Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Chelsea Nicholas - Clydesale Interview Series | Coming Back from an Achillies Injury

Transcript

Chelsea Nicholas - Clydesale Interview Series | Coming Back from an Achillies Injury · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:09
  I was born to kill it.
• 0:16
  I was made to win.
• 0:17
  I am down and willing,
• 0:18
  so I will find a way.
• 0:19
  It took a minute,
• 0:20
  now it didn't happen right away.
• 0:22
  When they get hot in the kitchen,
• 0:23
  you decide to stay.
• 0:25
  That's how a winner's made.
• 0:26
  Stick a fork in a hater on
• 0:28
  my dinner plate.
• 0:31
  What is going on, everybody?
• 0:32
  Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
• 0:35
  My name's Scott, the Clydesdale,
• 0:37
  and I'm here with none
• 0:39
  other than Chelsea Nicholas.
• 0:43
  We've got a lot to talk about.
• 0:46
  We've got Kenneth in the chat already.
• 0:48
  He's always early.
• 0:49
  He's like 20 minutes early.
• 0:51
  He's that guy at work that
• 0:53
  comes to every meeting and
• 0:54
  is sitting in the room
• 0:55
  waiting for you as everybody walks in.
• 1:01
  He was here way before us.
• 1:03
  Love that.
• 1:06
  Gotta love those loyal fans
• 1:09
  and supporters.
• 1:10
  He's the best.
• 1:15
  We have Chelsea on because I
• 1:17
  want to catch up with her.
• 1:20
  We've become friends over
• 1:21
  the last couple years.
• 1:22
  Got to see her compete in
• 1:23
  all different facets.
• 1:24
  Last year she did team, individual,
• 1:27
  Masters,
• 1:30
  The whole nine yards.
• 1:31
  She made it to the games.
• 1:32
  She's winning the games.
• 1:35
  Does a box jump and ruptures her Achilles.
• 1:38
  And we've had her on to talk
• 1:39
  about that Achilles injury post-games.
• 1:43
  What we want to see is where she's at now.
• 1:47
  So, Chelsea, last time we talked to you,
• 1:51
  you had just,
• 1:52
  I think you were still in the boot,
• 1:53
  maybe just got it off?
• 1:55
  Yeah, I think so.
• 1:56
  I remember being in a boot.
• 2:00
  You remember being in a boot?
• 2:01
  Yeah, when we were talking, yeah.
• 2:03
  Yeah,
• 2:04
  because I told you what I saw with
• 2:06
  Julie Foucher and the
• 2:08
  little apparatus for the shoe.
• 2:09
  Yeah, to help level out the hips.
• 2:13
  Okay, so from that point on,
• 2:17
  what in the world?
• 2:20
  I am so disorganized today.
• 2:23
  So from that point on,
• 2:24
  what has rehab looked like?
• 2:28
  Okay,
• 2:28
  so we're at almost exactly eight
• 2:31
  months post-injury, post-op.
• 2:35
  And I have to say, like,
• 2:37
  it's kind of flown by,
• 2:38
  and I also feel like I've
• 2:40
  been dealing with this
• 2:41
  forever at this point.
• 2:43
  But every week,
• 2:45
  I'll say over the last eight months,
• 2:47
  every week has been a
• 2:48
  little bit different and a
• 2:50
  little bit better,
• 2:51
  kind of just moving in the
• 2:52
  right direction slowly but steadily.
• 2:56
  I was in the boot for three months.
• 2:58
  So there were the three
• 3:00
  months where I couldn't
• 3:01
  drive because it was my right foot.
• 3:05
  And there was not a whole
• 3:06
  lot you could be doing in
• 3:07
  those three months.
• 3:11
  It was just letting it heal,
• 3:12
  letting it rest because you
• 3:14
  couldn't stretch the Achilles yet.
• 3:17
  And then after that,
• 3:18
  transitioning out of the
• 3:19
  boot because you haven't
• 3:21
  moved it in so long,
• 3:24
  you're really limited with mobility.
• 3:26
  So kind of that first hurdle
• 3:27
  was really fighting to get
• 3:29
  range of motion back.
• 3:31
  And my repair was on the tighter side,
• 3:36
  which was intentional because
• 3:39
  my surgeon knew that I
• 3:41
  wanted to do like athletic
• 3:42
  things later and you need
• 3:43
  it tighter to build strength.
• 3:46
  So I really had to fight for
• 3:48
  that range of motion.
• 3:49
  It's still not the range of
• 3:50
  motion I had pre-injury.
• 3:53
  And that's one thing I've
• 3:55
  been kind of struggling
• 3:56
  with a little bit.
• 3:58
  Sorry to interrupt you.
• 4:02
  I just wanted to ask you a question.
• 4:04
  So you talk to your surgeon
• 4:05
  and you say he knows you
• 4:07
  want to do something athletically.
• 4:09
  Do you tell him that you're
• 4:11
  a CrossFitter or do you
• 4:13
  just skip over that and
• 4:15
  just say you do high level athletics?
• 4:19
  Yeah.
• 4:19
  So figuring out when and
• 4:22
  where to get surgery was kind of a,
• 4:25
  like the first stressful
• 4:27
  thing I dealt with,
• 4:28
  one of the first stressful things,
• 4:29
  because it's where can I be
• 4:32
  seen quickest?
• 4:33
  Where's somewhere that I trust?
• 4:35
  And I have Kaiser for health insurance.
• 4:40
  So initially I just went to
• 4:42
  urgent care as soon as I
• 4:43
  got home and the on-call
• 4:47
  ortho was going to have me
• 4:48
  in the next day to do surgery.
• 4:51
  And so I looked him up and
• 4:53
  it looked pretty,
• 4:55
  uh, like good enough, I guess I,
• 4:57
  with Kaiser,
• 4:57
  I didn't think I had many options.
• 4:59
  Um,
• 4:59
  and he ended up calling me the next
• 5:01
  morning and he couldn't get
• 5:02
  the OR booked and he was
• 5:03
  about to be out of town.
• 5:04
  So he put in a referral for
• 5:07
  a friend that he trusted.
• 5:08
  Um, and I guess like at urgent care,
• 5:11
  they knew that like I was
• 5:12
  competing in a sport at a high level.
• 5:15
  Um, so, um, let's see at that point.
• 5:19
  So he put in the referral
• 5:20
  for me and his buddy ended
• 5:22
  up being proliance.
• 5:23
  Um, and
• 5:24
  So now I'm sitting there
• 5:26
  with a ruptured Achilles,
• 5:27
  just waiting for a referral
• 5:29
  to go through and to get a phone call.
• 5:32
  And I mean,
• 5:33
  I don't really know when that
• 5:34
  phone call is going to come
• 5:35
  through and what the next
• 5:36
  step is going to be and
• 5:37
  what the timeline looks like.
• 5:38
  And on the side,
• 5:41
  I'm talking to a friend who
• 5:42
  knows a PA nearby who works
• 5:45
  for Pro Alliance that she
• 5:47
  trusts really well.
• 5:48
  And she's a CrossFit friend.
• 5:50
  So she got me connected with him.
• 5:54
  And I started talking to him
• 5:55
  and he got me an
• 5:56
  appointment for like that
• 5:58
  next Monday to see him.
• 6:00
  And the surgeon he worked with,
• 6:01
  he gave me her name.
• 6:02
  And I looked her up and she
• 6:04
  was a college track athlete.
• 6:06
  So that felt like something
• 6:08
  relatable to me.
• 6:09
  And that all felt good.
• 6:12
  So I went and saw him and we
• 6:13
  ended up booking surgery
• 6:15
  for that Thursday.
• 6:17
  And after I got out of that appointment,
• 6:20
  the other pro-alliance
• 6:21
  surgeon called me and I
• 6:22
  thought about like going
• 6:23
  and kind of feeling out both.
• 6:25
  But I ended up just sticking
• 6:28
  with the track athlete surgeon.
• 6:32
  They just felt more proactive to me.
• 6:34
  And I liked the pro-alliance route.
• 6:37
  And I think that was a good choice for me.
• 6:38
  So that was a really long answer,
• 6:40
  but it was awesome.
• 6:43
  You don't get hurt very often,
• 6:45
  and there's a lot of things
• 6:46
  you don't think about,
• 6:48
  and that was kind of a stressful time,
• 6:51
  making all those decisions
• 6:52
  when you're injured.
• 6:54
  Well, the reason I ask,
• 6:55
  and I am at no means at your level,
• 6:58
  but every time I go to the
• 6:59
  doctor and I say that I do CrossFit,
• 7:01
  they look at me like sideways.
• 7:04
  Like you do that crazy stuff.
• 7:06
  And, you know, I've had chiropractors say,
• 7:08
  well, that's,
• 7:09
  that's what keeps me in business and,
• 7:12
  you know, all that kind of stuff.
• 7:13
  And so I just was curious if you were met,
• 7:16
  if you even tell them what it is you do,
• 7:19
  or do you kind of skate
• 7:22
  around it to make sure
• 7:25
  you're getting the best care you need?
