audio interview with Mike Matarazzo

maldorf · Feb 10, 2009

alfresco said:
Health is the real equalizer in life. I know a man who made a ton of
money from Google stock (and I mean a ton) and he is now suffering
the onset of Alzheimer's. All the money in the world will not save this
nice man from this terrible disease. It's a crying shame that you can
work you entire life to build your little pile, be it money or muscles,
only to have it all taken away either by foolish neglect or just plain
misfortune beyond your control.

There is an old saying that used to be find of saying . . . "Live each
day as it were your last, because someday you are sure to be right".
And while I agree with it philosophically, in practice it seems to leave
much to be desired.

PS. Good post JETHRO TULL.

I agree with what you say about live each day as if it were your last. For once in my life now I am going to do lots of traveling if our budget allows for it. Been hit really hard with this recession, but can probably still pull out a nice vacation this summer. In the past I didnt like to travel for extended periods because it meant having trouble training and eating right. The one vactation I took with my wife, it was 7 days, I joined a gym in Florida where we stayed so that I didnt miss any time! Those days are gone baby! Time to concentrate on living life and not worrying about such obsessions.

maldorf · Mar 15, 2009

mikeheavypecs · Mar 16, 2009

maldorf said:
bump

bump...me too, my friend.....

I'm 56 and still putting on mass (284 today at 7% bf) but every time I read things like this I start worrying and wonder if all this is worth it. Every time we go to the clubs people guess i'm in my mid 40's with my size and all (of course I wear a cap with a long bill so most of my face is hidden)....I want to enter one more contest this year but is is all worth what I am putting my body through. I take mainly GH and supposedly that will help regenerate new cells and elastin and collegen but I feel like shit every day. I don't really know if I can really quit.....I've been known as a muscle man all my life.....can I go back to looking sad like alot of the Pro's that quit or other bodybuilders? Or will I just die at least being happy with "size"? Tough questions I seem to weigh each day..........

Mike

maldorf · Mar 17, 2009

mikeheavypecs said:
bump...me too, my friend.....

I'm 56 and still putting on mass (284 today at 7% bf) but every time I read things like this I start worrying and wonder if all this is worth it. Every time we go to the clubs people guess i'm in my mid 40's with my size and all (of course I wear a cap with a long bill so most of my face is hidden)....I want to enter one more contest this year but is is all worth what I am putting my body through. I take mainly GH and supposedly that will help regenerate new cells and elastin and collegen but I feel like shit every day. I don't really know if I can really quit.....I've been known as a muscle man all my life.....can I go back to looking sad like alot of the Pro's that quit or other bodybuilders? Or will I just die at least being happy with "size"? Tough questions I seem to weigh each day..........

Mike

I know where you are coming from when you talk about how hard it is going to be psychologically to get off for good. All I know now is I wish I had gotten off on my own. At least it would have been under my own terms and I wouldnt have lost nearly as much muscle as I have now. After my heart attack I had to stop everything cold turkey and stop lifting completely. Now I lift some but the amount and type I do doesnt really do much for me, I might as well not lift at all really. Much much better to quit on your own with your health intact so that you can still at least continue to lift hard and live some of the bodybuilding lifestyle. I would look a lot better today if I had done that.

maldorf · Apr 24, 2009

BUMP

BUMP on this for those that havent heard this interview yet with Mike. It is an eye opener.

maldorf · Jun 26, 2009

Another bump for this audio interview, its a good one.

Pumped1 · Jun 26, 2009

what a monster ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z5WtnduONA&NR=1

i will be having blood work done for sure after listing to that

machola · Aug 12, 2009

bump for more people to hear

MrCyp · Aug 12, 2009

Maldorf, thinking back about everything, do you think your health would have been fine if you gave blood every month and had your hematocrit/hemoglobin in check? I ask this b/c many of us are aware of the risks aas and putting on more and more mass has but its an obsession and some of us will still take the chance. Now, obviously genetics plays the biggest roles in heart disease but do you have any advice if you want to stay on that could be healthier, something you didnt do but if you did feel it could be prevented? Maybe more cardio? Cleaner diet? BP/lipid meds when on gear,etc... Thanks

