CrossFit Semifinalist Cancels Back Surgery & Heals 14 mm L5-S1 Disc Herniation + L4-L5 Disc Bulge Naturally (Limitless Program)

Lindsey Grasis, a CrossFit Games Semifinalist and affiliate owner, was battling debilitating back pain caused by a 14mm L5-S1 disc herniation, an L4-L5 bulge, and severe central spinal stenosis.

She experienced intense sciatica down both legs, pain in her hips, glutes, calves, and lower back.

Sitting for more than 30 seconds was impossible. Training was out of the question. After trying everything from chiropractors, massage therapy, spinal decompression, acupuncture, injections, medications, rest, supplements, and even shockwave therapy - nothing worked.

Surgery felt like the only option. She was scheduled for a laminectomy and discectomy in February 2025.

But just 12 hours before surgery, Lindsey made a decision that changed everything: she canceled it and committed fully to finishing the Limitless Program, which she had just started a few weeks earlier.

In this powerful episode, Lindsey shares her full journey - from living in daily pain and fear to rebuilding her life without surgery. She opens up about the emotional toll, the mindset shift, how she modified workouts to stay consistent, and how this experience transformed the way she coaches others.

📈 In June 2025, her follow-up MRI revealed something incredible:

Her 14mm herniation was completely gone. Zero mm. And her spinal stenosis had resolved.

She is now 100% sciatica free and back to training, living, and doing what she loves - getting back into crossfit and coaching

We dive deep into:

• The moment she canceled surgery last-minute

• How she rebuilt strength and confidence

• What doctors got wrong (and right)

• Why movement became her medicine

• How she now helps others avoid the same path If you’ve been told surgery is your only option for sciatica, disc herniation, or CrossFit-related injuries - watch this first!

00:00 Intro: CrossFit Coach, Pain, and a Turning Point

02:00 Diagnosed with a 14mm L5-S1 Disc Herniation

05:30 She Canceled Back Surgery 12 Hours Before

08:15 Starting the Whealth Limitless Program

11:45 How the Injury Changed Her Coaching Forever

16:00 The Mental Toll of Long-Term Pain

21:00 Rebuilding Confidence Through Movement

26:30 Redefining What “Strong” Looks Like

33:00 Adjusting Workouts While Still in Pain

38:45 Helping Her Gym Members Avoid Injury

44:00 Balancing Fear of Reinjury With Progress

1:20:00 Part 2: MRI Results Show Herniation is Gone

1:21:45 Neurosurgeon Reacts + What’s Next for Lindsey

Connect with Lindsey on instagram: @Lgkuff_77

Transcript:
Speaker 2 (00:00)

God was saying you need surgery. There's there's no way around it this time around like you I've I tried every Avenue I could possibly think of I could Google search that doctors told me everything I tried everything and for whatever reason found you guys and ⁓ Here we are and I didn't get surgery. It's pretty wild

Speaker 1 (00:28)

Welcome to the wealth podcast. I'm Cam. And today's guest of honor is Lindsey Grasus, a CrossFit semi-finalist and affiliate owner. Lindsey dealt with a severe back injury in sciatica for 15 months before enrolling in the limitless program in January of 2025, if I'm correct.

⁓ hoping to fix her back pain and also avoid a back surgery that she had scheduled just three weeks after. So started in January, had a back surgery scheduled in February of 2025. And to ruin the story, she ended up canceling her back surgery just 15 hours before ⁓ it was set to happen, which is very bold. I'm excited to dive into that. ⁓ And instead chose to continue down a path of noninvasive healing.

And today rumor has it, as I was just checking your Google review, Lindsay, you said that you are sciatica free, sitting without pain, hinging without pain, and it looks like you're dipping your toes back in the CrossFit. So at this point, I feel like I've stolen a little bit of your thunder. And I want to let you share your story, but first off, congrats, Lindsay. I'm super happy for you.

Speaker 2 (01:40)

Thank you and that was actually very impressive how on point you were with all of that. All the months and everything. Yeah, it's been, it's been a journey. It's still a journey.

Speaker 1 (01:50)

Google reviews.

I checked that out.

Speaker 2 (01:53)

Alright,

listen, you do Mia Solid, I'll do you Solid anytime.

Speaker 1 (01:57)

There we go. Yeah. There we go. Well, how are you feeling today? I canceled the surgery three months ago, right?

Speaker 2 (02:02)

Yeah, yeah, so I and I remember so I don't know if you remember but I was so desperate when I and I must have just I searched Reddit nonstop just for just at desperation and someone mentioned your program in a reddit thread so then I found you on Instagram so I was on Instagram and I saw the the wealth page and so I believe I DM the wealth page it wasn't your personal account

Speaker 1 (02:28)

I pulled those DMs up this

Speaker 2 (02:29)

Did

you really? ⁓ I think I called you like when I sent the DM and you ended up responding and you're like, okay, you can call. I don't know exactly what it says. I guess you have it. But something along the lines of you gave me. Yeah, I sent the picture of my MRI.

Speaker 1 (02:46)

This DM to us on Jan 12th and you said, Hey, I have a 14 mil herniation scheduled for surgery in three weeks, but considering trying to Corazon and some heavy PT, ⁓ I could share the results via my page if I'm successful, which we're like, all right, we got to do this. We got to do this. Right. And you send your MRI and then, ⁓ you're like something like a part of me wants to jump into something other than surgery, especially as a high level CrossFit athlete.

And then I sent you my number and I was like, Hey, let's chat. I think you literally called me in a minute.

Speaker 2 (03:17)

If I look at the call log, it's probably the same minute as whenever you sent your phone number. It was something late at night, I'm pretty sure. I'm like, it's fine.

Speaker 1 (03:28)

Yeah, but you're on it. mean, and those are like, you are the exact type of person that we want to help the people that are just so serious about taking action and ownership over their body. Like I could tell immediately I was like, all right, she's going to be successful. Now I'm sure you probably had doubts.

Speaker 2 (03:45)

You say doubts? Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Especially in the beginning, because I think my mindset and my gut was saying you need surgery. There's, there's no way around it this time around. you've, I've, tried every avenue I could possibly think of. could Google search that doctors told me everything. I tried everything. And, ⁓ my gut told me, you know, it's another PT program. I've done PT programs. I've done in-person PT programs that really made me worse. ⁓

I did everything I could think of it. I'm like, you know what, I'm going end up needing surgery, but ⁓ not to get too much into it. My husband's best friend passed from back surgery not long prior in December, I believe. So I didn't want to jump into that, especially given the timing. So I said, okay, you know, one last whack at something. And for whatever reason found you guys and ⁓

here we are and I didn't get surgery. It's pretty wild. But yeah, I had to answer your question. Yeah. So I had so many doubts. I thought there was no way like I needed it. All my MRI showed progressively through those whatever was 15 months that it was only getting worse at first like the herniation was a couple millimeters or was that they're measuring millimeters? Yeah, it's single digits for sure. It was maybe one third of that size. And then I got it scanned again, maybe in January, December, something like that.

⁓ And it showed the 14 15 millimeters. So I'm like, it's only getting worse. I'm so much worse. I'm what what is the point in dragging this out? You know, I'm mid 30s. I want to have a child one day. There's no way I'm doing it like this. Like, let's just get it done with get the surgery. And so even my first two first weeks of wealth, when I was posting in the Facebook support group that you guys have, even then in my head and mentally, it was not in a good spot. And I'm like, this is a waste of my time. It's a waste of my money.

And it wasn't you. I always forget his name. I'm sorry. ⁓ Who's in that? Yes. So I would post videos and he was always supportive and I'd post, you know, my doubts and I can't even do the hinging when the one, the broomstick, the first, the first week of stuff where you're with the broomstick and I couldn't move. I kid you not this, this far without having like the shock down my whole side, both sides of my body.

And I'm like, am supposed to do this? I can't do this movement. And as an athlete, I force everything. So I was trying to do the full range of motion and I'm posting that and you could see it in my face that I was in pain. He's like, hey, you know, you need to cut it back, cut back the range of motion. And I'm like, man, I can't even move an inch. What am I supposed to do? So, you know, he sent me other versions and videos of like supporting a lot of your weight on the desk. And he's like, then move that one inch. So I would do this much of a hinge. And the athlete in me is like, this is bull.

You know what I mean? But it's those little things over time. And then I found myself, OK, you're moving like another couple inches. And it's just so slow and frustrating. And my mindset in those first couple of weeks even was I'm getting the surgery. I'm wasting my time. I'm getting the surgery. I'm wasting my time. But those little bits of encouragement and really harping on the fact of your mindset being in a good place and having faith that your body is going to heal itself and even you guys' stories with having

herniated before and showing you know you can do, I saw him doing like a Jefferson curls and I'm like super heavy and I'm like oh my! But like the fact that like he's been there and can do that, it helps a lot. So that definitely helped get me through like the worst part of it, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (07:23)

Yeah, well, and I think that's you had an interesting strategy, which we do have a lot of members, they have a surgery on the schedule. And then they're like, I will assess how I'm feeling at the time of that. And I mean, you literally waited until the last moment. Yeah. 15 hours. But I mean, when you're in that tough of a situation, I can understand that. It is interesting to hear, though, I didn't know that you, as you were starting and going through it, you were pretty much just like,

I'm going to be getting the surgery regardless. So what changed though from, you know, maybe the last week or the last hours up until getting that back surgery that made you say, no, I'm not getting the back surgery anymore.

Speaker 2 (08:04)

So

I think a big part of it is a you guys and even I think Andrew even said that in the in the group, he's like, you know, surgery is not a great way to go. And I just hearing over and over again from so many people, including a close friend of mine who works with neurosurgeons out in New Hampshire, his wife was actually my teammate at semifinals. And he called me and talked to me for a while. And he's like, you know, I see this every day, like

please don't, he basically just said, please don't get the surgery. And I think that was that last little bit of encouragement, I guess you could say that I needed to be like that on top of like my husband's best friend passing from it, which is obviously very, very rare. It is really sad situation, but it's still something else. It's like, you know, don't get that surgery. My mom saying, you you paid for this, this programming, you know, might as well see it through. That was your plan. Don't give up on it. And I'm not wanting to give up on things. So.

All those things, I think, added up. And the fact that I was finally seeing small bits of improvement, which you, when we were like individually messaging, you know, that's something you really harped on to is like look for those tiny little bits of improvement, even if it doesn't feel like a lot, it's a little bit over time and then eventually we'll get you there. So it's trying to shift yourself to see those things. Instead of before wealth, I was trying to push everything.

