6 to go.....

I don't know how long this blog entry will be. I'm exhausted. I'm at a point now in my prep where everything takes effort above and beyond what I'm used to giving. Today after training I had to talk myself into getting on the stepmill for HIT cardio. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, but when you are so tired that all you want to do is go home and eat and then go back to bed, it takes a mental pep talk to get your butt in gear. I have to say that after I train and do cardio in the mornings I am on sort of a runner's high. Your blood sugar is very low at that point so after you eat and you get that insulin spike....hello veins!!!! It's a good time to reflect on what I've been doing up to this point as I sit and eat in silence.

Everything else is going as well as it can I suppose. I am becoming a bit more brain dead though. It appears that last night I forgot to lock the back door of the store I was at and the alarm proceeded to go off this morning at 8am. Thank goodness I have an understanding boss. It's times like these that I need to slow down and move at a pace that coincides with amount of energy I have. I can't rush through anything at this point. Mentally I'm in a pretty good spot. Physically, however, it's a very different story. My joints are killing me. My right elbow at the triceps tendon is severely inflamed. My left shoulder has been messed up for months and although the rear portion of my shoulder has healed, in the process of nursing the thing back to health, I got a nasty case of tendinitis in the front. Such is life. The break after my show will give my body a chance to heal which I need big time.

I'm not sure why I do this, my training partner is doing the same thing as well, but I seem to torture myself by watching the food network. Man vs. Food seems to be my favorite show right now. My calories are so low at this point that watching that show makes me really want to go eat crap I never wanted to before. The other night the hunger was so bad I just couldn't sleep. I'm up every hour and then before I know it it's two in the morning and my alarm is set to go off in an hour and a half. So much for a rest nights sleep. On the total opposite end of that were nights like last night. I was tired I ate my last meal, hit cardio up for the last time, and then passed out so fast I barely knew what hit me. I slept all the way through. That rarely happens as I'm typically getting up to go to the bathroom at least three to four times.

At this point in my prep I can't stop. I just can't be frazzled or sidetracked. I've got a focus that is beyond being considered driven. I'm not withdrawn or fanatical but I know what I have to do and will not stop until my goal is accomplished. I don't care who shows up in July. I have no control over that but what I do have control over I will make damn sure that it's executed to the best of my ability.

Until next time.............

JD

It will get worse before it gets better.....

A day off! This one is well earned in my opinion. The last two weeks have pushed me past a point I have never been before. It's rather strange because I am enjoying every second of it. When I decided to prep for this show, it was a very last minute decision. In the past everything I have ever done has been calculated and planned out in advance. This time, however, I decided to jump into the fire head first and not look back. This is turning out to be the best decision I have made in a long time. I hired someone to help me with my nutrition and I have a training partner who is on a seek and destroy mission to be the best he's ever been at perhaps the biggest national level show of the year...the USA's.

My body is starting to get to a point where energy wise there just isn't much left after a certain point in the afternoon. I'm craving foods I have never eaten in my life and my sleeping patterns are bizzare to say the least. It is getting worse but it's all for the better. I'm loving every single second of this. The suffering just adds fuel to the fire. At some point you have to make a decision. It's either you or them. It's that simple. I look to Dan Gable all the time for motivation along with other people I see on a daily basis. Dan was the one who said that it's simply about "out working your opponent". I agree 300%. Pick your goals, battles, and see them through with everything you have and win, lose, or draw you have nothing to regret. I walked into the gym this morning in a haze and left with an overwhelming desire to be my best. This happens every single time I train now.

Everything else is going well too. PT is fun but I struggle to keep my eyes open observing. If it were not for Lizzy, the owners dog, I'd be sleeping in the corner. That dog always seems to know when to come over and bark at me to play with her when I'm getting tired. I'm learning so much at FROGS and I can't thank Andy Clary enough for giving me the opportunity to come in and do what I have to do.

Stay focused, stay strong, and stay the course. It was my plan from the very beginning.

Until next time...

