Good to see you are coming along, keep truckin, and like others have said keep us posted.
Awesome, man. Awesome man.
You’ve made my day. Keep on keepin’ on.
Fucking props to you mate.
I have given it some thought myself (i feel one should mentally prepare for many ‘scary’ possibilities) and i KNOW that if i ever lose the use of my legs or lower body etc, i would still endeavour to have the sickest arms, neck, traps and delts!
Good for you bruv.
I have not posted on here in a while, because quite frankly, I am kind of embarrassed that I have not been able to lift as heavy and frequently as I would like. My right brachial plexus injury (which affects my shoulder, forearm, bicep) still has not healed fully. It has, however, healed a lot and I am able to shoulder press with light weights. My biceps and forearm, for some reason, seem up to par with my left side although they should also be affected.
I am working on pull-ups while strapped into my chair and I will post pics as soon as I have dominated them. I am eager to see how my back responds to them now. I perform lat pulldowns but going heavy is a bit awkward.
I am posting a pic from a few months ago of my right tricep. I am not sure if it is visible, but my right shoulder muscles are almost nonexistent. That is why the right tricep is still of a decent size.
Also, as you can see, I am definitely “soft”. Trying to put on muscular weight while in a chair is a hard balancing act. It is definitely easier to accidentally pack on way more fat than muscle due to a decreased metabolism from not being as active overall and not being able to do heavy compounds such as squats and deadlifts. Performing pullups and eventually bench presses when I am able to do them properly should solve this problem. I am looking forward to what the future holds as my right shoulder recovers and I am able to do more things.
I was frequenting a wheelchair bodybuilding forum but my former devotion to this site brings me back. Although we have a few different issues to address, I feel the drive and dedication is still of the same caliber whether able-bodied or not. It’s what makes certain people “great” and others just mediocre.
You are the fuckin man. You have more guts and heart than most people can even imagine.
I really wish you the best. This thread almost got me to tears and i have goosebumps all over my body.
I wish you the very best.
Keep on rocking it and pushing yourself to your limits. Soon you’ll break through all plateaus and you’ll be pumping iron like a madman.
We’re all rooting for you!
[quote]UtahIron wrote:
Hello. Well, I’m not in a wheelchair, but I am totally blind. I’ve been in the gym for five years now. I would just say as a “disabled” athlete is just keep working and striving for progress. And, always read and do your research; you never know what you might find that could be useful.
I know the University of Arizona has an accessible weightroom for folks in wheelchairs. You might could check them out for some ideas.
Keep liftin’ brother 
-Nick[/quote]
I really dont wanna sound harsh or be disagreable, but how do you read this forum and read your post if you are blind?
[quote]jasmincar wrote:
[quote]UtahIron wrote:
Hello. Well, I’m not in a wheelchair, but I am totally blind. I’ve been in the gym for five years now. I would just say as a “disabled” athlete is just keep working and striving for progress. And, always read and do your research; you never know what you might find that could be useful.
I know the University of Arizona has an accessible weightroom for folks in wheelchairs. You might could check them out for some ideas.
Keep liftin’ brother
-Nick[/quote]
I really dont wanna sound harsh or be disagreable, but how do you read this forum and read your post if you are blind?[/quote]
You can get programes that come with headgear/microphone that type for you as you speak into the mouthpiece. It can take a while for it to completly sync with your voice. I know some people with Dyslexia who use it. So i assume there is something similar out there that can do that and more for the visually impaired population. Or someone else typed that for him…
Good to see you back, I can’t wait to see what you can achieve. Impressive chest hair as well
Man I am getting chills here reading through this thread, you have my prayers, and my respect. You are a true inspiration and with your attitude nothing can stand in your way! You are definitely “GREAT!”
Mad props, go kill it son.
[quote]bulldogtor wrote:
I have not posted on here in a while, because quite frankly, I am kind of embarrassed that I have not been able to lift as heavy and frequently as I would like.
Bulldog,
Don’t feel embarrassed about numbers, I think everyone here is just glad that you are giving effort and are very understanding that the challenges you face may keep the weights and frequency down (temporarily).
Keep at it, you are really an inspiration.
Good luck, man!
I don’t think you have to feel embarrassed of your actual training having turned out differently than expected. You know the way, so just listen to your body and keep at it as you’ve did up to now.
From what you’re writing, you’re already listening pretty accurately to your body. Something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Out of curiosity: what’s your cultural (apart from US) background?
