I started boxing amateur way back in 1999 in my home town of Bonnyville, Alberta.  What I found out with boxing was that as an amateur, especially as a heavy weight, it is not always easy to find opponents.  In amateur boxing there are tournaments like Bronze, Silver, Golden and Diamond Gloves every year as well as club cards held at various times.  The problem I faced as an amateur was that I would show up to tournaments and opponents in my weight class would pull out, even after they had entered before me.  There were no guarantees I would have anyone to compete with and thus I only had 10 amateur fights in the 10 years I competed as one; this was what made me decide to go pro…guys show up for money.

All of my first three fights were at a small venue in Edmonton at the Palace Banquet Hall. I started pro boxing just after my son was born, just after buying our first home, getting married and starting a new business.  In a very busy time in my life I tried to start something that I could only commit myself 50%, and after 2 fights in 2008 I had one in May of 2009 and I lost.  Not only hadn’t I trained enough, I received a perforated ear drum from my opponent who beat me on points.  That loss ate at me for a long time, but only to fuel my desire to make changes to eventually get back in the ring; that’s just what I did on March 23rd of this year.

I took a short notice fight with the #6 heavyweight in Canada, Ken Frank, but this time I had been preparing for months in advance just in case the opportunity would arise.  Even with an 86lbs advantage over me, I took the fight to not only prove to myself but to anyone who seen my last fight that I am not the fighter that lost 3 years ago. I got the win in the 3rd round by TKO, a great way to kick things off again.

I have several dates lined up this year starting June 22nd, along with more to come in September and December here in Edmonton potentially as well.  Currently I am ranked #6 in the Heavyweight division in Canada but I will continue to drop weight and eventually fight at Cruiserweight (185-200lbs) in the near future.  I’m looking forward to seeing how things shape up in the next few months.

Here is the video from my fight on March 23rd at the Shaw.

Physical work/manual activities became passe’

I was reading a blog that got me thinking about how people are ending up in such rough shape and have no idea how it is happening.  I deal with this topic every day and I’m always telling people the same thing; our society has accepted convenience and technology, where as physical work and manual activities have become passe’. Unless we address our behaviors we will not even know what to do.

The executive diaper could be available soon

People are being bombarded from every direction with commercials and advertisements about products that are perceived to be necessities in their lives. To get the things that we want, and not necessarily the things we need, we work endless hours sitting at a desk in front of a computer without ever having to get up unless to go to the bathroom.  I’m just waiting for the next great strategy for improved productivity in the workplace. Watch out, the executive diaper could available soon.

Anything I’ve had to sweat for has more value

I’ve wondered how I grew up so much differently from other people my age.  When I was an infant my family was living in a house with propane heat, water pumped from a well and an outhouse. This was unheard of for kids my age and their families.  Was my upbringing that much different?  Was I living in the same generation as everybody else?  What I have ultimately concluded from my past experiences is that hard work has taught me something;  not having all of the conveniences in life is not a bad thing and anything I’ve had to sweat for has more value to me than those I haven’t.

People believe in a common myth

Improving ourselves involves paying attention to ourselves and making it a habit of taking the time for some self care.  What do most people do when they have a growing list of priorities?  They put taking care of themselves near the bottom of the list.  People believe in a common myth; they believe that their body will miraculously take care of itself and everything that they put it through will go away and never be heard of again.  Pills and surgery are often thought as the first choice for fixing problems that should have been addressed long ago.  Fast food substitutes grocery shopping and food prep for nutritious meals.  TV and video games substitute team sports for reasons of free childcare and less time in rush hour traffic.  Ultimately it’s our behaviors that need to be addressed more than anything and unless we are able to see how we are behaving we will not do anything different to change.

I’m nowhere near being a poster child

I am not the best example of everything I have been writing about and I’m nowhere near being a poster child for healthy living, quality of life and so on and so forth;  I do however put forth my best effort with what I can do and how I can help others improve their own lives.  Helping others enables me to help myself.  I haven’t improved myself alone…I had help along the way.  A willingness to change usually starts with asking a question. So here’s a little note to self: If you ask the right questions, you might get the right answers.

