My climb back to Bodybuilding Competition ONLY 5 MONTHS After a Hip Resurfacing surgery.

On July 24, 2010, Ron Noreman Wins the Masters Division of NPC Empire States Bodybuilding Championships ONLY Five months post op from Right Hip Resurfacing surgery on January 19, 2010!

The contest is a goal, but the achievment is climbing back up the mountain once again.

Attached below is a picture, from this morning, of my quads 9 days out from the Empire State Championships. Keep in mind that this is 5 months after a hip resurfacing ( by Dr Scott Marwin) and  double- complete quad ruptures in 2002 which were reattached (by Dr Neil Watnik). I feel very blessed to have made the progress I have achieved and I'm sure there will be more to come.

Update August 27, 2010

EMPIRE STATES MASTERS CHAMPION THE HARD WAY WAY
 
How Ron Noreman forced his way back from hip resurfacing surgery in just five months for the win.
By John Romano
 
Ron Noreman is as much a bodybuilder as he’s not a bodybuilder.  A lot of guys fit their lives around bodybuilding.  Sometimes to the degree that if something doesn’t fit they don’t make a concession; they live their lives in the gym and make as much a living as they can in and around their doing such things as personal training, diet counseling, contest prep or whatever it takes to survive. Bodybuilding comes first to these people. 

Ron, on the other hand, is one of those guys who fit bodybuilding in around his life.  Given such an idealistic stance on the reality of pursuing physique art to a competitive degree, it’s hard to imagine that as a husband, a father, a partner in a prestigious CPA firm and a tax litigator certified as one of 200 CPAs in the entire country certified to practice in federal tax court, that he would also have competed in 45 shows over 26 years (32 years training) with no less than 35 first and second place finishes.  In perhaps the most ardent portrayal of success in duality, Ron is no less a bodybuilder than he is anything else.
 
The 35 first and second place finishes in 45 shows over 26 years is just the tip of the iceberg. Guys who do as well as Ron has in their professional lives generally splurge on things mere mortals cannot. If I were wearing Ron’s Prada shoes I’d have a garage full of Porsches and Ferraris.  Ron, instead, has a 3,000 square foot basement full of gym equipment.

Such a description could be interpreted many ways. So let’s be clear. I’m not talking about a damp, dusty, basement with some old worn out gym relics stacked in the corner. To the contrary, Ron’s basement could almost be considered a bodybuilding museum. It is an impeccably clean series of finished sections and rooms with rubber flooring containing an amalgam of some of the best weight machines ever designed by some companies that no longer even exist: Pendulum, Nebula, Cybex, AFS, Nautilus, Hammer; tons of plates (literally), fixed bars, and a rack of custom dumbbells that say “Ron’s Gym” on the ends that go up to 150 lbs. He called me the other day raving about the 12 new pieces of equipment he just acquired- 6 of them for legs and hips. In the package he got six, vintage, first generation Nautilus machines in perfect condition. To the bodybuilding aficionado, Ron’s Gym is every inch a garage filled with Porsches and Ferraris. And, like some guys with such a stable at their disposal, Ron drives them – old school and hardcore.
 
I have personally been one of the very few, extremely lucky, guys to have been invited to train in Ron’s Gym. Suffice it to say that if you are in the old school and hardcore mindset, then training with Ron in his home gym is one of those refreshing experiences that you just can’t get in a public gym. If you are as demented as I am, it’s nothing less than a slice of heaven.
 
Post training, the assiduous attention to details continues in the gourmet kitchen upstairs. I’ve had the pleasure of rattling the pots and pans up there a few times and thrown together some incredible post training meals with a litany of fresh and unique ingredients Ron procures from all kinds of places, not one of which being a run of the mill supermarket. The meal is, of course, topped off with a stack of custom recuperative goodies.  Ron is a self-taught holistic nutrition expert who has created 10 antioxidant supplements that are still sold internationally. He pretty much leaves no stone unturned when it comes to growth and repair, and lives this lifestyle every day. Ron is, on all counts, a bodybuilder’s bodybuilder.
 
With such an affinity for bodybuilding and the wherewithal to pursue it at a very high level, there is probably more than one person who will ultimately state that if everything I just said was true, and then how come Ron isn’t a top pro Olympia competitor? I hate dignifying such stupidity with commentary; however the answer is germane to subject of this article. First of all, to Ron, bodybuilding has always been a hobby. Secondly, Ron is limited by the same thing that limits us all: genetics.
 
Despite 32 years of challenging his genetic limits, Ron is cursed with all the genetic traits of his grandfather who was a world cup soccer champion. He has his physical genetics but, unfortunately, none of his talent. While Mother Nature might not have meant Ron to be a soccer champion, she intended him to look like one, and therein lies the rub. Ron has unbelievable endurance like a world class soccer player. He also has the drive and the dedication to his training and his “game” and has forged a physique to go with it. 
 
