12 months

Last week marked twelve months since my most recent (hah) surgery for my shoulder.

The surgeon advised it would be a minimum of 12 months before I could be back doing any sports with normal function and ability. And that would be for a normal recovery on a patient who hadn't developed many adaptive irregularities over the past decade (hah again).

I'd have to say I'm at about 85%. I've been very careful to rehab properly for the long haul. I've said all along the reason I did all this now over the past 4 years is i still want to be kicking ass when I finally get old (hah thrice).

I've tried a few times over the summer to push things and test my recovery, even comtemplated fighting in the PIG tournament. Sparring Cole squashed that (or he was just that fast).

But mostly periodic test cutting of bottles and vegetables.

A few have scoffed at this but training in an art that prefers sharp, long pointy things and only uses sticks for stand-ins, I've found the cutting to be a great training too. Lets you know if your motions/edge are correct, what is really in that power swing, where you end up under speed/stress, how you move with combinations while travelling distance, ect.

It also let me know during the summer how my recovery was progressing.

Some cutting earlier this summer gave me pretty dismal feedback. Vertical cuts weren't bad but horizontal was poor. So I also adjusted my rehab.

Ultimately, we had lots of fun last week! Especially before it gets too cold.

For some reason, Chris has an affinity for short blades.

So, based on this one I feel pretty good