The Bionic Bodybuilder

Take a close look at the photographs that accompany this article: does this look like a 54 year old man nine months on the other side of a hip replacement and a major knee surgery? Dave Patterson has been a major factor in the world of bodybuilding in the Pacific Northwest for thirty plus years. He has won every drug-free bodybuilding title to be had and is one of the nation’s premier personal trainers.

Dave has renovated more physiques than you can shake the proverbial stick at. The hip and simultaneous knee surgery presented David with a seemingly insurmountable dilemma, one that could and probably should have ended his long and distinguished career. Going into the surgery, the odds were not stacked in his favor: his age was working against him and beneath all that muscle, Dave is actually a thin man with a smallish bone structure. He was also genetically predisposed to disintegration due to his spinal scoliosis. “I was born with a curved spine. My spinal column curves like a snake: to the right in the upper back region and then to the left in my lower back. All my joints have had extra wear and tear. My body continually attempts to correct my curved spine condition and over the years this self-corrective action has gotten worse and worse and worse.” Dave’s body fights against its curvature and over time this wears out body parts. “Because of the curved spine, I have had two right knee surgeries and a right shoulder surgery. I had left knee surgery and my left hip replaced in June of 2008. The actual surgery consisted of opening me up, cutting out the degenerated ball socket and hammering in an artificial hip joint made of titanium.” Dave indicates that in the not too distant future he will have to have his right hip replaced. “My left shoulder is bothering me and I suspect I’ll have to have some sort of corrective work done within a year or two.”

He will also have to have his right hip replaced in “three to five years, depending upon how long I can put up with the pain.” Asked how a left shoulder or knee can be affected by spinal curvature to the point that corrective surgery is required, he explained, “My left shoulder will require surgery for the same reason my right shoulder needed surgery: the spinal column is trying to continually ‘right itself.’ It wants to compensate and make my body move along in a normal, level fashion. It can’t do this and as a direct result the body constantly jacks up my naturally low left shoulder. My right shoulder has five screws in it. I have had one operation on my right shoulder, an artificial hip joint in my left side, a left elbow surgery, two right knee surgeries and a left knee surgery – all of which has happened starting in the fall of 2004.” Prior to 2004 David had never had a single surgery for any reason; now he has had more corrective surgeries than an X-game motorcycle jumper. Ten short months after having his hip replacement/knee surgery, Dave entered the Emerald Cup Bodybuilding Championships. “I was unable to engage in serious training until about eight weeks before the Emerald Cup. I was grateful to be back onstage so quickly: my doctors told me, ‘normal people need two years to recover to the degree you have in six months.’” In a very real way, Parrillo Performance Products played a major part in Dave’s incredible recovery. “A lot of the reason why I recovered so quickly was the intense nutrition and training effort I put in leading up to the surgeries. In the time before the surgery, I directed all my efforts towards building as much muscle as possible, particularly in the legs and hips. I ate as clean as possible in the weeks and months leading up to the surgery: I consumed a ton of Parrillo Products and this strategy really paid off.”

“In my pre-and-post surgery period, I consumed Enhanced GH Formula™, Ultimate Amino™ and Muscle Amino Formula™, plus ample amounts of Mineral Electrolyte™, Essential Vitamins™, Liver Amino Formula™ – I ate a ton of Parrillo Energy Bars™ and Sport Nutrition Bars™. I consumed Natural E-Plus™ and every day took Parrillo Joint Formula™ and Evening Primrose Oil™ capsules. I had two Parrillo Hi-Protein™ shakes each and every day. This nutritional super-compensation strategy worked out great.” After the surgery Dave dropped a ton of bodyweight. “I spent ten days in the hospital and had to use a walker and crutches for awhile. It was about three weeks before I could bend my knee or flex the hip. I was able to head to the gym and start doing cardio and upper body work one month after the surgery. I have a personal training facility out back of my house and started going out to the gym and doing some light arm work to get the comeback ball rolling. Four months post-surgery, I felt so good that I decided to commit to compete in the Emerald Cup in April of 2009.” Dave was having one hell of a time getting into and out of the various exercise machines; he couldn’t move the lightest weight on his leg extension machine and he couldn’t wrestle dumbbells from the rack and over to a bench in order to use them. He had ‘lost everything’ and weighed 145 pounds standing 5-10. “Each day in the post-surgery period I would challenge myself to exceed what I had done in a previous session in some way or another.” The mental challenge was extreme. “The pain was very real. I was hurting. I was unable to get into and out of the leg press machine. I was unable to do chins or anything that could result in my tearing the hip joint; a single jar would send me back to the hospital. I couldn’t do any leg pressing until six months after the surgery.” Dave’s training partner, Steve Large, performed the invaluable service of helping Dave maneuver into and out of exercise machines. Steve would hand Dave dumbbells and spot him. “Steve would help me and at times it must have appeared comical.”

