The Chronicles of “B”

Since I screwed up and had this damn abdominal strain which is keeping me from working out I’ve had a lot of time this past 2 weeks to reflect on my life…..where I’ve been and where I’m going. 

I know where I was going…..I was going to Minnesota in April to compete but now that is getting more and more unrealistic as each day passes.  After 2 weeks of doing nothing I feel like I’m almost back to square one and will have to start over. 

I also know where I’ve been but the 3 or 4 people who read this blog probably doesn’t know so since I damn sure don’t have anything else to do right at this moment I thought I would share a little bit about my journey to get to where  I am today

My story is not the typical “I’ve been overweight all my life” story that you usually read about here. Actually it is the complete opposite. I was the kid who always had a ball in my hand looking for a game. Growing up and into adulthood I don’t ever remember being overweight or out of shape.

My dream growing up was to play Major League baseball and my brother Chris and I even got invited to the St. Louis Cardinals invitation only try out camp at Busch Stadium. I guess someone saw us playing Legion Ball and thought that we might have a little talent.  That dream didn’t quit pan out because apparently a little talent was all we had…nothing like at the major league level  so I moved on to boxing.

I did pretty good at boxing but it was mostly small time, nothing major, and was never gonna be more than small time. So, since getting punched in the face is very painful I decided boxing was not for me.

I gave up my dream of being a professional athlete and decided to concentrate on being a professional dad and husband instead and got on with the business of taking care of my family. Although I was no longer training at a high level I still worked out and managed to stay in decent physical condition.

About 5 years ago I got a fever for running so I got out the old running shorts and hit the streets.  One day after working out for a couple of weeks I decided to run a timed mile and ripped of a sub 5 minute time!!  I never even ran a mile that fast in High School so I decided that I might have what it takes to compete again and decided to start training and I ran in a few marathons and some tri sprints. I didn’t burn up the course but I was able to complete every event that I entered and was very consistent in my training logging 7 to 8 miles a day at sub 10:00 miles. Not to bad! Then the bottom fell out.

I don’t know how or why it happened but for the first time in my life I just didn’t feel like working out anymore. For some reason I was just in a funk and I rationalized it by saying, “I’ve worked out all my life now it’s time to set back and take it easy!” Looking back now I think it was the effects of over training for the marathons…..I was really hitting it hard which was the only way I knew to train. I didn’t realize that now being in my mid 40’s my body needed a break now and then and that I couldn’t maintain the pace I did in my mid 20’s. DUH!!! 

The funk grew into full blown depression and along with it came the pounds…..lots and lots of pounds. I was eating garbage I never ever dreamed I would eat. Sodas, anything with sugar, baked goods….I shoved it all in my mouth. I quickly went from a lean mean running machine of 185lbs to a fat disgusting slob of a couch potato. My weight at the start of 2007 topped off at 248 and I looked and felt old for the first time in my life. I was in serious trouble.

Well just like a lot of folks who turn their lives around my wake up call came in the form of a picture that my wife took of me and my granddaughter playing. I couldn’t even believe the person I was seeing in that picture was me!!! It’s funny how your mind plays these little tricks on you. To the rest of the world I was fat and looked old but in my minds eye I was still the same athletic guy I always was which was the farthest thing from reality. I even yelled at my wife, "WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME I WAS FAT?"  LOL!!  That picture brought it home for me.

That was in April of 2007 and I would like to say I jumped right up that very day and haven’t looked back since but the funk was strong and I just wasn’t…..yet!! Oh I stopped eating like a hog and even started walking a little but I still wasn’t ready to make that life altering move I needed to make till I visited my parents grave on Memorial Day!

Standing there that day I remembered how proud my parents were of me when I was younger, how they would go to every game and cheer every little accomplishment.  How they would scrimp and save to make sure we had the equipment we needed to participate in sports.  How excited my dad was for my brother and I that we actually had a chance to play for the Cardinals. So excited that he actually paid for our entire trip. And then came the turning point….I remember how young they were when they died. My father was just 55 years old!! Only 5 years older than myself…..the tears started flowing.  I was actually standing there blubbering like a baby….a full grown man standing there unashamed with tears running down his face because I knew right then and there that if I didn’t pull my ass up out of this funk it was a very real possibility that I would soon be dead as well. The next day I went to MC Sports and bought myself a gym and some free weights and haven’t looked back.  That’s the day I truly became a Hard Core Mutha!!!   