JD

Give me the wrench

It's late and I'm beyond tired. The thing is I'm also suffering from a bit of insomnia at the moment. I just wanted to type this while it was on my mind. Today we torched legs. I mean absolutely killed them. They are already starting to get sore about eight hours post training. My training partner said something to me today that's very true. As we had gone through an already tough training session, we started on hack squats....almost last. Not to mention very heavy. There is a part of the movie Goodwill Hunting were Matt Damon talks about getting beating when he was a kid and Robin Williams replies by saying his dad did the same thing. He would come home drunk and Robin Williams would provoke him so he wouldn't beat his mom. He says something like "He would lay down a belt, a switch, and a wrench and tell me to choose. I chose the wrench. Why? Screw him, that's why.

When stuff gets hard, don't dodge it. You have to push yourself. It's the only way you are ever going to figure out what youre made of. We chose the wrench this afternoon. Leave it all on the table and don't hold back. The other guy isn't choosing the wrench. I don't blame him. However, I also won't blame him for getting second either. Sometimes you have to go to a place where you were never supposed to go and I have to tell you, I'm glad I did. I'm out. Cardio is calling in less than six hours.




Until next time...

JD

The Mars Volta, Hot Sauce, and Vampires!

Yes I know, the title to this blog is a bit strange. Those are just random things that have inspired me to type this entry. I've been listening to The Mars Volta big time as of late. It's a mix of band members from At The Drive In as well as some others. It makes cardio pretty easy. Speaking of which, prep is coming along great. I'm starting to change on a daily basis now and that's very motivating. I'm also motivated by the fact that my training partner informed me that we will be taking a trip in a couple of weeks to San Diego to train and shoot video. I'm amped on the idea!

Okay, with that out of the way, where does hot sauce come into all of this. Not to mention what's the deal with vampires? I'm eating a ton of fish on a weekly basis. 9lbs a week to be exact. I've stopped using pepper and garlic and just went straight for the jugular and drown my fish in hot sauce. Since sodium isn't an issue right now I can use it as I see fit. I figure if I scorch the crap out of my mouth, I won't be able to taste foods that I don't want to eat. To be honest though, right now I'm so darn hungry after I eat, I'd eat just about anything with no regard to how it tastes.

Today was an off day so I did cardio, abs, and calves this morning. I watched Elf for an hour instead of listening to my MP3 player. It made the time go by much faster. Last night I watched the UFC fights and watched Machida get knocked the F out!!!! Rua is no joke. I would have never in a million years thought that it would have ended the way it did. Josh Koshchek pretty much owned Paul Daley who acted like a complete idiot at the end of the fight. Way to go Paul! That dude flushed his entire career down the drain with that cheap shot and got fired from the UFC. He got what he deserved.

All in all, everything is coming together nicely. These next couple of months are going to seem like a blur. Diet, school, work, traveling a little bit, and trying to relax is going to make the time coming up really fun. In the past the may-lay of a hectic schedule was something that seemed to make everything "un-fun" now it seems to enrich it. I'm glad to be where I'm at right now. With that comes a Mars Volta Video/Song. Also I'm including a video of Dylan Elise. He is a young drummer from New Zealand. I played the drums for many years and one of these days will have a set again to play around on. This kid, who is only 16, has amazing stick control and hand speed. So does the drummer of the Mars Volta which is what I always am amazed at. Enjoy.

Until next time....

JD

No Bad Days!

I'm really sticking to my goal of keeping this blog updated. Good for me....or something....durrr. Seriously though, I am glad that I am able to update this thing because I find writing to be therapeutic. It clears your mind and you are able to convey your thoughts more clearly. Not to mention that you have a time line to come back and reflect on certain parts of your life.

