My Story
I was always old school. As a kid I never stopped playing and had a rewarding dancing and athletic career; tap dancing on local television, appearing with the Bolshoi and Leningrad Kirov Ballet companies (talk about old school!) as a 9 and 10 year old, and trying out with the Pittsburgh Pirates at 17. Backpacking, softball, jogging, landscaping and construction work, snowshoeing, hitchhiking and basketball kept me moving after my primary education years.
As I entered my mid 40’s, all of a sudden, I was getting old! Couldn’t skip a night’s sleep without feeling it, couldn’t keep up with my son on the trail, and I started getting tired after the 5:00 AM workout, running my business and evening Aikido. Never used to be a problem. So I did what I always did – stepped it up – slept less and worked (out) more. By the time I turned 50, I was toast: arrhythmia, swollen prostate, anemia and basically a mess.
I went to a hematologist, he couldn’t find the cause of the anemia, but was willing to give me a massive injection of iron that might have some side effects, like death. After a couple of tries, the right iron supplements fixed it. Two different cardiologists said I wouldn’t die from my version, but it could be fixed with an ablation (about an 80% success rate) inside my heart, or life long drugs. Thanks. Homeopathy radically reduced the episodes of arrhythmia and the prostate stayed under watch.
Disaster averted! Cool, since it was 4-5 months of laying low, I could start “aerobic” workouts again and head back to the dojo. And 5-6 hours of sleep seemed to be just as good as ever.
But I never felt as strong as before, and was still looking over my shoulder at daddy time. In late 2004 I managed to tear the meniscus of both knees at the same time. Practicing martial arts was a bit difficult and it was pretty interesting walking. Got one of them scoped, and the other one just plain settled down. I did my physical therapy but never felt like the repaired leg was working right, and it tested weak no matter how many leg lifts I did.
In mid 2006 I signed up to climb Mt. Rainier for a charity event. I decided to get in top shape, so I did an assessment and found myself lacking. I was pretty tired of the elliptical machines, the weight machines and the scene at the gym – it had been 25 years of the same – so I went on line. I found this crazy Russian, Pavel, who wrote with a wry wit and humor, and more importantly, brought me from the dark ages of athletic training into modern times.
I bought, The Naked Warrior, a whole book about one-handed push-ups and one-legged squats. I learned the drills, but the real benefit to me was all this new common sense information I’d never heard about how to train. And in the back of the book were these ads for kettlebells and kettlebell training. After a few months of dismissing the kettlebells as a gimmick, I found a local trainer and got myself a lesson. I went home with a 20kg kettlebell and three basic exercises. After about 4 weeks of training with the kettlebell I noticed I could get up from my desk, or out of bed in the morning, without limping. The knee would still continue to cuu-lunk non-painfully into place every once in a while, but I didn’t feel like I had a leg and a half anymore. To celebrate I started road cycling since running and jogging had been out of the question for a number of years already.
One instructional kettlebell DVD, a year later, and feeling better than I had in a very long time, I decided to get certified to teach kettlebells. If they were able to help me rehabilitate my knee, and make me feel like maybe the downhill slide was not quite inevitable, maybe other people could benefit as well.
I took and passed my Russian Kettlebell Challenge, RKC. It was as hard as anything I’d ever done, including pouring grain elevators. My hands were meat for 2 weeks due to our graduation work out. Ask me sometime. My team leader at my RKC certification was Sara Cheatham, who introduced me to Z-Health. From what I gathered, Z-Health was a system of joint mobility exercises that helped you be more mobile. I ordered and started training Z off the DVD and manual for R-Phase.
After a few months of following along on the DVD and mobilizing all of my joints, I noticed that my knee no longer clunked into place and my kettlebell training and cycling was getting easier. I had no idea why, but figured something good was going on with this Z stuff, so I signed on to get myself certified.
About the same time I started to train people. Most people pick up kettlebell drills pretty quick and the payoff is usually quite rapid. That was gratifying. Then I went to my first day of Z-Health certification, which happened to be local. When I got home for dinner I very excitedly had my wife do a simple Z drill. 30 seconds later her frozen shoulder of 5 years thawed. Now she had been working on it long and diligently, and had made some progress, but the dopamine smile she got when her arm went over her head was pretty cool. I’ve now been certified in all phases of Z-Health, including specialty certifications, and continue to study under and with Dr. Cobb on a daily basis. The payoff for my clients and me is a blessing.
As I approach 60 I’m feeling pretty robust. Thanks to daily Z and a common sense approach to food and sleep, I’ve recovered from prostate cancer (yeah, it went all the way before coming back) and I’m able to play basketball, backpack, sprint and jog, ride my bike, play with kettlebells 3 or 4 times a week, and otherwise do pretty much whatever I’d like. Feels a lot like my 30’s. And speaking of nutrition, it plays a huge role, and not just in getting slim or more buff but also in your life; like in sleep, sex and all the other daily fun you’re having. And if you’re thinking that maybe its not as daily as you’d like – give me a call.
