Update

Been a long time since I've written anything, mainly because I really didn't have anything interesting to add. Since my wife was injured, my training has really gone down hill. I didn't mention it before but I injured myself the day before my wife was hurt. I think I did it doing deadlifts but I'm not sure. It really affected the entire left side of my upper body. It is slowly getting better. The strange thing is, I felt guilty being in pain, knowing what my wife was going through.
I have two crushed disks in my neck but they haven't been causing me too many problems lately. I sure hope this is just a temporary thing. I might go back and get the cortizone injections again. I'm reluctant to do it right now since I'm always kind of wiped out for at least a day after I have it done and besides they cost $2000 a piece. My wife being injured has been very expensive. I sure feel sorry for people that arn't rich and have something like this happen to them.
I have tried to pick up my bicycle riding. I hope to do a century October 2nd.
I'm just not sure if there is enough time to get in good enough shape for it.
I would at least like to do the metric century which is 62 miles. I know right now ten miles wipes me out, but at least it will be cooler then. Then heat here has been terrible for a couple of weeks now. The other night it was 82 degrees at 3:00AM. Now that is hot! Especially when added to humidity in the 90s.
I do think for people interested in good health and general fitness that a combination of weight training and bicycling is ideal. If you can add swimming to the mix it would be even better. I knew several people in California that would weight train during the winter and bike during the summer. I was always amazed how quickly they got into bicycling shape in the spring without doing any aerobic work all winter. I wonder if some of them might have had an exercise bike stashed away at home. I used to like to mountain bike in the winter but of course winters in Southern California are much milder than most parts of the country. 50 degrees was considered a cold day.
I bought a pair of strength shoes off Ebay. I've had them a little over a week. Walking to the end of my driveway and back three times in them really pumps up my calfs, so they must be working. What little training I've been doing has been at home, and since I don't have a calf machine, I think the strength shoes will come in real handy. I haven't been to the gym since before my wife's accident but we did stop down there the other night just as they were closing to talk to the owner, Grace Wooten. Grace is a beautiful woman both inside and out. I had planned on taking some pics of her and posting them here but never got around to it.
Hopefully she will let me after my wife recovers. She has an absolutely beautiful body. She has never competed but I don't think there are many women in the world over the age of 40 that would have a chance against her in bodybuilding competion, especially if there was drug testing.
That brings up the subject of women's bodybuilding. I remember when it first started. It was so exciting, even though it was considered freakish by some people.
I just hated it when drugs distroyed it, which they have. When the sport was young the champions in bodybuilding looked like the fitness and bikini competitors look like today. I don't think many women would want to look like today's pro bodybuilders. On the men's side it is almost as bad. Steroids, insulin, and HGH, and no telling what else have really turned bodybuilding into a freak show.
At his peak, Arnold Swarznegger was about 6'1" and weighed about 235-240. Many people thought he had gone too far and had crossed over into freak show proportions.
Now guys 5'6" are weighing like 300 pounds! I wish their would be a more emphasis on proportions and aesthetics. Most of the top guys don't look good at all when they are relaxed. In fact, I think it is from the HGH, but most of them look like they have beer bellies. I think the HGH causes all the internal organs to grow causing the gut to stick out. These guys can have big bellies even when their body fat is at incredibly low levels. Sure not my cup of tea! In the past the the so called V-taper was considered probably the most important factor in having a good
build. Take a look at old pictures of Steve Reeves, and later on guys like,
Larry Scott, Harold Poole, Dave Draper and even more recently guys like my good friend Robbie Robertson. All of them had good size and great proportions. It is also a concern about the long term effects so many drugs have on a person.
The problem is most pros now days are on drugs year round. The body never gets a chance to recover. I'm sure we are going to see more and more early deaths and serious health problems in years to come.
At least if you look at me now, you will know I'm not on any bodybuiding drugs because I' fat!!! I've gained at least ten pounds since my wife's accident.
I'm starting to diet again August 1st. I don't feel too bad about my body needed a rest, but now its time to get back to it.
Just one more thing. I really wish all the supplement companies would quit paying drug users to endorse their products. Do they really think the people reading their ads don't know all their models are drug users? I take supplements and read everything I can about them but the truth is none of them do as much as they claim. Assuming somebody eats a reasonble diet, then training is much more important than diet. I read a piece the other day that said "bodybuilding is 80% nutrition". I say, "BULL....". I'm sure if you took guys out of a concentration camp, that had barely eaten for years or if you just took people that weighed over 500 pounds you could make the arguement that diet is more important than training.
But if you took say 1000 people that were in reasonble shape and ate a normal diet, if you put 500 of them on a regular exercise program and had them stay on their regular diet, and the other half you put on a clean diet and supplements, at the end of a year the exercise group would, on the average, show great improvement.
While the clean diet group would show little change. The point is if you can't afford supplements don't worry about it. Just try to eat healthy and you will do fine. You know I have posted this on several bodybuilding boards over the years.
It always gets taken off. I guess because all the boards are sponsored by supplement companies.
Until next time,
Ben Voiles