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Originally Posted by hard_rox
You've never mentioned the pommel horse in your training log. Is that something you don't really enjoy? I'm assuming that was an event you involved with during your college years.
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Right now I do what doesn't hurt (for the most part). I trained and competed all six events up until my junior year of college (2004). In July of 2000, I had my left ulna shortened because it was crushing some things in my wrist. With that procedure, they put in a metal plate to rejoin the ulna that they cut in half. I came back well from that one and could still swing pommel horse for another two years or so (with manageable pain). In May of 2002, I had to have the same procedure done on the right arm. This time, my arm healed much slower. I tried to continue pommel horse after that, but the pain wasn't worth the payoff. The metal plates redistribute the stresses in the bones and gives me some real bad forearm splints. So, that was the end of pommels. I was alright when I did compete pommels, nothing great, but I loved the fact that it was such a tough event. It could kick your ass day in and day out, but every once in a while, you'd kick its ass.
As for the other events, it's the same deal...I stick to what doesn't hurt and keeps me healthy. I had some stress fractures in L4-L5 during my fifth year (2005) and was told not to do floor and vault for a while (also the reason for the timid leg strength numbers). I play around every now and then, but the time off made a big dent. Parallel bars is the same as with pommels; the support swings put too much pressure on my forearms.
High bar and rings primarily put tensile forces on my forearms, which the plates respond much better to. High bar does require a lot of supination though, which definitely hurts. The plates have also negatively affected my grip strength (although it's getting better from focusing on it), which in turn, affects my overall strength. With a neutral wrist posture, my grip strength is good, but is much weaker with flexion and extension, not to mention trying to keep a strong grip while moving through flexion or extension. But, for the most part, these are the events that I can handle.