Well, if any of you guys are old enough to remember Ed Corney. This guys was incredible back in his day. He started competing at age 37. Watch Pumping Iron and he is the one who is squatting with Arnold. Anyway, I ran into him at a Rottweiler show in Northern California this weekend. He still looks pretty buffed for his age, I think he is around 65. He was telling me about all the surgeries he has had, shoulder, forearms, back, neck and just finished with several heart and brain sugeries. He is using a cane and is still recovering from the brain sugery, so he talks a little slow right now. But, damn, still has some mean biceps, forearms, chest, back…And he was wearing a sweater. Took it off and had on a t-shirt…solid. He shook my hand and nearly crushed me. But, like he said, all that heavy lifting took its toll.
I remember reading an interview with Mr. Carney in which he spoke about his many physical ailments casued from his training, but sttributed these injuries to a lack of proper stretching, warm-ups, and then overtraining. This is what makes Ian King such a godsend as he promotes longevity of physical performace, hence his suggestion to warmup and strech minute-for-minute of your actual workout.
Hey Bodz I remember Corney thats too bad about all his injuries,a friend of mine in Monterey knows him. Did you happen to go to the IHRSA show in SF,I saw Bill Pearl there he still trains almost everyday.Dave Draper is in Santa Cruz and he’s still hardcore.By the way I tried calling Better Bodies but couldnt get through.
I really wonder if heavy trainging can be blamed. Maybe it was the all the roids he took. Roids do tend to strenghten the muscle at a quicker rate then the connective tissue. So bascially all those roids would have made it possible to lift more weight more often than he naturally would have and was built to do.
I have to agree with you Natural. Taking roids, besides the obvious health problems, can cause one to lift more weight than he is genetically predisposed to. Hence, major injuries down the road. Oh well, live and let live as I was told not too long ago. Hurray for roids. Shoot em up Godzilla.
ulisses, I didn’t make the IHRSA show. I was showing my rott this weekend (she took 3rd). I live in Fresno CA, If you tried to reach my business number, its been changed. I moved to another area of town and couldn’t take my old number with me, so I just use my cell phone for business calls and home phone to return calls. I’m moving my business to San Luis Obispo the end of the year. I’ll be listed in the phone book, once I do.
Naturalman, I understand your comments on "wondering if heavy lifting was to blame". Well, in this case it was a combination of steroids and heavy lifting. If you ever get the chance to watch Pumping Iron, you'll see how these guys trained. And they did this for hours. I can give you a classic example of what happened to me in 1997. I did a 12 week cycle with a max of 1250mg of sustenon per week for the first two weeks and then 750 per week after that. I was doing a Charles Polquin German Volume training. My bench went up 50lbs during the cycle, and I was reverser grip dipping to full bottom (forearms to biceps) with 60lbs strapped to my waist. Well, my ego got the best of me, and I stayed on the program for the full twelve weeks. I got overuse injuries in elbows and shoulders that took a year to heal. Now take a guy who is in serious competition and you've got disaster. I would agree that sometimes the muscle grows faster than the tendon strength, but we're not talking huge gains by these guys. Even with steroids, they have maxed out and usually only gain 10lbs per year. Oh, in case you are wondering, I only gained 15lbs of muscle that cycle. I lost most of it, due to the injuries. I did gain it back naturally a year later.
What was the reason for his brain and heart surgeries and what was the cause? Has anyone heard? Also, does anyone have any input on whether or not steroids can really cause left ventricle hypertrophy? If so, at what dosage?
Jason, I didn’t ask the reason for his surgeries. He did say that he was genetically predisposed to get heart failure (and that his diet didn’t help matters) and not sure about the brain thing. My mom had a brain aneurysm and her condition was genetic. She has a heart murmur and has had two strokes. My grandmother had Parkinsons. My aunt had kidney failure secondary to diabetes. I have a pituitary tumor. All these things happen usually because we are born with a genetic code to get these things. We push the boundaries when we do things that accelerate that one thing that could do us in. There was a bodybuilder about 15 years ago who got leukemia from steroid use. He got it not from his use, but from him being predisposed to this disease and steroids accelerated its growth and made him get it at an earlier age (he is in remission now). You could have the lung cancer gene and never smoke and die from second hand smoke. You could smoke your entire life and not get lung cancer. You could die of heart failure though. Don’t sweat the stuff you can’t control. If you decide to use steroids and you are predisposed to cancer or other ailments, you can possibly accelerate it. If you choose to use, do so sanely. I think that this site has given you many options as to what is sane. I am on replacement of 100mg of test per week. I would take 200 if given the opportunity. Even if it shortened my life by ten years. I think the quality of life vs. the longevity of a mediocre life is no choice at all. But, that is me. I plan on taking 300mg of deca for two months on and four months off, twice a year, in addition to my therapy. I’ll take my chances. Heck, I may have my mom’s gene to get a brain aneurysm, and either die or be like her now, not fully or ever back to normal. So, small dosages wouldn’t hurt me. Its the diet that might.
Jason, sorry for the rant, but what I was trying to say, was that: “No matter what you choose to do, no one can tell you what will happen to you. We can only guess. You could do 600mg of test per week and just add muscle. Or you could have an underlying disease that you could cause to get worse. No one knows the ulitimate cards we are dealt.” Motorcycles are considered dangerous. But, it is usually the guys who are careless or the drivers who don’t pay attention that cause the deaths, not the bikes themselves. I have ridden for 25 years, but one day I might get hit by a drunk driver…but so could a pedestrian, a highway patrolman or a bus load of kids. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.
I asked my friend about Ed C,she told me he suffered a stroke during or after the shoulder surgery possibly in reaction to medication(?)
and that was the reason for the brain surgery.
But his recovery is going well,he has even resumed training.
Ulisses, thanks for the update.
Bodz: The kid who contracted leukemia was Dennis Newman. I remember him being a good looking kid at tne time. He was ready to take the bodybuilding world by storm; big, ripped, great smile, blue eyes. Looked sort of like “Captain America” and had the Weider Machine licking its chops! If I remember (and you guys correct me), he was winning contest like Flex was early in his career. A more famous case was all the flap that surrouded the sudden death of Flo-Jo. Here was a strong, gifted athelete who died an untimely death, and all the press could harp on was “could it have been steriods?” It REALLY made me angry. Yea…that quality vs.quantity of life issue…There is a famous line from “BladeRunner” from tne Replicant Creator to his strongest, smartest, and most beautiful Creation…“The light that burns the brightest also burns out the quickest…” (paraphrase)…
Mufasa, thanks for the memories. Yeah, Dennis was going straight to the top. He had it all, until that happened. In regards to the blade runner quote…perfect…just watched it again just the other day. Classic.