My Son – My New Gym Training Partner

I have a new workout partner, and he is kicking my ass.

Late last year my 13 year old son Jaiden decided he wanted to join a gym. My wife took him for his first workout and then I went with him a few times after that. Then one weekend we took a couple days off and that was it. Sadly he never went back to the gym until a couple months ago.

Suddenly a couple months back Jaiden decided that it would be great to get “ripped”. I am still not sure if ripped mean losing all his body fat or gaining lots of muscle but I guess I will find out eventually.

Our Original Workout Schedule

We started working our whole body in one workout and working out three days a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. Never more than one day off.

The workouts are really one exercise for 3 sets, 2 of which are to failure for each muscle group. The workouts are dragging up to about an hour and a quarter which is a bit longer than I would like.

The reason for this three full body workouts a week is that I wanted to make sure that Jaiden was getting the hang of the workouts and I didn’t want him pushing too hard and hurting himself.

For a 13 year old this is great. For his 50 year old dad maybe not so much.

New And Improved 2 Day Split Workouts

So, we have now started a 2 day split where we work half our body one day and the other half the next. This is much easier for me and we can hit each muscle group a bit harder. So Monday and Thursday are legs, back, and biceps, while Tuesday and Friday are chest, shoulders, and triceps.

We are also now trying to do two exercises per muscle group for 4 sets each including that first warmup set.

So far my old body, with old bones, because I am an old man (as my 17 year old daughter say) is holding up ok, but On Thursday I also played street hockey so I am still recovering on this fine Saturday.

It is funny to watch my wife and daughter plead with Jaiden to take it easy on me like I have no say on my sets. But really I am just fighting against my own biological clock. Not sure if I am winning yet?

And I whine like a little baby. My wife and daughter hate it. With our original workouts I was just not recovering fast enough and Jaiden would keep pushing me so I was sore for a few weeks. Jaiden hurt his back and was out for a week (more about that in another post) but made sure that I didn’t miss more than 1 workout.

I Have Had To Adjust A Lot And Am Loving The Gym Again

Having a training parter is great. So far only some spotting from Jaiden although I am comfortable spotting him a lot whenever he needs it. I am much more focussed in the gym and enjoying my workouts more than I have in a long time. Especially good because Jaiden is so excited about working out and seeing the changes in his body.

I have to teach him everything about form, weights, muscle groups, recovery, nutrition, set pacing and length, and reps per set. He challenges me a lot and I have to make sure I am doing my homework and not just using old wisdom that has since changed with research.

I know that we are still in the honeymoon phase of this new workout regimen, I have not told Jaiden anything about hitting plateaus, or going weeks without gains, but there is no way I want to discourage him at this point. I just guide him along and make sure he is eating right and training well without cheating and using the proper form.

Eating Schedule – Like a Man Obsessed

As for eating Jaiden is hardcore. He eats 6 or 7 times a day, portions his food and macros so that he will get 30 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs or so per meal.

Jaiden is shooting for 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and 2 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight a day. Lots of chicken, eggs, tuna, brocolli, spinach, Multigrain bread, and brown rice. He is eating pretty clean but when he falls off and has a chocolate bar he will tend to have three. I am amazed how much a 13 year old can eat.

I myself have upped my protein but probably not enough yet. Just an extra serving of maybe a protein shake or a can of tuna over what I was eating before.

Jaiden is getting lot of sleep as well. He had some ADD and OCD, and anxiety issues so for some reason he needs a lot more sleep than most kids his age. Anywhere from 10-12 hours of sleep a night but never tired during the day.

So here I am on the couch on Canada Day. I rode down to see a parade this morning. I will be hanging out at our neighbors house this afternoon and will not be back to the gym until Monday. I am feeling great about the improvements in my body and with this two days off will make sure that I rest and sleep plenty so I am ready to get back to the gym with my very very tough training partner.

The post My Son – My New Gym Training Partner appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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Four Months Post Kidney Donation – My Experience

Four months after kidney donation. Wow, have times changed in my life.

