There have been a handful of times where I have expressed my thoughts on to paper or ,in this case, typing. I don't really know why I am choosing to do it now.
Its 6:22am on Monday the 17th. My wife just got done with her shower, my daughter is in bed (though that is a relative term since about this time she wakes herself up) and I am sweating over my keyboard and cat. I restarted my workout this week having been sidelined because of a freak bout of stiffenss in my neck that lingered for about a week. OH DEAR GOD DID I MISS IT!! Not in the way I would miss my wife or daughter if I was away for longer than a week, but like a drug. The shakes you get from glycogen depletion...the rush of adrenaline you get when you finish a set stronger than you started. My workouts are my place of Zen. Where I can be alone with my thoughts in competition to control my body and rule the weight in front of me.
I have trained since middle school. I can remember my PE teacher pulling out a concrete weight set and beaten up bench and announcing that we are going to learn how to lift weights. Looking back, he had no fucking clue. Never showed us proper technique, spotting or anything of that nature. Just get under/grab the bar and push/pull. That was it. The addiction followed into high school, though I was never much of an athlete. I was too interested in the social aspect of school to care about much of anything. But my dad got a full home gym with a 300lb olympic set. We got in the garage and I started lifting after school. Again...the addiction took over. I jumped from 190lbs in my Freshman year to 215 the start of my Sophomore. By the time I finished high school I was 235lbs and kind of sloppy at that...but I was strong as an ox. I was benching 300+ getting ready to squat 400 and could deadlift 375 for triples.
Not long after my Junior year I met a guy who was an amateur powerlifter. ADDICT!!! I got serious in college. I trimmed down to 225 and my bench jumped to 375, squat was 450 and dead was nearing 430. I was in heaven!! POP! (massive amounts of screaming)...back went out. I was pulling a double day that month and I was working on the leg press. I really don't know what happened. Too much work, not enough rest/warm up...It doesn't matter. I seriously injured my back. So much to the point that I never touched a leg press again. The guy teaching me ignored my calls and question. Who know, who cares. I was in major pain. There were days I would wake up and lose all feeling from my waist down, collapse on the floor and it would take about 15mins before I could get up again. Lost, weakened, and scared.
During the time in my life I was learning another habitual addiction...Personal Training. I started my career in the summer of my Junior and Senior year of high school started working at a local gym with the local guru. As fate would have it, he was a Physical Therapist as well. On top of learning about the trade, I gain a wealth of knowledge that would help me with my injury. There was a Chiropractor in the offices above the gym. My mentor told me to go see him about my injury. I did. My sessions started with simple traction in an Inversion Table. In 4 weeks, I was without pain. 6weeks I was lifting. 3 months, I felt like my old self. But I was sacred. I didn't know were to go and how to do anything. I was a wet, cold, scared puppy in the gym. So, I started reading. I wasn't alone.
...its 7:13am. I can hear my daughter waking through the monitor. The cat had mounted my lap and I need to eat...
...to be continued...
Its 6:22am on Monday the 17th. My wife just got done with her shower, my daughter is in bed (though that is a relative term since about this time she wakes herself up) and I am sweating over my keyboard and cat. I restarted my workout this week having been sidelined because of a freak bout of stiffenss in my neck that lingered for about a week. OH DEAR GOD DID I MISS IT!! Not in the way I would miss my wife or daughter if I was away for longer than a week, but like a drug. The shakes you get from glycogen depletion...the rush of adrenaline you get when you finish a set stronger than you started. My workouts are my place of Zen. Where I can be alone with my thoughts in competition to control my body and rule the weight in front of me.
I have trained since middle school. I can remember my PE teacher pulling out a concrete weight set and beaten up bench and announcing that we are going to learn how to lift weights. Looking back, he had no fucking clue. Never showed us proper technique, spotting or anything of that nature. Just get under/grab the bar and push/pull. That was it. The addiction followed into high school, though I was never much of an athlete. I was too interested in the social aspect of school to care about much of anything. But my dad got a full home gym with a 300lb olympic set. We got in the garage and I started lifting after school. Again...the addiction took over. I jumped from 190lbs in my Freshman year to 215 the start of my Sophomore. By the time I finished high school I was 235lbs and kind of sloppy at that...but I was strong as an ox. I was benching 300+ getting ready to squat 400 and could deadlift 375 for triples.
Not long after my Junior year I met a guy who was an amateur powerlifter. ADDICT!!! I got serious in college. I trimmed down to 225 and my bench jumped to 375, squat was 450 and dead was nearing 430. I was in heaven!! POP! (massive amounts of screaming)...back went out. I was pulling a double day that month and I was working on the leg press. I really don't know what happened. Too much work, not enough rest/warm up...It doesn't matter. I seriously injured my back. So much to the point that I never touched a leg press again. The guy teaching me ignored my calls and question. Who know, who cares. I was in major pain. There were days I would wake up and lose all feeling from my waist down, collapse on the floor and it would take about 15mins before I could get up again. Lost, weakened, and scared.
During the time in my life I was learning another habitual addiction...Personal Training. I started my career in the summer of my Junior and Senior year of high school started working at a local gym with the local guru. As fate would have it, he was a Physical Therapist as well. On top of learning about the trade, I gain a wealth of knowledge that would help me with my injury. There was a Chiropractor in the offices above the gym. My mentor told me to go see him about my injury. I did. My sessions started with simple traction in an Inversion Table. In 4 weeks, I was without pain. 6weeks I was lifting. 3 months, I felt like my old self. But I was sacred. I didn't know were to go and how to do anything. I was a wet, cold, scared puppy in the gym. So, I started reading. I wasn't alone.
...its 7:13am. I can hear my daughter waking through the monitor. The cat had mounted my lap and I need to eat...
...to be continued...
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