Many have heard the old cliché “one size fits all” and have probably used it in one context or another? However, in nutrition, this saying, as with many others such as “if a little is good, more is better”, is not true. Each person is individually and emphatically different from another, e.g., gender, height, weight, age, bone structure, muscles, organs, nerves, cells, etc. Thus, the nutritional program for another individual will not necessarily work well for you. A good nutrition program requires a great deal of thought and planning; it must be personal. This does not mean diets; diets do not work.

Tip: You must change your eating habits to good ones to have a good nutritional program.

There are several ways of designing a nutrition program; with a little learning and planning, you can devise a great program of your own and, without spending large amounts of money for nutrition seminars in the process. In chapter 4, I have done this for you. Before we get there, let’s learn a little more about the why and how.

Fast (Junk) Food versus Personally Prepared Food
Fast foods or “junk” foods are not a good source of food because the nutritional values supplied by these foods are neither correct nor balanced. Typically, the values of nutrients given in these foods are an average, so you never really know the quantity. Also, the nutritional qualities of these foods are generally very low, making them nutritionally incomplete. Most fast foods have very little protein, the fats are processed (partially hydrogenated fats and thus, poor for the body), and the carbohydrates are mostly sugars that cause the body’s insulin levels to “sky rocket.” Spikes in the insulin level causes quick pick-up like the early morning high after eating a sugary breakfast; they depress the body’s fat burning metabolism and induce midday drowsiness. The only real solution to this dilemma is to purchase and prepare your own food. As an analogy, would you let someone borrow your car for one year? It is very likely that they will not care for it the same way you would and when it is returned, it also will likely not be in the best condition. If you cannot trust someone with your car, why would you trust someone with your personal nutrition? It is much more important.

Take the time to feed your body properly with good food, no matter how busy you are. Proper nutrition will make the difference between having average or truly exceptional performance.

Tip: Prepare some nutritious quick snacks and meals on the weekend for the time-crunched week ahead. For example, broiled chicken and broccoli – store in air-tight containers and take one with you for work, etc.

Meal Frequency – 2 meals per day versus 6 meals per day
A primary neglect of most is that of not eating enough meals, i.e., eating meals frequently enough. This is termed meal frequency, which has been used in the athletic and body-building industry for decades, but has only recently been more discussed for the average individual. I will illustrate why meal frequency is important. Most people eat breakfast and a huge dinner and that is all. They simply do not take the time to feed the body throughout the day. When you eat breakfast and then do not eat again for 6 to 12 hours, most of the nutrients are stored as fat. This is because you have conditioned your body and it “knows” it is not going to get any more food for awhile. As a built in safety mechanism, most of the food is therefore stored as fat, hopefully to be used later. To make matters worse, while the body is working or exercising without food, muscle tissue is cannibalized, i.e., eaten by the body for needed energy. So, you lose lean muscle mass, which results in less fat burning capability. This is because the body can burn protein more easily than fat. Ultimately this will cause weight gain. This is one reason why so many people have difficulty losing weight.

I recently spoke with a friend (Jeanne) at a medical office who was eating about 1,000 calories per day and even though she was following the meal frequency method, she was gaining weight. Why? Because of starving her body; she should have been eating about 1,600 calories per day due to her desired weight. Because she ate so little and only in two meals, her body responded by storing much of the food she ate as fat and she couldn’t lose weight.

Those who do not eat well also commonly complain about injuries, chronic fatigue, lack of fat loss, and poor muscle growth. Meal frequency is the simple answer to these problems.

You should eat 5 or 6 meals per day (I recommend 6). By doing this, you trigger many positive factors that will increase energy, burn fat, increase lean muscle mass, raise body metabolism, and more importantly, increase recovery rate – it will just help you feel better. The nutritional goal is not to eat 6 huge meals per day, but to eat 6, small meals throughout the day. The first meal will be early in the day (do not skip breakfast). A good breakfast will raise your body’s metabolism—all other meals should follow about 2-3 hours apart. The later you have your first meal, the slower the body metabolism will be to that point. Meal frequency will generally be shorter between meals in the morning and further apart in the afternoon. For the morning, frequency will be about 1.5 to 2 hours and for the afternoon, 2.5 to 3 hours (see table 2.2 as an example). What you are doing is spreading your calorie intake more evenly throughout the day rather than consuming it from 1-2 large meals. This makes it easier to control weight.

