Working-Out through the years

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A Basketball Journey, Fitness Adventures and Life Lessons

Back in high school, I was a sharpshooter - draining deep shots before the 3 point line even existed. Defense and rebounding? Not my thing. My youngest son Kyle, though, at 6'8", was the opposite - a lockdown defender and dominant rebounder. Watching him shut down opponents in high school and college was one of my greatest joys.

My oldest son Ricky didn't play basketball a lot and didn't have the love for it like his brother Kyle however he played on a CYO basketball team one year and asked if I could drive the team ( which turned out to be most of the team ) to a playoff game. I took them to the game and I was amazed when Ricky started hitting deep jumpers all over the court - I think he ended up with over 20 points. The team only had 5 players so they were too exhausted to beat the other team which played about 8 players however in the stands I kept yelling "Way to go Ricky" and "That's my Boy" when he was hitting the shots. A very proud moment for me.

My daughter Patti-Ann didn't play a lot of sports however when she was in college she played tennis and when her school played home games I would often bring up our beagle Minah as well as groceries and spend Saturdays cheering her and the team on which was always a great time. Minah also loved everyone coming over to see her. I feel proud of my daughter every moment of my life and I will continue to feel proud of her regardless if sports are involved or not.

One of my personal favorite basketball moments came in the 11th grade. The coach barely played me, so when he put me in with minutes left, I was determined to shoot - no matter what. With seconds on the clock, I got the ball near half court, launched the shot with a very high arc, and made it to the end of the court before the ball went through the net. The coach wasn't thrilled ( he wanted the team to hold the ball ), but I sure was!

On the flip side, my worst personal basketball memory came senior year. I rarely played, so the night before a game, I made a mistake of drinking with my brother Andy and my best friend Tony. Hungover, I assumed I'd be on the bench. Nope - coach put me in and played me a lot. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, missing every shot by a mile. After the game, the coach said "You had an off night". He had no idea

Decades later, in my mid-50's, I played a game with my sons Ricky and Kyle at the YMCA. I think they were shocked that I could still nail deep jumpers. My knees, however felt like sponges with absolutely no strength and they were not impressed. That was my final game which was the best way to go out - playing well and not getting injured.

My Fitness Journey

For years, I lifted weights religiously. I had a home gym with a 315 pound weight stack - pure metal, no plastic filled with sand. My poor brother Bob half my size had to drag the machine to our garage when it was delivered as I was not home. He wasn't thrilled and still reminds me of this incident.

In a year, I hit peak shape - 220 pounds with low body fat, benching the fall stack on an incline for 5 reps. But muscle disappears rapidly. It took 2 to 3 months to lose what took a year to build.

That machine followed me through life. It moved into our apartment, then back to the garage ( once my wife realized it wasn't baby friendly especially with our daughter Patti-Ann crawling all over the place ), then to the cellar when we bought our house. After 25 years, my wife finally had enough - it was rusted and outdated. I helped 2 guys haul it out of the cellar, closing a chapter of my fitness journey.

From Running to Rucking

Before weight-lifting, I was a runner. I lost weight, felt great - until my knees protested. Every run left me limping for 2 days. I tried rest, tried coming back, but the pain always returned. I don't feel the human body is made to run outdoors on streets and sidewalks. I switched to a stationary bike for a while but that didn't compare to running. My wife Kim had a stationary bike that she got and didn't use once rather she hung clothes on it. To this day any time we are watching TV and we see a commercial for a stationary bike I always say to her "What a nice clothes hanger they are selling" - She doesn't think I am funny.  When I discovered Rucking I knew that was my go-to workout. No knee pain, just strength, endurance, a great workout and I don't think my wife will hang clothes on my Rucking vest.

Treadmill Wipeouts

Speaking of my wife and fitness she used a treadmill for years, but the family would constantly hear a thud when she was using the treadmill. She said the thud was her following off. I asked her "How do you fall off the treadmill if you are holding on?" and to my surprise she said she didn't hold on. Apparently, our daughter Patti-Ann inherited this skill as she took a fall off a treadmill at Planet Fitness. I guess treadmills just aren't in the DNA of our family.

I was lucky that I didn't experience many injuries playing basketball, running or lifting weights over the years ( some sprained ankles playing basketball and one time when lifting a dumbbell over my head the clip let go and about 30 pounds bounced off my head - I saw stars but I was OK ) however my son Ricky tore his Achilles tendon playing basketball in October of this year.  Thankfully he is healing and no longer wearing a boot which is great news.

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