I've Got The Shakes That'll Make You Quake, I've Got The Fries That'll Cross Your Eyes, I've Got The Burgers That'll...I Just Got Burgers

Nothing like a good comedic quote from an Adam Sandler movie to start the day. Got to love Cheeseburger Eddie...Nothing a Quarter Pounder can't fix LOL. 

Sometimes we just need a good laugh because in this day and age, we get so fucking caught up in the politics, the drag queens, LGTBQ craziness and anything that puts fear into the minds of everyday people. Don't you just hate the news? Remember that old Mark Twain quote "If you read the newspaper you're misinformed, if you don't read it you're uninformed." Speaks volumes to today's world doesn't it?

When it comes to nutrition, the amount of information on it doesn't utilize simplicity or go into consideration to what is truly needed. There's pyramids (remember that crap in grade school), there's all this stuff about veganism, eggs will kill you, eating meat is bad and fruits and veggies keep getting recalled. Everybody processes food differently and we all won't be able to eat the same things either do to lack of taste, allergies, web MD and/or what we need to do to gain/lose weight. It has become overgeneralized and not about the individual. 

Don't get wrong, I love burgers, fries, crispy chicken oriental salads and a good pizza every now and then but do my best to eat as good as possible and stay away from the 5-6 meals a day thing. Most of my nutrition comes from having a solid source of vitamins and minerals from fruits and veggies, protein from whole milk, eggs and meats and other things. I don't eat sweets very often and when it comes to breads, I either go to Subway or make a mean Grilled Cheese sometimes. I don't eat more than 2 big meals a day if that and go out maybe once a week or every other week with the wife for a date night and grab Red Robin or Panda Express. 

One of my favorite things to make at home is my homemade protein shake that is very simple to conjure up. It consists of whole milk and one raw egg for protein, scoop of Spark (Vitamin B mix) for energy and mental focus, Liquid IV for hydration and plenty of berries for extra vitamins and antioxidants. I stopped doing the protein powders a long time ago because those things can be costly as hell and rather use my money on things that matter. This tastes incredible and gives me that surge of energy for workouts later on along with being able to digest pretty easily. 

I believe in balance in eating and drinking as good as you can but have a little fun every once in a while so you don't deprive yourself. I learned this a little later in life since I use to eat very shitty when I was in my pre teens and teens. I use to eat McDonalds and Donuts a lot during my school years and could drink a whole 2 liter of coke in a sitting, eat a whole pizza by myself and eat enough oreos to make someone sick. Thank the universe I don't do anywhere near that crap now, a couple glasses of coke is probably my limit, 4 slices of pizza (not even huge looking ones) is about all I can handle and haven't had a donut probably in a good few years. I also conditioned my body to not take in sweets so much either so a few cookies here and there is about as much as I'll indulge. I rarely if ever drink at all (I hate beer and the last shot that I could remember taking was to honor Bud Jeffries when he died which was back in Jan of '22) and never smoked a day in my life. 

Health really is wealth and it's important to know that yeah for many of us we did some stupid shit when we were younger and learned from our mistakes. Some never get over their vices and others get so caught up in being healthy that often times it can be overwhelming. Too much of anything is never a good thing. Hell yeah a steak can kill you but so can choking on a banana (I know you got some perverted jokes running in your head right you sick bastards). Just do what's possible for you to keep everything in check. 

It is our responsibility for what we eat but it's also important to help others who may be struggling. Nothing consistently is ever truly easy and yeah there is an obese issue roaming around and we need to do what we can to lessen that. Make better choices, utilize a budget to make those healthy choices and create routes when you shop so you're not tempted to just rush over to the bad shit the moment you walk in the door. I believe in you and you can do it. Be mindful as well. 

Eat good, train well and keep being amazingly awesome.  

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

With some of the workouts I've done since healing up, it's a process of just getting back into things progressively and at a pace that I'm comfortable doing to get back at the speed that I normally can do. Not easy but it hasn't been so damn slow it barely feels like anything. 

I've done the Bear Crawl Sprint Workout (10 on, 20 off for 5 min.) twice now and so far that feels pretty good but may need to cut back on doing it every 3-4 days instead of around 2 days. The loaded carries and step up workouts are getting better; while I was recovering, I would do my 2x sandbell carry and 20 step ups for 10 minutes or just do step ups for 10-15 min instead of the normal 30. Yesterday, I went a full 30 min doing the carries and step up superset, that felt incredible along with some post workout stretching to keep up with maintenance. Today, I tried out my Deck Of Cards Leg Workout of Step Ups & Hindu Squats. Been quite a while since I've done that and just wanted to see what I can do. I didn't have any expectations of beating the deck, so I managed 280 Step Ups & 130 Hindu Squats. That's a huge start in my book and didn't think I'd get that far. Normally, I'll do up to 450-500 Step Ups & 225-250 Squats within the 30 min mark or just over completing the deck.

