Jose Urbina
When I think of uphill battles in lifting, I typically think of bumps and bruises, breaks and tears, that happen IN THE GYM. But what happens when life throws you a curve ball, or seven, outside of the gym? Do you keep coming back? Do you have the bandwidth, the desire, the NEED to get back into the gym and see a better you today, than yesterday? They say it isn’t about how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.
Well today we talk to Jose. Get ready to read about a guy who keeps getting back up no matter what.
Let’s meet Jose Urbina
Jose, tell us a little about yourself
My name is Jose Urbina, I go by Hozzilla, I’m 29 years old and from Massachusetts but have lived in Florida since the 7th grade. I’ve been married to my wife for a little over 6 years and we have 2 wiener dogs and are currently saving up for a house.
I’m currently working on getting certified as a registered behavioral technician so I can work at a school with kids who are on the spectrum. I worked at a school for a while as a teacher’s aide and loved being there, interacting with the kids, helping them, but a TA doesn’t make much money (not enough to buy a house). So that is my next step.
What does your sports and lifting background look like?
I’ve always been a big sports guy, watching the pros on TV, playing flag football, you name it. In high school I started lifting because I wanted to be one of the big guys even though I only weighed 123lbs as a senior.
I started off lifting for bodybuilding purposes. I did that for about 4 or 5 years, off and on. I’d stay really focused, then not. I’d pay attention to my diet, then not. Then I saw the guys lift in the Animal Cage at the Arnold and everything changed. They were moving monster weight, they were jacked, confident, great form… they crushed it. So, I looked into what they were doing, and BAM! Powerlifting. My gym life clicked, my goals, everything. Powerlifting, powerlifting, powerlifting… all the time!
You told me you’ve had some health concerns over the years, can you share those with us?
My senior year of high school I was playing a pick up game of basketball, grabbed a rebound, and my arm went numb. I sat down, lighting was shooting through my shoulder into my neck, down into my ribs, and I couldn’t breathe. I tried to get back up but it wasn’t happening. Some medical staff at the school looked at me and said I needed to go to the hospital. Some firemen thought I had only torn a muscle, until blood started pouring out of my nose. At the hospital they found out I had a collapsed lung and they had to reinflate it with a tube. A few days later in the hospital, that tube fell out and they had to do the operation again. 8 days in the hospital, and 9 months later, and I was more or less back to normal. I had planned to be a firefighter out of high school, but the lung damage doesn’t mix well with smoke, so that was out.
My first year in college I was playing a pick up football game and out of nowhere I hit a hole in the ground and got major whiplash. Couldn’t move my neck, wore a neck brace and needed help getting out of bed for 3 weeks. X-Rays didn’t show anything, I never got a real diagnosis. Took almost a year to get full range of motion out of my arm, I still have nerve issues where it goes numb at times.
Two weeks before my wedding, I was driving and rubbed my eye cause it was itchy. Eye was a little red, took out my contacts, went to bed like normal. Woke up and couldn’t open my eye. The doctor said I had scratched my cornea and needed an ointment. Woke up the next day and it was worse. Eye was bleeding, all kinds of bad stuff. Went to multiple places before someone could diagnose it, I had a corneal ulcer. It had gotten infected, scratched, and thus the bleeding and everything. My left eye is now misshapen, I’m legally blind in that eye, and extremely sensitive to light, as well as that eye is deteriorating at a very fast rate. Spent months going to a ton of doctor visits, wearing goggles and blinders to keep my eye protected so it could heal, and basically not doing much else.
Fast forward to a little over a year ago, I start getting really bad headaches. Vision was bad, left side of my face was bad. Again, doctors thought I needed antibiotics for an infection. It kept getting worse. I’d go outside and the back of my neck would tighten, eyes would lock down. I went to a neurologist and after 6 months we did some scans and found I had a skin cyst in my ear. As a kid I had really bad ear infections to the point where they had to remove part of my ear to accommodate it. Well, this ear infection was so bad it developed into a tumor, ate through the base of my ear into my skull towards the brain. I had a Mastoidectomy (Ear surgery) and Craniotomy (Brain surgery) done in September 2021 to clean out my ear and drill into my skull to remove the tumor. It left the left side of my ear completely shut, as in no ear hole. I have a pretty cool scar behind my ear too. I had a spinal tap for 6 days to drain the infection and fluids. Cool side note, the doctor had to take some of my muscle to stich me back up. They normally take fat, but I was too lean for them to find enough.