So far and I wanted to just improve so much so quickly when I wasn't it's really frustrating, but then I would do too much and I fall. I'd relapse constantly. I'd go from getting better to just back to I can't move for multiple days at a time. ⁓ So I think it was those swaps and those bits of encouragement that really helped me now to where I'm at. So.

Speaker 1 (09:49)

Yeah.

So I got injured. had an eight mil L5S1 at the time I was doing CrossFit. I absolutely love CrossFit. And for me as just an amateur level, that was like the best in the box, but not very good at all in the grand scheme of things. Getting injured and then being taken out of CrossFit was devastating.

And then also starting this program, which I bought as a customer seven years ago, I had the same feelings as you probably to a lesser degree since you're a semi finalist and I was really a nothing, but I was like, my gosh, what am I doing? Like I need to go faster. need to go harder. And then you kind of realize when you're dealing with a very stubborn injury, you can't amrap your way out of this. I think that was a mindset that

I had to change coming from a very, very competitive landscape where I was a competitive swimmer, cross-fitter. Hey, it is absolutely great to throw everything into a workout, but pain does not necessarily respond to it in that intense mechanism in which, okay, well, if my range of motion is horrible and it hurts when I get here, more is not always more. And I think that's kind of what you were saying too. I mean, it's,

humbling jumping in with the background that you have and then having to kind of start from square one.

Speaker 2 (11:08)

awful. I'm not gonna lie. Mentally, it's really hard because then you get in the mindset, you know, okay, I've worked so hard over the past 10 years to go from like this tiny little girl, like I had a really bad eating disorder, like I was scared of like all those lifting and like getting big and, all that to progressing to semi final athlete. And now it's like you got whacked with the surgery and you're gonna lose all of that. And then I was nervous about my mental headspace with eating because CrossFit's helped me get past that.

So it was just a lot of working through that and ended up being fine. It honestly taught me how to slow down a little bit and take more rest days. like even the other day, like you had just commented on my post today that I did bar muscle ups two days ago and I did like three sets of six unbroken. It was fine. And I'm like, I didn't lose that much. You know what I mean? So like, it's okay. Like you got to take care of your body when you know, it's obviously telling you to, so.

Speaker 1 (12:01)

Definitely. And I truly believe you've taken this time off to heal and aside from the body starting to feel better, I think what you'll start to notice as you move forward and continue at least once you move past the program completely, you'll still have, you'll still have, ⁓ you know, some body awareness and in a different sense of body control and body mechanics that I believe you'll bring across it. It's going to make you.

more educated on how you train, maybe it'll make you stronger or maybe you're going to go the other way and be like, I don't know if I ever want to eclipse those weights and intensity. know, obviously that's something that you'll decide, but I think moving forward, you're probably going to be a lot more knowledgeable about how you train. And I think that's only going to make you a better athlete and healthier.

Speaker 2 (12:51)

Yeah, I don't disagree with you because I had always been that athlete until I originally herniated because I fixed this herniation twice. Now this is the third time I herniated it. The first two times I trained my way out of it and it was fine. And so you can always do that. I learned that the hard way. I honestly forget where I was going with that. What was your comment to that?

Speaker 1 (13:02)

Third time's

You were

just, we were talking about kind of patience and it's going to make you a better athlete. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:23)

Yes, exactly. those beforehand, and this is of course before I was 30, I ⁓ would do, you know, no warm up. I would throw 45s on each side and just rip out a bunch of 125 deadlifts. like doing nothing. I would do no dead, no midline active, nothing. Just throw it on, start deadlifting. ⁓ We have far surpassed those days. My warm up is now at least 30 minutes long. But yeah, so it definitely does make you a smarter athlete. Like I'm more aware of. ⁓

how I'm not lifting yet. I'm still not really there. We're working towards that, but I will definitely be more aware of how I pull a barbell off the ground. I never used to like I was known for lifting like an asshole. So yeah, we're Yeah, we're we're gonna be a much smarter athlete moving forward.

Speaker 1 (14:13)

So take me through just that kind of timeline where you first herniated the disc, felt the pain. Where was that along your competitive CrossFit timeline?

Speaker 2 (14:24)

I remember it exactly. it was, ⁓ it must've been, it was before COVID. So I don't know the exact year. ⁓ Maybe 29, what was COVID, 2020? I think it was before COVID. I want to say 2019 then. What is this, 2026 years ago? That maybe sounds wrong. Regardless, it was a handful of years ago. I was at my gym on a Saturday. I had done a partner workout.

Speaker 1 (14:34)

2020, yeah.

Okay.

Speaker 2 (14:49)

And afterwards, I didn't need to Saturdays, we usually do part of workouts and I chill and I'm like, you know what, I didn't work out enough because I'm all that I was not wicked volume mindset at that point. So I decided randomly wasn't part of the programming I was following to do some heavy deadlifts. And it wasn't even a true heavy. I just remember going to set up. I didn't even get the bar off the ground, just that initial tiny little pole. And I was on the ground and I couldn't get off. I couldn't get off the floor.

And I had no, no serious back issues before. So I didn't really understand what was happening to me. And I was trying to crawl off the floor and I had like, I was doing bench press next and I tried to get myself on the bench and bench and it just wasn't happening. And I remember freaking out because I, I didn't even know it was from my spine. Yeah. It's such a sensation. It's so hard to explain to anyone who's never explained it before, but I knew something was very, very, very wrong. ⁓ so that must've been.

Had I gone to semis yet, I wanna say... It was either just before my first year at semifinals or just after my first year of semifinals, a handful of years ago that that happened. Because it's so long, I've also had a few concussions, so it's hard to remember.

Speaker 1 (16:05)

I was trying to recount my my story the other day and I'm like it was seven years ago

Speaker 2 (16:10)

⁓

It was a handful of years ago and I got it scanned. was herniated. was actually my L4 L5. Yes, it was my L4 L5 for that one. My L5 S1 I think was only bulged, which I guess is still a problem, but only bulged was better. ⁓ so I don't, I think I just went to PT, like a standard PT for that and it healed very quickly. I want to say in a month.

was back to a thousand percent everything. So as bad as the pain was, it didn't register this Halens like this is a serious injury like your spine's kind of messed up forever now. I didn't really understand that. ⁓ So I went back to a hundred percent full CrossFit. I was at Waterpalooza in January and I think this was maybe November that it originally happened. So I went to Waterpalooza as an individual and competed there and after that like flight where you're sitting for so long, I went to go warm up. It was the year that there was

this like heavy deadlift clean and front some some pure barbell workout workout was the first workout. And I remember warming it up. And I want to say it started at 175. And I did my usual ad stuff and just threw on a bunch of weight and I was warming up in the back and I felt it a little bit and I'm like, mmm, that probably wasn't good. So I went on the floor and as I'm walking on the floor, I'm like just pinching a little bit and I'm like, ⁓ like, you know that pinch it, you know, you know.

So I went on the floor and I just dead lifted it up to do my first hang clean on the floor and I carried off. So I re did it, I guess you want to say. So I was back to square zero. I still got up on the stage for all the rest of the workouts like an idiot because I still didn't understand a herniated disc. And so I still tried.

Speaker 1 (17:57)

So you got picked up and carried off the competition floor for that event and then you came back for the rest of the weekend to keep trying to compete? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:07)

the same day I went on like five hours later I went on and I believe it was a swimming row run workout. I did the workout. I can't. ⁓ It was so bad. I was in so much pain. I came in like dead last on everything. Yeah, I was still in that. I can't. So I went home, healed again, a fine in like two months I was

back to 100%. And I think because I lucked out so much on those first two times that when it hit me again, and I kept it, I kept it off for a couple of years, two years, because I was at Semis twice, I think, after I herniated originally. And it wasn't really my L5S1. This time was my L5S1. My L4, L5 is now just budged, so it's like they swapped. So when I did it this time, it was...

I was actually rehabbing a concussion and I was doing like the simplest tiny little like whatever they had me doing in physical therapy for my vestibular issues. And I just like kind of like off balance and came like belly flopped a little bit. And I thought I Charlie horsed my quad is what it felt like. So I didn't even know it was my spine ⁓ until the next day. And then I woke up and I'm like.

⁓ we're back here again. So that's how that kind of all happened. And this I was still dumb. So I still didn't learn that was it was right before the season. So it was December of 2023. I got the scan. And as I said, it was the L5S1. And it wasn't that big, but it was herniated. And I talked to I was supposed to be on a team for Ocean State that year. And

So I talked to them and he's like a physical therapist or something. So he looked at it and he's like, hey, you know, we can probably get you through the season, but just so you know, we maybe shouldn't compete after this year or like really address this. And ⁓ so I went to acupuncture. I did more physical therapy, ⁓ stuff like that. And it was hard. I made it through this season. Again, it wasn't as big as it is now. So I made it through the season.

And after the season ended for team, we actually just missed the cutoff, which was a blessing in disguise. I was really upset about it at the time, but we missed it just barely. And so because I was upset, I then did individual quarterfinals the next week, which I should not have ever done, which I also almost made by a few spots. But that last workout, was...

It was a heavy clean or heavy cleaning jerk, like 30 reps or as many reps as you could do. Like a building weight. I don't know. I don't remember. I think it was like 155 at end of that. You just did as many reps as you could do. And I did like 20 something. And I did it two days in a row because I didn't like my first score. And the next day it all went downhill after that. And then I got stuck. Then it was like really, really bad. So what Semis was in April, May of last year. And then

I was in so much pain. I could, that was, then it was like my dark period where I was like, I have a serious problem here up until January. So I went from then until January and like a, I think I'm broken forever phase where I couldn't find anything that worked. I lucked out last time where I had, you know, two months and I was back to normal and.

It was bad, bad, bad. Like I couldn't get out of bed bad. I couldn't like go to the bathroom by myself. Like it was, I was just in so, so much pain. The sitting part, like everything was so bad. ⁓ and then I got rescanned in December and they're like, you have a serious issue because it had not only gotten bigger, but I guess it was migrating or something, ⁓ up my spinal canal and was touching my spinal cord. So they were nervous about, ⁓

the CNS stuff and I'd start to get like the tingles and the groin and things like that. So I was very highly convinced at that point that I was getting the surgery up until obviously, as we said, like the day prior, the whole week leading up to surgery, I think I called my mom five times a day, mom, I'm getting the surgery. hang up two hours later, mom, think I'm a little bit better. I'm not getting the surgery. Like she couldn't handle it. She's like, if you're undecided, maybe don't get the surgery.

That's my story. Sorry not to go off for like five minutes.