A couple days ago I reached my 4 months post kidney donation. Back on August 11th, I donated a kidney to my daughter in a surgery that was pretty exciting for our family and all of those around us.

Back in May by daughter Taylor had her kidneys pulled out in the first step towards doing a kidney transplant. Usually, when a person is getting prepared for a kidney transplant the recipient will not have to have their kidneys taken out but, in this case, her kidneys were not retaining any water at all and we were going to run into a lot of problems post-transplant because of that.

So, Taylor had her kidneys pulled, and we held our breath knowing that she would have to rely on dialysis every night to clean her blood and get super healthy enough to have a successful kidney transplant using one of my kidneys.

Prepping for Kidney Donation Surgery

I originally had a lot of testing to get the ok to be a kidney transplant donor back late in 2012 and since it had been so long since that testing I had to go through a bunch of the testing again. Not a big deal. The hospital had to check my general health again as well as my kidney function in particular. A few hours in the hospital and we had all of the testing taken care of.

Then strange as it may seem we needed to do a crossmatch test. The basics of a crossmatch are to see if we shared the same O negative blood type (we do). There is an extra blood test that Taylor and I did at the same time to see if we had both been exposed to the same viruses growing up. They compare the antigens.

We did this crossmatch just a few days before the transplant was scheduled and it turned out great.

Then our countdown was just making sure that we were staying healthy. I did not have any diet restrictions or anything special and neither did Taylor but the day before surgery everything got ready and prepped.

Day of Surgery

Taylor was first. She went into hospital a couple days early and instead of the regular dialysis 10 hours a day they did very aggressive dialysis for 32 hours until just an hour or two before surgery started.

As for me, I showed up the day before surgery. Fasted overnight and had an enema before bed and then I was all ready for surgery.

Yay, Surgery day. Taylor and I were both very excited. My wife Michelle and son Jaiden were nervous.Our surgery was scheduled for first thing in the morning. Taylor and I each had a separate operating room and everything went smoothly for our laparoscopic surgery:

Our surgery was scheduled for first thing in the morning. Taylor and I each had a separate operating room and everything went smoothly for our laparoscopic surgery:

• We were each put to sleep
• My surgeon pulled out my kidney and brought it a few feet away to Taylors operating room
• Taylors surgeon put my old kidney into Taylor and connected up the plumbing while my surgeon closed me up

I am sure this process is a lot more difficult then I just described But I was back in my room before lunch and Taylor not long after that either. These transplant surgeries are quite quick and much more common than most people know.

My Kidney Donation Recovery

After Laproscopic Kidney Donation stitches and bloated

My immediate recovery was a bit messy for me. I had a catheter inserted during surgery to make sure they could watch to make sure I was passing enough fluids and not much blood.

As for pain medication, I found that I react terribly to any narcotics but this took us a couple days of nausea and experimenting to figure out.

Regular Tylenol was my friend for the next couple weeks

Before I was allowed to leave the hospital I had to be able to eat, have the strength to walk, have control over post op pain, and be able to poo.

Really the biggest problem for me before I left the hospital was getting my energy back to walk and getting my oxygen level good.

The funniest part of this whole process was my discovering on the third day that I was supposed to be breathing through my nose for the oxygen tube in my nose to work correctly. I certainly had some consciousness problems

Finally, I left the Alberta Childrens Hospital four days after surgery. My daughter felt like she was ready to leave before me, but they kept her another three days after me.

Finally Home For Real Recovery

Once I got home from the hospital I was tired and not allowed to do much. I laid down on the couch a lot and slept on and off but was quite tired for at least a week and probably two weeks really after I got home.

I tend to be a big eater and the lack of real exercise seemed to drop my appetite for at least a couple months after the surgery. I am back to my regular eating now but I think my regular exercise routine has a lot to do with that.

Considering I had lots of stitches both internally and out on my stomach I did not have a lot of pain in my gut but instead I had a lot of pain in my shoulder.

