Transcription
Because if we make it better, it's going to be whatever's. This is just saving. I'm going to flush it for you. That's all. That's just to clean his hair.
[Music]
What is going on, guys? Welcome to the video. This one's going to be a bit different. You might remember at the end of last week's vlog, I got back from the emergency room. I could not walk because of this excruciating lower back pain. And since then, well, I went back to the emergency room. I got an MRI done. And let's just say I got some good news and I got some bad [Music] [Music] news.
Now, before I catch you guys up to speed, I want to give you a gift. Because you see, last week on my Instagram, I posted this story of this salted honey iced latte I made. And I got a lot of DMs asking how I made it. And honestly, this [ __ ] is fire. We have not been back to Starbucks since we've been making this. Well, it's not like we can go to Starbucks with his back. Well, I can't even make it. Julia's got to make it. So, Julia, show them step one.
Step one, you take an empty glass. You put some honey in the bottom of the glass. And you're going to put a little sea salt on top of the honey like this. Just a little bit. And then you brew the espresso shot into the honey so that it fuses the flavors together. Then you just take a fork and you mix the honey, the salt, and the espresso in there. And then just throw it in the freezer for like 30 minutes to cool down. That's the crucial step. You pour ice in there. Fill it up with ice all the way. You're going to put a cap on there. And then you're going to You might have to do this, Julia. You're going to shake the ice with the espresso and it's going to get nice and foamy like that.
Now to make the cold foam, little half and half goes in there. A little bit of powdered sugar. You got that all over my face. And then you're going to use the whisker inside there for like 60 seconds. This is also great to mix up protein shakes and things like that. Yeah. Just like that, baby. Look at how aesthetic that looks, bro.
The pool has been my sanctuary this week. Just so when you're floating in here, it's just like zero gravity. It's one of the only places that I can be where there's no pressure, no weight, no weird pain on that lumbar spine. Cheers. [ __ ] delicious, man.
Now, based on the comments in the last video, it seems that many of you have also struggled with crippling lower back pain. So, let me take you back to when it all started about 15 years ago. I was 20 years old at university at a late night house party and the guys who own the house decide the party's over. Everyone get the [ __ ] out of the house. Now, I was there with a good friend of mine and he couldn't find his wallet. So, he's searching through the sofa. We're the last two guys there and they're like, "Get the [ __ ] out of the house." So, I decide I'm going to stand up for my friend. Things start to escalate. Some fists get thrown. I get tackled onto the floor. It's like a two versus eight fight. I get tackled onto the floor. Three guys body weight on top of me. And I land just under my lower back. There's a candle or something on the floor. And for the next 3 months, my back is just [ __ ] bro.
Now, the funny thing is the next morning, I had a moving job scheduled. Me and my other friend, this big strong Mexican guy, we used to move people's furniture for extra cash. So, we show up to this mansion in Brooklyn, Massachusetts to do the job. And I'm like, "Bro, I don't know how much help I'm going to be today." He's got straight sofas on his back by himself that he's carrying while I'm moving around like little pieces of paper one by one. But he was gracious enough to still split the the money with me 50/50.
Now, my back healed up after that, and it was actually pretty solid until two or three years later when I was working as a personal trainer and I was starting to do heavy squats and deadlifts. So, one Sunday morning, I'm at the gym. It's empty and I'm pushing for a PR on deadlifts. And as I'm coming up, something snaps. Something pops in my back. I literally collapsed to the ground for like 10 minutes. I I couldn't move. I thought I was paralyzed. I hobbled myself into my old Honda Civic, drove to the emergency room, and again, for three months, I was kind of injured in recovering and healing. But eventually, I got better.