Speaker 1 (22:43)

That is tough, I don't mind.

That's incredible. also too, just can't, you know, we're both laughing. Like you just kept pushing through the pain, pushing through.

Speaker 2 (22:56)

It's

so bad, like you know how bad it is. It's so, it's so bad. It's so bad.

Speaker 1 (23:01)

Yeah, but you're, know, high, high level athlete. And so I guess you're just like, well, this is what we're supposed to do. You know, athletes push through pain all the time, right?

Speaker 2 (23:12)

Yeah,

and it's like a whole other I've heard so many different things and that the pain of a herniated disc trying to explain it to someone who's never experienced it or even sciatica it is so nasty. It's it's like it's literally someone just like dripping acid down your entire body.

Speaker 1 (23:29)

good one. I've had

thought process. It's kind of interesting to for me to try to explain what sciatica is like, because it's been now seven years that I haven't had it. So I'm it, it's it's so far away. But I just remember it being the absolute worst just fire down the leg and you can get up and it's like weak and you're not

Speaker 2 (23:49)

There's just fire ants all over your body. That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (23:54)

FIrance and acid is gone, but I mean, very commendable for you for doing that. was that? It didn't really seem like for the third time that you even had a choice, but to stop lifting and doing CrocBit. It sounded like the choice was made for you.

Speaker 2 (24:14)

Yeah, oh yeah. And I kept trying to push, I kept trying to do mat cons. And I remember us to a point where like every box jump and I did a partner workout with my husband, like every box jump was zapping me so hard. I was like squeaking every rep, like just involuntary noises coming out. And he's like, you need to, you need to stop. He's just, not only that, but then after I got the second MRI and they like

flagged it as like a yellow or orange alert or something like that. And that was enough to kind of freak me out. Like it is your spine. Like this isn't just like a broken finger. It's your spine. And when he starts talking, you know, paralysis and you know, things about your spinal cord and that, you know, you're at very high risk right now with that scan of losing control of your bladder and potentially your legs and nerve damage being permanent. And all of these things were enough to scare me the hell out of you're going to slow down and fix it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:08)

Yeah, I mean, those are obviously extremely, extremely ⁓ serious signs that you need to really take that seriously, right? And that is where the argument for surgery comes in, you really don't want to have that long term damage that is irreparable or you can't get some of it back. ⁓

And I know that's where people who are debating back surgeries think about, well, what if this happens to me? So you think about the worst case scenario, and then that makes a lot of people opt for back surgery. So it's, it is a tough thing because there's obviously situations in which it's truly warranted. But how do you make sense of this for yourself in which they say, Lindsay, you need back surgery, and then you make the personal decision and not go through with it. And now here you are, you're better. So how do you make sense of what happened?

Speaker 2 (26:02)

how do I make sense of it?

Speaker 1 (26:06)

And you're still trying to figure it out.

Speaker 2 (26:07)

Yeah. So even up to like, honestly, like two days ago, so there is I won't use usenames, ⁓ just in case they don't want their personal info out there. But I do know ⁓ there are high level CrossFit athletes that are currently going through the same injury as myself to some aspect of herniated disc in some aspects and have gone through the surgery.

Recently, like within the same time when that I was gonna get surgery and one made a post the other day and she's deadlifting and back squatting like heavy ass weights already. And I broke down pretty hard because that was really hard for me to see because not being and yeah, I got to do a mech con a couple days ago. So I'm slowly getting back into it. But I'm I still have the back pain. I don't have the sciatica. I'm still on my way to getting to 100%. I'm definitely not there yet. And the process is just so slow and

comparison to the surgery, but the surgery is no guarantee. So it's still a risk no matter what, because they can't guarantee it's going to fix the problem. But if it does fix the problem, which for these other CrossFitters it has, and I've spoken to many who have in the past gotten the surgery too, and they've been fine, they're back to competing. And that's hard for me to see, because I chose to take the more difficult version ⁓ just to try to prevent having more issues down the road or more surgeries down the road and just doing the more

I guess natural way. So it's still very hard and it's still hard to figure out, you know, did I make the right choice? But I'd like to think I did. So.

Speaker 1 (27:36)

Right. Yeah, I mean, that's an interesting thought process, you know, comparing yourself to someone else's rehab journey. A lot of times I think we naturally want to do that. Yeah. It's I don't want to say it's helpful or not helpful, but I would say in the aspect of it not being helpful is you're right now, Lindsay, you're looking at these CrossFit athletes who are doing well post back surgery. And I, of course, I wish successful surgeries upon anyone who does that because

It's so tough to go the other way, but you just, don't know what path you go down or what path they're going to go down. you know, lot of people who get a back surgery end up getting another one, getting another one, then they get fused. So, you know, you do go down a different path for that. Of course there are successful back surgeries, but what I would say too is it might be, it might be short-sighted though to just for

some of these people to potentially think, hey, I just got surgery and it fixed everything and now I'm clear to do whatever and I'm never going to have to address it and it's going to come back because if you put yourself in their shoes and maybe what you're seeing right now is you and your first two episodes in which, it's good, it's gone like, and then it comes back. And again, I don't wish that upon any of these athletes or anyone, but you know, that's where I think comparing yourself to other people's speed of rehab is not

always going to share the full story of what you need to do yourself.

Speaker 2 (29:04)

Yeah, and that's very valid. I'm a true, as corny as it is, I'm a true believer in, you know, things happen the way they do for a reason. I probably needed to learn a lot of things about, you know, myself and my body and, you know, CrossFit, especially on the competitive side, it's a lot on the body. And, you know, I think I took that for granted a little bit. And so I think I needed to learn, you know, what I've learned, especially through wealth and such.

Wealth itself was great for me because, it kept me engaged with it because a lot of PTs that I've done in the past, they're very boring and I'm very ADHD and I'm very, you know, I need new and stimulating things, I guess. In PTs, it was the same thing every time. It was the same three movements over and over and over over over again. And then wealth, it was progressional. So I still felt like, even though I wasn't following, you know, my programming,

in the CrossFit gym, was still following a program that was progressional and like I understood why we were doing certain things and how we build upon things week after week. So that was nice for me. You know what I mean? That made a big difference for me.

Speaker 1 (30:16)

How was that? So have you, you own your CrossFit box? Yeah. Okay. How was that just say from a business perspective in the year and a half or something that you were out of commission, how did that affect the business?

Speaker 2 (30:36)

Did it affect the business? From a from a an emotional standpoint, I want to say yes, because I had so much guilt about it. So I still have so much guilt about it because my community is really big on our programming, which I've titled Train of Command and I sell it online. And it was a big part of my social media platform. And, know, when my this

the injury happened this time around, I had to stop. You know, my posting stopped me being in the gym all the time doing workouts with the members stopped. And I feel like that was really, it really helped encourage our community a little bit better than me not doing it. And that might just be an emotional viewpoint. It might not be true, which is how I, how I felt. because a lot of people will buy, you know, the 24 seven access, they'll do the extra stuff, which is the extra stuff that I do as well as a high level athlete. So, you know, everyone had the option to do

exactly as I was training and ⁓ that was kind of gone. ⁓ And then I feel like a hypocrite where I'm like, okay, this is what we're doing today, but this is what I'm doing. And it's something totally different than everyone else. And I hate that. ⁓ I like being all part of the community, no matter what your level is, whether it's a beginning or advanced or all doing the same, the same stuff. And that wasn't happening anymore. So that was hard for me emotionally, nevermind like even trying to coach people was really hard because

I could barely even sit for two minutes, nevermind demo a movement. So that was very hard, especially when you're trying to be a good leader for your coaches and you're like, okay, I don't care if it's a sit up, like we are demoing every movement and then here I am and I'm like, hey, know, XYZ member, can you demo? It was horrible.

Speaker 1 (32:21)

For sure. Yeah. And I think kind of what I'm hearing too, you're out of a lot of the really tough stuff, I would say. Like the fact that you are able to sit in hinge and I saw you front squatted yesterday. know it's not a PR, but you did it. And you're doing muscle ups and you're doing body weight wads. I mean, that is such an awesome success point that you're at.

Speaker 2 (32:39)

pounds baby

Speaker 1 (32:50)

When we're talking about three or four months ago, you were thinking, Hey, I'm going to get surgery. Can't move around. mean, all signs are pointing to you should have done that. And you've reclaimed your life in a big way. I know for you as a semi-finalist, you know, you're still comparing yourself to what you used to do, but you're climbing back up. So that's awesome. think there is a loss of identity for sure. As an athlete, when you have a big injury and then you

are also, you have a very strong Instagram, social media presence, do a great job. So I know that's gotta be tough to pull back on that because you can't do the thing that people follow you for supposedly how you've made your name, how you're selling programs. You do feel like an imposter. And then you're also, you are comparing yourself to other people almost wishing like, why me? Or I just wish that I could keep competing. And I think

That is another aspect that's tough with athletes. And I found this with my mindset was all I ever wanted to do when I was in pain was be in the gym. And it's this weird thing where you're like, there are so many lazy people out there who will never work out or don't care to work out. like they're not in pain or blah, blah, blah. So you're like, why me?

Speaker 2 (34:09)

I definitely agree with that. But then I also get mad at myself because I know I also did it to myself by just not being smart. So yeah, I look at it kind of both ways, but you definitely the imposter syndrome is very real. The thing with Instagram, like I was ready to just deactivate my Instagram. I lose like 1000 followers a day now. It must be like once you don't post for a while, like I don't know how.

don't even know how the algorithm works anymore. Like even just trying to post this, I think I have like 20, not that I want to go off likes, but even like views, it's like so, it is so low compared to what I used to get. I'm like, I don't even know how this works anymore. And I used to like make good money and stuff off of this. And I'm like, I'm so out of touch.

Speaker 1 (34:53)

How long have you been out of the social media game because of the injury?

Speaker 2 (34:59)

I tried for, I used like so much old stuff because I had also been out because of some concussions too. So it was like back to back stuff that honestly, I haven't feel like, I feel like I haven't been super present as present on Instagram in like two plus years now. Just sporadic stuff or old stuff or if I have a good day, you know what I mean? It's hard to stay relevant anymore.

Speaker 1 (35:26)

Hey,

you're, I see this with our members and I know and trust that, you know, as time passes, you're going to look back on it and feel more and more blessed to be in that situation. And the reason why I say that, I think I see that happens with everyone, but when you're in the thick of it, even for me, as I was going through my injury, you know, I was 21 and I'm looking around at other peers and it's kind of that thought process of like, they have it better than me and I'm struggling and they're not.

