Rice, Ice and Salt

I recently sustained an injury to my pectoral muscle/shoulder girdle.  Unfortunately, adiposity it’s not one of those things that went away after a couple of days.  I’ve had to scale workouts, doctor and find movements that wouldn’t aggravate my injury, yet allow me to train at a high level.  I’ve been incredibly lucky up to this point in my life, as I’ve been injured very rarely.
 
BUT…maybe it’s been a blessing in disguise.  Instead of just playing lip service on recovery, I’m a man on a mission.  Nearly all my down time is spent trying to recover my damaged ligaments and muscles.  I’ve learned a bunch of cool stuff: Bowen, Asian massage therapy, standard physical therapy and more.
 
I have two at home recovery techniques that are both cheap and easy.  Put these in your recovery “tool box”.
 
Hot/Cold.  I have been talking about contrast showers for the last year; getting the water as hot as you can for 2-3 minutes, then turning the water as cold as you can handle for 1-2 minutes.  The heat helps move your blood from sore areas, and the cold water pushes the blood out for good, by slamming your capillaries shut.
 
My Hot/Cold treatment is the same, but on a smaller scale.  You will need: a sock, 1 cup of rice, a microwave, dixie cups, and a freezer.  Fill some dixie cups with water, and put them in your freezer.  Put 1 cup of rice in an old sock and tie it in a knot, locking the rice in.  The rice sock goes in the microwave for 1 minute, and hold it on the affected area for 3 minutes.  This should get pretty hot.  Once it’s nice and hot, grab your dixie cup, peel back the edges, and apply the ice directly to the injury/soreness site for 1-2 minutes..  This can be used for over sore areas as well as injured sites: this would work nicely after 150 wall balls, you just may want more ice.  I repeat this process 3 times, about 15 minutes of treatment.
 
Epsom salt.  The container of epsom salt that I bought from CVS has a bunch of soreness “recipes.”  The theory here is that magnesium will draw the junk that’s locked in your injury/soreness site through your skin, which is permeable.  First, I made an epsom solution:  Lots of epsom salt dissolved in water, which I then soaked a cloth in.  I would heat the warm cloth for 15 seconds to warm it up, and wrap it around the injury/soreness site.
 
For an added punch, I made an epsom paste.  2 cups of epsom salt, and I added water until it made a thick paste.  I clumped this stuff on my bruised area, then wrapped with a warmed epsom cloth, then sealed with an ace bandage.  I actually slept with contraption 2 nights, and it drastically reduced my bruise.
 
One warning on the epsom treatment: it makes a huge mess!  Salt gets everywhere when you take the wrap off, so you may want to do it outside, or in the shower.  Ask Alison 😉
 
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGiZvK2rnDU&w=560&h=315]
I use ice cups.  K-Star uses meat.  I guess he’s cooler.
 
Workout of the Day
 
Strength
Front Squat
Build to a heavy single in 15 minutes
 
Metcon
AMRAP 7
7 Front Squats 135/95
7 Pullups