From Chronic Ankle Pain to 16-Mile Hikes: Chris’s 1-Year Comeback
The tricky part is that no one wakes up and decides to get out of shape.
It happens gradually. A few missed workouts, a few compromises with food. A busy stretch at work that never really ends. Then one day, you’re 20–30 pounds up, your joints ache, and you’re not sure how to fix it.
That’s exactly where Chris found himself.
In his late fifties, Chris had gone through stretches of being “on track,” but recently fell off. He hadn’t lifted weights in over a year and wasn’t sure how to restart without hurting himself.
His weight crept up slowly at first, but then became impossible to ignore.
Between a busy, emotionally demanding job and chronic ankle pain, fitness started to feel out of reach. Worse, the ankle pain took away hiking—the one activity that cleared his head and made him feel capable.
He wasn’t happy with his body, his joints, or where things were headed. And he didn’t have a clear way forward.
The Problem
Like a lot of people over 50, Chris felt trapped between two bad options:
• Push harder, ignore the pain, and risk making things worse
• Pull back entirely and slowly lose strength, confidence, and freedom
Neither option made sense!
He knew something had to change — his workouts, his eating, his routine — but without a plan that respected both his pain and his time, staying stuck felt safer than guessing.
A Different Approach
When Chris reached out, we got on a call and focused on one thing first: creating momentum without aggravating pain or overloading his schedule.
Here’s what our plan for the first 90 days looked like:
Lose 10–15 pounds of body fat while rebuilding muscle, so he could look better, feel better, and support healthy aging
Dial in nutrition in a way that was sustainable, supported performance, and helped keep key health markers (like triglycerides) moving in the right direction.
Work around (not through!) his ankle pain, selecting exercises and mobility work that respected his posterior tibial tendon and deltoid ligament (the spots he was having pain) while gradually improving joint strength and tolerance.
Design everything around real life, accounting for a demanding job and a move, so progress didn’t require hours in the gym or kitchen.
We agreed these were realistic goals. The kind that, if achieved, would meaningfully change the trajectory of his health.
Of course, setting goals is the easy part!
Execution, on the other hand, is where his story gets interesting.
Did He Do It?
Heck freakin’ yeah, he did!
In the first 6 months, Chris:
Lost 12 pounds of body fat while gaining muscle
Cleaned up his diet and improved his cholesterol and triglycerides to the best levels of his life
Not only reduced his ankle pain, but hiked SIXTEEN miles, pain-free
Then, instead of taking his foot off the gas, he used the next 6 months to lock it in.
Over the following 6 months, he:
Further improved his diet, averaging 140+ grams of protein most days and consistently eating more fruits and vegetables
Set new strength PRs, including 145×3 on bench press, 15 push-ups, and 145×10 on deadlifts
Maintained 8–10k steps per day (and some days MUCH more), supporting both body composition and heart health
Today — one year later — Chris has changed his life. He’s stronger. Leaner. Eating better than he has in years.
And most importantly, he’s managing his pain well enough to keep doing the hikes he loves, without fear of setting himself back.
So, the trillion dollar question - how did he do it?
Why This Worked
From the jump, Chris did two things exceptionally well.
1. He played the long game.
Chris understood this wasn’t going to be a 30-day reset or a quick challenge.
He didn’t get out of shape in 30 days, and he wasn’t going to undo years of wear and tear in 30 days either. Instead of chasing fast results, he committed to steady habits. He showed up, did the work, and stayed patient enough for real change to take hold.
That mindset alone put him ahead of most people.
2. He got comfortable with imperfect.
This might be the biggest separator.
SO many people let one off meal or one missed workout snowball into a lost week or even a lost month.
Chris had plenty of imperfect stretches, due to travel, illness, busy work weeks, long hikes, life being life. Like Rocky against Ivan Drago, he got knocked down countless times. But he got back up again, and again, and again!
Week after week, he picked up where he left off and kept moving forward. No drama, guilt or spiral. No “I’ll start over Monday.”
To me, the most impressive part of Chris’s year wasn’t the 10+ pounds of fat loss or the 16-mile hike. It was the consistency — especially through imperfect weeks — that made the comeback stick.
Where To Next?
Today, Chris is stronger, leaner, and more confident in his body than he’s been in years.
More importantly, he knows exactly how to keep feeling this way as he moves past his 60th birthday this April.
No guessing. No “starting over.” No wondering if he’s doing the right things. He has a clear, repeatable framework to maintain his progress, and continue building on it.
That kind of confidence changes everything.
When reflecting on his progress, Chris wrote:
“I recently looked back through the weekly emails John sent over the past year and realized it’s been exactly that — a full year of training together.
I feel like I’m truly hitting my stride now, with meaningful life changes tied directly to my original ‘why’ for signing up. That journey began with an intervention from my dear daughter, Grace — and I owe her many thanks for giving me the push I needed.
Over the past year, John has given me the tools to make lasting, life-changing decisions around my health, mobility, and weight — and to feel better prepared as I approach turning 60 this April. I’m incredibly grateful for the guidance and structure he’s provided.
I now feel equipped to build on these gains without losing momentum — staying consistent with clean eating, walking, supplements, protein intake, strength training, mobility work, and PT-related metrics.
I’ve asked to remain on John’s email list, and I’m even printing out the weekly check-ins and educational emails — they’ve become my personal health bible.
The journey continues, and I truly appreciate John taking me on as a client this past year.”
Kudos to you, Chris. I’m incredibly proud of the work you put in, and excited to see where you take it next!
It Starts With One Nudge
This journey started because Chris’s daughter — a PT and former classmate — recognized her dad needed support and pointed him in the right direction.
If someone in your life could use the same nudge, this is your sign!
Learn more about coaching, and give someone you care about the incredibly powerful gift of taking their health back into their own hands.
Best,
John
P.S. Even though Duke lost a tough one, we still had a great Saturday night with our sweet pup and an amazing salmon dinner — courtesy of Kelly, of course!
3 Steps You Can Take
Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can fill out a coaching application here (it takes 90 seconds or less). Best case, you change your life. Worst case, I’ll help you draw up a road map to get closer to your goals.
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Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.