What's interesting is if you take a growth mindset with the challenge that you're going through and you continue to look for the incredible things that you're learning throughout this process and you are whether or not you're acknowledging them as it goes on, you're going to stack all these incredible learnings. And then once you truly get to the other side and you are more knowledgeable about your body, you might be looking back on other athletes who are still trying to learn that lesson. They're getting injured continuously. They're not taking care of their body.

you'll probably see that amongst maybe some of your members in your gym or just people in general, you'll start to be like, they're kind of living the life that I used to live in which I was ignoring potential joint pain and back pain signals. And they're in the thick of that struggle and they can't get out of it because they're in still a short-minded view. Whereas for you, if we can start to like take a... ⁓

a look back at where we're going and like what we've done, think you'll start to maybe see that picture a little bit more clearly. But again, I know you're still in the like three, four months really of that climb. So what you're feeling is also completely natural. And I think everyone just has to go through that at a different rate.

Speaker 2 (37:10)

Yeah, and I even see it in my woman gym now, like on any sort of heavy hinging day, like even the way I warm my members up is a little bit different now. Sometimes they'll like poke fun at me, they're like, oh, I didn't know we came to Pilates class. Shut it. You're not hurting your backs, okay?

Speaker 1 (37:29)

Sure. Well, I think that's another way to look at it too. I would imagine you love CrossFit for yourself. Do you find fulfillment in helping other people find fitness and health as an affiliate?

Speaker 2 (37:41)

Why that's why I so I technically bought the affiliate from the old affiliate owners seven or eight years ago now. But that's exactly why like I've always wanted to be in fields where I'm helping other people, especially in health and fitness. It's my whole life. You know what I mean? And it technically saved my life like 15 years ago. So I want to give that to other people. So that's why I got into the field, you know, in general. So for sure.

Speaker 1 (38:06)

Sure. Well, so another way that was helpful for me going through it and I encourage other people, like when you're dealing with a hardship, just you can think about the lessons that you're and have learned that you're able to pass on to others. So yeah, it sucks for you, Lindsay, in a lot of ways, but think about too, if you're able to bless other people's lives, people at your gym, you're teaching them different things that they would have never learned had you not gotten injured.

And ideally that is going to help them out as well with their health in ways that maybe they wouldn't have been blessed if you hadn't had to go through this really tough time.

Speaker 2 (38:44)

Yeah, and not only that, like now they're going to see me and they have been seeing me like scaling Metcons like and there's no, and I say this to them all the time and you know, maybe in the past they haven't taken me as seriously because I'm, you know, that higher level athlete who doesn't scale or I'm like, there's no shame in scaling. honestly, everywhere, technically I scale because I do RX plus versions of workouts. That's still scaling and it's all relative. It's all here's the workout, but just do, here's the stimulus, pay more attention to the stimulus and where you are at.

And I'm going to be doing now the lesser scaling option like everyone else does sometimes. And that's fine. Like there's nothing wrong with that. You're still getting a great workout in. You're doing what you're capable of and you're hitting the intended stimulus. And that's the whole point of CrossFit. Like, so yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:33)

And yeah, I think you can you can lose sight of that. You can lose sight of a lot of things when everything seems to be going your way and you're very healthy. And I think, again, I don't wish any of these health challenges on anyone. But also to if you do have that it humbles you, you kind of refocus. Yeah, like, wow, I am grateful. mean, when you can't walk for 15 months. Do you feel grateful?

Speaker 2 (39:56)

⁓ god, ⁓ literally I went for a one mile run the other day and I wanted to cry because I'm like I just missed this so and I used to be like, my god, only one mile like I need to go multiple mile intervals like it's just it very much changes your perspective for sure. Yeah, 100 %

Speaker 1 (40:12)

Yeah. I mean, now, yeah, I have this run club that I do every week and I just have this level of gratitude to be able to go out and run and spend time with people or whenever I can work out, it feels like a blessing. But also at the same point in time, knowing that I've been knocked off my horse really bad, and then you have to work your way back up to it, you feel like, hey, I also need to, it's my duty as well to my body and my health to take care of myself as well so that I can enjoy.

the fruits of this. ⁓

Speaker 2 (40:43)

yeah. And even just having all of that taken away from you, like at the at the worst of it, I, probably couldn't even have a conversation with someone it was my back was like my whole life. Like it's all when it when you're in that much severe pain chronically, like 24 seven, it's all you can you eat, breathe and sleep it. Even just having a conversation with someone I wouldn't be there because I'm thinking, okay, like, how can I adjust a little bit so I'm not in as much pain? Do know what I mean? Like, it's just like

like vacations were miserable for me because airplanes I'd have to go like stand in the back of the stewardess and I'm just telling my story over and over again about why you know I'm in so much pain and you can't do what you love in the gym. You're not working out at all. Like you can't sleep well. It's just everything every little thing like in the car trying to drive. I would I used to say like I drive like a jeep because I'd be all the way reclining probably really bad like yeah so bad like it's just ⁓ it's just such a nasty nasty experience.

And then now it gives you a very much different outlook on everything, really. So more appreciation, as you were saying, for the small things.

Speaker 1 (41:46)

Thanks, mate.

Yeah. And there's, yeah, you're learning all these mental, you know, mental winnings from this tough time. So ⁓ I'm really happy for you. What, ⁓ what would you say is like the X factor or the differentiator between, just say the limitless program and helping you get back on your feet and eliminate the sciatica versus all the other things that you tried, which I know is acupuncture, chiropractic, you did physical therapy. How does that stack up?

Speaker 2 (42:20)

So in a couple different ways. So I would say the acupuncture kind of stuff is a bandaid more so, whereas wealth, obviously, and I'd like to say any physical therapy ish kind of program, you know, isn't because you're building like the strength and the midnight stability and like the stuff you really need to get better. Whereas the other ones, okay, let me take away your pain for a little bit. However, like I said before, yours is

different, Limitless is different in the sense of it's more progressional, which I feel like is good to get back to what you were doing before. ⁓ It also helped me break out of my fear a little bit. I still have a lot of fear, but my huge fear was hinging. Hinging was so like even I had perfected like the elevator squat. So like if I was like as upright as possible, just straight. yeah, just shrink your knees straight down. Like I was just so severely like

mortified, plus just the pain. So I think learning how to mitigate that was huge for me, which health with which the Limitless program very much helped me with. And not only that, just like your community that you have on Facebook, like I said before, with him giving me modifications because I couldn't do what was in Limitless at first. The first couple of weeks are very hard for me because I was in so much pain. So having that option where they could modify that for me and knew how to modify that for me, that's a big

thing too because other programs that I have been with and even like the in-person physical therapy programs I'd be like hey like this is a problem they have me doing Jefferson curl I can't they have me doing Jefferson curls I was since this is at like the height of my herniation god so dumb anyway but I didn't know they're telling me to do it so I'm trying you know what I mean

Speaker 1 (44:08)

There's this huge craze with Jefferson curls, I think probably propagated a lot, it seems to be by the knees over toes methodology. I think then there's a lot of back pain gurus popping up like, hey, do Jefferson curls for sciatica. And look, I'm not someone who's saying that your body should not be able to tolerate a Jefferson curl. But for the vast majority of people that I've worked with, that we've worked with, with sciatica, they

just simply can't do a Jefferson curl at the start. So it's not something to not do in the future. For that to be like, have a disc herniation, do a Jefferson curl. I just think that's probably not really the best advice most times.

Speaker 2 (44:53)

No,

and I think the issue was for me as well is that I went a long time between my two MRI scans, almost a year, and a lot of specialists that I saw didn't believe me when I said it's a herniated disc because it was so small in that original MRI. And then I went and competed and I had a period where I was pain free for like a month and then it happened again and it was worse. And they're like, this isn't a herniation. Like you just have

SI joint issues, you have, I don't know, whatever they would say. And so they would treat me differently or like if I was like, hey, like that's really freaking painful, like all the way down my hips. It's just, I don't know. Nothing else works for me. Let's just put it that way. There was always something that was just making it worse or it was just a temporary bandaid or is now, you know.

I so it was deadlifts that were so scary to me because it was always pulling off the ground that I rehearneyed every time it was a deadlift or it was a clean off the ground it was heavy and so deadlifts scared me so bad that listen hinging and with limitless it takes you like week one week I say week one week two I should say module one and two ⁓ but I did I was a psychopath every day like like a psychopath.

Yeah, yeah. Like I still do, like I have it on my calendar. I alternate days between limitless and like a little back strengthening thing that I'm doing now just to try to get my erectors a little bit stronger. Yeah. And ⁓ it's still all body weight. You know what I mean? I'm still ⁓ cautious. I mean, kind of sort of, but.

Speaker 1 (46:24)

Now that you're at this point to experiment with other things out there, I think there's a lot of still non-wealth systems that are great. think it's just at what point in the time of your rehab are you using them.

Speaker 2 (46:39)

Agreed

and so ⁓ with with wealth so I'll say week 1 week 2 but module 1 and 2 because you can stay on that one for as long as possible Looking back what I should have done in the first couple modules. So again, I was still in that

mindset where I'm doing one every day and just keep going and just can't, I don't care if I'm still in pain, we're just going to keep going, keep going. I should have stayed on module one until that was all pain free and then gone to module two. I digress. It did. But my point in saying that is, you know, every module is progressive. So you start from, okay, I'm hinging with a broomstick. And when I say it was literally going from like here to here, like not even this much movement.

to eventually, okay, we dropped the broomstick now and then I was using, you know, a desk to like kind of do a little bit more. And then, you know, a couple of modules later, I'm starting to do it without any support. And I'm getting to like all the way parallel to the ground, which I'm like, what the? That was wild to me. Like I thought I was convinced. was like, I'm never bending over ever again in my life. Like it's just not happening. And you know, I was doing that and I'm like, my, my gosh, like this is crazy. And then you get to,

you know, module seven or eight somewhere along those lines. And, you know, they're like, okay, let's start deadlifting with a cat with a like a lightweight. And I'm like, you not like I know, no, absolutely not. Am I doing that? And I remember one time in my day, one day, and I just picked it off the ground. I was like, no, like, that didn't hurt. So it was good, because it builds you up there. It's not just like zero to okay, go lift this weight off the ground. You know what I mean? So

Speaker 1 (48:18)

Yeah, it is. Yeah. I mean you left ⁓ a lengthy beautiful Google review and then

Speaker 2 (48:24)

I'm a

talker, if you can't tell, anyway.

