I am so impressed with Adam’s story that I decided to write it for him. Not that Adam didn’t give me enough information for our success story page; he is just such a humble guy that I wanted to make sure we were able to relay the scope of his accomplishments.
Adam is one of those rare young guys who are not only very big and strong, but also very coordinated. Due to his athletic prowess and emotional maturity, Adam was always invited to play on older teams. Not only did he hold his own with older athletes, he excelled. The sky was the limit for Adam’s athletic future.
In August of 2006, when he was only 13 years old, Adam fractured his hip during football practice. He had surgery a few days later which involved several pins and screws to hold his hip in place. In October, Doctors discovered that Adam’s hip was not healing properly and he was suffering necrosis of the hip bone. Kim, Adam’s mom and NPPT client, researched his condition and found that doctors at Duke were performing a radical surgery for Adam’s condition with great success (85%). The surgery involved grafting bone along with blood vessels from the tibia to stimulate blood flow to his hip. Adam had the surgery and they kept their fingers crossed. The family returned to Duke early in March of 2007 only to find that the surgery did not work and he was going to have to have a total hip replacement. He had surgery to replace his hip in June of 2007.
Now, most 14 year olds would wilt under such circumstances. Not the case with Adam. After completing his physical therapy in March of 2008, Adam began deep tissue massage with Joan Bennett at North Point Personal Training. After a few months of massage therapy, his limp was nearly gone and Adam began to think about getting his body back in shape. He then began a strength training program with Anthony Wilkins and his athletic body started to come back to life. Not yet satisfied, Adam tackled his nutrition habits. After hearing about food choices in health class, Adam decided to reduce the junk food in his diet. The key words are, “he decided”. Don’t forget, Adam is only 15 years old and he took control of his own well being-something most adults can’t master!
Adam has since lost 40 lbs, moves like an athlete and now has a goal of joining the 1000lb club at school. He is close!
At a time when students’ identities are so closely tied to their sports performance, it is so refreshing to know that there are young men like Adam to show us that we can be who ever we chose to be, regardless of our circumstances. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Adam did.
Some tips from Adam:
“If you don’t feel like working out thinking it’s only one workout just add up all the benefits you get from one workout and then just go do it.”“Watch what you eat! You can work hard all day, then go home and eat crappy foods and cancel it all out. With good nutrition, you can make twice the difference.”Adam’s Workout Schedule:
Weights- Tues, Thurs and Sat
Cardio- before most workouts
Walking- at least 1.5 miles a day
Rick Mayo
