LiftforHealth.com

For some, working out is purely utilitarian. They participate in a sport and train for their best performance. They don't exercise because they love it. Exercise is merely a means to an end. All exercise is geared towards their sport. When they graduate from school or move on to other endeavors, they quit working out. An athlete who was once in great shape eventually becomes as flabby and decrepit as everyone else.

Many athletes suffer debilitating injuries to their shoulders, knees, elbows, backs. Many powerlifters lift entirely too much weight, tearing ligaments and tendons, and compressing vertebrae.

Bodybuilders have greater love of working out for its own sake. They revel in being in shape. The thought of becoming an out-of-shape sloth is horrifying to them. However, many are too extreme, willing to inject harmful chemicals into their God-given bodies to attain short-term gains. Consequently, many bodybuilders die young.

For me, I'm not an athlete, powerlifter or bodybuilder. But I have always loved working out. It has a drug-like euphoric effect. I can be down before a workout and feel on top of the world afterwards.

As I age (I'm 64), my goal is to remain strong and vibrant as long as I can. But I've had a few health challenges on the way that have affected my goals and how I work out. In early 2019, I came down with double pneumonia. Due to problems breathing, I made the mistake of going to the ER. The hospital doctors nearly killed me with their antibiotics. I was in the hospital for 12 nights. The doctors diagnosed me with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), hypoxemia, acute pulmonary edema, a collapsed lung, sepsis, kidney failure (caused by their damn antibiotics). The mortality rate for my ARDS severity level is 40 to 50%. When I came home, I was a complete mess. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I even had to use a walker for several days because I was so weak and unsteady.

In the following weeks, I was diagnosed as having NSIP or non-specific interstitial pneumonia. Mine was said to be fibrotic, which is a form of pulmonary fibrosis or lung scarring. One pulmonologist prescribed prednisone, which I stupidly took for a couple weeks. But then I realized that prednisone was entirely destructive. In the mere two weeks that I took this medical poison, it raised my resting heart rate to over 100 beats per minute. Prednisone also causes muscle and bone loss and leads to diabetes. People on prednisone long-term become frail, break bones easily, and are reduced to a shadow of their former selves. So I took myself off that garbage.

I then found that the answers to my condition were in naturopathic medicine, not big pharma. For instance, my lung scarring explained why I had issues with exercise-induced broncho-constrictions going back over 20 years. Prednisone would not have helped. But I found that nebulizing with Reduced L-Glutathione Plus from Theranaturals for a few weeks eliminated the broncho-constrictions.

In the past, it seemed like there was a red line I could not cross. If I worked out too hard, I would suffer what felt like an asthma attack. It was as if a tight belt was wrapped around my chest restricting my breathing when I needed oxygen the most. It was painful and even frightening. But now because of nebulizing with glutathione, I can exercise to complete exhaustion if I want, and still breathe. There is no more red line.

I also discovered anti-fibrotic enzymes. Dr. William Wong sells a product called Zymessence, which contains pancreatin, serrapeptase, bromelain, and papain. Zymessence helped to stabilize and even improve my condition. CT scans between mid-2019 and mid-2020 showed a reduction in the ground glass opacities in my lungs, the small lines of scarring had remained stable, and a lung nodule had shrunk 80 percent. Since I have sworn off medical doctors, I have not gotten any subsequent CT scans and may never do another one again.

I also supplement with NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) and various vitamins. Further, I found that the over-the-counter drug zyrtec or its generic equivalents almost eliminate a constant cough caused by a related condition called traction bronchiectasis (stretching and deformation of airways due to the lung scarring).

So now I believe that the condition is under control and the pulmonary fibrosis will not shorten my life. I have also learned better methods of caring for my immune system. I always have on hand large amounts of liposomal vitamin C, vitamin D, grape seed extract, monolaurin, ivermectin (I use horse paste and am proud of it), and 3% food grade hydrogen peroxide for nebulizing. I took vitamin C when I got sick in 2019, but not nearly enough, and did not take the other supplements that I just named.

I had another incident in October 2021 in which I tore a distal tendon in my left bicep. I was hanging by my left arm from a chin up bar getting ready to do a one-arm chin up, when I heard an ugly popping, crackling sound. In the following days, my left arm became heavily bruised with blood under the skin. I even had trouble using my arm.

But not wanting to see a doctor or bother with their covid nonsense, I did not have it examined. A doctor would have recommended surgery. Something I did not want. Instead, I chose to let it heal naturally and devise my own rehabilitation program. A year later, my left arm is at full strength for everything but bicep curls, and I’m regaining my strength there as well.

With all that said, my number one workout emphasis is my lungs. I use high intensity interval training to push my lungs and make myself breathe hard. A small portion of my lungs are damaged by the scarring. I force the remainder of my lungs to make up the difference. At 64, and despite my condition, my wind is better now than when I was much younger.

My second area of emphasis is muscular endurance. I insist on being able to do a large number of pushups, pullups, and the like. The last emphasis is strength. I have found that resistance bands allow for strength training that is easier on the joints than heavy weights.

The lifelong emphasis on exercise has caused me to be youthful for my age. Yes, I have wrinkles and my hair is graying. I also have some arthritis which collagen supplements have helped greatly. Nonetheless, I am stronger and more muscular than most guys in their 20s. And unlike many hard core athletes, I don’t have all the debilitating injuries. My one bicep tendon injury is going away and I feel fine.

The point is regular exercise is the way to go. It works. It keeps you more youthful. I can’t imagine a life without regular exercise.

The line and I feel fine, made me think of this song: