I Skipped BACK SURGERY and Did the Limitless Program Instead (L5-S1 Disc Herniation Recovery)
Suffering from an L5-S1 disc herniation while raising a newborn and working full-time, Luke found himself in constant, debilitating back pain.
It got so bad, he seriously considered back surgery—until a trusted professional advised him to hold off.
All of that changed when he found and enrolled in the Limitless Program
In this episode, Luke shares his raw and real journey through chronic pain, the emotional toll of trying to stay strong for his family, and the pivotal moment he chose to skip surgery and commit to something different.
Three months later, he’s 80% pain-free, golfing again, and fully present with his kids. Luke says he will do the Limitless Program for the rest of his life!
Podcast Transcript
Luke S (00:00)
Had a lot of back pain
I'm sitting all day, eight hours a day for
And it was to the point where I wanted to call like a surgeon.
I finally got an MRI,
showed an L5S1 disc
it particularly affected my
It was miserable.
I just needed something
held me
outlined exactly what to do, showed me how to do
I found this online.
just saw, you know, the program started looking into
I would wake
play with my son, drink the coffee, and do the workouts, and it's at your own
A lot of these exercises I had never even heard
then by
six, seven, eight, I was
I'm feeling a lot better.
if taken slowly the program is more of a crescendo
intense
So I have a two year old son and then have number two here in a couple weeks coming.
the first year of his life,
know, I'd find myself in this chair, this rocking chair,
him just like, I need to put him down because my back hurts,
forward
second year of his life,
I'm good, I can sit in this chair,
know, with pretty much pain
I would just say if you're thinking about it, do it. If you're not thinking about it, you should be.
Cam (01:07)
Before we get started on this conversation, I want to welcome you to the wealth podcast where I interview some of our members who take control of their health and overcome and eliminate years of chronic pain and injury. Now today we'll hear a little bit about how Luke healed an L five S one disc herniation back pain is almost entirely pain free in just a matter of a few months. Now, if you are struggling with back hip, shoulder or neck pain, use code pain free in all caps, no spaces.
on any of our programs to take a hundred dollars off and start taking your life back to that. Now let's jump
Cam (01:41)
Yeah, Luke. So you started in November 15th for the Limitless program with Back Pain, I believe some diss stuff. So why don't you take me through why you even got started then?
Luke S (01:50)
Yeah,
sure. So back pain really goes back further than that. Had a lot of back pain in high school and early college from basketball, soccer, running track, lifting weights, particularly deadlifting and squatting used to really bother my low back, probably just not flexible enough, I think, particularly my hips and my low back. But in any case, it would always bother me. And then it became more of a chronic pain.
end of high school, early college. And like we were texting about and we talked about, um, had some luck with the extensions, the McKinsey method, did it for like two weeks and no back pain anymore. It was amazing. Um, and then fast forward. Yeah, go ahead.
Cam (02:32)
And yeah,
what what age was that when that
Luke S (02:36)
Like
20 is probably why it worked. You know, just I'm 29. Yeah.
Cam (02:40)
Okay, and how old are you right now? Okay, so about
a decade ago while dealing with back pain, you did the McKenzie method and that was very helpful for a little.
Luke S (02:50)
Super helpful,
super helpful. And then, know, fast forward to when I was like 27, 28, got back into squatting. I decided, you know what, I'm going to give it another try. Or I had avoided it for the most part. And did some squats, got back into it, and then started increasing in weight and intensity and didn't feel anything when it happened. But the next day, the pain was back from, you know, from before and much worse.
And I think it was one of those things where maybe I had had a disc issue that I corrected and then made it even worse and it wasn't going to be so easy to correct. So like I started going McKinsey again, obviously, and actually started having different back pain, almost like I was overdoing it and forcing McKinsey. So in any case, it wasn't working. So I saw chiropractic care, which
Cam (03:41)
Hmm.
Luke S (03:50)
did help some, I'll say, know, doing a flexion extension table and he gave the advice, know, strengthen your core, that sort of thing. But I don't feel that it was, I don't feel it was comprehensive enough. And there was no, I didn't even do adjustments. That wasn't a part of it. I think the doctor was really good. And my brother-in-law is actually a fantastic physical therapist, believe it or not. And he kind of knew what I had going on.
I finally got an MRI, which I had never done before, which showed an L5S1 disc herniation. So he would say, come over to the house after work, I'll put you through some exercises. And we'd do that, and then scheduling would kind of fall off. I couldn't make it work with my schedule to be there more consistently. I mean, he did always say, you need to be consistent with this stuff at home.
Cam (04:42)
Mm-hmm.