Speaker 1 (48:27)

love it. love it. Best person to have on a podcast. You shared all the benefits, right? And then I liked at the bottom, you dropped your Instagram and you're like, Hey, this is tough. Like I don't wish this upon anyone. You need to be patient. You need to do these things. And you also said, Hey, I did this program every single day for three months. So if you're in a tough place and you want to feel better like Lindsay did, that's the formula, right? Like

patience, ups and downs, and do the thing, do the thing. We're not saying you gotta do it every day. It's pretty helpful to do something that you wanna get better at every day for 30 minutes for sure. Not gonna sugar coat that. On the contrary, we do have some members who do the program once or twice a week and actually do get those results that Lindsey's talking about. I would just say for most of them, it's just a little bit longer time to get.

Speaker 2 (49:21)

Yeah, and if you're like me and you're like I need to get better do it every day like it's just it is what it is wake up I have my coffee and I would do it in my living room like literally my living room I didn't even I would ⁓ At home gym kind of in the basement that I could go to no just doing the living room still in my PJs like it's it's very doable and ⁓ What you're saying to with like, you know, I posted, you know reach out to me

I do like that I have a lot of new herniated disc friends now that I posted a couple times, you know, about how hard it is to go from like this to this, the real, you and I talked about it, but it's good to have that community and you get that through wealth as well, which I found my first group of herniated disc friends, I guess you can say. And, you know, even as now I'm the one saying, you know, I did this every day for three straight months, like it can get better. I had posted in Facebook one day. I remember being like, okay, I've done this.

for a month, I'm still not better. Like, should I just get the surgery? Did anyone here get the surgery? I remember someone commenting and they're like, give it time. Like it took me up to three months and I would like get angry. I was just so, I was just in such a bad head space and I would like get angry and I'm like, no, you don't understand. Like I think I need surgery. Like this isn't working. And like, so I had my doubts and you know, I listened to the community. I listened to these people.

And now I'm here giving the same advice. So yeah, so I'm very glad. And it was very helpful to have, you know, that support in that group.

Speaker 1 (50:51)

Yeah, I do remember that feed and there was, think this lady Haley as well, she was saying it took her about three months to get pain free. And then, you know, some other members six months, you know, we've it's cool for marketing when we have those members who, have the two week success and we have that, which is unbelievable. But okay. Part of me thinks that this is just the way that I look back on my experience, probably because I'm kind of someone that

Like you, hey, the way that it happened was the best way for it to happen to me. So when I look back now at other people who had horrible sciatica and then went away in two weeks, and for me it took 14, I just in my own mind say, hey, it's better that it took me 14 weeks because all of the lessons of patience and other skills I learned through out rather than if it was gone in two weeks, I don't know if I would have taken that seriously and maybe I'd still be relapsing. Again, who knows? We can't split test the universe and put ourselves in a different situation, but

I just personally find that that mindset when you're going through a tough time or rehab or disc herniation or back pain, I find that most times that mindset is productive because you're like, hey, you're not someone else. You are yourself. This is your circumstance. So what can you do to move forward from it every single day and improve?

Speaker 2 (52:13)

Yeah, exactly. And it's taking the good days with the bad days because it's not every day is going to be I try and tell myself this over and over again. And you've been wonderful for me in my bad mindset days and I be off to also have to get to a point where like you have those people you can be like, you reach out to and, you know, rely on because on your on your own something like this. It's really hard. So, you know, yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:38)

Yeah, that's the other thing. I mean, that's why we have the Facebook group and you know, told Andrew I was like, hey, there's high level CrossFit athletes coming in. He's like, well, I hope she posts in the Facebook group because I think you're probably the first semi finalist that we've had do our program potentially. And so I think that's a, obviously it's a really cool story for us. We knew we could help you out, but it is kind of like, all right, what's our program going to teach a CrossFit semi finalist? A lot, right? You know, it's,

Speaker 2 (53:04)

A lot, actually.

Speaker 1 (53:08)

It's kind of funny. You'll, you'll look at really, really high level athletes and sometimes it's not necessarily, I don't want to call them good or bad mechanics, but they're not always just good because they know exactly what they're doing. Sometimes it's kind of moving in spite of, right. And so kind of as you're talking about, like, I just had shitty technique, but I was just an absolute beast and I tried hard. ⁓ and a lot of athletes are like that. They are just.

good kind of in spite of and they're not necessarily thinking about movement or lifestyle or health from the other side of the coin.

Speaker 2 (53:44)

Yeah, especially if you've had no consequences for it yet. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:49)

I

mean, like, yeah, why would you change? And that's how I think about my CrossFit journey. The numbers were going up and really, you know, I was working on skill and stuff, but it was funny back in when I was doing CrossFit, my coaches called me turtle back and they got me one of the, what was it? The RPM jump ropes. then it was an RPM.

Speaker 2 (54:10)

Yes,

and can engrave like on the handles.

Speaker 1 (54:13)

So they engraved it called turtle back and they would just laugh. Like I was kind of a beast, but not really. And, but every single clean every, every single snatch, the first thing to lift up would be like that L five S one area. So I always thought I'm like, I'm dead lifting. I'm probably using my hips and my glutes and stuff. No, it's always pulling through the back, every snatch, every clean and jerk, every front squat, every back squat. And then also to really not.

too much frontline stability. whenever I clean, I'd have that nasty like

Speaker 2 (54:46)

Yes.

⁓ Yes.

Speaker 1 (54:49)

And then, you know, I get coin turtle back. ⁓ and I didn't really even know what that meant at the time. I was like, that's so funny. And then looking back on it, looking at old videos of me didn't crossfit with my belt and my sleeves and my, ⁓ shoes. was like, well, yeah, no wonder. No wonder that happened to me. had really, I really didn't know what I was doing. It was just the thought of pick the bar up and put it overhead or bring it to your hips and work harder and get better.

Speaker 2 (55:18)

I relate so insanely hard. My glutes and my core have always been really underdeveloped and weak comparatively. But I'm like, that's fine. I have other shit that make up for it. You know what mean? I'm like, whatever. Yeah, I just take over. And like, I've always had strong hamstrings and a strong back and I paid for it because you think you're out whatever, you know, until that happens. And then, you know, that's all it's

At least slowing down has allowed me, I've been in a regular gym, which again makes me feel like a Hippopera because I own a CrossFit gym. So that's been hard too. ⁓ But I also.

Speaker 1 (55:56)

saying? You're saying like a regular

Speaker 2 (55:58)

Yeah,

like a regular gym. globo gym? Yes, because I before I took my recovery seriously, I was still in my own gym every day and I have no self control like before wealth. So I would be like, okay, I'm only gonna go bike never would happen ever. So I just kept making it work. So like, I can't work out there. Like I just can't. So I started going to another gym a little bit before wealth, probably around maybe even around the same time. And

I started looking at these things and even doing your program, like, dude, single leg glute bridges, like I have zero glute strength, like, like none. And I know my core has always been weak because I've just always known that. So I started going to regular gym and really isolating those things to make them a little bit stronger on top of it. So that it was probably a little help. Both were helpful. ⁓ but, ⁓

Yeah, so I felt like a hypocrite, but you don't look at the like I would have never done that and I would probably continue doing that like wealth I know I commented and I'm commenting on other people in the Facebook group who looking for advice I'm like, hey, I'm closer to the other side of it than when you're at

Speaker 1 (57:02)

Thank you for doing that, by the Yeah, of course. is so meaningful to share. I was here. I felt like that. Because you're now passing that baton.

Speaker 2 (57:11)

I

needed that. I'm like, well, no, I want to give you that. But, you know, even now where I'm starting to do Metcons again, but again, I'm not out of the woods. Like I still have my my not scary movements, but I'm breaking fear, like rid of that free, like trying to break free of that fear, which I've talked to you plenty about. I'm still working through that because I can still feel like pressure, I guess, on my lower back and a little discomfort. So it just scares the crap out of me. And ⁓ but even as I get back into it,

I still do this like this and it's great warm up even like even if I'm like, okay, I'm a metcon today. Like I will warm up with wealth like a thousand percent. It just helps everything even like doing pelvic tilts. I remember because I was scared of drinking even for a very long like a year. I went almost a year without drinking. So was just horrified and I remember we were going to Mexico and you're like just enjoy a margarita and he's like just do a bunch of pelvic tilts and you'll be fine. And but honestly though, like it's true even warming up before I do anything.

I do a couple rounds, the warm-ups like one to two rounds and wealth. So I'll always do two, I always do like the further end. Of course, of course I do. And so I do, I do the two rounds and the first round of pelvic tilts always feels like so bruised, like it feels every day. It still feels bruised. Then I get into the second round. I'm like, Oh, I'm already feeling a little bit better. You know what I mean? So I'm like, I'm probably never going to stop doing this as a warmup because it helps shake whatever, whatever it does, it works. So, you know, yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:38)

Sure.

Yeah, I remember when I first started doing that. ⁓ It's jumpy. It's like ropey. not a consistent, clean contraction. Yeah. go on an anterior posture, it'd be like, I'm scared. Yeah. Instead of the pelvis moving like a grease groove, it's like, ⁓ kind of freaking out.

Speaker 2 (58:58)

I a

little bit too, my spine, you know what mean? For sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:03)

You know, those twinges, that feeling of it's again, it's hard to know why you feel exactly the way that you do moving forward. In my, in my mind, I feel like I was out of the woods sooner than I thought I was and gave myself credit for, but mentally I was still holding myself back. And I would say most people, once you deal with a traumatic injury like that, it's probably something similar to that.

Again, right now I would still encourage you to be smart. Like obviously, even, even if you didn't have an injury and you go from deadlifting 135, you probably shouldn't go jet deadlift 315 tomorrow. Um, so it's kind of still the same progressive overload approach. I'm a big runner. If my capacity is 13 miles, I probably shouldn't go run 50 miles tomorrow, regardless of the fact that nothing is injured. You still want to be sensible, but then when

thinking about pain and the trauma and everything that you've dealt with. Now you that's still in the back of your mind like, oh, if I do this, then there's this consequence. And we hold on to that a little bit longer than we probably acknowledge. Yeah. But that's just me telling you that because I've been through that. But I also know you have to learn that yourself.

