The Reinvention

It’s crazy to think that a little over 6 months ago, I was in the hospital having emergency surgery for appendicitis.

It was the early afternoon of January 3^rd, 2010 I started to experience ridiculous pains in my lower abdominal region. I figured it was just from watching my boy Wes Welker tear his ACL and MCL, during the Patriots final regular season against the Houston Texans. After all, I am super passionate about my Boston sports teams, my boxer’s name is Bruschi, and seeing that in the final game of the season, didn’t help!

As the day continued, the pain didn’t subside. I couldn’t move from the sofa and it didn’t get any better Monday, which just so happened, was the start of the first phase of Farmington Valley Fitness Boot Camp in the New Year.

I didn’t however ask my brother, Robert, to cover the morning sessions. No my stubborn ass decided to battle through a restless night’s sleep that accumulated all of 90 minutes!

So that next morning I battled through and taught our 6am and 7am sessions with increasingly pulsating pains in my lower abdomen. Following the 7am class I called my brother and told him he needed to come in to the gym because my pain was getting out of control.

He and I co-taught our 9:30am boot camp and then headed over to my place to watch the first part of NBC Connecticut’s 2-part feature on Farmington Valley Fitness Boot Camp.

After watching the feature at my place, Robert (Rob to all of you) wanted to know if I was going to be ok, again I said “I am fine, it’s just indigestion or some shit.”

Well, only a half-hour after he left I couldn’t stand up straight. I was doubled over in pain. After calling some of those people in my surrounding network for advice, my mother, my assistant and my brother, I loaded up Bruschi in my Jeep and drove myself to Med Help.

The diagnosis? They didn’t know… but feared the worse. To quote the Doctor, “If I told you that you needed to go to the hospital immediately which hospital would you go to?”

So? WTF? Am I going to die?

He “feared” it could be appendicitis and my appendix may “burst.” I immediately drove to the emergency room and called my Bro to tell him what the hell was going on.  After all, my dog was with me and I didn’t want the little guy to be stuck in my Jeep forever. So Robert came and picked him up and I sat in the waiting room in ridiculous pain and was able to watch our feature once again on NBC Connecticut.

After a fun 3-hour wait in the Emergency Room (good thing my appendix didn’t burst), I was admitted. After a series of tests, one in which required the doctor to push on the area in pain but required my abdomen to be relaxed. So the Doctor said to me with his Indian accent, “can you bend your knees, your abs are too firm,” which made me laugh. he told me I needed emergency surgery to remove my appendix.

So after a long day of increasing pain I went into surgery after 11pm with a group of female nurses surround me and woke up in serious pain early Tuesday morning with my female nurses gone and to my disappointment some dude as my nurse.

I was quite pleased when I was sent home later on Tuesday afternoon (after of watching the 2^nd part of our feature, our Grocery Store Tour on NBC Connecticut).

The next week was absolute hell. Not being able to sit up, upset stomach, my appetite went to shit, I was in constant pain. The gave me pain meds, but if you know anything about me you know I refuse to depend on that shit as I view it as poison. I took my meds for 2 days and refused to continue loading my body with that pharmaceutical bullshit.

I had dropped down to 172 pounds! Hell, I compete at 175 and walk around at 185. The surgery had caused me to loose over 10 pounds in only 10 days. It only got worse after my visit to see my surgeon.

He told me that I could not lift anything over 5 pounds for the next 6 weeks! No weight barring movements what so ever, even bodyweight exercises for fear of abdominal stress and the possibility for a hernia.

I thought well there goes this year of Professional Bodybuilding competition, no working out, no teaching boot camp, man this SUCKS!

The next month and a half were by far some of the worst weeks of my life. I ate like shit, slept like shit, and now that I think back on it was definitely suffering from some levels of depression.

I struggled with no teaching, not eating right, lost focus on some parts of my business and my own well-being. Even after returning back to teaching boot camps, my mindset wasn’t the same. Not having the ability to lift heavy iron, drip sweat from intense workouts, and feel the euphoric aftermath of a brutal strength training session was draining on me.

After 2 weeks I returned back to my doctor, he told me exactly what I didn’t want to hear. I had to wait 4 more weeks.

But the stubborn Italian got the best of me. I tried to get back in the gym only 3 weeks later by performing an Upper Body Push Workout at our gym. Well, I couldn’t vertical press 115 pounds, I could horizontal press worth shit and even got stuck attempting to rep 185 on close-grip bench (normally a warm-up weight for me). My bro had to pull it off me and tell me to “just take it easy.” Not so “easy” for me. I was completely frustrated.

I worked hard over the next month to put the weight back on I had lost. I felt the worst I had every felt in my off-season. I had serious doubts to whether I would compete in June, a goal I had set for myself before the New Year.

After 6 weeks of moderate training I knew I needed to change everything. I needed to go back to the drawing board. I made a promise to reinvent myself, my training, my diet, my recovery, and my work habits.

The re-launching of this blog was a major step in that direction.  So here I am reinvented and reinvigorated as a Fitness Professional, Business Owner, Fat Loss and Muscle Building Expert and Professional Natural Bodybuilder.

On June 5^th I took home 5^th place in the Heavier of two Pro Divisions in the WNBF Pro American in Marlborough, Massachusetts. I came in my best ever against a group that included many “true heavyweights” and I held my ground as a true middleweight and the youngest in my division. I had the best combination I have every put together of  symmetry, size, muscularity and conditioning. This is only the start. I have 2 more competitions over the next year where I plan on turning more heads.

10 Weeks Out at 189

10 Weeks Later at 176 on stage at the WNBF Pro American

Unlike some “so-called experts” in our industry, I am who I am because I practice what I preach, work in the trenches day in and day out, and have submerged myself into being the best at what I do.

This blog is my way of sharing it all with you.

Thanks for reading the first of many more to come.

(Sorry for the long post, future posts will not be so winded!)

Work Hard, Train Hard, Live Better,

TE