Vacation!

Well, I am up here in Aspen, Colorado. This place is beautiful! I am here for the Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. There are about 500 veterans and their loved ones. It is a great week of learning to ski or snowboard, along with other alternate activities. I am going to be snowboarding later today. I think I am going to pack a pillow in my pants so I don't bruise my butt too bad. Should be an awesome learning experience. Today is just learning, and I will be going out again on Wednesday and Friday. I think those days I will bring my GoPro and try to get my wipeouts on video! Funny stuff I know.
On Tuesday I am going to be going snowmobiling. Ill bring my GoPro then too!! I think that is going to be soon much fun! On Thursday I am going to the hot springs here in Aspen, or at least near Aspen. The only problem with that is I forgot to bring my swimsuit. Ill have to stop at one of the shops and pick one up.
The sports clinic has been awesome so far and it is just getting started today. The weekend has been time to check in and get settles in and ready to go. All the events start today for everyone.
One of the few things that could make this week better would be if it was colder here. I know that sounds crazy but its about 60 degrees this week. I would rather have it colder and maybe snowing a bit. That would make it way more fun! The other would be if I had someone here with me. I am, of course, making plenty of friends out here. But I would like to have brought my own friend to be here with me and spend the time here also. Oh well, maybe next year I can do that. Time to have some snowboarding fun today!

The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~Bruce Feirstein

Working on it

Well, I am working on my high rep, low weight workouts for my legs. So far so good. The other day at the gym I did 500 hamstring focused shallow squats. I can still only do them on the smith machine but it is getting a bit easier. I started with no weight, doing sets of 25 reps. After doing a warmup set, I started with no weight and went up 5 pounds evert set. I finally stopped at 45 pound weights on each side. Ten sets on the way up and ten sets on the way down. I thought about continuing up until I was unable to do ten straight reps without stopping but decided that it would be better if I didn't push it too hard. I know a lot of you are thinking "I think that 500 reps is pushing it too hard." Well, it isn't for me. As I said, I actually stopped early because I am supposed to be doing low weight workouts. I knocked out the high rep part of the exercise.
After, I tried to do single leg, leg press. It didn't work out exactly like I wanted it to but any work is good work. I used my right leg to "help" with the exercise but I feel I used it more to push the weight rather than to just help a bit. Ill just have to try again on my next workout.
I have also started to do a type of hamstring workout similar to the lying hamstring curl. What I do is take 10 pound ankle weights and strap them on. Then I lay down on my stomach and curl one leg at a time. I do it with a fast pace to make it look like I am kicking like I would while swimming with fins on. I know that is hard to picture but basically I am alternating each leg. I do that for a total of 25 times per leg. Usually around 4-5 sets. I am trying to work on getting my fast twitch muscles to strengthen and start firing again. There are a whole lot of problems still but I am trying to work through them. So far, its going well. Only time will tell how long it will take.



“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable!” ― Jillian Michaels

Sunday Funday!!!

Hope everyone had a great Sunday! I know that I sure did.
What happened was that I took a week off of the gym. Trying to give my body an extended rest. Well, not completely off. I still did my leg workouts, but that is because they need so much more work. I did, however, go easy. I guess that counts as a week off. But now, its time to get back to it, and to get back even harder than before. My Sunday funday was the gym. Hit Chest and Triceps today and it felt great! It was so nice to be back in the gym!
My whole weekend was great actually. Saturday night I went out with people that mean the world to me for a great dinner. We went to The Melting Pot. The food was fantastic! The place was expensive but it was 100% worth it! The company made the night even better! What a total blast that was!
Its getting closer to my sisters wedding and it is going to be great! Im sure she is stressing about things but I know that everything is going to turn out brilliant.
Ran out of things to talk about so, take it easy!

If you genuinely want something, don't wait for it -- teach yourself to be impatient. ~Gurbaksh Chahal

Almost Friday!!

Well, its almost Friday! In fact, in another hour and forty-five minutes it will be! It has been a weird week for me. I decided to give my body a little break and did not go to the gym at all. Thats not entirely true. I didn't skip my leg workouts, those I just cannot skip. I even tried to take a break on those and I couldn't. This week has felt like a total waste. I feel like my body has shriveled up to nothing, even though I know that it has not. I am hoping that the time off has given my body enough of a "recovery" that I will be able to push harder than I did before, in that I will be able to lift heavier. Saturday is my last day off then Sunday I am back at it, pushing just as hard as ever.
I have also had 4 appointments with a neuro-acupuncturist. It is acupuncture in a more specific manner. It is tailored to spinal cord injuries. The acupuncturist knows more specifics about what points control what, to help recover from any type of spinal cord injury. So far he has focused on working on my dorsiflexion, spasms, and muscle strength. Along with some other things that I don't feel like going into. Because it has only been a few sessions, it is hard to see big results, but I do see slight ones. I know that my acupuncturist says that he is seeing good results so I am hoping to see more and more as my appointments go. I have heard many good things about it and actually met someone there that has had much success with it. I am looking forward  to seeing how everything goes! I have recommended it to a few people and I am sure that it would be good for them as well.

