u/Strange_Detective606

Nation,
There’s still some discoloration and swelling around the tendon. Whether that’s residual inflammation, scar tissue, or something else I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that I’m still putting in the work.
I’m still in physical therapy, icing every night, and using a massage gun. I recently started working with a medical massage therapist who is also treating the injured leg. Full disclosure: it’s brutal. There have been sessions that literally brought tears to my eyes. But I can feel a difference afterward, and I’m starting to believe the pain is part of the process.
Today was another milestone: my first ride on a non stationary bike, you know a REAL BIKE. It wasn’t my best distance or time by any stretch, but honestly, that doesn’t matter. After everything I have been through, getting back on a bike and moving under my own power feels like a win.
The goal now is to at least attempt something that resembles running or jogging by the end of the month.
I still feel like I have a limp, but my wife has noticed something I hadn’t really paid attention to there have been moments when I’m walking and I’m not thinking about the injury. I’m just walking normally.
I can also get pretty close to full weight bearing during calf raises, which is another small sign that things are moving in the right direction.
I’m not going to pretend I’m back to 100%. I’m not even close.
But slowly, surely, and one painful step at a time, I’m getting back in the game.
At 41, I’ve learned that progress doesn’t always look impressive. Sometimes it looks like riding a bike for the first time in months.
And sometimes, that’s enough.

Also, in case you didn’t notice, I brought the “Stache” back, lol. The Army absolutely hates it, and then again, that’s why we do it. 😂

IYKYK.
Keep moving forward.

Doing some yard work, and caught myself in the window, not too shabby. Still working at entering my first OCB show this fall. Keeping locked in.
41m 6’ 189lbs. Sub 15% is my best guess.

Day 97 post-Achilles rupture. Everyone talks about the physical side of this injury. Nobody warns you about the mental warfare. The mind f*ck is real. Ninety seven days ago I was training with 400+ lbs. Today I’m doing movements with 5 lbs and treating them like they matter because they do. That’s the hardest part: accepting that the same discipline that built your strength is now being tested in the smallest, most boring, humbling exercises imaginable. Every part of me wants to skip steps and get back under the bar. But recovery doesn’t care about your ego, your PRs, or how strong you used to be So I’ve learned something I didn’t expect: sometimes toughness isn’t adding more weight… it’s having the patience to use less. Five pounds today.\nFour hundred again later. The goal never changed. The path did. Small steps. Consistent reps. No shortcuts. That’s how I get back to where I was and beyond.

41 Male non-OP, vertical rupture, 1 weeks from injury cast.
Cast for 6 Weeks
Air boot 6 weeks “with wedges”

Today…. Cleared from the boot weight bearing and exercises as tolerated! It’s a big day, had to go buy new athletic shoes because my other pair wore so unevenly… you know, since I hadn’t worn my left one in months haha. Started PT, my goal is to walk without a limp in a month… Probably won’t happen but that’s my goal!

Swelling still flares up fast so I’ll be rocking the compression sock for awhile. Hopefully my next post will be walking semi-normal. Keep moving forward gays and gals!

Nation,
Been working hard… with a pretty significant handicap “hence the compression sock” ruptured Achilles tendon, 0 out of 10, would not recommend” anyways, tomorrow I’m starting my prep cut to see how I look show lean. Sitting around 210lbs, been eating about 2800 calories a day, not exactly sure on BF, last BODPOD came back at 17% that was April 16th. Still going for the show in November.

Update on progress from my non-op vertical rupture. It’s not a lot of weight, but I’m able to do squats again…
Small victories and keep moving forward.

Going on three weeks this Friday without the cast. Been sporting the Airboot with wedges, started with three, last Friday dropped to two. Been doing band stretches and heel raises twice a day, everyday. And Extremely light strength training as tolerated. The swelling has finally started to go away and I saw my ankle for the first time in 8 weeks, 🤣.

My question is, when will the discoloration and bruising start to subside. And the heel of my foot feels like a hammer is beating on it… everyday.

6 weeks from injury
4 weeks in cast.
1st week in boot.

able to move around pretty well, and doing stretches and such, heel raiser in boot 3 blocks, 1 block out every two weeks.

My question for you guys and gals that have endured this, at what point did you start to walk normally again?

P.s. I’m currently renovating a house that’s why there are bare cement floors, lol 😆

Haven’t posted in a while, shameless fitness selfie, but not for the reason you think. Stand by for shameless monologue.

I wish someone had told me six weeks ago…

If you’ve seen my posts, you might think I’ve stayed positive the whole time. The truth is, that’s only part of the story.

These last six weeks have been some of the most frustrating I’ve experienced. The injury itself was bad enough, but it felt like life saw me limping and decided to pile on everything else it had at the same time. Problems that had nothing to do with my Achilles suddenly needed attention. Family responsibilities, work issues, appointments, setbacks, unexpected expenses you name it. It felt like every day brought another problem that needed solving while I was already operating at half capacity.

There wasn’t some secret mindset that got me through it. I just focused on the next problem in front of me. One at a time. Some days that was all I could manage.

The biggest thing that kept me sane was refusing to become completely sedentary. I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, but I did what I could. The assault bike became my outlet. Getting back into the gym even with limitations gave me a sense of control when everything else felt out of control. It wasn’t about maintaining fitness as much as it was protecting my mental health.

What I’ve learned is that every one of us experiences this injury differently. Some people are struggling with pain. Some are struggling with mobility. Some are struggling with the loss of independence. Others are dealing with all of that while life continues throwing punches from every direction.

