Progress report on chiropractor, supplements and "The Impingement":
Well, it has now been three weeks without bench press, it seems like forever but I am holding strong. The pain has definitely abated but I can steel feel the scapula rubbing. The chiropractor tells me that a side benefit of the stuff he is doing for my neck should also give some relief to the impinging shoulder. We shall see. I see him twice a week. For the first ten minutes I lay on my back on the mechanical massage table. These two rollers roll up and down from your neck to the back of your thighs. Then the doc cracks my neck to both sides. Then he takes this little hand held electric tapping hammer and applies it to my spinal column in various locations. He gave me this Tens unit that I apply to the back of my neck for a half hour twice a day. It has two pads like one of those emergency defibulators they have most places now. I stick them on either side of my neck, plug the electrodes into what looks like an old style pager and it puts out these pulsing vibrations that are supposed to break down the old scar tissue. The tens unit is most commonly used for muscle cramping and pain. The side to side range of motion in my neck has definitly increased and the tingling sensations come much less often than before. So if this guy is a quack than I must be a duck because what he is doing does seem to be working well.

I quit the ATP for three weeks because I thougth it was causing my creeping weight gain. I went from 258 after bench press nationals to 264 while taking it. My weight is back down to 258 this morning so I believe my suspicions were correct. The ATP taken directly, which is what your body creates when you take creatine monohydrate, has the same effects. This should be expected. I do feel more tired the last couple of weeks but this could be attributed to other factors as well. I have been working back and legs a lot more and upped the cardio as well.

All in all, I feel much better overall than I have in the past. Friends have told me I look good, and people that new me ten years ago say I look great. I of course think I look like I did when I was nineteen. Then I see my reflection in a window or mirror or other shiny surface and wonder where my father came from.













Five more weeks without bench!! I can do it!!

Every which way but loose!

This is how the chiropractor has been turning my neck.

My neck has been stiff for about six months. The range of motion from side to side was also diminishing. I was getting a tingling sensation in it and down into my shoulder as well. It did not go away. I was at my companies health fair last week to get my annual flu shot and they had a local chiropractor there. I talked to him for maybe twenty minutes and he seemed to have a good understanding of my symptoms and assured me he could make it better. I have been to see him twice in the last week. The range of motion in my neck has already increased and the tingling does not occur nearly as often.

I thougth that the problem was caused by falling asleep at the computer and snapping my neck when I woke up. Doctor Phil (yes, that is his name) told me that my problem is caused by scar tissue build up from a very old injury (at least twenty years) which caused mis-alignment of my spine. I know, that is what they all say is the root problem, but just because thay all say it certainly doesn't mean they are wrong. As a matter of fact, twenty two years ago I fell 26 feet and landed with both feet on the edge of a hack of 8" semi solid cinder block. I blew both my heels out the bottom of my feet. I landed with my legs bent like I had been taught in ROTC Ranger school. The doctor back then told me that this is the only reason I did not break my pelvis, back and neck resulting in death.

Any way, I have bought in and signed up for twice a week for twelve weeks.

Movie Time
Found this old link to you tube;
watch the feet, didn't know I was a dancer


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lF0fDGG_hs

Hey Ron, do you take any supplements or anything like that?

A decade ago (see first post) I made a few decisions about my life and life style that were intended to extend that life if possible. I quit smoking. I quit drinking. I joined a gym and started working out daily. A co-worker gave me an 800 number and said to call it and have them send me a tape called “The fitness for life challenge”. It was a VHS tape from EADS which was a supplement company owned by Bill Phillips at the time. (This is not the Bill Phillips from New Jersey who was the 1st man over 70 to bench over 400 pounds in the USAPL/IPF) It was a motivational type video about this group of people from everyday life who took a challenge to see who could make the greatest gains in personal fitness over a period of time. At the end of the tape was an offer from EADS for a free book all about dietary supplements and some programs for their use with exercise. I sent for the book. It was my first exposure to the world of Body building and weight training dietary supplements.

My first reaction was NOT FOR ME, however I did try the diet & exercise programs without the supplements and made some good gains. The book did get me thinking about proper nutrition and vitamins in general.

That’s how it all started, one daily multiple vitamin.

I decided that one size did not fit all. A sedentary 110 pound woman and a 265 pound man with a strenuous work out program did not have the same daily requirements so I started taking 2 a day. A co-worker who was very fit told me that stacking vitamin E with selenium was good for strength, mental sharpness (smart pill), and was a known preventative for rectal colon cancer. He also told me that I should be taking at least 1000mg of Vitamin C, so I did.

As a newbie computer geek who was totally unaware of the ergonomics involved in sitting for eight hours or more a day bullying Mickey (pushing the mouse around) I started getting shooting pains from my hand thru my shoulder and into my neck. My shoulders felt like I hade gravel crunching in there. This combined with the joint pains (knee and elbow) from lifting weights led me to inquire about relief. Enter
Glucosamine Chondroitan. This stuff works for me.

In 2003 I started to compete. I had read before about creatine monohydrate and how it worked. I had come to the conclusion that any gains you made while using it were lost when you stopped using it. Therefore it should only be used when preparing to compete. So I often cycle it for six weeks before a meet.

I used to do 5 whey protein shakes a day or 250 grams. I gram per pound of body weight is the optimal for building muscle mass. So combined with what I got with food it totaled the 280 to 295 I used to weigh. I have cut back to just 25 grams after a work out.

The B vitamins came into popular use by the jet set for revitalization from partying to excess, I figured that they ought to work on old and tired as well so I added B6 complex and B12 to the pile of pills I was now taking.

I heard on one of the Sunday morning radio health shows that because of the cancer problems involved with getting to much sun, most adult Americans suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Better start taking some of those too.

I was in my bench press partner’s office one day and saw a big jar/tub of NO-Explode on his desk. Now he is an MD who can bench press over 500lbs. Better get some of that. I use it before a workout.

Two years ago in Kileen, Texas at the masters nationals I got to talking to two guys in their sixties who are world champion power lifters and look to be in their early forties and they told me about fish oil. They recommended taking 4 caps 3 times a day.

OK so lets put the list together:
Two multiple Vitamins (morning and night)
Vitamin C (morning and night)
Vitamin D (morning and night)
Vitamin E (morning and night)
Vitamin B6 complex (morning and night)
Vitamin B12 (morning and night)
Selenium (one every other day)
5 Glucosamine Chondroitan (morning and night)
5 fish oil caps (morning and night)
No-Explode stacked with Beta Max (three times a week) pre-workout
Muscle Milk whey protein (three times a week) post workout
Creatine Monohydrate (for six weeks before a contest)

September 2, 2008 I added these four new supplements
Protandim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protandim
EDTA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDTA
Co-enzyme 10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenzyme_Q10
ATP (adenosine triphosphate) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate

I could find none of these substances or their ingredients on the 2008 WADA banned substance list. I have been drug tested by the USAPL and passed while taking all of the pre Sept 2 stuff. The new stuff is all about cell repair, anti oxidents and getting the heavy metals out of your blood. It is fountain of youth stuff. I have to take a pass on some of the new stuff out there because they boost testosterone and if they aren't on the banned list they probably should and will be in the future.

The new stuff is all in the same category of debate about wether it works or not as the Glucosamine. There is a lot of politics and profits involved with homeopathic and "natural" substances. There is always debate, some times quite heated, from pharmaceutical companies and between doctors. I read all the stuff that comes up in the Yahoo/Google search on each of these items and make up my own mind. My wife who is a medical proffesional does not like to take anything but has now bought into my vitamin regimen on a smaller scale. I think we do look and feel better than ever.