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice. ~Wayne Dyer

Its time

Well, it has been over 4 months since my last post. I was going to just stop writing all together but someone close to me made me realize that it actually does help people. That is a goal of mine, to be someones motivation. I stopped writing because I didn't really have anything to say. I will try to continue with the updates and go through things that are bothering me or are tough for me now that I am disabled. I am still working as hard as possible to change that to "formerly disabled".
Things that I have been up to recently; going to the gym, going to physical therapy, started acupuncture. About that final thing, I just started with neroacupuncture. Fro all the things I have read and all the people that I have talked to, it is a great thing. I have only had two appointments, so I do not know exactly what is going to happen or if it will work. I will keep everyone updated about it as time goes on.
The gym is working alright for me. My lower body is still lacking in the strength department which is frustrating the hell out of me. That is one reason that I am hoping that acupuncture will help me out. I am still, figurative, leaps and bounds ahead of where I was even four months ago. But no where near my goal, or even where I want to be at this point. The only way to reach my goal is to never give up and just push myself as hard as possible.
Other things going on, I am looking to buy my own house within the next six months, latest by the end of the year. I have been looking around and really want to have my own place with a garage and a back yard. I know that means not living where I am now. Maybe moving a bit farther away from the actual San Diego area. A bit farther East, not very far though. I love San Diego and want to stay here for sure.
As I said, I will try to update with things going on at least once a week, sometimes more if I actually have something relevant to talk about. I am not just going to get on here and ramble about things that don't matter in the least. Stay positive everyone!!


Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. ~John R. Wooden

What I have been up to

Well, since I have been out of the military I haven't been doing too much. Mostly because doing a lot wears me out really fast. Unfortunately everything is still work for me. Taking a little break before I start up schooling. I think I am going to go to San Diego State University to get a bachelors degree in nutritional sciences with a focus on personal training. What ever classes those may be. Not sure exactly what I would have to do to focus on that.
I have also been hitting the gym 7 days a week instead of just 5-6. Of course, like everyone else I have to take a rest day here and there. But not every week like I used to. I have been getting a little bit stronger with my legs but not much unfortunately. I still have my NY resolution to run before the end of the year and I am hoping that with a lot more work in the next few months that I will accomplish that resolution. I am not talking about running a whole marathon, or even a 5K. Just a few hundred yards or so, but doing it all at once. I might hit a grass field and try to run on that so if I fall I won't hurt myself too bad. The biggest thing I am worried about is my knee hyperextending. That will case more problems for me and will make it harder to recover from where I am right now.
I know I say it every time but I will try to write on here more. I just don't find what I am doing that interesting so don't feel like it would be something that people would want to read about.

You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael Jordan

  

Update time

I know, I know, I know. It has been way to long since I have posted anything on here. Just under a month actually. Not good. But now it is time for an update as to how I am doing and whats been happening.
Well to start,  thursday, 28 August, is my retirement date. This upcoming weekend will be my first weekend as a civilian in the past 9 years. I am looking forward to it but also a bit nervous. I have money saved up but at the same time, I want to keep it saved and not have to spend it. I guess time will tell what happens.
On the money note, I have an appointment with the Department of Social Security tomorrow to see if I qualify for getting disability for a while until I can get my schooling worked out and to get my VA disability up to 100%! That is going to be a huge chore in its self, but if I can get the Disabled Social Security it will help me relax a bunch and Ill be able to make sure that everything is correct.
On to the rest. I have been working on my legs a whole lot more than I was before because I don't want to be one of those guys that has a muscular upper body and little stick legs. That would be terrible!! I am able to semi-squat up to 95 pounds right now. I say semi-squat because I still need to have the bench underneath me in case I can't stand up. But I have been able to use a lower bench and a Bosu ball on top of it in order to cushion my spine. I wish the blog would allow me to post videos because I do have one. I have been making sure that my knees stay behind my toes in order to do correct form on my squats. Same thing for my dead lifts, need to make sure my knees stay behind my toes. As I said though, I am making progress. It seems to be a bit faster than normal due to the fact that I am basically  starting from scratch.
On Thursday I am going to get my custom AFO. It is supposed to be a short, articulating AFO. I am hoping that it will help me walk a bit better and even maybe help me run. I only have a few more months to complete my New Years resolution. I WILL complete it though!
I am going to try to post more but like I have said before, I don't really want to just post about what I do every day because there are too many people out there doing that. Maybe I can change it up a bit and post about hardships I face in my day. There usually isn't many but if it happens I will let everyone know!

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. ~Bruce Lee

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