TheBodyguard’s BodyBlog

A couple of months ago my middle son came to me and asked about the origin of his name. I thought this was a cool question coming from an 8 yr old and asked why he was asking.

He said he had a special assignment and that he would get to read the story of his name in front of his class, he was very excited.

I told him to go upstairs and play and I’d write it up and call him when I was done. He said "no Daddy I want you to tell me and I’ll write it!" Ok I said and I sat him down and he wrote a wonderful story afterwards.

Later that Day he came home "Daddy I gotta tell you they loved it my friends said it was great the Teacher said it was excellant!"

OK I said lets see it! I would now like to share his story with you I have edited the last name out for security reasons as he is only 8 and well I’m his dad so protecting my son comes first but none the less here is his story.

Sergio Alexander and the Origin of his Name
 

I awoke this morning to numerous personal messages from fellow members about my Blog entry yesterday. I felt a genuine sense of having contributed something.

I’ve never fancied myself much of a writer but I guess sometimes when emotion transefers to the written word, it trancends my shortcoming in the literary department.

I have met a lot of cool people here and have also begun a rediscovery of myself it seems. I would like to use this Blog entry to say thank you to those that contacted me and the kind things they said, and I would also invite those that have not read my entry for yesterday to do so if for no other reason than to read a story about a really cool dad a good man who majorly impacted my life and who has continued to do so with his grandchildren.

Thank you again and maybe I’ll talk to you later after I hit the gym

As always stay safe, take care and Most Respectfully Yours.

I was 11 years old and anxiously awaiting my dad coming home from the Steel Mill, I din’t see my dad much growing up it seemd like he was always working he usually left before I awoke and returned around 11:30 pm when I was supposed to be in bed.

But today he was coming home early he had called and told me to be ready, he was taking me some where special.

I had no Idea where we were going but I was anxious, I was always kind of intimidated by my dad he was a former Combat tested Marine Veteran and started work at the Steel Mill after the War, he looked every bit the part to me as did most of the rugged men who worked in the Mill with him but none the less he was my hero.

I heard the car pull up the Drive way and my mom yell "You better be ready I’m sure your dad doesn’t want to wait". I scrambled down the hall and grabbed $2.00 my grandpa had slipped in my pocket the week before. I wasn’t sure I’d need it but I sure felt better having it in my pocket.

No sooner had I gotten back up the hall then my dad came in he had on a blue t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and chest, his massive forearms snaked with veins and golden brown from the summer’s heat wrapped around my mom’s waist and he pulled her in for a kiss.

Dad was happy and that was good, I was excited. He had on jeans wich the legs were flooding he said it was safer at work to have them short he sat down to remove his steel toes and put his oxfords on as he sat his pant legs gave a glimpse of his massive calves the product of hours on his feet.

Soon he was ready he reached in the refridgerator pulled out a ice cold glass bottle of pepsi and handed it to me and said I could drink it in the car. "Go get in the front seat he barked" (Rember he was a Marine)

I jumped in the front seat and we drove to the strip mall a city away and he said to get out, "where were we going?" I wandered to myself as he put his heavy hand on top of my head and we walked up to the Little Professor Book Store what were we doing here?

We walked to the back magazine rack and he pointed to the top shelf and there it was in all its full color glossy paper glory.

The October issue of Joe Weider’s Muscle Builder and Power (Later to become Muscle & Fitness) it was a solid black cover with a full color pic of Robby Robinson doing a front double bicep pose he looked like a freaking puffed up cobra under the pic it said Robby Robinson World’s Bodybuilding Champion then in Larger letters it said Torso of a Bodybuilder.

Dad handed down the magazine to me and put his heavy hand on my head again and walked me to the front counter and said "you got your money?" I laid the magazine on the counter and slid my $2.00 across the counter and my dad tossed some change in. The lady slid it in a thin bag and handed it down to me. I don’t remeber much after that I clutched it tight to my chest and before I knew it we were pulling up in the drive way, I don’t even remember the drive home only that I couldn’t wait to open the cover when I got inside.