• 7:26
  yeah you kind of feel it out
• 7:28
  like you'll mention it and
• 7:29
  you you can kind of see
• 7:30
  their reactions some I mean
• 7:32
  at this point I've seen
• 7:33
  like a number of like
• 7:34
  urgent care or orthos or
• 7:37
  surgeons or pts or whatever
• 7:39
  and so you always like
• 7:41
  start with the general like
• 7:42
  oh I was doing crossfit or
• 7:43
  I do press fit and you can tell
• 7:46
  Based on their initial
• 7:47
  reaction kind of if they
• 7:48
  know what it is for one or
• 7:50
  if they have any like
• 7:52
  feelings about it for two.
• 7:53
  And you can kind of go from there,
• 7:56
  so I I'd say more often than not,
• 7:58
  people have heard of it,
• 7:59
  but they don't have a great
• 8:01
  idea of what exactly it is um.
• 8:05
  And so at that point I'll
• 8:06
  like go into a little more detail.
• 8:07
  Like it's a little bit of
• 8:08
  everything you're, you're sprinting,
• 8:10
  you're jumping,
• 8:11
  you're lifting heavy barbells.
• 8:14
  You're doing, it's a lot of stuff.
• 8:17
  And I think from that,
• 8:19
  at least for an injury like this,
• 8:21
  it gave them an idea of
• 8:24
  what I was trying to do later.
• 8:26
  But my surgeon specifically,
• 8:28
  I think had a pretty good idea and
• 8:31
  could understand that I was
• 8:33
  competing at the highest
• 8:34
  level and kind of where I
• 8:36
  was on the spectrum of like
• 8:37
  an active person.
• 8:41
  And she, she is a track ethic.
• 8:43
  She,
• 8:44
  I'm assuming she's still fit and all
• 8:45
  that kind of stuff and would want to,
• 8:47
  would want something
• 8:48
  similar if she were hurt.
• 8:50
  Right.
• 8:50
  Yeah.
• 8:51
  And, and she told me,
• 8:53
  and I think my like three month post-op,
• 8:55
  something like that.
• 8:56
  Um,
• 8:57
  she told me that I had the
• 8:59
  same repair as Aaron Rogers.
• 9:01
  So I'm pretty innovative.
• 9:04
  Even my,
• 9:05
  my PT looking at the scars said it
• 9:07
  looked like a pretty scar,
• 9:09
  like not as invasive and
• 9:12
  aggressive as a lot of the
• 9:13
  ones that she sees.
• 9:14
  So I know she did a really good job.
• 9:17
  So you bring up Aaron Rogers.
• 9:19
  And so we're going to,
• 9:20
  we're going to dive down that path too.
• 9:24
  I remember talking to you online and,
• 9:27
  You were in a spot where you
• 9:30
  were almost comparing
• 9:31
  yourself to Aaron's recovery.
• 9:33
  Mm-hmm.
• 9:35
  And, and I was saying to you like, yeah,
• 9:37
  but that's all he does all day is rehab.
• 9:40
  Like you work a full-time job, you know,
• 9:42
  and he has, you know, let's be honest,
• 9:45
  CrossFit doesn't pay what the NFL pays.
• 9:48
  So he has unlimited funds at
• 9:50
  his disposal to hire people
• 9:52
  to help him through the rehab.
• 9:54
  Did you ever compare your,
• 9:58
  I know you compared
• 9:59
  yourself to some degree.
• 10:00
  How long did it take you to get past that?
• 10:03
  Yeah, I mean,
• 10:03
  it's interesting when you get
• 10:05
  injured at the same similar
• 10:07
  times to kind of see where
• 10:09
  they're at and know where
• 10:12
  you're at and compare.
• 10:14
  But everything I saw was
• 10:17
  like a little clip and he
• 10:20
  could look like he was doing really well.
• 10:22
  But I also know like when
• 10:24
  I'm in a PT session and
• 10:26
  warmed up properly and like
• 10:27
  everything's perfect,
• 10:28
  I probably look pretty normal too.
• 10:31
  But just like
• 10:32
  getting up after sitting
• 10:33
  down for a long time and
• 10:34
  everything's cold and tight
• 10:35
  and you're kind of limping
• 10:37
  around and it's like, man,
• 10:38
  how is he doing that?
• 10:40
  Um, so I dunno, it,
• 10:43
  I had tried to look at it
• 10:44
  more as motivation.
• 10:47
  Um,
• 10:49
  and kind of an interesting thing is
• 10:50
  this year in the NFL, there were like,
• 10:53
  I want to say more than 20
• 10:54
  Achilles ruptures.
• 10:58
  Um,
• 10:58
  so I'll be really curious to see who
• 11:01
  else back next season and who's not.
• 11:05
  Um, but yeah,
• 11:06
  I have a lot of data points there.
• 11:10
  Didn't,
• 11:10
  didn't the one guy in the Superbowl,
• 11:13
  like just running on the field.
• 11:15
  Yes.
• 11:15
  I saw the video.
• 11:16
  Like he was just excited
• 11:17
  about to like run out there
• 11:19
  and there it went.
• 11:21
  And I guess come to find out,
• 11:23
  like he had some like cap or something.
• 11:26
  something going on injury
• 11:28
  related down there.
• 11:29
  So he probably had some
• 11:30
  warning signs that
• 11:31
  something wasn't healthy.
• 11:32
  Um, but yeah, it was wild.
• 11:37
  So speaking of that, there he is.
• 11:38
  He's getting a chance to
• 11:40
  play in the Super Bowl,
• 11:40
  what every football player's dream is.
• 11:44
  You're at the CrossFit Games.
• 11:45
  Were you nursing anything
• 11:47
  going in that you can look
• 11:49
  back now in retrospect and say,
• 11:51
  I pushed through this
• 11:52
  because this is my one shot?
• 11:55
  Or was it just, it was going to happen?
• 11:58
  Yeah, not really.
• 12:00
  I mean, when you're...
• 12:02
  I would say any athlete
• 12:04
  who's competing at that
• 12:06
  point in this season,
• 12:07
  they probably have
• 12:08
  something that they're
• 12:09
  dealing with on some level.
• 12:11
  And I would say over the
• 12:13
  last couple of years, um,
• 12:16
  I'd had like some knee
• 12:18
  tendonitis on my other leg.
• 12:20
  Um, just little things,
• 12:22
  nothing was bothering me at the time.
• 12:24
  Um,
• 12:25
  but I think maybe I had
• 12:27
  started compensating and
• 12:29
  using my right leg a little bit more, um,
• 12:32
  to kind of ease up on the left side.
• 12:34
  And again, like at the time I felt awesome,
• 12:38
  nothing was bugging me, um,
• 12:39
  in my legs or anything like that.
• 12:42
  But I think I had just done
• 12:44
  that subconsciously.
• 12:45
  And so with my right leg
• 12:47
  taking a little bit more of the burden,
• 12:49
  I think it's, um,
• 12:52
  it gave out.
• 12:53
  And I have to wonder if
• 12:55
  doing that crazy sled push
• 12:59
  event about two hours just
• 13:01
  prior had anything to do with it as well.
• 13:04
  Like,
• 13:07
  there's a lot of things to wonder about,
• 13:09
  but I think those are a
• 13:10
  couple of things that could
• 13:11
  have maybe contributed, um,
• 13:13
  over the last couple of
• 13:14
  years intermittently,
• 13:16
  I might have had a little
• 13:18
  bit of Achilles pain, but nothing crazy.
• 13:21
  And I can't say I did anything about it.
• 13:23
  I just avoided the things that hurt it.
• 13:25
  Um,
• 13:26
  but it wasn't anything that held me
• 13:28
  back and it wasn't anything
• 13:29
  that felt serious.
• 13:31
  Um, so.
• 13:32
  I guess I'll just say if you
• 13:34
  do have Achilles pain,
• 13:35
  make sure you're warming it
• 13:36
  up well and stretching and
• 13:38
  maybe doing like a calf
• 13:40
  strengthening progression
• 13:42
  or something like that.
• 13:45
  It's funny you say that
• 13:45
  because when I first started CrossFit,
• 13:49
  I was 450 pounds,
• 13:50
  so it was not what I do today.
• 13:54
  But I hurt my calf a lot early on.
• 13:58
  And my coach would have me
• 13:59
  do sled pushes because it
• 14:01
  was less explosive.
• 14:02
  Oh, yeah.
• 14:03
  To stretch it out,
• 14:04
  to try to get it to mend.
• 14:07
  In recovery, I've done a lot of that.
• 14:09
  And it's been great because
• 14:11
  it's a good way to...
• 14:14
  Um, yeah, like you said, lower impact,
• 14:16
  you get a nice calf stretch
• 14:19
  and it's like a calf raise,
• 14:21
  but without your full body weight.
• 14:23
  So it's been really good for me.
• 14:25
  But, um,
• 14:26
  the difference between that and
• 14:29
  what I did at the games was
• 14:31
  that was like a really
• 14:32
  heavy sled push at the end of a workout.
• 14:37
  And it was,
• 14:38
  it wasn't so much like the calf,
• 14:40
  but like the whole leg was
• 14:41
  just completely
• 14:43
  like blown up and, um,
• 14:47
  and then I hopped in a nice
• 14:48
  bath and then an hour later
• 14:50
  I'm warming up for the, this other event.
