I was trolling on Facebook and came across a post by Jack Kottwitz that Dave posted.  I don't remember the exact title of the post, but it was basically, 5 Things from the 90's that hold true today.

I took the bait and read.  If anyone knows me I am totally that old guy who talks about, "In my day blah, blah, blah..."  Well, I'm always right and it doesn't get irritating.  Anyway, as I start reading Jack's post I come across a wonderful reference to Rhodestown.  It truly made me smile.  So, I went back and read the original post from 10 years ago.  After reading it I started to think about how much things have changed since those words were put on paper (the internet).

During the creation of Rhodestown I never thought it would be anything.  In fact, my intention wasn't even to publish it.  I just sent it to Wendler as a laugh.  He posted it in his log and wow!

Looking back I see some crazy changes in myself as a person and as a lifter.  Most notably, I had no life.  So sad.  I had immersed myself so much into powerlifting that as a human being, I was pretty useless.  I actually thought powerlifting was important and that people cared.

As I've reflected on my time as a powerlifter I realized that I was looking for something to replace athletics.  Unfortunately, I chose one of the most unathletic avenues I could have picked.  I went from being a D1 lacrosse and football player to a guy who bent his knees and stood up with a bar on back, laid on a bench and pushed a bar off his chest and bent down and pick up a bar.  Talk about the anti-christ of athleticism.

Couple that with the complete destruction of my body and health and we found a winning combination for longevity.

I could go on and on, but the reality (at least in my world) is that without this foray into obesity and unhealthy living I probably wouldn't be where I am today.  As mentioned earlier, I was completely dedicated to powerlifting.  It's all I did, thought about, planned my life around.  In order to be really good at something, there's usually not balance.  People can babble on about balance being important, but if your focus isn't completely on something you probably won't ever become very good at it.  That's not to say that you can't have success.

Not totally sure where I'm going, but I'm onto a new thought.  At a certain point I started to think more big picture.  My body had broken down and every day I was in pain.  When I wrote Rhodestown I had undergone 3 surgeries (1 umbilical hernia and 1 cataract surgery on each eye).  Since October of '07 I have had 8 more surgeries and avoided 2 on my back.  I had my shoulder checked out about a month before I really jacked it up and the doc said he'd clean it up if I wanted to, so I avoided that one, too.  Then, benching at Elite two summers ago I tore something.  I hit the weight, by the way.  But, it took me about a year to get back to "normal".  Normal means benching with the Football Bar - no straight bar anymore.  Saw the same doc after the EFS incident and he laughed and said, now I'd recommend getting it fixed (4th injury on that shoulder).  I rehabbed that bad boy and saved money on co-pays.

So, 3 more eye surgeries, a hip replacement, biceps tendon repair and then a follow-up surgery to scrape out extra bone growth that fused my radius and ulna together, preventative open heart surgery because of Marfan's Syndrome to replace my aorta and a follow-up to that because I had massive internal bleeding after the initial procedure (those bastards opened my chest up TWICE!)...  Let's leave it at, it hurts to get out of bed just about every day and man it sucks if it's cold and damp outside.

Awesome sob story, right?  Because of all this, plus college sports, my one season of Arena Football, my decade plus of athletics before college and my 13 years as a competitive powerlifter I have learned how to train.  I actually know how to train.  I can look back on all of this and all the lessons are right there to be learned.

Eleven surgeries (orthopedic and otherwise) - I know how to rehab.  I know that when you get hurt you have to take it slowly.  You don't stop training, you work around it.  You work with what you've got.  If you're smart on the front end of rehab things go very well on the back end.

At the start of Rhodestown I was around 280lbs.  I had some muscle, but quite a bit of extra fat.  At my peak I was 331lbs.  I had my fat pinched at my biggest and it was right around 20%.  Guess what, tons of fun here knows how to gain weight.  Add in the fact that when I started playing football at Arizona I was 190lbs.  When I finished I was 255lbs at 10% body fat (I remember all of my measurements my senior year).  I kinda figured out the weight gain formula.

