Diary Entries

April 15, 2005

Well, things change very quickly.  We abruptly moved from California to another state.  Unfortunately, I have not found any gymnastics schools nearby that allow adults to workout.  So I am forced to give up a lot of my skills for now and concentrate on maintaining my fitness level.   At least I was able to set up a home gym in my house and I can workout consistently.  I'm also still recovering from some of these hip injuries, so I'm taking this opportunity to go to physical therapy and get my hip flexibility back (and those pesky Achilles' tendons too!)

January 15, 2004

It's been very tough to keep up with everything this past few months.  In addition to the injury, I've had a number of personal problems that created chaos in my life.  But I think things are settled now and I can concentrate on getting back into gymnastics.

I was able to keep up with conditioning and physical therapy exercises.  The groin injury is improving but it seems so slow!  But I'm finally back to some easy stuff on trampoline (back tucks, layouts) and basics on the floor (handstands, back extensions etc.)  And I did a cast handstand on the low bar (with a spot).  As long as I can do something, then I feel like I'm improving.  I'm working very hard on getting the leg stronger by doing hollow body holds, crunches, squats etc and trying to get my flexibility back by stretching.  I'm still hoping for a full recovery soon.

Also, I've been having trouble publishing this page to tripod, so let's see if this works.

June 5, 2003

Ugh!  I was having so much fun on trampoline.  I was doing lots of full twisting double backs with the spotting belt.  I was also doing layouts to double back and other combinations (9 back tucks in a row!).  But my hips were getting really stiff and I couldn't do my splits anymore (or the pancake in the picture above) despite daily stretching.  I should have take this as a sign to take a break but I didn't (I'm a slow learner sometimes).  Then I badly pulled an inner thigh tendon three weeks ago (it made a gross cracking noise!).  It's been miserably painful!  So now I am back to rehabilitation exercises again.  I feel very discouraged to be hurt again but I guess it happens.  I think I'm about halfway better so maybe in three more weeks I can do trampoline again.  In the meantime, I can do lots of handstands and shoulder conditioning.

But, I can finally hang from the bar without bothering my shoulder too much.  YEA!  That means I can maybe do trapeze soon?  I want to check out this place:  TrapezeHigh in San Diego.

Well, back to icing my hip........

April 15, 2003

Shoulder is still improving.  The back hip circles don't hurt much anymore.  I still can't quite hang from the bar though.  But my basics are improving a lot (handstands, cartwheels) so I'm happy.  Still struggling with a back bend because my shoulder isn't that flexible yet.

I'm having the most fun on trampoline! (no shoulder required).  I'm still working full-ins.  Yesterday I did a combination of layout to double back.  This is a great trampoline!  Very bouncy (Dave Ross bed and springs!  If you're interested in buying one click here).

March 19, 2003

I can still do a full-in on the trampoline!  It's been almost one year since I've tried.  But I did a lot of timers and did a few full-ins (with the spotting belt on).  I'm happy and it didn't bother my shoulder at all.  Next time I'll videotape it so I can have pictures.

I also finally got back up on the bars and did a back hip circle.  I got a little sore from that but not too bad.  It's been six months since I hurt my shoulder, so I'm really ready to recover soon.

February 13, 2003

Things are improving.  I've been doing more trampoline and less tumble trak and my shoulder feels much better.  Maybe I'm just not ready for tumbling yet.  Anyway, I'm having fun doing double backs and layout with one and half twist on trampoline.  I'm hoping to get back to doing full twisting double backs and double doubles like I used to do a couple of years ago.

January 31, 2003

I am starting to have doubts if I will ever get over this shoulder injury.  As of today it's been 19 weeks (almost 5 months!).  I still can't do a backhandspring or anything on bars.

Anyway, here's a quote that I found from Franco Dragone (former director of Cirque du Soleil) that basically describes how I have been feeling lately:

"Even when you're in pain, life goes on..."
- Franco Dragone

January 16, 2003

Good news and bad news about my shoulder.  The good news is that I can do double backs and a round off layout with one and a half twists.  The bad news is that I can't do backhandsprings, cartwheels and some other very basic moves.  The shoulder really does not like certain motions.  Obviously, I haven't done bars either.  This is turning out to be a big test of my patience.

December 7, 2002

I started adding skills back - yea!  I did a round off - full last night.  I feel like my shoulder is getting stronger and all the work I've been doing is finally paying off.  To see some photos visit the new Photos page.

November 27, 2002

November has been rehabilitation month.  I've been doing my physical therapy exercises religiously and I am starting to see some results.  I can finally do a handstand and hold it.  I can also do some back tucks and layouts on the trampoline.  I've done a few round off, back tucks on the tumble trak but these are still painful.  I think the worst part is over and I should be progressing quickly now.

I've been doing so much conditioning while I've been injured.  I hope I come back much stronger than before I hurt my shoulder.

October 8, 2002

Although I've had many minor injuries over the last couple of years, I haven't had anything too serious since I broke my foot in June 2000.  Well, that's changed.  On September 20, 2002 I partially tore my rotator cuff (supraspinatus) doing a giant swing.  I felt the tear at the top of the swing.  I've never had a shoulder injury that has completely kept me out of gymnastics - usually I have been able to do trampoline while my shoulder healed.  However, I knew something was really wrong with my shoulder when I tried to do trampoline but I couldn't move my arm enough to jump up and down.  So I went to the doctor.  Now I'm on anti-inflammatories and in physical therapy (again!).  I've been told that this is one of those injuries that will take at least 6-8 weeks to heal.  In the meantime, I can't do anything but run or stretch.  Since I can't lift my arm over my head, even simple things like front tucks are too painful.

The good news is that PT is helping a lot.  The pain is getting better quickly with treatment.  

On a side note: I noticed that I'm getting a very thick file at the orthopedic surgeon's office.  Have I been there too many times?  Probably.  

And now for more annoying ads from Tripod (which are obviously tailored to my website and keywords because I noticed there are leotard ads and Achilles' tendon exercise ads):