People come and go in our lives and along the way we meet some special people that we just connect with. My friend Scott is one of those special people. I have not met Scott in person, but he is one of my dear online forum buddies on bodybuildingrevealed.com. Like I said before, bodybuildingrevealed.com is my favorite forum, and I belong to several.
Now about Scott
I found Scott's profile pic to be somewhat intimidating. Look at that pic...does that pic look kind of ummmmm.... Intimidating to you? To me that pic looked like it was telling me, hey...... If you can't lift a car you don't need to be here on my page.
Here is an example of one of his journal posts back when I started reading his journal last year....
Thursday - ME leg day - week 2
Banded squats
45/15/15
135/10/10
225/8
315/5
405/5
495/5/3
545/2
We don't have hooks on the power rack, so I have to put the bands through a 5er and then 3 35ers to hold them. If I use only 3 35ers, at the top of the squat, the 105# lifts off the floor slightly. The extra 5 pounds keeps it down. I know, then, that I'm adding about 105 at the top.
Pull throughs
150/15/15
195/10/10
Calf raises on leg press
4 1/2 pps/20
6 1/2 pps/20
8 1/2 pps/20
PPS = plates per side (45ers). 1/2 = 25er.
Now imagine little ole me...annette. I could not make out anything he was saying. All that macho gym talk and look at all that weight he was stacking on his body!!!! Yep, his workout matched his picture. I did not have anything in common with this dude.
And then there was his profile name, rbtrout. I gathered that he must like fishing and I was right about that.
Then his signature included this little saying....
BEER -
Now cheaper than gas, so
Drink, don't drive!I liked his signature....made me smile, but still this dude appeared to me as a heaping mound of testosterone lifting heavy things lol. For a couple of months I would read a few of his posts here or there, but for the most part, I did not read his stuff.
Yeah....those were my first impressions of Scott and as we all know, first impressions are not always accurate.....especially online. What I found out about Scott was this...yes he lifts alot of weight, but he is the nicest and most sensitive person I have met on any forum. He is a great big Teddy Bear and he is my "go to" person when I feel like crying or feel bad about myself. I just private message Scott and he always makes me feel better with words of encouragement.
I remember the first time he hopped on my journal page. I was surprised to see that he took some time to read part of my journal. He said my journal was a good read. Wow....the ROCK read my journal. That's cool. A few days later he posted on my journal a comment in regards to a post that I wrote on taking some "me" time and relaxing and pampering myself. He wrote that it was good to relax and then he told me that he relaxes by fishing. After that, I followed Scotts posts and he followed and commented on my posts. Funny thing was/is Scott's ability to read between the lines. He can always tell if something is bothering me. And being the sensitive person that he is, he takes the time to ask me if everything is all right. And then I pour all my sorrows on him....lol. So that is how Scott became my "go to" person lol.
More about Scott......
Scott actually started lifting around age 13. His dad had bought him a weight set that consisted of a weight bench with a leg extension attachment. He also had some dumbbells, and a long bar with the cement filled plastic plates. If you are my age or older, you might be familiar with those cement filled plates. Scott took it upon himself at that young age to build a few more attachments- adding a few pulleys at different heights which he used for lat pull downs, tricep push downs, flyes, and curls. He used that set until high school.
Scott was a skinny kid, and like many kids he longed to be big and strong like the Incredible Hulk Lou Ferringo. Scott also had a cousin who was big, built and good looking...someone Scott admired alot.
In high school Scott played basketball and had access to a good gym where he continued to lift throughout high school. He was plagued with back problems but that did not prevent him from lifting and playing sports.
Scott has a passion for fly fishing. He frequently travels to Mammoth Lakes in eastern California to fish. During one of his fishing excursions, he slipped and fell as he was trying to jump across a small stream of water. He injured his back. He stood up where he fell in the middle of the stream and had an moment of truth......he had gained some weight (6 ft tall 205 pounds and about 24% bodyfat) and was out of shape. He told himself that if he wanted to keep fishing, he had to get back into shape.
So a few months later he and his wife joined Ballys and began a weight lifting program. They both had several lessons from a knowledgeable personal trainer who trained Scott to lift hard and heavy. Scott leaned out quite a bit to 185 pounds and 15% bodyfat.
Later that year Scott met a couple of guys that he ended up training with for 2 years. They were all focused on getting super strong and big and Scott indeed put on quite a bit of muscle, ate a boat load of food and reached a weight of 273. Mind you, alot of that weight was lean muscle at that point.
Scott continued to train but then took an interest in powerlifting around 2005. He was already squatting super heavy...455 pounds or so prior to powerlifting. His legs were his strongest body part and he continued working to get them stronger to the point that he was squatting 665, dead lifts 700, and benching 325. That is some seriously heavy weight folks!
He did strength training 4 days a week and then played 2-4 hours of basketball on Saturdays at the young age of 46 years old. People frequently asked him how long was he planning on training hard like that and Scott would reply "I will train like this until my body tells me I can't."
Well, his back screamed at him in June of last year to STOP! He had been having issues with his back (particularly his lower back with pain radiating to his left leg) through all his training, but he ignored the symptoms thinking that the pain down his leg was just a tight hamstring from all the heavy training he did. During a game of basketball, he took a hit that caused his back to pop badly. That stopped him in his tracks. No training or basketball for 2 months. He just went to work and came home. Despite his layoff from training, he continued to be in pain so he had some x-rays taken which revealed some spinal compression and a bulging disc in his lower back. That bulging disc was pressing on the sciatic nerve causing the pain down his leg...which he thought was a pulled hamstring. So he was probably dealing with a building disc for quite some time prior to the basketball injury.
Well Scott continued to have constant back pain unrelieved by rest, motrin, pain medications or muscle relaxers. He eventually had to have a couple of cortisone injections in his back to help relieve the pain.
Instead of giving up and being depressed, which just isn’t like Scott at all, he went with what he told everyone – He would train like a powerlifter until his body told him he couldn’t. So what was he to do? Well since he I couldnt powerlift any more, He decided to trim up, keeping as much strength as possible and getting back into decent basketball shape. He had a new goal to not only be the strongest guy out there, but be one of the fastest, as well. He is on his way.
I remember Scotts posts about his back. We were all concerned about him, but we knew he would not give up. After Thanksgiving of last year Scott started simply on the treadmill at home. He was quite sore for a few weeks with the exercise but he pushed on despite the soreness.
He started back to the gym the first week of January, 2011. His workouts were low weight and high reps, incorporating lots of supersets to get his body used to it again.
By February, he was nearly back to full-swing…….with the exception of no ultra-heavy squats, deads or forms thereof. Although he was back to training, he had not worked on his diet at all and thus he weighed in at 255 pounds with a high percentage of that weight being body fat.
Despite his high bodyfat his blood pressure remained good and his blood tests were fine...no high cholesterol or anything. Lucky guy!
In July Scott and his wife discussed several different diet plans that they could do together and finally decided to try the 17 Day Diet that Dr. Phil pushes. So on Sunday, July 17, 2011, they started the 17 Day Diet. He weighed in at 254.6 and his belly measured 45”.
Scott remarked, "thank God my shoulders/back are wide and my chest is thick, so my giant belly wasn’t as noticeable!"
The first cycle (17 days) of the diet consisted of as much protein as desired 2 pieces of fruit, and lots of veggies. No sugar, no starchy carbs.
The biggest thing about this plan was portion control – a really tough one for Scott who could sit down and eat a ¼ gallon of ice cream and a bag of Double Stuff very easily. But, Scott did cut back and overcame his vice with portion control.
The second cycle of the diet consisted of mild carb cycling, adding in beans and legumes and a few other carbs, but every other day. He and his wife went all the way through cycle 2 and decided that they both wanted to lose more weight, so they started over at cycle 1. They actually did this twice now and they are in the midst of cycle 3, which allows them a few more carbs; even a cheat meal here and there.
As of today, Wednesday, October 28 2011, Scott weighed in around 222 pounds – down 32 pounds!!!!! He has lost about 5 inches off his belly and he has maintained the majority of his strength. Actually he has gotten stronger!! His BP and heart rate has dropped even lower with the weight loss.
His workout schedule is Monday, upper body with military pressing. Tuesday is leg day. No heavy squats or deads, but medium (under 315). He is able to perform extremely heavy leg press because there’s no compression of his spine with this exercise. Wednesday is cardio, finished up with 3-4 sets of farmers walks. Thursday is upper body with benching.Friday is cardio and abs. Saturday is basketball – only 2 hours at this time, but he is hoping to ramp that back up again. He is also hoping that he and his wife will start bike riding on Sundays.
His wife is down 20 pounds and several inches, as well. She’s doing awesome!!! She would not let me have any pictures of her. But as Scott says, she is absolutely beautiful!!
What has changed in Scotts life since the diet and training program? Alot has changed. He truly enjoys the taste of lots of veggies, the amount of processed foods he eats is minimal....which is a huge change (he had a big sweet tooth).
What does Scott and his wife eat now? A typical dinner consists of broiled salmon with a low salt zucchini cooked just a bit in olive oil, sprinkled lightly with sea salt. Or how about hamburger patties topped with onions and mushrooms, sautéed in olive oil and Worcestershire, with a bit of ground pepper and minced garlic. They steam some broccoli and then have a small helping of fresh tomatos and avacados with low fat Italian dressing. Good, healthy, low fat and good for them, eh? How about spaghetti squash with home-made chili on top.
I made my first spaghetti squash after reading one of Scott's forum posts about his yummy dinner.
Scott continues to enjoy steak, but only once a week. Instead of having a steak that’s 12-16 ounces, 4-6 is tops now and he adds more veggies.
One of Scotts favorite meals is an omelet. For the two of them they start with 5 eggs, throw in some red, yellow and orange bell peppers, some chopped onions, some chopped mushrooms, a handful of low fat cheddar cheese. Here’s the topper – they chop up imitation crab meat and throw it in, as well. Some mild Cajun seasoning and they are good to go.
I asked Scott what his current goal is and his response was....."Aside from being able to play basketball better, I want to be in overall better shape….for me, for my beautiful wife and for our lives together. Being in better shape will have me (us) feeling better and being able to do more things – kayaking, fishing, hiking, biking, etc."
"One of these years, I’ll get a personal training cert or two. I love lifting and I love what bit of training I’ve already done. I’m not gonna quit my day job, but it’s just something I’d like to do."
I want to thank Scott for allowing me to share all the details of his and his wife's success with me. I asked him a boat load of questions and he freely shared everything. He is an amazing guy and one of my BEST ONLINE BUDDIES ON THE WWW!!!!!!
(((HUGS))) SCOTT AND I AM SO PROUD OF YOU AND YOUR WIFE!!!!
Oh yeah......Scott has some amazing pictures of his fishing excursions. I have used some of his pictures as screen savers on my iPad and PC's. Check them out at
http://www.scottsshots.com/ - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
