What Back Injury?

Well, I am happy to report that I have graduated from shitting in the shower last week to being back in the gym as of this last Tuesday. I waited an extra day - instead of going in on Monday - just to be sure that I wasn't pushing it too fast and risking reinjuring myself. While I was off last week with the injury I still kept my diet on track and lost another 2 pounds for the week giving me a total of 18 pounds down in 3 weeks now. I am hoping to be at the 20-pound mark by this weekend.   I have only trained chest and back so far this week as I have legs later today. I played it smart and didn't do any heavy dumbbell work so that I didn't have to get dumbbells into place and all of my rowing for back was done with supported machine pads so that I could hit it hard but keep the stress down for my lower back.   I was able to go through my entire stretching protocol without any flexibility issues on either side which was surprising. I thought for sure there would be an imbalance but everything felt great. And for the record, I will detail my stretching protocol for the Until I Collapse DVD. I feel that without it I likely would have injured my back much sooner as it had been 3 years since my last injury. I should note that it has been over 5 years since I have injured my back IN the gym. The last 2 injuries actually occurred outside of the gym.   It will be interesting to see what I can get done later today for legs. I am not going to gamble too much as I simply hope to get a solid workout in with a good pump and I will be keeping my poundages way down to accurately evaluate whether my back can take a more intense leg workout next week or if I still need to hold off and take it easy for a while.   I have officially started doing cardio and it sucks. I hate cardio and always will. However, it is still very nice out and the fall in Colorado is a great time to be outside so I will try to enjoy it as much as I can until it gets too cold. Dragging a 37 truck tire up this incline is work.  



  Just happy to be without pain again and able to get back in the gym. Oh, and be able to ride my motorcycle. :) It is amazing to me how painful these injuries are and yet equally as amazing is that a week later I don't even know I was injured.