John Hansens Training Diary Update

by: John Hansen - November 19th, 2007

John Hansen’s Diary – Update

It’s been awhile since I have written my Weekly Training and Nutrition Blog so I wanted to give everyone an update since I received a few emails from some Ripped Academy members on where my Weekly Training Diary has been.

My last Training Diary posted was for the week of October 15th. I was five weeks out from a guest posing exhibition I was scheduled to perform on November 17th in DeKalb, Illinois. Things were going good and the injuries that had plagued me over the last few months (tendonitis in my left elbow and my right knee) were finally starting to feel better and I was hopeful that my training was going to be much better in the weeks leading up to my guest posing. Also, my diet was back on track and I only had about an inch to lose off my waist to be in decent guest posing shape.

Things started to go haywire during the week of October 22nd. I had scheduled a prostate exam on Tuesday, October 23rd. I never had a prostate exam before and the reason I decided to schedule one was because I had noticed somewhat of a weird sensation for about a week whenever I urinated. It felt like I still had to go after I went if you follow me.

I made an appointment with my Mom’s urologist even though this weird sensation only lasted about five days. By the time I could get in to see the urologist, two weeks had passed and I really thought I was wasting my time even going to the appointment.

I went in for the routine exam and, at the end of my visit, the nurse came in and did an ultrasound of my bladder. She discovered that I was holding a lot of fluid in my bladder, much more than normal. When the doctor found out how much fluid I was holding, he told me that he was going to insert a catheter into me and keep it in for a full week to drain this fluid out. This would give my bladder a chance to relax because it was inflamed from all the fluid it was holding. After a week, the doctor would remove the catheter and then look at my prostate and bladder with a camera to see what the problem was.

Needless to say, this took me for a complete surprise! I never thought I would EVER have to wear a catheter, let alone for a full week. Anyway, I didn’t have much of a choice and I let the doctor insert said catheter into me and went home. Thinking of my guest posing, I asked the doctor if I could still workout and he said I could.

Except for the first day, in which I was in extreme discomfort (imagine feeling like you had to urinate really, really bad and feeling like that every second of the day!), wearing the catheter wasn’t a total tragedy. I actually did do a couple workouts later in the week when I got used to having the catheter in me, although I did go much lighter and didn’t push myself like I normally would.

One big problem I had wearing the catheter was sleeping. I would only sleep 1-2 hours before waking up during the night because of the discomfort of the catheter. After 5 days of this, I started to feel rundown.

On Saturday, October 27th, I attended two bodybuilding contests. There was a natural bodybuilding contest held at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois so I attended that during the day because there were several friends of mine who were competing in the show and I wanted to show my support by cheering them on. Later that night, I was working for Optimum Nutrition at the NPC Continental USA contest in St. Charles, Illinois.

This turned out to be a very long day and, by the time I was driving home from the St. Charles show, I felt like I was really getting rundown. The glands in my throat were becoming swollen and my throat was getting sore. I’m sure this was caused from my lack of sleep all week because of the discomfort of wearing the catheter.

By Sunday, I was feeling even worse and I took it easy all day. I went back to the gym on Monday and had a pretty intense chest and triceps workout but, by that evening, I was totally wiped out. The next day, I was full blown sick with completely swollen glands, a sore throat and big time congestion in my head. After a couple days off from the gym, I made the difficult decision to cancel my guest posing. I just wasn’t comfortable with getting onstage and doing a guest posing when I couldn’t train for a full week for almost a month because of all these complications.

The cold was pretty brutal and it took me all week to recover and feel better. Thankfully, by Saturday, November 3rd, I was feeling somewhat better and I was able to attend the NPC Natural Mid-States in Rockford, Illinois. Optimum Nutrition athlete and pro bodybuilder George Farah was guest posing that night and George and I appeared at Nutrition Discounters store in Villa Park during the day handing out Optimum Nutrition samples and answering questions on training and nutrition from the customers in the store. After our appearance at Nutrition Discounters, I drove George and his lovely fiancé Chandra Coffey to Rockford for his appearance at the contest.

By Monday, November 5th, I decided to start training again as the cold was much better. I wasn’t 100% and I would cough my head off everytime I started training in the gym but at least I was in there getting some blood moving again. I went really light that first week after more than a week off and I was really weak so I went really slow.

