Low Back Pain Therapy Testimony- Andres Martinez

Having low back pain can hinder a person’s ability to do everyday activities and the pain can be excruciating. Low back pain is common for anyone and for Andres Martinez, he has suffered from it. In this inspiring testimony, Andres Martinez talks about his low back pain and how he found the solution through PUSH Fitness. Andres Martinez was suffering from low back and knee pain for a while and he mentioned how he first came to Dr. Alex Jimenez has helped him alleviate the pain but needed the physical therapy and rehabilitation in order to fully recover from his injuries. That was when he found Push Fitness and his journey to a healthier lifestyle begin. By following and being involved with the PUSHasRX Fitness Workouts, Andres started to learn everything that he needed to know about health and wellness as well as how to do his workout regime correctly. Through the watchful eyes of his trainer, Daniel Alvarado, owner of the PUSH Fitness Gym, he was able to complete his physical therapy and his rehabilitation for his knee and low back pain. Even after his physical therapy ended, he still came to PUSH Fitness to continue his health and wellness fitness journey. What PUSHas RX Functional Fitness Workouts do is that it provides a mixture of aerobic exercises, calisthenics, and Olympic weightlifting for the person to strengthen and condition their body to be at their healthiest. Andres expressed his gratitude towards Daniel and the PUSH Fitness trainers for helping him with his physical therapy and getting him started on his fitness journey. Andres also mentioned how everyone should go to the PUSH Fitness Gym if they want a head start on their fitness journey or just wanted to be a healthier version of themselves, then PUSH is the way to go.

[00:00:22] My name’s is Andres Martinez

[00:00:24] Everybody knows me here as Andy. I got here back in June of 2014. I came to PUSH because one of my friends recommended it.

[00:00:36] I had some issues with my back. I had an ailing back and knee problems that kind of continued throughout the beginning of this year and the year before. They told me to come over here and you know, give it a try and see what Daniel and some of the other trainers, Mike and Ethan.

[00:00:53] See what they could do if they could help me out? I’ve been coming here for about a year and a half now. I’ll be coming up on my two years in June.

[00:01:02] Actually, in June. First year was a lot of therapy. It was a lot of learning. The Olympic lifts. How to lift properly. A lot of us don’t understand that there’s a method to the madness. There’s a lot of madness here with the guys and trainers and stuff. You know, it’s a great atmosphere. It’s a great way to learn. It’s not just your basic “Okay, you’re going to grab the bar and you’re going to curl now.” You know, now they teach you okay, the CrossFit way, this is the way we left. This is our Ollie lifts, this is our Olympic lifts. This is what it means to deadlift. This is where your hips go, your back. It’s a nice, detailed explanation of what you should be doing and how we should be doing it and not just grab a bar and pick it up. You know, they take their time. They explain things to you. It’s a great, great facility to come to. PUSH is just, it’s not your normal CrossFit gym.

[00:01:51] I’ve tried a couple other gyms, of course I don’t want to say the name, but I’ve been a couple other gyms.

[00:01:58] It’s a little bit different. They kind of teach you as you go. They allow you to, of course, you know, like anywhere you’re going to make your mistakes and stuff. Some of them do help you. Some of them don’t. What I’ve learned here at PUSH. As you’re working out, the trainers are constantly watching you, you know, they’re always making sure what you’re doing is correct. You know, you’re not going to hurt yourself. You know, if you explain to them that you have an ailment or that you have, you know, some trouble doing something, they’re going to help you to get to that point where you can do it. There is no such thing as I can’t do this. Here at PUSH, we all work together and we do our best to help each other out, whether you’re a trainer or not. You know, I’m here as a client. I also run the juice bar here. And, you know, I try to help these guys out. You know, if I can, you know, overstepping my bounds, you know, but it’s a very interesting gym. It’s a great place to be.

[00:02:52] They’re like here, like you’re part of the family. It’s not just, you know, I’m a trainer. You’re not. You know, they listen to you. You listen to them. It’s a good one on one communication here. Wow, my first walkin to PUSH,

[00:03:04] It was kind of intimidating because you come in, and when I got here, a lot of the athletes were training. So there was a lot of weight being lifted. There was a lot of lifts that I didn’t understand, they looked like something I’d seen on TV, I guess, like when you watch the Olympics or when you watch powerlifting competitions, you know, strongman. You see a lot of these lift and you think, wow, I’m going to come in here and do this and you know, a lot of people are like, you know, no, I can’t do this.

[00:03:35] That seems to be, it’s taboo.  Oh, my God. I’m this old and this out of shape. I’ve never done anything like this before. And you guys want me to do this. And those are the first things I ran through my head was wow I can’t do this.

[00:03:49] But the way they work with you and the way they teach you. You know, it’s kind of impossible for you not to for you not to learn and for you to not to get good at it because they take their time and they don’t push you right away to where you come in. And it’s like right now, grab that 300 pounds and pick it up. You know, it’s like, no, let’s grab a rope bar and let’s start working and let me teach you. What it is you’re going to be doing and how you should be doing it. It’s a lot of one on one at the beginning, which I appreciate and walking in because of course, when I hurt my back, I was like, well, you know, the trainer had been there to teach me. Maybe I wouldn’t be going through this right now. You know, the intimidation factor is there when you first walk into any CrossFit gym. You know, you just have to take that first step in. And I did and PUSH has been great. Yeah. Once you start the program, it’s fantastic.

[00:04:40] You start the program and it’s kind of an accomplishment. Every day, every day you achieve something, whether it’s you finish the WOD with everybody. You finish the WOD before people. You increase your weights.

