RetiredArmy's journey to the Midwest Gladiator Nov 2017 (Sponsored by Viking(Solberg

[RetiredArmy0513]

Had a great leg workout, for some reason I could do more weight, I had to take it easy though because I was going in uncharted territory with the weight I was doing. I didn't want to hurt myself my pull something. After the leg workout I did 20 minutes of cardio. Starting September will go to 30 minutes of cardio and last month I will probably do 2 30 min sessions


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[RetiredArmy0513]

Been a rough few days personally so I didn't work out yesterday but I did today. My mom had to have an emergency surgery. She has diverticulitis and it got infected. So they gave her antibiotics through IV... After a few days of tests they didn't like what hey saw and decided to do surgery and removed 15 inches of her colon. No cancer so that was good. My mom has had 3 surgeries in the past year and she has osteoporosis so her bones are shit. I feel really bad for her. She has to be in hospital till Monday. So needless to say I didn't work out yesterday. I didn't want to go in today either but I did legs until I almost puked. Abductors, squats, leg press, prone leg curls lying hand, seated and standing calves. And abs today. All in an hour. I am fucking beat... didn't think about my mom at all which was good. I seriously thought about not competing in November... I don't know if my mind will be all in it for this last 11 weeks of prep if my mom is on poor health. My dad doesn't even know how to do laundry or fucking cook. Last time I had to go to their house and shop for them cook and clean up a bit. My dad is an old school Italian so he fits the stereotype quite nicely. I know not too many people read my log but I am looking for motivation. I still have until Sep 30 to register so I have some time. Any ideas ???


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[zacharykane]

Hey buddy,

Got your text and read what's going on here, so figured I would respond here so I could better articulate a response rather than just some short message....

Though I've never had to deal with a family member having serious health issues and can't even begin to imagine how you're feeling, I can understand the sheer frustration of feeling helpless in a situation and spreading yourself thin trying to be there for your family and maintain your other obligations.

For the sake of being 100% open and honest, about 5 years ago I was going through a pretty horrendous time. Divorce, no place to live, completely ignoring my own self and just spending as much time at work as possible and if I wasn't working I was either drinking or binging on crap food (when I could eat that was). This went on for awhile and I was starting to go down a pretty dark path. One day out of the blue, someone I hadn't talked to in years texted me and all it said was this; "Step 1: Get back in the gym. Step 2: Start eating real food again." Naturally my next question was "what's step 3?" To which the reply was a simple "get through steps 1 and 2 first."

The next day I got back in the gym and it was rough, but I went 5 days a week and got back into a routine. Soon after that my appetite came back and I lost pretty much all desire to eat junk food, and also didn't go days at a time without eating. It wasn't too long after that other things started coming back around; got a promotion at work, started being social again, talked to my friends, started doing things that I normally would never do like yoga classes which is how I ended up meeting my wife, started competing again... The list kind of goes on.

Moral of my story being, when my life was falling apart and I felt like I had no control, lifting weights and controlling the foods that went into my body gave me a center, a place where I could always revert to where I was the only one in control. There were days where time wouldn't allow for workouts, and sometimes I had to break my diet a bit, but that was less than 10% of the time.

So my advice would be, keep the mindset that you're doing the show, eat as well as you can which may take a little extra planning (always carry one more meal than you think you'll need), get to the gym when you can and even when you don't feel like it, because we all know sometimes those days are just pure therapy, and keep taking care of your family.

Hope this helps my friend!

 

[RetiredArmy0513]

Took my daughter today to the gym and had her babysat. I had an hour and got my chest day in and 20 minutes cardio. Did incline machine, bench, dumbbell flys and pullovers and cable crossovers. Then did 20 minutes of cardio and was drenched. A cheesy song got me motivated today and it wasn't even hard rock, it was "don't stop. Believing". I kind of laughed at myself and it was kind of fitting for what's going on right now, definitely still going to be in the mindset of doing the show. My mom is in the hospital until Tuesday so there is nothing I can really do now anyway. Thanks Zachary Kane for the words. I appreciate it


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[chainheart]

...no RetiredArmy we're never gonna give you up

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"]Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up - YouTube[/ame]

 

[VikingLab]

Took my daughter today to the gym and had her babysat. I had an hour and got my chest day in and 20 minutes cardio. Did incline machine, bench, dumbbell flys and pullovers and cable crossovers. Then did 20 minutes of cardio and was drenched. A cheesy song got me motivated today and it wasn't even hard rock, it was "don't stop. Believing". I kind of laughed at myself and it was kind of fitting for what's going on right now, definitely still going to be in the mindset of doing the show. My mom is in the hospital until Tuesday so there is nothing I can really do now anyway. Thanks Zachary Kane for the words. I appreciate it


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There are good people here, you can be sure.

