I know some time has passed since my last entry and for good reason, i haven't been injured in a while. Yes, i am injured once again. This time i blew out my right rotator cuff and had the operation on may 19th. I've healed enough up to this point to be able to type with both hands and i am home for now recuperating and bored. My hobbies of weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding has cost me a lot, not just monetarily, but also mentally and physically. Not to mention the stress it has caused my wife over the years. I credit her with being the most loving and patient and understanding woman in the world. In 2007 i got my first injury which was a torn biceps tendon. My second injury was in 2009 when i blew out my left rotator cuff. The third was in 2011 i tore my left pectoral tendon off the bone. All these injuries required operations to be fixed. I made it all the way to 2014 before i tore my right rotator cuff and then limped along to 2015 before i tore it the rest of the way, it felt like it was healed up so i thought i was in the clear, i was wrong...
I don't regret a thing!! I have spent many, many years trying to train my mind to overcome and i did just that, definitely too much. I overcame the pain of lifting weights and took my body to a new level and was bigger than i had ever dreamed i would be. The problem was i kept going, not paying attention to the warning signs my body was giving me and thinking i could work through any pain placed in my way. In a twisted way i am very proud of that. I proved to myself that i can train my mind to overcome any obstacle placed in front of me, even though at times, i am my own worst enemy. I am not special in that way, as i have told many of the people i have trained and trained with over the years. We are all humans and we all have the same tools at our disposal, we just need to learn how to harness them and use them to our advantage.
I forgot to mention also, in my list of injuries 3 herniated discs in my back, a big tear on my right calf and a tear in both the vastus lateralis (outer quad) muscles of my quads.
I just turned 44 years old back in april and i've had to slow down on the weights and it was a hard transition for me. I have been lifting weights since i was 12 years old and have gotten better every year since, even if it was in the smallest way. Now my goal is to stay tight and be in great shape with abs and look good for my wife. I will still maintain some size just not the size i wish to be. I cannot chance hurting myself permanently as i have found scuba diving and jumping out of airplanes to be to my liking. I plan on enjoying them as much as possible.
I found myself being called "coach" last year when i helped out a guy at the gym with a powerlifting meet and was quite shocked to hear him call me that. Not that he wasn't correct with his label, just that i've never been called that before and i guess i realized my days of powerlifting were over and now i am still in the game but in a different way. I also trained a guy at the gym for a bodybuilding show and he did well in the beginning of may a couple weeks before my operation. He wants to do another show this year and i am happy to help.
This is my passion, i do not make money for any of this coaching or training and i do not want to. My goal is to pass it on to the next generation so that they may do the same for someone else someday.
My only legacy will be one of the few to ever be a powerlifter and bodybuilder to come out of a little hardcore gym in milltown, n.j. with my pictures from each up on the wall collecting dust. Someday, after i am long gone, maybe one of those young guys i had the pleasure to train or coach will bring his son in, point to the old pictures on the wall and say........"I trained with that guy"............