Thank goodness for days off! I think I worked something like nine or 10 days in a row due to the new hires at work. It wasn't that bad really but it is nice to have some time off to just kick back and decompress. I went to a buddies house last night and watched the fights and just hung out and relaxed. I thought Shane Mosely was going to win after seeing him in the first couple of rounds and then his age kicked in. It sucks he lost but what can you do? I always get hyped up watching contact sports. It's in my blood. Eventually I will get back to my roots and start grappling here locally but for now I've got work to do! My training partner and I torched legs today. It got me coining the title of my blog for today. As we were training, it just came me to say out loud "No bad days". This is pretty darn true. What really allows you to have a bad day? Everything you do is in your control. How you react to a situation determines how you think. You can control that, and with that comes that term. It's going to be my mantra for the time being. I've got so much going on these days and so much coming up that it's very inspiring to say the least. It was a really great day all around. My parents are in town and I met them this morning and we went to church followed by just visiting with them which is something I always feel I need to do more of. I'll be going down in a week to see them again which is always fun!

The diet is going well although I'm kicking it up another notch. I fared well through the toughest part of the week. Each day I look at what I have to do and then go after it. For some reason where I'm at right now is beyond motivating.

Brussel sprouts should come with a warning. Well, maybe they have a secret contract with Glade or something. I mean I love those darn things but they are not kind to digestive track. They are part of my favorite meal of the day which is 8oz buffalo or grass fed beef and a cup and a half of sprouts! So tasty!

I'm starting to realize how blessed I am as of late. Everything seems to be falling into place. School, PT stuff, my friends, training, work, and my family. One thing I always try to do is tell people around me that I am thankful for what they have done or help me do. I think once you start to focus on what you have instead of what you don't have, everything becomes very clear.

School is over! Two tests and then I'm done for a while. Yippity skippity!

Video of Dan Gable. I actually have this tape. It's very motivational. I just love the way he can't get over the fact that his athlete didn't want to beat his opponent. When I was in Iowa training, I'll never forget the way coach Gable yelled at us. It wasn't yelling out of anger or resentment, but rather a tone of "WORK!!!!!" he never wanted to see anyone let up even for the last second. Heaven forbid he caught you looking at the clock to see how much time was left, you'd be running stairs in Carver Hawkeye Arena for days. Being Gable trained meant you went just as hard from the first whistle to the last and you don't stop until you are stopped. That's an intensity that I still marvel at to this day.

Always listen to your body...errr...then your PT.

I'm setting a record today because I'm posting two blog entries in a row. I just got to work from FROGS PT and today they had nobody in the office but Andy Clary who owns the place and is the head therapist there. So we get to talking and my shoulder comes up. Next thing I know he's telling me to "stand up for a second". He checks out my range of motion and then looks at my shoulders and then figures out whats going on. I have to hand it to those guys because physical therapy is pretty darn awesome. Andy was the head athletic trainer at the University of Miami for 25 years before becoming a physical therapist so he knows his stuff. Here is thing....I'm hard headed at times. I know this. After having someone for months and months tell me how important it was to stretch and foam roll, it's finally starting to hit home. I looked at all these charts and then listened to him tell me what has been happening with my shoulders/chest/scapula area, and it's finally sinking in. I'm getting an exercise stability ball and a roller. I have to now. Dealing with the pain from this injury that is pretty much 100% my fault for not taking care of my body the way I should just got me motivated to do what I should have been doing all along. Such is life I guess.

Randoms.....

Back day today. I also realized my cardio sucks and I need to kick it up several notches. That's what having a training partner that actually wants to see you succeed will do for you. He called me out and I can't argue one bit. I doubt you even know this blog exists but in the event you do actually stumble upon this one day, thanks man. I really do appreciate it.

I've got to learn to forgive and this is going to be tough. I tend to hold grudges. Particularly when I feel like I get taken advantage of or used. A part of me just won't let certain things go. In the long run, this is all for the better. I have to remember that the little life lessons we learn help make us better in the future.

Finally.....a Dan Gable pic for some motivation. 1972 Olympic gold medal winner and nobody scored a single point on him during the games. He was driven, motivated, over huge adversity to become the person he is today. Awesome.

Until next time......

JD

Bligity Blogity Boooooo!

Holy smokes it's been a while since I've done anything with my blog. I guess in all reality I've had a ton of stuff going on which has kept me away from this thing. So, I'm blowing the dust off my blog so to speak and I am going to make an attempt at some blog CPR to try and breathe some life into this endeavor again.