Speaker 2 (1:00:20)

100%. And we're slowly getting there. It's just, it's just that tiny bit of lower back ache and it just anything, anything near the back. It freaks me even like, I think a lot of it's my hip flexor at this point. You know what I mean? And I'm like, half of this probably isn't even your back right now. Like you, it's possible to be tight other places you haven't used, like so many, you haven't done so many of these movements in so long, your body's obviously going to feel a type of way about it. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (1:00:48)

For sure. And okay, again, we chat about this on the phone, but I think it's an important point. After my disc herniation, I was very scared of feeling like my low back kind of contract and stabilize and be strong and get a pump. Yeah. Like, no, not the low back. The low back can't be working. Yeah, it can. It probably should. You should get that thing strong as well. ⁓ But you know, when you're more sensitive to sciatica, I think different types of contractions are better.

Speaker 2 (1:00:59)

working.

Speaker 1 (1:01:18)

like some lighter ISO stuff and then a little bit of light anterior, posterior, start greasing that groove. But, you know, as you start to get stronger and stronger, it is great to sensitize your body to higher levels of flexion and extension and isometric contractions and feel that low back gets strong. I think what is more so problematic is not like it's definitely not problematic for the low back to be strong. But I think the problem is when you're like, I'm

totally using my hips on all these movements and you really have no idea that you're not and it's all coming from the low back. I think that's probably where there's a mismatch. People just truly aren't cognizant of like what they're doing with their body and what's doing what.

Speaker 2 (1:02:01)

No, I very much agree with that. So we're still working on that. But you know, this whole thing is a work in progress. It's I want to say, unfortunately, but I just want to use that word. I'll say, unfortunately, but when you have this injury, unfortunately, you have to be aware of these things forever. And it's going to be forever a work in progress. Like you can't ever forget that, you know, you've severely injured your spine. So

It's just an adjustment. That's all it is. Once you get out of that, what's it like, acute pain phase and you're on your way to healing, like you just have to be cognizant of, know, I have and will forever have a spinal injury. Like just, you just got to be aware of that. And it is what it is. You know what I mean? So.

Speaker 1 (1:02:52)

Sure. Again, now that it's way further and further and the evidence for me has been stacked every single day that I am further and further away from that injury, I'm way less worried about it and actually think about it a lot less than I know you are right now. And I wonder if that'll be the case as you move forward. But this is something too that's interesting. I know you want to go and get an MRI. You want to go get a second MRI, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (1:03:18)

annoying bird gets the worm, that's what I said, right?

Speaker 1 (1:03:20)

So what's the deal with that? What's your thought process with that? Because some people are traumatized by the MRI experience and once they feel good, they don't want to go back. I personally have never gone back and got another MRI confirmed. I just know I haven't had sciatica or back pain for seven years. What is going through your mind?

Speaker 2 (1:03:38)

for

me after the first two times, I never went back and got a second one because I was like, I'm pain free, you know, whatever. And I think just because this one was so long and I almost did it like twice in one period because I had that one month without pain where I competed at quarterfinals. And I think for me, even when I originally scanned and it showed the small

herniation at L5S1 that L4 L5 was actually healed and I didn't even think anything of it. I didn't even think, my last one's healed like because I was so whatever about the first two herniations. But something about this one man, something about the intensity and how long this one lasted, ⁓ it just freaks me out so bad that I just, I think in my brain I just want to see it on paper that I'm not making it up my head because my lower back is still, does still feel a certain type of way.

I would like the reassurance that, look, it's at least being semi-absorbed or it's going down in size or something. I think that would help get me past this one little last hurdle of fear that I have about certain things. Do you know what I mean? So I think that's where my mindset is. But then even my husband will bring it up. He's like, OK, what if you get it back and it's 16 millimeters or it's bigger? And I'm like, I will have a

really hard time with that. So will it be a bad thing if my neurosurgeon next week tells me, you know, he's not gonna give me an MRI? No, you know, it might be for the best. But I, I just want to see it on paper, you know? Yeah, I do. I do. I do really want

Speaker 1 (1:05:06)

Yeah, give yourself that proof.

Hey, I get that. Yeah, I know that everyone has a different mindset on that.

Speaker 2 (1:05:14)

It's

not only that, it's the, like, you know, us wanting to start a family as well. I think I'm horrified of that because, especially if it's still there and it's just, like, slightly off the nerve, and that's why I'm having... Because some people have huge herniations and they have no pain, and they go about everything fine, they crossfit, you know, and some people get really, really bad symptoms. So I'm like, okay, what if it's just, like, the tiniest bit off of, you know, my spinal canal or my nerves, and that's why I'm doing much better? And, you know, heaven forbid, I put...

weight on the front here and it pulls here and then I'm right back to I can't function in a bed bound for months. So I'm so horrified of worst case scenario that I want the MRI. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (1:05:58)

Hey,

well, I guess you'll you'll have to wait and see ⁓ if you can even get that ⁓ my god

Speaker 2 (1:06:03)

It's insurance too, so you never know. even

my neurosurgeon, was like, he doesn't want to me another MRI. He's like, we go off symptoms. I'm like, well, what if I want to a child? He's like, we go off symptoms. you're so annoying. Stop.

Speaker 1 (1:06:19)

Maybe you should, I mean, okay, so this was the guy, I'm curious though, what's based off of him saying, hey, Lindsay, you need surgery and now here you are and you're saying you're bad symptoms, way better symptoms. How is he processing that?

Speaker 2 (1:06:38)

He,

I freaking love my neurosurgeon. He's on the younger side, I would say. He's in his thirties as well. And we bonded over Harry Potter, the first time we met. But, um, he never said you need, need surgery. He's been wonderful in a sense, cause I know a lot of surgeons won't push the surgery. Him and even my, um, what are they called? Orthopedic surgeon. I saw him quite a few times as well. He's the one that gave me my cortisone shot, which to be fair, I Jennifer got, but that's a whole nother story.

But they both were really, really good about saying, this is a really, really hard call. And they both said that and they both were very torn on what they thought I should do. So they both left it in, I remember one specifically, he gave me the rundown, he showed me, you know, all the issues with my spine and all the concerns and all the rest of surgery. And then he looks at me he's like, so what do want to do? I was like, no, I was like, I wanted you to tell me what to do. And he's like,

I can give you my advice, but I'm going to tell you this is a really hard call. So they never said, you hundred percent need this. My neurosurgeon said in his, in his opinion, especially with like a younger athlete, he said, if I were you, I would never ever get the surgery unless I lost control of my bladder. Um, and you know, they have the CNS stuff. And he said, you're, I was obviously at higher risk of that given where everything was.

and some of the symptoms that I was having, but he said he would push it and let it go all the way until that happened. And I needed emergency surgery rather than just get the surgery and plan the surgery. And I remember I even asked him, said, you know, should give him where I was at pain wise and what the scan said. said, you know, should we try for a family? And he's like, absolutely not. Not the way that it is right now. And I said, well, in that case, like, should I just get it done with? Like, and then.

because I'm like, when can you try, you know, a couple months later? And he's like, yeah, like a month or two later. And I'm like, so why don't I just get on with my life and I can go back to competing. And he said, you know, no, I still, that would not be what I personally would do, but I would a hundred percent see why you would do that if that's what you want. And he's like, you're in severe pain. It's a really bad herniation. You know, you want to start a family one day and your whole life is cross-fade. He's like, so I a hundred percent understand and I will a hundred percent do the surgery.

And he even said, he's like, I don't think you're getting away without surgery. He said, I don't advise you to get it because I don't want to do the surgery on you because you're young and you're an athlete. He's like, but ⁓ I think you're going to need back surgery one day. And if you think the time is now, then I will do it now. So it was hard because I felt like he was telling me like two different things. So it was very difficult. Yeah, it was hard. ⁓ And my ortho was pretty much on that same exact page.

Speaker 1 (1:09:31)

That's tough. Yeah, yeah, I kind of followed that logic. And I was like, I could see how you'd be so muddled.

Speaker 2 (1:09:36)

my God,

⁓ my God, like, come on man, please. I was like, just tell me, he's like, can tell you're leaning towards wanting the surgery. I was like, yes, but I want you to tell me that I have to do the surgery and there's no other choice. I was like, I don't want that option. And he's like, I'm just telling you, he's like, and I remember asking specifically, said, which was really awesome of him. And I said, if I don't get the surgery, given this herniation, go.

Does that mean I could probably never go back to competitive CrossFit? Do I need the surgery if I want to go back to competitive CrossFit? Because if he said yes, I would have done the surgery, no questions asked. That's it, done. I would have done the surgery. And he sat there for a good like 30 seconds in silence thinking about it. And he said, no, I think you can go back to competitive CrossFit if you take the slower nonsurgical way. goes, 90 % of all herniations heal themselves. And you haven't hit that two year mark.

So there's still time. feels like forever where you are right now. He's like, but never say never. He's like, so no, I can't say, you know, for certain. So I was like, shh.

I was like, feel like I can't get the stupid surgery. So yeah, it was tough. So that was a hard, because I so badly, when they give you like on a silver platter, they're like, here you go, we can get you back to normal in eight, he's like six weeks, you can go back and get on a rig, you can touch a barbell. He's like, you can try for kids, know, six weeks, that's it after surgery. And that is so insanely tempting. It is so tempting just to take that route, especially when you're in so much pain.

But then they also say, but also just so you know, it might not fix your problem. And I'm like, what? What do mean?

Speaker 1 (1:11:21)

So that's what I was thinking. was like, that can't just be true because you can't just say, if you do the surgery, we'll get you back on the bar in six weeks, but also we might not. it's like, okay, so you got to be careful. You got to think about what you're trying to do because there's no 100 % success with surgery. don't even know what the percentage is. But again, like...

It's a pipe dream to be like, I'll just go get surgery. They're gonna step it out. Boom, I'm fixed. I'm good. Nothing. I don't have to do anything. Blah, blah. Six to eight weeks. I've talked to two people on our podcast. Zach and Joel, Zach had multiple disc herniations and his back blew up after surgery. He got even more inflamed and then his sciatica didn't even get any better after the microdyssectomy. Promised the world, did it, was so ready to feel better. Went through the back surgery.

only got worse after and then did our program and now is out of pain. There's a guy Joel from Australia did it. One of those emergency back surgeries in during COVID Attica went away for three months and then it came back on Christmas night, came back again, really bad, did our program, got out of pain. So again, too, that's something that you want to think about in what timeframe is the surgery successful as well?

