Friday, July 1, 2011

Where Have I Been?


wow... it's been awhile! Let me fill everyone in. For the last 18 months I had to take on some extra hours at work to make ends meet. So, for three days out of the week my schedule would look like this:
Monday:
awake at 4:20am
work 5am-10am
Train 11am-3pm
Work 4pm-9pm
Repeat it for Tuesday & Thursday with the other week days looking like a normal work day.

Now before this happened I came out of 2008 with a 20.19meter throw. During the following '08/'09 winter, I was throwing 20+ consistently with the 15lb shot in 24 degree weather! When the work schedule changed I instantly dropped off in my distances and stayed suppressed for the past 18 months. I knew it was the sleep, but then decided that I would stick it out till things got financially better. Well, in January & February of 2011 I began to notice something. My mood had become a bit more in the gutter. I had no excitement and had become a living zombie. Feeling bad became constant, but I got use to it and kept training. When I was lifting one day in the winter, the football kids were running around screaming, acting all crazy and some weren't even lifting but were just jacked up with energy and excitement. I was quite in the corner throwing my weights around. I knew something was wrong. Then came one injury for every week in February, ending with a knee injury I believed to be a meniscus tear. I have never been injured structurally other than a partially torn adductor before the 2004 Olympic Trials.

I went to the doctors and got some blood work done, a urinalysis and a saliva test. Results came back and guess what the verdict was? Yup, you guessed it- low testosterone! I suck as a man! On top of that I had low dopamine, low serotonin, low epinephrine and raised liver enzymes. Raised liver enzymes were due to the Motrin to train and NyQuil to sleep. Once I got the results of what the doctor called "adrenal Fatigue" I stopped all training 100%. Nothing, Nada, no way Jose was I doing anything. The next step was to get more sleep and by doing this I had to get out of my hours at work. Out of the 3 days getting up at 4:20am I am down to one day. Come September I will be out of that day also.

So what about my knee? Dr. Harry Bade of Professional Orthopedics took me in and conducted all the tests and found no sign of a tear! It was a bone bruise! A bad one at that! My body was so malnourished of it's hormones that repair could not happen and any movement I performed was susceptible to injury. Sleep is the time when all your androgens are produced and working for 10-12 hours, training for 4 hours and only getting 4-5 hours of sleep was a set up for disaster. This took 18 months to set my body up for injury.

The past 4 weeks I have begun to do rehab exercises to strengthen the core, hips and other injured areas. No drugs have helped the healing process. Eating nutrient dense foods like cod liver oil, raw milk, fruits, vegetables etc., getting more sleep have allowed time to recover. I can tell that all my chemicals within my body are elevating. My mood is enhanced, my body's aches and pains are diminished and I am now excited to train, but how much can be done in an 11 month time frame after taking off 4 months? That's going to be the challenge. After working with Mark Gottendenker (old college coach), Abe Flores (Monmouth Throws Coach), Tom Battaglia (former MU Strength & conditioning Coach) and Dane Miller (Garage Strength Guru), I believe I have the knowledge to get back to my 20 meter throws and surpass it. I am not a big or a strong guy, but with the information I have gathered doing Dr. Bundarchuck's training, I have found what days my nervous system is rock'n roll'n. Timing is key, nutrition is key, sleep is key, getting away for a weekend is key, staying positive and believing in 'the plan' is key.

These are all things that need to be done in order for me to take these past 17 years of first throwing 29 feet with the 12lb shot when I was 14 to throwing 67+ with the 16lb shot at 32 years of age. It's possible only if this year is epic in all facets!