A Month In Hell

 It has been a minute since I wrote anything here as of late and for a reason. My sciatica came back and I've been dealing with it just over a month now. Don't know exactly what caused it to come back, maybe a factor of things but it did happen and the pain was so severe that I could barely even stand up, let alone able to walk.

Couldn't sleep in my own bed for weeks and had to sleep on a soft mattress on the floor. Not going into gross details about using the restroom so I'll leave that out. Couldn't sit upright to even eat or drink anything so I had to lay literally on my back or on my side to do those things and needed help getting supplies in order to brush my teeth or even shave. I didn't have anybody lift me up to walk because let's face it, it's not something I want people to attempt with me. When I did walk, every step felt like pin needles and a crowbar hitting my lower back and my right leg like Babe Ruth swinging a baseball bat. 

You know shit gets bad when you can't even sit down to do anything. I' am very grateful for the help I did get and made a vow to myself and to them that when I'm 100%, I'm making up for those things as if my life depended on it. For exercise, I was barely able to move my legs to stretch without feeling pain. I had to fight for every inch of movement just to even get some in. In the beginning, I focused mainly on stretching and using my Iso Bow for Isometric Training so my upper body was still strong enough to move around. A lot of crawling took place and couldn't go up a flight of stairs for at least 2-3 weeks. The pain was so horrible I didn't want anybody around me at times because I would've just been a terrible person to be around. 

I ended up losing some muscle mass in my legs because the pain was so bad I couldn't walk a couple feet without collapsing. Even the last time I went to see a chiropractor I was in such bad shape walking in and out of the building felt like an eternity. I didn't take a bunch of pain killers or heavy doses of muscle relaxers, for supplantation I took Vitamin B, some Ibprophen and a pain reliever throughout the day every few hours, a couple capsules for Nerve and blood circulation, Zinc, Potassium & Magnesium. When I did take relaxers, I took a small dose (or at least to me it was small) of them at night but that barely even helped at all as most nights I wouldn't be able to sleep. Lots of Heat & Ice as well.

One of the worst feelings other than the pain was having no appetite. I would barely eat once a day and that was just so I can take the supplements so they can kick in. Little by little as time went on, I did start eating more and ate mainly eggs, bacon and toast. The only things I drank was mainly water and liquid IV to get some extra hydration in. I would never wish this on anybody, no one should suffer like that and it did feel at times that I wanted to die because I practically knew nothing but severe pain. Because of the loss of appetite, I ended up losing 11 pounds in less than 3 weeks (roughly 18 days to be exact), it was that bad. That's not a healthy way to lose weight I don't care who you are.

Once things started to die down, I would move around more, able to stretch out as best as possible and kept up with my Isometric Training with the Bow doing Bow & Arrow Pulls, Pull Apart, Chest Squeeze & Bicep Curl. Each exercise was done with 3x10 countdown. That's really all I did for my upper body other than the crawling. I started doing DDP Yoga again, making up my own routine or what I could do. It was an instinct and researching every single fucking thing I could on how to fix myself as naturally as possible without being on a bunch of drugs. I could barely even stretch out with most of the moves at first, all the moves are embedded into my memory from doing them years earlier but getting back into it was like being in a fight with Mike Tyson. I kept up with it and ordered the DVD's to fully work them, I'm not the biggest fan of following along to a video but I needed to do something and because I was able to modify the moves, I was able to work around the workouts. The first week or 2 back into it, I made up my own routine and just worked moves as best as I could with the limited mobility I had. Shortly later, I'm able to do a good portion of the moves, modify a few here and there but my flexibility and strength was slowly coming back. After more than 2 weeks straight of doing this, I'm now able to do full on workouts without taking a break or having to pause. It's only been three workouts but those three really got me going again and my endurance is coming back as well. The third workout which I did yesterday was one of their main Leg Workouts called Below The Belt which lasted roughly 40 minutes, I pushed through it modifying only a couple of the moves and did it in its entirety without stopping (unless he said to take some water and wipe off some sweat which at times was only a few seconds). That was one of my biggest moments.

I set little goals for myself and my wife gave me daily goals to accomplish and I did them all. I'm not looking for sympathy, I did this to myself and wanted to do whatever was possible to get out of it on my own, I did have quite a bit of help on a number of things but I wanted to keep fighting and was doing things I didn't want to do and/or feel embarrassed to even talk about because I was and still am ashamed of myself. Only a few people knew what was going on other than the people with me. I didn't want to talk about it until I felt I was getting better to even attempt to write it out and was comfortable to say what I needed to. 