Luke S (04:46)
Like shout out to him. He is a fantastic physical therapist. I just needed something that held me accountable, that outlined exactly what to do, showed me how to do it. And I just felt like, you know, I found this online. I can't even remember where. Maybe it might have been Instagram or Reddit. just saw, you know, the program started looking into it, read some of the testimonials and then we started talking.
Cam (05:13)
Yeah, dude, I just had a flashback. I know exactly where I was when we were chatting on the phone. I needed that piece of info though. I think that your brother-in-law is a PT and I was like, my gosh, I literally remember where I was when I was chatting with you.
Luke S (05:24)
Yeah, yeah.
I think he got stung by a bee.
Cam (05:28)
Yes. my gosh.
Luke S (05:30)
Bye.
Cam (05:32)
my gosh.
yeah, I remember I was on the
walking back and forth and pacing, and that. I was like, okay, hey, well, to get ready for this podcast too, I was going back and looking at her text messages and like, I was like, all right, I want to close the loop, kind of look at this.
Luke S (05:38)
Hahaha!
Cam (05:47)
And it was funny because I have a text from you on November 16th
this was kind of making me chuckle. You're like starting tomorrow and then I'm like, LFG and then three and a half months later, you're just like, yo, finish the program. Back pain's a lot better. just kind of laughing at that. It's like started tomorrow. I did it and here I am. Right.
Luke S (06:02)
Hahaha
Cam (06:08)
you know, time will go by fast like that, but like it took work for you to get there. Now, just before we kind of get into the work that it took you to go through the program, do you have like a formal diagnosis or kind of what it is that you were dealing with?
Luke S (06:12)
Dude.
I had an L5S1 disc herniation. was, and I, you know, you could see it on the MRI, just sort of squirting out the back of my spine.
Cam (06:35)
Yeah, dude, I'm still cracking up the fact that you remember that I stepped on a bee. Okay, so L5S1 herniation. then, so like, just working back though, that was kind of something that you felt early 20s collegiately, you had some success with McKenzie, but then, you know, what did your life kind of look like after that? Was it just kind of avoiding and just being a little bit careful with your movements and stuff?
Luke S (06:41)
You
Yeah, honestly, it was just avoiding squats and deadlifts, particularly anything that was like axial loading. Deadlifts, not so bad. Squatting in particular, back squatting, like loading that spine and then going into a position that I think at the time I just wasn't flexible enough. And so, you I would get down and my hips would lock out. So my back would start to, I actually had a problem of, most people have the butt wink, right? I actually had a problem on the way up, I would arch.
Cam (07:16)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Okay, you don't extend on that.
Luke S (07:36)
yeah, I would arch my low back a little bit and I could feel as I got heavier in weight. so, you know, recent history, I've had more, you know, I've adapted to that by doing more like a front goblet squat with a dumbbell. And that really helps. Number one doesn't have the load on my back, but also it helps balance me keeps the weight forward and in front of me. So that's really been the thing I avoided in that time. But I mean, it was pretty much gone.
Cam (07:41)
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Luke S (08:03)
there for a while, through my early 20s.
Cam (08:07)
Okay, yeah, and then the reoccurrence of that, were you starting to freak out? you starting to have a little PTSD?
Luke S (08:14)
So at first, as you can imagine, I wasn't worried at all. I was like, I'll just hit McKenzie. This will be better, right? And then I realized, I'm approaching 30. This is worse than last time. And it hurt worse than last time. Like it was to the point that, because I sit so much, like through the weekend, I'm up around doing things, doing chores, even like walking, playing golf, fine. But Monday hits and I'm sitting all day, eight hours a day for five days.
Cam (08:24)
Yeah.
Luke S (08:44)
And it was to the point where I wanted to call like a surgeon. I just wanted to jump right to get me in with an orthopedic surgeon so I can see what my options are. And one of my clients actually, the chiropractor was like, wait a second, wait a second, come see me first. Don't jump the surgery. And he took me through some tests that was like, yeah, you don't need surgery. I know this stinks, but you know, you don't have tingling numbness, no pain when you heel drop, things like that put me through that.
Cam (09:14)
Okay.
Luke S (09:15)
So again,
I had great professionals around me. I think that's something important. It wasn't so much that my professionals failed me. It was more that I had failed them. didn't have something I could buy into to do every day to walk me through what to do and some accountability of a schedule. Yeah.
Cam (09:33)
Interesting. Wow.
So you in your mind, and so you say you're a financial planner. So you sit, I mean, essentially 40 hours a week.
Luke S (09:40)
Mm-hmm.
pretty much, I mean, walk to a meeting and walk back and that's, know, but yes, I try not to and that and car rides were like the two things. Like if I knew I had a three hour car ride coming up, it was just gonna be, you know, sit on one leg, sit on the other, lean forward, lean back. It was miserable.
