how to help a friend?

[cavemuscle]

Got a buddy at the gym, trains with Lance Ross. Super Nice, quiet, TONS of natural talent, he has "the Look" blond, naturally smooth, grows like a demon.

HOWEVER. He has some sort of heart problem we all just found out about. Makes the heavy workouts Lance likes to train with very difficult for him. At times he has to go into the aerobics room and lie down with his arms stretched out to catch his breath.

This last heavy leg workout two weeks ago he announced he was done with bodybuilding, he'd do nothing but cardio and ab work. We, Tom and I, think it's burn out. Lance is 28 and expects everyone to keep up with him, Jeff is 48 with 8 kids and an electrical business.

I'm going to give Jeff a shout and let him know that when he's ready, Tom and I would be interested in having him train with us. We are both in our 50's so we get the age-health issue thing.

Is there anything else you guys can think of, any other examples I can show him to let him know he can achieve what I know he wants and not kill himself in the process? I hate to lose a friend and I hate seeing awesome talent go to waste.

B

[RUBICON19]

I think you have a great idea right there. Let him know how much talent you think he has and bring him aboard with you

[cavemuscle]

Thanks Randy. I did tell him that coming back from Europa that there were guys in the Masters Novice 40 to 49 that could not hold a candle to him and that he needed to be showing NOW. I did not push it tho because I did not want to get between Lance and his client. Maybe I should have tried harder.

[mrbeefy]

I would find the articles about Mike Matarazzo (sp?)
He is a pro, with a family. had a heart problem, had bypass surgery, went through tough times, and is now coming back.

I wouldn't be surprised that if you could find an address/e-mail for him, that he wouldn't mind talking/sharing with him personally, his jourbey.

JUts a thought.

Good luck to all of you...he will come around.

[mrbeefy]

oops! sorry...I think the articles were either in FLEX or Muscular Development (MD) Magazines.

[cavemuscle]

Thanks Beefy, I'll do that!

[EBA84]

What type of heart problem does he have?

[cavemuscle]

I'm not sure, I've really not pushed it with him, figuring he'd tell me more when he felt ready.

[EBA84]

The reason I asked is that I have a heart condition known as atrial fibrallation. Although it really isn't life threatening, it did play on my mind and affect my workouts for a long time. Maybe your friend has this condition. I also wanted to just quit working out when I found out I had it. Makes it very difficult to exert yourself during workouts because over exertion can bring on an irregular heart beat and I would find myself laying in the aerobics room just as your friend. I finally found a doctor who got it under control by giving me a beta blocker. I have been fine ever since and am working out harder then ever with no restrictions. If this is what your friend has I can understand why feels as he does. When you find out you have a problem with your heart, it crushes your world. You can live without a few things in the body but the heart isn't one of them.

[beckie]

he needs someone to train with that he doesn't feel he has to 'keep up with'. I train with a bunch of other competitors each weekend and we are all at different levels,so we just do whatever the exercise is at our own pace. I would seriously burn out and do myself injury if I tried to keep up with some of their high intensity training.