Mental skills and personal experiment (18): serious injury and illness – re-configuring mental representation

Monday there was an accident at the gym. Another gym, with a power cage I am not used to. When I racked the bar with a relatively light weight, therefore, no equipment (120kg), the left side of the bar slipped from the support. I didn’t see that and proceeded to get out from under the bar. The bar twisted my knee and immediately ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament.

My physician – the one I trust my life with – said (after insistent and relatively stressed questions from me) that this might not compromise my performance this year, even in squatting and deadlifting. The ACL stabilizes rotational movements. I’ve been reading a little about this and there is a lot of material on squatting and ACL. I think I trust my physician better, but there’s a lot to take into account.

One of the things that concerns me in this experiment is that I will need to change my technique. More consistent isometric leg flexor contraction will be important, so as to keep more balanced foreces from the quadriceps and the flexor and gastrocnemius. This means re-configuring my mental representation of the movements that constitute the lift.

Quite a challenge…

I’m tired.