Cam (09:48)
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you started our program like November 16th, November 17th of 2024. How many like I know you had the first back pain at 20, right? But up until this start of our program, like how long was that period of pain?
Luke S (10:23)
Probably, I want to say like nine months to a year. Miserable.
Cam (10:27)
Okay, yeah, that's not fun.
Not and I assume you're a young father you have how old's your kid?
Luke S (10:35)
So I have a two year old son and then have number two here in a couple weeks coming.
Cam (10:39)
my gosh, congrats.
Luke S (10:41)
Yeah, and that's another thing that like through the first year of his life, it was like, you know, for example, babies sometimes don't sleep, Cam. So, you know, I'd find myself in this chair, this rocking chair, holding him just like, I need to put him down because my back hurts, but I can't or if I do, it's gonna have, you know, he's gonna wake all that, right? So and even standing and bouncing him, again, it was just, I could feel my
Cam (10:51)
Yeah
Luke S (11:10)
back nagging me, fast forward to the second year of his life, like, I'm good, I can sit in this chair, you know, with pretty much pain free for certainly, you know, the 20 minutes it takes to get him down. So that's been a huge difference that I've just noticed given his first year and his second year and he's heavier. You know what I mean? So it should be worse, but it's not.
Cam (11:20)
Love.
Sure.
Right.
So what was going through your mind for that year when you're raising a young kid effectively and trying to be a father? I'm sure there's a lot going on there and juggling work as well. I mean, what was your outlook on life with pain in the background?
Luke S (11:46)
Yeah.
Yeah, it was particularly just, I would say most frustrating was work. Just, just be having to sit, you know, if I'm home on the weekend, I can be up, I can be doing things and it mostly wouldn't bother me, but it particularly affected my work, which is tied into all that, Providing for the family and all that to be miserable there. Just, it sucked.
Cam (12:20)
Yeah, are these just is financial planning? this just all like in person stuff?
Luke S (12:25)
Pretty much just given the geography of where we are, lot of our clients do want to meet in person, but some video as well in the chair.
Cam (12:31)
Okay.
And you probably, because in my mind I was like, well, why don't you just like get a standing desk or whatever, but it's like you're in the flesh doing the thing. You can't just be like, let me get up and do this stuff. Right. Like I got to conduct myself as a professional around my clients. Okay.
Luke S (12:45)
Yeah, right.
Sure. 100%. Yeah, a lot of it
is in person. So there was sitting and I actually did try a standing desk. I wasn't crazy about it for one reason or another, but yeah, so.
Cam (12:59)
Share.
Well,
yeah, not to say that me saying that obviously like the standing desk is not the panacea, right? And I think there's when people, you know, I had sciatica and back pain, you know, people were like, well, what chair do I need? And what do I need a standup desk? And it's just like all of these little things like maybe I need this mattress and I need this and I need that or I need the injection or I need the surgery. Like it kind of looking for that one thing, right?
Luke S (13:28)
and AIDS.
Cam (13:32)
I feel like I always have to caveat like, sometimes surgery is necessary. Of course, but in general, vast majority of people were looking for that one thing. So you joined Limitless. What did you learn about maybe your pre, what's the word, conceptions, inceptions? I don't know what I'm thinking. You know what mean?
Luke S (13:37)
Of course.
Yeah, I
think it was just again confirming what my brother-in-law had kind of always told me, which is there is no quick fix for this. I know you want to get your disc clipped or you want to get an adjustment that just puts everything in a line. And he was just like, dude, this isn't going to be a quick fix like you're talking about. It's not going to slap a bandaid on it, you know, by any one of those things you named and all of sudden no more pain.
Cam (14:05)
Mm-hmm.
Luke S (14:24)
So that's what I learned is, yeah, it takes consistency and patience for sure. Like you said, three, three and a half months, it flew by, but it didn't feel like it was flying by when, you know, had to, every day you need to do what the program outlines. It fell kind of slow, but it was encouraging to see progress and it wasn't immediate. I think that's another thing is.
Cam (14:29)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Luke S (14:51)
I always wanted to like immediately go like, today, do I feel better? You know, I did it yesterday. And it doesn't, at least for me, it didn't work like that. It took a good like, you know, four weeks until I was like, huh, you know, I might be feeling a little better. And then by week, you know, five, six, seven, eight, I was like, I'm feeling a lot better. And I think that's something else too, is to keep, keep going through it. Even when it starts to feel better.
it can get better. So keep going and it can get better. So not to get lazy and be like, all right, it's gotten better. I'll just like slack off now.
