I'm writing this before I totally crash and pass out from exhaustion. This is not a cry or plea for help, this is a reminder to you that you too can do this and it will probably make you better.

I've had a lot on my plate for several months now. Between my children and preparing for World's Strongest Man (Old Dude Division) I've pretty much done my job and I can cruise into a decent final placing in December. I don't want to cruise though...I want to hit the down signal with the pedal slammed down to the floor board and the turbo kicks out and not a second sooner.

A few of my body parts need some mild attention and I'm at that point where every set has me thinking "Is this the set where that muscle completely tears off of the bone or will I be OK?". I'm also praying to The God of Elbows that mine will hold on for another 6 weeks...or at least 5 and a half.

More than anything the stress I've been under with my children has been immense and has forever fortified the idea that my body can not tell the difference between being up all night with my child vs a serious set of squats and I've been up all night with my children too many times lately.

The last several days I've barely been able to get out of the house or hold a conversation with anyone, much less get to the gym and train. So I rested. This morning on less than 2 hours of sleep my wife and I had my youngest son in the car and off to The Shriner's who are here for 4 days to assess children in need. I can say that we got great news and we are extremely thankful to say the least, but the stress over the last week or so has been insane. We had to make emergency X-Rays at well after 9 at night (with a child with Autism in a public hospital that had to be held down) and then all the stress of "what if our child needs double leg surgery".

On the way home from seeing The Shriner's today I called a Dr who met me and checked me out, ran an IV into my arm, made some intelligent suggestions that I'm listening to, and I'll be at the gym tomorrow...using some intelligence.

I can afford to back off A HAIR right now. I can't in 2-3 weeks, but I can afford to do it right now and possibly benefit from it to be honest.

So if you take away anything from this...remember to prepare now so you can back away later if/when you need to AND never fear backing away intelligently. Be The Tortise...till you have to be The Hare. Be The Hare as few and far between as possible.

Big videos on the way.