The entire left side of my face is paralyzed, I have bad balance, I can’t hear out of the left ear, and my left eye can’t close so I have to wear tape and eye patches and use ointments regularly to keep it from drying out. I now have a huge increased risk of infection, because that ear has no hole. If I get an ear infection, it’ll drain back into my head and body. I can’t chew food on the left side and it caused dental issues so I had to get root canals. Right now the scar on the back of my head has fluid in it. Best case scenario it is some antibiotics, worst case they have to open me back up.
It all adds up in the gym. You try and brace in lifting, and the release comes out the ear, face, etc… For me, that doesn’t really work that way. I get ringing in my ears, high blood pressure, etc. Dealing with balance issues while squatting several hundred pounds. Benching with an arm that goes numb. It can be tough.
I’m more than a little speechless. Thank you for sharing. Let’s talk about lifting weights. What got you into the garage gym community?
In high school my dad had a bench press in the garage, he actually still has it. When I started powerlifting I used that to bench and then would incline it so it was tall enough for me to use for squats. I then lifted in a commercial gym for a while, but I never liked it. Too crowded, I liked to lift 1 on 1. Friend of mine sold me 500lbs of plates and a bar, and I was golden. Then the pandemic hit 2 months later. A friend of mind called and asked if I wanted to set up a gym in his garage and I jumped at it. We started acquiring equipment like crazy, power rack, smith machine, cable system, deadlift bar, SSB, elliptical, bike… a lot we got from Fray Fitness. Then I joined Reddit r/HomeGym and learned a ton about DIYs and different equipment. It just went from there.
Tell me about your competing in the Garage Gym Competition.
On reddit I saw the Garage Gym Competition and thought it was a cool idea. I thought it was a small handful of people who were lifting at their home and just trying to get other people to do the same thing. I started looking at the data on the site and was BLOWN AWAY. There were hundreds of people lifting, all ages, all over the place, lifting from home. It was awesome. I competed in 2021 for the first time and didn’t even realize there were prizes until March. Like, its free powerlifting AND I could win something without having to be the biggest lifter? You go to a commercial gym and there is maybe 1 or 2 other guys that are really powerlifting. Then you see the hundreds and thousands of people competing here, in their own gyms, and you aren’t alone. The sport of powerlifting is bigger than you knew it was. It’s awesome.
How are you preparing for the 2022 GGC?
I’m currently running a program from Calgary Barbell, and I’ll be doing my own programming headed into the competition. My goal is to hit what I did last year, considering all the health complications, and come out with a 450lb squat, 325lb bench, and 520lb deadlift at 165lb bodyweight, considering my last meet I hit 460/330/530.
With all your health issues, why do you keep coming back?
I like tangible results. So initially seeing the changes in your body after 3 months, 6 months, a year, is really cool. And with powerlifting, you see the weights go up and up. I tracked everything at one point in a giant spreadsheet, and you could see the changes over the course of time.
I also love that lifting is a sole endeavor. It’s you and the barbell, demonstrating your own abilities. No one else you rely on. No one can miss your shot for you. If you miss a lift, too bad. Get stronger, get it next time.
You might have a week or a month or two where things don’t go your way. But if you stick with it, stick with this thing you love, you’ll always come out ahead. You could compare current me to past me, and I’m not as strong as I used to be. But in 6 months, I might be stronger than I ever was. I just have to stick with it.
Dealing with injuries, maybe one day I won’t be able to lift heavy again. So, am I taking advantage of everything I can today, while I can still do it, to be my best?
What is the most important thing people should know about you?
Determination and commitment. 10 weeks after surgery, with gauze wrapped around my head and neck, stiches and stuff, blood running down my back, I’m back in the gym and hitting a workout with just a bar. I missed it. I needed it. Don’t worry I was very careful and kept it sanitized. The metal in the hands. It made me hungrier. I know it’ll take a while, but I NEED it. My DNA is fused with the gym, lifting in the garage, to powerlifting. 1 on 1 with me and my weights, whatever music I want, lifting what I want, being comfortable with the uncomfortable, I own it, I lift it.
Unless they take my arms and legs, I’m lifting.
Thank You Jose, and best thoughts ahead for your health.
If you want to check out more about Jose, hit him up on Instagram here: Hozz1lla_75kg
