I was 10 years old when I started lifting my older brother’s weights and became hooked on the pump and feeling of empowerment it gave me. I went on to become a Division I college athlete and top personal trainer in Hollywood. Personal fitness is not only my passion, it is my life’s guiding principle.
But when I severely injured my back in 2012, I thought my fitness career might be over forever…
I was at the top of my game – training amazing clients, obsessed with Olympic weightlifting and CrossFit. But I fell into the trap a lot of younger athletes fall into. I was more focused on my “scores” and my maximum lifts than I was with proper form and preparation. One day it happened – I was training and I felt a shooting, stabbing pain in my lower back.
It was debilitating. In one moment, I went from strong and fit and on top of the world to needing help tying my shoes and getting in and out of my car.
I wondered… Would I be able to continue my career as a trainer? Why would anyone listen to this broken body? Would I ever get back to Olympic lifting? Playing baseball on weekends? Would I ever feel like myself again?
I found the prevailing wisdom vague, confusing, and contradictory: Stretch more, do yoga, don’t train legs, do sit-ups. Very quickly I learned that some of the advice people follow can actually make matters worse. How could this be? How could so many smart people be trafficking in terrible advice? I started digging for answers. I partnered with some of the best trainers and physical therapists in the world, I earned a master’s degree and leaned into the science underlying the causes of chronic back pain, anatomy, and physiology.
Through intentional exercise and movement pattern correction, I was eventually able to heal my injury and make a full recovery.Not only did I make a full recovery, I added 30 pounds to my Olympic lifts: the clean and jerk and the snatch. By deconstructing my injury and fixing the underlying issue that caused it, I came back a better athlete.
I learned there is no substitute for proper form and a solid foundation. I found the secret for smart exercise programming that can both alleviate pain AND achieve fitness goals – at the same time.
It is my mission to help women and men with lower back pain not only fully recover, but reach peak performance once again.
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