There is a nerve in your diaphragm that leads to your shoulder. During laparoscopic surgery, my stomach was pumped up with CO2 and this led to an irritation of the diaphragm nerve that pushed pain into my shoulder nerve. I found that this condition is actually really common although not as common a week after surgery.

I found that this condition is actually really common although not as common a week after surgery. My shoulder was in pain and throbbing, but the Tylenol seemed to help as long as I kept the dose up.

I had another problem with my shoulder that I am actually still fighting with and that is a weakness in my rotator cuff. During surgery since your muscles do not have any control apparently my arm was laying too far over my head and it hurt my shoulder. One of my shoulder muscles on my left side is still quite weak, but I am working on that.

Other than these little aches and pains I have recovered well. I was starting to take long walks a week after surgery, but would be pretty tired for the rest of the day for another week or two. Really my overall tiredness took probably 5 weeks to really go away. I was back working part time three weeks after surgery and full time 5 weeks post-op.

Really my overall tiredness took probably 5 weeks to really go away. I was back working part time three weeks after surgery and full time 5 weeks post-op.

I wasn’t allowed to lift anything over 20 pounds for 6 weeks after surgery and really I didn’t start training at all until about 9 weeks after surgery. I am now 16 weeks or so after my kidney donation and I think I am fine physically.

The two of us in the hospital the day after kidney transplant

One last thing that I have to watch is my remaining kidney and how well it works. Research seems to show that the remaining kidney will experience hypertrophy, this means it will grow and have a greater working ability.

I am getting monthly tests for my GFR and Creatinine levels and right now my creatinine is getting better. Normal is under 100 and in the last month I went from 162 to 151 so my kidney is basically doing its job and is still month by month getting better.

I am getting monthly tests for my GFR and Creatinine levels and right now my creatinine is getting better. Normal is under 100 and in the last month I went from 162 to 151 so my kidney is basically doing its job and is still month by month getting better.

In my situation, I was of course very motivated to help my very own daughter with her kidney disease. Really though, if given this opportunity to help even a stranger this is something that anyone can do. This is a surgery with very little long term effects to the donor but for the recipient, it is truly life changing. I wish I could do it again, but with only one remaining kidney that would be a very bad idea.

The post Four Months Post Kidney Donation – My Experience appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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2 Week Kidney Transplant Countdown

I will be writing a couple of articles about kidney disease over the next couple weeks and even though you may not be touched by it yourself, kidney disease is crazy popular as a diease to watch out for.

1 in 3 people is at risk today for kidney disease and 1 in 20 is currently struggling with kidney disease

The reason for this interest right now in kidney disease is because in two weeks I will be going under the knife to donate a kidney to my daughter.

Our Kidney Disease History

We have known for almost four years now that our daughter Taylor was going to need a kidney transplant at some point. Back a few years ago after a few blood tests and X Rays we were told that our daughter had acquired nephronophthisis, a genetic broken spot, that meant that her kidneys were just going to get worse and eventually she would have to lose her kidneys and get a donor to give her a new kidney.

I was tested once Taylor got closer to needing a kidney and since I am her dad I ended up being a good match and was healthy enough to donate to her as well.

Then two months ago as a preparation for the kidney transplant Taylor had her kidneys pulled out and has been on dialysis since. She does dialysis for 10 hours a night and then a couple extra exchanges during the day. This is not as common.

Usually a kidney transplant will just be an additional kidney added to the two that a person already has. In Taylors case though there was a real problem with her urine output being too high so she would not have had a good chance at a good outcome with one of my kidneys.

So wish me luck these next two weeks. I am starting to feel the pressure of getting everything just right.

Trying to get things right around my house, around my work, and around my family so that everything will be ready for my few weeks of bedrest after the surgery while at the same time helping my wife with the healing process for my daughter.

Wish us luck!

The post 2 Week Kidney Transplant Countdown appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.

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