Where do I start...

It's for life, right?  I laugh thinking about it, but it's true.  I really don't know where to start.  Over this last 3-4 months I have been challenged with injuries.  You try to find the best fit for the issue and move on.  I overcome one issue it seems and another one develops.  As my lower back was healing up, I stayed on a bulking phase.  About a week before Father's Day, I had started back on my HIIT treadmill training with an added 20 minutes of moderate stationary bike.  I felt great, had been injury free for about a month and was sticking to core excercies, bench press, shoulder press, dead lifts, squats, etc.  I work out and feel like the Hulk looking in the mirror, I loved the pump!  My nephew had challenged me to some one on one basketball for Father's day, he's more than half my age lol, but it's always fun to hoop with him.  Timing couldn't have been better as I was one week into increased cardio.  We played a few games and had fun... I was so happy to feel how I did.  The last time he and I did this was Oct. 2011, one of the key days in me making the commitment to changing my life that started on 11/14/2011.  The last time I played was the day I took these pics.

 

  I had some hop, energy, speed... and wasn't winded!  But all good things must come to an end... as the ball bounced away on the driveway, I chased it down and casually hopped to catch the ball before it went in the grass when I felt a snap in my right calf.  A snap, you got it.  I landed on my other foot and instantly rolled into the grass laughing... always something.  There was pain and I was worried... all that kept flashing through my head was this was a bad injury, I knew it, but was down playing it to my family who watched.  When I got up, I could barely put pressure on it.  I elevated it, iced it, etc.  Hoping it wasn't as bad as it seemed, I slept the night.  In the morning, there was no way I could walk... horrible.  What did I do?  Well what I did was end up on crutches for a few weeks and lucky for me a pretty bad tear.

So here I am 7/14, just about to get back in the gym.  No cardio, no leg work since the tear... I just started up the upper body in the last week as my wrist had started to give me some pain previously and thought a few weeks rest would do it some good, but there is something still there that doesn't feel right.  I'm hoping to start my cardio on this coming Monday.  I've been working this injury with stretches and have been doing calf raises to stregthen them.  I was floored at how much strength I lost at first, but it feels to be getting much better. If I can do 3x20 single calf raises, I will be ready to introduce running slowly again.

Here was the last picture I took right before the injury, I continue to bulk up and lose fat, but still have a ways to go, hoping this next challenge will be the one to get a good chunk of my belly gone.  I have received many compliments on my upper body, shoulders, arms, back looking strong and powerful, but my gut is my gut.  What's funny is that my abs have never been stronger!  A frustrating mind game is that even though I had gone down in my belly, it's actually grown, but not because I'm gaining fat, but because my muscle seems to be pushing it back out!  Here's to my next challenge which I hope will start Monday. :)