• 14:53
  And so I may be like the perfect storm.
• 14:56
  I don't know.
• 14:58
  So it,
• 14:59
  it leads me to this next question
• 15:01
  then is you're an aerospace engineer,
• 15:05
  like no slouch when it
• 15:07
  comes to the intellectual
• 15:08
  side of all of this stuff.
• 15:11
  How much Monday morning
• 15:12
  quarterback did you do?
• 15:15
  And was there a point you
• 15:16
  had to tell yourself,
• 15:18
  you got to stop this and
• 15:19
  just move forward?
• 15:23
  You mean like post-injury?
• 15:25
  Yeah.
• 15:27
  Looking back at what may have caused it,
• 15:29
  what?
• 15:30
  You know, I mean,
• 15:34
  it's hard not to like do
• 15:35
  that research because I'm
• 15:36
  reading all these articles about like
• 15:39
  Achilles injuries and of
• 15:42
  course some of them are
• 15:43
  like what could have
• 15:45
  contributed but I mean that
• 15:48
  was more just like out of
• 15:49
  curiosity because I know
• 15:50
  people might ask me and
• 15:52
  you're right like you have
• 15:53
  no control over what
• 15:55
  already happened all you
• 15:56
  can control is like how you
• 15:58
  handle it moving forward so
• 16:00
  I won't say I was ever like
• 16:02
  consumed by that or feeling
• 16:03
  angry or like blaming the programming or
• 16:08
  telling myself I was stupid
• 16:09
  to rebound those 24 inch box jumps.
• 16:12
  Um, it was just kind of like, okay,
• 16:16
  well that's somewhat of an answer.
• 16:18
  Um, I guess it's not too surprising.
• 16:21
  Um,
• 16:21
  now let's just see what we can do to
• 16:23
  get through it, you know?
• 16:26
  Yeah.
• 16:28
  Yeah.
• 16:28
  I like,
• 16:29
  I overanalyze every workout to
• 16:31
  begin with.
• 16:32
  Like I said, that's just the person I am.
• 16:33
  And if I, if I would get hurt,
• 16:36
  like when I hurt my back, it was like,
• 16:38
  was it the deadlift?
• 16:39
  Was it, was it this, was it that, you know,
• 16:42
  like, and then I overanalyze everything.
• 16:44
  So.
• 16:45
  Yeah.
• 16:46
  You know, I do think it makes you smarter.
• 16:49
  Um, because I mean,
• 16:51
  people can tell you a million times like,
• 16:54
  Oh,
• 16:54
  do your warmups, do your strengthening,
• 16:57
  like do your accessories, all this stuff,
• 16:59
  but it doesn't really hit
• 17:01
  home until like you have a
• 17:02
  serious reason to.
• 17:04
  And for me, like, um,
• 17:06
  as I've gotten more experienced and older,
• 17:09
  kind of those things that
• 17:10
  I've been like made a
• 17:11
  priority and incorporated
• 17:13
  is all because of lessons
• 17:14
  I've learned probably the hard way.
• 17:15
  Um,
• 17:17
  like you learn how to deal
• 17:18
  with a cranky shoulder
• 17:19
  because you have a cranky
• 17:20
  shoulder and you know,
• 17:21
  like what you need to do to avoid that.
• 17:23
  And I think the same goes
• 17:24
  for something like this.
• 17:26
  Um, and now in recovery, I mean,
• 17:28
  we'll probably get more
• 17:29
  into this and why I am not
• 17:31
  competing this season, but, um,
• 17:33
  like wanting to rebuild properly.
• 17:35
  So I don't have future
• 17:37
  problems in my Achilles or anywhere else.
• 17:40
  Um, so I think, yeah,
• 17:42
  learning things the hard way, um,
• 17:47
  My last question on this is
• 17:50
  you were one of the busiest
• 17:51
  athletes during that 23
• 17:53
  season because you did
• 17:56
  three quarterfinals.
• 17:58
  Yeah.
• 17:58
  You did two semifinals.
• 18:01
  Yeah.
• 18:04
  Do you think any of that was
• 18:06
  wear and tear on the body?
• 18:07
  I mean, I felt good.
• 18:11
  I mean –
• 18:15
  I don't think anything I did
• 18:17
  this season was like too much.
• 18:19
  And that's why I got hurt.
• 18:20
  I truly don't think that if
• 18:23
  there was an overuse thing
• 18:24
  that would have been more
• 18:26
  for an injury like this,
• 18:27
  that would have been more
• 18:28
  like over the years I've
• 18:30
  done so many like super intense, um,
• 18:34
  high impact sports like
• 18:36
  gymnastics and track,
• 18:38
  like triple jumping and
• 18:40
  pole vaulting and stuff like that,
• 18:41
  just like years and years
• 18:43
  compounded on each other.
• 18:46
  So there's that.
• 18:48
  The other thing is, yeah, again,
• 18:52
  reading all these articles,
• 18:53
  like what could have caused it?
• 18:56
  A lot of times these days,
• 18:58
  workouts are written in a
• 18:59
  way where there's no reason
• 19:02
  to rebound a standard box jump.
• 19:07
  Like there'll be a box jump
• 19:08
  over or there'll be a
• 19:09
  burpee box jump or
• 19:11
  something where it doesn't
• 19:11
  make sense to do a full
• 19:13
  standard box jump where
• 19:14
  you're rebounding to a full
• 19:16
  standing position on the box.
• 19:17
  It doesn't come up a whole lot these days.
• 19:19
  So I haven't done as many of them.
• 19:22
  And this workout had, I think,
• 19:24
  20 or 30 at a time,
• 19:26
  two different spots in the
• 19:28
  sprint type workout.
• 19:30
  So
• 19:31
  it made you want to bring down them.
• 19:33
  And I just,
• 19:34
  I hadn't done a whole lot of
• 19:36
  that leading up to it.
• 19:37
  So, um,
• 19:39
  maybe I wasn't conditioned in that way.
• 19:42
  Cause I don't know that your
• 19:44
  calves are really intended
• 19:46
  to do that sort of like
• 19:47
  repetitive explosive stuff
• 19:50
  back to back like that.
• 19:51
  Yeah.
• 19:53
  It's crazy because, you know,
• 19:54
  I was in Minnesota when
• 19:55
  Julie did it on the box jump rebounding.
• 19:59
  And then there I am at the
• 20:00
  games watching you and boom.
• 20:04
  It was so eerily similar.
• 20:06
  And the crazy thing is that
• 20:08
  is the fittest I'd ever
• 20:09
  seen Julie Foucher.
• 20:11
  And really thought she was
• 20:13
  going to have her best ever
• 20:14
  games performance.
• 20:16
  It's the fittest you've
• 20:17
  probably ever been.
• 20:18
  Absolutely.
• 20:20
  You were winning the games at that moment.
• 20:22
  And then just one tendon in
• 20:25
  the whole body gave out.
• 20:27
  That's crazy to think about.
• 20:29
  And the only reason I knew
• 20:31
  what it was is because of
• 20:33
  athletes like Julie Foucher
• 20:34
  and there've been a handful
• 20:35
  of others who have done the
• 20:37
  exact same thing on the
• 20:38
  exact same movement.
• 20:39
  So when, when I felt that,
• 20:42
  like feeling like you get
• 20:44
  whacked and then you look over,
• 20:45
  I thought someone hit me.
• 20:46
  I looked over, there's no one there.
• 20:47
  And it's like,
• 20:49
  I know exactly what just happened.
• 20:53
  It's crazy.
• 20:54
  So what I want to do now is
• 20:56
  you did such a good job
• 20:57
  kind of documenting month by month,
• 20:59
  like through your recovery
• 21:00
  on your Instagram.
• 21:01
  So I'm going to pull that up
• 21:02
  and just kind of show the
• 21:04
  progress you've made
• 21:05
  because it's significant.
• 21:07
  And,
• 21:08
  but before we go to that one last
• 21:10
  Aaron Rogers question, you know, he was,
• 21:13
  he was touting that he was able,
• 21:15
  going to be able to play by
• 21:16
  the end of the season.
• 21:18
  Which is unheard of in football.
• 21:22
  Like, I've been an NFL fan for 40 years.
• 21:26
  Nobody has ever come back in
• 21:27
  the same season to play
• 21:30
  after a torn Achilles.
• 21:31
  Yeah.
• 21:33
  He didn't end up doing it.
• 21:35
  He was activated by his team,
• 21:37
  but he never took the field.
• 21:40
  How realistic do you think that was?
• 21:42
  I...
• 21:46
  Because he made those claims
• 21:47
  pretty early on, yeah?
• 21:49
  Yeah.
• 21:51
  And the closer it got,
• 21:52
  he actually did kind of go
• 21:53
  through the steps of being
• 21:55
  cleared medically.
• 21:57
  Right.
• 21:59
  I can't imagine... I mean,
• 22:04
  I can't imagine that he
• 22:07
  actually would have been able to.
• 22:09
  I mean,
• 22:09
  it would have been such high risk and...
• 22:13
  I mean, I have to believe it was more just,
• 22:18
  I don't know,
• 22:19
  wanting to give the fans something to,
• 22:23
  like, hold on to.
