Goodbye, ACL

On January 20th, 2010, I played my first pickup game in over a year. Halfway through it, I caught a pass across the lane and spun towards the basket.

POP!

My right ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) completely tore. My knee immediately swelled - to the point that the next day they had to drain 75ccs. It turns out my MCL is severely sprained, I got a slight sprain in my LCL, and I had several bone contusions - which dramatically increased the swelling.

I'm learning a lot about this injury. The ortho had me doing rehab less than a week later. The idea is to gain almost full flexibility in my knee before doing surgery. Surgery is to take a CADAVER ligament and replace my snapped one - this is crazy! My injury has been labelled "extensive", and it's taking a lot of rehab (six weeks now) to get flexibility back. I'm also still not sleeping well due to the pain (doctor does not want me to abuse vicodin).

So now my quest is definitely postponed. But I say here, the quest is not over! I will return!

One day.

Update

I gained 25 pounds after about 8 months of my daughter being alive. I have since lost 10 of that, but working out is sparse. I am drowning at work, and babies take out a chunk of time that always used to be there.

There will be no quest resuming for the time being. I'm talking years. Currently, if I can jog more than 3 times a week, that is a victory.

However, I enjoy watching everyone else's progress. KEEP IT UP UP UP!!!!

Thanks

Thanks to everyone and their nice comments. I haven't checked this blog in 2 months because I was sad about not achieving the dunk. One day...like if i win the lottery, I'll do it to it.

Quick note: I now jog less than once a week. I'm not sleeping much, and I don't eat as well. So OF COURSE I weigh less than I ever did whilst training, at 188! Of course, my legs and upper body have visibly less muscle mass. It feels like a little trick the workout gods are playing on me.

Keep training everyone!

Week 80.1

QUEST SUSPENDED
I have had a beautiful baby girl, at 3:30 am on September 27th. What this means is my life has now radically changed, starting with sleep schedule and deprivation, and constant diaper changing.

Thanks to so many of you who supported me and gave excellent comments and insight. It was awesome.

I did manage one more jump test on a wood court, and easily grabbed rim, but it wasn't enough.

My quest is only suspended, because I know this is achievable, at least till age 50. That's just how I feel.

Good luck to everyone out there, and feel free to hit me up with questions. At the very least, I can direct you where you need to go.

Week 78.1

OVER?
I don't know what to say. It's been 3 weeks since I've even posted, because it's sad.

I had become so overwhelmed with the move, work, a pregnant wife - I simply had no time to workout. And I can feel it. I tried jumping this weekend, and it was pitiful.

I think I've lost another 5 pounds somehow tho? Not sure on that yet.

If my wife doesn't go into labor this weekend, i will try one more jump, but it could be hard to even get on a wood basketball court. But I haven't done anything properly in the last month that one would expect for this quest.

At the end of the day, and I'll say it again, at 36 years old, I needed to play bball about 3x a week, on top of the jump training. Without that, I kept hitting a wall.

Sigh.....

Week 75.1

Dazed
I don't know how i'm managing to even workout, but I did squats and deadlifts on Monday.

I'm moving on Thursday, still putting in 10+ hour days, plus other crap. I'm gonna try to keep working out one more week, then take another 1-2 weeks off, then do my final test.

Week 74.1

Chugging
I've just been barely managing to do weights 2x a week, maybe jogging 2x a week.

I hurt my back a few weeks ago, so I've only been going up to 185lbs on squats, up to 10 reps. After 2-3 weeks, my legs weren't getting sore after each workout. I decide to do light deadlifts, and boom, my hamstrings and ass got sore again. A good sore.

My life is just getting busier and crazier with a home move, a baby close to birth, and 10-12 hour workdays. Wish it were different. That's where the lottery comes in.