I have been an athlete and into training for as long as I can remember. I had my first major injury my sophomore year in high school when I completely dislocated my shoulder during baseball. You see, I started as the typical freshman who was as tall as I am now (6’1″) but weighed only 140 lbs. I was the fastest kid in school but didn’t have much strength and received the nickname “gumby”. I was a varsity letterman in both baseball and wrestling as a freshman and was ready to start varsity football as a sophomore. Therefore, all the coaches had me doing the typical bigger, faster, stronger programs of how much can you bench, squat, and power clean.
Of course, we only worked the muscles we could see in the mirror and had bad form on top of that. I made it through football season at the beginning of my sophomore year then went into wrestling where I got caught in a bad chicken wing that made my shoulder ‘sloppy’. Then during baseball tryouts at first base (I’m a lefty), I took a ground ball and side-armed it towards third when all the muscles in my anterior shoulder contracted and literally pulled my shoulder out of socket.
The “great” doctors at Notre Dame looked at my MRI, showed me the divot in the head of my humerous, the torn capsule and rotator cuff and then proceeded to tell me I needed surgery but would lose my range of motion. My thought at 15 years old was, “If I lose my range of motion how can I pitch effectively (I was also one of our starting varsity pitchers)?” So I opted for physical therapy instead which was also another joke.\
Since I couldn’t throw, I DH’ed the rest of my sophomore year, played first base my junior year as I could now just get it across the infield, and didn’t pitch again until my Senior year in high school. And I was only coming in as a relief pitcher at that. I had to walk onto the baseball team at Purdue University since my high school pitching was limited compared to the rest of my game. I made the team but was plagued throughout with a nagging shoulder that would seem strong then sublux setting me back again. This happened again in fall ball my freshman year so I ended up on the injured reserve list for my whole college career that was subsequently done my sophomore year.
When I realized I would never be the successful athlete, I decided the next best thing was to train them. I began my education in exercise physiology and became a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Purdue and was hired as the 1996 US Olympic female quad and eight rowing strength coach. I quickly became frustrated at how many injuries I saw in athletes and also saw how they were falling in between the gaps from the doctors to the PT’s, to the athletic trainers and back to the strength and conditioning coaches. There was no crossover in disciplines so there was a lot of missing content in restoring athletes back to health and actually keeping them healthy.
This led me to my quest. While still at Purdue I began traveling the country to seek out the best in every field of study to learn from them. I took every break, vacation, and summer to travel and offer myself as a free intern. (Everybody loves free, eager help!) I learned from the best, saw what made them successful, then started a system that combined their successive fields of study into a complete wellness model. More importantly, I looked to understand not just where they were successful, but where their scope of practice was limited leaving gaps for athletes to fall through. This focus, and devising solutions to these gaps that ultimately made my system what is is today, is how we have helped so may thrive where others have failed. Even after college this process of discovery has not stopped and I continue seeking out the best in every field to study and learn under them. I have formulated one of the best collaborative teams in the country where we continue to learn and challenge one another to continue to grow. I did not want to see anyone else have to go through the pain and frustration that I went through. It was time to make a difference that breaks through the current limitations on our healthcare..I should say sickcare…system.
It has been this model that I have continually grown and adapted for over the last two and a half decades. And it only gets better. I have helped everyone from the typical Joe trying to lose weight and have more energy to professional and Olympic athletes. I have helped cancer patients, cardiac rehab patients, patients with various diseases, stroke and paralysis, and post injury/surgery patients. Ironically, I never dreamed I would be helping so many in a rehab/restorative sense. But this has not only allowed me to help so many with pain and disfunction, understanding proper rehabilitation has taken my athletic performance to unparalleled levels now helping the top 1% athletes achieve even more. My commitment is that I will never stop learning and seeking out the best ways to help individuals reach optimum health, fitness, performance, and wellness. I sure hope that I am not training people the same way 20 years from now as I am doing today. There is always more to learn. Please join me in this process and hopefully at the same time, you will live a better and healthier life!