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WESTERN Bulldogs full-back Brian Lake has dropped six kilos in the hope a new playing weight can take the stress off his knee and hips and prolong his AFL career.
Lake underwent knee, hip and shoulder surgery after the Dogs' preliminary final loss to St Kilda and has spent most of the pre-season in rehabilitation.
However, time away from training has allowed him to focus on becoming a more mobile player in 2011.
"I've pressed the reset button on my body and I can start again," Lake told afl.com.au.
"I'm 28 years old ... so I've got another good six years left, I hope.
"I haven't sat down with the fitness staff yet to work out the best playing weight for the knee and hips, but it will be less than I've been playing with."
In an irritation similar to that suffered in his right hip in 2008, Lake's left hip flared against West Coast in round 13.
Bony growths were eventually shaved from the joint to alleviate the discomfort, but not before Lake played out the season with periodic pain.
He also hurt his right knee in the lead-up to the finals, and jarred his shoulder in a collision with teammate Tom Williams in the qualifying final loss to Collingwood.
"I didn't train much [in September]. When you're playing, you don't worry about it (injury) too much because you've got so much going on," he said.
"During the week it wasn't too much fun, not being able to walk around and stuff like that, but you've got to push through these things at finals time.
"It would have been a different story if we weren't playing finals; you'd go and have it fixed up straight away but when you're trying to push for that premiership, you'll do anything to get out there."
Lake had knee surgery in grand final week and holidayed in the US while his lower body recovered for the hip operation.
"Things usually come in threes so I was waiting for something else and then the shoulder came up," he said.
"I got back into training and it was still sore, and because of the leg injuries I was really relying on the upper body.
"We had it scanned and there was a fair bit of damage so we had that done straight away."
Lake was surprised to learn his bicep tendon had also frayed; an unusual discovery given the impact injury to his shoulder.
However, with no setbacks leading into the Christmas break, Lake will start running next month.
"The body is not feeling too bad at the moment," he said.
"The shoulder is out of the sling and I'm getting it moving and it's responding well.
"The plan is to run mid-January and hopefully it's a bit earlier than that. My plan is for round one so it's a matter of the medical staff giving me the tick off.
"I think I've had all my bad luck for this year."
Lake underwent knee, hip and shoulder surgery after the Dogs' preliminary final loss to St Kilda and has spent most of the pre-season in rehabilitation.
However, time away from training has allowed him to focus on becoming a more mobile player in 2011.
"I've pressed the reset button on my body and I can start again," Lake told afl.com.au.
"I'm 28 years old ... so I've got another good six years left, I hope.
"I haven't sat down with the fitness staff yet to work out the best playing weight for the knee and hips, but it will be less than I've been playing with."
In an irritation similar to that suffered in his right hip in 2008, Lake's left hip flared against West Coast in round 13.
Bony growths were eventually shaved from the joint to alleviate the discomfort, but not before Lake played out the season with periodic pain.
He also hurt his right knee in the lead-up to the finals, and jarred his shoulder in a collision with teammate Tom Williams in the qualifying final loss to Collingwood.
"I didn't train much [in September]. When you're playing, you don't worry about it (injury) too much because you've got so much going on," he said.
"During the week it wasn't too much fun, not being able to walk around and stuff like that, but you've got to push through these things at finals time.
"It would have been a different story if we weren't playing finals; you'd go and have it fixed up straight away but when you're trying to push for that premiership, you'll do anything to get out there."
Lake had knee surgery in grand final week and holidayed in the US while his lower body recovered for the hip operation.
"Things usually come in threes so I was waiting for something else and then the shoulder came up," he said.
"I got back into training and it was still sore, and because of the leg injuries I was really relying on the upper body.
"We had it scanned and there was a fair bit of damage so we had that done straight away."
Lake was surprised to learn his bicep tendon had also frayed; an unusual discovery given the impact injury to his shoulder.
However, with no setbacks leading into the Christmas break, Lake will start running next month.
"The body is not feeling too bad at the moment," he said.
"The shoulder is out of the sling and I'm getting it moving and it's responding well.
"The plan is to run mid-January and hopefully it's a bit earlier than that. My plan is for round one so it's a matter of the medical staff giving me the tick off.
"I think I've had all my bad luck for this year."
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