Got Diagnoised w/ Multiple Sclerosis & Scared me Healthy 4 month Before & After

Lancer · 10-19-2003, 08:54 PM

Hello Everyone,

I'm a 31 one year old Paramedic, Husband and Father of Two great small Children.

4 Months ago I got diagnoised with Multiple Sclerosis (a leading cause of disability in young adults) after a bout of leg numbness.

My chances of ending up in a wheelchair in the next 20 years is about 25%!

The diagnosis obviously devestated me...I was already out of shape and now add a diagnosis of a crippling illness is a very bitter pill to swallow. I felt like I had lost me body forever.

The night I found out (after puking my guts out a bunch of times)
I was holding my 2 year old Son in my arms while he watched a Barney Video....That moment I made a commitment to myself for me and my family that I was going to make myself as strong as I could to give myself every opportunity to stay healthy for as long as possible.

I took some pictures of myself just for personal record, measured myself and immediately went out and joined a gym and cleaned out my whole kitchen of all the junk food.

I started working out with the vigor of a gladiator...I lift weights 6 days a week.

After 4 months now I feel like I may be overtraining.
The gains are slowing down some and I am constantly tired and feel like I'm aching all the time.

The routine I'm on now is 3 on and 1 off.

Day 1 - Chest, Shoulders, Traps and Triceps
Day 2 - Quads, Hams and Calves
Day 3 - Back and Biceps
Off a Day then repeat

About 10-12 sets per big muscle group and 8-10 for small. 3 to 4 exerices each.
Rep range is 8-12...to failure on last 2 sets of each movement.
45 -60 secs rest between sets

Now I'd like to build more strength and likewise give each muscle group alittle more time for recovery.

I'm thinking about doing a 2 on 1 off as follows...

Day 1 - Chest, Triceps
Day 2 - Quads, Hams and Calves
Day 3 - Off
Day 4 - Shoulders
Day 5 - Back, Biceps
Day 6 - Off
Then Repeat.

Using this Push/pull routine...My plan is that nothing is going to get overtaxed when using secondarly muscle groups to assist the primarly ones being focused on.

Each Muscle group on the new schedule is only getting worked once a week...Is that enough to stimulate growth?

I was thinking of dropping the rep range down to 5-8 and using heavier weights with 2-3 min. rest between sets.
Focusing on Power Movemenst like Bench, Deadlifts, Squats and so forth...

What do you think??

Also...Should Deadlifts be done on Back day or Leg Day?

My diet is super clean. 2200 calories a day over 6 meals.
Mostly Chicken and Turkey...Fresh Veggies and whole grain pastas.
I titrate my carb intake based upon how active I'm gonna be.

The only supplements I've taken have been EAS Protein for meal 3 and 5.

I'm in the fight of my Life with MS and I'm gonna win!

Here's a back of before and after pics.

How am I doing so far??

Mindless · 10-19-2003, 09:07 PM

Thats really great, and very inspiring. Do you have front pics also?

**Mudge** · 10-19-2003, 09:58 PM

Awesome work!

Randy · 10-19-2003, 10:55 PM

Outstanding Job!!!
Those before and after shots really are inspiring.
I wish I would of had some photos of myself before I started working out too. It really helps motivate you and others when you see photos like that.

I would continue doing what your doing, sure looks like it is working well for you. Although did I read you correctly when you said you were doing 10-12 sets. Wow! that is a lot of sets. I myself do 5 sets per excercise starting with 12 reps and adding weight after each. I do about 3-4 exercises per body part.

Eggs · 10-19-2003, 11:22 PM

First off, great job so far bro. The before to after pics are great. As to your growth slowing down and being tired -

I'd recommend changing up your routine some. Not so much though, I'd still keep it at 3 days a week. I think thats a good amount of time to support decent GH and Test rebounds that temporarily decline after a workout. So try changing up your routine and add different variations in there, change your weights up, etc. Your growth will naturally slow over time. By putting your body in situations with new stresses it will adapt and keep on moving towads your genetic potential. Just keep working at it is the main thing though, dont get discouraged... just understand that it will get harder over time as you'll have to have both determination and intelligence to progress.