Cam (15:29)
So, mean, how do you keep going in that time when you don't know or did you know is going to get better? Or how do you keep going and executing when it's not better day over day, but then suddenly it does feel like it got better day over day?
Luke S (15:46)
Yeah, I feel like, I don't know, feel like honestly our phone call and hearing from you say like, look, I've seen a lot of people go through this and most people get a lot better. And I was like, okay, like that's the case. Then I'm committed to completing the program at a minimum, which again, yes, three months flies by, but if you commit to the program and stick with it, it's not going to feel like it flies by.
Cam (16:11)
Yeah,
yeah, I've heard this, this saying it's like the days pass slow and the years pass fast. Right. And it's like, especially when you are in pain, but now it's like, man, that was, you know, just, I'm again laughing at the beast thing three and a half months ago, right. Or yeah, three and a half months ago. I'm like, that was, you know, I have so much going on in my life. I know you do too, but it's like, wow, that was a conversation that we had and
Luke S (16:17)
Exactly. Right.
Right.
Cam (16:39)
I'm just grateful we had that conversation at that time and now we're done with Q1 and you're, you know, I don't want to put words in your mouth, maybe almost pain free or you're substantially less pain. I mean, how are you feeling now?
Luke S (16:52)
Yeah, I would say 80 % pain free. I think when we set this up maybe three, four weeks ago, it was probably 60%. So it's getting better all the time. And I was telling my wife yesterday, you know, I've gone from being in constant pain anytime I'm to if I sit too long, it's mild discomfort, right? And that's a big difference between pain.
and discomfort and, and, know, even sitting here for a half hour now, I have nothing like I'm fine. I don't need to shift. I don't need to, you know what I mean? I'm just, I'm just chilling and I sat all day today. So, yeah. And if I do feel a little discomfort, I either pop up, take a walk, right? Walk around the office a couple of times or do a few of the exercises. You know what I mean? throw in some, some movement in the spine.
Cam (17:33)
So cool.
Luke S (17:49)
just to kind of loosen things up and get it moving. But again, there is a big difference between pain and mild discomfort. And the number one reason that I wanted to do the podcast is because of how much success I have. Like I feel like, you know, even though I purchased the program, I almost owe it to pay it forward to tell people like, hey, this works.
Cam (18:13)
That's incredible. Thank you for sharing that.
Luke S (18:15)
Yeah.
Cam (18:21)
You know, so you maybe you had that idea when you were dealing with pain for the year or two before you started the program that maybe it was this one thing and I need that one adjustment or like, I mean, you're like, did you actually seriously consider that you needed surgery?
Luke S (18:37)
I did, I at least wanted to see, like get an MRI and see what are my options and have, you know, lot of like my, some of my other ancillary professionals, PT chiropractors say, watch out, cause some people are like eager to cut. So if you get the wrong surgeon, they could say, yeah, you need surgery when you don't. I was kind of more hopeful, you know, again, one of the surgeons was, I knew, so I was kind of hopeful that he wouldn't. I was thinking that he might say,
Cam (18:40)
Look out.
Mm-hmm.
Luke S (19:06)
Yeah, you have a hernia disc, but you're 29. You don't need surgery. Go see a PT or chiropractor. yeah, I mean, it was bad enough. And I definitely wanted a quick fix that I would have considered it.
Cam (19:23)
Well, that's great that you had that, you know, it sounds like your brother-in-law was actually very helpful in that. and the, the Instagram Reddit gods blessed us and connected us. Right. So, well, okay. So, you know, this is why I want you on the podcast or just, you know, people go through our program. I don't think I made a promise to you on November 15th. Like you will feel like this in this time. I said, Luke, overwhelmingly, like.
Luke S (19:28)
Super.
Cam (19:52)
night, like almost 99 % of our members will feel like, I don't I don't know what the exact words were, right? But like, Luke, I really think you should do the program. I really think it's going to help you. I think you're going to get pain free or almost get out of pain in, you know, maybe this amount of time, a few months. So people hear that and like, what is the program? What does it look like? You know, so what did each day look like? What did you learn? What do you think was helpful for you?
Luke S (20:00)
Sure.
Yeah, good question. I think I and in that thread what you basically what you said was is it works if you work it and it might take time. So I'm not going to promise you that you're going to have one of these two or three weeks it's gone thing. It might be it might be doing the program once it might be doing the program three times, you know, just so that sort of thing. But what I learned
I learned that there's different aspects to mobility than just stretching. I like that the program is very fluid motion. It's not, you know, like the thing that people kept saying to me, which drove me crazy was, have back pain, stretch your hamstrings, right? Stretch your hamstrings. Sit on the floor and grab your toe and just stretch your hamstrings, right? And I used to do that and I'm like, yeah, this isn't doing much for me. Now, having said that,
Cam (21:13)
No!