Back in the hot tub, alternating between the hot and cold, always effective. But look, bro, after those two incidents, it's just been like once or twice per year I'll push myself too hard in the gym, squatting or deadlifting, and then I'll have to back off and rest for a few months and I'm okay again. But if I'm being honest with myself, really, the last 2 years, it's basically just been consistent lower back pain with almost no relief from it. But I'm the type of guy who if I can just push through it and kind of ignore it, I'll just keep [ __ ] pushing through it and ignoring it because I can do it.
But a couple weeks ago after the long flight back from Spain, I felt something was really off. Then I did this super heavy lunge and deadlift workout with Max and it just started getting worse and worse. But then after the Beast Nation event last week, which was super dope, by the way, but after that, I just couldn't push through anymore. It got to the point I could not put any weight on my left foot. And I thought, it can't get any worse than this, man. This is the worst pain of my life. And somehow the next day it got even worse. And the day after that, it got even worse. And it's hard to admit this on camera, but I was in my bed right there in the bedroom crying to myself in the middle of the night because I couldn't get myself off of the bed to go pee. And I even left a Gatorade bottle next to the bed for myself to pee in. And I couldn't even get myself off the edge of the bed to do it. And I started thinking like, what if this doesn't get better? What if I live with this pain for the rest of my life and I can barely walk the rest of my life? How can I be an effective husband and a strong father and a motivational YouTuber and a successful businessman? Like, it's over. All of this shit's over. I'm [ __ ] My mind just started to go to these really, really, really dark places.
But the next day, I had an appointment scheduled with the neurosurgeon to hopefully get this all figured out. And let's just say that it did not go according to plan. So Julia has been a very supportive wife during this time, helping me at this low point. And the funny thing is, I actually got her a gift unrelated to this before this that I still haven't given her yet. I don't know what I'm doing. Obviously, I don't need to take that off. And I do think that it's a very powerful move as a man to get your girl gifts randomly out of the blue. It's a little bit more powerful than, you know, buying her flowers to say sorry or doing some other simp [ __ ] Just a pro tip for you.
This is from this brand called Ideal, and they got some uh really cool, unique jewelry and different pieces. So, let's see what she thinks. I got you something. What'd you get me? Open it up. Take a look. Beautifully wrapped. Oo, guys. Look how beautiful this is. Literally stunning. Are you kidding me? Thank you, babe. You're welcome. I love it. So, it's these two gold bracelets with these different diamond designs on them. It's stunning. I'm obsessed with it.
Now, guys, Ideal is actually the sponsor of today's video. So whether you're looking for something special for your girl or something for your mom with Mother's Day around the corner, I highly recommend checking them out. Designed in Antworp, the diamonds capital of the world, each piece passes through eight pairs of skilled hands, bringing exceptional craft and genuine care to every detail. They use top quality lab created diamonds, and you can choose between yellow, white, or rose gold for the jewelry. And something that's really cool is the jewelry is designed to be modular, which means you can pick different add-ons to create truly unique pieces. They even have 24/7 styling assistance to help you out whether you're unsure about the right size or just want a second opinion. And guys, any girl would be obsessed with this. Just click that first link in description to shop Ideals best offers. There's no coupon code needed, but if you click that special link, the discounts are automatically going to apply. Check it out.
Pre-workout is kicking in. Starting to feel those tingles. Big workout today. We got a push workout with the hypertrophy focus in the Beastly app. And we're trying to make some serious PRs today, man. Is this a joke? Tell me that's not pre-workout. Well, I can't upload a video without having a workout in it. Are you You can't even walk. This is a hydration, guys. I will not be working out today. Oh my god. I literally was going to kill him. I am afraid of losing gains. I am afraid of losing gains, but I had a a chiropractor/physical therapist come by. She showed me some rehab movements to work on. So, I'm going hit those. Mhm. Fa. He has FOMO. I do.
All right. So, the first movement is to work on my anterior pelvic tilt. A lot of us have the tendency to pop our butt up like that, especially when we're doing squats or deadlifts. That's not good. That's not a neutral spine. So, what you do is you get flat on the floor. You tend to have an arch in your back. So, I'm going to push my back flat against the floor and work on breathing deep into my belly and contracting my core. Belly rises, belly falls, and then I'm going to extend my feet forward while staying flat. It's progressive. And I'll just show you one more movement today.
