I had a number of people ask me what supplements I was taking while healing from surgery and what might speed tendon repair. That being said, here is my response. I didn’t cover much about standard protein powders etc., as I wanted to discuss the supplements I started using specifically to speed recovery. Check out the video here:
Well things went nuts this last week, so I haven’t had an update for you as quickly as I wanted to. That said, the below video is a bit of a montage of what has been going on with my blown bicep since the last video.
I wanted to bring you up to date on how things are progressing with the healing process, so I can get back to those of you that have been asking me what I am doing for nutrition to get the tendon healing faster.
In the mean time, I am applying the Naturally Massive methods in the gym (see the side bar for that program) and have the latest video for you here:
Talk soon,
Sebastian MacLean
Yesterday I turned another year older. With the arm still moving through its recovery process, I found myself struggling to feel entirely positive about adding an extra year to the sum of my life. It’s just part of my frustration with being slowed down when moving toward a goal, specifically one such as getting in shape for a film that I need to sell my physicality on.
As I get deeper into my 30’s I find myself wrestling with the question of how much time a guy has to make an impact through youthful resilience and risk taking. The responsibilities of fatherhood, marriage, making a living, and minimizing injury all press on the mind as reasons to feel the clock of age beginning to turn against the more youthful desires of the heart.
I had to give my head another shake, get mad and snap out of it. I was falling into the trap that hits many of us when life knocks the wind out of our sails. Something in our circumstances and our head starts telling us, ‘It’s time to sit down and get old because we had our chance. Our fortunes have changed; the time for boldness has come and gone.’ I suppose every big change or big endeavor is tested in its resolve in this way. We can shake off that fear or surrender to the lethargy of age.
A time will come, maybe it already has, when you will question if you can still take a stand and become what you once believed you could. That day will make you doubt you have what it takes, because your body will hurt in ways it never used to, your heart will have been crushed in ways that can make optimism feel like a fantasy, and personal failures will humble you into seeing how little you know.
Don’t let these hard things cripple you; let them be tools that cause you to find the grit to carry on, even when others would lie down under the pressure. In the end it’s not how hard you can shake your fist that gives you courage and a youthful heart, its whether or not you’re still willing to curl your fingers in a ball, get up and start swinging with all the strength you still have left.
Being young of heart at the dawn life takes no courage; it is just the way things are. However, being young of heart, when life has laid its scars and years on you, takes the courage and boldness to stand with the weight of the world on your shoulders. You’ve got to be brave enough to recognize you never have to throw in the towel in life, because the only person that will make you step out of the ring is you.
This is your one life of mortal flesh and bone and you never have to sit down or shrivel up. That will be your choice. Until your last breath, this is your time to do something. Be bold or get old.
I’m getting that much closer to getting myself back to the gym in the latest video. That said, my tendency to lose size fast when I’m not training is really starting to show. It’s all part of the process though.
Have a look at how quickly things are progressing with the blown bicep and let me know if you have any useful recovery information that might make it into future episodes. In the mean time, here’s the latest video journal update:
A few days after my surgery for the distal bicep rupture I decided it was time to do a little update on my progress. I didn’t have access to the fancy camera, so your seeing some stuff shot with a little Kodak InstaPick still camera I had near my couch. Here is what a man with a few days of cabin fever looks like. Not a pretty sight…
Check out episode 2 of the Re-Armed series:
One Week Give Away / Exchange
I just realized I have said little about the contents of CONTEST RIPPED: A CONVERSATION REVEALED.
I guess that since I decided to hand out the book this week,in exchange for any donation of $1 or more to my friends Haiti relief effort,I took for granted that knowing more about the book might still be needed.
First of all, Contest Ripped: A Conversation Revealed is not a menu break downor a training program. It is a conversation and is written as such.
It is a book that looks over my shoulder, as I speak to the concerns and questionsof a first time competitor, looking for the way to get as lean and muscular aspossible for the contest stage. It covers how to eliminate water retentionfrom under the skin, how to carb up, how to evaluate blood sugar levels and much more.