So if this injury is bringing you down, I get it. It probably should. This isn’t easy.

Just remember that you don’t have to do everything. Accept that for a while, your capacity is different. Some things will have to wait. Some goals will have to be adjusted. That’s okay.

But keep moving forward. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Maybe that’s physical therapy. Maybe it’s a short workout. Maybe it’s just getting through the day without letting frustration take over.

You don’t have to win every battle right now. You just have to keep showing up.

One day at a time. And keep moving Forward.

More pics without the cast later today, expect a boot, 😂

4 weeks since injury, 2nd week in cast… 2 weeks to go… “probably”
Can’t wait to get out of the cast!

Nation,
If you’ve followed along with my progress I hit a small milestone which is going to sound more like a sales pitch but it’s a game changer. Bear with me.

Recovery from a non-operable Achilles rupture has been one of those humbling experiences where the smallest wins suddenly feel huge. For weeks I’ve been navigating life like a wounded pirate except instead of a peg leg I had crutches and enough frustration to last a lifetime. I first upgraded from regular crutches to a knee crutch, which honestly felt revolutionary at the time. Anything was better than that under the arms torture device that somehow manages to make you sore in places you didn’t know existed.

The knee crutch definitely made life easier, allowed me to move around and still use my Arm “singular” but it came with its own problems. That thing was loud, awkward at times, and had a talent for making me feel like I was one bad bump away from eating pavement. Balance could get sketchy quick, and after enough use my knee repeatedly smashing into the pad created one giant uncomfortable hotspot that made every trip feel less like recovery and more like punishment.

Then came the iWalk3, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s been a complete game changer. Almost zero learning curve, surprisingly stable, and for the first time in a while I feel like I’ve got some independence back. The biggest thing? I can actually use both of my arms again. Carrying stuff, opening doors, doing normal human tasks without looking like I’m auditioning for an obstacle course it honestly feels like a major win in the middle of a rough recovery process.

I found mine on eBay brand new $100 shipped.
So far the only negative I can say about this thing it doesn’t like rugs. Does great on wood floors, good on Carpets, don’t go on a rug. 😂
Enjoy the pics.

Life will literally club you to death once this injury happens, keep your chin up and keep moving forward, they say it gets better. 😂

And yes, my cast is blue too, 😂

💯😉
For the record,
1/4lbs ground turkey
1/4 cup brown rice
1 serving broccoli.
Lunch practically everyday “Yum”

Quick update from yesterday’s post…

Went and saw the specialist “Civilian” today with the new MRI images, and apparently I managed to become a medical curiosity. His exact words were basically, “I’ve never seen an injury like this before.” Awesome. Exactly the kind of sentence you want to hear from a specialist.

Long story short, this is apparently a re-injury from a misdiagnosed partial Achilles tear from a little over a year ago... “go Army”…According to him, the tendon healed all kinds of messed up, and my body basically improvised the repair job by compensating with surrounding muscle fibers… which are now injured too. He showed me the side profile on the MRI, and the rupture apparently runs vertically and looks like a lightning strike hitting a tree. Not exactly the visual I was hoping for.

The curveball? Instead of surgery, they immediately put me in a cast with my toes pointed down and said we’ll reevaluate in 4 weeks. Honestly, not what I expected or mentally prepared for. I had pretty much accepted I was walking in there to hear, “Yep, surgery.”

After that I started calling around and found a place with a knee crutch, and I went ahead and ordered an iWalk 3.0 (gets here Tuesday 😂). IYKYK. Guess I’ll be pirating around the house for a while. In hindsight, the boot was way better than this cast. Everything is a challenge now getting around the house, showering, using the bathroom, carrying literally anything. Going to be a long four weeks.

Silver lining Doc said I can still absolutely wreck the gym, so I’ll take the win where I can get it.

Updates to follow.

Anyone have any experience with the Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) injections?

Ok great…

Well, life has a way of humbling you when you least expect it. A few weeks ago I managed to jack myself up pushing a vehicle down the driveway. Not exactly a cool story. Since then it’s been 3 X-rays, 2 MRIs, multiple doctor visits, and I’m still stuck in this weird limbo phase walking around in a boot waiting to find out if surgery is going to happen or not.

I think the uncertainty is honestly the most frustrating part. At 41, being active isn’t just about fitness anymore, it’s part of keeping myself physically and mentally squared away. Going from running, training, and moving normally to suddenly planning every step around a boot has been rough. You realize pretty quick how much you take simple movement for granted when it gets taken away.

Only decent news so far is the doctor hasn’t restricted upper body workouts, so I’m still getting into the gym and doing what I can. It’s definitely not the pace I’m used to, but sitting still has never really been my thing either. So for now I’m just trying to stay consistent, keep my head right, and move forward… even if it’s slow and awkward and sounds like a boot thumping across the floor everywhere I go.

Keep moving forward.

P.s another specialist consult this AM… let’s see what they say… stay tuned. lol

Leg injury, it is what it is… but I’m doing what I can, you can either sit back and feel sorry for yourself, or you can adjust to the problem and do what you can.
315lbs for two, I weigh 211lbs, not bad. Haha. The kid was impressed with this one, lol

But be smart, and focus on recovery. Leg day is on “hold” for a minute.
And yes… I know the kid isn’t impressed. lol

This is why we torture ourselves, lol, gotta remind the neighbors. lol.

41 and Natty, “sorry not shaving this far out” lol

Not sure if it’s a midlife crisis just because I always wanted to try, either way, stoked to try and let’s do this!