• 22:25
  I don't know.
• 22:25
  I mean,
• 22:27
  he kind of stated he was trying to
• 22:31
  redefine the, like,
• 22:32
  acceptable recovery time, like,
• 22:35
  prove that it can be done.
• 22:37
  Um,
• 22:37
  but when you make those claims early on
• 22:39
  and it's something that hasn't been done,
• 22:42
  um, it's a huge unknown for you too.
• 22:44
  And like, yeah,
• 22:45
  that can be your intention.
• 22:46
  But, um,
• 22:47
  I think even coming back next
• 22:49
  season would be incredible.
• 22:51
  Um,
• 22:52
  so just kind of like shooting for the
• 22:58
  stars and then you're still
• 22:59
  going to end up
• 23:00
  accomplishing something pretty amazing.
• 23:03
  Yeah.
• 23:04
  To have a full recovery.
• 23:05
  Cause they say,
• 23:07
  like it takes almost two
• 23:08
  full years to be back to normal.
• 23:11
  Yeah,
• 23:12
  I was told that you're still pretty
• 23:15
  high risk up until like
• 23:17
  that year and a half,
• 23:18
  almost two year mark.
• 23:20
  And then after that point,
• 23:21
  if you were to re-injure it,
• 23:23
  chances are it wouldn't,
• 23:26
  tear in the same spot,
• 23:27
  it would be a different
• 23:28
  spot kind of thing.
• 23:30
  Like you're, it's, it's healed.
• 23:32
  It's a whole new tree at that point.
• 23:34
  Yeah.
• 23:35
  That's kind of the timeline I was given.
• 23:39
  Yeah.
• 23:40
  Nine to 12 months,
• 23:41
  you should be getting back
• 23:43
  into those higher intense
• 23:45
  sports is what the general protocols say.
• 23:48
  But.
• 23:49
  Because he injured his in September.
• 23:53
  Mm-hmm.
• 23:55
  And he was back active on
• 23:56
  his roster in December.
• 23:58
  Yeah,
• 24:01
  that would be like me just getting
• 24:03
  out of the boot.
• 24:03
  I can't imagine playing a
• 24:09
  professional football game.
• 24:10
  With 300-pound bodies jumping at you.
• 24:11
  Yeah.
• 24:12
  Insane.
• 24:12
  Yeah.
• 24:22
  But enough about Aaron.
• 24:23
  We'll go to your Instagram here.
• 24:27
  So I'm going to start at three months out.
• 24:29
  Okay.
• 24:31
  So this is you, I think,
• 24:33
  three months post-op?
• 24:34
  Yeah.
• 24:35
  Yeah.
• 24:35
  I mean,
• 24:36
  not a lot of what I was doing was
• 24:37
  super exciting,
• 24:38
  but I did want to leave
• 24:39
  kind of timestamps of where
• 24:41
  I was at different spots.
• 24:42
  Cause after I ruptured mine,
• 24:44
  like you meet all kinds of
• 24:45
  people who injured theirs.
• 24:47
  And so it kind of documented
• 24:48
  like what you might be able to expect,
• 24:50
  but the challenges are at
• 24:51
  different points in recovery.
• 24:53
  So here I was excited that I
• 24:56
  could get below parallel in
• 24:59
  my lifters because of that
• 25:00
  limited ankle mobility I
• 25:02
  was still fighting for.
• 25:04
  I think this was the first
• 25:05
  day that I was like in the
• 25:07
  overhead position in a
• 25:08
  squat with a barbell instead of a PVC.
• 25:11
  I did notice the snatch itself is muscle.
• 25:18
  Like you used no legs.
• 25:20
  No running or jumping at this point.
• 25:22
  I hadn't done any sort of like hop even.
• 25:28
  Just trying to do,
• 25:29
  I guess we would call this
• 25:31
  active range of motion type stuff.
• 25:35
  And I noticed you're,
• 25:37
  you're in your lifters for a lot of this.
• 25:40
  Yeah.
• 25:40
  That it raises your heel a little bit.
• 25:43
  So you don't need quite as
• 25:44
  much ankle mobility to hit
• 25:46
  those positions.
• 25:50
  So when you're doing these movements,
• 25:51
  are you in pain at all to
• 25:54
  get to those positions?
• 25:56
  Yeah.
• 25:57
  Um, there's a lot of pain, um,
• 26:00
  kind of associated with
• 26:02
  anything you're doing that
• 26:04
  you haven't done in a while
• 26:05
  back at like a three months post-op.
• 26:09
  Um, it was kind of like stretching pains,
• 26:14
  but up until just recently,
• 26:17
  like if I were to do a calf stretch,
• 26:19
  I wouldn't feel it in my calf.
• 26:21
  The limiter would be like
• 26:22
  down in my foot and ankle
• 26:24
  and just like from not
• 26:25
  being able to use or move
• 26:27
  your foot for so long.
• 26:30
  So, yeah,
• 26:32
  I'm moving carefully and things
• 26:34
  are not painless.
• 26:39
  Well,
• 26:39
  you are quite the testament to the
• 26:42
  health or the what sickness, health,
• 26:45
  wellness continuum,
• 26:48
  because your hip mobility
• 26:50
  and all of that really
• 26:52
  allowed you to stay in good form,
• 26:55
  even though your foot is compromised.
• 26:58
  Yeah.
• 26:58
  I mean, leading up to this,
• 27:00
  I was nowhere near being
• 27:01
  able to get in these positions.
• 27:05
  Um,
• 27:05
  and luckily it's the front foot of my
• 27:07
  split jerk.
• 27:07
  So that's a huge win.
• 27:09
  And I'm excited about that.
• 27:10
  If not,
• 27:10
  I might've switched foot foot went
• 27:12
  forward.
• 27:12
  Um, but yeah,
• 27:13
  I've always been very lucky
• 27:16
  to have a good range of
• 27:19
  motion for the most part,
• 27:20
  especially in like my hips, knees,
• 27:21
  ankles.
• 27:22
  Um,
• 27:24
  And I think a lot of that's
• 27:26
  just from gymnastics
• 27:27
  because we're always
• 27:28
  stretching as I develop my muscles.
• 27:30
  My shoulders do get a little tight,
• 27:33
  but ankles and hips I've
• 27:37
  always been decent with.
• 27:39
  Oops, wrong way.
• 27:46
  But always got to love the Power Rangers.
• 27:49
  Oh, yeah.
• 27:51
  Um, okay.
• 27:52
  So here's four months post-op.
• 27:54
  You got some weight on the bar.
• 27:56
  Yes.
• 27:56
  And so at this point, four months,
• 27:59
  I'm not doing any footwork.
• 28:02
  Um,
• 28:03
  so it's either like muscle clean plus a
• 28:06
  front squat, um, or just a standard squat,
• 28:10
  but there's no jumping yet.
• 28:13
  Um,
• 28:17
  And I noticed when I started squatting
• 28:20
  again,
• 28:21
  that I had quite a bit of
• 28:22
  knee pain on that right leg.
• 28:26
  And I think it was partly because, well,
• 28:32
  first,
• 28:32
  I hadn't been using it like that
• 28:34
  for a while.
• 28:35
  Second, when you elevate the heel,
• 28:36
  a lot of that stress moves to your knee.
• 28:40
  So I backed off pretty
• 28:42
  quickly and started just
• 28:44
  focusing on lightweight and
• 28:46
  tempo and high reps.
• 28:50
  to kind of reacclimate other
• 28:52
  parts of my body.
• 28:53
  So what I noticed is how
• 28:57
  much smoother and faster
• 28:59
  you're able to move through
• 29:00
  the squat from three to four.
• 29:03
  Yeah.
• 29:03
  That's a one month difference.
• 29:05
  So like I said,
• 29:06
  every week things kept
• 29:08
  moving in the right direction.
• 29:12
  What kind of support are you
• 29:13
  getting around this time?
• 29:15
  Are you part of your gym community?
• 29:16
  Um, um,
• 29:21
  I do the classes still,
• 29:24
  which is something I did
• 29:25
  before I got hurt as well.
• 29:26
  And anyone who's coaching is
• 29:30
  helping me come up with
• 29:31
  scaling options if I don't
• 29:33
  have something in mind on my own.
• 29:34
  And then the gym owner, Cody,
• 29:38
  does some programming.
• 29:40
  And then Anton,
• 29:41
  who's another coach at the gym,
• 29:43
  he does some of kind of the
• 29:45
  extra compete programming.
• 29:47
  And he's been helping me out.
• 29:50
  Programming some specific
• 29:51
  stuff for me to help ease
• 29:54
  me back into everything I
• 29:56
  am used to doing.
• 29:58
  Love Antone.
• 30:00
  Got to meet him at West Semis.
• 30:02
  Got to interview him.
• 30:04
  He's a good dude.
• 30:05
  He is, yeah.
• 30:09
  Okay, so that's four months post-op.
• 30:12
  Yeah, let's see.
• 30:14
  We go to, I think it's two back.
• 30:18
  Nope, maybe one back.
• 30:21
  Oh, that's pre-injury,
• 30:24
  which confused people.