 

[RetiredArmy0513]

This morning was shoulders and abs, very short workout. I only do 4 exercises when its shoulder day, shoulder press couple rear delt exercises and shrugs. From last week I lost 3 pounds. I was really good with my diet and may have even not eaten enough some days but everything was healthy. Tomorrow going to visit my mom at the hospital and getting my dad a cake for his birthday tomorrow. My mom should get out of the hospital Tuesday so she is progressing. Looking forward to another week of good diet and training habits.


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[RetiredArmy0513]

Today I did back... I felt a little weak today but everything was very vascular, veins popping out everywhere. I went a week straight on my diet very strict. I'm trying to lose some BF and I am going about 1500 cals per day. Today was deadlifts up to 225 low rows last pulldowns back extensions 25x4 with a 25 lb weight. V bar pulldowns. Then did 20 min of cardio. For the time being I will be doing cardio 5xs a week for 20 min. I am finally down to 175. It was the hardest 3 pounds I shed in a week. Tomorrow is off then arms abs and cardio Wednesday


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[zacharykane]

Glad you broke through the plateau you were at! Keep an eye on calories though, you still have a little ways to go and you don't want to cut back too much too soon. Maybe add in a serving of almonds or cashews are 1/4 cup?

Today I did back... I felt a little weak today but everything was very vascular, veins popping out everywhere. I went a week straight on my diet very strict. I'm trying to lose some BF and I am going about 1500 cals per day. Today was deadlifts up to 225 low rows last pulldowns back extensions 25x4 with a 25 lb weight. V bar pulldowns. Then did 20 min of cardio. For the time being I will be doing cardio 5xs a week for 20 min. I am finally down to 175. It was the hardest 3 pounds I shed in a week. Tomorrow is off then arms abs and cardio Wednesday


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[RetiredArmy0513]

Glad you broke through the plateau you were at! Keep an eye on calories though, you still have a little ways to go and you don't want to cut back too much too soon. Maybe add in a serving of almonds or cashews are 1/4 cup?

I do have a shitload of almonds at home from Costco.. I ended up having a little snack around 4pm yesterday waiting for my daughter at dance. I had some salted peanuts and a little hot and spicy beef jerky. I never took so long to pick 2 items, I was reading the back of everything for carbs. The snack really did help, I was not feeling too strong . On a side note I started Prami last night for restless leg syndrome (VA prescribed) I have ramp up the dose but this morning I feel pretty tired and groggy and I'm only at .125. I'll have to monitor this because I don't want to feel too lethargic, probably take s while to get used to


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[whippedeye]

This is a great log...how have i missed it? Anyway keep up the hard work. It's rewarding and it will make you feel awesome to know that you maintain in the tougher times of your life...

When the SHTF in my life I pushed harder and trained harder and ate better. Mostly to prove that it can be done. Once my mother died tho I lost the intensity for 4 months. Then I decided to get back at it. And ya know what. .... despite all the shit that happened I now feel I truly did the very best I could. I'm living and crushing one day at a time and things are better.
Life is a wild ride!

Anzel
Puritysourcelabs.ru representative

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[tenny]

TMT is announcing we will be "helping" RetiredArmy with any
questions he may have...... and possibly offer some better suggestions
if he needs it....free of charge....

we thank him for his service....and his sacrifices for OUR country.

 

[RetiredArmy0513]

TMT is announcing we will be "helping" RetiredArmy with any

questions he may have...... and possibly offer some better suggestions

if he needs it....free of charge....



we thank him for his service....and his sacrifices for OUR country.