So, that sciatic nerve that right now is compressed somewhere back here leading to all that pain and numbness in my foot. Still can't feel my foot. We're going to do a nerve floss. So, I'm going to come here. I'm going to get this foot here. Stretch the hamstring as much as I can. And I already start to feel a deep pain through here. And you start to flex the ankle like that to work on stretching out that sciatic nerve. It is not fun to do, but I do it a lot. I try to do these things every couple hours to work on getting better.
[Music] [Music] some much needed evening pool therapy. Let's get back to the story.
So, it's the morning of my appointment with the neurosurgeon and I wake up. Actually, I don't wake up cuz I didn't sleep at all that night. But morning comes around and I tell Julia, "Look, honestly, I'm I'm afraid. I don't even know how I'm gonna get into the car. Can you just call the neurosurgeon and confirm that they'll be able to do the MRI and any treatment at that one location?" She calls them and they're like, "No, you got to come here first, then somewhere else for the MRI and maybe somewhere else for the treatment." And I'm like, "Julie, it's going to be a miracle if I can even get myself into the car. There's no way I can go to three locations." So the neurosurgeon says, "Look, just go to the emergency room. I can communicate with them. They can do everything there."
So somehow I slowly roll myself into the car. car. It's a 35minut drive to the hospital. It feels like 3 and 1/2 hours, bro. It's excruciating pain. I get there. I manage my way into the waiting room. I'm literally lying on the floor in the waiting room. After about 30 minutes, they come get me and uh they wheel me to the back. Now, at this point, they've talked to the neurosurgeon and they hook me up to an IV. They inject a steroid shot, not anabolics, not for gains, but for anti-inflammation and also a heavy muscle relaxing. And after about an hour, for the first time in days, I have some relief. I'm able to like, oh man, look, I can move my leg a little bit without completely feeling I'm about to die. This is amazing.
Then after that, I sat there and I waited a short 11 hours for the MRI, which normally you'd be like, damn, that sucks. 11 hours waiting for MRI. But because I was in had some level of relief, it wasn't that bad. I was able to kind of like lean over on the hospital bed, edit that week's vlog. The homie Patrick came by. He brought me some snacks and refreshments that unfortunately they told me I couldn't eat. I didn't eat anything that day. I couldn't eat before the MRI. And then around 11:00 p.m. they wheel me into the MRI room. I've never had an MRI before, but for those of you who have, you know, it's actually kind of a scary process because they put you in this tiny little tube. It's super claustrophobic. The guy's telling me people have legitimate like anxiety attacks and panic attacks in there cuz you can't move. So, you got to be in there for like 30 minutes to an hour. Luckily, mine was only like 25 minutes cuz it was just my lumbar spine. But, it's just dark. There's no space and it's it's not a great experience.
So right here I got the MRI results. A little bit wet, still good. Last week I told you I thought I had an L5 S1 disc herniation putting pressure on that left sciatic nerve causing the problems down my left side. And I was right. L5S1 herniation. Now I also have an L4 L5 desiccation. So some slight uh damage to the disc right on top of that. That's probably from my older injuries. The question is of course will I need surgery? Well, essentially this could go one of two ways. Right now, I've actually been improving every day. Take a look at this. This is the first day I'm able to walk around without leaning on that computer chair. Pretty amazing, man.
The moment you lose your health, bro, the moment you're in pain or you have a serious illness, you realize how much you've been taking it for granted. Like, I I was laying on that bed thinking to myself, I would trade all of my money just to have my health back without even thinking about it. So, as a reminder right now, if you are not in pain and you're able to move around, even if your, you know, different parts of your life aren't where you want them to be, be [ __ ] thankful for that, bro. There's a lot of people that don't have that luxury. There's a lot of people that actually are paralyzed and are in pain every day.