Later that evening after dinner the door to my room opened dad came in and laid down on the bed next to me and started asking about the guys and who was who and we discussed in great detail every article of that magazine. I didn’t realize it at the time but that maybe one of the first real conversations I ever had with my dad.

He stood up after an hour or two and patted me on the head "I’ll leave you to it" he said and started to walk out he stopped and stuck his hand in his pockett and pulled out $5.00 dollars tucked it in my t-shirt pockett and said "don’t tell mom" I started to say something bout the magazine only being $2.00 but he just looked at me in a way that made me just keep it to my self.

later that night I fell asleep reading that magazine over and over. In the morning I am not sure cause it was very early, actually it was still dark out but I swear my dad came in and kissed my forhead before he went to work.

In the lower right hand corner of the cover of that magazine it read

"LIFE HAS NO MORE THRILLING EMOTION THAN OF PRIMITIVE HUMAN PRIDE IN A STRONG MAN STANDING IN HIS STRENGTH"

This is the first time I have Blogged twice in a day but I promised my son I’d mention my journey through the world of Harry Potter as I made my way through each book.

So I finished the last two chapters of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Yr 2) early this morning.

My foray into this magical journey again started out of a desire to shar something special with my son who loves these stories so we could have conversations about the tales and to help inspire all my sons to read.

My oldest son and I have always watched movies together from the time he was old enough to go to a movie theater and eventually we found the Harry Potter Movies together and he like milliona of other children worldwide the books as well. This past weekend we had our first sit down about the books and I am proud to say not only am I definately a Harry Potter fan many times over.

But the smile and genuine happiness I brought to my son that he knows (Dad really did read the books!) is priceless.

I feel really good about myself and as a father not that I didn’t before but I really got to feel the experiance of having a positive affect on my children and as a parent when that happens it really can’t be described.

So each trip to the gym so far I have proudly walked in with my Harry Potter books and if I’m luck I knock out 1 to 2 chaps on the recumbant.

Looking forward to starting the 3rd book either this evening or tomorrow morning.

I had to run down to my parents house yesterday. About an 80 Mile round trip (always fun) but turned out pretty cool as I got a reminder of what coll parents I have and how cool they were as I was growing up (Wow I just used cool twice in a row).

As I was preparing to leave their home I was stnading next to where my dad stacks his DVDs and took a quick glance "Belly of the Beast!" (Steven Segal) my parents were always into action movies as I was growing up probably where I developed my tastes but at anyrate as I looked at my Dad now very much an old man I started to think how cool he and mom were.

He bought me my first barbell set, my mom bought me my first marvel comic they took me and bought me my first muscle magazine. And we watched lots of movies together.

And here I am today looking at this littl old man and his collection of action movies and knowing my mom would call me and talk about it after they watched it. Yeah my parents are cool I just wished I would have noticed they got old I mean I know they are its just hard to see them that way and some times I don’t realize it.

I love them very much and call them almost every day and try to visit every other week. Wow I don’t know what else to say. Interesting how certain things trigger thought processes.

now on to training I was up at 3:00 am heading for the gym by 3:45 am just me and one other guy in the gym until he just looked aggravated I was there and left. I added in some conditioning work on top of my Cardio and weight training and well closest I have been to puking since I was about 14.

Made didn’t puke but damn! Finished training just in time assume as the first member of the day came in very attractive Red Haired woman engaged me in some pleasant conversation so all in all started the day off well, came home drank a mix 1 protein & antioxident drink (Very good by the way)!

Well it’s confirmed I expect to much from people. Well ok maybe I am being to hard on myself but man there are a lot of people that just don’t get it at my gym.

Besides the giggling and inane banter from the two young women that seemed to be intentinaly following me around blathering annoyingly and loudly.