One of the best things that could have ever happened to me was during my research for weight training programs I discovered BodyBuilding.com and BodySpace. The information but especially the inspiration and friendship I have found at BodySpace is as responsible as anything for turning my life around. It’s given me a whole new purpose.  Now if it could just heal this abdominal strain I’d be in business!!!!

Well before I get to the main subject of this blog I have some bullshit to report!  I got up yesterday and went for a nice brisk walk…..the pulled ab felt pretty good….it was a little stiff but not any pain like it was. 

I went through the whole day with no problems so I figured a little light lifting is not gonna hurt anything….right?? 

Ok on Mondays I do chest and tris and I always warm up with some push ups so I’m down on the floor doing push ups and on about the 3rd one….POP!!!!  OUCH!!!  Here we go again!!  Serious pain!!  Man this is bullshit!!!  So now I am totally frustrated, depressed and just plain pissed off!!!  Now I’m back to square one unable to work out at all and it is really starting to f#*k with my head and my confidence.  Is this damn thing ever going to heal??? 

So I guess I’ll just regroup….take another week off and hope like heel this thing heals so I can get back on pace.  Like I said before if anyone has any advice I am very receptive to it.

Ok now let me say a little about cheating!!  I’m sure by now most everyone has heard about Marion Jones admitting to using a banned substance during the Sidney Olympics.  And of course we all know about Barry Bonds and steroid use in baseball.  Everywhere you look these days all you hear about are athletes using performance enhancing drugs to gain an edge over the competition.  For Christ sakes there is even cheating in Auto Racing!!!!  To me this has just about ruined my enjoyment of sports. 

I think back to some of the great athletic achievements and performances that I have personally witnessed in the past and wonder now if they aren’t tainted!!! 

The home run race between Mark Mcguire and Sammy Sosa made that baseball season one of the most enjoyable for me in recent memory but now I’m always gonna think that one or both of them were likely juiced so that memory is forever ruined.  It’s got so bad that I find myself questioning the validity of all my favorite sports memories.

  Hell I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find out that Dan Marino was on the juice in 84 when he had his record season and went to the Superbowl or that the entire 72 Dolphins were juiced when they had their perfect season!!  Who the hell knows anymore???  And how far back does it go???

Was Joe Louis taking drugs when he defeated Max Schmeling and went on to be perhaps the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time???  Or how bout the Babe??  Was he hopped up on something other than beer and brats???  Maybe Jim Thorpe was smoking the peace pipe when he was declared the greatest athlete of all times after his performance at the Olympics.  WHO THE HELL KNOWS!!  The Miracle on Ice???  Was that just an illusion??  Roger Bannister??……no man before him had ever ran a 4 minute mile….how did he do it??? 

One thing I do know…and being a bodybuilding site there has been a lot of discussion here about it….what I know is if you use an illegal substance to gain a competitive edge over your opponents you are a cheater….plain and simple!!!!  If you operate outside the rules of your sport and the rules that govern common sense you are a cheater!!!!  You are cheating your opponent, you are cheating yourself, and worst of all you are cheating those who pull for and believe in you!!!

I grew up, like so many kids before and since, worshipping my sports heroes!! Bob Gibson, Johnny Bench, Bob Griese, the Zonk!!!  I wanted to be these guys!!!  I would have given anything to be able to perform like them.  And now, thanks to the prevalence of cheating these days I have to wonder if there is a chance they may have cheated?????  Makes me sick!!   

Man I am so glad it is Friday so that this long shitty week will soon be at an end and hopefully next week will be much better.

This pulled ab muscle is really making my life a misery.  It is right about at my hip bone and any twisting and lifting of my leg pulls and hurts like hell.  That pretty much means I can’t do shit because even walking pulls on it and causes me pain.

My sleep in suffering because unless I lie still on my back it pulls. If I do manage to get to sleep heaven help me if I happen to roll over because I wake up instantly because of the extreme pain it inflicts!! 

I really haven’t been able to exercise this entire week and it’s damn depressing.  Because I’m depressed and in pain I’ve eaten quit a bit of crap this week like a big wuss!!  Makes me sick!!!  Hard Core Muthas don’t let pain and depression affect them so maybe I’m not as hard core as I thought. 