Luke S (21:20)
I don't think there's any like super static hamstring hold in the program, but I went from from the program. I would say I can get halfway down my shins before trying to touch my toes, like six inches from the floor at least. But now I can almost go palms down, you know, through the hip hinges and the spinal movement, the deep squats I love. Like one of the things is the deep squat hold.
Cam (21:38)
Wow.
Luke S (21:50)
I'll do it brushing my teeth. I'll just squat down and hold it for a couple minutes just because it feels so good after. So that's what I think I learned is that there's a lot more to mobility than what you think of as stretching.
Cam (22:03)
Right. Yeah. And I think you were saying that you liked, you know, as you're asking me, Hey, should I do the program again? Or what should I do? I think you were just saying like, I'm going to go through and, you know, hammer some of the exercises that I love, like the pelvic glides. What were, you mentioned a few of those, but what were some of those movements that you learned through the program as well, you know, with your pelvis or what did you unlock there?
Luke S (22:27)
Yeah. So there was a couple other, I won't use names, but there were a couple other famous physical therapists, you know, written a couple books on back pain and this, that and the other. And the philosophy was more like avoid certain movements. like avoid bending over, always keep a flat back no matter what, you know, tie your shoes by putting your foot up on the table and bending towards it. But through this, I realized that
if taken slowly and the program is more of a crescendo up to more intense that, you know, between the pelvic tilts, pelvic glides, the quadruped tilts, the hip hinges, the, again, the deep squat, all these things that, you know, cat cows even, not only can I bend over or arch the back.
but it can help, right? If you're at the right spot in your recovery, maybe you shouldn't be arching your back over and deadlifting if you have severe pain, right? But if you feel like you're getting better and it feels comfortable through slowly getting more mobility in the spine, yeah, I have no problem doing a forward fold now. Whereas before, I was told never, ever, ever.
bend over and pick something up. And I think the wealth program is you should you can be able to you can pick up light things, right? You should be able to bend over like a normal person.
Cam (24:01)
Right. Yeah.
Almost like we understand people have a nine to five or, maybe they own a business. They got a family. They got stuff to do. They have a life. Right. And they come to us with pain. And so there are different approaches out there. Some that are very like fear mongering ask, like, don't do this. Don't do that. And I don't want to say I don't think really all these things are necessarily malicious. Like
we should constrain people to never move so they buy our program. I don't really want to say that. But I do think potentially sometimes it's misguided or it's like, hey, even if telling someone to not bend over and pick up a heavy weight is the right advice for today and tomorrow and the next week, that doesn't mean that should be the long-term rule for everyone. Like rehab is not a static kind of plan. There needs to be some sort of step
Luke S (24:31)
Yeah.
Cam (24:59)
wise approach, which is why when we chat on the phone, I tell everyone our program takes months. are eight sections, seven workouts, 56 individual 30 minute sessions where you're going to cover 120 skills. Like, I just don't know how else we change the narrative on rehab and back pain or shoulder pain, anything. Um, get it away from like three rules to like, it's a nuanced conversation.
Luke S (25:00)
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Cam (25:25)
I don't know how else we change that conversation or even help people with that success unless we at Wealth or other companies out there are able to provide some sort of system that is going to be lengthy and connect with people who are down for a lengthy process.
Luke S (25:42)
Yep, I agree and I think one of the things for me that it again not it's not malicious They're trying to help too, but I think it kind of gave me the the impression of you're broken You're not gonna get better. So just avoid doing anything that could possibly I Don't say make it worse or cause you pain instead of let's get you Let's get you moving to a point where you can do those things without pain not give up on those things
Cam (25:49)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Yeah. I mean, there's a, you know, a full field of, I was talking to a mother yesterday, who's like 38. She's got five kids and she's talking about pain management. I'm like, personally, I really do not like the term pain management. There's a whole field, a whole system, a whole massive business opportunity in that field of pain management in which it really is like, Hey, here you are.
Luke S (26:28)
Sure.
Cam (26:37)
We are just too manage and try to slow down the deterioration with medicine or whatever it is. It's just so not inspiring. And yeah, it does treat people like you're a glass bowl and like you break and you can't be put back together. It's like, dude, we're human beings. Like we are adaptable as well. We can come into something with a lot of pain. I mean, I've seen it firsthand.
Luke S (26:53)
Yep.
Sure, yeah.