• 30:26
  Oh, this one.
• 30:27
  Oh, yeah.
• 30:27
  Five months.
• 30:29
  This was, I think,
• 30:29
  the first day I jogged on
• 30:31
  the Assault Runner.
• 30:32
  I had done some light jogging at PT.
• 30:36
  And at this point, she had instructed,
• 30:38
  like, light jogging is tolerated,
• 30:41
  but no changing directions
• 30:42
  real fast or sprinting.
• 30:45
  And then we started doing...
• 30:47
  like small box jumps like you see here,
• 30:50
  just a few inches really.
• 30:52
  I'm just making sure you
• 30:53
  absorb the landing and kind of, yeah,
• 30:56
  when you hop off,
• 30:57
  absorb it into that full squat.
• 30:59
  And then actually like
• 31:00
  coming up out of the squat,
• 31:02
  you'll see I go onto my
• 31:03
  toes and a little calf raise there.
• 31:06
  And it's funny, the first time I tried,
• 31:08
  but I didn't even have the
• 31:10
  strength to do that.
• 31:11
  And I, it was just,
• 31:13
  I tried to stand up and I
• 31:15
  didn't go anywhere.
• 31:18
  And here I'm doing single leg calf raises.
• 31:21
  The general rule was no
• 31:24
  jumping or anything
• 31:25
  explosive until you can do
• 31:26
  10 single leg full range of
• 31:28
  motion calf raises.
• 31:31
  And I was really slow to
• 31:33
  rebuild that strength.
• 31:35
  And so my PT eventually was like, well,
• 31:38
  let's try some light or
• 31:39
  some really low little jumps like this.
• 31:42
  And so we started doing that
• 31:43
  and it really helped things along.
• 31:46
  So we talked about the lifters.
• 31:48
  You're now out of lifters on this.
• 31:52
  How important was shoe
• 31:54
  choice during all of this?
• 31:57
  And did different shoes,
• 31:59
  did you need different
• 32:00
  shoes for different things?
• 32:02
  Yeah, more important than ever, like.
• 32:05
  Before injury,
• 32:06
  I was the athlete who did
• 32:08
  everything in my Metcons
• 32:10
  and I wasn't even picky
• 32:11
  about which brand or
• 32:12
  anything like they were all fine.
• 32:14
  I would like max my Olympic
• 32:15
  lifts and then I would squat in them.
• 32:17
  I would do everything in the
• 32:18
  same pair of shoes, which was awesome.
• 32:21
  And now if I'm going to be
• 32:23
  doing any sort of running,
• 32:25
  I like my hakas or hokas,
• 32:27
  I don't know how you'd say it,
• 32:28
  but something with more
• 32:29
  padding and a little bit of
• 32:30
  shape to them to help
• 32:32
  I guess, absorb.
• 32:33
  If I try and run in Metcons,
• 32:36
  it can be a little painful,
• 32:39
  a little less supported and
• 32:41
  a little more impact and it hurts more.
• 32:43
  And again, with lifting,
• 32:46
  I never needed that heel raise.
• 32:48
  And so if I'm doing any heavy lifting,
• 32:50
  I'll throw on my Olympic
• 32:52
  lifting shoes just for a
• 32:54
  little more structure and a
• 32:55
  little more heel lift.
• 32:58
  But for the normal CrossFit workouts,
• 33:01
  I'm back to just Metcons.
• 33:03
  I can do air squats and
• 33:04
  light barbell stuff in my normal shoes,
• 33:08
  but if it's a lot of running,
• 33:11
  I want more padding.
• 33:12
  And if it's a lot of heavy lifting,
• 33:13
  I want lifters.
• 33:15
  Is it the goal to get back
• 33:17
  to just wearing Metcons for everything?
• 33:20
  I'd like to.
• 33:20
  Um,
• 33:20
  and I could probably force it with
• 33:25
  everything except for the
• 33:26
  running right now.
• 33:27
  Um,
• 33:29
  But it's nice to have that
• 33:31
  little extra stability too
• 33:33
  when I'm moving some heavier weight.
• 33:39
  Okay,
• 33:40
  so now we go to... I think the next
• 33:47
  one is just when I did my first box trip.
• 33:50
  So I didn't do a six-month hand bed.
• 33:53
  six and a half months.
• 33:54
  That was the first day I tried a box jump.
• 33:56
  And you can see that stack
• 33:58
  of plates in the background.
• 34:00
  I literally started with the
• 34:02
  45 and then I added a plate
• 34:03
  at a time until it was
• 34:04
  about the height of a box.
• 34:06
  And then I tried a box jump.
• 34:09
  All right.
• 34:11
  Box jumps are even just for
• 34:14
  average Joe CrossFitter can
• 34:16
  be a mental block.
• 34:20
  This is the apparatus you
• 34:22
  rupture your Achilles on
• 34:24
  how much mentally was this day?
• 34:28
  Was it more mental or physical?
• 34:31
  I would say mental.
• 34:33
  So I kind of have a history,
• 34:36
  at least when I was younger
• 34:38
  of having mental blocks in sports.
• 34:42
  Now in CrossFit,
• 34:43
  it has always been
• 34:44
  something I've been able to overcome.
• 34:47
  It hasn't been that way for
• 34:49
  all of my past sports.
• 34:50
  But I would say in CrossFit...
• 34:53
  like lifting really heavy
• 34:56
  Olympic lifts sometimes
• 34:57
  will get to my head and
• 34:59
  I'll have that fear factor
• 35:00
  and have to overcome it.
• 35:01
  But I mean,
• 35:02
  I've been able to over the
• 35:04
  years and I've never really
• 35:07
  had that fear with a box jump before,
• 35:09
  I think because it was just
• 35:10
  so similar to things I've
• 35:11
  done in the past.
• 35:12
  I know a lot of people do.
• 35:14
  And so looking at this box
• 35:15
  now after being hurt,
• 35:18
  I, for the first time,
• 35:19
  felt a little bit of that
• 35:21
  fear or anxiety about trying a rep,
• 35:23
  and am I ready for this?
• 35:24
  Can I do it?
• 35:25
  What's the worst thing that could happen?
• 35:27
  Am I going to make it jump that high?
• 35:30
  Am I going to hit my shin on the box?
• 35:31
  Am I going to tear an Achilles?
• 35:34
  But I think after I did one, I'm like, OK,
• 35:36
  that wasn't so bad.
• 35:37
  And I wouldn't say that I'm
• 35:40
  scared of them.
• 35:40
  I would say that I look forward to them.
• 35:44
  box jump overs are
• 35:45
  programmed today and I'm
• 35:46
  excited for the workout.
• 35:49
  I definitely still move slower on them.
• 35:51
  I'm still rebuilding that
• 35:53
  trust and confidence,
• 35:55
  but I don't think there's
• 35:59
  going to be a fear factor,
• 36:00
  but I will say I do not
• 36:02
  plan to rebound box jumps
• 36:04
  again in the future.
• 36:05
  Just not worth the risk.
• 36:08
  So I noticed in this clip,
• 36:10
  you're stepping down with
• 36:11
  the left foot every time.
• 36:14
  Yeah.
• 36:14
  So necessity thing kind of, yeah.
• 36:18
  At this point,
• 36:19
  the things that are still
• 36:20
  high risk for me are
• 36:22
  stepping down from something like this.
• 36:25
  And cause you have to absorb in your toe.
• 36:27
  Um,
• 36:29
  and you can't really control that so
• 36:31
  much.
• 36:31
  So like if I were to jump off,
• 36:33
  jump off of the box or
• 36:34
  stepping off the box,
• 36:35
  I just need to be more cautious.
• 36:38
  Um,
• 36:41
  And now sometimes I'll,
• 36:43
  I'll carefully step down
• 36:44
  and try and alternate legs, um,
• 36:47
  a month and a half later.
• 36:48
  Um, but I wouldn't like hop off yet.
• 36:52
  Um, yeah,
• 36:54
  there's only a couple of things
• 36:56
  that I am kind of leery about.
• 37:00
  That's one that I've been
• 37:01
  told is a don't do this yet.
• 37:04
  Um, and then of course sprinting, I, um,
• 37:08
  I'm not up to sprinting yet,
• 37:11
  running a little bit faster,
• 37:12
  but not anything like a sprint.
• 37:18
  Okay.
• 37:18
  So then we go to this.
• 37:24
  Yeah.
• 37:24
  So that was about seven months.
• 37:26
  This is the first time I
• 37:27
  built up to a heavy squat
• 37:31
  and it felt good.
• 37:33
  but a lot of times when I'll
• 37:35
  max my back squat,
• 37:36
  I'll get to the point where
• 37:36
  I'm feeling reps and like
• 37:38
  hopping out from under the
• 37:39
  bar just to like really
• 37:40
  make sure I found my max.
• 37:42
  And I didn't want to put
• 37:43
  myself in a position where
• 37:44
  I had to hop out from under it.
• 37:46
  Cause that didn't feel,
• 37:47
  it probably would be fine,
• 37:49
  but I just didn't feel safe doing it.
• 37:51
  So, um,
• 37:53
  I stopped pretty conservatively and
• 37:56
  I added a pause just to
• 37:58
  keep it controlled and less dynamic.
