Naturally Intense High Intensity Personal Training™ Blog

When I was 17 years old, I tore my rotator cuff and I had a numbing fear that all that I had accomplished in terms of bodybuilding and martial arts, would be relegated to the past because of that injury. But I did not let it stop me, I went to the gym nevertheless and trained my legs and whatever else that I could without causing too much pain to my shoulder, all while going to therapy for it every day for weeks.

My shoulder healed, and then I herniated two lumbar discs in my lower back doing bench squats with 495lbs. I was going down and my partner didn’t stop me in time from sitting right on the bench with almost 500lbson my back. I heard a click and then I was in excruciating pain. I went to the doctor and they said that I would never be able to deadlift and squat the way I used to, and that herniation was a lifelong injury. The experience and determination that I learned when dealing with my shoulder kicked in, and I would not hear it. I was in agony every second of the day, and could hardly even sleep or cough for three months straight, but I dragged myself to the gym and did what I could and never missed a day.

It hurt like hell, but a year later I was 100% back, with no problems whatsoever- to this day I have never had any lower back pain, and I did my all time max squat of 695 a few years after the injury, as well as my all time best deadlift of 695lbs.

All went well for years afterwards, since I learned over time how to train to avoid injury, until in 2001 while doing cable curls with 250lbs, a guy doing pullups behind me, slipped and fell, falling on me while I was just pulling the weight up. His elbow hit my neck and I heard a snap. I could not move the next day, and the MRI showed severe herniation of two of my cervical vertebrae. Again, I was told that I would never do this or that again, and again I ignored them. I went right back to the gym and worked my way back to full strength. Through all of those episodes, I never used painkillers (I don’t like drugs and I don’t use them in any form- I have also been a lifetime drug free athlete and I don’t even use supplements) and I accepted each incident as a chance for me to grow as a human being.

The traditional martial art that I teach and devoted my life to studying calls for every experience to be seen as an opportunity for self improvement, and regards adversity as an inevitable consequence of life itself and that it must be endured and accepted, and in that way it becomes a tool that we harness for our own enlightenment. It is this philosophy that I pass on to you. Remember that there is a part of you that is untouched by the pain and the adversity that you are going through right now, a part of you that is unstoppable and is thoroughly motivated towards the accomplishment of your goals. It is there, find it and go out there and be the best that you can be.

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Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a prominent health and fitness writer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a system designed to help you do everything from lose weight to build muscle using 10 minute workouts.