I'm almost completely healed, I have no pain in my back and only feeling discomfort in the nerves in my leg. I'm able to cook and do dishes again, able to bathe without collapsing or having to lay on the bathroom floor to ease the pain, able to walk down the street and back, hold a deep squat without being in agony, walk around with little limping and able to work around things I couldn't even attempt when this started up again. I'm not taking anything for granted and will be smarter about training and making things I normally didn't an asset. I'm not going to push myself the way I used to, I'll still challenge myself but not be gung ho as much and only go hardcore when I'm absolutely confident enough I can get through it unscathed. If I'm doing high reps of anything anymore it would be the Dopa Bands for circuits and Step Ups for leg conditioning, other than that, keep things just enough to be healthy and strong in the long run with better mindfulness. I'll still do some stuff with kettlebells, bands, hammers and bags but not go as crazy, just enough to feel good. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I appreciate all of you and if you're ever in a situation like I was or worse, get the best possible help you can and take care of yourself the best way you can. Be grateful and understanding and know that there are people who would have your back, those are the real people that make the world a better place. If you want to do your best to avoid this type of thing, get DDP Yoga, its worth it. Do what you can with it and make it a part of you, it's one of the best things out there and am very blessed I'm able to do it again. 

Here are pics I took yesterday to show the progress I made. I may look whiter than Casper's head and because of the weight loss, I' am a lot slimmer than I used to be. I'm currently at around 237-238 lbs at the moment. Have an amazingly awesome day and do your best to be positive even in the toughest moments. 

I’m Talking About DDP Yoga

    

   Yoga for decades even centuries has had a reputation for being a soft, spiritual plus a tough form of exercise. It's supposed to enlighten your body and give off an emotional release with spiritual guidance. The type of Yoga I'm talking about doesn't enlighten (unless you let it) and will beat you to the ground with the way it is taught. It can still be spiritual but in a more aggressive way with a touch of kick ass cardio and Muscle Control that will jump start your heart rate. Diamond Dallas Page has taken one of the oldest systems in the world and taken it to another level with his style of hardcore training and no impact conditioning and strength training.

 
    I was taught in my early 20's that if you want to get the best out of your training, you learn to be self-reliant; listening to your own body and understanding your own physiology to create the workouts that ae suitable to you and your goals. DDP Yoga embodies this concept when it's leader suggests (even demands) to "Make the DDP Yoga program your own." I love that and that's why I continue to do it. It's the ability to modify whatever you wish to work on and you can make the exercises as easy or as hard as you need to. Granted there are some exercises that elite athletes have trouble with it still becomes a factor when you create more strength, gain flexibility, build a powerful body and taking a beating from the workouts. Don't take my word for it, give it a shot yourself. It's not any of that P90X or Insanity crap that can actually hurt you more than help you. This system is so unique it takes classic strength training mixed with martial arts and cardio into a series of exercises some may have seen but with a whole new twist. It is this unique style that gives off powerful energy as you will find out from doing these exercises.

 
    To become efficient, you must practice and stay consistent. Now there's a difference between practicing poorly and practicing good form, one way or another if you practice enough, the results will come from that practice. I do the DDP Yoga program nearly every day, practicing the moves I want to get good at and get better at. I do follow a workout from time to time but in my experiences, I follow my own workouts by arranging exercises to my liking and not trying to imitate another person because it's not fun trying to keep up with someone on a video. This does not mean you shouldn't do the workouts, if you want to do them go for it, study them and put some zest into them. To truly experience making DDP Yoga your own, you study the exercises as best as possible like his basic Diamond Dozen or certain exercises in the workouts he performs and build that around what you want to do and making them into your own style of a workout. Be consistent and you can't go wrong.

 
    The number thing that you won't be able to control is that if you follow a workout or create your own; you better be prepared to get your ass kicked. There's no way around it, it will take you to the woodshed and pin you down for the count. You will sweat, you'll be screaming obscenities and you will be breathing harder than a wrestler who just spent an hour on the mat (slight exaggeration) but you get the picture. Be bold and take the beating with a positive image that you'll become fitter, stronger, healthier and gain more flexibility without ever attacking the joints. Too many people only work on muscles more than joints/tendons/ligaments because it's the muscles that stand out. What about the very things that holds those muscles together, if you pull a muscle sure it hurts but it'll heal faster than a joint because if that attachment breaks it takes far longer to heal so isn't it fitting to strengthen those and have them be strong? Get the workout that has taken the world by storm. It has saved the careers of some of the biggest names in wrestling like Chris Jericho, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and the Bad Guy Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall. It has changed the lives of countless people who have banded together in a membership site which you can join for free and get encouragement and support from these very same people.

 
    The benefits of this system are so long I can only mention a few but each one is worth the price of the program many times over including…..

 
-No impact on the joints
-Building great cardio that will burn fat and gain muscle by creating your own dynamic resistance
-Gaining flexibility that will give you energy and that youthfulness you had when you were young
-Lose weight and build muscle
-Help gain new athleticism for your sport or athletic endeavor

 
And many more

 
Take a chance and get this program and live your life at 90%. When you buy the workouts you will also receive MP3's of all the workouts so you can listen to them anywhere. Follow DDP on Youtube and others on Twitter. Own your life NOW!!!

 
Be awesome, happy Monday everyone and welcome to the DDP Yoga Express. It ain't your mama's Yoga.