As to being tired... I'm not sure how tall you are, but 2200 calories is pretty slim! I think that you're not giving your body the nutrition it needs to recuperate and grow. I'm not sure what your basal caloric expenditure is a day, but simply resting you probably burn that much. My basal expenditure a day is around 1900 calories. Anyways, you throw lifting in there and the caloric deficit that creates as it repairs itself... and whatever else, and 2200 just isnt enough. You might want to try upping that to 2800 to see how that feels. Its still low, but atleast not as low. Might want to have an additional 45g of protein in that, and some brown long grain rice or something healthy along those lines as well. And of course you cant beat some good old fashioned flaxseed oil.

Oh, and btw... another problem with the new routine besides the fact that resting time isnt adequate for GH/Test to rebound is that you will be working shoulders on its own day... so you'll be maxing them out, then you'll be working them in those heavy movements that you do for back. I think your old routine is superior, but you just need to change it around. Try working muscles groups in different orders than you generally do. Say on Day 1, do traps, shoulders, then chest, then triceps... or do triceps first, then chest... then shoulders and traps.

**Prince** · 10-19-2003, 11:25 PM

If you have been training hard for 6 months I highly recommend that you take 1-2 weeks off.

vanity · 10-20-2003, 12:17 AM

People often need something bad to happen to them in order for them to wake up. Congratulations on your new found awareness and on your gains.

As far as I’m concerned your old routine is a good example of overtraining, so it would be wise to correct that before you get sick or injured. You are doing far too much. It would be better to do each muscle group once a week instead of twice. Another thing is the number of sets. Ten sets, 3 exercises each? I’d be interested to know how many hours your workouts last..That’s too much volume especially for a newbie. Train hard for one hour 3 times per week .I would recommend doing 3 sets per muscle group and gradually add to that. Anyhow, a high numeber of sets are not needed with small muscle groups like biceps or shoulders.

Your Push/Pull split seems much more sensible. However I wouldn’t dedicate a whole session to shoulders and I wouldn’t put them next to back and biceps day. I would put shoulders with chest and triceps on Day 1 and do far fewer sets. Also, I don’t see any mention anywhere of abdominal or lower back work.

Here’s how I would set it up:

Mon- Chest, Triceps, Shoulders
Tue- Rest
Wed- Legs ,abs &lower back
Thu- Rest
Fri-Back, Biceps, forearms/wrists
Sat- Rest
Sun- Rest

You could do deadlifts on Leg day.
Train fewer times( 3 days a week) with more intensity
And rest, rest, rest.

Randy · 10-20-2003, 12:22 AM

Vanity,

My sediments exactly... When I seen 10-12 sets, my mouth dropped open

. I heard from several individuals that much over 5 sets and your overtraining.. I do 5 sets each excercise and it takes me roughly 1.5 - 2hours a day working out. Based on that, his routine must take him 4 hours.

He's obviously been showing drastic improvements based on the photos, but then again you can show improvement and still be overtraining.

My hat still goes off to you for your extreme dedication.
I think just a few adjustments and you will be on the right track.

firestorm · 10-20-2003, 02:01 AM

Awesome work my man keep it up. Listen to the guys above because I think that you also may have been overtraining a bit.

Skib · 10-20-2003, 06:41 AM

i wouldn't recommend training chest and shoulders on the same day as a lot of the same muscles are used for both, therefore you'll probably only be able to hit one of the 2 muscle groups hard...

try this:

day 1 - chest, tri's, abs
day 2 - back, bi's
day 3 - rest
day 4 - legs
day 5 - shoulders, traps, abs

if you like training 6 days a week, then just hit one muscle group hard per day...

example:

day 1 - chest, abs
day 2 - back
day 3 - bi's, tri's, abs?
day 4 - legs
day 5 - shoulders, traps

Skib · 10-20-2003, 06:47 AM

for the first split i recommended you can also switch the legs and shoulders days around if you find your shoulders aren't fully recovered on time for your chest day...

ponyboy · 10-20-2003, 11:38 AM

Just my .02...getting away from the physcial transformation, which is excellent, BTW. I would also echo those who have said you should take it easy.