Joel's actually was a successful surgery because he was at that state in which he needed it. But then he still didn't do the follow up rehab that was necessary. then it came back. So it's like, ⁓ you had a very incredible surgery. was super successful in the three month period. And then what like is it deemed successful after that when it comes back? Well, you know, ⁓

Speaker 2 (1:13:09)

Yeah, that's and they'll that's the thing they will call it a back surgery successful if they got rid of your herniation but if you still have symptoms like they still call it a successful surgery so Doesn't make any sense but not only that, you know, you have to do your research is what I found because when you're in that much pain, you are very impulsive and I'm glad I slowed down a little bit and it definitely huge part of that was so many people through wealth and like some close friends of mine as well. ⁓

who are in the field that you really have to do your research because it can sound all good and dandy, but you don't know what's gonna happen with that surgery. And not only that, afterwards, because your disc, and this is something my surgeon said as well, when they get rid of that herniation, in mine, because of the size and it was central, it was not to either side. So central, guess, is really not ideal. So mine was central. And so they would have had to take part of the lamina off as well.

⁓ so that's gone forever. You can't put that back over your spine. Like the protective bony part is just gone forever. And then they would do the test to be part of it, which means taking the disc out. That's been, you know, gushed out into your wherever it is. ⁓ when you take that out, you lose a lot of disc height and that doesn't go back in, you know, it's gone. So once that happens after the surgery, then the discs on top of that and below it usually get compromised and then they get affected. And then

Usually those ones will go those will herniate then because you've already had one surgery you get another one once you get to My surgeon was like once we do two usually we fuse after that sometimes some surgeons will do three Dysectomies, but usually you're getting a fusion at that point, which is a bunch of rods and stuff You just just don't want to go that route. So

Speaker 1 (1:14:49)

So you just said that you're acknowledging all of those kind of downstream risks of surgery, right? And then 30 minutes ago, you're kind of talking about that cross better that you saw got surgery and you kind of felt like, my gosh.

Speaker 2 (1:15:05)

I literally cried so much, not gonna lie. I was just not having it. mean, a couple days ago.

Speaker 1 (1:15:10)

you're kind of weighing the two thoughts because you just also showed the other side, right? Yeah. Like that cross fitter that you're looking at. Again, we don't know what's going to happen with him or her, but there's a potential that, okay, back to it right now. But there could be another microdyssectomy, another one, another one, a fusion down the road. Yeah. Based off of what you were just saying, which is what a lot of surgeons will say, hey, you take out the disc height, then the disc above and below kind of can start to

take on more stress or you take out the lamina, know, and structures are affected, maybe do an artificial disc replacement or a fusion down the line.

Speaker 2 (1:15:49)

Yeah, right. Yeah, it's 100%. But that's why it is so hard because there's so many, oh, there's just so many different sides of everything. it was so even you asked about like, you know, how you make that call, I think it just kind of happened. And now I'm this far along that I'm like, I again, that surgery, like, it's just not happening now, you know. But I'm very grateful. Like now that I am here. Do I have bad days? Yeah, 1000 % have bad days. But that is part of, you know, disc herniation rehab.

a very long and slow and unsteady process, but you just gotta stick with it and find your peeps and find a good support group. And honestly, I'm very, very grateful that I found you guys. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (1:16:32)

Hey, we're really grateful that we crossed paths. I'm glad that you sent that DM on January 12th and then called me like 30 seconds later. I was like...

Speaker 2 (1:16:41)

You literally hear like this, and you're like, this is the fastest anyone has ever cooked. I'm at dinner right now, but that's fine.

Speaker 1 (1:16:48)

Yeah, I think I think it was are you on EST? Yes, I think I think you call it probably around like nine ish year.

Speaker 2 (1:16:52)

I'm Eastern yet.

was no

it was late that's like my bedtime I was just pacing I was so oh I was just not in a good good spot you're like oh yeah like let's set up a time to call here's my number like set up a time okay it is now the time is right now

Speaker 1 (1:17:10)

time is now. ⁓ Well, we'll wrap up. Who would you say you just finished the Limitless program, you're going to keep using it? Who would you say would benefit from doing this program? If someone's still listening right now after an hour and 15.

Speaker 2 (1:17:26)

Listen, that's why I was like he made a mistake asking me to be on a podcast, but it's Who who would I say so? ⁓ Honestly, I wouldn't even say just those who have herniated and any level of person like even if you have zero experience of Fitness at all or body mechanics or anything like that? honestly anyone as high level even higher level than me to super super baseline no experience because

In the app you have, and I even needed this because some movements I wasn't familiar with or, you know, not familiar with how to do them completely properly. you know, he's very, Andrew's very good at his, he's got everything painted on the body and stuff, but he gives his demonstration videos, which are, which are really helpful. And there's, you know, not a, it's like one or two rounds or three or four rounds. So you can.

If you only have 15 minutes, you can spend 15 minutes on it. If you have like some days I would spend 60 minutes, I would do the full and I would just really go for it. So it doesn't matter how much time you have. It doesn't matter, you know, what level you're at fitness wise. As for injury, like, yeah, it was great for me for herniated disc. So I want to say if you have a herniated disc or a bulge disc or something with your spine, well, honestly, any sort of back issues or any sort of midline issues because they all stem.

from the same kind of stuff, I guess you could say. We all need to build the same sort of strength in certain areas. So it's all really good stuff if you have any sort of back issues in general, not even back issues. I'm sure it help shoulder issues because it's a full body. Honestly, I'm gonna go on a tangent. I was also frustrated the first couple of weeks because I wanted to do what I'm used to in physical therapy, which is.

freaking dead bugs and glue bridges and we're doing like, like the scab stuff and you know, stuff with my knees and I'm like, I'm like, this is a waste of my time. But so it's not even just for the back. Honestly, there's so many if you're having issues, if you feel like do it, you know, it's good for you. Sorry, sorry.

Speaker 1 (1:19:36)

Hey, if you feel like just do it, we'll end on that. ⁓ Lindsay, thank you for jumping on. This was such a fun time. I'm really happy to hear another successful comeback. Avoiding surgery is always a really cool, ⁓ a cool snippet in there. So yeah, thank you for that. Of course. If you're interested in the Limitless Program, our programs, click the link under down there. And ⁓ what's the other thing my podcast editor said?

yeah, subscribe to this podcast if you want to hear some in the future.

Speaker 2 (1:20:08)

Yeah, because I'll do another one when I'm lifting heavy again. It'll be soon.

Speaker 1 (1:20:11)

We got to figure out if you're going to do another one as well. If you get that repeat MRI or when you make it back to semi-finals or something like that. Hey, there we go. Lindsay part two emergency podcast. We have something really exciting to share. So at the time when we did our first podcast, you were pre MRI and that was about May 20th or something on June 1st, you got another MRI. What did you find out?

Speaker 2 (1:20:40)

The herniation's completely gone. 100 % gone. Doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker 1 (1:20:46)

Wow. Were you surprised to see that? And tell me your thoughts. I will pull up what we're looking at right here. this was your MRI on January 6th, 2025. I believe you started the Limitless program as we chatted about. A few weeks after, it was mainly this one right here, which is the L5S1. That was a 14 millimeter disc herniation.

causing you a lot of sciatica. You were scheduled for back surgery, canceled the back surgery, 12 hours out, did the Limitless program for months, and ⁓ I think we had a pretty good result, didn't we?

Speaker 2 (1:21:26)

yeah, pretty phenomenal actually.

Speaker 1 (1:21:28)

Right. So let's see if we can zoom in on that. So this was June 1st. Is that correct? It's kind of tough to see because it's black and white, but ⁓ maybe I'll do the before and after, but that looks a lot smaller. So they said that the herniation is gone. So here we go. We got a little side by side here. I took this from Instagram. So here's the little cheesy before and after, but you can really see it there. This MRI looks a little bit like darker for sure. So

Speaker 2 (1:21:35)

Yeah, June 1st.

Speaker 1 (1:21:57)

It's a little bit harder to see that contrast, but we're looking at this really big herniation ⁓ on the left side and you're not seeing nearly that level of protrusion. So you went from a 14 millimeter disc herniation to no disc herniation, January 6th to June 1st. Is that correct? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (1:22:19)

the time frame, which is absolutely wild. They say that to that one and the one above it is slightly bulge. But to be fair, like I've had a lot of MRIs done on my spine and they've always kind of been that way just from how I load my spine for so many years. basically back to my baseline. Okay. You know.

Speaker 1 (1:22:38)

Back to the baseline. So this was the big one that reabsorbed that was a massive reabsorption that was causing all the pain. And so going back to the fall of appointment, ⁓ what were some of the findings or how did you feel going back and getting that MRI?

Speaker 2 (1:22:56)

So I got it first through like the portal online before I even talked to anyone. So I could look, not that I'm a doctor, but I could see it it was very obvious. And I had the write-up and it said, you know, the prior large disc herniation. I forget the exact words, I wanted to say, basically it said gone. And I didn't really believe it to be there. Like I thought it would have just had gone down enough so that it's off the nerve so that I wasn't getting the sciatica. So in my brain, it was already always.

right there waiting to explode again. So seeing and confirming that it really is gone, because I kind of knew it. Like I was definitely so much less pain. ⁓ So I think I knew it, but that reaffirmed it for me. But I still didn't believe it. I still don't know if I believe it, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (1:23:41)

To see that stark change, it was an interesting feeling for us because not all of our members go back and get a repeat MRI. We were chatting before the first podcast that we were doing and you're like, I feel so much better. I don't have the sciatica anymore, but I still want to go and get another MRI. What are your thoughts?

You know, for me, I've never gone back and got another MRI. I don't know what it would look like. All that I know is I haven't had sciatica or that back pain for seven years. So I'm like, I don't want to go see that again personally, but we've had a lot of people go back. So thank you for now showing the before and after. It's such a unique, almost it's a weird feeling because I think something about a disc herniation or the spine, it's like, it feels like it's inside of you. You can't tangibly really see or feel it.

So it's interesting to get that MRI snapshot. What I thought was cool, even if you didn't get that after MRI, you're saying, Hey, I'm feeling so much better. This addict has gone, but now to go back to the doctor, the neurosurgeon, and then have that before and after MRI is really a testament to a lot of things. I mean, clearly what you did with the recovery worked. I think it's just cool that limitless was a part of that. How was the reaction of your neurosurgeon?

seeing that because I know, you know, months before they were saying, you were scheduled for surgery.

Speaker 2 (1:25:08)

Yeah, so I were on really cool terms him and I so we we just kind of banter like friends essentially. So he said his reaction was he's not because I asked him like, this ridiculous? And he said, you know, that's why we don't operate right away is normally they do reabsorb at some point. And that's why we want to give it time. But he said in your case, because I'd been 18 months, he goes, I wasn't very helpful for you. He's like, I thought, you know, I was going to give you the time, but

you're going to need to have surgery to remove it. So we said in your case, it's definitely, you know, less heard of. So he was definitely, you know, he was happy for me for sure. So yeah.

