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It
is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the terrible news that
I was not able to
compete this year due to an unfortunate accident in which I ripped
my right bicep
tendon off the bone. On October 20, 2000, I was working at my
part-time job
at Delta Airlines. It was 4:30pm and I was only a half hour away
from getting off
work. I was excited about going home and hitting the tanning bed
for 30 minutes
before going to the gym and bombing delts and calves. After that,
I was going to
pack for Las Vegas where the Mr.Olympia contest was being held.
I was planning on leaving for bodybuilding's premier event early
the next morning.
I
was in top shape, 208 pounds and very lean and ripped. I was only
one week away
from competing in the Natural Mr.Universe, also in Las Vegas,
and I was very confident of victory. I was actually ahead of schedule
and I only had a very little bit of water under the skin that
I would easily eliminate a few days before the contest.
Anyways,
I am getting ahead of the story. As I said in the beginning, I
was working
at Delta Airlines loading planes on the ramp. One of my co-workers
pulled a freight
cart containing 4 big dogs in separate kennels up to the plane
we were loading. These dogs were all big German Shepards and they
were being shipped in some very large and heavy kennels. We had
to take these kennels out of the freight cart and carry them over
to a Commando loader so they could be loaded into the plane. As
we edged the first kennel out of the cart, I could feel that the
weight of the dog and kennel were greater than I first suspected.
I had my hands underneath the bottom of the kennel and my co-worker
was on the other side of the kennel. When the kennel finally came
out of the cart, the weight of the load jerked my arms and the
kennel dropped to the ground.
I
felt and heard a ripping sound in my right arm. I knew immediately
that I had ripped the bicep tendon! Looking down at my arm, I
saw the bicep rise up a few inches up my arm and my stomach felt
sick as the realization of what just occured came over me. There
was no pain whatsoever and I bent my arm at the elbow and I saw
the bicep shorten up much more than usual. That was it!! It was
all over!!!
I
grabbed my arm in shock and started screaming expletives. My co-workers
stood around and looked at me like I was crazy. I walked away
from everyone while I tried to comprehend what had just happened.
I had trained balls out for the Natural Olympia contest since
the beginning of the year. I pushed myself to bulk up to 235 pounds
in the off season to be bigger and thicker than ever this year.
I began dieting 16 weeks ago and had gone from 235 to 208 pounds.
I had pushed myself harder during my pre-contest training and
dieting phase more than I ever had previously. I was using heavier
poundages as I lost bodyfat and forced myself to have the best
workouts possible. I had increased the size and separation of
my quadriceps, my most stubborn bodypart, so I would leave no
doubt in the judges mind who the winner was going to be this year.
Now, all that sacrifice and hard work didn't mean anything because
it was all over in a matter of seconds.
I
had the next few weeks totally planned out. I was looking forward
to going to Las Vegas over the weekend to see the Mr.Olympia contest.
In addition to being a bodybuilding competitor, I am and always
will be a huge bodybuilding fan. I was in Las Vegas in 1999 and
I really enjoyed the show and Las Vegas itself. I was really anxious
to go this year since I was in peak condition. I couldn't wait
to show off my contest ready physique at the pools in Vegas and
I was also looking forward to making some valuable contacts at
the Olympia Expo. I had been corresponding with some of Wayne
Gallasch's representatives about Wayne doing a possible video
with me when I traveled to Australia. I was going to meet Wayne
in person at the Olympia since he was there to record the contest
for IFBB Videos. I was also looking forward to meeting my team
from MuscleLink and IronMan Magazine. Although I have been corresponding
with them all year, I had not had the opportunity to meet Jonathan
Lawson and Steve Holman in person yet. I was also going to talk
to Mike Neveux from IronMan about doing a photo shoot and even
a cover shot for the magazine!
