Attentive readers will have noticed that I had a small complication with a tension blister after the surgery. Unfortunately, this already delayed my healing process by a week. Once it visibly healed and I was cleared for full weight-bearing, the topic should have been resolved.
Background:
I'm currently doing my physio training program about 6 days a week. One mistake that became clear to me about 2–3 weeks ago through physio was that I had been training too often with a bent knee. The calf is not a single muscle but consists of several muscles [https://www.bodyip-nutrition.de/blogs/training/top-3-ubungen-fur-dicke-waden](link). So I started performing the exercises correctly and began training not only the gastrocnemius but also the soleus. I made a lot of progress here and would say I'm back to about 40% of the subjective size of the muscle.
Now the problem:
When training the soleus (i.e., with a straightened knee), for example by standing on tiptoes, the tension blister starts to act up. The first two sets are usually totally fine, but after that, it starts pulling like crazy. At first, I thought this would go away on its own through training. However, it has now reached the point where sets 3–5 are almost unbearable.
I'm currently waiting to hear back from my doctor – in the worst case, the recovery is delayed and he’ll give me a training ban. In the best case, he'll tell me to ignore it and keep pushing. The solution will likely lie somewhere in between.
Based on my understanding of hypertrophy training, I've now reduced the units to a healthy level. Instead of 6 training sessions, I now do 3 and alternate with upper body workouts. So I now train my legs every other day and hit the gym for upper body on the remaining days.
Previously, I sometimes trained legs for 1h–1h30min and then ran to the gym for another hour.
Sometimes, less really is more.
Peace.