Tip: Don’t believe the “you can eat anything you want” diet quackery. Science and millions of people who have tried such diets have proven this wrong. Weight maintenance is all about balancing calories.

Good luck in your 2018 resolutions (portions of this article were extracted from Nutrition Made Simple).

Organizing Your Individual Program

Have you ever designed your own workout? Designing a personal workout program can be intimidating at first. However, with some basic guidelines, you can get started on your first program—a few are already included below as examples to learn from. Each sequential program can then be designed with the benefit of learned experience and it will become easier to plan workout days covering various duration. A workout program can be designed for any realistic period. For example, it is more feasible to design a one-year workout program than a five-year program because one year is convenient and short enough to plan around a schedule of building a solid strength foundation, rank advancements tests, tournament competition, professional fighting events, or other commitments. I mention these because I have long been a professional artist and thus, this article is written from that perspective, as well as from bodybuilding, ball sports, military fitness, CrossFit, general fitness, speed-strength, and others that I have been involved in training individuals for over a long period of time. The principles discussed below work for any fitness or training regimen. Have fun, and remember, before you begin your resolutions for 2018, write them down and attack them one at a time!

To effectively design your own program, you must know what yours goals are for a yearly training period. Are your goals to simply increase speed and strength? Will you be competing in tournaments or fighting in professional events? Your program must be designed around periods of time in which an all-out effort will be required. For example, if you were going to compete in a fight on Saturday, how will you train for it the week before or the week of the event? Should you be doing more strength training or more event specific training? Also, suppose you were fighting each weekend for several months, started back on your normal strength program and after six or eight weeks were invited to a tournament in Europe. How would you work this unscheduled event into your yearly training program? How would the daily-workout cycle change? The workout cycle is the change of intensity of lifts done in the workout—this will be discussed later. Without further ado, let us begin.

Two Types of Programs
There are two kinds of programs that you can design: (1) non-competitive and (2) competitive. A non-competitive program assumes you are not competing in the ring, tournaments, rank advancement, or other fighting events, but are primarily working on increasing speed and strength. A competitive program assumes you are testing for rank advancement, competing in free-style sparring events, entering professional full contact fights, or other competitive events.

To left is a flow chart of a yearly program for the non-competitor. Because you do not compete, you will train in medium training periods (2-3 months each) working primarily on increasing speed and strength. Time will be your friend.

Regardless of type, a program needs to consider stress placed on the body, rest, and recovery as the essential basics. Every part of the program, which will consist of periods, stages, and phases, must consider these basics. The workout program itself can be separated into three parts: (1) the yearly training period (commonly referred to as a macro-cycle); (2) a medium training period lasting two to three months (commonly called a mesocycle); and (3) a short training period lasting one to two weeks—micro-cycle (needed only for a competition program). Further, each of these periods will have a foundation, competition (for competitive program), and transitional stage. Before beginning, study the two illustrations (just above for the non-competitive MMA and below for the competitor) of a yearly program and its related periods, stages, and phases. While a yearly program is complex, it can be simplified by separation into shorter training periods as mentioned above.

The highlighted middle section of the flow chart to left is of a yearly training program for a competitive MMA. Since you fight competitively, you will need to put in a short period* along with its competition stage* or phases (pre-competition and competition) into your training program—highlighted in the shaded box. Based on competitive cycles, time may not be your friend.

Kim’s Program (Beginner Level)
My friend Kim says, “Okay, I understand that we will be discussing reps, sets, volume, intensity, periods and many other specifics later, but how do I write my own program now?” How can I set my maximum weight (goal) to lift for each exercise and what exercises should I do?

These are valid questions and are like those I am asked many times per week. After discussing Kim’s goals with him, I discovered two basic, but essential items of information. Kim is a beginner at strength training and she is also, currently, a non-competitive MMA. However, he does want to compete next year; she also weighs about 140 pounds. Because Kim is a beginner and will need to learn proper lifting technique; she will primarily use dumbbell weights in her first programs. Using dumbbells will allow her to use lighter weight, but will effectively teach proper technique without overly risking injury.

So, let us help Kim design her program. There are several additional things we need to know, but let us list all the criteria we need for helping Kim write her program first. Following are the criteria necessary for Kim to adequately design a personal workout:

Criteria Questions for Designing a Personal Workout – this example is a beginner-level MMA workout
1. What duration should Kim’s first program be (in weeks)?
2. Each program will have a peak at the end where he will lift his maximum set weight (goal) for each exercise. Thus, how many small programs should Kim write for an entire year?
3. Will he compete this year? This will affect individual program length.
4. How many days per week should Kim lift?
5. How many exercises should be done each day?
6. Which exercises should he perform for each workout?
7. What order should these exercises follow?
8. How many reps (repetitions) and sets should he do for each exercise?
9. How much weight should he lift in each exercise?

