My Road To Rehabilitation: Training Again After An Injury - Huffingtonpost.com

Hello, my name is Jay Cardiello -- welcome to my first blog! I am best known for being the person behind Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's physique. Yes, from 2006 to 2010, I had the privilege of spending every waking hour of my day working as the personal trainer, nutritionist and chef for Fiddy! I monitored his every move, trained his every muscle, and kept a close eye on his caloric intake. Essentially I was a Lululemon-wearing, take-no-prisoners dictator. I like to think that sculpting what some have called the "best celebrity body" made me like the Michangelo of personal training. Although, Curtis just referred to me as "Jay Cardio."

Since my time with 50 Cent, I have trained scores of top-tier celebrities, worked as a spokesperson for fantastic brands and shared my knowledge through the media. But I'd like to tell you about the interesting, and once-broken, road that led me here.

Wet behind the ears, I boarded a plane and headed to the University of Arkansas. I had decided to compete in track and field during my senior year in high school with my some friends from my "jock clique" and I excelled as a long jumper. Arkansas had one of the best track and field programs in the country. So, there I was, a New Jersey kid with more gel in my hair than Pauly-D at a club, standing in the mist of celebrated Arkansas "Hogs" and girls who chewed tobacco. I felt wildly out of place, yet I was determined to make a name for myself among the current Division I National Championship track and field team stand-outs. I did a pretty good job of doing so.

Until: "It's numb." I can remember saying it to myself the day that I came down abnormally during a practice drill. It was a rainy spring afternoon on the day that my life as I knew it changed.
What ensued was a total of 13 surgeries on several parts of my body. I was an athlete -- "born to run," as Bruce would say -- but yet I had hit a point where I felt that my body could no longer support my skin. I can remember feeling that day like I was experiencing a burial of my identity. However, what came next was the resurrection of my destiny.

Doctors told me that my athletic career was over and that I would be bound to a rather sedentary lifestyle. One medical physician in particular said that I should forget athletics completely and set my sights on a desk job career. (I hope he reads this blog!) See, on that rainy spring day, I had over stepped well past my landing mark, which sent a force so powerful back into my spine that it caused a severe fracture in my tailbone and misaligned several discs and vertebrae.

The injury took two spinal fusions to fix and I needed more than a dozen surgeries to reconstruct the damage that I had suffered from the misaligning of my spine. Later, I would recognize that it was this experience that enabled to me to understand the mind and body from a subjective standpoint. And that allowed me to develop a simplistic means of "prehabiliation" which would positively affect the hundreds of bodies I would eventually train.

Jumping several tears later -- yes, tears -- I transferred to the College of William and Mary. I reinvented myself as I became an assistant coach for the men's and women's track and field team. I wasn't about to accept the outdated clich, "those who can't, coach" so I took part. I ran, I jumped and I succeeded. I finally went across a distance that, from the first time I laced up my spikes, I was destined to reach!

I was making a name for myself, not just on the track, but as a guru of "faith". Not faith in a biblical sense, but faith in those who I coached.

Cap and gowns were soon replaced by the Under Armour-ed high and tight uniforms of professional football. See, the noise that I created in pushing my track and field athletes to
succeed well past their capabilities grabbed the attention of the Arena Football League and I was named the head strength and conditioning coach for the New Jersey Red Dogs. This is
where I landed my first job out of college? Thirteen surgeries on a badly injured body and then -- I was a strength coach! For a professional football team!

I thought it couldn't get better, and then it did. Two years after serving of head strength coach for the Red Dogs, I was called to work as an assistant in the strength and conditioning program for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hey, it was unpaid, but it was the NFL. My time was short there, but it allowed me to harness the "tools of confidence" that I would later need to extract from my coach's tool box when facing celebrities.

Next up? The XFL. Remember that defunct WWE Football League that ran during the "dark" months of winter? Well, I landed the position of strength trainer with the New Jersey/New York
Hitman. And the dominos kept falling... I then landed at the MLB, working for the Cincinnati Reds.

After my stint with the Reds, I threw my fists into a new ring -- literally. I had met former cruiserweight champion Al "Ice" Cole at a local gym in New Jersey. Hoping to extend his success
into the heavyweight realms, he hired me to add a little "faith" to his game. Although, "Ice's" punches were getting cold, he was able to open the eyes of other interested heavyweights, whom I helped establish as the world's best.

During those years, throughout every practice, game, match and pep-talk in track, baseball, football and boxing, I watched and I learned. And on November 5, 2005, I walked away from professional athletics.

I came to New York City in December 2005 and landed a position as Personal Trainer at CLAY, a swank, "Sex-and-the-City"-style "fitness destination" that catered to celebs. It was there where I met Mr. Cent. Before long, it was on to L.A., to Africa, to Columbia, to London and on and on. So began my career as a celebrity fitness coach.

Six years after closing my doors to professional athletics, I realized that I never unlaced my track spikes. I think it's symbolic of the fact that I am still running - just in an entirely different way. Today, I am in the marathon of education. A long sprint to teach individuals about how to reach their potential, perfect their bodies, improve their health, all while keeping fitness fun and simplified. I am a certified Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, a Certified Personal Trainer and a Certified Sports Nutritionist, which means that I have achieved the highest level of educational training in my field.

So there is a bit about me. In my blogs, you will learn about succeeding in personal wellness in a way that makes sense, with programs that are attainable. I want to teach you how to positively change your life without changing your lifestyle. Are you with me!?