To the OP, sorry I’m a bit late here, good luck and god bless you.
reading your recent post, please don’t feel embarrassed about numbers or training frequency or volume, the fact that you are still training speaks volumes about your character, there are plenty of people to lazy to exercise regardless of their physical able body-ness.
Good luck to, this is one of the most inspiring posts I’ve read, remember now your achievements are relative to your circumstances, so don’t judge yourself to harshly brother…
We’re all with you in spirit…
Thanks so much guys. I really appreciate the support and words of wisdom. It’s helping me to realize certain things about listening to my body and competing against the man in the mirror.
And to FattyFat–I was born in Pakistan. My other South Asian friends and I joke about how we’re all cursed with extremely skinny legs, haha. We also tend to be very hairy, as WS4JB pointed out.
One of the few from our area who doesn’t have skinny legs, IFBB pro Zach Khan:
I’m going to hit the iron hard and post updates when I feel like I have made some progress. I know it’s going to be a long process, but there really aren’t many quick fixes in this game. I am amused to see that after taking a hiatus from this web site, not too much has changed. People are still over-analyzing little things. I guess some things will always stay the same
[quote]bulldogtor wrote:
And to FattyFat–I was born in Pakistan. My other South Asian friends and I joke about how we’re all cursed with extremely skinny legs, haha. We also tend to be very hairy, as WS4JB pointed out.
One of the few from our area who doesn’t have skinny legs, IFBB pro Zach Khan:
http://www.extremenutrition.co.uk/catalog/images/Zach’s_DVD.front.jpg[/quote]
Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m quite hirsute, too, maybe thanks to some very mixed heritage (mediterranean and west-asian among it). Funnily, my rather muscled legs seem to come from my west-asian side.
Allah ka fazal ho, khuda hÄ?fiz, man.
Keep up the spirit and thank you for inspiring all of us here at T-Nation!
-Schwarzfahrer
I can’t really contribute here, but I am near certain that our good old friend, muscle memory will and likely has already started helping you out. Just be a bit patient and keep lifting. I hope you’re PMing 4est on here, as the two of you can really exchange some useful information.
Keep kicking ass.
[quote]bulldogtor wrote:
Just posting an update:
I have been experimenting in the gym and discovered some exercises that are suitable.
First off, there’s a web site someone posted on here of someone doing a pullup in a wheelchair. I tried it out, and it’s harder than it looks for some reason. I used to do pullups with a decent amount of weight strapped to my waist, but this is much harder. I’m not sure whether it is the unusual body mechanics(knees out front + no “wave” motion while pulling) or just weakness in my arms.
I do lat pulldowns and close-grip pulldowns on the pulley without the seat in front (the kind used for cable crossovers, etc). Cable curls can also be done on this pulley. I’d prefer dumbbell curls, but low cable curls are much easier to do in a chair.
I’m not 100% confident in my transfers. Once I get better, I’ll transfer onto a bench and perform the many exercises 4est described. Dumbbell bench pressing is making me nervous.
My triceps/shoulders are getting a decent workout from pushing myself all day and doing depression weight-shifts/transfers every 30 minutes (basically doing a dip in the wheelchair, pressing down onto the tires or arm rests). Once my triceps adapt to this stimulus and my shoulders start to heal up, I’m going to start overhead/flat/incline pressing movements.
It feels amazing being able to workout my back since my pushing muscles are being used all day.
An interesting side note that I’m not 100% why it’s happening:
The nerve damage/scapula fracture in my right shoulder left my shoulder muscles with significantly reduced muscle mass. For a while, I did everything with my left arm, so it has maintained at least some of its muscle mass/tone. When comparing both arms, my left shoulder looks “normal” while by right shoulder doesn’t. However, my right trieps are bigger than my left. The only reason I can think of is that the right tricep compensated for the lack of shoulder muscle while the muscles in my left arm bared the weight collectively.[/quote]
Just though I’d post up some progress pics. Progress is going slow, but it’s going. I decided to “recomp” instead of straight bulking, because it makes it much easier to move around and transfer if the muscle:fat ratio is higher.
Right shoulder is 95% healed. I can actually overhead press with some resistance now. I’m up to only 15 pounds for about 10+ reps on the right side, but it’s much progress from not being able to lift up my arm at all.
These are just pics of me messing around and doing pullups/chinups. Size has gone down, sligth definition is still there. Next goal, once I get down to a comfortable bodyfat level where I don’t have a big belly weighing me down, will be to add mass
no lat width
Good stuff, man. Glad to see you making progress.
Class of 2007 FTW.