B Campbell’s BodyBlog

Each year since the horrific events of 9/11/2001 I find myself in a quiet and somber mood about this time.  I see so many people wanting to make such a huge deal of those brave souls that lost their lives that day.  What should I feel? How should I honor them?

The conclusion I have come to is to not honor them on the anniversary of that day, but to work hard every single day to honor them.  I will do my job every day, just as they were doing that fateful day.  By altering my daily duties I would be doing them a disservice…it is the duty I strive to achieve every single day that honors them.  

I will quietly and unassumingly walk into the fire station at 7 am….ready to do what I am ready to do every day…..in their honor, and in the honor of every firefighter that has ever made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.  I, as well as most others I know, say it’s just my job….but it’s a job I’m very proud of and one I am willing to sacrifice my life for when my brothers or anyone in need deems it necessary…any day, any time, without hesitation.

PTB, FTM, EGH, RFB, KTF, DTRT…..just letters to some, but to me they are the guide to my life!  This is honor of my brother firefighter and station 2 partner Lt. Dick Sheets.

Leading up to my August 27 surgery to fuse two neck vertebrae, I have been hitting the weights very hard.  My hopes are to recover more quickly.  I have also increased my protein intake.  Today I bought some supplements for post-surgical recovery.  Apex Performance multi vitamins, vitamin C, Arginine/Ornithine.  I will continue to high does my protein, as well as vit. C, etc… 

Two weeks post surgery I will begin to add vitamin E gel caps for internal and external healing.  Prior to that, it would risk causing bleeding, thus being counterproductive. 

I don’t plan to baby this thing, just to work out intelligently.  I may have to do very light weights, very slowly, for high reps; however, that will be much better than lying around waiting for healing that won’t happen!

I’ve done this before for some ortho surgeries and have recovered extremely fast!!!  My career hinges upon this one being successful, so I’m putting 100% into it.

December 29 I broke my foot and severely dislocated my "great toe".  The foot was doing fine but the toe was keeping me from doing more than easy warmups on a recumbant bike.  After a few trips to my podiatrist and a cortisone shot, I bought some gel insoles and decided to give running a try.

I have now been running for 4 straight days with no foot/toe pain!!! It is awesome!  I am tired and sore overall, but I love it.  Cardio will bring me to my fitness goals so much faster.  I have been frustrated with my BF creeping up.  Now I will bring it back down to my comfort level again!

For now I am using an interval scheme. It’s slow, but I need to adapt before upping the speed cuz I’m old!  5mph for 2 mins warmup..then 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7 for one minute each…4 cycles, then 8 mph for one min, followed by 5 mph cool down.  It’s a great wave interval that keeps me sweating like a pig!

5, 5 / 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7 / 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7 / 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7 / 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7 / 8, 5 = 20 minutes!!!

I’ll post progress pics when I find my usb cable for my camera! Darn kids!

I’m going to try Colonix to see if it will help me out.  I seem to be "full" in the midsection. My abs protrude like I’m fat, but I’m not.  I’m thinking I’m full of nasty leftover "stuff" from days gone by.  Anyone had experiences of this kind? Help me out! Thanks!!!!

Brian

Ten weeks or more on this program.  Mark Banter, former Mr. USA among other titles, is helping me along with it.

Four day split

Day #1  Legs & Calves

Day #2 Chest & Shoulders

Day #3 Back & Abs

Day #4 Arms & Calves

Menu

Three meals plus two protein shakes daily.

8 oz. of meat/fish/poultry per meal

16 oz. starch… potato, sweet potato, rice, oatmeal, rice pasta

6 oz. veggies…other than corn, peas, legumes

Supplements (with meals)

Multi Vitamin: 3x daily

Liver Amino: 5 pills, 3x daily

Volumizer (creatine, glutamine, etc): 3-4 pills 3x daily

Vit. C: 3x daily

Fish Oil: 3x daily

I’m going to have to bite the bullet and go through a bulking phase.  I hate the extra fat that it brings, but I feel like a skinny little whimp right now.  Maybe that’s the sickness that keeps us all in the gym, but if so….so be it!!!

I am going to make an appointment with a former Mr. USA at my gym for some consultation.  Hopefully I’ll break my all time highest bodyweight without hitting my all time highest bodyfat!!!  I want to post some pre-bulk pics, but I’m almost too embarrassed to do it! Wish me luck….

Brian

I’m doing 15 rep sets now, as opposed to the 5 rep or less sets I’ve done for powerlifting the past 8 years.  I had a good shoulder workout the other day and feel like the muscles got a great workout.  Changing the angle of the exercises as well as doing volume takes some adjustment, but it’s fun so far.  Hopefully some quality mass will follow soon enough!!!

This week I’ve begun to use a different type of workout.  I’m hitting a lot of volume with very little rest…at least compared to my past several years of powerlifting workouts!

I’m feeling sore muscles again, which is great, and even had a tough upper body workout early in the week that had me yacking in the bathroom!  I’m currently hitting three sets of 15 focusing on control and contraction with light weights…tough for me to use light weights…feels "wierd".  Shoulders are hurting bad, so this workout might be just what the doctor ordered!  Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!!!!

I did a benchpress comp today for the first time in two years, and first time since shoulder surgery.  I was happy not to have injured myself, as well as breaking the 400 barrier with a 405 at 181.  I didn’t train much at all for this one, so maybe I’ll put in some serious training time and shoot for another meet.  Let’s shoot for 440 this time!

I’ve been having some shoulder and biceps tendon pain from heavy DB work.  I asked a wiley BB veteran what I should do, and other than leaving out a few key exercises, he told me to try a stack of Ibuprofen, Vitamin C, and Fish Oil several times a day for two weeks.  So after only a few days of this I noticed a difference.  Chalk one up for the old experienced guys!