But whether or not I need surgery will depend what happens over the next few days. I'm taking the oral steroids they prescribe me now, not anabolics to keep the inflammation down. I'm also taking the oral muscle relaxants. So, if I keep improving and after I get off the drugs that the pain's gone, obviously I won't need surgery. But for a lot of people, once the drugs wear off, I think everything comes back. I'm praying that that's not the case. If it is the case, the surgery would be what they call a micro disquettomy or disottomy where they just shave off the part of the disc that's protruding into the nerve. It's not that serious of a surgery, luckily. Luckily, but obviously, I still don't want that to happen.
Either way though, this is going to [ __ ] change my life. Like, I'm making sure this is going to be a life-changing moment because I can't just, you know, get better and then go back to what I was doing. That wasn't sustainable, man. First of all, I think I'm going to stop doing RDL's because that's something that always irritates my back. I've also told Julia that she has permission to slap me in the face if I'm complaining about my back hurting, but I'm not doing anything about it. You know, PT, seeing chiropractors, taking it seriously. And also, I think that while of course I'll still prioritize the gains and the muscle mass, I'm also going to start to prioritize doing something athletic like playing paddle just as much because I don't want to be one of these old muscle bound guys who's got a [ __ ] up back, man. I want to age gracefully. I got a kid now and um I'm going to use this pain as a reason to change. I want you guys to hold me accountable, too.
So, David is not eating enough calories. He's all worried about losing weight. So, I said I was going to make my homemade sourdough pizza crust. I don't know what it is, but since being a mom, I'm obsessed with baking bread and making pizza dough. Bro, this is looking fire. Woo! She got me up off my feet type of pizza, man. Delissioso. Got some Roni for you. Big brother eat first. Here you go, bro. Literally the only way to cut pizzas. And I know all the Italians in there freaking the [ __ ] out. But what we got going on here, Julie? A little pepperoni, sausage, onion, some red flakes on there. It actually looks like a 10 out of 10. I never give you a 10 out of 10. Give me a 10 out of 10. That crust is perfect. Look at the bottom of that crust. Nine out of 10 right there. Nine out of 10. What? What, guys? If he was not injured, I was just going to kick him in the butt, but then I remembered that would probably I s I sense something coming and I kind of I kind of was bracing for it. That would send him back to the emergency room.
Going to lay back, eat this pizza. Hopefully, I can eat it lying down and we're going to watch a new movie. It's available for streaming for renting called Freaky Tales. We've not seen the trailer, which is always a risk. It's always bad. But no, it's got it's got good reviews and it's got good actors. Mhm. I think I think it's going to work out for us this time. Ganderdog believes he can do the impossible. Defeat the bully, sell enough mixtapz to get out of the hood. I can say with certainty, this underdog has seen his last day. Hi, I'm Sleepy Floyd. It was really unique. I think like a 8 out of 10. It was not what I expected. It's a very weird movie. Yeah, really weird. But I give it like a 8.25 out of 10. It was It was good. It was very entertaining. It was very entertaining. You've seen the trailer now. I was going to say I was going to say don't even watch the trailer, but you've seen it. You know what it's like. Kill Bill.
That all being said, I'm wrapping up editing this video. I'm still like kneeling down, leaning on the bed to do this. Don't really have the confidence to sit down at all yet. Also, not not feeling quite as good today as yesterday, but I'll keep you guys posted next week how it goes with the surgeon appointment. Appreciate all the kind wishes. Appreciate all the prayers. Love you guys.
If you made it to the end of this video, don't stop watching now. You can click right there to see my most recent upload next. That one was a banger. Click there to watch that now. Now, if you're new to the channel, click down there to subscribe as I upload two new videos every single week, even when I'm injured. You don't want to miss them. I'll talk to you in the next video. Stay beastly.