As you can see, the above questions each add in complexity of designing a workout, especially if it is for a professional. Following is how Kim decided to write her program (in order of questions asked):
(1) As a beginner Kim should write only a two to four-week program; she chose to write a four-week program.
(2) This four-week program can be repeated two or three times and utilized as an 8-12-week program. Since she will need to rest from his workouts occasionally (transitional phase—see figure 3.2) Kim would need only 3-5 of these small programs to make up a yearly training period.
(3) We already know the answer to this question; Kim is not competing this year, but may do so next year. Thus, her program design will be relatively simple, and she will work primarily in a foundation stage—a general period of building overall conditioning and increasing speed and strength (to be explained later).
(4) Because Kim is a beginner and has never done any strength training before, she is going to lift only three times per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This will decrease any chance of fatigue.
(5) As a beginner, Kim has decided to do about five to six exercises per day, both because she will be using light weight and because this number of exercises will work her entire body, building a good strength foundation—remember, the goal in speed strength is not to work body parts as in bodybuilding, but to work the entire body so it will perform as a unit.
(6) Since Kim has a handy table that is separated into columns (see below), she knows from what I have told her, that she can simply pick one exercise, sometimes two, from each column at the beginner level for her daily workout. This depends upon whether the exercise is a full body speed lift, supplemental lift, a combined strength and foundational lift, or a torso lift (more on this later). For each workout day,Kim will simply choose a lift from each column (beginner level) listed that was different from the lift chosen from that same column for the previous workout day.

(7) The order of the lifts should be the fastest to the slowest exercise. The table lists the fastest exercises in column (1), next fastest in column (2) and slower exercises in the remaining three columns (3-5). Also, the first exercise in column (1), dumbbell (DB) snatch, is the fastest proceeding to the slowest at the bottom of the column. Tim has learned that he should do his fast exercises first, followed the by next fastest on down to the slowest exercise on each workout day. He knows not to mix slow exercises between fast exercises, which help avoid injury.
(8) Initially, Kim will perform only 4-12 reps per set and 3-6 sets per exercise. This will be sufficient for obtaining a good foundation. However, the number will change when Kim adds more weight, decides to start competing, or uses the straight bar instead of the dumbbell. More specifics will be discussed about this later in the chapter.
(9) How much weight should Kim use? This is a difficult question to specifically answer; however, for the first couple of programs, light weight should be used. For example, one of my students weighs 270 pounds, but started with just the straight bar (45 pounds) because these lifts are more difficult and require more focus than bodybuilding lifts. A general rule of thumb is set your maximum weight for most slow exercises (squats and presses) to about 80 percent of your total body weight. If you are a beginner, do not set a weight for any exercise until some familiarity with the lifts has been attained. For fast exercises (snatch, clean and jerk, pulls, etc.), a maximum weight of about 25-50 percent of your body weight is recommended; 25 percent for beginners and 50 percent for advanced lifters. For supplemental lifts that work primarily one joint such as front raises, triceps kickbacks, etc., use a small weight (as little as one pound) and increase to a comfortable weight for each set. These types of exercises do not necessarily need to have a maximum weight set for them. Another method for setting a max goal weight is to select a weight you can lift for three sets of five repetitions for exercises such as the bench press, back squat, etc., and then add 20-40 pounds to this weight load to obtain your max.

Regardless of method, if your initial weight seems too heavy, decrease it, especially for fast exercises. Again, try different weights and get comfortable with the exercises before you attempt any heavy weight. If you already have lifting experience, it will be easier for you to select an appropriate weight because you already know them for some of the exercises you will do. Once you have selected this weight, it is your goal weight (100 percent) for a given exercise. You will not attempt to lift your goal weight until the last week of each program. For Kim, 120 pounds would be her max weight in the squat, which she would work up to over a period of 8-12 weeks; this would exclude her first program, so the time would be longer.

At this time, I would like to give a little advice about increasing your maximum or goal weight. At the end of each program, you will be able to increase your max (goal) weight by perhaps 5-10 pounds for small muscle groups (triceps, biceps, etc.) and 20-40 pounds for large muscle groups (legs, chest, back, etc.). However, this would be at the beginning. As you progress to the intermediate and advanced lifting levels, the increase would be much smaller, there may be no increase. The time will come when you will reach your maximum lifting potential, this is something you will have to judge for yourself.