• 38:02
  Um,
• 38:03
  And now we're on my first
• 38:05
  squat cycle to try and rebuild.
• 38:08
  And I'm really excited to test it again.
• 38:12
  And I don't know how many
• 38:14
  weeks the cycle is.
• 38:15
  But when we get to the other side of it,
• 38:17
  I don't think I'll need to pause.
• 38:20
  And I'll have a lot more
• 38:22
  heavy squats under my belt by that point.
• 38:25
  Well, that's not a light squat.
• 38:28
  No.
• 38:28
  I mean...
• 38:31
  it's,
• 38:32
  it's probably equal to like a lot of
• 38:35
  competitive athletes, one RN, which is,
• 38:39
  it's,
• 38:40
  you kind of have to compare to
• 38:41
  yourself that like,
• 38:42
  it's probably as heavy as I
• 38:44
  need to squat to accomplish
• 38:45
  what I want to accomplish competitively.
• 38:47
  But it's only 75% of what I
• 38:51
  could do before.
• 38:52
  So like, I want to
• 38:55
  keep getting stronger.
• 38:56
  Cause I mean, the more you can squat,
• 38:58
  the easier other things are
• 39:00
  going to be like,
• 39:00
  it always helps to have stronger legs.
• 39:02
  So.
• 39:03
  Yeah.
• 39:06
  When I was looking at that
• 39:06
  and I read the caption
• 39:08
  about like having to, the not wanting to,
• 39:12
  to dive out from under it,
• 39:15
  you say so perpendicular,
• 39:17
  like your chest is up so much,
• 39:20
  like you could,
• 39:21
  it would pretty much just
• 39:22
  roll off your back.
• 39:23
  Right.
• 39:24
  Yeah, you're right.
• 39:26
  I do stay pretty vertical,
• 39:28
  and it makes failing reps a lot easier,
• 39:31
  and maybe that's why I do it in the past.
• 39:33
  I just...
• 39:35
  Uh, I know that when I do it,
• 39:38
  it's kind of like,
• 39:39
  it happens really fast and I don't know.
• 39:42
  It just seemed like a high risk thing,
• 39:45
  but no,
• 39:45
  it would be fine if I just let go.
• 39:47
  Um, probably not.
• 39:49
  That would happen.
• 39:49
  It's just.
• 39:51
  I'm sure make no sense to anybody,
• 39:55
  but you.
• 39:56
  Yeah.
• 39:56
  Yeah.
• 39:57
  And that, and that's okay.
• 39:58
  Like I would have freaked
• 40:00
  out over the box jump and
• 40:01
  been okay with this.
• 40:03
  And you're okay with the box
• 40:04
  jump and freaking out about this.
• 40:05
  So like, Hey, it's your journey.
• 40:08
  Yeah.
• 40:09
  I think next time I'll be
• 40:10
  less scared of failing and
• 40:13
  push it a little farther.
• 40:14
  But I also in recovery,
• 40:18
  I try and not get too excited.
• 40:21
  And I try and keep things
• 40:23
  incremental and only let myself like,
• 40:26
  PR once a day still, like don't.
• 40:31
  Where's that at?
• 40:32
  Here it is.
• 40:33
  You actually talk about that in this post.
• 40:36
  Yeah.
• 40:37
  Yeah.
• 40:38
  And I guess it's for a different,
• 40:39
  for this one,
• 40:40
  it's because I haven't had a
• 40:42
  muscle up PR in so long
• 40:44
  that I wanted to do it again soon.
• 40:50
  So in this case, I knew it was a PR,
• 40:52
  so I stopped.
• 40:55
  And that's because,
• 40:57
  I want to PR again.
• 40:58
  Um, I love it.
• 41:02
  I,
• 41:03
  I stopped cause I think it was a PR and
• 41:04
  I wanted to save some more
• 41:06
  PRS for another day.
• 41:07
  Yeah.
• 41:11
  Is that something you
• 41:12
  learned in this journey or
• 41:14
  have you always been that way?
• 41:16
  I think that's a good rule to have, um,
• 41:20
  in general for safety.
• 41:24
  Um,
• 41:26
  a lot of times.
• 41:28
  And, but I mean, it's kind of two sided,
• 41:30
  like part of it is like, you know,
• 41:33
  there's more in the tank.
• 41:34
  So like save some for later.
• 41:36
  Um,
• 41:36
  and part of it is when you're hitting
• 41:39
  those super heavy weights
• 41:40
  or like higher spectrum, like movements,
• 41:46
  that's when dangerous things can happen.
• 41:50
  So, um,
• 41:52
  I don't know.
• 41:53
  I just feel like if you do too much,
• 41:55
  that's a good way to get hurt.
• 41:57
  Um,
• 41:59
  and that's more why I would stop like
• 42:02
  with,
• 42:03
  with my Olympic lifts and back squats,
• 42:05
  as I rebuild from injury,
• 42:06
  like one PR a day,
• 42:07
  because I want to rebuild
• 42:08
  incrementally and not skip any steps.
• 42:12
  Um, and that's so I don't re injure it.
• 42:16
  Um,
• 42:20
  So my next question is
• 42:23
  during this time you had
• 42:25
  limited use of your legs.
• 42:28
  Did you see improvements in
• 42:30
  other aspects of your fitness?
• 42:33
  Because you had to focus
• 42:34
  more on upper body pulling
• 42:37
  and things like that as
• 42:39
  opposed to your leg strength.
• 42:42
  Yeah,
• 42:42
  I do feel like I've gotten stronger
• 42:44
  in my gymnastics movements like
• 42:48
  muscle ups, pull ups, chest to bar,
• 42:50
  toe to bar, stuff like that.
• 42:55
  So that's a win.
• 42:57
  And then, yeah,
• 43:01
  I think this one might be a surprise,
• 43:04
  but I think like my
• 43:05
  deadlift really hasn't lost anything.
• 43:08
  And I think that my form has
• 43:09
  actually improved because
• 43:12
  I've had to take a step back
• 43:14
  and rebuild slowly.
• 43:16
  And, um,
• 43:17
  we tested it a couple of weeks ago
• 43:19
  and I was only 20 pounds
• 43:21
  off my all time max.
• 43:24
  And for a deadlift,
• 43:25
  I feel like that's really close.
• 43:26
  Um, and when we do like deadlift cycling,
• 43:31
  I keep the bar closer.
• 43:32
  I hit better positions.
• 43:33
  Um,
• 43:34
  and I think that's because you've kind
• 43:36
  of had to like start from
• 43:37
  scratch and rebuild.
• 43:38
  So you're going to like do
• 43:39
  it the right way.
• 43:39
  Um,
• 43:45
  So now I'm trying to find
• 43:48
  the post you made about competing.
• 43:52
  Oh, that's, um, that one there, this one.
• 43:56
  Yeah.
• 43:56
  And I mean,
• 43:57
  I made the announcement mostly
• 44:00
  to hold myself accountable.
• 44:02
  Um,
• 44:07
  So you say here, my heart wants to compete,
• 44:10
  but my brain knows it's too soon.
• 44:11
  As an engineer,
• 44:13
  I have an innate tendency
• 44:16
  to act on logic rather than emotion.
• 44:19
  So here we are, taking 2024 off.
• 44:20
  Because I knew that, say, by May, June,
• 44:29
  July, I might be feeling...
• 44:32
  a lot better and excited to,
• 44:35
  or antsy to compete,
• 44:37
  especially watching everything.
• 44:40
  Um,
• 44:41
  but I knew that was high risk and not
• 44:45
  the best choice for me longterm.
• 44:47
  So I made the decision to not, um,
• 44:53
  and I think that's a good decision.
• 44:54
  It's still like with
• 44:55
  quarterfinals coming up, I'm like, man,
• 44:57
  I want to do that too.
• 44:59
  Um, but yeah,
• 45:01
  I know I'm not the best
• 45:03
  version of me right now and
• 45:05
  it's too soon.
• 45:07
  Are you doing any of the
• 45:07
  workouts just for funsies?
• 45:10
  Yeah, of course.
• 45:11
  I, so I did all the open workouts.
• 45:13
  I did have to scale the double unders.
• 45:16
  Um, funny enough,
• 45:17
  that's been a more tricky
• 45:20
  one to get back.
• 45:21
  I think just cause it's a
• 45:22
  constant rebound.
• 45:23
  So I did single unders
• 45:24
  instead of double unders on that one.
• 45:26
  Um,
• 45:26
  but I think I'm really close to being
• 45:28
  ready for double unders again.
• 45:29
  Um,
• 45:31
  So yeah,
• 45:32
  I did all those and I'm playing
• 45:33
  quarterfinals weekend to be
• 45:35
  at the gym with everyone,
• 45:36
  helping judge and hopping
• 45:38
  in for the workouts,
• 45:39
  whether I do all of them or
• 45:41
  some of them we'll see, but it's my plan.
• 45:45
  It's nice to have some data point.
• 45:49
  Yeah.
• 45:49
  And ever since I've known you,
• 45:51
  you've always been very
• 45:53
  level about everything.
