Made in England

1967

TheCrazyCal

The Norwich Personal Trainer

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I used to love going to the Saturday morning pictures and watching the old B&W Flash Gordon episodes every week, difference was I wasnt like the other kids I didn`t want to be a superhero like Flash I wanted to be better.. I just didnt know it then.

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It was really "Tarzan" that really hooked me tho. Ron Ely was my first childhood hero, he had a chimp as a pet - how cool was that! He swung through trees and I was shit hot on those old 1970`s domed shape climbing frames at school, and i had a dog called Bruce, the similarities were endless.

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Trouble is I wasn`t exactly big as a child and always looked 5 years younger than my age[I`m 19 in my flat-topped glory, not 14] I can remember getting a York Barbell set before I was 10 and a Bullworker before that. Hey, of course I never stuck at it. I was a kid.. But the seeds were set..

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Does this sound familiar?

I think I was 24 when I decided to dust of the weights that had been hidden away for 15 or so years.. Thas the beauty of iron apart from a bit of rust they last forever!

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To be fair  had a bloody good go at getting bigger[weight approximately 9.5 stone with a bit of back fat and 1 visit the the osteopath behind me] I trained everyday with a like minded mate I`d come across. I put some size on and some muscle then couldnt work out why i felt so awful all the time, tired, aching body, couldnt get enough sleep[ i was working nites by now too]8 hours felt like a nap and my appetite went. I soldiered on for a while longer maybe 3 months total from start to finish, then my back started aching alot and I had to stop training.

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Thank God I did, my body was screaming at me to stop punishing it. I had overtrained massively and the worst thing was I didnt realise it.. I then spent alot of money on osteopaths trying to help my back pain which was a major part of my life by now, I was lucky the dead end job I was doing allowed me to rest my back, albeit wrecking my body by my living upside down in the process.

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    I didn`t however start training again and to keep myself enthused i bought every "maximuscle" supplement that athletes were getting banned for using. All 100% legal supplements just not allowed for amateur athletes. I figured they had to be good!

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I was half right.. I was still massively over training, and I now know how weak these pro hormones were, but they did help me recover more and allowed me to abuse my body with too many workouts a week and and even worse back problem for far longer this time. Now then, my plan had worked I had gotten a bit bigger, but injuries were stopping me training. Instead of giving up, I bided my time and focussed on lots of walking which I discovered I could do [I cant do impact sports at all] I`d walk for 2 months while I got my back patched up, then train for a month and my back would flare up, osteos, chiros, physios..seen em all, accupuncture I found very helpful on a day to day basis, I was very lucky one of my first clients I trained for free had just been to China and qualified..

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I then basically has to stop work, stress and anxiety from working nites for 10 years in shall we say, at times an abusive environment, left me with little self esteem and by now a back problem I could no longer deal with if I had to spend an 8 hour shift on it. Incapacity benefits beckoned.. What larks..getting paid not to work, practically a holiday!

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It turned out this was the best thing to have happened to me. By chance I stopped visiting back specialists and started a stretching routine my osteopath should have given me in the years i gave him money..

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  I read a book called Brawn which has probably left me almost as well known as the author. I started training twice a week...jesus! how crazy is that! In the online world of internet forums I had found myself in by not working this was blasphemous stuff. Everyones heard of "Flex " magazine but not heard of Stuart Mcroberts monthly articles in it.. I`d seen them  but they sounds so odd i ignored them cos it doesnt sound exciting enuff.. 5x a week with pictures of some enormous dude in lycra pants standing there with his mate has gotta grow more muscle... DOH!!!!

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I`d ignored the articles for 2 years, but luckily I read Brawn. Ive said this elsewhere and it sounds cheesy but it changed my life, yup a book.. and yes mates really take the piss when i say it.. I`ve gained theyre respect with my achievements tho.

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I discovered that by training less i could add weight to the bar..sounds simple doesnt it.. it is that simple. You train, you eat and you recover with a good nites sleep... crazy radical stuff.

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For the next 3 years I made the progress I could only dream of..I met the current and future Mrs.Cal and everything was looking great. I figured if I couldnt work for a company maybe I could work for myself, it seemed like I had a knack for giving training advice.

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I was very lucky to meet, train and stay with Paul George on several occasions, this got me thinking that I could be a Personal Trainer teaching how to lift weights and use it to transform peoples bodies. I put some adverts out there asking for "guinea pigs" for me to train people for free to see if I could do it in the real world, it happens that I surprised myself! I got really good results.

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I also picked up a transvestite stalker...oh yeah.. seriously.

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  By now I`d finally gotten the NHS to beleive I had a serious back problem and as I suspected ended up having a fusion. This of course put all plans on hold till I`d recovered. However this did give me time to build a gym, not just a room in a house with a bench a weights, but a proper real hardcore gym, that all my clients use in total privacy. Real equipment that works not because its suddenly cool.. Those kettlebells make great door stops, I`m not a fan of them, but they do have they`re place. Anyone with back problems should definitely give them a miss. I can think of better safer alternatives exercises for the long term lifter...

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I decided to "cut" whilst recovering post op as I didnt want to gain body fat when I was unable to move let alone exercise. This proved to be quite simple. I didnt find myself at an all time recent low weight tho of 11 stone. I now spent the next 18months fully recovering barely training once a week at times once pain let me.. I couldnt train legs at all.. Upper body was minimal. The finally the bruised feeling went. I could lift again!

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By this time I was WABBA qualifed [with Top Gun status] fully insured and with regular clients. Now I could show them that I could do what I asked of them. Which I did...

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  For only 6 months it turns out.  I didnt so much get ahead of myself, but whilst trying to find out if my new back liked squatting i found out it didnt. I`d spent the 6 months building up poundages modestlyand did a couple of horrible sets which if i replay on cam look fine, but i know they weren`t, even tho I`d backed off going to parallel i went too deep for the weight I was using and had to really struggle to stop myself being pulled forward..damage done.. I had a few massages, but I knew something wasn`t right. I stopped squatting and continued on with my trap bar deads pulling a personal best of 255kg from an inch below the knees, then 3 weeks later a loud clunk from my back during warm ups had me floored. 4 months and an MRI scan later showing "migrated" metal work and I`m back lifting. Until I get a full diagnosis I`ll be assuming I shouldnt lift heavy again. Which is frustrating, but its just something you have to deal with.

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I`m by no means satisfied with my physique, and I`m superpissed I havent had another 3 years like my first 3 years of successful training, but its all relative isnt it.. I`ll never be big enuff to successfully compete, however I honestly beleive that its how far you come, not where you finish!

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The greatest Champions are those who are NOT blessed with the greatest genetics

you just have to be the best you, you can be!

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Adapt & Overcome

  I`ve now bided my time, repaired and training hard, legwork is building up to heavy and backs feeling good... whilst legs are building back towhat they were I`ve started my longest running bench press cycle and have had 15 concurrent workouts adding 1kg a week starting from 65kg surpassing my previous extremely modest yet unfortunately truthful personal best of 1 set of 70kg and have just completed 6x5x4x80kg. last set will now be dropped.. The only way I`ve managed to grow my legs left me with little energy for pressing, however my chest is my best bodypart and simply thrived off trap bar deadlifts.. I am now set, I hope for a couple of years of very hard work and gains that most can dream of..