Recovery. Patience. Determination. Michiel had taken a hit. Man down. With all our training, averaging 18 hours per week usually, this was a shock to the system. To do nothing but rest.
After numerous doctors appointments, finally the stitches were out, and we were given the all clear to do some gentle exercise.
Stitches out! Hoorah!
I put together some daily goals for Michiel to stick to. It’s important to keep things positive and goals help to feel accomplished every day, no matter how small they are. This is how we will get him back to full fitness again, step by step.
Swimming is amazing for everything. Really. If there was a perfect sport for everyone, this would be it. Low impact, gentle, great for movement and flexibility. We had to find a perfect pool. Relaxed enough to not put too much pressure on Michiel, but nice enough to swim around a little. The metropolitan gym in Barcelona had just that… the perfect environment.
The first swim involved just some floating around – gentle and getting used to the feeling again
Michiel was understandably nervous. After all he had been through, getting back in the pool was a big step. Seeing him in water again was great! We floated around, talked about recovery, did some movements with his arms and even some gentle breaststroke! Great progress!
‘Agua jogging’ is great – water is thicker than air, so you can still get big resistance. Pushing limbs through the pool helps strengthen muscles and joints, while the buoyancy of the water provides protection from impact.
To think just 6 weeks previous to this he was on a breathing machine in intensive care. Wow. Huge progress – and I can’t wait to add more gentle swimming sessions in.
Of course it always ends with a very tough session in the hydro jacuzzi…
