Workouts That are NWB:

Soooooo are you an athlete? Are you active? Are you a badass and can no longer walk due to an injury? Ugh! Sometimes I really wonder and contemplate whether this Lisfranc is going to make me go absolutely insane or not. I’m half happy this guy discovered this injury (Mr. Lisfranc himself) but I also have a hate for the word as well. It was on Jeopardy the other day. And I just threw the word out sarcastically, and I was right?! I’m more than frustrated. Have you ever been here/are you feeling this now too? This is the longest I have went without doing so much as a jumping jack and yikes, my arse feels it!

So I’m now 12 weeks out and still partially nonweightbearing (NWB). Lol stating it in this way makes me think of the concept of when moms say that their baby is 24 months old. That is besides the point….So my surgery was January 20th and since that point I have been doing home workouts to just keep my sanity.

I did a few little little workouts fresh out of surgery that had been totally dependent on pain. I wanted to just move a bit. These were ¼ if not less of what you’ll see down below. It felt good though to move. I recommend it; however, with that in mind let your body heal. I had to accept the fact that I needed to heal. In the beginning I really prioritized mobility such as range of motion (ROM) with my ankle and toes over the lifting because some of the lifts would hurt just due to stretching or flexing the muscle close to my foot. My advice is to really really listen to the body. I know your inner soul really needs to run, but trust me here (and probably your physician who put his effort into that surgery). Don’t go HAM on the workouts if it is too early, not today fellas.

So here is my disclaimer: In no way do I want you to do ANY of these if you are unable/should not. PLEASE know your own limits and stop when you need to. AND LISTEN TO YOUR PHYSICIAN. With that being said, here is the excitement!!! AHHH workouts!

My real workouts started Feb 2nd. This first group I did until Feb 23rd . I did a split of legs/abs on one day then back/arms/abs on another day. I started with doing this every few days and worked up to doing legs one day and arms the next day. I made sure not to rush this and again listened to my body. You’re pretty free to do whatever you want upper body which is the one pro with a lower limb injury. However, I am impartial to lower body workouts 😊. So without further ado.....

Arms:

• Bicep db curl 3x6

• Sitting OHP 3x6-8

• Tricep extension with band/db 3x6-8

• Bench with db/push ups 3x6-8 or 3x10

• Front to side raise with band or small wt 3x10

Abs:

• Cross body 3x15ea

• Circle abs and circle 8’s/knee taps 3x15

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Legs:

• 1 legged jump/hop 2-3x10

• R leg squat 3x6 (using a stable surface and something I can easily grab; I used my couch)

• R leg calf raise 3x10

• Laying glute squeeze with band/clam shells 3x15 with 5 sec hold

• Glute squeeze and quad iso hold for 5 sec 3x10-30

• L leg lift (no bend in knee); keep quad firing; slow up and down 3x10-30

• L side leg lift (hip abd) 3x10-30

• Donkey kick 3x20 (can do kneeling or standing – I did mine with my knee scooter)

• Fire hydrant 3x20 (same as above – great for stability 😉)

Back

• Scap push ups 3x8

• 3 way band pull 3x12 (I like undergrip pull aparts, split grip angled pull aparts then switch and go the other direction)

• Supermans 3x12

• Lat pulldown/pull ups 3x12

• Rows with band/db 3x8-10

Abs

• Lower leg ½ lift 3x10 (initially hurt to do full ones with my spint and for weeks after that was removed) à eventually moved it to kneeling wt moved side to side 3x20ea

• Wt sit up/toe touches 3x10 à moved to sit ups from chair with my legs stuck in the back 3x10

I think I had gotten bored and needed to mix it up. This workout went from Feb 23rd to March 21st

Arms:

• Bicep db curl 3x6

• Shoulder press with wts 3x6-8

• Tricep extension with band/db 3x6-8

• Push ups 3x6-8 or 3x10

• Front to side raise with band or small wt 3x10

• Shoulder external rotation with small band 3x8each side

Back

• Scap push ups 3x10

• 3 way band pull 3x10

• Supermans 3x10; hold for 5 sec

• Rows with band/db 3x8-10

Abs:

• Cross body 3x15ea

• Circle abs and circle 8’s/knee taps 3x15

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Legs:

• 1 legged jump 2-3x10

• R leg squat with wt 3x6

• R leg calf raise 3x10

• Flying RDLs with wts on chair

• Rainbow kick with ankle wt L: 8lb and 15 reps R: 20lb and 5 reps

• Fire hydrant with ankle wt L: 8lb and 15 reps R: 20lb and 5 reps

• Sitting long arc quad L: 8lb and Red band 15 reps R: 20lb and red band and 5 reps

• Laying hamstring curls with ½” band R and L 3x10; (had to baby the L leg initially here but through time was able to fully do this will no pain/discomfort)

• Glute squeeze and quad isometric hold for 5 sec 3x10-30

• L leg lift (no bend in knee); keep quad firing; slow up and down 3x10-30

• L side leg lift (hip abd) 3x10-30

Abs

• Hands and knees – move wt side to side 3x10-20ea

• Rolling “banana” side to sides (on back with legs and hands raised to engage core, roll onto belly then onto back again, do for 30 seconds) 3x30 sec

This workout started on March 22nd and I have been doing since. I decided at this point that I needed some more quick movements and compound movements. This certainly is not perfect but was a sort of integration that I found that I was able to do from home.

Arms:

• Bicep tempo db curl x5, 4, 3 (really low reps because I’m weak)

• Zottman curls 3x20 (twist at top and bottom during the curl)

• Tricep extension with band/db 3x6-8

  • Either do tricep version from pushup position

  • Or with weight

• Push ups to failure

• Lateral raises with band or small wt 3x10

• Shoulder external rotation with small band 3x10each side

Back

• Scap push ups and circles if it feels good to warm up with 3x10

• 3 way band pull and angels if want to warm up with 3x10

• Supermans 3x10; hold for 5 sec

• Rows with band/db 3x8-10

Abs: Did each exercise 30 sec on and 30 sec rest

• Reverse crunch or candle stick for harder version

• Bicycle crunch or with ankle weights for harder version

• Heel taps/penguins or weighted wrist weights for harder version

• Tuck ups with hands or V ups for harder

• Flutter kicks or weighted

• Russian twists or weighted

• Side plank with dip or weighted

• Other side plank

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Legs:

• 1 legged squat into jump (put a little hop into similar to squat jumps) 3x6-10

• 1 leg quick calf hop (try to pull toes up while in the air) 3x6-10

• R leg sitting calf raise (don’t always do this but sometimes; put band on foot and knee)

You’ll need a chair that adjusts in height and has padding; ONLY do this if you are stable

• Slower and controlled power clean/Bent over row to squat or Row and RDL (depending on what your comfort level is, you can add the squat which is the next exercise or just keep this as an RDL)

• Weighted squat with leg on chair (can skip this if you did the above exercise)

• Rainbow kick with ankle wt L: 20lb and 15 reps R: 20lb and 10 reps

• Fire hydrant with ankle wt L: 20lb and 15 reps R: 20lb and 10 reps

• Sitting long arc quad/sitting quad ext (did this while sitting in the desk chair that was used for the "power cleans")

  • L: 8lb and band 15 reps R: 20lb and band and 5 reps

• Laying hamstring curls with ½” band R and L 3x10

• Hip thrust with weight (I put my ankles on my scooter) 3x10

Abs

• While kneeling move weight side to side 3x10-20ea (similar to plank drags)

• Rolling banana side to side rolls 3x30 sec

In no way is this something that you "should" do or is the perfect comprehensive workout. It is just something that I was able to do and wanted to offer and share with those who may want to use it. I know I was looking for one legged exercises, nonweightbearing exercises for one limb, or post-operative leg workouts and found......next to nothing. I do think it is wise to consider imbalances as there are plenty of one legged lifting exercises that promote muscle growth on one leg only. Please consider this and what that means for you in your own fitness journey. Hopefully this helps someone out there!