Men of mortuaries?

Date: 08-05-2007 Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States

Martinson, 36, has been working out diligently since January, and has dropped 22 pounds to get in shape for the national calendar, a fundraiser for women coping with breast cancer.

“Family and a few church members saw something about it on the Today Show last year and suggested it might be something for me to consider,” said Martinson, a funeral director who, along with his sister, Ranve, represent the fourth generation in the Suttons Bay mortuary business.

Martinson will travel to Long Beach, Calif., on May 18-19 for a photo shoot and to participate in several fundraising events for the calendar.

Although not a sure thing, Martinson says he’ll likely be one of the 12 morticians featured in the 2008 calendar spread.

The first calendar, produced for 2007, spotlights undertakers, embalmers and morticians from all over the country. Its cover features a dozen barechested men surrounding a coffin in a cemetery.

The calendar was conceived by California mortician Kenneth McKenzie to raise funds for a foundation to help ease the financial burdens of lost wages and medical expenses due to breast cancer.

During an 8-year enlistment in the Marine Corps, Martinson served as a training officer for the Second Reconnaissance Company, a special-purposes unit roughly analogous to the Navy SEALs, Air Force Air Commandos, or U.S. Army Special Forces, and widely recognized as the “special operations forces” of the Corps.

While assigned to Camp LeJeune, N.C., he earned several bodybuilding titles, including first-place awards in the 1999 Low Country Classic in South Carolina, and the 2000 South Carolina Men’s Open, Excalibur. He was also fourth in the All Armed Forces mid-weight bodybuilding competition.

After serving in the military, Martinson returned to Suttons Bay and secured his funeral directing license. Although he stays fit, it’s been a long time since Martinson’s been in bodybuilding condition, which he said requires strict adherence to a diet that’s high in protein and low in carbohydrates. He also makes early morning trips to Traverse City six days a week to work out.

A “typical” morning for Martinson begins long before dawn.

“I wake up at 4 a.m., down some food and vitamins and head off to the Fit For You gym (in Traverse City),” he said.

His workouts begin at 5 a.m., when he runs between three and five miles on a treadmill, Mondays through Thursdays.

“The length depends on how I feel that day. Sometimes it’s three, sometimes I feel good and keep pressing onto five miles,” Martinson said.

“Three miles is the minimum run distance on the Marine Corps physical fitness test.”

At 6:45, he packs up and heads back to Suttons Bay, where his bodybuilding regimen depends upon the day of the week. Each day he runs and then turns his focus to a specific muscle group. For example, on Mondays he runs and does abdominals workouts. On Tuesdays, he focuses on his chest. He works on his shoulders on Wednesdays, and goes back to his abdominals on Thursdays, along with biceps and triceps. On Fridays, he replaces his runs with a total “leg day” – quadriceps, hamstrings and calves.

“Each day I go to the gym, I have to keep my cell phone in a plastic sandwich page,” Martinson said, adding the phone stays in his hip or in his hand when he’s running. “Since I am always on call and never know when I am going to be called to assist a family, I need to be reached at all time.

“I can’t tell you how many times I have had the cell phone go off … and had to hurry back to the funeral home and do a quick change over to help someone,” he added.

Martinson fuels his body with several small high-protein meals daily.

“The key is ‘clean’ eating. I feed the fire when the fire needs feeding,” he said.

His breakfast includes two protein shakes totaling 656 calories and 65 grams of protein. At 10 a.m. he consumes six (boiled) egg whites and another fitness drink. About the time most county residents would be consuming lunch, Nick stops for a power bar, which includes 360 calories and 27 grams of protein.

Around 5 p.m. a pure protein smoothly is on the menu along with a mix of fresh vegetables. Two hours later, Martinson’s dinner consists of two filets of talapia (fish) or six more egg whites and a vegetable mix. Top it off with a protein smoothly before bed and Nick daily intake includes just over 1,900 calories and about 200 grams of protein.

“To save my sanity, I have a burger once in a while,” he said.