I kept up with this lifestyle for a handful of years until March of 2014 when I went skiing in Colorado and Tore my ACL and sprained my MCL. In April of 2014, I had surgery to replace the ACL using a cadaver from my patella tendon. I went through physical therapy and in September of 2014, I was cleared for sports and activities of my choosing. I went back to the weight room and followed an approach of lifting weights using barbells and dumbbells. Since I was cleared for activity and I followed my physical therapy to a T, I didn’t think the way of training would affect my body negatively considering I had “good form” while moving the weight around. 

Unfortunately, I was wrong. This way of training would lead me down a road of biomechanical dysfunction resulting in knee pain. I continued my deadlifts, barbell squats, and traditional lifting for about a year or so until in December of 2015 my right knee buckled while playing racquetball resulting in another torn ACL and partially torn meniscus. I had surgery in January of 2016 to have the ACL reconstructed once again along with a meniscus repair. I did my physical therapy and all the rehab I was told to do, but something didn’t feel right. My knee was unstable. 

That entire year,  I struggled to get out of bed in the morning because I was scared to put my foot on the ground. My knee felt unstable and when I put weight on my knee, it would glide out of its socket, like it was going to dislocate. After a couple of months of anxiety, I went back to my surgeon and explained to him what was going on. He ordered another MRI and it came back with what looked like an unhealed medial meniscus. I went under the knife once more in January of 2016 to have twenty percent of the meniscus removed. I was so hopeful that this would take away my dysfunction. I quickly realized that it wouldn’t. 

I continued doing exercises to strengthen my legs and hopefully create some sort of stability. Unfortunately, it did not work. If anything, it only made the problem worse. My anxiety around my knee crippled me. I thought to myself “I’m never going to be the same. I’m never going to trust my knee again.” This would only drag me into a depressive state and shortly after I was prescribed antidepressants. I no longer felt like myself. Scratch that. I no longer was myself. I wasn’t that bubbly guy I used to be—the guy who would open the door for a stranger with a smile on his face. Instead, I was a 24-year-old guy who was dull and didn’t care about really anything. 

After finally hitting my lowest, I decided to re-think what I believed was “right” about fitness. I needed to let go of the way I used to workout in order to correct my dysfunctions. I stopped using barbells in training. I stopped doing all the repetitive movements in order to build certain muscles for vanity’s sake. I started to use training modalities such as Functional Patterns that respect our human biology. Movements and exercises that reflect walking and running and incorporate the whole body moving as one, not isolated segments. I could literally feel my body changing its structure and shape. In doing so, I no longer exhibited symptoms of pain and aches. Day after day, I was gaining the confidence in my body that I lost after all the surgeries and trauma. I began to feel like myself again. 

With this newfound understanding of human movement, I found my purpose— To help those eliminate pain and regain strength &confidence in their body, allowing them to do the things they love the most.