The Things I'm Grateful For In My Training

 My birthday is sometime next week and I want to take the time to reflect on a few things and be grateful with what I'm able to do. I'll be 42 and I don't feel it whatsoever. My fitness has been getting better and better, experimenting with things and making sure not to push to where there's a possible injury coming on.

Yeah 42 isn't that old to many but I'm also not in my 20's or my 30's anymore either so there are things that I choose not to do these days that I did do back in the day but I'm grateful for those years and doing things I didn't think were possible. 

I may not be doing heavy barbell squats or pistols but the current stuff I'm doing for my legs is fucking awesome. Because of things like Step Ups, the 2 & 1 Sapate, Isometrics, Sandbags and playing with sledgehammers, I don't have knee problems and my hips are just as mobile as ever. I'm not a runner for certain reasons that I'm not going to bore you to death with that you already don't know, but I will sprint every now and then, go for walks with the weight vest or go on hikes so I do these over conventional running. I keep my joints healthy through a routine that I molded years ago using circular patterns, stretching & DDP Yoga moves and from 2024, I haven't had back issues, maybe stiff at times but I once I get things rolling, it's all smooth sailing from there.

Do I feel things from time to time, yeah duh LOL. My ankles feel tight at times and my shoulders hit up but not in painful entities. I've got no arthritis or tennis elbow which is a plus cause some have started in early stages around this age from all the crazy shit they put themselves through years earlier. My cardio is at a great level due to my dopamineo training, HIIT Workouts and other things. The fact I can still go at a solid level of intensity without risking injury is just mind blowing. Seriously, when I was in my teens and early 20's, I thought 40+ year olds were mostly down hill and not maintaining. It's awesome to still be able to do things like Step Ups for 30 min or longer if I want to or tackle a band workout for 1000 Reps or more (think my biggest total is over 1300 at this point in a session) and still feel energetic. 

I don't smoke, never have in my life and when it comes to drinking, I can go for extended periods of time without ever wanting one, may have a little something every once in a blue moon but considering some of the things I saw growing up involving Alcohol, just turned me away from it 99% of the time. I get to train anywhere I please without relying on equipment in the gym and I'm happy as hell I don't need a membership ever again. It was fun while it lasted but my true love is being outdoors in the woods, at home, on the beach, hotel room or in a fucking pool. I believe that those who have greater knowledge and application to workout with whatever is on on hand even if its yourself, a gym would be way more optional than feeling like a necessity. 

A great perk to have is that throughout my life so far, I've never been jumped or robbed and I've been around some tough neighborhoods where there has been violence, stabbings, shootings, robbery and worse things. I do believe it's due to my training and I haven't had anyone want to test me. It's not like you see a bigger guy and automatically think he's easy Pickens. People around me know I'll throw down if I have to but I'm not going to start anything and think I can take anybody. I'm not into fighting or going on the offensive when it comes to being around others in public. Publicly, nobody has ever wanted to fight or come up to me. Now online, some of it is just banter and guys shooting their mouth off but those are the ones that wouldn't know a wristlock from a wristwatch. Not saying I wouldn't ever get my ass kicked, it could happen but sometimes, I don't know what I would do to someone if it came down to me or him. For the most part, unless it's just dire and there's no other option, I don't go looking for street fights, quite frankly I'd rather have an old fashioned wrestling match and see who gets pinned or taps first and then shake the guy's hand win or lose. Guy can dream right?

Overall, I'm very happy with what I got going on and keep making it a part of my journey. But also, when I say happy, doesn't mean I stop at a wall or just stay in a certain place. I'm happy with experimenting, progressing, finding ways to build muscle and be at a solid level of conditioning. I'm happy that I don't tire out like many my age or even younger, I'm happy with maintaining my strength and being explosive if I need to be. I don't get winded hiking or climbing stairs and sure as shit don't feel my body is breaking down. My tendons and ligaments are still as strong as I was in my 20's and 30's. Maintained my weight between 228-235 the majority of the time in the last couple years and don't plan on going higher than that anymore. The lowest I'd like to be again is around 225 which isn't that much lower than when I graduated high school back in '03. 

Things are shaping up and I can't wait to see what's in stored. Be amazingly awesome and let's interact in the comments. What are you grateful for? What are you happy with? Let's hear it. 

My Sanctuary, Social Media Walk-Outs And What Helps Me At Certain Times

 We all have our struggles, our demons and what we choose to do with what's possible to keep going. I'm no different, had my fair share of battles, physically and mentally. Others have it way worse than me and I wouldn't compare myself to someone who doesn't have much but wishing they did so they can live a peaceful life. Hell, maybe it's the universe or god or whatever you want to call it that gives me a reason I'm still going strong when I was already close to death before I even knew what the word meant and able to spell. 