The other woman was driving me insane she carried a stack of magazines around with her and every machine she sat on she read a magazine while doing her reps, no I’m not making this up I’m not talking about reading between sets she was actively reading while using the machines.

Thankfully I was almost finished when she came in usually this is one of the better times to go train as there are very few people in there but today "wow" must be the law of averages thing or Murphy got a membership!

I couldn’t get back to sleep after waking up around 4 am so I got dressed and headed to the gym. It was all of about 3 degress outside when I left and it took about 30 Min to warm up but all in all it was a good training session.

I arrived at the gym about 5:30am there was only one other person there on the eliptical wearing their street clothes. I will never be able to understand this first I don’t know why the gym tolerates this no other gym I have ever trained at did.

But this is at least the fourth person I have seen working out in their street clothes, There is a family that comes in and their teenage son workout in his regular clothes, there is a middle aged woman who come in and works out in her jeans and sweater, a colege aged guy that workout in street pants and a t-shirt and this guy this morning working out in those tactical pants where the legs zip off at the knees and some kind of sweater.

I will never understand it but then again I didn’t understand the woman who took her sweater off yesterday and set it and her bottle of water in the middle of the isle behind the treadmill she was walking on oblivious to the fact that was a walking path betwen the cardio equipment.

There I go expecting to much out of people again.

I am in the gym about 5 days a week for about 2 hrs. today as I walked from the cardio area to the Free Weight section I noticed what I had been noticing all week.

People don’t replace their weights after they finish, the seated calf was loaded up, the leverage incline press was loaded up there was a pile of loose plates next to the Smith Machine and the EZ bar on the preacher bench was fully loaded with another pile of loose plate on the floor next to it.

I walked up to a gentlemen I always see around this time and asked if he was the mgr or owner he smiled and said owner. He introduced him self and I asked if I could make a suggestion I explained how often I was in their and complimented him on his gym then pointed out the weight which had not been returned.

I explained that I had 20 some yrs around the industry and while I understood he couldn’t stop this from happening as a whole maybe some signs posted appropriately as reminders etc. you know the whole power of suggestion type thing people see the signs think your watching etc.

He looked at me as if I was critisizing him personally which I by no means was, this is a very nice and very clean gym otherwise and everyone is polite etc. But loose weight plates on the floor, fully loaded machines and bars are a safety issue and liabilty as well as inconveniant.

he pointed behind me and said we have a sign I turned and behind the Smith machine next to the hand santizer despenser was a small sign just bigger than a deck of cards that said something about replacing the weights when you were done.

We small talked for a while and I saw this was not going the way I had hoped so I personally unloaded everything and finished my workout.

It is what it is, hopefully when one of the elderly women that comes in there trys to pull a sewer lid off the machine part of the after school bench press crew has left on she won’t hurt herself.

Last night before turning in for the night I finished the last two chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Yr 1)! I can’t wait to discuss it with my oldest boy. And eagerly started reading (Yr 2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, early this morning while warming my knees up for leg training on the recumbant.

I have to admit what started as a way of keeping my boys motivated to read and a way of sharing something dear with my oldest son has turned out quite enjoyable for me, as I have rediscovered reading at least as far as novels are concerened I actually read quite a bit but more non fiction and mostly scientific stuff physiology, nutrition, etc. I’m kind of an egg head like that.

But at any rate it has been a very Icey two days lots of rain on a frozen ground makes for hazardous driving and a wet sloppy mess of the roads. It has finally crept a little over freezing for a few days here and there but is still cold for the most part which always ads to the warm up time at the gym. Which isn’t to bad but keeps me on my toes as far as scheduling during the day.

I am very pleased with my results so far this come back of sorts after a long layout has brought lots of pleasant surprises plus the extra time I have to spend more time on acheiving my goals has helped alot.

I am responding well to the increased volume and am still amazed that while my workouts have been lighter weight wise than in the past how well my body is responding. Muscle memory its a beautiful thing.