Just so everyone knows up front, this is not the way I would normally start writing a blog but today will be the exception..here’s why.  It was 4:45am at the Royal Alex Emergency ward before I finally got checked out by a doctor this morning.  The involuntary muscle spasms in my entire left thigh and hip were causing excruciating cramping and burning, I had no stability when I stood and no strength when bending my knee which felt as if it would give out from beneath me at any time; it felt as if my entire leg was going to sleep and getting no circulation.  My picture indicates how I am feeling at that moment.

I hate emergency rooms

I couldn’t stretch it out, couldn’t lay down and relax with my wife to watch the new Captain America movie and I most definitely couldn’t get to sleep.  I didn’t enjoy the $40 in cab fees to get to and from the hospital ( I swear cabbies know how to take the routes with the most red lights), the lovely fellow “urban outdoorsmen” sitting around me or the fact that I was soon going to experience one of the “standard procedure” rectal tension exams to make sure I didn’t have a herniated disc (lovely, I know…thus the face).

I have skeletons in my closet

This recent trouble that I have been experiencing for the past few weeks is not all that unfamiliar to me;  I have skeletons in my closet of past injuries, days in my past I try to put behind me and keep moving forward.  It’s a godfather moment…

One major injury occurred on the farm when a 1100lbs bovine didn’t like me when I was 20 years old, a mad cow before there was mad cow that put me out of work for a month; that left my right hip and back black and blue from extensive soft tissue damage. A year later I also had an incident with some equipment failure while working on a drilling rig, the top drive slipped out of place and came down on top of me when I was bent over, injuring my right side hip and back once again.

Looks heavy...that's because it is

Crashing a motorcycle on top of my leg, tearing my rotator cuff from snowboarding, tearing my bicep from boxing and a separated shoulder from wrestling.  These are just to name a few of the injuries I have experienced but the one that has gotten my attention the most has been this one.  Maybe because it’s still fresh compared to everything else that has happened, but I think that what I have felt happen to me in the past 48 hours has been the worst yet.  The reason is that I don’t know what the hell I did to cause this to happen to me, other than my daily grind.

I’m not only the President, I’m also a client

Now isn’t that something for me to say? As a massage therapist and a personal trainer, I don’t know what exactly is triggering all of these problems I am currently having.  What I do know is that I have been able to learn from my own mistakes, my own injuries and treatments to not only better help myself but others as well.  I can relate to clients where many therapists and trainers have never experienced any of the same situations.  I use this line all the time, I tell my clients I’m like the old commercials for Hair Loss Club for Men.

Remember this guy?

Because of this recent issue of my back and hip completely debilitating me, I have taken the next couple of days off try and get my pain cycle calmed down.  I wen to my athletic therapist at NAIT, Scott Morris, to help improve my current condition and through some of his assessment and treatment , I was able to feel a lot better (he’s helped me with many of my ongoing problems, I highly recommend him if you are ever interested).   It seems it may be a disc issue from his perspective, so we treated it as such.  I even went out and bought my own tens machine, but I’m lucky that it’s a “business expense” as a massage therapist.

Ultimately the reason I am putting this all together while all hopped up on Percocet and Cyclobenzprine ( along with some Ativan so I can sleep later because I haven’t been able to sleep yet), is to let everyone interested in this posture program know I am just like all of my clients; I get hurt, I have pain and I am no different than anyone else.  I try to practice what I preach but sometimes life just throws you a curveball…and sometimes it just hits you right in the ass.

It seems as though I may be asking a lot of the same questions during these episodes but what it all comes down to is forcing Robyn to assess herself before, during and after each exercise.

If you look back at Robyn’s initial blog you will see that her side profile picture during the posture assessment shows her pelvis is out in front of her mid-line where she should stack up straight.  To correct that we will be putting lots of focus on lengthening the following muscles:

• Gluteus Medius (think skating muscles)
• Piriformis (the muscles right over the Sciatic nerve)
• Iliiopsoas (hip flexor muscles stuck from desk work)
• Quadratus Lumborum ( hip hiker hoola dance muscles)

By lengthening these muscles that are chronically tight, Robyn’s pelvis will start to lose it’s forward tilt.  Right now if her pelvis were a bowl of water it would spill a little bit out the front.  When this happens her pelvis will start to come back to mid-line and she will stack up straighter than before.  Holding her there will take some strengthening as well.  A couple of areas that will need work are:

• Hamstrings
• Gluteus Maximus (for hip extension, walking/running)
• Adductors (riding a horse/motorcycle and squeeze thighs)
• Transverse Abs (the back flattening deep core muscles)

Ultimately that will be how things will balance out; stretch short tight muscles and strengthen opposing muscles that will hold you in your new lengthened position. This is our start and I’m excited to see how things will shape up in the next few weeks.

