Monday, February 28, 2011

march 1

Told ya I was gonna be consistent!
Training has been going great. Had a kick ass leg workout today. Got under 500lbs on the squat for the first time since last spring and it felt fine. I only did 4 reps, but I had more and I didn't want to get crazy since I have only been at 405 for a couple weeks. Feels good to move some heavy weight and I don't stop till my ass hits the floor. 2 more busy days of work and then I'm off to the Arnold! Cant wait.

This past Saturday I did a store Grand Re-Opening in Scranton PA. I had a great time and met some really cool people. They had a really neat ultrasound machine that tested body fat. I let them do mine....7.o% pretty pleased considering all I have been going through. That's all for now.

Friday, February 25, 2011

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!?!?!?!

Ok Everyone, its been a while and I really must apologize. A swarm of bad luck came my way and it distracted me from my normal behavior and that isn't right. I am not one to make excuses so I will detail whats been going on and try to get back into the grove of regularly blogging! My apologies to all my fans, clients and friends who have been asking about the lack of blogs. Its actually really nice to see how many of you appreciate it.

Went to a few Jets games this year including the Thanksgiving game with my Step Dad. We had a blast deep frying Turkeys with a bunch of great people. Talk about a cool way to spend Thanksgiving!!! Unfortunately my beloved Gang Green let me down at the end as usual. Right around that time I hurt my knee and had to skip training legs for about 5 weeks. This was really frustrating as legs are my body part in need of the most attention! As soon as I came back from that I strained my anterior delt on my left shoulder and had to skip most upper body training for about 4 weeks.

I managed to maintain most of my size and fullness but certainly was not improving...NOW...durring the last few weeks of December I came down with a really nagging "cold" that I could not seem to beat. I think that since I was training alot, working like crazy and basically running myself into the ground, I just couldn't kick it...

That's when I got really ill. Had it not been for my friend rushing me to an emergency clinic I don't know what would have truly happened. I had such a bad infection in my throat that it completely closed. I had to take Prendisone steroids to get the swelling to come down just so I could swallow water. I also had to take 2 different kinds of strong antibiotics. This wiped me out for about 2 weeks and I lost over 20lbs!!! I have not been this sick since...well I guess ever!

Once I got better I was back in the gym around 231lbs and the weights felt WAY to heavy. I decided to go very easy for a week and let my body adjust. My second week back Nicole's father got very Ill and had to get rushed to the hospital. He wound up dying of Leukemia about 2 weeks later. This 2 weeks was one of the saddest times of my life. I have never witnessed anyone die from cancer before and being in the hospital really wore me down. Seeing sick children really messed me up the worst, sometimes I found myself sitting at home alone thinking about the poor families and what they were going through and I would just cry. Its hard to sit there and watch when you cant do anything for the people you love. I think I was most sad that I could not offer any words of wisdom or advice for the tragedy that Nicole's family went through, I like to think of my self as a good motivator and beacon of wisdom, but I had nothing. All I could do was offer hugs. It was really hard to train during that time and I missed meals consistently. Sometimes Life gets in the way and puts things in your regular routine on the back burner and you have to just accept it. Going through this made me realize how fortunate I am to have a healthy family. I will never hang up the phone on anyone in my family again without saying I love you first. You never know when something horrible can strike. Life is short and precious.

The funeral was a really beautiful service. The singer that came to the church sang like an angel and her rendition of Ave Maria was the most beautiful display of live singing I have ever witnessed.

RIP ALPHONSE VITALE- You were a great man loved by so many.

Once everything calmed down a couple of weeks ago I was able to start slowly getting serious again, and focus on myself and my training. My appetite has not been the same since I got sick, but this past weekend out in California for the Flexpro I think it started to finally come back!

FLEX PRO- I went out to the Flex Pro for the main reason of helping my good friend Evan Centopani with any little thing he may have needed. I wound up doing 4 different videos for www.rxmuscle.com and running around like crazy. I had a fun time with Dave Palumbo and Aaron Singerman as always and was there to help Evan get a few coats of tan on and offer my opinion to him through out has last hours of carb loading to make sure he was as perfect as can be. No one is more meticulous and careful with his planning than Evan, it is truly impressive to watch. Evan wound up BLOWING EVERYONE AWAY! He shocked everyone (except me) and established himself as one of the best in the world now and a threat to take the Arnold crown next weekend. I was so happy to be there!! Evan is a true champion with the heart of a lion and if I wasn't fired up enough already being out at golds gym in Venice ( the mecca of bodybuilding), seeing my boy dominate like that got me so amped up to train when I got home!!!

This week has been my best week of eating and training this whole off season! My weight is up to 244 and I am very lean despite doing ZERO cardio. Hopefully I can really improve now and make it to the USA's or I will have to abandon my original plans and compete later in the year. I hate to do that but I am WAY behind where I need to be.

I think that pretty much brings me back to today now and I am going to be back on here consistent so keep checking in. I love my fans and my clients and I should not have let so many people sit waiting to see how I was doing. I am very fortunate to have that many people care.

On a side not I have a nice spread in the March MuscleMag as well as a cool shot in March's Planet Muscle

Time to get my game face back on for good and make the most of the remaing offseason!