Training and overall update:

For the most part, since the meet (November 11), I have been catching up on life. I hate how much things get pushed to the side when I get close to competition but it’s how it has to be done to do it correctly. This is where ‘balance’ doesn’t exist, so I’m making up for some lost time. Also many Christmas parties and that sort of stuff.

Even then when you focus 100%, there are no promises that your efforts will be enough to hit your goals or the day will go your way — lots of variables at play, for sure.

I will have a lot more to say about training going forward in the next few weeks, but there are a lot of changes on the way. I think good ones concerning training and environment overall. First things first, I have to get through the holidays (enjoy them) and get my shoulder right.

Shoulder rehab

Shoulder feels good; it did not after the meet. My shoulder certainly has/had dysfunction with an overactive trap taking over most of the time, but I’m getting it sorted out. It just needed some love, and I’m in no hurry to get back under the bar just for the sake; I want to do it right.

FYI – don’t worry, I don’t plan on writing any more books on injuries, so don’t panic that you’ll hear about this for the next ten years.

I have been doing my shoulder rehab daily as programmed by Andrew Lock which consists of a modified one-arm lat-pull down with a twist, and the shoulder ‘big 3.’ Plus some cervical and thoracic mobility work.

This is done a few times a day, and I feel pretty good right now. I’ve written that typing was one of the pain generators and is not an issue anymore.  Push-ups are pain-free, so more on this soon.

Diet

Also, I’m tinkering with my diet to make sure I’m getting enough sodium and micro-nutrients via Stan Efferding. Huge thanks to both of these guys. I have no plans for any comps, so now is the time to get healthy and experiment.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think back to when I was a fat 275 (290lb) guy and how my blood work would come back a little ‘rich.’ I can tell with pretty good certainty that it was my diet and not the supplements that tanked my bloodwork. I ate very, very ‘loosely.’ I was strong, but I was not heading in the right direction.

I don’t believe you need to eat like a BB or even remotely healthy for that matter to be strong, but you certainly need to eat enough. What’s enough? I don’t know. But, if you’re considering longevity (being relevant for more than ten years), you might want to consider eating decently-well, so you’re alive long enough to be strong. Most of us don’t do this because we are lazy and fast food is attractive.

Cardio

I’m walking 2-3x every day, sometimes I shoot for a 4th 10-min walk, but I haven’t gotten that ‘crazy’ yet. I have on my list for this week to start dragging the sled. Since I can’t weight train, I need to be doing something, so I don’t get too out of shape.

That’s all for now. A trip to the mountains in preparation for an awesome 2019 is in order.