Friday, May 24, 2013

Ghost of Fitness Past

Day 2 of disc fusion surgery recovery.

It's very hard to swallow anything that's not liquid.  Ice cream is now my main source of nutrients.

The collar I have to wear 24/7 makes it very hard to sleep or be comfortable.

Upon my release of the hospital yesterday, my surgeon came up to let me know how the surgery went. He said, "Your spine was spectacularly bad. I don't know how your spine got this bad when your this young."  I chalk it up to years and years of lifting weights.

I'm not saying lifting weights is a bad thing.  The bad thing is how you lift and how heavy you're lifting.

Public Enemy #1: Placing the squat bar on the back of my neck.

For years and years I did it that way until I found out it was wrong.  By then it was to late.  The damage was already done.  

Public Enemy #2:trying to be a macho, macho man.  In my 20's and early 30's I just wanted to look good and be big, as in really muscular.  The problem is I didn't see the long term affects of lifting such crazy heavy weight for most of my adult life.  I looked good but ignored any pain or injury I might have been feeling at the time.  I just thought I could push through it and it would go away.  

News Flash! It almost never "goes away." An injury that goes unchecked is an injury that will always come back and usually it comes back when you get older.  The older you get the harder it is to recover from these injuries.  

This is your future if you keep lifting stupid amounts of weight and you are not a professional athlete.  


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