bellicose · Aug 12, 2009

i'm a paramedic on the road and work in a local ER

I've seen people in their 30's and 40's with pacemakers that have never lifted a weight in their life

maldorf · Aug 12, 2009

MrCyp said:
Maldorf, thinking back about everything, do you think your health would have been fine if you gave blood every month and had your hematocrit/hemoglobin in check? I ask this b/c many of us are aware of the risks aas and putting on more and more mass has but its an obsession and some of us will still take the chance. Now, obviously genetics plays the biggest roles in heart disease but do you have any advice if you want to stay on that could be healthier, something you didnt do but if you did feel it could be prevented? Maybe more cardio? Cleaner diet? BP/lipid meds when on gear,etc... Thanks

With me it wasnt the high hematocrit that caused my clot because I had just given blood about 3 or 4 days prior to the event and my hematocrit was well down into normal limits. Hematocrit is a very important thing to keep and eye on, and yeah if youre going to be on the juice you need to keep an eye on it and take appropriate action if it gets too high. The only thing that I did different that last year before my clot/heart attack was cruising inbetween cycles. I was then "on" for more than a year straight. I cruised on between 500 and 250 mg test en/wk. It wasnt unitl then that the hematocrit became a real issue and then my clot. We will never know for sure why I got the clot. I do have some genetic predispositions to clotting I found out after the fact. It was probably the combination of the AAS and genetics.
As far as meds and diet I was good on those things. I was taking a BP med and I had no health problems up to the attack. There is noway that a person can rule out all possible health problems. There are just too many things that can go wrong. I think I did just about everything I could to be safe except for just plain stopping the drug use. I should have laid off of it when the hematocrit became a problem and realized my health was in jeapordy.

MrCyp · Aug 12, 2009

I see. I cruise as well but only on 150mg hrt and 3iu's GH. I think maybe the guys always crusing on doses still considered high 250mg+ may have to worry a bit more. I guess the best thing to do is get blood work done a few times a year and always make sure your giving blood to keep hematocrit in check.

maldorf said:
With me it wasnt the high hematocrit that caused my clot because I had just given blood about 3 or 4 days prior to the event and my hematocrit was well down into normal limits. Hematocrit is a very important thing to keep and eye on, and yeah if youre going to be on the juice you need to keep an eye on it and take appropriate action if it gets too high. The only thing that I did different that last year before my clot/heart attack was cruising inbetween cycles. I was then "on" for more than a year straight. I cruised on between 500 and 250 mg test en/wk. It wasnt unitl then that the hematocrit became a real issue and then my clot. We will never know for sure why I got the clot. I do have some genetic predispositions to clotting I found out after the fact. It was probably the combination of the AAS and genetics.
As far as meds and diet I was good on those things. I was taking a BP med and I had no health problems up to the attack. There is noway that a person can rule out all possible health problems. There are just too many things that can go wrong. I think I did just about everything I could to be safe except for just plain stopping the drug use. I should have laid off of it when the hematocrit became a problem and realized my health was in jeapordy.

maldorf · Aug 12, 2009

MrCyp said:
I see. I cruise as well but only on 150mg hrt and 3iu's GH. I think maybe the guys always crusing on doses still considered high 250mg+ may have to worry a bit more. I guess the best thing to do is get blood work done a few times a year and always make sure your giving blood to keep hematocrit in check.

150/wk is hrt dose for sure. I was on that for a bit but my doc had to cut it back down to 100/wk because my hematocrit is back up to 54 again. They are in the process now of trying to figure out why its so high. I think its because of my heart failure.
I would have hematocrit done at least 4 times a year if youre on all of the time. The average rbc has a life of about 90 days I think.

maldorf · Dec 5, 2009

Bump for some of the new guys who havent heard this interview yet.

MrCyp · Dec 5, 2009

maldorf said:
150/wk is hrt dose for sure. I was on that for a bit but my doc had to cut it back down to 100/wk because my hematocrit is back up to 54 again. They are in the process now of trying to figure out why its so high. I think its because of my heart failure.
I would have hematocrit done at least 4 times a year if youre on all of the time. The average rbc has a life of about 90 days I think.