Have my own struggles and fears daily but also have places that I can call home, be around those I'm closest to me and be able to talk to those who care enough to listen. I'm very grateful for those things. It's never easy to ask for help but if I need it, there are people I know I can turn to. I wish others had this because many are alone in this world or feel like they're alone and have no one to turn to. At times it may be by their own mistakes or people shut them out and they end battling themselves more than what they may end up doing to themselves.

This isn't just some random rant about anything. Just what I'm thinking in my head. Have I had the worst upbringing? Hell no, but it wasn't sunshine and rainbows either. There were things I learned growing up a kid shouldn't know and understanding some of the things that could've led me down a path to drugs, drinking and smoking but didn't. I knew people who were heavy into drugs, some were and some are still very close to me. The things I saw what drinking does to people, pushed me away from it damn near to the brink where I never wanted to drink at all. Been only drunk once in my entire life and that was in my early-mid 20's and that was it. I didn't black out or anything, I was a happy drunk from what I remember but after that, having a sip of anything was the majority of the time. When it comes to drugs, I think the closest things I ever did was have a few pot brownies once and that was more than a lesson I don't want to remember. Another was when I had my sciatica injury and I was taking muscle relaxers and getting to a point I had to stop myself and just push through my own pain so I stopped taking them and focused on supplementation and other things.

There are very few things in my life that I would call my Sanctuary or things that give me a sense of peace. One will always be my workouts because when I get into them, the world shuts down and I get to create my own universe, be in a state of mind that I feel safe and get to do what makes me happy. Another is being around people I love especially my wife who's just insanely awesome and makes things in my life seem like it's a dream. Yeah, I can be a sap at times, but I'd rather be a sap than some hateful asshat with no remorse towards other human beings that don't agree with him. A third sanctuary, is my office in my apartment. Sometimes, I just sit in here, by myself and write down things, train, read or listen to music and/or meditate. It's where I'm calm, collected and get to look at things that are cool like my decks of cards, mandalas I've drawn, pictures of legends I've met and seeing what I know is me.

I've had my ups and down days like anybody else. The one thing I do believe and anybody who knows me will understand it right off the bat is that I break out into laughter at the most random things at the most random times. A certain thought I think is funny that pops into my head just has me burst out laughing to the point where people like the wife has asked "what the fuck man, the hell you laughing about." I would tell her or whoever and I get looks at times that have them questioning my sanity. In the words of Uncle Albert from Mary Poppins "I love to laugh." Either I find things funny somewhere or a random movie line/scene that comes out of nowhere just has me rolling at times. I guess that's one of the reasons why I've never had severe depression, something inside of me won't let that happen. Laughter, truly is a gift and not just a form of emotion.

For a while now when it comes to Social Media, it becomes more mind boggling how ugly it can get each and everyday. Now I still have Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tik Tok and Threads but I don't have others such as Lemon 8, Tumblr, Rumble, Truth Social or Snapchat. The first two I ended up walking away from because neither one were doing anything for me and I have no appeal for them. The rest, just a poor excuse of apps that people go on to shit talk about dumbest stuff that hold no real merit to anything relevant. Snapchat to me, is a poor man's Onlyfans. I deactivated my twitter/X account a while ago and have no desire to go back to it. It just has way too much bullshit and other things that take away other people's reach who have far better platforms than dumbasses who seem to try to be like the Mean Girls in high school, popularity that ends up hurting others. Granted some numbnuts out there have claimed that I only ended my account because of them and want credit for it and act like it's a fact. It isn't, they don't get or even deserve any credit, not to mention that they're just wanna be ego maniacs who can't fight out of a paper bag. If I were a betting man, a 16 year old nerdy girl has more fight than people like that. Besides, they're nothing more than a sag of bones that have no life and have nothing to offer other than wanting someone to put them in a chokehold just to shut him up. 

Social Media is a whirlwind but the ones I've kept, suit me well and have plenty of friends and acquaintances on them that are great people that accept me for me. There's negative bullshit on there like anywhere else but I can choose where to go and have conversations that matter. Twitter at the end of day has more people getting away with murder than anywhere else. I do miss some of the folks there like baseball fans or wrestling fans and the few friends I had there but after a while with the other stuff being shadowed, it was a "fuck this" kind of moment for me and it was a route in my journey that I didn't want to cross into anymore and I'm happy to make that choice.

Overall, sure nothing is perfect, why would it? If it were perfect, it be boring as hell. I'm in the best shape right now at 41, I've maintained and even built muscle this year I didn't expect from, I live in a great apartment with an amazingly awesome and beautiful woman, I can still train at a level that has my conditioning be where it's needed, I'm not a big spender so money isn't a huge issue and have a system in place that works, donating clothes I don't need anymore or tossing out ones that have too many holes in them and get to eat awesome food. I'd say, life is pretty damn great and it can only get better from here. We never know what tomorrow will bring but we can make it interesting. 

Hopefully you all have a great day and keep killing it. Be amazingly awesome and thank you for taking the time to read this, I do appreciate your patience.