As many of you may know if you follow my journey on Instagram, I’ve been plagued with pretty serious rotator cuff injuries for almost 3 years now. After major surgery on my right arm earlier this year, which patched up a torn rotator cuff, labrum, and biceps tendon, I recently went back in for my left shoulder, which is the worse of the two.

Because I wanted to show you guys an unhindered view of my real life, I’ve put together a series of episodes over on Youtube (subscribe to the channel to stay updated) to share my life and recovery with everyone, as inspiration for bouncing back from an injury or setback. It’s never easy, but it’s these mountains that make us stronger.

Road to Recovery: Prep for the Knife

As you can see just from footage of standing and lifting my arms, my shoulders are hella uneven, and the pinch in my left when trying to push back over my head has been pretty intense since the injury started. I’d been doing some PT work and just started working with bands pre-surgery to help increase mobility and hopefully shorten recovery time, but the stiffness was also still pretty intense as well.

In this episode, you can see my prep for the day (including the fun fasting requirements) and set up for going under the knife for the second time.

Road to Recovery: Inside the Operating Room and INSIDE My Shoulder (Plus Post-Op)

Nope, we decided not to skip over what happened in the operating room. You can see the same screen as the operators as they “dig in” to the cartilage and tendons surrounding my shoulder and other areas.

Long procedure short, the correct arm was operated on (a running joke between us all – please do the LEFT one) and I finally broke that fast. Not with some Clean Juice Hardcore One juice … but it’s what we had to work with.

About one-week post-op, minus sleeping, I did some O2 therapy at O2 Health Lab the day after surgery. In essence, this type of therapy forced oxygen into my body and encouraged stem cells to move to the correct areas so that I had more “material,” you could say, to heal faster. I was pretty excited to dive more into O2 since we’ll actually be opening one in our facility soon as a recovery aid.

Benefits of Hyperbaric O2 (if you’re considering a recovery option):

• Oxygen (O2) combined with hyperbaric atmospheric pressure provide powerful healing benefits
• Delivers up to 25 times the oxygen directly to tissues
• Can speed Healing and Recovery 30% to 50%
• Promotes regeneration of injured tissues
• Decreases swelling and inflammation throughout your body
• Helps the body to clear toxins
• Stimulates new capillary growth
• Increases collagen production for healthy, youthful skin
• Supports scar tissue rehabilitation
• Supports the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis)

In Episode 2 you’ll also get a glimpse of our new facility where we’ll have the full gym, plus the O2 chamber and cryotherapy tanks, red light therapy, a metabolic testing room, and more (you can also watch me maneuver in my transformer-Esque shoulder sling for half of the episode).

If you’re on a road to recovery yourself, you can also hear my coach list off the invaluable supplement list I was on to boost recovery (think collagen peptides, sulphur, vtiamin C, and more), so don’t forget to listen for that.

You probably also saw I mentioned Clean Juice earlier. If you don’t know, opening a Clean Juice is our newest venture, which opened this month in Yorba Linda. We give you a tour (you can peak at the organic menu here, which features more than juice, including acai bowls, avocado, and hummus toasts, and more).

We cap at the doc’s orders and exam 10 days out, so you get to see how things are progressing.

Amping Up Recovery: Stem Cell Treatment

In Episode 3 you’ll follow me to Panama for a stem cell treatment to speed up the healing process. I’ll talk about what the treatment feels like and touch a little on the benefits of the treatment. If you’re interested or have ever wondered about stem cell treatment, I’ll be releasing a new blog soon covering all of the benefits and really digging into how it works. For a brief overview:

In essence, stem cell therapy increases the raw material available to your body to heal itself. While we naturally have stem cells “in reserve” for situations that require healing, having extra on hand can work to supply your body with material faster and more efficiently.

Road to Recovery 4: Cardio & Conditioning With The Squad

This week, come along as I get my shoulder checked out post stem cell treatment then I really get in my element leading the squad through a killer cardio and conditioning session at my home in colorado.

My love for coaching grows every session, It keeps me sharp and my head in the right place and we cap off this episode with me coaching my boy Juan Archuleta and getting him ready for his upcoming fight.

Road to Recovery 5: Big Game Bow Hunting 

We pick right back up where we left off as I head out for a long elk hunting trek & some overdue quality time with my pops and my brother. An incredible mixture of elk hunting opportunity is available in Idaho, thanks to Idaho’s diverse habitats and a population of more than 120,000 elk. The Idaho elk hunter can pursue bulls that vanish like ghosts in the sagebrush deserts, chase herds in the lung-busting climbs of the central Idaho mountains, or stalk the thick-timbered ridges of northern Idaho. We hit the mountains in search of big game for some serious bow hunting, I had to use a crossbow because of my shoulder, don’t hate it still counts!

The footage turned out great, you’ll get to see some intense moments as we are stalking prey and I head out later for a solo trek to clear my head and see what I can pull in on my own. With the help of some new friends, I met along the way this trip became one for the books.

The Attitude of Gratitude

I truly believe my gratitude for my support system has aided my healing massively. I have been awestruck from all the positive feedback, love, and overwhelming support I have received in response to these episodes. I’m extremely thankful for your support and would love it if you guys would stay in touch here and via the Youtube channel. I’ll be going more into my recovery and the training process as I heal here and over on Instagram as well, so link up for updates.