Remember for your body to be in optimal healing mode it needs to have support from many different areas, not simply the physical. Your nutrition is equally as important if not more. Also, your mental and emotional state can help promote healing and prevent onset of symptoms.

Do you take time for yourself to relax and allow your body to heal itself? Try to bring yourself into balance so that your body can work on what it needs to, which is healing. Sounds like you are on the right track!

MarXXX · 10-20-2003, 11:39 AM

Congrats on the awesome gains! (though I am sorry to hear of the circumstances that forced the changes).

I think he meant that he is doing 10 - 12 sets split among 3 - 4 exercises...

10-19-2003, 08:54 PM	#1
Lancer Registered User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2	Got Diagnoised w/ Multiple Sclerosis & Scared me Healthy 4 month Before & After Hello Everyone, I'm a 31 one year old Paramedic, Husband and Father of Two great small Children. 4 Months ago I got diagnoised with Multiple Sclerosis (a leading cause of disability in young adults) after a bout of leg numbness. My chances of ending up in a wheelchair in the next 20 years is about 25%! The diagnosis obviously devestated me...I was already out of shape and now add a diagnosis of a crippling illness is a very bitter pill to swallow. I felt like I had lost me body forever. The night I found out (after puking my guts out a bunch of times) I was holding my 2 year old Son in my arms while he watched a Barney Video....That moment I made a commitment to myself for me and my family that I was going to make myself as strong as I could to give myself every opportunity to stay healthy for as long as possible. I took some pictures of myself just for personal record, measured myself and immediately went out and joined a gym and cleaned out my whole kitchen of all the junk food. I started working out with the vigor of a gladiator...I lift weights 6 days a week. After 4 months now I feel like I may be overtraining. The gains are slowing down some and I am constantly tired and feel like I'm aching all the time. The routine I'm on now is 3 on and 1 off. Day 1 - Chest, Shoulders, Traps and Triceps Day 2 - Quads, Hams and Calves Day 3 - Back and Biceps Off a Day then repeat About 10-12 sets per big muscle group and 8-10 for small. 3 to 4 exerices each. Rep range is 8-12...to failure on last 2 sets of each movement. 45 -60 secs rest between sets Now I'd like to build more strength and likewise give each muscle group alittle more time for recovery. I'm thinking about doing a 2 on 1 off as follows... Day 1 - Chest, Triceps Day 2 - Quads, Hams and Calves Day 3 - Off Day 4 - Shoulders Day 5 - Back, Biceps Day 6 - Off Then Repeat. Using this Push/pull routine...My plan is that nothing is going to get overtaxed when using secondarly muscle groups to assist the primarly ones being focused on. Each Muscle group on the new schedule is only getting worked once a week...Is that enough to stimulate growth? I was thinking of dropping the rep range down to 5-8 and using heavier weights with 2-3 min. rest between sets. Focusing on Power Movemenst like Bench, Deadlifts, Squats and so forth... What do you think?? Also...Should Deadlifts be done on Back day or Leg Day? My diet is super clean. 2200 calories a day over 6 meals. Mostly Chicken and Turkey...Fresh Veggies and whole grain pastas. I titrate my carb intake based upon how active I'm gonna be. The only supplements I've taken have been EAS Protein for meal 3 and 5. I'm in the fight of my Life with MS and I'm gonna win! Here's a back of before and after pics. How am I doing so far?? Last edited by Lancer : 10-19-2003 at 09:56 PM.