Speaker 1 (1:25:47)

Yeah. Yeah. And that's the other thing too. You know, we'll kind of get occasionally here and there whenever we post a before and after MRI on Instagram or YouTube from our member success, we will get those comments from people like, well, how do you know it's the program? Because a lot of times the herniation does reabsorb on its own. And yes, that can happen. I think what's different for a lot of our members is they've been dealing with these injuries for so long. Cause I think

When was your first herniation again? know we covered in the past podcast, but it had happened.

Speaker 2 (1:26:21)

looked it up, was 2022 was my original herniation was 2022.

Speaker 1 (1:26:25)

years

ago. So, I mean, the herniation game has been something that you had been dealing with for two and a half, three years. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (1:26:34)

like one full good year where I didn't do I like forgot about it. You know what I mean? And then the but the one that whacked me for like 18 months three, I mean, that was December 2023. So I've been dealing with it since then nonstop pretty much. So

Speaker 1 (1:26:49)

Okay. Yeah. And I know you had an MRI from before and it got a little bit bigger and then Jan was that 14 mil, that big one.

Speaker 2 (1:26:58)

when he was like, okay, well, you've given it a year and it's worse. So maybe we should consider surgery. And I'm like, not wrong. I am dying over here. He's the one that actually I'll give him credit because I remember saying on the previous podcast that, you know, how did you make that call to cancel it? I honestly didn't really I was leaning towards not getting it. But I had gone back and forth so many times that when I sat down with my doc with my surgeon the day before he was the one that was like,

I'm not operating on you if you're not sure. Like if you want more time, I will give you more time. thankfully, and he's like, I'm still taking credit for you healing. I'm like, that's fine. Whatever.

Speaker 1 (1:27:34)

Yeah, not all the work that you put in. I mean, that is just so cool. Do you feel better or relieved or do you feel like, I mean, what was your hope going into the MRI versus how you felt leaving that appointment and reassessing it?

Speaker 2 (1:27:54)

Yeah, so ⁓ it was definitely a huge sense of relief. know because you and I had had had talked before beforehand about, if I wanted to get the repeat MRI done, a lot of people don't. I think for my mental status, I very much needed it because after a year and a half, like it's ingrained in my head that there were so many times I just moved wrong like this much and it was I couldn't move the rest of the day.

And it was so in my head that like, okay, yeah, you're pain free right now. But if I move this tiny bit, I'm back to square one. So I think I really needed that MRI for my mental status. So I can, I feel like I have my life back. Like I'm doing things more freely with a little bit less fear now, which is wonderful. So.

Speaker 1 (1:28:36)

That's awesome. Yeah. You don't feel like you're walking on eggshells as much now that you've seen that MRI. Cause you were feeling, I'm sure you were, well, I know you were feeling better before on May 20th when we did the podcast, but then in the back of your mind, and I think sometimes members will have this, you still doubt it. You're like, is this real? You know, is this really going to sustain itself? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (1:29:01)

Yeah, and I think too, even now, like now that I'm feeling pretty darn good now, like I have to put some control brakes on myself to not go like zero to 60. But it's an important reminder that, you know, once you do herniate, there's still always a risk of re-herniating, especially once you've re-herniated X amount of times like I have. So it's important for myself to keep doing things like wealth because wealth forced me to slow down, which I think I needed the baseline.

the fundamental movements that are in wealth and I now am so ingrained in doing them every other day that I'm going to keep doing them every other day and that should hopefully you know keep me from herniating again hopefully ever again so it was important for me important for me to see you know what mean so

Speaker 1 (1:29:43)

Sure. So that's your plan moving forward. You want to do the program every other day and then what are your CrossFit goals, your weightlifting goals?

Speaker 2 (1:29:52)

I'm still, I'm still very scared. I'm not gonna lie. With a barbell, so every time I've done it, it has had something to do with pulling heavy weight off the ground. And I don't know, I don't know if I'm ever gonna get over that hurdle again, just because of how bad the year and a half was that I did go through. I think I have the tools now to fix it, heaven forbid it were to happen again.

I'm undecided. So I definitely want to be, I will definitely get back to a point where I can take my classes with my members at the gym that I own. That's for sure my goal. Keep it light for sure. Will I go back to the super duper heavy lifting all the time? Probably not in the near future. Maybe, maybe in another six months when I feel a little bit more comfortable. But for right now, I'm going to focus on the Metcon side of things first, I think.

Speaker 1 (1:30:39)

Yeah. mean, cause right, right about now we're about five months after you started the program. Right. So I do remember for myself five months out when I was like pain free, but still I had mental roadblocks and hesitations and whatnot. And it's just, I wouldn't even be able to recognize how much more I would be evolving five years later, 10 years later, or even five months later. Like the fear that I had at five months.

compared to 10 months, 15, 20, it just decreases and decreases and decreases, right? You're on the right trajectory. And I think it'd be interesting, you know, for you and I to catch up for a part three and, you know, six months or a year, and then to see where you're at. Because I think right now you might not want to give yourself the idea that, oh, I'm going to get to this level to train harder. But also if you put yourself where you're at right now versus where you're at,

four months ago, you were like, Hey, so I might never touch a barbell again. And now you're doing that. So what's not to say that the way that you're looking at your situation right now in five months, you're going to almost kind of laugh at it and be like, wow, like I can push some wads. I think you're going to be smart with it. I think you're going to probably almost forever be changed in a sense of your awareness and how you think about programming and how you push your body in pain. But you're also

I think you're going to surprise yourself for what you're capable in the future.

Speaker 2 (1:32:08)

You know what, you're not wrong because I'm literally just, like two days ago I was strict pressing. and before I wasn't doing anything, even like when you did in wealth, there was like a half kneeling single arm press later on in the, in the modules that I struggled with that overhead positioning pretty bad. And I'm like, I literally just strict pressed 105 pounds the other day. So I'm like, you know what, I am kind of getting there. So I'm doing strict press. I'm doing some like 85 pound front squats.

what other barbell and then bench press I'm pretty comfortable with with my feet on the bench. So I'm doing outside of CrossFit lifting first on a barbell. Once I'm like very comfortable there, then knowing myself, you're not wrong. Probably in a few months time, I'll be back in a backcon with them too. ⁓

Speaker 1 (1:32:53)

just think that's the really cool thing about this process because I did a podcast with the gentleman yesterday who started the program in June of 2021. And we were going back through some of his Facebook posts on the podcast. And it was so cool to look back at his mindset during the injury and then for him to see himself four years later. And he's like, oh yeah, I've deadlifted 435 pounds since the injury.

And when he first started the program, the doctor was like, you should never lift over 50 pounds ever again. I was like, okay, so you're now deadlifting 385 pounds more than what your doctor told you you would ever do again in your life. But also to go back like, you know, a few months in he's enjoying his life. He's enjoying the freedoms that he has, and then he starts to push it and now he's a strength and conditioning coach and he's

⁓ coaching people in the Navy and private practice. And now he's getting into Olympic lifting. It's just like, you know, and he's had a few flare ups here and there, nothing remotely close to the sciatica bed boundness that he had. And he's like, it's just been so much easier to progress moving forward post injury. And he was very complimentary. He's like, everything that I have done has been because of what I did in wealth.

not because of wealth, we're not the ones taking the credit, it's the work that you put in alongside the curriculum. So I just think, yeah, it'll be really cool to chat with you in six months, a year, and see where you're at. You're gonna be surprising yourself, I already know that.

Speaker 2 (1:34:26)

I think it's even just yesterday because I just had this what did I meet with him yesterday two days ago whenever I saw him Yesterday is it Wednesday? Yeah, so it was yesterday and even he's saying I mean he's not in the in the sports world by any means He doesn't know that much about CrossFit, but you know he's like CrossFit's probably something you should never ever do again You're at a very high risk. You've already herniated three times. He's like you need to stop He's like I'm giving you permission to never work out again. It's basically what he said and I'm like, okay, bro He's like, let me guess you're on the gym later today. I'm like, yeah, he's like, all right. Well

You know? I see you later, I see you later. I'm like, okay.

Speaker 1 (1:35:00)

So to me, that's just something, again, I'm not the neurosurgeon, but I'll just try to explain it from my perspective. In my opinion, I don't think that is the most effective way to look at situations or ⁓ suggestions because to just blanket statement, someone should never do any activity called CrossFit. In my mind, from what I understand about CrossFit, CrossFit is

a very wide-ranged sport, but also has the ability to be scaled down to theoretically any level, any capability. So I think that's where there's just a massive mismatch between doctors or medical professionals. And then the movement side of things, they'll say, don't squat, don't deadlift, don't run, don't do CrossFit, don't row, don't do these things because they're bad for you. But I think once you're on the movement side,

of things you start to question, can I really make a blanket statement that one thing is inherently bad or is it maybe not right for me at the time? But if I appropriately progress in scale, I can get better. And also based off of my form, my training, my volume, maybe your interpretation of what CrossFit is, is not the way that I see it. Like you just did CrossFit, you know, today, yesterday. So.

I think that's where you really have to be careful about what suggestions you listen to, whoever it be, because they might say, hey, Lindsay, you should never run again.

Speaker 2 (1:36:35)

Yeah,

100 times always. Yep. You always hear especially after herniation never run again. I like that I've run so many times already. Guess what? I'm fine. So

Speaker 1 (1:36:44)

Yeah. And again, I think it just comes down to easing into it. But to say you should never, I mean, we talked about this on the DM, like running is when you have both feet up off the ground at one point in time. So to say, Hey, you should never run again. Maybe what they think you're going to do is just go hit sprints tomorrow on train. But what if I were to do a 15 minute mile or 12 minute mile? Can I do that? And then maybe they'd be like,

yeah, actually, you can. Okay, so why can't I go from a 12 to 11 to a 10 to a nine down to a six if I train for it?

Speaker 2 (1:37:18)

Yeah, progressional. And that's exactly why I like to, well, this is same exact thing. I never thought I'd be hinging at all again. And it was those simple little things adding up over time. And honestly, movement is medicine. I will say that to live to die. I think if I didn't do anything at all, even when I was, you know, in a high level of pain, I think I would still be stuck where I was. So

Speaker 1 (1:37:38)

I would agree with that. Lindsay, thank you for hopping on for part two. I'm really excited for you that you're feeling better and thank you for sharing that before and after MRI with us. Yeah, of Looking forward to checking in in the next six months or so and seeing how you're doing. right, awesome.

Speaker 2 (1:37:55)

Good, I'll be here.