I was just looking at the Bodyanswer section on my Bodyspace. In particular the question that reads: What type of person at your gym annoys you the most? Why?

I thought about answering this but as I began to type other than minor annoyances I don’t pay much attention to people. I began to reflect on my long history of training at various gyms and recalled several instances where minor annoyance turned to down right aggravation. I thought I would write about one such episode as it was fresh in my mind.

Aprox 4-5 yrs ago I broke the ulnar bone in my forearm in a freak accident but that is a story all in it’s own. At any rate because it was my right arm and I am right handed exceptinally so. It took along time to heal as I kept unintentionally reinjuring it in a minor way but still enough to slow the healing process I was in a cast for months.

When the glorious day came that the cast was removed and I was cleared to resume training I was limited at first in bicep exercises as my muscles of course had atrophied on that side as well as tightened from being imobile for so long.

I began on a very structured but slow forearm rehab program on my own interestingly while it took about a month for all of my strength to return on that side primarily from the pain and tightness the size came back within a weeks time it was the same size as my left.

And thankfully it healed straight. One day while at the gym I was performing seated alternate Hammer Curls in the large mirror on the wall I saw this old guy I had seen all throughout my life he must have worked out at every gym around. He never had any significant size or strength or general development from a bodybuilding standpoint ever that I can remember. And he was always doing all these bizarre movements and using way to much weight as well as just endless sets and reps.

He also seemed to have a habit of coming up to the biggest and strongest guys in the gym and offering unsolicited advice and saying how back in the day etc. etc. Thankfully he had never spoken to me.

Until that day Damn! He was heading right for me I was hoping I could finish my set before he came over and I could just walk away but he reached my area during my last few reps.

"You know you’d get alot more bicep stimulation outta those curls if you rotated your palms up!" he bellowed as he walked up behind me reaching down to give a unwarranted and unwelcome spot to my Hammer Curls.

I dropped the dumbbells and stood up man I was pissed this just really set me off this day.

Before I continue let me explain that I am very quiet in the gym I usually except for a greeting to someone I recognize I don’t fraternize at the gym for me its like going to the office. I mind my own business I am polite I don’t hog equipment, I wipe my sweat etc. and I have 20 some odd yrs under my belt training. and on this day him and I were the only ones in the weight room my forearm was still hurting and he was rushing over and trying to grab my arm and blathering about nonsense etc.

At any rate I dropped the dumbbells and stood up ready to take his head off but thought better of it and just looked him square in the eye and said "I am not training biceps."

He stood there looking dazed and confused as he evidently didn’t recognize Hammer Curls but could only imagine despite what I looked like that I didn’t know how to curl properly. I just walked away and left him standing there.

After he collected himself he went over to the double overhead pulley machine for this rediculous move I have seen him perform for the last 20 some yrs where he puts way more weight than he can legitimately handle on both stacks grasps the D Handles as if he is about to do crossovers and positions himself directly in the middle of both stacks and starts flapping his arms like he is about to take off he flaps his arms and grunts so loud and hard the whole apparatus shakes. It is a spectacle to behold.

About this time I was finishing up and ready to head to the cardio room so I deliberately walked past him and said just loud enough for him to hear me "You know I’d wear a belt if I was training lats that hard" as I walked away to do Cardio I heard him say"Smart A" but from the treadmill I could see him putting on his weight belt. The young lady who worked at the desk and was also a Fitness/Figure Competitor had witnessed the whole thing and walked over and wagged her finger at me and about that time we both burst out loud with laughter and she walked away and came back and handed me an ice cold bottle of water and said you are the only person who has ever said anything to that guy.

I kinda felt bad but not really I was having a bad day and well he walked in on it what can I say he assumed to much and the whole trying to spot when I didn’t need it or want it was just a bit to much.

You know in retrospect I still have to laugh.