For better or worse, Ron fell in love with bodybuilding. By training and eating he forced his body away from the soccer physique he was genetically destined to have and into that of a competitive bodybuilder.  But, his body did so kicking and screaming. It was only because his mind was so strong that he could push his body to places where it probably shouldn’t have gone.  While I know Ron never lifted unreasonably heavy weights for low reps to feed his ego, the 32 years he thrashed himself to surpass his genetic limits into 45 bodybuilding shows with an impressive record, the wear and tear proved too much.  You don’t do what Ron did without paying a price no checkbook could tender. Yes, there were injuries, and then there were recoveries.  In Ron’s case his recoveries were no less stellar than the damage he did. And no recovery was as stellar as the recovery from his recent hip resurfacing surgery in January 2010.
 
In 2008 his hip started hurting when walking or riding the exercise bike. Like anyone in tune with their body he did some rehab and many of the symptoms went away…. for a while. By 2009 his training for the upcoming bodybuilding season was really torturous.  His hip hurt if he was doing anything other than sitting or lying on his back. It became beyond what physical therapy would help. Subsequent X-rays showed a hip joint with no cartilage left; it was bone-on-bone.
 
Ron was in pain 24 hours a day and developed a full time limp. Being the insanely focused bodybuilder (not necessarily sensible), he forged on. If he got enough blood in the area he could still train legs pretty hard and suck up the pain. I was with him training legs in his basement a few times watching him suffer through some of these sessions. It was no joke. If he got in the wrong position for even a second the pain seared right through him and it stopped him in his tracks.  Anyone else would have stopped the workout – or for that matter the entire season –but Ron’s laser–like focus on goals wouldn’t permit it.  It was inevitable that Ron’s hip was something that was going to have to be fixed.
 
Ron had set of goal of competing in 2009. This was important to him because he had not competed since 2005 due to his divorce, getting remarried, and the birth of his twin girls. Any sane man should have pulled out of the 2009 season because of the constant pain and aggravation of the injury, but Ron is one of those guys who remain in mode once he set a goal and he sees it through.
 
2009 was Ron’s first disappointing year in 26 years of competing. Of course all the haters in the sport write you off after one disappointing year and forget that you have over 35 first and second place finishes in 45 total shows. Overnight they seem to loose respect for all you have accomplished. But, such folly is typical and you just have to ignore it and tuck it way in the back of your brain.  It comes in handy later when you need motivation for a come back and there is nothing sweeter than coming back and winning, but for that elation there is a price.
 
Ron went under the skillful knife of a great surgeon named Scott Marwin and had his hip resurfaced which is a type of hip replacement surgery that does not require a significant amount of bone to be cut out making the repair stronger.  That doesn’t mean it was a walk in the park.  I visited Ron the second day after surgery and brought him a much needed Starbuck’s coffee and a huge filet mignon sandwich I had custom made at the gourmet grocery store down the block from the hospital. He was reasonably comfortable when lying in bed due to his trusty morphine pump. The incision was approximately 12 inches long right on the side of his glutel thigh. Now came the inevitable second part of the journey – coming back.
 
Ron was unsure of how he would be able to get strong again in the lower body. Not only had he just had his hip resurfaced, but in 2002 he suffered double complete quad ruptures training legs in his basement, alone, pushing training intensity to the limit. Both quads had to be surgically reattached. Dr Neil Watnik skillfully performed that surgery.  He has put Ron back together probably more times than either of them care to remember.  Ron  came back from that horror and won the 2005 NPC Atlantic States Masters Overall when it was predicted by several doctors that he would probably never walk properly again, much less leg press 1000 pounds.
 
Having completely ruptured my patellar tendon I totally understand the balls it takes to push a set to the brink after you have ruptured muscles or tendons on a set. Ron says,” It takes complete mind control and forcing yourself to face your worst fears. If you don’t control your thoughts, all you think about is it happening again.  You think that because there was no warning when the injury happened, it just might go again.” 
 
Two years after, on the exact anniversary ( April 16th) of his quad ruptures, Ron forced himself to train legs in his basement, balls out - alone -and face his demons head on and he destroyed them. Now, recovering from the hip surgery, Ron found himself climbing the same mountain, except this time he was not going to wait two years to go balls out and compete again.
 
“In such a quest you explore everyday to see what you’re capable of doing and not dwell on what you’re not able to do.” Ron tries to take advantage of opportunities when he can expand his physical capabilities and continually challenge himself. Ron had the absolute belief that he could get national level legs again, he just had to find the roadmap. It was another journey.
 
