Written by a friend of mine, one with whom I've trained with and asked for advice from. Good short read.

https://www.unitedpoleartists.com/everything-hurts-but-im-not-dying-by-frances-ann/

Long time no see!!🙂

Lost my first draft of this entry when I got distracted and closed up my phone without saving what I had written into a draft file! UGH! Let's try this again, shall we....
                                    My last entry was 4 long years ago and I had to read over it after so much time has passed, I kind of forgot what I wrote about! Ha! Well, first off it was kind of like reading an obituary for my powerlifting and bodybuilding careers. It was, needless to say,  boring! I can remember what state of mind I was in that day and for many, many days afterwards, in a word, depressed. Not sure if my full personality and mental capabilities are on display enough in my writings to give the reader a little insight into myself, mentally as well as physically. Never forget this game we call weightlifting IS a mental game, as much,  if not more so than, a physical one.
                                     Quick insight into yours truly; I am one who, when it is decided that I will take on a goal, no matter the game or sport, I go in full throttle, full stroke, mentally as well as physically. I don't know any other way! And trust me when I tell you, i will go and research the activity, if I'm unfamiliar with it, and still do some research, if I am familiar with the activity. I'm not and I was taught this young, I'm not going out and trying to beat others or try and make someone feel bad when they lose, cause I end up feeling a little sad for them myself. No one likes a sore winner, or loser for that matter. My main goal is to be the best that my body and mind will allow me to be at any given activity. In essence, I am, and always have been driven to beat my own self. Over the years I've read many, many books on the topics of visualization, mind over body and took Arnold's advice from one of his books where Arnold explains visualization and how he learned to be proficient at it and how it pertains to weightlifting. Not to mention the pile of nutrition books I have stacked to the ceiling in the basement, that reminds me, I have to put those somewhere or else the wife will, undoubtedly, follow through with her "threat" or shall I say friendly warning. Yeah, she's Sicilian, so her friendly warnings are like something out of the movie, The Godfather, when the mob sends someone to pick up money you owe, you better have it!! They may say sure see ya next week but I wouldn't start my car until after they got their money back!!😉
                                     Visualization led me to psychology which led me to wonder about the brain and how it is made up. If you are not Into neuroscience, those books are a little difficult to read and if you don't read other books leading up to the latest book, you'll have a hard time understanding what the hell is going on. I pushed through and learned what I wanted and needed to learn, then I got the hell outta there!
                                      Psychology led me to meditation books and I tried to incorporate my little world of knowledge about the mind and the brain into, not only the gym, but everyday life as well. I did notice a big difference in myself and it is hard work retraining or should I say it is hard work to train your brain, but soo worth it in the end, physical and mental. Meditation books led me out Into left field, as I refer to it, heading down a dark path littered with books about authors and doctors that were trying to get inside the minds of serial killers, to see, for lack of a better phrase, " To see what makes serial killers tick". In other words they were studying and interviewing the most prolific and infamous serial killers to,  not only try to find out why these serial killers did what they did, but they hoped their scratching of the surface of this type of psychological undertaking, never before attempted, would shed some light on how to profile a current serial killer and to a much lesser extent, maybe this research would help,  in some small way, in the future, to identify children with these same traits and get them help,  if possible.
After the dark path was left behind I found myself lost for a moment, I consumed every book worth reading, in my opinion, about the aforementioned subjects and I was still out in left field so I remember thinking to myself, "I've read the neuroscience books but what if I drifted away from weightlifting and the physical and just dive into the mental". Not sure how or who or what Intrigued me enough to go get a book about physics. I suck at math, I don't like it so I don't try and don't need much math at my job, pointed that out to demonstrate that you do not have to be a math genius to read books about physics or quantum mechanics. Well, I guess I spoiled this first line with my previous line, yes, from physics I naturally gravitated towards quantum mechanics. There are some excellent writers who are physicists, extremely smart, yet they are not soooooo smart that they don't have a personality and these gentlemen do, in real life as well as their writing. They take an extremely difficult subject or topic and first write out what it is, what it means and what it's all about. Then on the following pages, they explain the topic in such a way that it is not easy, but easier to understand.
                                     From quantum mechanics I went back to psychology and a little foray Into physiology, kinesiology, and studied the superficial muscles of the human body, just to round myself out. I had such good results with the visualization and mediation practices that I wanted to incorporate even more into my workout routine, especially, but apply them to everyday life as well. I believe then and I still do, if you can't handle stress, setbacks and obstacles at work or at home, that's not a good recipe but it is a good indicator of how your workouts will be. If you are stressed and agitated all the time, imagine what that is doing to your body and mind. You will get a workout done but how good can the workouts really be if your system is chock full of stress hormones and your mind is not fully focused on the task at hand.