10-19-2003, 09:07 PM	#2
Mindless Hungry Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NY Posts: 306	Thats really great, and very inspiring. Do you have front pics also? Bench:115 Dead: 130

10-19-2003, 09:58 PM	#3
Mudge Dieting I swear! Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Here Posts: 23,477 Photos: 1	Awesome work! Kinesiology Comp Bench MaxCalc Motivation Bench form Charles Poliquin When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. Lao-Tzu

10-19-2003, 10:55 PM	#4
Randy Woof! Woof! Woof! Elite Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: California Posts: 7,859 Photos: 4	Outstanding Job!!! Those before and after shots really are inspiring. I wish I would of had some photos of myself before I started working out too. It really helps motivate you and others when you see photos like that. I would continue doing what your doing, sure looks like it is working well for you. Although did I read you correctly when you said you were doing 10-12 sets. Wow! that is a lot of sets. I myself do 5 sets per excercise starting with 12 reps and adding weight after each. I do about 3-4 exercises per body part. - O F F I C I A L . L I N K . M A S T E R - Maintains a Reference to all Gopros P/RR/S Links Gopros latest routines: CLICK HERE Lift like a Chicken Look Like a Chicken

10-19-2003, 11:25 PM	#6
Prince IronMagLabs Owner Administrator Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Colorado Posts: 37,404 Photos: 356	If you have been training hard for 6 months I highly recommend that you take 1-2 weeks off. BOARD SPONSORS: MassNutrition.com - Discount Supplement Superstore IronMagLabs.com - Bodybuilding Nutrition AlltheWhey.com - Bulk Protein Powders & Supplements CEMProducts.com - Research Chemicals & Supplements MusclesProd.com - Steroids, Bodybuilding & Training Blog Maximizer.com - Maximum Strength for Maximum Performance MikeGetsRipped.com - The Original 'Get Ripped' Blog ProteinRoutine.com - Experiments in Healthy Living Follow on Twitter Join Facebook Group Befriend on Myspace

10-19-2003, 11:22 PM	#5
Eggs Senior Member Elite Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 7,008	First off, great job so far bro. The before to after pics are great. As to your growth slowing down and being tired - I'd recommend changing up your routine some. Not so much though, I'd still keep it at 3 days a week. I think thats a good amount of time to support decent GH and Test rebounds that temporarily decline after a workout. So try changing up your routine and add different variations in there, change your weights up, etc. Your growth will naturally slow over time. By putting your body in situations with new stresses it will adapt and keep on moving towads your genetic potential. Just keep working at it is the main thing though, dont get discouraged... just understand that it will get harder over time as you'll have to have both determination and intelligence to progress. As to being tired... I'm not sure how tall you are, but 2200 calories is pretty slim! I think that you're not giving your body the nutrition it needs to recuperate and grow. I'm not sure what your basal caloric expenditure is a day, but simply resting you probably burn that much. My basal expenditure a day is around 1900 calories. Anyways, you throw lifting in there and the caloric deficit that creates as it repairs itself... and whatever else, and 2200 just isnt enough. You might want to try upping that to 2800 to see how that feels. Its still low, but atleast not as low. Might want to have an additional 45g of protein in that, and some brown long grain rice or something healthy along those lines as well. And of course you cant beat some good old fashioned flaxseed oil. Oh, and btw... another problem with the new routine besides the fact that resting time isnt adequate for GH/Test to rebound is that you will be working shoulders on its own day... so you'll be maxing them out, then you'll be working them in those heavy movements that you do for back. I think your old routine is superior, but you just need to change it around. Try working muscles groups in different orders than you generally do. Say on Day 1, do traps, shoulders, then chest, then triceps... or do triceps first, then chest... then shoulders and traps.