For Ron, he says his mind thinks like a computer and he breaks it all down into parts. Every big problem is too overwhelming to fix all at once.  You have to mentally separate it into 20 or so smaller, achievable, components. When you start solving the first set of problems 10 more will pop up, but you continue to break them down into smaller issues with potentially more plausible solutions. In other words, big challenges must be attacked incrementally. Ron believes that your body will go where your mind programs it to go. Alternatively, if you believe you can’t do something your expectation will certainly be brought to fruition.
 
Rehab is scary but it’s pretty well controlled and monitored by able therapists.  They never really push you too hard – certainly not as hard as we push each other in the gym, but, trust me, they still push. Ron’s physical therapist did unbelievable rehab work and had Ron on a bike one week post-op. He spotted Ron on 500 pound leg presses six weeks post-op and had him on a stair climber 10 days post-op. As you might expect, Ron displayed extreme dedication to physical therapy and rehabilitation. Ron needed much more than rehab if he was going to compete again.
 
The real challenge of mind control and overcoming fear after such a surgery is the first time that you face a real bodybuilding set with a challenging weight – which you intend on taking to the limit. You have to walk that fine line of caution by letting loose the intensity needed to push a muscle to its maximum, but not too much that you undo what you’ve already rebuilt. The body is incredibly resilient and in many cases heals stronger than before it was injured. Many bodybuilders are too mentally weak to fully let loose again after they suffer an inexplicable catastrophic injury. For many, the injured body part will never be the same because they just can’t find the will to push past the fear. Ron refuses to let that be him.
 
Our good friend, Eddie Perez, owner of the renowned, hardcore establishment known as Valencia Gym in the 1980's - took Ron through all his real post surgery workouts after rehab was done. Eddie was a bodybuilding guru before we labeled gurus and before everyone pretended to be one and wanted to get paid for it. He is a wealth of old school bodybuilding knowledge. As an attentive spotter who could gauge Ron’s range of motion, Eddie helped instill in Ron the confidence to push all-out, yet still held him back from doing too much, while keeping him rolling at a fast enough pace to recover. Eddie brought Ron back to his old school training roots of the 1970s-1980 style training that Ron grew up on. There is no doubt in my mind that we did some things better and harder back in the day.
 
Ron also set up and followed a very aggressive supplement regime to aid in his recovery. He used every bit of his holistic knowledge to set up supplement programs to heal and recuperate as quickly as possible. Every herb, mineral, super food, special proteins and antioxidants involved in bone health, building blood cells, tissue strength and fighting inflammation were utilized. I’ve seen Ron down hundreds of odd colored capsules with every meal.  The extent of this recuperative regime is vast and the subject for an entire article. This has inspired Ron to put together his own formula for recovery to help others. He is in the process of developing that line.
 
It took a roadmap to recovery that wound it’s way up a mountain of mind control, a stellar support team (including Ron’s wife Nancy who not only supports this nutty and dangerous hobby of his, but actually brings him a Starbucks halfway through a workout when he’s training at Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym) and holistic nutrition to win the Empire States Masters competition FIVE months after hip resurfacing.  It’s no less than incredible than it is inspirational. I hope Ron saves that map. It’s something he should show his grand children.On July 24, 2010, Ron Noreman Wins the Masters Division of NPC Empire States Bodybuilding Championships ONLY Five months post op from Right Hip Resurfacing surgery on January 19, 2010!

The contest is a goal, but the achievment is climbing back up the mountain once again.

July 15, 2010 from Ron

Hi everyone,
 
Attached below is a picture, from this morning, of my quads 9 days out from the Empire State Championships. Keep in mind that this is 5 months after a hip resurfacing ( by Dr Scott Marwin) and  double- complete quad ruptures in 2002 which were reattached (by Dr Neil Watnik). I feel very blessed to have made the progress I have achieved and I'm sure there will be more to come.

A few shoutouts are warranted:

Ed Perez- My long time friend of 30 years who took me through every leg workout in the post rehab phase of my contest prep.  You have a heart of gold!!  Ed - You are a wealth of Bodybuilding knowledge - Old School style.  You brought me back to my roots.

Dr. Scott Marwin - The BEST Hip/Knee Replacement/Resurfacing doc in the NY Metro area.  A great example of a guy who has confidence in his work and can back it up.

Photo to Right: You can barely see Ron's scar that Dr. Scott Marwin so nicely closed using subcuticular sutures, the same kind a cosmetic surgeon uses to close.

Timeline of Rehab

Lifecycle at one week post op

Stair Climber at two weeks post op

Leg pressed 500 LBS. at 6 weeks post-o, 15 perfect reps

Leg pressed 900 LBS. at 12 weeks post-op, 12 perfect reps

THANKS TO ALL

RON
RBHR 01/19/10 Dr. Scott Marwin
Ron's Website