Kim has designed her program and it appears in the two tables below. For week 1, day 1 her first to last lift was chosen as follows: (1) the dumbbell clean pulls from column 2; (2) the dumbbell squats from column 3; (3) the dumbbell standing press, front raises, and hammer curls from column 4; and (4) the sit-ups from column 5. Notice that Kim did not choose the very fastest lifts, the snatches or clean and jerk from column 1 in the table above as the first lift in her program for the first day.

This is a wise decision because it lets her break into her program slowly without risking injury. On each successive workout day she followed a similar pattern. In week 1, day 2, her first two lifts were from column 1 and so on. Each day, the lifts changed; Kim automatically added variety to her program. This will reduce boredom, your worst enemy.

At the end of each program, Kim will take a few days off; she will go into the transitional stage (first graphic in article – above). Her program, as a non-competitor, was the foundational stage. Also, each day, you must warm-up before working out and warm-down after the workout. Kim’s warm-up and warm-down routine is listed below. Additionally, to maintain intensity during the workout, Kim will attempt to complete each workout, including warm-up and warm-down routines in 60-70 minutes. This is not difficult to do, but you must use your time efficiently and rest between sets – not talk to your friends!

Yearly Training Program
Now that we have helped Tim write his program, let us discuss program specifics. Tim wrote his program based on simple questions and selections of exercises from tables. What are the details behind these selections and program design? First, I will discuss generalities of the yearly program, followed by specifics of periods, stages, and phases. The yearly training program is one full year of training for the MMA that includes sparring work, heavy bag work, speed-strength training, sport-specific training, belt examinations, competition or other events. However, it is difficult to write a yearly program unless you have experience; even then, it is a daunting task. The primary concern for the yearly program is when different events may occur that need to be planned into your program.

To mention it again, regardless of what kind of program you write for yourself or have someone like a trainer do for you, it is very important that you warm up prior to beginning your main workout and warm down after it is completed. Kim’s beginner level warm-up and warm-down routines are shown below.

A yearly training program should be separated into two different kinds of training periods (a medium training period and a short training period) that will allow you to train for either general speed-strength, if you are a non-competitor (like Kim) or, as a competitor (see first two figures in article – above),  or, for specific events such as tournaments. Regardless of your fitness and training level, always keep track of your progress so that you can keep improving as you work toward your goals. (Portions of this article were extracted from Speed-Strength Training for MMA: Fighting Power).

Water always seems to be at the bottom of the priority list for many, especially when exercising. You can never have too much of it while exercising intensely, relatively speaking. A reduced water intake thickens the blood and thus, restrains nutrient flow to vital organs and muscles. Insufficient water supplies interfere with temperature regulation, energy production, fat and food metabolism, digestive processes, muscle and joint lubrication, resistance to diseases and glycogen stores. Water should be drunk slowly throughout the day and should be as cool as possible. Water that is very cold, such as that with crushed ice or near freezing, is more refreshing and will tempt you to drink it rather than soda, coffee, or other drinks that are considered diuretics, which dehydrate the body causing frequent urination.

Those who exercise vigorously generate more body heat. To maintain the body’s ability to regulate its internal temperature and keep cool, water is necessary. Unless the heat that is built up is quickly dissipated, heat exhaustion and even heat stroke can ensue. Almost all heat lost by the body is through evaporation of sweat from the skin. In prolonged exercises, this loss can range from 2 to 3 cups of water per hour, depending on climate. If you are in a climate that has greater than 75 percent humidity, sweat loss becomes inefficient.

Let’s look at some basic statistics. A suited football player in hot weather can lose 2 percent of body weight in 30 minutes. For the average size player, this would amount to about 4 pounds of fluid or 2 cups of water! A marathon runner can lose 6 percent to 10 percent of body weight during a race. Martial artists in competition have lost between 2 percent to 5 percent during competition events and about 3 percent during basic exercise days. A golfer on a hot summer day may lose 1 percent to 4 percent during an 18-hole game. During exercise, look for signs of water loss: profuse sweating, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, flushed skin, and other characteristics. Look for rapid body weight loss (3 percent or more) and replenish fluids on a regular basis. Fluid intake during exercise should compensate for the amount of water loss anticipated.