[00:04:54] You know, you feel the physical change in your body. You know, you hear a lot of people saying, oh, I first got here and I you know, I was so heavy. I was so out of shape, you know, I would run and I’d be tired. And now, like me especially, you know, I hate to run. I’m not a runner. I don’t think I was born with sprinter speed. So now it’s like, you know, they’ve made me feel comfortable in my skin. I feel comfortable getting out there and running with the athletes and with just the regular guys that come in like me. And you enjoy it now. You know, the experience at the beginning. Yeah, it is kind of intimidating and scary. But as you go through and you develop your friendships here, your camaraderie is in your little, you know, where people are competing against one another, you know it engulfs you and the whole atmosphere. You know, it turns into a really comfortable place for you to be.

[00:05:44] And you forget about that first day that you walk down where you’re like, oh, my God, you know, this is amazing.

[00:05:50] What are they doing? No, I can’t do that. You know, maybe I’ll just come and watch and then I’ll leave. You know, I can’t do this. But, you know, that’s something that people shouldn’t say. You know, they can’t because unless you’ve tried it, you know, you’ll never know if you can or can’t. But even if you can’t do it at the beginning, you push through it and you’ll be able to. I’m living proof of it. You know, I look different here, you know, but it’s simply because the guys here, they help, you know, they nurture you basically through it. And they give you that little extra push that you need to get through. All my trainers mean everything to me.

[00:06:26] It’s a great group of guys. I mean, starting with my personal trainer, Daniel, head trainer here, owner. Daniels taught me everything from how to lift properly, how to eat correctly. He’s taught me about diets. He’s taught me about not dieting and just eating clean. His time is the difference between exercising and actually training.

[00:06:48] You move on to Ethan. He’s a young guy, he knows his stuff. Really smart, really strong, loves to just stop and he’ll move away from his work out to help you.

[00:07:00] You know, he’s sharing it, even if he’s not working, you know, he’ll help you which is something that I’ve learned all the trainers will do. You know, they’ll all take that extra step just to make sure that you’re comfortable and that you know what you’re doing. Big Mike. Mike Contreras.

[00:07:16] Mike Greco, they’re all, you know, just great guys. I mean, they’ve been here since I’ve been here. And, you know, they’ve helped me a lot with the new trainers, of course, that came through. Aileen and Uvia and wow, those are two amazing athletes. Both women are just top of their game. It’s a privilege to know them and we get to work out with them. I know it’s going to push me to the brink. It really is. They’re really good, really good athletes. I should say, they really know their stuff. They help you through. They give you that extra little. Yeah. You’d like to hear that little voice in the background. You know what? You know, come on Andy, you can do it, you know, just a little bit more. You know, you’re almost done. You know, it does help. You know, that that one on one, of course, you know, it’s always great. But, you know, you hear a trainer that, you know, you’re not working with. She’s watching over. He’s watching over him. They take you know what? Come on, man. You got it. You got it. Push. You know, it’s a great thing to hear you know, that’s one of the things that I’ve liked is the trainers give you that timeline, even if you’re not training with them, they still give you that one on one.

[00:08:21] You know, notability where, you know, I’m going to watch you. You know, you don’t have to worry. You need help. Ask me. You know, I’m here for you.

[00:08:28] You get that throughout the gym, which is. Which is great.

[00:08:32] PUSH change from being a gym that I came to work out for me.

[00:08:39] You know, it’s like a family atmosphere now. You know, this is my family, away from my family. You know, I open my business here because of them. I open recovery because of the people that work here.

[00:08:53] At PUSH , the owner, his family and just the clients that come in.

[00:08:58] You know, I couldn’t see not being here. You know, it was it was something that I just wanted to do.

[00:09:06] And that’s a big deal. You know, if you don’t want to do something, it doesn’t matter how much people pushing,  you don’t want to do it, you’re not going to be there. And here at PUSH what you learn, you know, it’s just a great place to be. It’s real friendly.

[00:09:22] It’s a different type of atmosphere from the other CrossFit gyms. It’s a lot of community type things where everybody wants to help each other. You know, one on one, whether you’re a trainer or athlete or just somebody coming through, you have the people here who are going to want to help you. And that’s the great thing. That’s why I’ve stayed here at PUSH for so long now. I try to recommend PUSH to not just my friends, but people that I hear talking about CrossFit. And it’s funny because you always hear “Oh you know, CrossFit, they really don’t do anything.” Yeah. And I myself, I laugh about it. It’s like, wow, I didn’t do anything today, man, that’s amazing because I felt like I left half of my soul on that floor, you know?

[00:10:03] So you explain to, you know what? PUSH is and CrossFit basically are meant for people who are ready to make that change. You know, you’re ready to make that change,  to do something with your life that is healthy for you.

[00:10:21] You know, that you’re going to feel good about

[00:10:25] If you want to set a goal and you want to accomplish something, you know, CrossFit will challenge you. That’s where I explain it to people. As you know, what you’ve probably been lifting for X amount of years now. But if you take it in this manner and you come to a CrossFit with me, it’s going to challenge you and the 400 pound deadlift that you do, the squat or whatever it is you do. You know, we’re going to put ninety five pounds on there and you’re going to be challenged. And when you leave, I can guarantee you’re going to walk out and you’re going to feel like, wow, that’s great. I accomplished something that I didn’t think I could do. You know that kind of the way I recommend it to people. You only come here

[00:11:03] If you really want to push yourself and you want to make a change to you, you know, you want to lose those extra five, ten, fifteen pounds, whatever it is you want to be able to run. And not get as tired as you do now. It’s going to lead you, push like I tell them, it’s going to lead you to a healthier lifestyle because that’s pretty much what you’re surrounded here by.

[00:11:26] There’s a lot of people here that lead that healthy, clean life, you know, and that’s where I recommend to them.  If you’re ready for that change, this is a place for you. This is your STARTING POINT.