                                            I will delve deeper in future posts, so I hope you come back, thanks for reading, see ya soon but until then......train hard and smart!

Powerlifting

https://youtu.be/9SidgOkB2lY
This was from 2007. The same meet i blew out my biceps tendon but that was on the final lift not this one. I will see if i can find the picture someone took and sent to me at the exact moment when my tendon tore.

I don't regret a thing!!

I know some time has passed since my last entry and for good reason, i haven't been injured in a while. Yes, i am injured once again. This time i blew out my right rotator cuff and had the operation on may 19th. I've healed enough up to this point to be able to type with both hands and i am home for now recuperating and bored.                                                                                                                     My hobbies of weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding has cost me a lot, not just monetarily, but also mentally and physically. Not to mention the stress it has caused my wife over the years. I credit her with being the most loving and patient and understanding woman in the world.                            In 2007 i got my first injury which was a torn biceps tendon. My second injury was in 2009 when i blew out my left rotator cuff. The third was in 2011 i tore my left pectoral tendon off the bone. All these injuries required operations to be fixed. I made it all the way to 2014 before i tore my right rotator cuff and then limped along to 2015 before i tore it the rest of the way, it felt like it was healed up so i thought i was in the clear, i was wrong...
I don't regret a thing!! I have spent many, many years trying to train my mind to overcome and i did just that, definitely too much. I overcame the pain of lifting weights and took my body to a new level and was bigger than i had ever dreamed i would be. The problem was i kept going, not paying attention to the warning signs my body was giving me and thinking i could work through any pain placed in my way. In a twisted way i am very proud of that. I proved to myself that i can train my mind to overcome any obstacle placed in front of me, even though at times, i am my own worst enemy. I am not special in that way, as i have told many of the people i have trained and trained with over the years. We are all humans and we all have the same tools at our disposal, we just need to learn how to harness them and use them to our advantage.
I forgot to mention also, in my list of injuries 3 herniated discs in my back, a big tear on my right calf and a tear in both the vastus lateralis (outer quad) muscles of my quads.
I just turned 44 years old back in april and i've had to slow down on the weights and it was a hard transition for me. I have been lifting weights since i was 12 years old and have gotten better every year since, even if it was in the smallest way. Now my goal is to stay tight and be in great shape with abs and look good for my wife. I will still maintain some size just not the size i wish to be. I cannot chance hurting myself permanently as i have found scuba diving and jumping out of airplanes to be to my liking. I plan on enjoying them as much as possible.
I found myself being called "coach" last year when i helped out a guy at the gym with a powerlifting meet and was quite shocked to hear him call me that. Not that he wasn't correct with his label, just that i've never been called that before and i guess i realized my days of powerlifting were over and now i am still in the game but in a different way. I also trained a guy at the gym for a bodybuilding show and he did well in the beginning of may a couple weeks before my operation. He wants to do another show this year and i am happy to help.
This is my passion, i do not make money for any of this coaching or training and i do not want to. My goal is to pass it on to the next generation so that they may do the same for someone else someday.
My only legacy will be one of the few to ever be a powerlifter and bodybuilder to come out of a little hardcore gym in milltown, n.j. with my pictures from each up on the wall collecting dust. Someday, after i am long gone, maybe one of those young guys i had the pleasure to train or coach will bring his son in, point to the old pictures on the wall and say........"I trained with that guy"............

Simple Steps to Preventing Diabetes

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/preventing-diabetes-full-story

If Dr. Offit Had His Way, Vitamins Would Be Treated as Drugs

If Dr. Offit Had His Way, Vitamins Would Be Treated as Drugs

Thinking;

The weightlifting game is a game of inches. I compare it to a pro football game in which nothing is given and new strategies have to be looked for and used all the time. This is a game of experimentation and finding what works best for you and only you. Lately people have been asking me all kinds of questions regarding how they can get here with their diet and training and the more experience I get, the more I realize there is no one right answer for everyone. I can generalize for them but they have to put the theories to test and see what works best for their particular body. No one wants to wait though, everyone wants the quick answer and quick results but that is not possible, unless someone is genetically gifted but even then it takes time and knowledge and experimentation.
Put in the work, that is the bottom line. The day of the dumb ass meat head is over! Anyone can lift weights, as we did as young teens throwing weights around and that got us somewhere. So did learning from others in the gym, but the bottom line is we, ourselves have to put in the work and attain knowledge and put it to the test and to find out what works best for our own bodies. 

Learn from the knowledgeable, observe all you can, read all you can and then try it out. That is the best advice I can give! Train hard and smart.........

Jack3d Discontinued – Get it While it Lasts!

Jack3d Discontinued – Get it While it Lasts!

Press Announcements > FDA challenges marketing of DMAA products for lack of safety evidence

Press Announcements > FDA challenges marketing of DMAA products for lack of safety evidence