When I got to UAlbany (1st S&C job) I was around 310lbs in July.  By Thanksgiving I was sitting around 275lbs.  So, fatty learned how to lose weight and maintain muscle mass, as well.

Since UAlbany (fall of 2012) I've hovered around 270lbs.  In that time I've had my fat pinched numerous times.  Everything seems to fall in the 11-15% range depending on my conditioning level.  I'm pretty happy with that seeing as I eat whatever I want.  So, I've figured out how to stay in pretty good shape while still living (not restricting my diet).

By far, the biggest challenge has been recovery from them sawing my sternum in half, twice, and sewing me back together.  I spent about 10 hours dead during those 2 surgeries.

Rehab sucked.  I'm kind of oblivious to what actually happened and how damaging/tough it was on my body because if I admit it then I have excuses to suck.  I was told by my surgeon and then the 2 Marfan's specialists that it's amazing, blah, blah, blah....  You went through a lot , blah, blah, blah...

The first day they took the IV opiates out of me and I could finally walk around the hospital without dragging things along with me I walked a little over 1/2 mile in 23 minutes.  Nine laps was a mile, according to the nurses.  I walked 6.  The surgeon laughed when I told him.  He said, "You've got this figured out.  You don't need cardiac rehab."  Awesome!  Fewer co-pays works on my bank account.

Add in that I lost 28lbs in 10 days in the hospital!  I slipped under 250lbs and couldn't have looked and felt more frail.  Good thing I knew how to put weight back on.  Good thing I figured out how to train around injuries.  Good thing I'm just stubborn.  Today, I sit between 265-270lbs.  All the doctors are happy with my progress.  I keep hearing, "Whatever you're doing is working, so keep doing it."

What's my point, you ask?  In a decade my goals have gone from being the biggest, strongest, most useless lifter I could be to focusing on longevity, being healthy, feeling good and continuing to push myself in ways that are allowable (and some that are frowned upon by the medical community).  At 41, I ran a mile.  It was awful!  They timed me with a calendar, but I did it.  That's something that couldn't have happened when I was 300+ lbs.  That's something that was a joke when I played football and lacrosse.  The last time I tried to dunk a basketball (last summer) I could.  Albeit, barely.  But, a dunk, nonetheless.

A decade ago I was in search of the biggest total I could achieve.  Now, I'm in search of being a well-rounded former athlete.  My cholesterol isn't higher than my body weight.  In fact, it's about a 1/3 of my body weight - right where they want it.  I still sweat all the time, for no reason.  The reason I give is that I'm so muscular that my body just burns fat at a break neck pace.  Probably not true at all, but it sounds good.  I still wear flip flops a lot, but I can actually tie my shoes, if need be.  I don't measure PR's in 1RM's or 45's anymore.  Instead, I shoot for post-surgical Rep PR's.  I'll never put 500lbs on my back again and bend my knees.  But, I'll figure out how many times I have to squat 315 for it to "equal" 500.  I can actually walk around and not be out of breath.  Hell, I don't even need my CPAP anymore, although I still use it because it's like Pavlov's Dogs - out cold once it goes on my face.

A decade has seen tremendous changes for me.  It was pretty cool to go back and read the original Rhodestown post.  I'm so glad I'm not as angry as I used to be.  Hahaha!  I'm so glad I have a life and some other hobbies, now.  I rarely talk about training outside of work and even then I don't talk about it much (unless it's program writing time) or I talk with Vincent or Jim.  I spend about 60 minutes working out, now instead of 3 hours.  I do more in 60 minutes than I ever did in 3 hours.  Bonus, I have 2 extra hours 3 days a week to tell myself how awesome I am.  The positives keep flowing liked box wine.

Well, I'm getting bored with this, now.  I have 4 hours until football shows up for a Hill run and a lift.  Today is going to suck for them.  Plus, I need to get my ass on the bike and get in 30 minutes before those chuckle heads show up.  I might even do my version of hills - that's walking up the damn thing.  It's way to steep and way too long for me to run.  But, walking is a whole other story.  Chances are I'll opt for the bike in the air conditioned Rec Center as opposed to the 85 degree, humid, sunny day we're having.  Although, it's not a bad day to get a sunburn.