catawbapanther’s BodyBlog

I was sitting in my doctor’s office….. I was 38 years old, 247 pounds of blob, with high blood pressure, no energy and an excellent example of heart attack waiting to happen. As I was speaking with my doctor, we discussed my current condition and reflected on years past. After all, I was a two sport athlete in high school and played college football. We discussed stress, parenthood, a heavy work load, no exercise and how they contributed to the man I’ve become. This was a man in desperate need of a healthy lifestyle change.

I began with a cardio workout that produced results early. My cardio mainly consisted of a tuff running schedule that eventually produced runs of 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 miles in a week. I was surprised at how well my body responded and how much I enjoyed my workout. On August 21^st of this year I had my first major setback, a meniscus tear in my left knee which required surgery. As a result of years of football, baseball, running and everything else known to man had deteriorated the cartilage in my knee. My doctor’s prognosis was that I should expect to have a knee replacement within 5 years.

Discouraged and cranky during rehab I pondered my future, I could sit around the house and do nothing or get up off my butt and do something. I chose to join the local gym and I haven’t looked back. The first couple of weeks weren’t easy. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t lifted weights since I was in the service back in the early 90’s. Its late December now and I’m actually as passionate about lifting as I was about running.