Thank you sir... I'll let you in on a secret... when you told me hat I shouldn't do it, I was kind of hurt and a little pissed. Mostly you were right, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The summer vacation for 3 weeks with the kids and wife probably didn't help because I couldn't truly dial in my diet when I'm on the road and at Disney,etc. The only reason I am still doing this is because of the constructive criticism you gave me. Not a bad thing, I've been getting talked to like that for 15 out of 20 years in the Army. It did motivate the fuck out of me though, if you wouldn't have told me I shouldn't or couldn't do it I probably would have quit already. So now at 10 or so weeks out I am working my ass off to make a respectable showing and that's all I wanted anyway. I hope she kins of makes sense it's supposed to be a compliment.[emoji51]


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[tenny]

Thank you sir... I'll let you in on a secret... when you told me hat I shouldn't do it, I was kind of hurt and a little pissed. Mostly you were right, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The summer vacation for 3 weeks with the kids and wife probably didn't help because I couldn't truly dial in my diet when I'm on the road and at Disney,etc. The only reason I am still doing this is because of the constructive criticism you gave me. Not a bad thing, I've been getting talked to like that for 15 out of 20 years in the Army. It did motivate the fuck out of me though, if you wouldn't have told me I shouldn't or couldn't do it I probably would have quit already. So now at 10 or so weeks out I am working my ass off to make a respectable showing and that's all I wanted anyway. I hope she kins of makes sense it's supposed to be a compliment.[emoji51]


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then I did my job.....

 

[RetiredArmy0513]

Another bad few days with my health and with my mom. I had one of my migraines yesterday and threw up 3 times. The good news is I'm down to 172 lost 6 pounds in a little over a week. Then today my dad called and said my mom had to go back to the hospital. Her incision didn't heal at all and it's very infected and they had to give her IV antibiotics and some kind of wound vac?? In. So 2 days not going to train, I feel mad and sad for my mom, 3 surgeries in a year is rough on anyone let alone a 68 year old woman with osteoporosis


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[RetiredArmy0513]

Today was a good day in the gym and I got some laughs at some poor girls expense. I think the NPP has kicked in, had some reserve strength I found or something did 100 pounds in the bicep curl machine 8 times.. I junk s personal best for me. Been doing 90 the last set and decided to throw a 10 in there as well. So the funny part was this girl was doing squats and dancing in between sets and kind of dancing during, everybody was looking at her and laughing. I'm doing cardio and she is about 3 treadmills away from me on to far outside one. She starts doing her Victor Cruz salsa dance and trips and goes flying into the garbage can and mirror. I was a total douche and I laughed so did some other people and them some trainers came running over to her. She is ok but she was limping. She kept on saying she wanted to leave but they had to do an incident report. Am I an asshole for thinking it was funny?


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[RetiredArmy0513]

Just wanted to add that I just got bloods from the dr at the VA. Numbers in everything was excellent except I have lost vitamin D. Unbeknownst to me they also did a total testosterone panel. The dr raised his eyebrow on that one but it's not something I come in here doc anything so they can't do anything. He told me to do lots of cardio lol. My number was was 19?? I couldn't read it all it looked like 1950. But I'm really pleased with my liver numbers because I was talking Anadrol for a month and thy all were in range. Next blood test in November after competition


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[RetiredArmy0513]

The mental setbacks keep happening. I'm writing this late because I wanted to say fuck it for the day and not train. One of my wife's former students passed away yesterday. My wife teaches special ed so she taught him for six years. He was 19 years old and died in his sleep. Great kid, I hung out with him from time to time and we always took him to dinner for his birthday every May. He was also at our wedding. My wife was mentally exhausted and took a nap so I decided to go work out. Did chest and cardio today. Gym was pretty empty so I got everything done quickly and I was pounding them. The only positive was I lost almost 8 pounds, down to 172. The last 2 weeks I've been kicking ass on the diet and cardio and it's staring to pay dividends


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[whippedeye]

I'm glad you are keeping at it ! It's inspirational.

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[RetiredArmy0513]

Back abs and cardio today... I slightly may have tweaked right side lower back... not in any pain yet but I'm sure I'll find out this evening. Probably did it on deadlifts. Still got everything in and didn't slack on anything. Going to a wake today for my wife's student in a little while.i hate going to those so I'll probably be there 15 minutes and jet. Tomorrow is arms Friday chest and Saturday legs and shoulders.


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