was tilted and pretty much everything from my hip to toe on the left side was out of alignment-kind of crazy, on Sunday my left leg was actually an inch shorter than my right, but now I’m all straight! In addition to fixing my alignment he also has been working on the facia tissue. Still a bit of inflammation but definitely SIGNIFICANTLY reduced-I have been using the Traumeel Garett, thanks for the recommendation.

Did absolutely nothing on the leg Friday-Wednesday and then Wednesday night returned to o-lifting to do light power work. Absolutely no squats, just worked on power snatches and cleans from high blocks working and getting full extension and then some light snatch deadlifts. Quad felt pretty good after the session (although I didn’t really use it for anything) although I could feel the outside of hip an the inside of the knee, but went straight from o-lifting to my sisters place (my sisters husband is my rehab therapist) and got things re-aligned again. On Friday I then went back and Power snatches and cleans from the ground (again with comparatively light weights and no full squats). Snatches felt really good, but with the cleans I was having problems generating power from the legs and just felt weak, but then today the light cleans felt much better and I was actually able to get some power transfer from the legs, but still no squats or anything heavy.

So progress is being made, but it will be a while before my leg will be at full strength. Starting to build it up slowly by doing low resistance rows and will start incorporating LIGHT squats to gradually re-build it. Will actually be good for me in that I rely on my leg strength way too much and tend to short the pulls (which I am not able to do power snatching and cleaning from high blocks).

So as most of you know I haven’t been doing much Crossfit lately, just focussing on O-lifting, but  since Crossfit games are coming up and I had a week off Olifting before I start building up to get ready for the White Rock Competition at the end of June I have been incorporating more Crossfit elements in this week.  Friday morning I went out for breakfast with my 6am class and then when I returned to the gym Patty was doing Tabata Jumping squats with the 8am class and said I should jump in and I said “sure why not”, so Patty handed me a 45lb bar and without warming up or doing any high metabolic exercises since December for some reason I decided it was good idea and without thinking about it or trying to go hard or fast I started off with 20 (other people were between 6-12, and most people can’t even do 20 regular tabata squats never mind 45lb weighted jumping squats so what inspired the 20 I have no clue), 20 became 18 became 17 became 16 and then in the 5th round I hit 14 and told myself that enough was enough and that I wasn’t going to let it drop any further so I finished with 14 (so I did 127 45lb jumping squats in 160seconds) and surprise my quads starting seizing up after.

I drank tons of water and ate lots of food and stretched them out and as the day went on they started to get warm and puffy.

This morning my right leg felt much better, (still some puffiness but just a regular stiff muscle thing going on), but my left leg…was swollen from the knee to the hip bone and felt like there was fluid between the muscle and skin but yet I still have full range of motion-weirdest feeling ever, just felt sick.  I taught at Langara from 9-2 and it started burning while I was teaching and it was weird because going up the stairs was OK, but going down the stairs felt like the muscle in the quad wasn’t there and were just going to give away.

I remember how sore my legs were after doing tabata squats the first day but this is totally different, then it was muscle pain trying and difficult to walk up stairs, now the muscles themselves don’t hurt, it feels like the muscles aren’t there and its something in between the skin and muscles and walking down the stairs is the challenge.

SO I went to the Drs. office on my way home.

I came so close to punching the guy in the face.  His first comment was “Wow there is a lot of Inflammation”, but I think my favourite comment was “I don’t think there are any broken bones”-what bones am I going to break in my quad from doing jumping squats???  Then he asked me to demonstrate a squat and his response was “wow that’s a nice squat” and then he brought another dr. in and said “check out this squat” and commented on how strong I was (I sware If he asked me to do one more squat I was going to punch him) but then he showed the other doctor my quad and said he has never seen anything like it and that there is obviously some muscle strain but has no clue why there is so much fluid build up or what is causing it.  They pretty much suggested I take lots of anti-imflamitorries and wrote a referral to see a physio and left it as “don’t do any more jumping squats and hopefully it will just go away on its own and the muscle will rebuild”.

But now I’m off to have an ice bath and will get my sisters husband (who is a rehabilitation therapist) to look at it tomorrow…

Anybody have any tricks to get swelling in the quads down?

“Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or by the handle.” – James Russell Lowell

There are three types of tea:  green, oolong and black.  During the fermentation process, thus the leaf remains green. Oolong tea is partially fermented.  Oxidation is cut short so the leaves are black only on the edges.  Balck tea is fully fermented producing black leaves. 

Most of the tea we drink is black tea.  In fact, 94% of all teas consume is black.  Although tea has approximately half the amount of caffeine as coffee, it should not e drunk excessively as it can discolor your teeth and cause insomnia.  Drunk with meals, tea inhibits iron absorption in your body.