Cam (27:04)
we've had some incredible stories. I'm trying to get this one guy on the podcast. I think he's a little apprehensive to share a story, but he fell 75 feet off a cliff when he was 18, broke his femur, broke his back and didn't find us till two decades after doing the program. So he lived for 20 years after that accident. One of my favorite ones with a member, Joel, who was addicted to OxyContin, had back surgery, almost lost his family, went through the program coming off of Oxy.
Luke S (27:18)
Wow. Yeah,
Cam (27:33)
out of pain. You saw that one? Yeah,
Luke S (27:33)
I think I saw that. I think I saw that one. Yeah.
Cam (27:37)
dude, that one.
Luke S (27:39)
Crazy.
Cam (27:40)
Yeah, I'm sitting here just like, whoa, you know, cause people will tell me like this program was life saving in the exact mean that you can probably interpret, you know, like this is the last thing I'm going to do. So it's a, yeah, really a privilege to just even be here and speak with you. mean, like, I can't imagine you had a, a young kid and I'm sure maybe you had some tough thoughts going through your mind at that time, huh?
Luke S (27:43)
Yeah.
Dare and pain.
Yeah, I mean, it was hard. It sucked. But I don't know, I definitely wanted to get better. And I was willing to put in the work. just felt like, you know, I know most people don't think about this way. Maybe it's the financial planner in me, but it actually helped me to have some skin in the game, like to purchase a program, put some skin in the game where it's like, I paid for this thing.
Cam (28:13)
Yeah, you did.
Luke S (28:33)
I'm going to do it and do it the way they say. I just felt like that was helpful, weirdly. Then if I found some free program online, you know, it just wouldn't have had the same buy-in. So I feel like that was actually helpful, weirdly.
Cam (28:51)
I think you need that. And that's not to say like we need to charge 20k for our program so people have buy in. No, no, I agree. it's funny. We've done like giveaways in the past, like during promo times before a holiday sale. And we've probably done the giveaway multiple times. I don't think any of the people who have gotten the free program
Luke S (28:58)
Yeah, I don't mean to be like the number one salesman for wealth, but it's good to spend money.
Cam (29:21)
have done it. And it's not to say that you can't get something for free and not take value out of it. But I think you you have to come to a place where you are willing to put skin in the game. And financial is one of them. Time is the other. But, you know, I as you can imagine, I have a lot of conversations and phone calls and I do distinctly remember just having a very even keel conversation at ease. think we're on the same wavelength. There wasn't any
convincing of me or, you and I try not to do that regardless, because that's not a great way to conduct a conversation anyways, but it's very seamless. And the reason why that was very seamless was, you know, I'm always transparent and honest about what I think the program's gonna take. And I didn't tell you, hey, you're gonna be fixed in a day. I think that'd be scummy, right? But, you know, you were ready for that. And I think that is what it takes. Like anyone listening,
Luke S (29:53)
No.
It's easy, yeah.
Cam (30:20)
I assume if you're listening to this podcast on YouTube or Spotify, you have some sort of pain. And in your mind, you're probably contemplating like, hey, should I try to go for like a quick fix kind of thing? Or should I maybe start to think about what agency I have in my own body and what things I need to improve on? That's kind of ideally what we're trying to chat about here.
Luke S (30:43)
Yeah, I was funny I was walking in thinking about the podcast and that's one thing I would say is like You have to take ownership over it. It's not going to be a Doctor who fixes you it's not going to be some it's not gonna be a new mattress or I mean maybe you have some luck there, but
it's most likely gonna be you putting the work in. That's, yeah, I mean, that's a big part of it.
Cam (31:07)
Yeah.
Yeah. What other, as a financial planner, do you see other parallels between what you chat about with your clients or how you conduct your business? My mindset key frames that you've seen have been correlated to the rehab process.
Luke S (31:29)
Yeah, I've always equated financial health and physical health. You know, in my head, they're very similar. know, saving kind of stinks. It's not spending, right? Eating healthy kind of stinks. It's not having the doughnut, right? And doing the sometimes doing the right things are hard, right? It's hard to save money. It's hard to eat healthy. It's hard to be consistent with your workouts. So I've always sort of made that connection. I'm really into fitness, like we
we had talked about before.
Cam (31:59)
Yeah, you sent me
a picture with some fricking washboard abs, man. I'm like, you gotta be hovering at 7 % body fat.
Luke S (32:08)
Yeah, but then, you know, you, you can see that and you all like fit guy, right? And then not know can't sit for 30 minutes without pain. Right? So you never know pain is so elusive like that. So and what is what is a fit body if you're in pain and you can't bend over, right? So
I just thought, you know, what better investment to make than in my health and how I feel. Yeah, it was awesome. And I was able to, in that same thread for people who are active, I added this into my program. I didn't stop my workouts. I did this early in the morning, first thing, with my coffee while playing on the floor with my son. Like, you can make it, you can find the time. Do it while watching Netflix. There are some things that are difficult, will push you, but it's not gonna get you.
