Make Your Body Your Machine : wounded warrior

COMPASS GROUP PART 2: FA HELPS WOUNDED WARRIORS SUSPEND LIMITS, TRANSITION INTO PRIVATE SECTOR

FitnessAnywhere — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:49:00 GMT

When Alex Roodhouse served in Iraq as part of a Navy combat riverine team, he risked his life every time he went on patrol, often facing a hail of enemy fire. Danger comes hand in hand with active duty. But it’s a reality that Roodhouse has become even more acutely aware of since he completed his service and joined the Fitness Anywhere military sales team. “When I visit the VA hospitals for FA, I often discover that I served in some of the exact same places with the wounded vets that I meet.”

Roodhouse and Dr. Joe ‘Doc’ Martin, D.C., a SEAL team veteran and FA’s director of military education, recently participated in their third Compass Group for combat wounded Marine vets on behalf of FA. As more and more active duty service people use the TRX to stay mission fit on base and while deployed, the TRX has become a familiar tool. “Half of the seminar participants had used the TRX before,” says Roodhouse. “They like the TRX because it’s the same equipment that active duty service people use and because it’s easy to adjust workouts and movements to work with their specific injuries.

Vets have a way to train even with injuries, and the FA team gets something great out of the experience, too. “I got into the health care field for a reason,” says Doc Martin. “I spent my time in the SEAL team learning how to blow things up and I’m spending the rest of my life fixing things.”

LEARN MORE:

At: www.vetfoundation.org

GET INVOLVED:

Buy a TRX FORCE DVD and Guide, $5 of your purchase goes directly into the Fitness Anywhere Warrior Fund to help us support efforts like the Compass Group.

THE TRX ARRIVES AT THE NATIONAL NAVAL MEDICAL CENTER: WOUNDED WARRIORS FIND NEW BEGINNINGS WITH THE TRX

FitnessAnywhere — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:48:00 GMT

Servicemen and women who end up as patients at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, MD have gone to war for America and paid a toll for freedom that can’t be erased. Some patients suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries while others have lost limbs, suffered burns, or have otherwise lost the capacity to think and move the way they did before they went to war.

That’s why SEAL Team veteran Dr. Joe Martin, D.C., an FA team member and chiropractor who specializes in rehabilitation from injuries, journeyed to the NNMC where he gave an educational seminar, worked directly with wounded warriors and provided TRX trainers to the facility. “A lot of the wounded warriors here can’t use free weights or the Nautilus equipment we have. Guys in wheelchairs—whoever—can use the TRX. Anyone can,” says Joe Liptok, Deputy Director of the Marine Liaison Office of Wounded Warriors at the NMMC. “I think it’s for everybody, not just wounded warriors. You can hit everything with it. It’s adaptable to every individual. I just wish I’d had the TRX years ago.”

GET INVOLVED:

Buy a TRX FORCE DVD and Guide, $5 of your purchase goes directly into the Fitness Anywhere Warrior Fund to help support providing education and equipment for wounded warriors like those at the NNMC.

COMPASS GROUP: HELPING WOUNDED WARRIORS GET THEIR BEARINGS AND FIND MEANINGFUL DIRECTION IN THE CIVILIAN WORLD

FitnessAnywhere — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:41:00 GMT

Sometimes the toughest battles soldiers face come once they have left the theater of war. That’s why the Veteran Employment Transition (VET) Foundation created the Compass Group, a nonprofit that has helped more than 200 combat-wounded Marines with 5-day life and business skills seminars. Earlier this year, FA became part of Compass Group’s effort through the FA Warrior Fund, providing equipment and education at Compass Group seminars.

“A lot of the guys have injuries where they don’t feel comfortable going into the gym. This allows them to get back into shape in the comfort of their own homes,” says Chris Hadsall, the VET Foundation’s founder and executive director. “Whether a guy has a lower leg or upper extremity issue, it works. And with the TRX, they are always getting a great core workout no matter what exercise they’re doing.”

Major General T.S. Jones (Ret, U.S. Marine Corps) serves on the VET Foundation board of directors and hosts the Compass Group retreats at his Outdoor Odyssey facility, which he created for a youth leadership nonprofit he also runs. General Jones has made the TRX and Fitness Anywhere educational products an integral part of his everyday PT routine. “I’ve done a lot of testing with the TRX and I haven’t even hit what’s possible with this. There are a lot of extreme situations in the Marines Corps—on a ship, on a site where you can’t carve out PT time. But you can carve out 30 or 40 minutes to do TRX exercises and that time is connected to rapid decision-making and what you can do.”

LEARN MORE:

At: www.vetfoundation.org

GET INVOLVED:

Buy a TRX FORCE DVD and Guide, $5 of your purchase goes directly into the Fitness Anywhere Warrior Fund to help us support efforts like the Compass Group.

Wounded Warrior on the TRX

Fitness Anywhere — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:42:00 GMT

As a Wounded Warrior and an above the knee amputee, this individual soldier utilizes the TRX to strengthen his core allowing him more stability during Activities of Daily Living (ADL), whether walking, lifting, bending, twisting, turning, etc.

One of Fitness Anywhere's core missions is to keep soldiers fit - for combat and for life, on deployment and after they return from service. The Fitness Anywhere Wounded Warrior Fund provides equipment, training and encouragement to injured soldiers. Five dollars from the purchase of every TRX FORCE Kit sold through FitnessAnywhere.com goes to support this effort.