Green tea tends to get all the attention because of an antioxidant called EGCG that is preserved in green tea, but lost in oolong tea and black tea when fermented.  Antioxidants are thought to prevent harmful free radicals.  The highest amount of any known antioxidant is found in green tea.  EG has been found to be a hundred times more effective than vitamin C, and 25 times more effective than vitamin E, at neutralizing free radicals.

Herbal Teas are made from flowering plants without woody stems.  Herbal infusions can include flowers, herbs, fruit and spices.  Unlike all other types of tea, these infusions are caffeine-free.  Examples are fennel, chamomile, nettle, peppermint and roobios.  These teas are alkaline forming whereas fruit teas like apple, blackberry, or raspberry may e mildly acid forming. 

Roobios tea acts as an antioxidant that slows the aging process; prevents cancer and lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease; is packed with flavonoids, antioxidants and more powerful vitamin C, green  or black tea; supports the digestive system and is anti-spasmodic, relieving stomach and cramps; helps manage allergies; soothes skin irritations when applied directly to the affected area; replenishes iron levels; is calorie free; boosts the immune system; aids health problems like insomnia, irritability, headaches, nervous tension, and hypertension; has  a low tanin content; contains no artificial colors; additives or preservatives; contains no caffeine; contains no oxalic acid which prevents iron absorption, contains zinc for healthy skin, contains calcium, flouride, and maganese for strong bones and teeth; and contains magnesium for the nervous system.

Ginger Tea is warming and extremely good for settling the digestive system.  It is best made from fresh ginger.  Ue about 1 inch per person.  Simply peel the ginger, slice it up, and pour on boiling water.  The longer you leave before drinking, the more beneficial it will be.  Adding lemon will make it even more alkaline.

Not the weekend i had planned but definitely an experience.

As i arrived at the hotel a guy i met at westerns was going out for dinner and asked if i wanted to join them. Just so happens he was going with christine girard (the top female lifter in canada) went for breakfast with her sat morning while the boys were getting ready to lift and dietr (the semiamooh coach who was coaching me for the weekend) walked by and commented on how i sure know how to pick my company-first i fall into the hands of a world class coach (dan) then i become friends with the top lifter in the country.

I was glad we got to watch the guys on sat to be able to get a feel for the place. It was crazy. People actually had to pay admission to watch and there were 100 +people and reporters and everything.

I Weighed in at 930 sunday morning. Must have been tossing and turning all night because i Weighed in super light at 56.63.

Warmup area was kind of crazy-there were a lot of lifters in our session so it was a free for all for the bars and weights. The quebec coaches were quite rude-at one point i was about to pick up the bar to do my Last warmup and one of them grabbed the bar from underneath me took off the weight and gave it to his lifter. I needed dan (my nigerian coach with arms the size of my legs) there to fend them off. Despite that warmups went well-did a perfect 57kg snatch for my Last warmup and then went out to do my first attempt at 58kg felt like i was shaking as i walked over to pick up the bar and completly rushed it shorted the pull and couldnt control it. Video of the second attempt is bellow:

But then between my second and third attempt there were 5 lifters and it seemed like they took for ever. Id never waited longer than 2 minutes between lifts before and again rushed the snatch and sent 62kg flying over my head (i snatched 61 2 weeks ago). What sucks about it was the bar seemed light i just started with the weight too far back on my heals shorted it and couldnt control it. A better video is to come but this will do for now:

Warmup for c+j went great. I was even jerking in straight lines i did a perfect 72kg in the warmup area and then went out to do my first attempt at 74kg and did a beautiful clean jerked it a bit out front but was able to bring it back in but relaxed the muscles to soon and let one of my elbows rebend on the way up so 2 of the 3 refs said no lift. Second attempt again real nice clean but jerk was out in front again but atleast it counted this time. But between my second and third attempt i had a crazy long wait again-let my muscles get cold and spent way to much time thinking about my jerk so third attempt at 78kg i was thinking of the jerk as i was doing the clean and…ended up with a bruised tail bone and made a mental note to my self that i must complete the clean before i do the jerk:)

So no were near what i wanted to lift and i was pretty disappointed with it yesterday but guy greavette put it in perspective by ponting out that in terms of experience i was the youngest lifter by far and in my ”bad day” still posted a total high enough to qualify for nationals which i would have been happy with 5 weeks ago at westerns. My response was ‘but that was 5 weeks ago. ‘

But the session after me had christine girard in it and she lifted 2 new canadian records. Absolutly amazing to watch. Check out all the fans clapping after her clean and jerk record (and just think this is only panning about 1/2 the gym)

And then after she invited me back to her celebration party at the hotel. Pretty Cool. About 15 family memebers rented a bus and drove 9 hrs to watch her so i spent the night drinking way too much with them.

This video of Jeans canadian Record snatch is also pretty cool:

And thats my nationals experience. Feeling much better about it today than i was yesterday. And now im all psyched to go to seafest end of june (which is in whiterock if any one wants to come and watch) and post my 63/82.

But ill post more and better videos when i get them sent to me.