The long, hard road back - ASV's journey

[gzsprout]

Hello All!

My name is Andrew and like so many others, I'm on a journey of redemption. In order to paint my full picture, first post will be long, but I'll be concise in my responses and daily updates in the future.

TL;DR - I used to be super athletic ~200#s but recently hit 404#s. I'm expecting my first child within the next month and need to make changes...I'll post here for accountability. Feel free to follow along!

I have a story many of you have heard before; I was a great athlete in High School & College. I actually fought MMA for years, tallying up a 13-3 Pro record. I trained daily with UFC champions and helped manage two of the largest gyms in the US by the time I was 20. Some of my greatest enjoyment in life was training and teaching BJJ and Kickboxing multiple times a day. Then all of my 'bad luck' started.

One day when training BJJ I popped my ACL and could barely walk for months. Once I started working out again, I was jogging and landed weird and hurt the MCL in the same leg. Fast forward 6 months and I'm back to training and I'm teaching how to do a kick; I land my lead foot, pivot and kick, but my lower leg stayed planted while my entire body above the knee turned >90 degrees, leaving my foot / knee and body pointing in different directions - I immediately fell to the ground vomiting and shaking while my knee snapped back in place. That put me out another 6 months, all the time being lethargic and gaining weight. 6-8 months later I was able to start back up again, slowly. I'd gained 90 pounds up to 285# after all of those leg injuries, but weight was shedding off, I felt motivated, was getting back into shape. After a couple of months, I jumped in as a sparring partner for an Olympic boxer. I was holding my own, catching him occasionally with awkward angled hooks he wasn't used to, and then he caught me with a body shot that hurt more than any I'd felt before. I was saved by the bell and had a minute to catch my breath for another round, but just felt terrible. He sensed it and came in aggressive with more body shots and I had to bow out of the round early. After resting for a couple of hours my side started to discolor and I couldn't breath well. I went to the hospital and had 3 cracked ribs. After another 3-4 months of being sedentary to heal up, I was back in the gym with light work. A few more months and the doctor gave me approval for full contact. My first sparring session back got a little heated, but I felt great. My leg felt good, my side didn't hurt, I was so excited to be back, finally feeling healthy. After the session one of my main training partners told me how great it was to have me back and gave me a light (and I mean light!) slap to the body...and it cracked my ribs again. Another 3-4 months with no real activity and crap diet later, I started training a little again. By this time, I'm 300+ lbs and pretty much given up on ever trying to fight again, but wanted to be healthier. I started back in BJJ, but also started crossfit. I was getting stronger, getting faster, starting to do unassisted pullups for reps, my Olympic lifts were getting stronger, etc. We had a max squat day and I was under a little more than 500#s. I got my first rep, but on my 2nd set/rep, I got a little bent over (think good morning) and forced my way through, using my back more than my hips to lift the weight back over center line. The pop in my back was audible over the Xfit noise, radio, etc. I dropped the weight and made a straight line to the door & home, because I knew I just wrecked my back. I could barely get off the couch for weeks and my wife had to help me stand up when I needed to use the restroom, and sometimes my back would give out when walking and I'd fall to the floor in pain. I had back spasms for years after. All of this is an excuse, and not a reason. My laziness and diet were terrible and I never took care of myself.

Fast forward years and I'm happily married, have an excellent career, and we're expecting our first child in 23 days (Due June 6th)! We're not rich, but we're doing ok and finally out of student loan debt, but my health is crap. Last year, 2017, I started going to the gym in April and dropped from 385#s to 330 by August, but then I fell off the wagon and didn't go to the gym for 4-5 months. No injury this time, just laziness and focusing on the news of my wife's pregnancy instead of taking care of myself. I went in to the doctor for a checkup on April 23rd and when I stepped on the scale it said 404 #s...the most ever. 400 lbs isn't significantly more unhealthy than 390, but somehow seeing 400+ hit something in me. I was disgusted, I was embarrassed, I was mad, I was sad, and then I was motivated to change; all within 2 seconds.

On that day, I restarted the Keto diet (which I had tried with great success in 2017) and scheduled 15 personal training sessions with my trainer @ LA fitness. From April 23 to May 14, I've lost 27 pounds. I hit the gym 5-6 days a week and am currently focused on a strength building program, targeting bench, squat, deadlifts, and overhead presses. I've currently improved my recent PRs in all of the lifts - 405 on Squat & DL, 255 on Bench, and 165 on OHP.

I am tracking my food on MyFitnessPal and workouts on Bodyspace everyday; feel free to add me as a friend if you want to keep up on the minutia of my updates, but I'll try to update here 5 days a week as well to share the journey.

Thanks Bodybuilding.com peeps.

Back After It Tomorrow.

Andrew 'ASV' Varney

MyFitnessPal: gzsprout
Bodyspace: gzsprout

[gzsprout]

15 May ' 18

Solid day today. I started with Push Presses. Pressing is one of my weaker areas, but I worked up to 165 for a couple of reps. After that, I moved into a deadlift / barbell row complex @ 225. I had trouble rowing 150 earlier this year, and now I'm hitting sets for 200+, which feels awesome! Then moved into assisted pullups superset with dips. Next was one arm DB rows and I worked up to 100#s for sets of 8, which is another PR. The last thing I worked on was back extensions, which always make my back feel like jello.

Diet was solid all day, kept under 2200 calories with 3% Carbs / 23% Protein / 74% Fat to stay solid on my keto diet.

Tomorrow is chest / cardio day...Get after it!

