What’s your background in athletics?

    Football and baseball in college, wrestled from 7 years old on, and participated in track but wouldn’t call myself a success at it. Sports were my life for a very long time. I don’t know if I really understood that there were things outside of competing. I just wanted to be great, and thought at some point a coach, friend or mentor of some kind would come along and tell me what to do in the weight room to get bigger and stronger, and what to do to get faster and quicker. It didn’t happen. I couldn’t even get coaches to open the weight room before school.

I didn’t even find this at the collegiate level.

Training under Coach McGettigan was huge for me. At the time my athletic career was coming to an end. I had one year of football left. I got healthy, trained like an animal but also in a smart way, and it showed. One summer learning from Coach McGettigan and I came into camp with more muscle mass, and less fat mass than I’d ever had, a 35” vertical jump, a 6.89s L Drill, 4.1s Pro Agility, and managed to pull off a 4.89 40yrd after tripping myself on the third step in and falling down (it was as awesome as it sounds). It’s not “that” incredible until you realize the stats I’d had a year before. I think I had a 28” vertical, a 7.6 L Drill, and a 4.6 Pro Agility (hardly impressive at 6’4” 220lbs). Then consider the ridiculous amounts of injuries I’ve accumulated. To make a long story short, every joint on the right side of my body has experienced a traumatic injury at some point, not all equal.

The shoulder has been the leader, I pitched in college so some problems were likely. However I also cracked the growth plate, with a dislocation and torn muscle, and two 3rd degree AC separations. My hip and knee are definitely second as they continue to have the most lingering annoyance as I get older, but my foot was probably the most serious when the doctor told me I might never walk normal again (seriously). Although 3 years later and I deadlifted close to 500lbs and was playing in a semi pro football league (not as awesome as it sounds). 

I do wish I knew then what I know now. All of it was preventable.

Why do I do this?

    I spent about 1/4th of my athletic career in a physical therapy office. Some of it was poor training practices, some of it was my style of play, but non the less almost all of it was completely avoidable.

Like I said, at first it was a selfish endeavor to further my own career. No one had the answers and no one would help me so I went for the answers myself. I’d always cared about younger up and coming guys and always enjoyed going back as a volunteer coach for camps and such. At some point I’d become the guy I had always wanted to be there for me.

Now when one of my athlete’s scores a touchdown, throws a no hitter, or something else equally awesome I get a huge high off of their success. I remember what that feels like. I also remember what it feels like to walk out of the weight room knowing you just killed it and got better and vice versa when you know you just worked your butt off for nothing but a beat up feeling for a few days.

Athletes deserve to walk away from every workout like they took a big step towards success. They deserve to learn what competition is about, experience the lessons the iron and sports can teach you, and have guidance within that. I do this because of that, for them.

    -Adam Rees