Yesterday, I had an experience that changed the way I will do something that I have been doing the same way for years, and prompted me to begin sharing my experiences with you all.
I guess the best place to start is to give some background about myself…
I am a 26 year old male currently living in the Denver, CO area. I work as the Brand Ambassador for a start up Tequila Company called Blue Nectar Tequila. Among many other things, I previously worked as a Personal Trainer at a small gym in Thornton, CO (I know, the incongruity in these occupations is glaringly evident). I have no credentials that qualify me to pen my thoughts and broadcast them via the worldwide web. I do not hold a BA in Journalism, nor any other subject for that matter. The fact is, I enjoy telling stories, I know how to use a Thesaurus reasonably well, and my company just bought me a new laptop that I don’t want to go to waste.
I have been an avid gym-goer for roughly the last 3 years. I decided (like many) to make some lifestyle changes, after my body fat percentage and physical appearance began worsening at a rate that would frighten even Jared the Subway Guy. I was 22 years old, 6’3” 230 lbs and climbing. So I made myself a pact and began my ascent into physical fitness.
I began eating right, spending countless dollars on supplements, and made a habit of hitting the gym. In fact, working out became such an important aspect of my life, that I decided to make fitness my new vocational pursuit. A few years later I looked like this… https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=1521903803357&set=t.1107588339&type=3&theater …and had somehow managed to pass the American Council on Exercise Personal Trainer exam (barely). Granted, at the time of this photograph (approximately July, 2010) I had been toiling all summer as a grunt laborer for my step father’s landscape and irrigation company, in addition to my regular gym sessions. There is no faster way to shed pounds than shoveling dirt from one place to the next for 10 hours per day.
Regardless, I felt like a fitness guru, given what I had accomplished. In my head, I knew what it took to get into shape, and I was a walking talking success story. I even signed up with a local modeling agency (hence the corny photo), just for the chance to show the public that I, Big Al Emerson, had shed the too many twelve pack tummy flab and was toned and tanned. I took my six pack and my single digit body fat, and spent the next year booking gigs for companies like Under Armour, Number Lab Clothing, and Helly Hansen.
Fast forward to present day. I am now employed full time by a spirituous beverage company, an occupation that requires regular happy hours and frequent meals at less than health conscious restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a complaint on my part. I am not only happy to be employed, but to have a job that allows me to mingle work with my social agenda; a dream come true for any unmarried 26 year old with no children and a thirst for good times.
However, it comes as no surprise that the 6 weekly gym sessions I previously enjoyed, along with my marble-hard midsection, have begun to deteriorate slightly. I now am lucky to get in 2 workouts per week, and may or may not have a small layer of insulation forming around my regionus abdominus (winter is coming, after all).
Which brings me to my main point (yes, I do have one). Yesterday, while working out at the Student Rec Center at Colorado State University, something happened that has never happened to me before.
I started my workout like any other, with a slow warm up jog, and moved into some resistance band training to get the blood pumping in my upper body. I did 3 sets of pull-ups, without incident. I then selected 85 pound dumbbells, with which to do flat bench chest presses (a weight that is well within my range. I used to do 95 pounders back in the days of the photo). Set 1 went off without a hitch. 10 reps, then I hit the water fountain for a well-deserved drink.
I moved into position to heave the dumbbells into place for set 2. My previous training experience had taught me that to safely accomplish this task, one must use their legs to lift the weights off of the ground, not bend at the waist, placing the back in a compromising position. Essentially, you have to dead lift the dumbbells to safely elevate them to the correct position. I did this, with correct form and a neutral spine, just like you are supposed to do it.
At that moment, my right hamstring, the muscles in by buttocks on the same side, and the muscles in my lower back all tensed up tighter than Fred Phelps at a Lady Gaga concert. A crippling pain surged through the right half of my body, from my knee to the middle of my back. I found myself surrounded by 18-24 year old college coeds, hunched over in pain like Hugh Hefner in the morning before his arthritis medicine.
Needless to say, I was embarrassed. I even had to ask one of the nice young gentlemen doing bicep curls next to me, if he would kindly assist in replacing the oversized dumbbells I was using back onto the rack, as I had injured myself and was unable to do so alone. I hobbled down the stairs of the gym and found a soft place to lie down to try and sooth my aching back side. I rode a foam roller and stretched the knotted muscles for the next 30 minutes, and some of the pain began to subside. I managed to make it home, and spent the rest of the evening popping painkillers and swigging brewskis like my Grandpa Denny on Thanksgiving morning. Seemingly, the only permanent damage done will be to my pride.
Through all of this, I learned a lesson that I believe to be valuable enough to share with you all. I thought I was an expert of the exercise sciences, with the practical experience and prerequisites to prove it. Then, after a short hiatus, I almost paralyzed myself because I didn’t abide by what I now believe to be the number one rule: Start From the Ground Up. You can’t build bulging pecs unless your back is equipped to handle the strain of the dumbbells. Whether you are lifting weights, starting a blog, learning a new trade, or engaging any other pursuit in life, remember this… You cannot achieve greatness without first laying a fundamental foundation upon which to stand.
AE