Where has the time gone? I found myself asking that question yesterday and I guess I have an answer. First and foremost is school. I've got a week left in this semester and through the turbulence of the last several months I'll be pulling off something I've never done before....a 4.0. I'm pretty stoked to say the least. Now I still have to one final and I may have just cursed myself but saying that, but I'm going to make sure I ace this last exam. I've pretty much done that in this class all semester so I'll keep my fingers crossed and do like I've been doing. My friend Mark is graduating in a week and I'm majorly happy for the guy. He is my age and we've lived parallel lives school wise so for him this is a turning point in his life. We are planning a get together here in a week as a celebration and several of my friends that I've not seen in quite some time will be there and I'm looking forward to that. He is either going to law school or getting his MBA. No rest for the wicked I guess. I, on the other hand, have a small break and then back to the grind of summer school. The funny thing about going back to school as an "adult", and I use that word loosely as I found myself pushing around on my old skateboard a couple days ago, is that you don't tend to mess around. I'm actually looking forward to getting right back into the swing of things again.

Contest prep!! Yes it's that time again. Actually it kinda feels like I never really stopped the last diet which was about five months ago. I've been dieting about three and a half weeks already. I've got someone helping me this time around which is fantastic. Something else about this prep is my outlook on things I guess you could say. In the past I've been waaaay too consumed by the process of getting ready for a show. It's cost me in some areas of my life for sure. This time around though I'm just going with the flow and doing everything else I normally would if I wasn't dieting. It's really fun now, not that it ever shouldn't have been to begin with. Also due to the fact that I wasn't a fat tub of lard before I started, everything so far has been much easier. My training partner is getting ready for the USA and I can honestly say that he is going to kick some butt here in a couple of months. That's the good news...the bad news is I tweaked the crap out of my bad shoulder again about a month ago. I've started to get some ART therapy on it and it's working wonders. I can't afford to go as much as I'd like but I try to make it every two weeks. Other than that little snafu everything else is going pretty darn good.

Okay, more new stuff to talk about. I've started doing my volunteer work for school(s) at a couple of different places here in Scottsdale. I'd like to thank Andy Clary at FROGS Physical Therapy for giving me the opportunity as well as Christy Shaft at Spooner Physical Therapy. FROGS is badass by the way. It's an acronym that stands for Functional Rehab for Orthopedic, Golf, and Spine. This place has all kinds of equipment in their practice that helps people heal from sports specific injuries. They have a putting green in there as well as a driving cage for people would need help with their golf swings. All of the stuff these people do really helps others and I'm finding out that I really enjoy it too. Soooo...with that said, I'm up at 345 in the morning most days and then off to train followed by at least an hour to an hour and a half at one of these places post training, then off to work. Yes I'm busy these days.

Randoms......

-My sister is getting married in October. I've got my hotel and plane ticket ready to go. It's in Tahoe and should be a great time. Most of the fun is going to happen right on the lake! I've never been before so I'm looking forward to that.

-My upstairs neighbors, who I met for the first time about a month ago, don't sleep. The girl that lived there moved out and it was vacant for a long time and then the new peeps moved in. Besides not sleeping they seem to like either bowling or trying out for a spot in Riverdance. I'm honestly not blowing things out of proportion either. Seeing as I go to bed fairly early, I tend to miss the really loud stuff until about two nights ago. As I was doing some homework, I hear the typical loud thumps from upstairs that I've gotten used to over the last month. Right as I was taking a break I thought to myself "I wonder if something big is ever going to..." and then BOOOOM!! Did someone just get body slammed? It sounded like it. About thirty seconds later I hear their front door slam and then someone run down the stairs. I don't know what happened but it didn't sound good. I don't live in the ghetto by any means so nothing exciting ever happens.

-There is a walking path about 20 yards from my front door. I've been using this on my off days and it's rather refreshing to just walk in sun.

-I have a new work schedule which is great!

All in all I can't complain. I hope to keep up with this blog more often. New updates hopefully on a regular basis.

Until next time...........

JD