If you have no idea how to train then this book may be worth grabbing now,while I’m essentially giving it away. However you will likely onlybe able to apply this information once you have advanced in your training.
So far many of you have grabbed a copy and the funds, which will bedonated to the Mana Care Foundation for relief in Haiti, have reached $483.With amounts ranging from $3 to $100, everyones desire to help is making a difference.
With just 3 more days to go, I got a call from the Mana Care Foundation yesterdayand their goal of $100,000 in a week has already hit $80,000. These guysare hitting the ground with food and water soon and it looks like they willhave the funds to feed a large number of families over the coming weeks.
Again, for those that donated, I thank you.
For those still thinking about it, you can look at it one of two ways:
1. Take a shot at helping these guys hit the dollar mark they are looking for this week or…
2. Take advantage of me and grab my book for dirt cheap, while I’m giving the book away in exchange for any donation of $1 or more. Head to Paypal.com and send whatever you decide to info@sebastianmaclean.com
Only three days left to go.
Talk to you soon.
All the best,
Sebastian
PS
Remember that if you don’t like the idea of sending me the donated funds (which I am turning over at the end of this week), you can also donate directly by going to www.helphaitinow.ca and then send me your receipt. I’ll still send you my book this way as well.
Just wanted to give you a quick update.
Most people I have heard from have reacted positively to my handing over the book CONTEST RIPPED: A CONVERSATION REVEALED, in exchange for a donation of any amount to help in Haiti.
So far $268 in donations have come in. The amounts have ranged from $3 to $100 and there are six days left to go. As any of you who have been on my list for a while know, I don’t do charity requests, as I know how many are out there. However, since I’m seeing this as an exchange of a donation for a physique development book, relevant to what I usually discuss, I thought this could work on do some good and provide easy access to my latest material.
As for the money going to help in Haiti, the response has been very positive, as I said…
Of course I did get two brief emails, containing the following:
Email 1
“You dirty con man.”
Email 2 (This guy left my email list. A warning in advance, his words are offensive. Here was his reason)
“For wasting my time with your emotional extortion to send money to machette welding, voodoo, rapist, cannibals in Haiti when there is good starving people in the Applalation (sp) mountains U.S.A. Go ahead and feed them, at least they wont hate you and your children after you feel all warm and fuzzy inside for doing your good deed for the day.”
Some people are a real pleasure to see leave.
Now I also find this sad. Not just because the first email is untrue and the second is full of both hate and untruth, but because it is this kind of cynicism that has so many failing to make a difference in other peoples lives.
A cynic can get so busy worrying about protecting their own interests or being angry about not getting what they feel they deserve that all they see in a request for help is a world full of con artists and takers.
I suppose we all risk feeling, or do feel, some cynicism at times, but that’s why its important to give our heads a shake, step out of our shell, and see what we can do for someone who might need our help. It forces us to look at things from another perspective and connect with someone other than ourselves. No one is above cynicism, but we can all rise to overcome making it a habit and allowing bitterness to take over.
I thought giving out a book on the secrets of contest prep, in exchange for an open donation, of as little as a buck, would cut through the cynicism, but you can’t win them all I guess.
However, just in case there are other doubters out there, I thought I would mention an alternative donation method, which will still get you a copy of my book. Maybe then those folks will throw down a dollar, like others have already done, and get a book worth more than that for their trouble.
For those who haven’t already:
1. You can make a donation directly to www.helphaitinow.ca, the site for Mana Care Foundation. (These are the guys that work on the ground in Haiti, so the money is going right to the people, not some giant bureaucratic structure). Just send me a digital copy of your donation receipt, and I send you a book.
2. You can still, save a step, go through Paypal.com, and pay directly to the email info@sebastianmaclean.com I will be giving all funds from this book donation swap to The Mana Care Foundation at the end of the next six days.
I will also make an official listing of donations received, using only first names unless permitted to make a full name public. Well that’s the update. However you choose to do it, I’ll watch to see who I need to send a book to next.
Thanks again to all those who have donated so far.
Best,
Sebastian
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