Ragtop Steps Back to Basics

Long ago Laree told a story about Mike Douglas asking Franco Columbu, "What do you do with all those muscles?" To which Columbu posed in a double biceps. "No, I mean what do you do with those muscles?" Douglas queried. The point is, what function in your life is better because you lift weights? For me it is a most basic function. One probably taken for granted by many. It is walking.

When I first met Dave and Laree, as I joined WG in 1996, I was in a wheelchair. I had been in an accident five years earlier that caused partial paralysis in my legs. Dave took one look at me and said, "So is this permanent?" I think back on that comment because so many people who saw me in the wheelchair back then assumed I could not walk and would never walk again, but not The Bomber. "The paralysis is permanent, but not the wheelchair." I think I replied. Dave shook his head thoughtfully and affirmatively.

I started slow in my rehabilitation. So slow in fact I had ballooned up to 265lbs since I had been discharged from a 13 week hospital stay. Prior to that time I had never weighed more than 220lbs. I bought a treadmill and began to walk just a few steps at a time. At .5 mph.That's one half mile per hour. Then I hired a personal trainer who had me lifting weights for the first time in my life on a consistent basis. After about one year my trainer said, "You're ready to join World Gym." Why World Gym, I asked? Because I think that is going to be the best gym for you. And it was and it is.

It was not, however, easy. It was not easy to stroll into World Gym in a wheelchair and transfer to the bench or hobble up the stairs to the treadmill. I figured this was a place for "musclehedz" who would smirk, or laugh at me behind my back. I was wrong. It was a place of helpful, encouraging people. A place where I got more credit than I deserved. A place where Dave Draper, the guy who had shown me Hercules movies as a kid; the guy who every skinny 12 year old in Southern California knew by sight, if not by name, worked out. How cool is that?

I got stronger. My legs look younger. I have triceps cuts for the first time in my life. And I can walk again. How cool is that? My doctor told me 70% of people with my level of injury "choose" not to walk. A strange choice to be sure, but I liked the odds. I know in my heart that those 70% could walk also, if they lifted weights. And if and when I meet them, I'll tell them so.

I still have a disability. I walk a lot slower than most. Most of the time I use a cane, but I'm hoping to lose that too. I'm up to 3.5 mph on the treadmill. I walk into a bank now. I can shop with a grocery cart in front of me if I choose. I can bench "only" 245lbs. Which is 100 lbs more than I did in high school. On the squat machine I have done 515 lbs, I have leg pressed 550 lbs. 4x, 110 pounds more than when I had two healthy legs. None of this means as much to me as the ability to be able to walk. Functional strength.

My little white lies on IOL are that I do play basketball and racquetball and tennis. All from a sports wheelchair. I view my wheelchair as a sports utility vehicle. A fun ride actually. Two years ago our wheelchair basketball team made it all the way to the National Championship game in Birmingham, Alabama. We lost the game, but I am proud of the accomplishment. Not everybody wins Mr. America. I still play with kids half my age and I love it. Functional strength.

Laree would tell me long ago, "You need to tell your story." Some day, when the timings right, I told her. I told Henrik and Og. And now it's "some day." The timing is right. A time to tell the rest of my friends and acquaintances at IOL. The reasons I didn't before are simple: I wanted to be one of the guys. I didn't want to be treated or viewed differently. I certainly didn't want to brag. Silly reasons to be sure, but I'm a slow learner.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I like it here. We have our ups and downs, but we survive them. I am really not looking for attaboys from this post. I always enjoyed learning about others. The workout stories don't interest me as much as the stories of functional strength. DD and Mr. Universe Reg Park, taking turns holding up a car, while fixing a flat without a jack. How Og keeps his heart pumping, increases his commode squats, terrifying his doctors in the process. How the Great Dane, Henrik walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on his adventure of a lifetime. How Wild Bill and Guy used to labor at their old jobs for long hours and still get to the Iron. The bike rides of the Barbarian Librarian. The enthusiasm of Monika, Laree and the other females of the group. Dozens of others that space does not permit. It's the functional strength that interests me.

So that's what I'd like from this post. Let's get back to basics as Laree so wisely knows we must. What do you do with your muscles? The Ragtopman would like to know. And as Herb Caen used to say, "If you got this far, thank you."

Kevin C.
Ragtopman

Click here to go back IronOnline Stories