For those that think I'm lying, here's a video of completing 450 & 225 so I'm quite capable of doing this. 

It's a journey and forming a perspective on healing up and doing what's possible onward until you're 100% at your best. There are days where you may only do a little of something, others you just go nuts with the energy you have. It's also important to be aware however of what your body tells you and not to push further than you have to. It's not a sprint to get back at your strongest or even your best condition, it's a marathon and making sure you're doing the right things and being intuitive. Things will come back when they're ready, forcing it may come back to bite you in the ass. 

That DOC workout is no joke and it will condition your legs like crazy, it just takes little steps to get better at it and consistently beating the deck. That one workout doing 1000 Step Ups and 500 Hindu Squats within an hour made me humble that's for sure and only did that just the one time. As far as that goes, it's one of the most brutal leg workouts you can do and it's only two exercises. How does it go?

2-10 Each Leg or Set of Squats

Face Cards: 10 Each Leg or 10 Squats

Aces: 16 Each Leg or 16 Squats

Jokers: Superset of 25 Each Leg & 25 Squats

Full Deck is equivalent to 500 & 250 Total. You can double the deck to reach 1000 & 500 Respectively or go back and forth between two full decks (Double Decker). Either way, you're working your ass off and let the speed be natural and not try to break world records. If you can blast through it with ease, you might as well be Superhuman. Give it a go if you dare.

In all seriousness, be adaptable and let things flow naturally, some things you may pick up on quick, others take time so remember to take in the journey and you'll never know where you'll end up. Be bold but smart, don't try to break a record every workout, progressively add workload but on certain days go a little light depending on how your body responds and be respectful to the technique and the exercises themselves because if you don't, you'll not like what follows. Kill it and keep being amazingly awesome.

If you're interested in getting some bad ass decks of cards, check these out.

The Nerve Pain, The Muscle Spasms, All Gone: IT'S OVER!!!

Just the feeling of bruising but the sciatica injury is finally over. Merely keeping up with maintenance and being slightly more cautious is what I'll be doing for a while but this long ass episode has reached it's finale. The pain was enough that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies and being so damn limited made me frustrated, irritable and drove me crazy. 

What made me notice that it was gone? I had an idea in mind that was risky but my intuition was telling me it was going to work. I tested myself in a Bear Crawl Sprint Workout that was 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off for 5 minutes. Aside from feeling a little tension, I busted through that workout with ease without a shred of pain, not even a little bit. How's that for irony: A sprint workout told you you were injured and the next sprint workout tells you you're healed. Funny how the universe works.  

I'm back and it feels fucking glorious man. I still believe in my heart that if I wasn't in good of shape before, this injury would've been far worse and the healing would've taken way longer. That's the thing, if you train with intent to help prevent injuries as much as possible and be able to heal quicker when you do makes all the difference in the world. This one didn't heal as fast as I wanted to (I' am edging close to 40) but it did heal when it was meant to. I felt my flexibility coming back and my strength was right there when I needed it. Conditioning is really a life saver and in my mind, the fountain of youth.

If you've never experienced Sciatica, I really hope you never will. I feel so grateful not just for what I had to do but I'm grateful to my wife and my mother for being there for me even though I was a royal pain in the ass and feeling so damn guilty that I didn't want to burden them. Putting them through that especially my wife was something I never want to do again, neither one deserved to see me like that. I owe them big time and I will always take responsibility and heat for what I did to myself. I can't and will never blame anything or anyone other than myself. Life is too damn short and you do what's possible to make the best of things. 

This was probably one of the most humbling experiences of my life and part of it is starting to show on my age and my ability to heal but in a weird and twisted sense, I needed to go through this in order to understand how important certain things are in life and that it was another one of life's tests where you learn and figure out what you have to do in order to rebuild yourself inside and out. This put another perspective on why I love to train and why it continues to push me even in tough times. The majority of the time, all I did was stretching which to me is still training, I never once led up or took a day off because if I did than I would be giving up on myself and the people who need and I wasn't going to let that happen.

Even on days where I had doubts this thing would ever heal, the voice in my head told me to keep fighting and battle the demons from within. Trust the process, do what needs to be done and be humble and grateful for what you have around you. It goes back to that old notion "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility." Be safe, kick ass and keep being amazingly awesome.