Welcome to 2009.  It’s a new year, and like all new years, we are all momentarily inspired to have a fresh start in which we challenge ourselves to lose that weight, and to get in shape.  Well, this year is going to be the year that it happens for you.  This is the year that you don’t fizzle out by February, and that you stay fired up throughout all of ’09, and finally get to that leaner, fitter, and more active you.

As most of you know, the last few months of ’08, I have been out with an injury that has forced me to focus on other aspects of my life other than being physical and active.  It has been hard for me, I won’t lie, but I think in the long run it will have made me a more aware, more rounded person.  I’ll definitely have empathy now for my PT clients that I work with.  It is not easy, and now I can personally attest.  In case you are not aware of what has laid me up for so long, on November 4^th (election night as luck would have it), I was warming up for a volleyball match, doing nothing terribly out of the ordinary.  Contrary to what some of you have enjoyed teasing me about, I was practicing what I preach: slow easy warm up, slow static stretching, active warm up.  During the active warm up, I stepped forward with my left leg on the first step of my approach to the net, dorsi flexing my right ankle, when there was an audible ‘POP’ at the base of my right calf, and a feeling exactly like I was whacked in the back of my leg with a stick.  I went straight down, and knew right away that this was not good.  I held out hope all the way to the ER that it was no more than a tear in my calf, but they confirmed what I new, and Achilles tendon rupture.  A pretty serious injury considering that it is not only a weight bearing tendon, but the main weight bearing tendon of your body.  The largest tendon of your body, your Achilles supports your entire body weight plus the exponential increase in force as you dynamically jump, run, land, pivot, and anything that requires movement of your body basically.  In short, in order to recover to your pre injury glory, it takes time, and a lot of it.  So after surgery to repair the 95% rupture of the tendon, I was laid up for weeks and weeks immobilized and not allowed (or able) to put any weight on it what so ever; a very hard thing for someone like me to do.  Not only not being able to do what I normally do, but also as an independent person, being forced to be dependent on others for virtually everything.  It was humbling, but in the long run, I think it will have been very good for me.  By the way, I would like to thank all of you came over in my time of need and helped me out.  I will forever be indebted for being there for me.

So, in all the exorbitant amount of time I have had the last 6 weeks of 2008, between recovering from my injury, and the biggest snow fall in Seattle in 15 years, I have been planning for what is going to be the best year yet in 2009.  Not only am I more fired up than ever about helping everybody reach their goals of getting in better and better shape, but I am more fired up than ever about getting myself back to where I was pre injury, and to be 115% of what I was by the fall if this year.  That is affecting not only how hard I want to work myself, but also my excitement level in developing new programs and tools to get everybody more active and in better shape along with me.  Hence the updates to my website, and beginning this very blog.  With this blog, I want to create a place online where you can come and get solid reliable information about all things health and fitness.  I will be writing roughly weekly posts about everything from weight loss, to motivational tactics, to nutrition.  There will also be updates on my guided trips to both local destinations in the Cascades and beyond, and also my annual guided adventure travel trips – this year’s being Machu Picchu.  This will be an effective forum, where you can have consistent reliable access directly to me.  Feel free to make comments on the posts, and ask questions directly to me, or of course you can always send me an email directly.  Visit www.hildebrandfitness.com, and check out the Hildebrand Fitness Facebook page as well.

Welcome to the blog and to 2009!  This is going to be the greatest year yet! 

I look forward to hearing from you, and to getting you to your goals in 2009,

Michael Hildebrand