“My real contest preparation began on December 1^st of 2008. The competition was on April 18^th of 2009 and I went on an eating binge: my weight had dropped like a rock after the surgery. I decided I needed to gain back some size. Normally I never let my bodyweight drift upward more than seven to eight pounds above my 162-pound contest bodyweight. In this instance I actually got up to 180 pounds.” Dave consumed his Parrillo products and strayed outside his normal, super-strict, bodybuilder-only food selections. “I have been eating the right foods in the right amounts at the right times for so long that other food, high fat food, refined foods or foods containing sugar, do not taste good. If I eat these foods they create a ‘food hangover’ effect. I stay hung-over until these foods clear my system. Because I was so emaciated after the surgery, I made a conscious choice to consume some of the foods and nutrients I would never eat under normal circumstances.” Dave’s purified body eventually rebelled on him and when his post operative bodyweight hit 180 on December 30^th of 2008, he had enough and got back on the bodybuilder-food only bandwagon. “I hated the way I felt weighing 180. I hated the sluggish bloated feeling I got from eating ‘out-of-bounds foods.’ Let me tell you, it was no problem at all to get back on a strict Parrillo-style nutritional program.” Patterson reverted to full-on Parrillo pre-competition eating. “I still wasn’t able to train in the way that I was used to because I was still healing – but in that first month in every session I made measurable progress. The rate of progress seemed to amplify with each passing week.” Dave was unable to perform certain classical exercises and his poundage handling ability was dramatically reduced; he adhered to his tried-and-proven weekly body part split that had served him so well for so long…

Each session I would work the body part scheduled as hard as I could for as long as possible. The exercises used would often vary. Steve Large, my training partner, was critical and instrumental in helping me maneuver into position, hand­ing me dumbbells and spotting me as I pushed and pulled from awkward angles and positions. Seven days a week I performed some form of cardio. I found that I could use the Elliptical Machine for my cardio. It was a sort of one-legged aerobic activity that must have been hilarious to observe. It proved to be quite taxing yet quite effective.

David Patterson eventually stepped onstage at the Emerald Cup on April 18^th 2009 weighing 162 pounds. “Obviously my shape and condition was significantly off compared to years gone by – however I was gratified to be there at all and gratified that I had actually ‘pulled it off.’ I had to pat myself on the back, a little bit anyway, considering how bad a shape I was in leading up to the surgery and how emaciated I became afterwards. I took third place in my class (out of 11 competitors) and Janet Guenther and I took first place in the Mixed Pairs competition.  I won the ‘Best Poser’ award. I posed to the theme music from the movie “300” and felt really good about this particular award. It was a bit of slight-of-hand: there were certain bends and twists, dips and turns that I either could not do, or if I was able to do them there was a certain amount of visible awkwardness. This was a result of the hip and knee surgery. As a poser, my challenge was to design a seamless, flawless routine; one that allowed me to disguise the fact that I could not perform certain movements. They did not award me the ‘best poser for a guy coming off a hip replacement’ or ‘best poser for a guy who is unable to perform a lot of taken-for-granted moves’ – they awarded me ‘the best poser in the entire show’ award. In some ways, though I have won over thirty best poser awards, this was the most significant best poser award I have ever won, given the challenges I was presented with. Plus it was great to win straight up with Janet in the mixed pair competition. I really felt I needed to ‘bring it’ so as to not let her down. She is a fabulous bodybuilder. I was determined that I was going to carry my share of our joint effort.”

So what goals does Dave “The Bionic Bodybuilder” have for the future? “Well I am certainly not going to retire or quit; on the contrary, I feel that I have a lot of room for future physical improvement. My left side still has a lot of healing and ‘hardening up’ to do. In a way I think this entire episode has left me fired up and wanting more. As the old saying goes, ‘you don’t miss your water ‘till the well runs dry.’ During those tough days immediately after the operation, I have to tell you I thought to myself that I might have made a career-ending mistake. There was a brief period where I really felt, ‘you know – you might not be bouncing back or coming back from this.’ When it became apparent that I could actually resume serious training, I breathed a real sigh of relief. In my heart I was not ready or willing to give up competitive bodybuilding – but ‘ready and willing’ mentally does not automatically imply that you are physically ‘able.’ I cannot tell you how relieved and elated I was when it became self-evident that, yes indeed, this old warrior had not fought his last fight and yes indeed, I would be competing at the Emerald Cup; this just ten short months after a hip replacement and a knee surgery. I am now ready, willing and able! My next competitive outing will be late in 2009. My goal is to be back in tip-top form for the Washington Ironman Bodybuilding Championships on October 3^rd 2009.” For you over 40 year olds out there: the next time some minor muscle pull or dinky strain gets you thinking, ‘Hey maybe I’m too old for this. Maybe it’s time I hang up these childish visions of improving my body. Maybe it’s time I start acting my age.’ Be aware that acting your age is a self-fulfilling prophecy that is bound to come true. Instead, when you get that urge to quit, reflect a minute on the adversity Dave Patterson overcame and gain some sense of perspective.

David Patterson’s Post-Operative Training Split

• Monday legs
• Tuesday chest
• Wednesday back
• Thursday shoulders
• Friday arms
• Saturday off
• Sunday off