• 45:55
  And I don't know if it's the
• 45:56
  engineer in you that,
• 45:58
  that makes that happen.
• 45:59
  But yeah,
• 46:02
  through all ups and downs in your career,
• 46:04
  you've always been very level.
• 46:06
  And what do you, um,
• 46:10
  what do you give whatever to that,
• 46:14
  that that's,
• 46:15
  that's why you are who you are.
• 46:16
  I mean, on some level,
• 46:19
  I think it's just kind of
• 46:20
  my personality and who I am.
• 46:22
  Like I,
• 46:23
  kind of always been that way
• 46:24
  just live in the middle I'm
• 46:26
  never too up or too down um
• 46:29
  I just try and like stay in
• 46:31
  the middle and in control
• 46:33
  and I to some level I don't
• 46:35
  really have to try to be
• 46:37
  like that um of course
• 46:39
  sometimes life throws you
• 46:40
  curveballs and it's hard to
• 46:42
  not get um too high or too
• 46:45
  low um but I always kind of
• 46:48
  to calm myself down just relax focus on
• 46:52
  things that are in your control.
• 46:54
  Um,
• 46:55
  and that's what I've been doing and it
• 46:58
  seems to be working pretty well, but yeah,
• 47:01
  you never know how you're
• 47:02
  going to handle something
• 47:03
  like this cause it doesn't
• 47:04
  come up very much, but, um,
• 47:07
  it's been fine.
• 47:10
  Like I've handled it pretty well.
• 47:11
  Haven't gotten too down.
• 47:13
  So that's good.
• 47:15
  Yeah.
• 47:16
  People tell me that all the
• 47:17
  time that just control what
• 47:18
  you can control.
• 47:20
  It doesn't seem to me very well, but
• 47:23
  Yeah.
• 47:25
  Yeah.
• 47:25
  I don't know what advice I'd
• 47:27
  give for that.
• 47:29
  I mean, it's definitely a skill,
• 47:31
  so it takes practice.
• 47:33
  So I'm just being adamant about it.
• 47:35
  And I mean, can start with little things,
• 47:37
  but we're all only human.
• 47:41
  So give yourself grace.
• 47:44
  So I know this is,
• 47:45
  this is a question for
• 47:47
  someone who's not a mid person,
• 47:49
  but we're going to try it.
• 47:50
  And that is,
• 47:53
  Before your injury,
• 47:54
  you were as strong as they come in,
• 47:59
  in the CrossFit field, right?
• 48:04
  With, with the injury, you've had to,
• 48:06
  you've improved your gymnastics,
• 48:08
  your upper body pulling.
• 48:10
  Is there some excitement to
• 48:12
  see what the new Chelsea is
• 48:13
  going to be at the end of this journey?
• 48:18
  yeah I i think I will be a
• 48:20
  different athlete in a lot
• 48:21
  of ways I'll have different
• 48:22
  strengths and weaknesses
• 48:23
  absolutely and it's really
• 48:25
  exciting to think about
• 48:26
  what that might look like
• 48:28
  um there's that part of me
• 48:31
  that thinks uh well all the
• 48:34
  things that kind of set me
• 48:35
  apart in the past like um
• 48:37
  the strength parts um that
• 48:40
  I have to like wonder am I
• 48:42
  gonna get back to being
• 48:44
  that strong or not and if I don't have it
• 48:49
  will nothing set me apart?
• 48:51
  So, I mean, there's that bit of doubt,
• 48:53
  but I don't know.
• 48:59
  I'm not worried about it.
• 49:00
  I think whatever happens, happens.
• 49:02
  I think fitness journeys are
• 49:03
  very personal and competing
• 49:06
  is very personal.
• 49:07
  And at the end of the day,
• 49:08
  I don't think anyone cares
• 49:10
  as much as like you care
• 49:13
  about your own endeavors.
• 49:15
  So I think I'll have,
• 49:19
  more to be proud of because I've had,
• 49:22
  will have overcome a lot
• 49:23
  more and it'll mean a lot
• 49:25
  more wherever I do end up.
• 49:29
  But honestly,
• 49:29
  the way things have been
• 49:31
  progressing the last couple
• 49:32
  of weeks has me like in a
• 49:33
  super motivated place.
• 49:36
  And I'm feeling a lot of
• 49:37
  promise that I'll be able
• 49:38
  to get back there.
• 49:42
  So my question to you after that would be,
• 49:45
  does it matter if you win
• 49:46
  the snatch event by 30
• 49:47
  pounds or by 10 pounds?
• 49:50
  If you still win it, you still win it,
• 49:52
  right?
• 49:53
  Right.
• 49:53
  Yeah, it absolutely, it doesn't matter.
• 49:55
  You're right.
• 49:55
  So luckily as a master's athlete,
• 49:57
  I did have some excess,
• 49:59
  so I don't even need to get
• 50:00
  back to where I was.
• 50:02
  Last Saturday,
• 50:03
  I actually built to a heavy
• 50:05
  and I hit 155.
• 50:06
  So, and I mean,
• 50:08
  probably could have done more,
• 50:09
  but I stopped because the
• 50:11
  one PR day rule and I
• 50:12
  didn't want to get ahead of myself.
• 50:14
  And kind of where I'm at
• 50:17
  right now with the Olympic
• 50:18
  lifts is as I add load,
• 50:22
  when I jumped to move my feet,
• 50:26
  if it gets heavy enough, my weight,
• 50:28
  Good my left foot will do
• 50:29
  all the work in my right
• 50:30
  foot will kind of just
• 50:31
  leave the ground early and
• 50:32
  move to the side,
• 50:33
  so I won't jump out of it.
• 50:35
  So I'm not like the same
• 50:36
  weight for my snatch in my
• 50:37
  clean and jerk right now
• 50:38
  just because it's limited
• 50:39
  by what I can jump with off the floor.
• 50:44
  Yeah.
• 50:44
  So things are coming along nicely.
• 50:47
  Yeah.
• 50:48
  When I saw that back squat, I was like,
• 50:50
  the strength is going to come back.
• 50:52
  The muscles know what
• 50:52
  they're supposed to do.
• 50:54
  They're just waiting for
• 50:54
  your tendon to heal.
• 50:57
  And if you improve in other areas,
• 50:59
  you're going to be a pretty
• 51:00
  amazing athlete.
• 51:01
  That's a good way to think about it.
• 51:03
  And I appreciate that
• 51:05
  because I'll try and think
• 51:07
  about it that way too.
• 51:08
  And I,
• 51:09
  I'm also right now I'm on like a
• 51:11
  calf strengthening cycle.
• 51:12
  Like it's a,
• 51:14
  Anton found it.
• 51:15
  So we're doing a couple of days a week,
• 51:16
  like a progression of
• 51:18
  different variations of cat phrases.
• 51:20
  And I can tell it's making a difference.
• 51:21
  So we'll be back.
• 51:25
  Well, man, the time is flying by again.
• 51:30
  So I noticed you got your L2.
• 51:33
  Are you coaching actively
• 51:34
  now or was this just
• 51:36
  something to wanted to do?
• 51:39
  So after the games,
• 51:41
  at some point I got an
• 51:42
  email where if you competed at the games,
• 51:46
  you can take a CrossFit course.
• 51:47
  Like you had a like coupon
• 51:49
  to take a CrossFit course.
• 51:51
  And I had my L1 from years ago,
• 51:53
  it had expired.
• 51:54
  So I emailed and I asked if
• 51:55
  I could take the L2 and they were like,
• 51:57
  yeah, sign up.
• 51:57
  So I did it because I had
• 52:01
  that opportunity that I
• 52:02
  didn't want to go to waste.
• 52:04
  And also I,
• 52:07
  every now and then at the gym,
• 52:09
  like things will be, um,
• 52:10
  they'll need like a fill-in
• 52:12
  coach here and there.
• 52:13
  And I felt like if I had my cert,
• 52:16
  then I could pitch in a
• 52:17
  little bit more at the gym, um,
• 52:19
  and kind of give back to
• 52:22
  the community a little bit
• 52:23
  who has supported me
• 52:25
  through so much over the years.
• 52:27
  So, um,
• 52:28
  I mean, coaching is a whole nother skill.
• 52:31
  Like you could be the best
• 52:32
  athlete in the world and
• 52:33
  know nothing about coaching.
• 52:34
  Like it is a skill,
• 52:35
  you have to practice it.
• 52:36
  And it is out of my comfort zone,
• 52:38
  but taking the L2 was awesome.
• 52:40
  It was a great experience
• 52:43
  and I built a little
• 52:44
  confidence in my coaching
• 52:46
  and I've been trying it
• 52:47
  here and there as needed.
• 52:48
  So highly recommend courses.
• 52:51
  I was scheduled to take my
• 52:53
  L2 at Mayhem during COVID.
• 52:58
  Oh, yeah.
• 52:59
  During the time that COVID hit.
• 53:00
  Yeah.
• 53:00
  So it got canceled and then
• 53:02
  it kept getting postponed.
• 53:05
  And then they basically said, listen,
• 53:06
  we're not postponing anymore.
• 53:08
  My L1 was going to run out.
• 53:11
  So I just took the online L1
• 53:13
  to keep it up to date and
• 53:16
  then haven't gone back to do the L2 yet.