ASV

[gzsprout]

18 May '18

I had a work summit the last couple of days and didn't post, but did get in to the gym and stuck to my diet; BodySpace & MFP are updated.

Wednesday I hit a good chest day, working up to 245 Press for 1 Rep, then a lot of accessory work on chest / tris and a few minutes of cardio. I had friends over for dinner and was able to make juicy lucy burgers and veggies. I skipped the bun and starches to stay solid on keto, but it was great for everyone.

Thursday I hit the gym late (had to be @ work by 7a). It was crazy crowded and I couldn't get to the squat rack for a while, but I leg pressed 820 and hack squatted 415 for reps; superset with goblets and weighted lunges. A rack opened up and I worked sets up to 365. I wanted to get back to 405, but was fatigued from the pre-work. Diet was on point, came in <2000 calories and hit my macros.

Today was a good day too, hit the gym at 5am. I only did two movements, but set PRs for both, hitting 2 reps of 265 on bench, and worked up to 195 push press. I failed @ 205, but think I was fatigued from 6 previous sets working up. I'll hit it next week. It's only lunch time and I'm still fasting (16/8 IF), but will be solid on my macros today again.

I'm going to have a small cheat day tomorrow, my first in 6 weeks. We're going to see Deadpool 2 and I love popcorn, so I saved my 'cheat' for tomorrow. I'm planning to grab some chips and queso after the movie as well, and then back to keto Sunday.

I thought I should track my PRs @ the bottom of my posts from now on, so look for them here:

Squat - 405
Deadlift - 405
Bench - 265
Push Press - 195
Barbell Row - 225
Clean - 125

[gzsprout]

19 May '18

We had a deadlift party today. I went to the gym with the intention of pursuing a DL PR, but as I go through my working sets my trainer ran over to me and asked if I was DL'ing today (we didn't have a session scheduled); one of his other clients was DLing and they were inviting me to join. The three of us worked through 5-6 sets of deficit DLs from 315 through 405. After hitting 405, I moved it up to 415 for a PR and pulled from the floor (not deficit). I got stuck half way up but pushed through to complete it. My impromptu training partner pulled the same and we decided to take it to 425. We both pulled that for 1 rep, which was both of our new PRs! After that we moved back down to 295 and did 3 x 6 deficit DLs. Once all the Deadlifting was complete, we moved to 8 rounds of farmer's carries with the 225 on the trap bar. I struggle there, as my grip is crap, especially after the DLs.

For those reading, I've read and watched dozens of DL tutorials, but keep getting 'stuck' about the time when the bar reaching my thighs. When I got over 400#s today, I feel like I made the DL two distinct movements, 1) off the floor to my thigh, and 2) a forceful shrug to get through that hitch and then I could hip in and lock it out at the top. I've been doing rack pulls to more specifically target the ROM I'm getting stuck, but does anyone else have suggestions?

Coming in to the day, I wanted to do some accessory work, but the DLs and Farmers crushed me and I was running late, so I headed to the store and then home.

I had my first cheat day in 7 weeks. I had pasta @ the Cheesecake Factory, crushed a ton of popcorn, and then ate Carnitas and chips from a local Mexican place. ~6k calories today! :-/////// I'll be back on Keto tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the rest day, but I'm looking at hitting a new Squat PR on Monday and then deload a little bit for the rest of next week.

Getting after it Monday!

ASV

Squat - 405
Deadlift - 425 **NEW**
Bench - 265
Push Press - 195
Barbell Row - 225
Clean - 125

[gzsprout]

21 May '18

Had a high volume squat day today. I went in targeting a new PR, but my trainer wanted to go higher volume. We worked up to ~80% of my 1RM for sets of three, and then back down to 225 for higher reps. Ended up with 12 sets of squats total and then moved to some accessory work with leg curls & hack squats before 15 minutes of cardio on the elliptical.

I have been weighing myself on Mondays (plan on switching to Saturday this week) and only lost about .5 lbs, but I also just had that massive cheat day, so I feel good about what I've been doing.

Getting after chest day tomorrow!

Starting Weight - 404
Current Weight - 376
Squat - 405
Deadlift - 425
Bench - 265
Push Press - 195
Barbell Row - 225
Clean - 125

[gzsprout]

23 May '18

I had a solid chest day yesterday. I couldn't get to a rack to safely push my Bench PR, but had pretty solid volume @ 225 and 245, which is >85% of my 1RM.

Today I hit the gym this morning for a big Back day. I'm still sore from Saturday's Deadlift party and Monday's high volume Leg day, but one I got in and started moving I felt better. I worked my way up on BB Rows to a 255# double. I'm not sure if my form held great and I know I lost a little ROM on the second one, but it was new high point for me. I moved to below-the-knee rack pulls after to focus on the top of the DL movement where I get stuck. I did sets of 5 and trailed off to 2, then 1 rep for a new PR of 425. The difference between 405 and 425 felt ridiculous, but I know I can hit it now.

Last big lifts were wide grip Lat Pull Downs and then 8 reps of DL @225#. I focused on bar speed and bar path with that light weight, but four sets of it still gave me a good workout.

I have been doing 10-15 minutes of work on the elliptical machine after lifting. I'm not really going for fat burning; I just feel better after getting light cardio in. I have been kicking up the pace and resistance as I go, and I did feel better the last time I went for a run.

Back after it for Leg Day tomorrow!

Starting Weight - 404
Current Weight - 376
Squat - 405
Deadlift - 425
Bench - 265
Push Press - 195
Barbell Row - 255 **NEW**
Rack Pull - 425 **NEW**
Clean - 125

[Pheeeeeeebz]

You're doing great. Keep going