Tom’s story starts out sounding pretty normal.
In fact, I’ve known many guys used to do the same thing Tom did. But then Tom wised up.
And it saved his life.
Read on…
Tom used to use a workout program like so many of us have done in the past. Do hard and heavy strength training during the winter. Get big. Get strong. Keep covered up.
Then when the spring rolls around, it’s time to switch to bodybuilding. Spend that time losing bodyfat, leaning out, “shaping” muscles, and in generally doing everything else that’s supposed to make you look good with your shirt off.
Now, Tom may not have been the leanest guy out there, but he was definitely bigger than most. Stronger than most. As he tells it, he was “just overall jacked”.
Then the mid-1990s rolled around. And along with it, MMA.
The UFC and Pride were both really starting to hit their stride, smaller events like KOTC were prevalent, and MMA magazines were hitting the shelves.
More and more information was available online, MMA news sites were really gaining ground, and the Underground MMA forum was starting to grow.
MMA PPVs were still inexpensive, the cards were usually stacked, and since UFC PPVs were still on Fridays at that point, it gave you a whole other reason to look forward to the end of the week.
It’s also when a lot of guys started training – especially BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). Tom was no different.
Now Tom was easily one of the bigger and stronger guys on the mats, but it didn’t serve him very well. In fact, it hurt him. Literally.
As you might have guessed, Tom’s first problem was that he was simply just wasn’t in shape. Sure, he was big and strong, but he didn’t have the cardio, the conditioning, or the endurance to roll without getting seriously winded.
Then, he had trouble trying to marry his newfound passion for BJJ with the the gym.
See, Tom was still lifting like he always had – hard and heavy during the winter. Bodybuilding during the spring and summer.
This went on for a number of years. And it never got better.
His body just couldn’t take it all. Instead of getting better at one or the other, he was getting worse at both.
As he puts it:
“…I could never find the balance needed between the gym and the mats. I was getting killed doing both. Either too sore from the gym…or too gassed from the mats. Injured all the time…fighting to ‘find the time’ and just losing patience and will power. Something had to give. I felt like a 225lbs block of concrete in the Hudson River…just sinking.”
Tom knew that something had to change, so he started to look for new ways to work out. He soon found my stuff and we were trading emails.
After a few exchanges, we got Tom setup on a new program. Something unlike he’d ever done before:
- basic compound exercises for strength work
- explosive movements for speed and power
- complex training for conditioning
- cardio only when he needed it
Now it took Tom roughly 4 months to for the results to really start pouring in. After all, he was trying to undo years (decades?) of improper training. Plus, he was doing stuff his body had never seen before. It was almost like he was “starting over”.
But once his body caught up…things happened. In a hurry.
- strength was up
- endurance was up
- faster than he’d ever been
He was no longer gassing on the mats. Instead, he was outworking everyone he rolled with! And while he was always strong before, it was mostly confined to the gym. It just never carried over that well to BJJ.
Not anymore, though. Now he was manhandling the guys he rolled and sparred with.
Tom’s transformation was so dramatic that his training partners were sure that he was “on the sauce”. But of course he wasn’t – he was just training smarter and harder than everyone else.
There was even the unintended benefit of dropping 25 pounds…without even trying. And with his diet still “hit or miss”.
Then it happened – October 22nd, 2012.
Tom was in the gym – it was time for conditioning. That meant complex training. He was looking forward to another tough workout, as that meant he was gonna continue to keep getting in better shape. He loved the idea of leaving his BJJ training partners in a pool of their own sweat and despair because he could always outpace them.
Especially considering he was closing in on his 40th birthday, and he was blowing away guys 15+ years younger than him.
Today was different, though. He didn’t feel right.
At first, he thought he was just tired. Maybe he didn’t sleep enough the night before. Or maybe his “hit or miss” (as he’d call it) diet was a “miss” the day before.
But something was off.
Tom went to start his 3rd round of complexes and he just couldn’t do it. Not that he didn’t want to do it. Not that he was too tired to do it. He couldn’t do it. He was soon lying on the floor – just trying to recover.
Something wasn’t just off. It was wrong.
Before he knew it, the gym staff called the paramedics and Tom was being rushed to the Emergency Room.
He was having a heart attack.
As fate would have it, Tom’s “hit or miss” diet finally caught up to him – his cholesterol was just too high and he had arteries that were 100% blocked.
Put simply, he could have died. He SHOULD have died. Not Tom, though. Hell – he didn’t even lose consciousness.
The doctors, nurses, hospital staff were all stunned. A heart attack like Tom suffered would have literally killed most ordinary men. They all kept saying the same thing:
“I guess those crazy workouts paid off in more ways than one. You’re lucky
you’re in the shape you’re in…you really shouldn’t even be here right now.”
Changing his workouts didn’t just get him in better shape and up Tom’s BJJ game. It saved his life.
And how did he fare afterward?
“3 months later and just had my checkup. Heart is solid…20 pounds leaner because I had to clean the diet up and ready to get back to the gym. No more light heavyweight class but now I’m gonna give hell to all of those welterweights out there.”Unreal. 3 months after a heart attack that should have killed him. Yet he never even went out. Pretty much no damage. And ready to get back to kicking ass.
What an inspiration.
Do You Want to Do the Same Kind of Workouts That Changed…and Saved…Tom’s Life?