Tip: When exercising anticipate how much water you will need, put this amount in a water bottle, and drink it throughout your workout so that the water is finished by the end of your exercise period. Add ice if you can.

Two Ways to Determine Water Needs
There a couple of easy ways to determine how much water you need during or after your exercise.

Method I:
If you have no experience, try this: (1) For exercise times lasting 60 to 90 minutes, drink fluid freely until about 2 hours before your exercise, this includes any type beverage except alcohol, caffeine, or high sugar drinks (these cause dehydration). (2) Twenty to thirty minutes prior to your exercise, drink 1 to 2 cups of fluids. These extra fluids will replace what you may lose. (3) If you have begun your exercise, which will last longer than 30 minutes, consume about ½ to 1 cup of fluids each 20 minutes—about 4 cups per hour. Do not wait until you feel thirsty, especially on very hot days! (4) After your exercise program or competition, drink about 2 cups of fluid for each pound of body weight loss.

For most activities, I recommend the coolest water you can get rather than carbohydrate drinks such as Gatorade. These should be reserved for very high intensity, long duration events, i.e., soccer, football, marathon, and so on. The key is not to drink too much or too little water during your exercise time. Experiment for best individual results. At the end of your exercise program, drink about 50 to 100 grams of carbohydrates from a sport drink or fruit juice. As an example, Gatorade has 14 grams of carbs per 8-ounce glass whereas grape juice has 32 grams. This will ensure replacement of necessary electrolytes that have been lost. If you work out all day, as in a golf event, or when you train more than once per day, i.e., strength in the morning, golf in the afternoon, electrolyte replacement is very important.

Tip: Drink 4 ounces of purple grape juice (16 grams of carbs) about 30 minutes prior to exercise.

Method II:
This method is for those who like to be more precise. Go to the gym and perform your favorite exercise(s) for 30 minutes. Weigh yourself before and after the 30-minute period. Any weight lost should be the amount of water you need to drink to replenish water that was lost. For every pound of weight lost, you should drink 2 cups of water to restore the weight. Replacing more than 20 to 75 percent of sweat loss during any exercise may be uncomfortable. The important point is to keep track of your individual needs and replenish as necessary. Once you have an idea of what you need through exploring the process, you will know what is required and it will become a good habit. Portions of this story were extracted from Nutrition Made Simple.

In your pursuit of excellence for “Your Health and Fitness” Haven’t you often wondered that there could be more “Out There?” For you, and your desire to “Have It All!?” Have you given this question the proper attention, and expanse of thought required to … “Dig ever deeper, to go even further” … “The time is, NOW … to … “GET FIT, IN … 2018!”

“MyHealthandFitness.com” … “Is … And will become” … “My first place to go” … To get … Everything, I-‘eye’ … want and need to … ‘see’ … The results of “MyWorkout!” “MyHealthandFitness!”

With all of that said, allow me to share my incredible story of recovery from serious injury(s) and how healthy choices in nutrition along with a commitment to excellence in my fitness regimen, has given me the experience to realize that I am presently in the absolute best physical condition I have ever been in my entire life, at 58 years of age!

I pray that as you read my story, that you will be inspired as you comprehend the magnitude of love that I have for the Creator of this wonderful planet that we are stewards of, and how this combination nourishes us as we choose to make ourselves the best we can be, by being fit, in all aspects of the word, and indeed, spiritually, mentally and physically, to make this a much better world with each of you!

Hello, my name is David Wayne Dommer, I was born in Detroit, Michigan. I lived in Livonia, a suburb located on the west side of the Detroit metro area. My parents were also from Detroit and our family of five were all born there, one brother and three sisters.

My family was very athletic, we all participated in gymnastics. One of my sisters was a state finalist. I also played football; I played very physical and although I enjoyed playing a lot and thought that I could play collegiate ball, I concluded that football was overrated and more specifically, I had incurred numerous severe injuries because of the level of intensity that I had played the game – game over!

After high school, the decision to serve my country was a big factor in my life as many members of my extended family have served our country. So, I enlisted in the US Navy in November 1978. I served aboard a destroyer stationed in San Diego, CA.

While serving in the Navy, I would spend every chance that I could skating Balboa Park. I also skated every country that we visited half way around the world. We were called to duty in the Persian Gulf during the Iranian Hostage Crises from November ’79 to March of ’80. When we returned to the states I resumed my skating at Balboa as well as most of the beaches from San Diego to Los Angeles, even Golden Gate State Park in San Francisco. I was roller skating at Balboa Park and on my way down the hill skating backwards at a very high rate of speed, when I suddenly crashed violently sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury.

