I have been listening to the podcast since the beginning and love trainerroad. However after suffering a traumatic brain injury and spending six weeks in a hospital relearning how to walk, the training plans were too intense.
There is no training plan for those who have suffered an injury to the brain like I and so many other cyclists have. There needs to be a plan that is based around recovery. This could be used for recoveries from tbi as well as any physical injury. For everyone that loves cycling but isn’t able to because of an injury, it would be a good way to get back into the sport. This program could be used everywhere from elite camps to rehabilitation hospitals for those with injury.
When I was recovering from a stroke. I had to relearn to walk to as my right leg was paralyzed and used the bike to rebuild neuronal connection. I would suggest you do the workouts on the low end of endurance like Taku, volunteer and the recovery ones recess, taku-1. dans, lazy mountain. TBLV1 could also do the trick by replacing longer workouts with shorter ones.
What @didierbr says. Taku is your friend. Even the reduced versions. The time when you have to relearn how to pedal and when even Pettit is too long/tough (been there, done that after brain/heart „stuff“). But always ask your doctors - in my case „Ergometer“ was even on the official recovery plan.
Best of luck in your recovery. As far as plans for coming back from such injuries - I would think it would open them up to lawsuits and not something that is in their best interest to do. Best to consult your doctor for this and start light and listen to your body and how you feel during and after training.
@Fasterstronger I totally understand what you’re saying and agree that this sort of thing could maybe opens them up to lawsuits. But my PT instructor said that I should strengthen my calf by doing the trainer so just wondering about potential workouts to do.
I should add that if you still have neuronal fatigue. Can’t do anything for a longer duration than 5 to 15 minutes. You shoud rest a lot. Even if it’s 5 minutes at a time. Theres nothing wrong with making your 30 minutes workout into 6 separate 5 minutes intervals at 50% FTP with rest/naps in between. Recovery from brain injury is a slow and very long process that shouldn’t be envisionned in weeks but months to years time scale. Take it easy on you, respect your limit, but strive to push them a little farther each day/week rest when you feel to. And do a tittle bit every day, everytime you have some energy. There’s no one size fits all for this type of recovery. It’s long, daunting, very hard, physically, mentally and emotionally. Just focus on recovery.
As others have pointed out, recovery for every injury will be different, and should be guided carefully by a trained physician. A brain injury versus a knee injury versus a collarbone injury would all require very different rehab, so having a single recovery plan would not suit all athletes in all situations.
Oftentimes, for recovery from injury we recommend Low Volume Traditional Base since it is a fairly easy, consistent effort to get your legs moving and your heart pumping, but obviosly this won’t work for all types of injury.