Speaker 2
Uh, didn't, didn't turn out that way. And to be fair, almost every injury I've ever had that's been pretty effective. So, uh, unfortunately, yeah, I've just, I've had this, um, this nerve injury that it's, it's my ileo inguil order of, which kind of goes right around the hip and the lower abdomen. And so, I mean, anything that generates a lot of intro abdominal pressure, anything that involves a lot of, uh, hip flexion, uh, really causes a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort. And it's, it's not even the type of thing where you can just kind of, you know, grunt and, and just push through it because the pain really intensifies. Like I'll wake up at night with a tremendous amount of pain from stuff. I did earlier in the day. Um, so, so yeah, it's, it has been, I will say is like, you know, we talked in this podcast a lot about identity. And when you start lifting at 12, like a madman, by the time you're 14, you're more jacked than everybody. And that's when you start high school and, you know, when I was in high school, I was the jacked kid that was obsessed with fitness. Everybody kind of put me, you know, that was how they viewed me. And I, I certainly when you're in high school and there's an identity that's assigned to you and you, it actually lines up with your values and you think it's cool, you lean into that, right? And so, um, yeah, from, from the age of like 12 to the age of like, you know, I, I, you know, when I last competed in like 2017 ish, I mean, that entire period of time, fitness was really an identity for me. And I had set a lot of goals and largely gone out and, and taken care of them one way or the other, you know? And so yeah, it's been an interesting, uh, couple of years where, you know, up into 2017, I started noticing it 2018, 19, it was getting worse by 2020. It was pretty unbearable. And it's, it's actually been a pretty long stretch of time here where I'm kind of, uh, short on answers, uh, in terms of what to do about it. I mean, I've been working with Jason, you're, uh, he's been helping me out with some exercises because, uh, you don't, you don't really leap into nerve-related surgeries. That's kind of a kind of a huge deal. Nerves are nerves are important. So, um, surgical options are not ideal and the success rates are low anyway. So it's just been one of those things where I try some, some physical therapy. And then it's, you know, I can't train the way I like to train. So you kind of lose interest and say, well, I'll focus on other things and, and get back into it. So, um, anyway, long winded rant, but it's all to say, um, you know, hearing, uh, about, you know, folks who, who like, uh, like Jeff are like at their best at, at 52, I think you said he turned pro at 38. Right. Yep. I mean, it's one of those things where if I'm not careful, I can vent, I convinced myself that I'm an old man at 32 and I'm like, well, I guess my bodybuilding days are behind me, but I have no idea. You know, it's really cool to hear about, um, I think we, you know, I think this is a callback to earlier when I said young people, we always think in linear relationships, right? It's, it's all we're capable of. I don't know if I said that on air or off air. No, you didn't. Yeah. But, um, because we were chatting a little bit before we recorded, but, um, yeah, you always kind of assume, right? From the outside looking in that if someone is an excellent pro at 52, then they kind of took this, this kind of linear thing where, and even if it's not linear, it's just every year is additive, you know, and, and we get in that mindset where, you know, if we have an injury and we have to take six weeks off of the gym, we think that we just erased eight continuous years of gains, right? Uh, cause we're like, well, now I'm back to square one and it's going to, you know, and of course that's not how it works. Right. I mean, there's, there's ups and downs in the journey. You take pauses, you take 10 steps backward, and then maybe you take 20 steps forward in the future. Um, and to call it a journey really is the most appropriate term you can really put on it. So, uh, yeah, it's awesome to hear about these different stories of people who experienced setbacks. They take time off. They, they think they're done and then they come back and say, actually, my best days are in front of me, you know, so, uh, actually I had no idea when I woke up today that we were going to talk about this. Um, and I woke up today and did my first like really good rehab session in a while where I was like, something came over me last night and I said, I'm going to start rehabbing really hard because I just, I so badly want to get back to training the way I like to train, you know, um, and so hey, who knows? Maybe, uh, in several years, I'll be up on a stage as well. Um, maybe you and I will, will meet on a world stage and, and go out of it.