I was unconscious for 15 minutes! I sustained multiple fractures to the occipital region, specifically behind my right ear, neck fractures, jaw and sternum trauma as I impacted the concrete. My 200-lb. body was completely elevated for at least 10 feet as my head was the direct contact point bearing all of the force when I hit. I was in ICU at the Veterans Affairs(VA) for over 30 days; due to the severity of my head injury I was in the care of the VA for 6 months as I had vertigo and had lost my sense of smell and taste. Because of this injury and the complications that I was experiencing, I was honorably discharged from the Navy as a disabled veteran. Not the way I had thought things would work out, but I was dealing with it the best that I was able, until the symptoms started improving. I was very limited to what I could and couldn’t do.

I also dreamed about being a master builder when I was very young; when I was a little boy I would dream that I could build and repair anything that I could put my mind and heart to do so. The heavy equipment fascinated me as my father would take me to construction sites since he was a low-boy truck driver also. So, upon the start of my building career, setting out to accomplish the dream, I was given the opportunity of being a General Superintendent, building commercial buildings, as well as Director of Property Management for one of the largest shopping mall developers in the Phoenix metropolitan area at the age of 23, through the blazing 80’s! Just before leaving Chandler, Arizona, I started my own General Contracting business, and as the end of the 80’s came and went, I moved my family, which now consisted of my wife, two sons and two daughters, to Littleton, Colorado.

Upon moving to Littleton, I continued in my General Contracting business around the Denver metro area, and after having a 5-year break having children (my wife only wanted 2 children) I convinced my wife to have another baby! For sure, one of the greatest gifts we can be worthy to receive from God! Our fifth baby was a boy, “the Colorado kid!” We lived in Littleton from January ’90 to September ’93.

It was in late ’90, that I met Jim Tindall! Jim had just stared his career with the Federal Government as a water scientist and water security expert. But what was so intriguing to me was the story that Jim shared with me about Doc Kries, as well as others who worked with Doc, and the speed-strength training that he was involved with at the time with the CU Buffaloes. Jim also invited me to start training in Kenpo with him, in his dojo there in Littleton. He was already a fourth degree black belt at that point, and he loved to beat on me! Ha ha! (still does!). So … here’s this big man, half Seminole Native American with 24 years of higher education, a scientist, a perfectionist, great at working with his hands in construction as well as cars or anything for that matter! A complete “bad ass” in terms of my measurement of a real man!

Moving to Colorado has been one of the greatest decisions I have made because I met my best friend in Jim Tindall! Jim and I hit it off right away as he shared with me his new book and video about speed-strength training and martial arts, when I plugged in the DVD to see his training program I was shocked at how explosive his movements were! Especially where he is jumping over three cones simultaneously, I thought … Damn! This guy does things like I like to do, only he has an ability that I have yet to realize! Truly, mind altering! Think of the things that you are interested in, and think about meeting a guy like Jim, in his prime at 36 years of age! Life changing for me for damn sure! Ha ha ha! Oh yeah, this little piece of info will help put it all into perspective; I had barely graduated from high school with a D- GPA! Ouch!

We loved Colorado, but I had been to Utah when I was 18, and I had made a promise to myself to one day raise a family in Utah, moving there became a game changer indeed! I was so impressed with the mountains, valleys, lakes, and canyons! Tis why I had made that promise! I tell people, be careful of what you wish for! What you manifest from your heart! Because, it will happen! How it will happen is unknown and part of the mystery! But, truly one of the “miracles” of our life’s journey!

In October of ’93, I moved my family of 5, to Pleasant Grove, Utah! What made it so awesome was the fact that Jim’s wife’s parents owned a home in Pleasant Grove, and they were living in Nevada at the time, but were getting ready to retire and wanted their home in Pleasant Grove completely remodeled! Jim, knowing of my promise arranged for me to live in their home with my family and do the project of remodeling. How’s that for getting a hook up!? Ha Ha! While living there I did some more pleading, and our 6th child arrived! And this birth had a special element. As you shall see! Something else that is equally special is the fact that we decided, that after having 5 babies in the hospital-way, that we would have this baby at the home we were living in! So, this baby was going to require a mid-wife!