So this is Robyn on her first day with me, our session is pretty fun and laid back.  Here are some of the scenes of our first workout ,  it was a good time.

As you can see our first day was all about going through the paces of finding assymetry and trying to get Robyn to develop some proprioception (her awareness of how her body is positioned in space at any given time); I got her to recruit specific muscle groups that she has limited control and awareness of that will build a foundation for future sessions.

Read Robyn’s blog about our first sessions!

SO…as of Oct. 1st Complete Body Care has completed it’s first year of business; my first year of incorporation was challenging and a learning experience.  As I am told, if you make it through your first year of business you should have less and less trouble and more success in the years to follow.  If that is the case, here is how I plan on making my next year even better.

I am going to be running a project starting Oct. 14th with a client of mine, Robyn,  who has agreed to be my “guinea pig” for the next 3 months.  The project involves her taking part in 2 sessions/week of personal training and 1 session/seek of massage and assisted stretching.  We will start this all off with a posture assessment, measured body composition and functional assessment.  We will be taking pictures, video and my girl Robyn will be giving weekly blog entries to update us how the process in unveiling in her eyes.

The terms of our little agreement is that I will be providing all of my services for free in trade for her allowing me to document it all along with her testimonials.  What I would like to see come out of this is this pilot project being a launchpad to build interest in any other individuals that would make good candidates for future projects like this; all of this showing that the results will speak for themselves, having been measured of course and displayed in videos, pictures and Robyn’s own words.

Here is a link to her first blog entry that I will be linking to Facebook,  Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.  I look forward to the feedback that will come as things develop.  Hope everyone enjoys Fojoy, Robyn’s blog posting.

http://fojoyisannoyed.com/category/complete-body-care/

Those were my thoughts as I contemplated trying something I hadn’t done before, or even considered attempting.  Before I get to far, a little context to my thoughts;  I had been in the first stages of getting myself into better condition for potentially competing again with professional boxing.

Part of my regiment was running long distance, stairs sprints, intervals, etc.; I also would do my bag work, shadowboxing and skipping.  It was when I was skipping that I had this thought, what was my limit.  I guess all of the conditioning was putting me into a mode of testing myself, see what I could be capable of doing again if not for the first time.  What better to try doing than this, one of the hardest things to do with skipping…the dreaded double under.

I was curious to see how many I could do so back in January of this year I tried it out, and to my surprise I was able to get 100 doubles.  Now at this time I was weighing 250lbs, and figured that was pretty good to get 200 revolutions around my heavy frame.  However, when I checked it out on YouTube I was sadly disappointed.

202 double unders

It was this video that gave me the motivation to push it to a new level, the 200 double unders that would be double of what I could do now.  So I kept up with my conditioning and seen the improvements to get to 125, then 144, and then at the end of June to 160.

160 at 240lbs

It was my  birthday on August 9th and I was feeling good so I figured I would try and see what I could do now that I was weighing in at 230lbs

FINALLY! 200!

So now that I have accomplished 200, I still want to see how far I can go as I continue to improve my conditioning and drop some more weight.  I’m guessing that another 10 pounds might get me near the 230 mark, but I’ll have to wait and see.  Along the way I’ll do my best to keep everybody informed.

These were the first words I read from a blog my client put together describing her initial massage experience with me.  It’s funny, I didn’t think that she would be quoting me when I started working on her.  Her hips had copious amounts of tension so I said what I was thinking.  I knew it wasn’t a PC comment, but that’s why I said it; for the effect.

I had a fun time working with this client and I’ll be working some more with her.  Her name is Robyn, check out her comments and see what she has to say.

Enjoy…fojoy!

How many of us wish we could go back and change something we’ve done, make the opposite decision that we’ve made and save ourselves the headache?

Hindsight is 20/20

I think all of us have been in a situation like that at least once in our lives.  I can say that my most recent decision not only set me back financially, but mentally and emotionally as well.  I was recently unsuccessful with my attempt to relocate and work with a new team in a new environment.  This move was originally something that appealed to me because it was an opportunity to offer all three of my services:  massage therapy, personal training and boxing.  Turns out it wasn’t the right move or the right time. . . but hindsight is 20/20.