The
following weekend, I was going to travel to Vegas again to compete
in the Natural Mr. Universe contest on October 29. While I was
out in Vegas, I had planned on traveling to the MuscleMag Store
out there where Bob Kennedy was going to be with a group of beautiful
fitness models from the magazine. On Monday, October 30, I was
going to travel to Los Angeles and do a photo shoot with Mike
Neveux and who ever else I could shoot with. On Wednesday, November
1st, I was going to travel to New Zealand to compete on November
4th in the Natural World Cup. On November 7th, we were going to
be off to Australia to compete in the big one, the Natural Olympia
on November 11th and 12th. Now all that was over!
Instead
of enjoying all results of my sacrifice and hard work, I have
been couped up in my apartment with a cumbersome, heavy cast on
my right arm. I had surgery to reattach my right bicep tendon
on October 25, five days after the accident. I spent the night
in the hospital and stayed at home watching videos and popping
pain pills the next few days after the surgery. My arm was in
a splint that was wrapped very tight with bandages for five days
after the surgery. I had a cast put on my arm on October 30th.
This will remain in place for the next 4-6 weeks.
I
have had to learn how to do common, everyday tasks with my left
arm (I am right handed). Taking a shower, getting dressed and
washing dishes are tougher than I ever imagined. Sleeping is also
very hard. I usually wake up every hour on the hour from 3am to
7am. Of course, I can always take a nap during the day since I
cannot work and I cannot train.
After
the cast comes off, I will undergo another 6 weeks of physical
therapy. When my P.T. is finally finished, I will go back to the
gym and resume my training for my upper body. When my cast comes
off, I will go back to the gym and start training legs again.
In the meantime, I will do some cardio and some stretching along
with some light abs and lower back.
I
am still on my pre-contest diet except that I am only eating about
4 meals a day as opposed to 7-8 meals per day. I don't want to
eat too many calories and get fat while I am very limited to the
amount of training I can do. I'll start eating a normal off season
diet when I get this cast off and start training legs.
One
bright spot is that Jonathan Lawson agreed to put my Training
Notebook on the IronMan website. For those of you who haven't
been following the Training Notebook, I began recording every
day of my contest preparation 16 weeks prior to my first contest.
Every day of training and diet was documented along with actual
training photos. I also took photos of my physique as I was in
the process of losing bodyfat for my contests. In the end, the
Training Notebook ended up being a great educational memoir of
what it takes to prepare for a bodybuilding competition. Just
because I suffered an unfortunate accident one week prior to competing
is no reason to let this Notebook go to waste. That would be equivalent
to refusing to show an actor's last movie just because he died
before the movie opened. The only difference is that I am not
dead yet!
Who
knows what the future will bring after I recover from this accident.
I have been training for 23 years now and I have never taken off
from training more than 2 weeks at a time. This injury will require
6-7 weeks of total rest for my legs plus another 6 weeks of rest
for my upper body. How will my body respond after 12 weeks of
rest? Well, it's too soon to tell but I'm guessing that I will
get bigger and thicker than I've ever been in my life!! One thing
I can tell you for sure is that I am pissed off that I was not
given the opportunity to show everyone what I worked so hard for.
That anger and desire is still burning inside of me and I can't
wait to get back onstage. I feel sorry for my competition when
I come back!!
Another
bright spot is that I will have plenty of time to work on my website
and other writing activities. My webdesigner, Chris Bishop, and
I plan on spending a lot more time adding new stuff to my website
and it should have a whole new look very shortly. I have been
getting alot of requests for my One On One Training Programs and
I will now have much more time to design personalized training
and nutrition programs so bodybuilders out there will be able
to make the best gains of their lives in the shortest time possible.
If you are interested in filling out a questionnaire, please click
on the One On One Training link on the host page.
Finally,
I sincerely want to thank all of you who have wished me good luck
in my upcoming competitions. Unfortunately, it was not meant to
be for me this year but your good luck wishes were well received,
thank you very much! As another bodybuilder that we all know and
love once said, "I'll Be Back!!".
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