Ines Subashka: Introduce yourself.
Scott Golla: Hey, everybody. My name is Scott Golla.
IS: How did you start lifting weights? Were you involved in some other sports before that?
SG: I started lifting weights way back in grade school..as soon as I was old enough to play tackle football..back then we couldn’t play until 7th grade. Now kids play as early as 1st or 2nd grade. I played high school football. I was a wide receiver on offense and a cornerback on defense. I also was the punter,my longest punt was 62 yards! I also was a high school wrestler who always had problems staying within my weight class. I came into a tournament one morning 1 3/4 pounds overweight and had 45 minutes to get to my weight or would be forced to wrestle the next weight class up. I put on my rubber suit, sweatpants, a stocking cap and my varsity letter jacket on top and jumped rope in the boiler room and chewed starburst and spit into a can. I made the weight but only took 2nd place in the tournament. I had absolutely no energy left for the Championship match. I also lettered in track my Junior year, doing sprint, the 400 meter relay, Pole vaulting and long jump.
IS: Do you have a nutrition plan? Would you share a simple daily menu?
SG: My nutrition plan is Paleo/clean eating. I am not 100% Paleo- would guess about 80/20.
A typical day’s meal is approximately:
Breakfast: 6-8 oz steak for breakfast and 2 farm fresh eggs
Snack: Greek yogurt and some Almonds in between
Lunch: Usually a Turkey burger or two
More snacks throughout the day of Almonds or a can or two of tuna
Supper: Almost always meat, chicken, or turkey, sometimes pork with lots of steamed vegetables(brocolli is my favorite) I also love to throw a sweet potato in there as well or sometimes a fresh salad with cherry tomatoes, peppers, carrots and an avocado.
IS: How do people around you accept your lifestyle? Do they approve it or are they judgeful to you living healthy?
SG: Most people don’t accept my lifestyle. They are very judgemental of me working out all the time and the way that I eat. It used to bother me a little. Now I take it all in stride and laugh about it. I’m making myself healthier and stronger everyday.
IS: People who know you, are aware of your struggles and addiction to painkillers. How did everything start? WHat made you wanna change and take your life in your own hands?
SG: I’ve had 6 surgeries in the past two years.Three on my right knee, one on my left arm and two on my right arm, the most recent being Oct 26th of 2011 and February 1st of 2012, both on my right arm. My arm problems are from tearing the ligaments that attach from the elbow down to the wrist. I’ve managed to tear three of them in each arm, so the surgeries consisted of pulling the tendons back up from my wris,which were like a ball of yarn and putting hooks into my elbow and reattaching the tendons to help them attach themselves back in place.
The surgeon also had to take a chisel and a hammer and scuff up the bone to make it bleed and promote blood flow to the area to aid in recovery. The recovery was quite painful. The second surgery on my right arm was due to a complication – a capsule in my right elbow was leaking fluid and to keep draining it would’ve been futile, as it would just keep on coming back. I ended up with a golf ball sized lump on my elbow and it became very painful as well. The surgeons had to go back in and repair the capsule to stop the leaking. I was told it may not be succesful but was a chance I had to take. I am very happy to say the surgery was a success.
My knee surgeries were all torn meniscus. Not really sure how I tore it the first time but the second time I did it kickboxing in my gym. As I was also recivering from my left arm surgery,so was unable to punch and jab with my left arm. I was in a sling and on crutches at the same time for that one. The third time I tore my knee I was coaching youth area tackle football. I’ve been coaching tackle football for the past 7 years. We were at a combine for the kids and I was showing the kids how to run a recievers route. The ball was thrown behind me and as I made my cut to go for the ball I tore my knee again, but I did catch the ball..Lol! 😉
As I was recovering from my second knee surgery I became addicted to the pain meds.I was prescribed Vicodin and Oxycontins, along with some muscle relaxers. My liver I have been told breaks down the pills too quickly so they are not properly absorbed into my system as they would a “normal” persons. So I was given a lot of pain meds and muscle relaxers to counter this and along the road became addicted Aas each day passed I began taking more and more pills. Sometimes up to 8 or 10 at a time every couple of hours. My Dr. knew of my condition with the liver working almost “too well”, so he kept on refilling my prescriptions.
As the days turned into months I kept taking more and more and eventually became very depressed and wanted to do nothing more but lay on the couch, take pills and sleep. It took me about two months of this to realize I had a problem. Every day I would say this is the day I’m gonna stop and then a week would go by and the same thing. “I’ll quit the pills tomorrow”. Eventually I did wake up one morning in a complete fog and flushed all the remaining pills down the toilet and that was it for me. Decided I couldn’t live like this anymore and needed to be 100% off the painkillers. I needed to get back to lifting weights and excercise. That morning I threw out the pills and never looked back. Fortunately I had no side effects from quitting cold turkey.
My surgeons never knew of my addiction. It was quite a dark time in my life looking back at it now. I haven’t stopped working out since. This was about 1 1/2 years ago now and still going strong. After my last surgery on Feb 1st I only missed four days in the gym. Then I was back to my workouts, only using my left arm for my upper body workouts. There’s been several studies done that prove that working the uninjured side of your body will actually help maintain the muscle mass on the injured side and to be quite honest I would never have believed it had I never tried it. I’m still recovering from the last surgery and all my muscle mass and size has remained in my right arm. I’m slowly starting to be able to incorporate some light exercises back into my workouts with the right arm and I am not pushing it hard, doing only what my surgeon allows. I can not afford anymore setbacks. I’ve come way too far!
IS: Did you have a moment in your life, when you wished you were like everybody else- partying all night, eating junk food and just not caring about what you eat?
SG: I’ve never really had a moment in my life now where I wish I were like some of my friends- going out drinking all the time and eating whatever I want. This is the lifestyle I have chosen and I have no regrets because of it. I love the way I feel. I’ve come way too far to turn back now!
IS: Do you take some kind of supplements? And what is your oppinion about supplements as a whole?
SG: The only supplements I take are L-arginine before my workouts, BCAAs in the morning and around lunchtime and my Whey Protein shake with Glutamine immediately after my workout. I make my shake into a smoothie, adding a cup of milk, a cup of Greek Yogurt, my protein powder and a banana. I’m not a big fan on supplements. I prefer to get all my nutrients from real foods.
IS: How do you find daily motivation to work out and eat clean? What keeps you accountable?
SG: My motivation comes from within. It’s like a fire burning inside of me. I can not miss a workout or I feel my day was a failure. Love the endorphine release from a good workout. I keep myself accountable because I love the way I feel. It’s amazing what a bad diet can do. That tired and sluggish feeling… eating clean/Paleo I’ve never felt better in my life. Motivation can be learned but not taught!!
IS: How would you finish the sentence “ I workout because…”?
SG: I workout because I love the way it makes me feel. I love seeing the transformation in my body and I love to be healthy. As we grow older our bodies change and I’m gonna fight all those bad changes until my very last breath. I believe that the way I eat and workout has aided tremendously in my recovery from all my surgeries.
P.S. If you liked this post, please share it with your friends! I’d really appreciate it! 🙂
