How Ultimate Sandbag Training Saved My Life

I’ve always been a little different (yes, insert joke here;), but what I mean is that ever since I was a little kid I was pretty accident prone. I was tall for my age and wouldn’t really “grow” into my body until much, much later. That meant I was pretty uncoordinated, awkward, and yes, what many would consider clumsy.

My dad would love to tell everyone that when I was a kid that I single handedly paid for the orthopedic wing at the local hospital. While most things were rather innocent here and there, broken bones, sprains, and strains, I had more than my fair share of casts, slings, and braces. Nothing life threatening, even when I herniated discs in my low back when I was 14 playing basketball.

Sure, some of it hurt, A LOT, but as a young man you never really think how it is going to impact you in the long run. I would hear my dad say, “you are going to really pay for this when you are older,” and I thought it was him being overly dramatic.

Yet, as was often the case, my dad would end up being right. It wouldn’t take that long either, when I was 20 I first lost use of my right leg and in my early 20’s I started to have severe headaches and pain in my neck/shoulders. It was to the point where my neck would “go out” every few weeks and I would have to take time off from training. I didn’t know it at the time, but something far more serious was brewing.

However, during the years I wanted to still train hard and be fit. I quickly realized I couldn’t train like many of my friends and peers. My body was different and just wouldn’t tolerate the same things they did for their fitness programs.

It was largely this issue that got me to first thinking about sandbag training. I loved being a competitive athlete and training hard, but it was impossible, I just could not do the stuff I was being told was the “good” training.

Not being one that ever really felt the need to do what everyone else was doing I dove more and more into alternative forms of fitness and the old school idea of movement strength really was an inspiration. Training my body as it was designed to move and not worrying so much how much I was lifting but how I was teaching my body how to move was far more important and I thought effective.

I found myself using my experimental Ultimate Sandbag Training more and more. Eventually I would be able to be a competitive athlete once again doing something I would NEVER thought possible…..amateur strongman! Yes, flipping 1000 pound tires, lifting 400 pound tires, I couldn’t believe how I was able to do such things considering orthopedically I was a disaster!

Don’t get me wrong, things weren’t always roses. Being still young and more importantly, stupid, I even though I was able to do these things didn’t mean I SHOULD have been doing them. There were times I had flare ups because I’ll be honest, we just aren’t suppose to do some of those strongman things naturally!

Yet, I was far better off than so many other people, especially those that suffered from chronic back pain. My first reality check was coming though as in 2010 I found out what that problematic neck problem was, I had a disc in my neck compressing my spinal cord and lost almost all strength in my right arm. There were no options, I had a fusion in my neck and THAT was a wake up call.

To be honest, the pain was nothing compared to my fear of not being able to do what I love anymore. Being still relatively young I thought an important part of my life was over and that was depressing and scary. I didn’t have a lot of choices so I wanted to put our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training to the test, make me regain what I had lost and get me back to where I could love fitness again.

While I didn’t realize it at the time, it was a blessing. So much of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training comes from working with clients in reaching their goals and my own journey in regaining my health.

I thought I had it all worked out, DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training had brought me back to where in almost record time I was training hard and heavy. Sure, I was being smart, but I was back, oh so I thought!

We are now approaching my two year anniversary of the biggest challenge of my life. While teaching at a conference my hamstring started killing me. Almost feeling lighting bolts down my leg I knew something wasn’t good. Traveling over 30 times during the year and life had finally worn me down.

Not really any of those things were the real reason, just 25 years of having a severely herniated disc in my low back become an issue. So much so, when I went to the hospital for a check they immediately transferred me for emergency surgery. My disc had completely fallen apart and was like my neck, was pressing on my spinal cord.

I lost all use of my right leg, unable to wiggle my toes or really even walk. Jessica and I were both scared, no one was sure if I was going to be walk completely on my own again or how much. in fact, I couldn’t even leave the hospital till I could wiggle my toes again which actually took two days.

Little did I know this WHOLE time that what I had been working on with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training was going to be my savior. With a diagnosis of two years before using my right leg fully again, I got to work! I’ll be honest, there were a lot of challenging times, three surgeries left me really beaten up and the nerve damage was severe. Yet, I was determined, focused, and just stubborn enough to not give up.

Within six months I was squatting well and doing some single leg work. A full 18 months before I was told I MIGHT be back. Such anniversaries are important reminders to me about our mission. So many people think DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is about teaching you about your body. How to connect to it, how to use it, how to be resilient, how to do SO much more than just build some muscle and lose some fat.

I share such stories with you because I never see DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training as about sandbags, it is about what our program and yes, our Ultimate Sandbag can do to make your life better in so many different ways. I don’t want you using sandbags, I want you striving to make your lives so much better in whatever way that means to you!

That is why we always try to find ways to make DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training more accessible to you. Right now we have our end of Summer sale where you can save 20% all throughout our DVRT site HERE, but if you purchase one of our awesome Ultimate Sandbags you will get our two NEW DVRT programs for free. Best of all, if you think I am full of it we have a 30 day guarantee that if you don’t think DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is as powerful as I am sharing with you then just return them no hassles!

DVRT is more than a workout program, it is trying to help people live the best life they can! Jessica and I are proof and see how we do it with a great example of simple DVRT workout below!