Unfortunately, the midwife lived too far away as it turned out because of my wife’s prayer, of having a speedy labor, interfered with that! So … I delivered #6, just after 1:00 am! I was so completely enthralled at this new baby in my hands, that my wife had to ask: “David, what is it?” I replied; “It’s a boy!” And not only that, it was now her birthday! I cannot think of a greater event that could happen on one’s birthday! And here’s why, our 3rd child, a son, was born on my birthday! So … we both share a similar, though dissimilar birthday celebration.

We were in Utah for about a year and there was much talk about a bid for 2002 Winter Olympics. I have always loved both the skating and the bobsled/luge while watching the winter games since I was a little boy, so I was interested in having a part in this big event as the city bidding for the games has usually already begun the building of some of the venues before they get awarded to be the host city for the games! I was hired on for the bobsled/luge in April of ’95, delivered a baby in May, and the bid was awarded to Salt Lake on the 15th of June that year! Pretty good run indeed! Ha ha ha!

The year before, I had designed, engineered, and fabricated mobile tilt tables to pour and tilt up the panels, and built and constructed my first concrete tilt-up home in Murray, Utah. After the track I chose to go another stint for a General Contractor in Salt Lake City. Thus, I organized and formed their special projects division, an immediate success, so I went back to be a General Contractor and designed, engineered and fabricated special tools to build and construct my second shotcrete over metal framing, concrete home. From there we began to develop raw land into a small subdivision to build our third-generation concrete home, which is what is called formed, poured in-place, thermal mass, composite concrete wall construction! Whew, that’s a mouthful!

I was on a mission in the early 2000’s, to build the most energy efficient home that could withstand the forces of nature without failing and causing loss of life! And … We did it! My wife and 7 incredible children and their friends (mainly hockey players here playing juniors) accomplished over 90% of the building from design through each of the trades to completion! Cabinets and carpet was all that we sub contracted out, there were a few exceptions to this along the way of course.

Up to this point, the story has a lot of great and positive plots and sub-plots and in general, is a story of living the American dream! Truly! One of the sub-plots beginning to show its ugly head was my body! I was 42 years of age in 2001, I had my first of fifteen joint surgeries, kicking it off with my left ankle, left elbow, and left shoulder. I am left handed, ha ha! But it just worked out that those 3 joints were causing me significant pain and suffering! I have always chosen to work mainly physically for myself as well as others too (I always considered that I was being paid well to get a workout!!!). So … each year from ’01 to ’09, I would work in excruciating pain through the entire year and when our deductible was paid, I would get cut around Christmas time through the new year! Every new year for 9 years was a rough start as I would begin work again in the new year as soon as I could, before fully healing!

I was diagnosed with aggressive degenerative bone disease, coupled with the severe injuries I incurred to my joints as well as my head, while using my body as a weapon playing football in high school! From junior-high school forward, I sustained injuries to my left ankle, left knee, left elbow (3 joints), 3 broken ribs, left side (along with a punctured spleen), 3 severe shoulder separations, and 3 full blown, grade 3 concussions! The first number I wore playing in JHS was #33! ha ha ha! A sign!? I really wonder!? I was the voted most valuable player for both years of JHS, good times!?

So … with all of that said and considered, we were going through extremely trying times and events as a family, and with all the challenges in this journey we are on, there were other extenuating factors that evolved from this crisis my body was going through, culminating with needing to have both shoulders replaced with implants and no longer having any rotator cuffs! And …If that wasn’t enough to deal with, I contacted MRSA, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in my right shoulder during surgery, which should have been, up to this point, my final surgery! Let’s just say it this way without getting into the gory details; my life was saved after being in the Salt Lake VA, SICU, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, for two weeks, in which time, it went from a lifesaving event to potentially removing my right arm, to being informed that I would never have full use of my right arm and would need to wear a sling to support it, for the rest of my life.

At this point in the story, things are not optimum but certainly doable. I believe overcoming anything requires a love for life, a strong will, great courage and the faith to let go and let God heal you in all things! This was a big setback, to say the very least, and an even bigger recovery time was realized due to all of the extenuating factors associated with this crises we were all going through together on. It was 4 years of barely having any work or the ability to get any work, it was truly rough at times!