Failing doesn’t make you a failure

However, what I have learned from this recent experience is that our failures will drive us harder and push us farther than before to accomplish our goals.  Failing at something doesn’t make any of us a failure, it just makes us human;  so as human beings we must learn from these failures so not to repeat them, help others in similar situations and appreciate our success all that much more after having been on the other side of things.

Common Ground

So here is my request to everyone reading this; if you have had any moments of in your life where your failures have lead to a great accomplishment, please share them as I would love to read your comments.

I had a mother of a 12 year old boy call me last month after she had purchased some baby clothes my wife was selling on Kijiji. She was telling my wife how she was looking for something her oldest boy could do to lose some weight as she was concerned about his current state of health. I meet the mother and her son, Johnny for conversation sake, to have a consultation to see what exactly is going on. Here’s what I found.

Johnny mother is a single mom with 3 other kids with Johnny being the oldest. On a typical day Johnny gets up at 7 to eat a piece of toast and some energy drink that Johnny’s mom sells through some multi-level marketing company; he then proceeds on the bus to school by 7:30am if he doesn’t get a ride from mom.

All though the day at until 4pm when Johnny gets home he hasn’t ate any lunch or had any snacks and hasn’t had any water to drink. He does however have some kind of snack once back from school on the 4 days of the week he goes home, other wise he waits with his mom to pick up his siblings and then go to eat out for supper at places like Wendy’s 3 days a week. At supper Johnny has double the portions of even his mom and then has an after supper snack before going to bed by 9pm, all the while all day he hasn’t had any kind of energy expenditure from any sort of increased physical activity.

Now I look at this situation and wonder if this is typical of many families out there that have to deal with day to day life, and as a result have problems like this affecting the health and wellness of family members. When I broke down Johnny’s day and took note of how much he was eating and at what times I could often see the expression of “OH WOW” on his mother’s face, as though this was the first time she had actually realized this is what has been taking place.

I guess if people don’t really take the time to notice how all the little things they do affect them, then they can’t get a better look at the big picture of how all the little things add up…and usually it’s over a longer period of time that they happen without drastically bringing on attention.

This is not just a problem for Johnny, but for Johnny’s mother as well as his siblings. The whole family dynamic is requiring some changes to address this problem as this is happening as a result of many different factors. Healthy food choices and alternatives, portion sizes and food schedule, water intake, etc. will all have to be addressed, but can be changed for the better.

The REALLY crazy part of this story that I found out during our consultation is that Johnny’s mom has contacted about a dozen other “trainers” and other health and fitness “professionals” about training her son, and none of them would take him. NONE?!?

Turns out that many of the trainers, for liability issues that they wouldn’t get into with her, would not train her son and told her to go look elsewhere. Again and again this woman and her boy were repeatedly turned down. I ask myself when hearing this is what kind of industry am I working in and who are the people I am working with that do this?

I wonder if it’s the fact that this kid is the son of a single mom with three other kids that doesn’t show $$$ that a 40 year old working corporate professional does? I wonder if this kid doesn’t fit the clientele demographic of the big box gyms? I wonder what is the education and training level of the fitness “professionals” that Johnny’s mom met with?

This health and fitness industry is one of the fastest growing industries out there. The potential clientele with heart and stroke, obesity, diabetes, etc. are all out there; but this is a business and as every New Year’s resolutions prove there are always people with good intentions and trainers willing to help…as long as the trainers can make a living doing it.

Maybe the fitness industry and trainers are like the legal system and lawyers; you have a crown prosecutor on one end of the spectrum, and ambulance chasers on the other. Regardless, there are plenty of good trainers in Edmonton and area and I hope to be one of them.

As for Johnny, I’ll be seeing him this weekend; I’ll also be discussing with his mom how we can come up with a plan that is all mutually beneficial for not only Johnny, but for his mom and his family. As for myself, I also reduced my regular fee for Johnny’s mom because you never know what kind of client Johnny may turn into as he gets older, what friends of his take notice of his progress and what parents see the change in Johnny’s family’s health and wellness.

Maybe by writing this I change some ideas of other trainers, maybe by writing this I change some ideas in my own friends and family and maybe by writing this I change some ideas in people I have yet to meet. I guess I can start by working with Johnny.