Why dont they have you just keep giving blood once a month. That surely would get your hematocrit down.

NPCS FINEST · Dec 5, 2009

Is there any recent pics of him going around? I would like to see them. He was one and still is one of my fav. bodybuilders of all time. I wish him nothing but the best. I will add him to my prays nightly in hopes that his health turns around for him.

maldorf · Dec 5, 2009

NPCS FINEST said:
Is there any recent pics of him going around? I would like to see them. He was one and still is one of my fav. bodybuilders of all time. I wish him nothing but the best. I will add him to my prays nightly in hopes that his health turns around for him.

I know from this audio that he doesnt even lift anymore at all. I think he just wants to live a normal life now and not even think much about bodybuilding.

maldorf · Dec 5, 2009

MrCyp said:
Why dont they have you just keep giving blood once a month. That surely would get your hematocrit down.

I have been pushing kinda hard for this for awhile now. My hematologist though does not want to do it unless it is unavoidable. Like anything, there can be side effects and you do not want to expose yourself to that unless you absolutely have to.
With my heart failure, it is possible that my HCT might be jacked now becaue of that. ITs a way of your body dealing with a weak heart. He has seen some patients do very poorly when their hematocrit is lowered much. I may need that level to feel half way normal and alive.
If my levels get up close to 60 then it will be imperitive that it is done. He says I will need to have a bone marrow biopsy taken to see if there is something wrong in there. Right now we do not know what is causing it.
I do know that when we raised my HRT dose from 100 mg/wk to 150 mg/wk my hematorcit went from 51.5 up to 56.1. Now that I am trying 120 mg/wk it is 53.7. You can see a direct linear relationship there between test dose and hematocrit. Small sample size yes, but the relationship has been proven in large academic/medical studies. It is well known.

MrCyp · Dec 5, 2009

Damn i hope all goes well for you. Im on 150mg cyp, 25mg proviron and 100mg deca for hrt and my hema was like 56 or 57, i gave blood and then it went to 53, then I drew my own blood a month later and it went to 50, then a month later I went in donated and it was 43. I stopped doing my own blood and just do it every 2-2.5months now at the bank and now its always in the low 40's where i want it. I do find it will creep if im not super hydrated. Are you staying super hydrated everyday.

maldorf said:
I have been pushing kinda hard for this for awhile now. My hematologist though does not want to do it unless it is unavoidable. Like anything, there can be side effects and you do not want to expose yourself to that unless you absolutely have to.
With my heart failure, it is possible that my HCT might be jacked now becaue of that. ITs a way of your body dealing with a weak heart. He has seen some patients do very poorly when their hematocrit is lowered much. I may need that level to feel half way normal and alive.
If my levels get up close to 60 then it will be imperitive that it is done. He says I will need to have a bone marrow biopsy taken to see if there is something wrong in there. Right now we do not know what is causing it.
I do know that when we raised my HRT dose from 100 mg/wk to 150 mg/wk my hematorcit went from 51.5 up to 56.1. Now that I am trying 120 mg/wk it is 53.7. You can see a direct linear relationship there between test dose and hematocrit. Small sample size yes, but the relationship has been proven in large academic/medical studies. It is well known.

Magnum · Dec 6, 2009

What sucks is according to what Mike says, both this heart attacks were caused by the doctors. I'm not sure if he realizes what the doctors mean when they say his heart is working 20%. Pretty sure they are refering to his ejection fraction. Which is the amount of blood that is pumped out of the blood each time it fills up. 60% is normal. My mom's EF improved from 45 to almost 60 using Ubiquinol which is a reduced form of Co Q10. She was getting some swelling in her ankles and since the Ubiquinol it has yet to come back.

Unfortunately a stress test is not a good indicator as to wether your arteries are clogged. A good friend of mine had one done and two weeks later after they told him he was a OK he had a heart attack. All major arteries were over 90% clogged. I would suggest anyone on here that is curious to know if their arteries are clogged get an EBT scan done.