I’ve decided I’m just gonna veg out this weekend and see if I can get this thing to heal up a little.  There is a big game on this Saturday anyway…..my K-State Wildcats are playing Kansas so I think I’ll just chill and watch K-State kick some ass!!!  Then come Monday I think I’ll start back just walking in the morning for a half hour or so and see how the muscle responds.  If it comes around and there is no pain maybe I can start doing some light lifting.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  This sitting around shit is for the birds!!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a super weekend and if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can get this thing healed up I am very open to suggestions!!

After an incredible week last week I’m sorry to report that yours truly is kind of having a shitty week. 

My computer has been giving me grief which is why I haven’t been keeping up on my blogs….I tweaked an abdominal muscle which hurts like hell and has made getting any thing near a productive workout an absolute impossibility…..hell it hurts to even stand and walk.  But being the hard core idiot that I am I’ve continued to try to workout which is doing nothing more than exasperating the situation soooooooo since it’s raining cats and dogs in Shitholeville OH 45887 this morning and I cannot stand to run in the pouring rain I’ve decided to reflect on my life and catch up on my blogging as I know you all are just dying to know what’s going on in my always exciting life! 

Bought the new Fantastic 4 movie which came out yesterday on DVD and it’s as good on the small screen as it was on the large screen!  BTW is there anyone hotter than Jessica Alba???  I don’t think so.  Unless maybe Scarlett Johanson???  Anyway….Love my superhero movies which makes perfect sense since I was an avid comic book fan as a kid!! 

I had every edition of Spiderman and the Fantastic 4 and kept them in mint condition for years until one year in a fit of spring cleaning madness my mother disposed of what would now be several thousand dollars worth of classic comic books!!  Oh well it’s not really the money that I miss as much as the memories….yea right!! 

I used to dream of growing up and becoming a superhero but alas there was to be no radioactive spider bites or accidental blast of gamma rays to transform yours truly into a real life superhero!!

All hope is not lost though!!  I’ve decided I can still be a superhero!!  I’ll be Superfit 50’s Man!!!  That’s right!!  I was just your everyday average mild mannered fat slob…waiting to die old dude till I was bitten by the fitness bug and was transformed into……SUPERFIT 50′S MAN!!!! 

My superpower will be the ability to transform other average mild mannered fat slob, waiting to die old dudes into super fit dudes by being a shining example of fitness and extreme health!!  That would be freaking awesome!!!

I’m just a love machine!!! 

I have got to know something.  Since I’ve started working out really hard I’ve noticed a side effect that I wasn’t quit expecting and I’m not really sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.  The side effect of which I speak is that I’ve become a sex fiend!!!!  I think about it all the time and I can’t get enough. 

I know this is probably too much info for most of you and if you are easily offended you  might want to skip this part but…..I find myself getting more erections during the course of the day than a 13 year old hormonal teenager!!  And for no more apparent reason other than my penis figures it a good time for one!!  It’s been a little embarrassing at times to say the least.  When I was in school and got one I could always cover it with a well placed book….it’s not so easily concealed now! 

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not really hating this but I’m 50 for Christ sakes and 50 year old dudes aren’t suppose to get unsolicited erections during the course of the day.

Just for the record though……my wife is loving it.  We must have made love at least 25 times from Friday to Monday which was our 8th anniversary!!!  Damn….come to think of it that’s probably what happened to my ab muscle!!   

My question though is……has anyone else out there experienced this awesome side effect of working out like a mad man????  Or…..am I just a freak of nature??  And is there a way we can capture what ever causes it and put it in a pill cause we would blow Viagra right out of the water if we could.  LOL!! 

 Your input would be appreciated.  I really want to know if there are others out there who are now or have experienced this……maybe we could start a support group!!  LOL!

Ok I think that’s about enough BS for Wednesday so I’m off to wake my wifey for a little rainy day cardio……..

Bye!!! 

Yup that’s right!!  My wifey and I have been married 8 years today and I ain’t gonna do shit but spend my whole day with her.  Today would be chest day but instead it’s gonna be hang with my honey day!!!  So this blog is gonna be short and sweet just to let my dedicated readers….all 3 of you, know what I’m up to today!

Later!!!