The Making of the Stonequest Series

Today was a pretty good day. I am about ready for bed. I just had my second dinner - 8 egg whites, almonds and oragne juice. Conventional wisdom says you need to consume 1 g of protein for every pound f body weight. This is actually harder to do than the workouts!

The title is “another day”; however, I never finished this entry, and a week has elapsed. Oh well. lol

Monday I was able to do a set of 12 at 185lbs on decline bench, which I followed with 205 for six and 225 for two.

My left shoulder is okay. It is a little sore though. It always makes me worry. It is frustrating. It sometimes feels like rotten wood. I am just waiting for it to pop! lol

I love muscle soreness; it is good. However, joint soreness is scary and is very bad! If my shoulder was better I could train even harder and reach some of my goals. Alas, I fear this is not going to happen. However, I am statisfied with what I am able to do at my present condition. If I am too careless, I will cause a more serious injury, one which may force me to abandon lifting forever.

We were never meant to lift such heavy weights as far as I am concerned. My body is artificial: I work hard to put it into a condition that evolultion has not specified. I feel this is true for most weight-lifters. Serious weight-lifters - the ones who have been training for years- usually have some sort of problem. Most suffer from shoulder problems. Some get tendenitis in the joints, such as the elbow. The ones who are able to train professionally are vey lucky. They have unusual genetics allowing them to alter their bodies to a state that was never intended.

Last Wednesday I had a great biceps workout. I was able to do things I have not attempted in years. I even put 45lb plates on the straight bar and attempted to curl it - I only got one - lol. Using the 35lb plates I got 8 though.

I was also able to do seated dumbbell curls with 50 pounds. I believe I have not gone this heavy since 2005, when I injured my shoulder curling 65 pound dumbbells. I was showing off; it was foolish. You would not think that biceps would influence the shoulder, but they are all connected. I ended up aggravating my shoulder. The insertion of the bicep is actually very high at the top of the shoulder. Since that day I have not gone heavier than the 45 pound dumbbells.

 I realize this information may not be terribly entertaining for those reading it, but it is a hobby of mine and keeps me motivated. It is fun in its own way. Constructive hobbies are healthy and fun!

When I was in high school I was Cape Ann League Champion in the 100 meters. I wanted to break 11 seconds so badly. Unforunately, the only thing I ended up breaking was my leg, which is another story. Graduating on crutches, the most difficult feature of my injury was being ranked number one in the Northern Area meet and not having the chance to compete. It is a good lesson - life has plans and they are often different than yours.

My last four races were 11.3, 11.2, 11.3 and 11.1 seconds. I know I could have broken eleven seconds. I was never challenged. It is funny that way. Some years you have 3 or 4 athletes in the state who can run 10.8 seconds. Other years there are none. I was forunate -  for two years I did not have overwhelming competition.

I went to college at UMass and ran on the track team. I was never as fast as I was in high school. It was just not the same anyway. I was not expected to win. We had the best of the best on the team. It was daunting - the Maryland 100m champion in the blocks next to me, the NJ champion on the other side. If I ran my best time ever, it would just be a mediocre performance for them. Nevertheless, I am glad I went out for the team, not for personal glory or achievement, but for the people I met. It is strange but the people I still talk to today are from my original 4×100 relay team. I am grateful for the opportunity to meet these high calibre individuals. At the time I never imagined we would stay in touch. Since college I have been pleasantly surprised, talking to two of them fairly regularly. The captain of the team was three years ahead of me. We met up years later through a chance encounter, and we started lifting together. It was fun. I learned a lot about physical training. Without his influence I would never have pursued ametuer body-building, a hobby I very much enjoy.

Well, this has been sort of a meandering entry; however, this is a weblog, and is meant to be free-flowing and fun!

Please share with me any accomplishments you have or feel proud of. I would love to hear of them.

Dave

In 1998 I bench pressed 305 pounds on decline and 285 pounds on regular. I am proud of these achievements, because of my ectomorphic body type. Some people are just gifted with strength. I am not one of these people. I train naturally without any synthetic help, so all I achieve is through hard work and diligence. I was never a weak person; I just did not have that extra edge that most athletes have. When I started lifting I could bench 135 for 12 without any training. That is my natural benchmark. In 1999 I could do that same weight for a set of 25! That is what intense training will get you.

Unfortunately, intense training will also get you injuries. My left shoulder is now chronically injured and prevents me from lifting very heavy. The injury was sustained in 1998. I attribute it to the narrow grip I had previously used while benching. I feel that it put an unhealthy stress on the shoulder joint.

In 2005 I was able to reach the same strength I had in 1999. I benched 225 for a set of 6! That was my best ever. At this highpoint my shoulder injury resurfaced. I ignored it for a while; this was foolish. At night I could not sleep on my left side without pain. It was not until a couple of weeks of this that I realized it was probably not a good thing to ignore. As a result I stopped lifting entirely for a time.

In the Summer of 2005 I was able to do qutie a lot with my biceps. One day I was showing off for my lifting partner. I was doing seated curls with 65 pound dumbells. Yes! It is true! I did about 4 or 5 on each arm. It was then that I felt a twinge in my left shoulder. I had aggravated the joint again. It was a foolish thing to do. Now I never use anything over 50 pounds on biceps.  The insertion of the bicep is actually quite high on the shoulder, near the top of the joint. This was where I was already weak and exacerbated the previous injury.

Basically, lifting is not really good for you.

I will still lift though. I enjoy it too much. I am just more carefuly now. My goal is to have 17 inch biceps. This will be difficult as they have been 16 for the past few years. It is nice to have goals though.

 Arnold Schwarzenegger is 60!!! He is being celebrated in this month’s issue of Muscle & Fitness. There was a great article I was reading today. It was most insipiring.

Arnold was decsribing his first experience in the gym in his village in Austria. It was all business there - an underground place resembling a dungeon. There was chalk everywhere and people would take the chalk and write down their workouts on the stone walls. It sounded like a really cool place. Arnold would do 20 sets of an excercise such as cleans, drawing a line for each one. If there were only 18 marks on the wall, he knew he had two more to do before he could leave. That kind of mentality allowed him to travel far in life. Reaching goals is very important. When you write them down in chalk, real or metaphorical, you make them honest. It is motivating - everyone can see it. This is how I view my writing. I have made a comittment and I am going to reach my goal. Even failure, though repugnant, does not daunt me. The possibility must always exist, but even that outcome is far better than to never have tried at all.

Yoda would say, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

I am going to “do” in order to reach my goals.

May you all “do” the same with yours.

 Sincerely,

 Dave Miller