Cam (32:34)
Yeah.
Luke S (32:59)
out of breath wanting to throw up. It's not that kind of workout. Yeah.
Cam (33:01)
Right. No.
How much time did it take you? And yeah, let's walk through what your schedule is. Also let me know what your cutoff is on this.
Luke S (33:10)
Six, so I got 10 minutes. But yeah, so my schedule was I would just, again, I had bought into the program, I had bought in mentally, and so was like, all right, how do I get this done? Do it first thing. So I would wake up, I would make my coffee, and with my coffee, a lot of it's on the floor, right? I would play with my son, drink the coffee, and do the workouts, and it's at your own pace, and they give you ranges. So if I had...
Cam (33:12)
10 minutes, okay cool. All right, we'll wrap it up in 10.
Luke S (33:40)
20 minutes, it took 20 minutes. If I had 30, it took 30. But I tried to commit to not skipping days as best I could, or at least, let's say I didn't get to it one day, I would try to do it that evening, or try to do some of it throughout the day, or when I'm resting while lifting, you can do these movements. Again, they're not super strenuous, it's just, I won't even say tedious, but you have to do it, it takes time.
Cam (34:08)
Yeah. Right.
Right. Yeah. mean, yeah. TDS is it's not sexy, I guess. Fundamental. Sometimes basics gets a bad, I don't know, bad connotation. It's like, I'm beyond the basics. Like, well, no, you're not. But like, you know, the basics build into something, too. Right. I think the tough the tough thing about even saying the basics like this program can be so enlightening for people like
Luke S (34:24)
Yeah.
Cam (34:36)
It seems like it's basic, I don't know if basics is the right word because you've probably never learned a lot of these things before.
Luke S (34:43)
just what I was thinking is I do not think it's basic. I think because like what I knew, right? When you're lifting or you're a runner, right? A lot of these exercises I had never even heard of, right? And they're simple. I will say that they're simple. But as far as like the basics, if you ask somebody like, are the basics of a workout? They'd say like, I don't know, bench press, squat, pull up, right? That's not what this is.
Cam (34:55)
Mm.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Luke S (35:13)
and that's probably just a fundamental misunderstanding of me and a lot of people on what should be your foundation, what should be your basics. and this stuff now I see like, you know, it's important to have some mobility in your hips and your spine, to be able to strengthen muscles that get neglected in the typical basics, your hip flexors, you know, your glutes. so I had heard of some of them before, but
It's just not something, you know, if you're like bodybuilder or you're a runner or something, you're probably not doing glute bridges and pelvic glides and you know. So I have a new appreciation for it. mean, honestly, I mean this, I will probably do the program for the rest of my life as a part of my workouts now. Like just, I love it. I love to feel better and move better. It's awesome.
Cam (35:52)
No way. For sure.
Wow. That's incredible to hear. What? So, you know, you're saying like some of the movements I know you mentioned, it's tedious, right? And what we're getting at is like you throw on the limitless program and you're looking at it you're like, it's not like super sexy and fun stuff to do. Right. But what we're talking about, how it makes you feel like, that's what I want. Right. And it supports the other things that I do like to do. Right. And I know you were texting me, you like to golf.
It sounds like you have a pretty big athletic past. I assume you are still kind of working on different, you know, sports and stuff. So I mean, what is that allowing you to do today?
Luke S (36:50)
Yeah, so it used to be like last year anytime I would golf You know whether it wasn't even if I wasn't carrying a bag if I was just pushing I would leave the golf course in pain Practicing putting practicing chipping anything where I'm slightly bent over right and holding that
I would just leave in pain. now, I mean, I can carry a bag 18 holes and not have back pain. So I would say as far as that goes, it's completely alleviated that.
Cam (37:21)
Wow. So the body comp, the picture that you sent of you and your wife at the beach, seriously, I was very impressed. Have you more or less kind of hovered around that physique for a while? No, no.
Luke S (37:39)
No, no, no, that was, that was, yeah, that's been in my late twenties. Like in high school, I wanted to do that, but it's hard to get, you know, your, your mom to cook you exactly what you want to eat and stuff. You know what I mean? Like, so later in life, I was like, I can like, you know, I'm a big meal prepper. So I would prep my meals and the sort of not bulk and cut. don't
Cam (37:52)
Yeah, sure.
Okay, so you do that.
Yeah, mean, yeah. Yeah.
