05/22/2024
Fitness and health. My name is Mike Hawkins, I am a retired, disabled veteran and own Interim HealthCare Utah. I was diagnosed with brain cancer at 49 years old and am writing short stories about my experiences through that challenge. I hope you find this beneficial. I have always been fit and enjoyed doing things that make me uncomfortable, partly to test myself and partly to see what happens. I pride myself on my health. I exercised in the gym, mostly lifting weights 4-5 times per week. I also played competitive baseball, I snow boarded, fly fished, and hiked a lot. I also enjoyed experimenting with various supplements and diets. I always maintained a body composition of 6% body fat. I really liked how I felt on a keto diet or after a 48 hour fast but found intermittent fasting to be a sustainable plan that fit my lifestyle. When I was 47 years old I was looking for an edge and a way to maintain my fitness and improve my energy so I started taking testosterone. I have a needle aversion so injecting myself the first couple times was hard, but I got used to it and was able to do it weekly. Results were apparent quickly–I grew muscle and lifts at the gym got easier, either able to do more weight and/or do more reps. I liked it a lot. As I got older, I always tried to be in what I called pre season shape, meaning I was fit enough to do anything but also not in shape for everything. For example, just because I could run for miles, I would also get very winded early in snowboarding season because I was not in snowboarding shape. Brain cancer was hard, but my fitness made it easier, I was much more resilient to the harsh drugs. I am disabled and I fall often, but because of my former athleticism, I am falling without getting hurt. I got brain cancer at 49 so I stopped the testosterone even though doctors said it does not correlate. Cancer left me pretty disabled so going to the gym was hard and frustrating. I can’t walk 30 seconds on a treadmill without holding on and all gripping or pushing exercises are not possible. Being idol was hard on me mentally. I never gained or lost much weight, always around 180 pounds, but a much softer 180 pounds. I saw an advertisement for Katalyst, an Electro Magnetic Stimulation suit that stimulates the muscles as if under load, but without the pressure on joints from weights. Doing Katalyst for the first time felt like lifting weights and I was whole body sore. Each workout is 20 minutes and the movements simulate the real movements, like squats, bench press, curls. I also bought a Concept 2 rowing machine as it is the only cardio I can do. I row 3-4 days per week and do Katalyst twice and exercise my abs every day. I have gotten leaner and gained 9 pounds in 4 months, amazing!!