I have always attempted to take good care of myself but, like a lot of people, I have had some periods of too many soda pops and M&M’s, ha ha! Being very physically active and eating a good nutritious diet while taking vitamin supplements allowed me to have a strong body, mind, and spirit to endure those things which had come upon us. I have always loved skating of any kind and through the years I skated a lot which also contributed to my above average health and fitness. My skating really took off after meeting Jim and incorporating speed-strength endurance training along with a few Kenpo weight transfer moves to push myself as hard as I was able to do, including flexibility moves and developing a dancing style! All of this in company with an extensive holistic conversion from western medicine and medications to meditation, acupuncture, Qigong, Tai Chi, and yoga offered through the Salt Lake VA! Oh yeah, back to the skating part! I have skated conservatively 3,000 miles each year beginning in ’09 through to this year! Hiking1000’s of miles of the wonderful canyons of Utah happened as well!

With all great recovery stories, there is the part where it could possibly all be for naught. The “oops” that I experienced was while skating the 1st of July 2016 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. After a great skate, I was skating backwards at a very high rate of speed (haven’t we already heard this story?). I hit uneven concrete and had my rear axle and wheel shoot off and it launched me at least 10 feet and I hit on top of my butt/small of my back first, and because of this landing my upper body slammed to the earth snapping my head full force into the concrete! I was unconscious for 10 minutes and when I regained my consciousness I was lying in a large pool of blood, my right eardrum was blown and bleeding severely, I had two EMT’s in my face quizzing me and telling me that I was in shock!

I spent the next week in ICU at the University of Utah Medical Center with a severe TBI, multiple fractures on the exact same region as my first TBI and this one was special in that I had a large blood clot form in one of the ventricles of my brain and it was postulated by the neural surgeon that brain surgery would be necessary to remove such a large blood clot.

When I sat up on the sidewalk that summer day in July, exactly 10 days before my 57th birthday, I immediately ignored the EMTs and consciously said a prayer to God and started breathing and telling myself to let go of every worldly requirement that I presently had, and to start my healing at once, right NOW! When I was released from ICU, I went home to the RV I was living in in a beautiful campground, after meeting with my oldest daughter receiving from her, essential oils for my healing. I proceeded to sleep, meditate, rest and oil my way back to health, and I slept for days and days! Until the end of August! When I returned to the U of U Medical Center at the beginning of August – the surgical team was astonished that the blood clot was a third of the size it had been! They asked me what I had been doing for that month, I shared with them my choice to allow God to heal me through His love and to bless me with sound sleep, healthy food, and rest.

And it turns out that recent scientific study reveals that essential oils increase oxygen levels to the injured area of the brain by as much as 28%! It was my daughter’s idea to get me the oils! How’s that for some divine inspiration and intervention?

So … what is the moral of this story? That I have had over $500,000.00 spent on my mind and body, and that the injury, repair and recovery process has taken many years in actual time, although both these facts are true, I believe that there are many morals to this story, first and foremost I believe that the Lord is always there for us, it’s for us to have this knowledge of truth, and the faith, the hope and a charitable kind heart that allows us the greatest potential in any and all things! Next would be the love of family, friends, professionals, and truly all others that we have the pleasure to serve and to be served in love and honor.

And finally, I not only believe, but I know for a certainty that I have recovered mentally, by the way I feel about myself spiritually, and lastly, by the physical training that I have incorporated into my life through the knowledge that I have gained from Dr. Tindall about nutritional performance, speed-strength training, working the fast-twitch muscle fibers has resulted in my having had a body that was in better shape initially allowing me to heal faster and recover more fully. Increasing intensity in my training from ’09 to the present has given me a body that can perform at levels that my children who range in age from 21 to 35, that work with me, snowboard and play hockey with me, marvel at my physicality, energy and endurance, along with my positive outlook on life and the gratitude that I possess that is of God. And, because of the training I’ve had the privilege to do, I can still skate very well, despite my injuries (see below).

The pictures and video are accurate visuals of the truth that has been written and presented here for you, about a 58-year-old man that has taken advantage of this incredible training and knowledge, and has applied it in his own life for the results that are clearly evident. Before I went into my story, I asked an honest question; I simply asked you, if you were getting the results that you were seeking for the time invested with the resources that you presently prescribe to your training program?

I am getting the results and then some from this incredible, customized, personal-training profile that can and will place you at the next level of performance in your pursuit of excellence in all that you do.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and the true moral of overcoming all things placed before or behind us, by choosing to gain knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Therefore, giving yourself the very best opportunity to enhance your life experience through accessing real science, pure truth, and applying these proven principals in improving your life’s performance.

The mission of MyHealthandFitness is to inform you with our wealth of content, on our entire website, to teach you to become your own personal trainer, fitness, health, and nutrition expert as you learn from our expert staff of health and fitness professionals.

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