• 53:19
  Yeah.
• 53:19
  When it expires, so in another,
• 53:22
  I guess only one or two years probably,
• 53:24
  right?
• 53:24
  Isn't it good for five years?
• 53:25
  Yeah.
• 53:26
  Five years.
• 53:27
  Yeah.
• 53:27
  So the next time, yeah,
• 53:28
  I'd highly recommend it in person.
• 53:30
  I think they do have remote options for it,
• 53:32
  but the in-person
• 53:34
  experience was awesome to
• 53:38
  have that hands-on practice
• 53:39
  and the instructors right there.
• 53:42
  It was great.
• 53:43
  So I started as a judge and
• 53:45
  as a volunteer and you had
• 53:47
  to have your L1 to be able
• 53:48
  to judge at the big events.
• 53:51
  And I coached.
• 53:53
  I wanted to give back to my
• 53:54
  community because I went
• 53:54
  from 400 pounds to 260
• 53:56
  pounds or whatever.
• 53:58
  And so I got my L1 coached
• 54:00
  at the gym I was at and
• 54:02
  then became a judge.
• 54:04
  And then I had to keep it.
• 54:05
  So that was from 2015 till now.
• 54:06
  So I'm almost 10 years in.
• 54:11
  But I'm not judging anymore.
• 54:13
  I'm not coaching anymore.
• 54:14
  And it's hard to say like,
• 54:16
  is it worth $1,000?
• 54:18
  Right.
• 54:19
  That's kind of, I have let mine expire.
• 54:21
  The L1, I coached a little bit.
• 54:24
  I got it because I wanted to learn more.
• 54:25
  I was just getting into
• 54:26
  CrossFit and then I used it a little bit.
• 54:29
  But when it was going to expire,
• 54:30
  I wasn't using it anymore.
• 54:31
  I wasn't coaching anymore.
• 54:32
  I didn't have time to coach
• 54:34
  between work and training myself.
• 54:37
  So I just let it expire.
• 54:38
  I had no reason to pay another $1,000.
• 54:40
  Yeah.
• 54:41
  This was a really exciting opportunity.
• 54:44
  Yeah.
• 54:45
  There's part of me that
• 54:46
  really wants to do it,
• 54:47
  but I'd rather put $1,000
• 54:48
  into this company.
• 54:50
  Absolutely.
• 54:51
  Yeah.
• 54:53
  But yeah, I decided a couple years ago,
• 54:56
  I tried to judge after I
• 54:57
  started this whole thing.
• 54:58
  Yeah.
• 55:00
  I'm too connected to the athletes now.
• 55:02
  I can't.
• 55:03
  Oh, absolutely.
• 55:05
  I can't judge anymore and be unbiased.
• 55:08
  Yeah.
• 55:09
  That makes sense.
• 55:10
  Yeah.
• 55:12
  So my last question to you,
• 55:13
  the most important one,
• 55:14
  any big ant adventures in
• 55:17
  the last few months?
• 55:19
  Oh, well,
• 55:23
  Emma is in jujitsu now a couple
• 55:25
  of days a week on top of her gymnastics.
• 55:28
  So it's been really fun to
• 55:29
  watch her do that.
• 55:31
  I'll go watch her practice
• 55:33
  here and there and just
• 55:33
  watching her progress and
• 55:35
  get confidence and get new belts.
• 55:38
  And that's really exciting.
• 55:40
  And then Nicholas is turning
• 55:42
  two this weekend and he has
• 55:44
  become so much fun the last six months,
• 55:47
  especially.
• 55:48
  I think he said auntie for
• 55:50
  the first time at the games,
• 55:52
  like while they were on
• 55:53
  their way to Wisconsin.
• 55:55
  And so now it's my absolute
• 55:57
  favorite word in the world
• 55:58
  when he says auntie.
• 56:01
  But he likes to drive his
• 56:05
  little battery powered Jeep
• 56:06
  around the backyard and go
• 56:09
  cause trouble with me when
• 56:10
  he wants to do something he
• 56:11
  knows he's not supposed to
• 56:12
  he comes and gets me so
• 56:13
  that's a lot of fun um I
• 56:16
  just saw a video where
• 56:19
  someone pimped out one of
• 56:20
  those battery-powered jeeps
• 56:22
  like new paint job new made
• 56:26
  it look like an authentic
• 56:27
  jeep it was really cool
• 56:28
  yeah his is actually a john
• 56:30
  deere but he calls it a
• 56:31
  jeep so but we could pimp it up for him
• 56:35
  He's finally figuring out steering,
• 56:37
  but sometimes he'll get distracted.
• 56:39
  So you have to follow him to
• 56:41
  make sure he's not going to
• 56:43
  run into anything.
• 56:44
  Cause if he doesn't understand stopping,
• 56:46
  if he hits something either,
• 56:47
  he'll get there.
• 56:50
  Um,
• 56:50
  and then my other nephew in Japan just
• 56:54
  turned three and I'm hoping
• 56:56
  to visit Japan this year.
• 56:58
  Um,
• 56:58
  cause I haven't seen him in over a year,
• 57:01
  so I'm sure he's changed a lot,
• 57:02
  but my brother always sends me videos.
• 57:05
  him showing auntie his
• 57:06
  muscles so that's fun um
• 57:10
  yeah and I'm planning to
• 57:13
  tag along my sister's
• 57:15
  family vacation in july
• 57:16
  we're gonna go to
• 57:17
  silverwood theme park um
• 57:19
  and so that'll be a fun
• 57:21
  auntie adventure too when
• 57:23
  I'm not competing I can say
• 57:24
  yes to these things because
• 57:26
  last year I had to say no thank you
• 57:29
  Yeah, yeah.
• 57:30
  A little silver lining to the cloud.
• 57:33
  Absolutely, yeah.
• 57:34
  So we actually have one
• 57:36
  question from the chat.
• 57:37
  I'm late,
• 57:38
  but what area of aerospace does
• 57:39
  Chelsea work in?
• 57:42
  I'm a structural analysis
• 57:44
  engineer at Boeing.
• 57:47
  And I do damage tolerance analysis,
• 57:49
  which is crack growth analysis.
• 57:51
  And it helps define the
• 57:53
  maintenance program for airplanes,
• 57:55
  not the inspection program.
• 57:58
  For a military aircraft,
• 57:59
  I'll say not a commercial aircraft.
• 58:01
  Okay.
• 58:03
  So you're not involved with
• 58:04
  the other stuff that's in the news.
• 58:06
  No, that's not me.
• 58:07
  And I mean, obviously it impacts Boeing.
• 58:10
  It doesn't impact my day to
• 58:12
  day or the work I do.
• 58:14
  But definitely we're all
• 58:17
  focused on quality and
• 58:19
  speaking up right now.
• 58:21
  Yeah.
• 58:22
  I keep telling people like
• 58:26
  it's still safer than driving a car.
• 58:29
  so much so much safer so and
• 58:33
  chelsea froze we might have
• 58:36
  went to a topic I shouldn't
• 58:37
  have gone to um with that
• 58:43
  um we'll let chelsea go um
• 58:47
  because she has really
• 58:48
  frozen um so with that
• 58:51
  thank you everybody in the
• 58:52
  chat for being here thank
• 58:54
  you oh there she is she's back
• 58:55
  came back yeah it was like
• 58:57
  spinning for a minute yeah
• 59:00
  I I always said was I've
• 59:03
  been telling everybody it's
• 59:04
  still way safer than
• 59:05
  driving a car oh yeah and
• 59:08
  yeah I have no I everything
• 59:12
  that has been happening
• 59:13
  lately Boeing's almost like
• 59:14
  a buzzword right now um so
• 59:17
  if there's anything to do
• 59:18
  with Boeing you know
• 59:19
  Boeing's gonna be in the
• 59:19
  headline even if it's not
• 59:21
  like a Boeing thing but anyway
• 59:25
  Yeah.
• 59:26
  Hey, I get it.
• 59:27
  We make mistakes at the
• 59:28
  state and it makes the papers too.
• 59:30
  So, you know, data breaches,
• 59:34
  all that kind of stuff I
• 59:35
  get involved in and sucked into, you know,
• 59:38
  we do our best.
• 59:40
  But with that,
• 59:41
  thank you so much for being
• 59:42
  here as awesome as always.
• 59:44
  And can't wait to continue
• 59:46
  to follow your rehab.
• 59:47
  Appreciate it.
• 59:50
  And do we have,
• 59:51
  do we have guarantees that
• 59:53
  next season 2025 is Chelsea season?
• 59:57
  That's my plan.
• 59:59
  Yeah.
• 59:59
  And I'll let you know if anything changes,
• 1:00:01
  but that's what I'm,
• 1:00:02
  that's eyes on the prize.
• 1:00:03
  We're going to,
• 1:00:04
  we're going to peak it next season.
• 1:00:05
  Awesome.
• 1:00:07
  Have a great rest of your day.
• 1:00:09
  Thank you to everybody in the chat.
• 1:00:10
  We'll see everybody next
• 1:00:11
  time on Clydesdale media podcast.
• 1:00:15
  Bye guys.