It’s been two weeks since I started training again and I’m finally starting to feel better. I’m more psyched up now to start training really hard again and make some real improvements in my physique. I definitely lost some muscle mass during this last month and I’m anxious to get my strength and size back.

Over the last few weeks, I have been toying with the idea of getting back onstage again. I will be 45 years old in 2008 so maybe I will make a comeback in the Masters division of the Natural Universe and Natural Olympia. Next year will be 10 years since I won the first ever Natural Olympia contest in 1998 so it would be sort of cool to return onstage and win the Masters division a decade later.

When I was in Rockford for the NPC Natural Mid-States, I got a chance to see my friend Murrell Hall back onstage. For those of you who don’t know Murrell, he is an incredible bodybuilder. At 66 years old, Murrell has competed in well over 100 bodybuilding contests in his lifetime and he is in a class by himself in the Masters division. He routinely competes in Kevin Noble’s natural contests in Rockford, Illinois in either May or November and he always shows up in fantastic shape with abs that most 20 year old bodybuilders would be proud to have. I was so impressed by Murrell, I wrote a full article on his training and nutrition for IronMan Magazine last year. In my opinion, Murrell represents everything good about the sport of bodybuilding.

Murrell recently had rotator cuff surgery earlier in the year after falling off a ladder. Imagine my surprise when I saw Murrell compete again onstage about 10 months after tearing his rotator cuff! The guy looked better than ever at 66 years old and he even took fourth place in the open division of the contest, beating competitors half his age. What an inspiration!

I’ve also been inspired by seeing some great physiques on the local level at all these competitions that I’ve been attending. Many of the natural bodybuilders today exhibit extreme conditioning and are harder than ever. A lot of them are not really that big but they are definitely in shape!

Since my last contest in 2004, I have always trained regularly and hard but it was more of a maintenance routine as opposed to a routine designed to make improvements to my physique. If I decide to get back onstage again, I want to spend a good 12 months of hard training to get my physique in awesome shape again. The competition today is better than ever and I would never dream of competing again unless I was really ready.

My first goal is to gradually increase my size and strength again. When I competed as a natural bodybuilder ten years ago, my strength was my muscular size. At my peak, I competed at a bodyweight of 204-208 pounds at 5’8”. I may not have been super shredded but I was big and proportionate and, if I was ripped enough, I was pretty hard to beat. I need to gain back as much muscle mass and size again without bulking up or getting fat.

My second goal is to improve certain areas of my physique that need attention (my weak points!). The first area I’m going to concentrate on is my legs. My thighs were always in danger of being out of proportion with my upper body because of the size of my back and arms. I need to gain more muscle mass in my quads as well as increase the separation and development in the upper area of the legs.

My next weak point is the glutes. Over the last decade, I’ve noticed the emphasis on judging the glutes and, more specifically, the glute/hamstring tie-in. All the judges, even in natural contests, determine if a competitor is really in shape by the condition of their glutes and hamstrings. If you have striated glutes, you are in shape. If you don’t, then you’re not!

I’ve never had striated glutes and I doubt if I ever will. I just carry too much fat in that area of my body so even if I am ripped with a bodyfat level of 5%, my glutes won’t have one line in them. However, I have to be honest and admit that I’ve never specifically trained my glutes directly. I’ve always gotten enough development in this area from doing squats and hack squats so exercises like lunges were not something I did on a regular basis. That will change this year. From now on, I will do some form of lunges every week for the next 12 months to see how hard and conditioned I can make my glutes.

So, I’m excited to get back in the gym with a renewed sense of purpose and dedication. If Murrell Hall can compete with rock-hard abs at 66 years old, what am I doing saying I’m too old to get back onstage at only 45 years old? Bodybuilders are only as old as they allow themselves to be. The years may keep advancing but we don’t have to let our bodies show the effects of Father Time. With a bodybuilding diet and training program, we can look great for a long, long time. If you don’t believe me, just ask Murrell!

Look for my Training Diary to return this week and every week after that for the next year. I’m back and ready to get into my best shape in years. See you at the gym!!

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