10-20-2003, 12:17 AM	#7
vanity Registered User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: m Posts: 1,218 Photos: 1	People often need something bad to happen to them in order for them to wake up. Congratulations on your new found awareness and on your gains. As far as I’m concerned your old routine is a good example of overtraining, so it would be wise to correct that before you get sick or injured. You are doing far too much. It would be better to do each muscle group once a week instead of twice. Another thing is the number of sets. Ten sets, 3 exercises each? I’d be interested to know how many hours your workouts last..That’s too much volume especially for a newbie. Train hard for one hour 3 times per week .I would recommend doing 3 sets per muscle group and gradually add to that. Anyhow, a high numeber of sets are not needed with small muscle groups like biceps or shoulders. Your Push/Pull split seems much more sensible. However I wouldn’t dedicate a whole session to shoulders and I wouldn’t put them next to back and biceps day. I would put shoulders with chest and triceps on Day 1 and do far fewer sets. Also, I don’t see any mention anywhere of abdominal or lower back work. Here’s how I would set it up: Mon- Chest, Triceps, Shoulders Tue- Rest Wed- Legs ,abs &lower back Thu- Rest Fri-Back, Biceps, forearms/wrists Sat- Rest Sun- Rest You could do deadlifts on Leg day. Train fewer times( 3 days a week) with more intensity And rest, rest, rest.

10-20-2003, 12:22 AM	#8
Randy Woof! Woof! Woof! Elite Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: California Posts: 7,859 Photos: 4	Vanity, My sediments exactly... When I seen 10-12 sets, my mouth dropped open . I heard from several individuals that much over 5 sets and your overtraining.. I do 5 sets each excercise and it takes me roughly 1.5 - 2hours a day working out. Based on that, his routine must take him 4 hours. He's obviously been showing drastic improvements based on the photos, but then again you can show improvement and still be overtraining. My hat still goes off to you for your extreme dedication. I think just a few adjustments and you will be on the right track. - O F F I C I A L . L I N K . M A S T E R - Maintains a Reference to all Gopros P/RR/S Links Gopros latest routines: CLICK HERE Lift like a Chicken Look Like a Chicken

10-20-2003, 02:01 AM	#9
firestorm P/RR/S Advisor Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 7,765 Photos: 3	Awesome work my man keep it up. Listen to the guys above because I think that you also may have been overtraining a bit.

10-20-2003, 06:41 AM	#10
Skib Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 816 Photos: 1	i wouldn't recommend training chest and shoulders on the same day as a lot of the same muscles are used for both, therefore you'll probably only be able to hit one of the 2 muscle groups hard... try this: day 1 - chest, tri's, abs day 2 - back, bi's day 3 - rest day 4 - legs day 5 - shoulders, traps, abs if you like training 6 days a week, then just hit one muscle group hard per day... example: day 1 - chest, abs day 2 - back day 3 - bi's, tri's, abs? day 4 - legs day 5 - shoulders, traps

10-20-2003, 06:47 AM	#11
Skib Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 816 Photos: 1	for the first split i recommended you can also switch the legs and shoulders days around if you find your shoulders aren't fully recovered on time for your chest day... "Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, but don't nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weight!" - Ronnie Coleman

10-20-2003, 11:38 AM	#12
ponyboy Training Trainer Elite Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Running around somewhere Posts: 2,608 Photos: 1	Just my .02...getting away from the physcial transformation, which is excellent, BTW. I would also echo those who have said you should take it easy. Remember for your body to be in optimal healing mode it needs to have support from many different areas, not simply the physical. Your nutrition is equally as important if not more. Also, your mental and emotional state can help promote healing and prevent onset of symptoms. Do you take time for yourself to relax and allow your body to heal itself? Try to bring yourself into balance so that your body can work on what it needs to, which is healing. Sounds like you are on the right track! Today I can do what others will not so that tomorrow I will do what others cannot. The difference between winners and losers is that winners do things that losers don't want to do.

10-20-2003, 11:39 AM	#13
MarXXX Registered User Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 11	Congrats on the awesome gains! (though I am sorry to hear of the circumstances that forced the changes). I think he meant that he is doing 10 - 12 sets split among 3 - 4 exercises...

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