Now Don’t be Shocked

As I said earlier for general fitness I don’t rely at all on my weight, instead I place my trust in the mirror – cuz’ it don’t lie! (Self-delusion and/or drugs, however, are optional and can be an efficient remedy for low self-esteem) So to start things off I’ve taken three pictures of myself in my practice swimsuit to more easily track my physical progress. The first is my back, the second my front, and the third a side view. I’ll take these three pictures every month and so build a reviewable history of my recovery (always be positive).
My back is definitely the most interesting (if you’re amiable to using that word in conjunction with my pictures) as it shows what a mess a broken back can make of a person’s physique. I have a compression fracture of my L5, the unfortunate result of a winger/fullback trying to play 2^nd row (think of a wide receiver trying to play a position combining the duties of defensive & offensive tackles in American football) and a collapsed scrum. So if you draw a straight line down from the top of my spine you’ll see it ends not at my tailbone but over to its left. Yes, I’m 6’3” now but there was a time when I was 6’4”. Of course the body has to compensate for all this confusion and it does so by tilting my upper back over to the right. If you look carefully you can see my right shoulder is lower than my left. I’m working at several exercises which hopefully will help improve my posture (in fact this picture shows real progress from just six months ago) but right now this is where I am.

Here’s my front picture. The drooping right shoulder is easily seen here – and equally clearly I also need to get more sleep. Other than that what can one say with a picture like this?









And here’s my side view. If I had any questions on how I could possibly be packing 18 kg. of fat this picture quickly quashes them. Hopefully in a couple of years time people will remember them only in relation to how very far I’ve come in my rehabilitation. Still, I find them a little disturbing. We shall forget these shan’t we?