Welcome back to another edition of our Sunday Spotlight at Durbrow Performance Training. I love reading and sharing these because they are just amazing, inspiring stories from our best assets, our clients.
This training family is like no other that you’ll find in a typical gym or even if you have a personal trainer. These guys and gals work their asses off in the gym and have a great time doing it.
Today’s story comes from Andrew Tang. Andrew and his wife Christine started training with us in March of 2012. They both came in wanting to gain some muscle and get healthier. I always joke with them that they are the only two that actually want to gain weight. But we still love them 🙂
Here’s Andrew’s inspiring comeback story after an ACL injury during a basketball game….
March 20th 2013 is when I completely tore my ACL and partially tore the MCL and LCL too. I don’t remember it being painful, just remember thinking, “Sh*t!! Christine’s gonna kill me, maybe it’s not that serious, hopefully i can play ball again….. “.
After 4 incompetent hrs in the ER, I got an xray, a pat on the head and was sent home. I started pre-op rehab two weeks later.
Almost exactly a year before is when Christine and I met Callie. We didn’t know exactly what to expect but I knew I liked the concept and philosophy of DPT, so we set our goals and stayed accountable. We had joined other gyms before but there were too many easy excuses not to workout; adopting cats, it’s snowing, and let’s cook something with lots of butter and sprinkle some bacon & cheese, to top it off.
“Don’t play ball to get in shape, get in shape to play ball” – Bobbito Garcia
This quote really stuck to me after discovering it. Before that point I was just getting by because of my genetic disposition, but skinny doesn’t mean fit and what fit i had would decline after every decadent winter of feasting.
So it was time.
Even after the first grueling week at DPT I saw a difference at my Saturday pick-up games and I was hooked. Fast forward a year, I was hitting personal best on body fat %’s, gaining mass and loving the box jumps!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQaTzHjVNoE[/youtube]
This summer was gonna be legendary. Then it happened.
May 9th, the largest needle i’ve ever seen was about to be jammed into my hip for a femoral block. Now I can’t feel my left leg, I’m being wheeled into the operating room and I pass out. 2hrs later…. BRAND NEW ACL!!!!!!
I’m awake, coherent, still can’t feel my left leg but I’m feeling good, made it up two flights of stairs and just chilled on the couch looking forward to this little vacation.
2 days after the operation I started gaining my range of motion back, instantly. The surgeon gave me a goal of a week to reach 90 degrees, I got it back in a day!
I really DO believe that being in such great shape before the injury accelerated my rehab and also my rehab was a breeze compared to one of Emily’s classes: 10 more seconds, 10 more seconds…
I started coming back to DPT as soon as I was cleared, you probably saw me on the bike pedaling with my 5lbs dumbbells jazzercising away.
I was able to work from home so I was constantly rehabbing and I was going to physical therapy twice a week along with the gym. I knew what my body was able to handle and how hard I could push myself, this was my new personal pyramid.
5 months after having surgery I had my last appointment with my surgeon, he had cleared me to start playing basketball!!!
VICTORY! (but only just pick-up, for now…) My left leg hasn’t fully caught up with my right yet but I’ve already set my next goal.
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