Luke S (38:06)
Neither here or there but definitely
go through like phases where I'm like I'm in one right now where I'm gonna take eight to ten weeks and get super duper lean Which is really just eating clean and working out. I mean, it's really not that hard. But yeah, so that's been more in the past four or five years I've made the effort to get super lean Yeah
Cam (38:18)
Yeah.
For sure.
Okay, yeah.
But what I was gonna say about that was like, you know, kind of going back to it, you have a great body composition and aesthetic, but then, and then, you know, you're able to be proud of that. And I'm sure your wife sees that in friends and family and peers are like, okay, Luke is, you know, this athlete and takes care of himself. But then like going through and having pain underlying is...
It's kind of this weird feeling. You're like, man, like I look great, but I don't feel great. You know, so, that was something that I dealt with as well when I was going through college and, very focused on aesthetics. What I will say was having the injury, I would say I probably had a borderline eating disorder and you know, body dysmorphia, blah, blah, blah, whatever you want to call it. Going through and having back pain, I would say almost in a sense,
Luke S (38:54)
Yeah.
care.
Cam (39:21)
not only did I heal that, but it healed a lot of, like body image issues and the way I look at food. Like I look more so at food now as nourishment and fuel. And like, I'm way less volatile on my perception of my aesthetics
Luke S (39:28)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Cam (39:40)
though. My aesthetics are, they hover around the same. I'd say they're pretty good, but,
because I know I want to feel better. I'm like, okay, nutrition is important, but just looking good is probably not what I personally want. I want to feel good. don't want to have back pain. I don't want to have these things. And then I'm able to train harder. I don't know if that's been like your experience moving through that as well.
Luke S (40:02)
Yeah, I mean who cares what you look like if you can't bend over you know what I mean like I Don't yeah, I mean that's like put it
Cam (40:09)
Yeah, it's kind of,
it's kind of pathetic is harsh, but I look back on it and maybe you're kind of like, I don't know if you laugh and like, man, that was kind of pathetic. I couldn't like carry it back.
Luke S (40:25)
Yeah, no, I definitely put it off too long. That's what I would say is I was putting so much priority on work, on family, on aesthetics, on golf, right? But all it took was a little commitment, 20, 30 minutes a day to say, I'm going to address this issue that isn't going to make me straight up.
Cam (40:29)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Luke S (40:52)
isn't going make me look aesthetically better necessarily isn't going to add 50 pounds to my bench press isn't going to cut my mile time down but I'm going to feel better and it will probably help all those things as well. mean so yeah that's been my I definitely refocused and I think there's some wisdom to it like for I don't know how many have like young guys but there is some wisdom to okay you know through your early your teens in your 20s like
Cam (41:03)
Yeah.
Luke S (41:22)
know, recovery super easy, know, injuries even recover super fast. Now I'm more interested in longevity, right? Like I want to be lifting weights, exercising into seventies. You know what I mean? And I think that that starts now, especially with your spine, right? Your back in particular. I think, you know, if you ask anybody in their fifties or sixties, do you wish you took better care of your back when you were younger? They're going to say, absolutely. Right.
Cam (41:50)
Right?
Right?
Luke S (41:51)
So
yeah, I think that's something I just have matured in a little bit to say I'm going to address my mobility issues, my back pain and flexibility to some extent.
Cam (42:04)
Right. It's funny though, of course you look back and we go, I wish I would have done this or that. you know, I think sometimes you need a high level of discomfort or pain to actually finally force and facilitate that change. And I know that was the same for me. when I got injured and then after I went through the program, I learned all these things in hindsight. I was like, my gosh, I should have been doing this and that and telling myself like my past self should have been doing that. But
The reality is I would have never learned or made this change had I not had this level of pain. I think, you know, so that's, if you are forced and put in a position in which you have the pain, you might want to kind of think about, you know, how to change and what that would mean for you. I know you got to run. Any last remarks? I really appreciate you, for hopping on.
Luke S (42:37)
True, that's true.
Yeah, no, I would just say if you're thinking about it, do it. If you're not thinking about it, you should be. And yeah, dude, it was it was a massive, massive success. And like anybody, you know, when you're purchasing a program online, I had some doubts, which you assuaged early. But now I have the proof. Right. I mean, yeah.
Cam (43:18)
Let's go. Well, and then I think we got to get
you in the strength and conditioning program next, right? Enjoy your golf. Enjoy your golf this summer, you know, and maybe pop in on that or keep doing Limitless for the rest of your life, whatever. Either way, it sounds like we've accomplished our mission together. So thanks for joining, man.
Luke S (43:22)
Yeah, maybe, maybe.
Yeah.
Absolutely, I appreciate it, Bye.
Cam (43:39)
Hey, cheers. All right, bye.