“I recently retired early as a police officer from the Police Department after nearly 18 years. I reluctantly went out on disability because of ongoing back pain and damaged disc issues. I wasn’t a candidate for surgery and I was at the point where I was going to cause myself severe and permanent damage by continuing employment. I was also afraid my back would give out during a critical incident and it would cause someone else to get badly hurt or worse. I had gone through several sessions of physical therapy and chiropractic treatment over the years with very limited and temporary results. Then I met Bryan and began his program to see if he had a different approach…and boy did he ever!
I started on the basic exercise regimen with simple and effective exercises that I had never seen before. I immediately knew this would be different and better than anything else I had tried. Before I knew it my back was feeling great again…I wished I had known about these guys when I started having back trouble. I might have been able to finish out my career.I knew a lot fellow officers who had back problems. I firmly believe that this proactive approach could help many officers avoid the problems I went through.” Larry. M
As a former paramedic and now a full time police officer. My job and sometimes, my very life depends on me being fit. Bryan's expertise in fitness and nutrition has been invaluable to me for the past 8 years. The exercises he has shown me are very simple, extremely effective and can be done almost anywhere. I would recommend the FIT RESPONDER program to anyone from the novice who is interested in improving their physical well being or to the elite responders wanting to take it to the next level.
Officer, Jon D
Having know Bryan for the past 9 years both as a Paramedic and as an Athletic Trainer I have seen and experienced first hand the benefit of his knowledge and experience. Being on the receiving end of the ‘FIT RESPONDER’ program I can say without a doubt that this is the most complete program I have seen. Bryan’s street experience coupled with clinical knowledge makes him an ‘expert’ which makes this program a must for all departments to follow. Darin M, FF, Paramedic
I have pursued many different goals during my 30 years of life, all of which have required me to be physically disciplined and mentally prepared including the study of Kempo Karate since the age of 9 and now as a SWAT Medic. Like many emergency services personnel who live active lifestyles, I have always made physical training a part of my daily routine, having devoted a great deal of energy maintaining a physical condition that allows me to perform my duties at the highest possible level. Unfortunately, like many of my coworkers and fellow martial artists, I found myself continuing to suffer with the aches and pains associated with our career. It’s so common at my place of business to have an employee incur a back injury and miss several days or weeks of work, that it often goes unnoticed by coworkers. My SWAT and martial arts colleagues also demonstrated the same ailments despite their impeccable physiques, which led me to question the training methodologies that I have employed to “keep me in shape”. After training with Bryan for several months and employing the basic and advanced techniques that he teaches, I not only drastically improved my endurance and aerobic capabilities far beyond what I had achieved before, I quickly noticed that the aches and pains that I had become accustomed to were no longer present and at work I feel more energetic, motivated, and less stressed. I have noticed that the training has taught my body to work correctly for me instead of incorrectly against me. I would highly recommend Bryan’s Fit Responder program to anyone who wishes to spend less time suffering from the injuries that emergency services work can cause and more time enjoying the benefits of an energetic and pain free lifestyle.
Kevin C. EMT-P, SWAT Medic, EMS Supervisor
I am an ALMOST 45 year old tennis player/mom/community volunteer/decorative painter... you get the picture. I am not the kind of person who likes to sit around, but after this last episode with my lower back I couldn't even sit or stand for very long. I have endured pain in my lower back for a number of years with periodic episodes of muscle spasms and herniations. When those happened I would go to my orthopedic doctor who would prescribe muscle relaxers and pain killers and suggest physical therapy, which I did. However, over the last 18 months I was experiencing incapacitating muscle spasms more and more frequently, even though I was doing yoga and exercising. The most recent one left me unable to even get out of bed without crying for days.
I had heard about Bryan and how well he helped people like me recover from back problems, but I had only a small glimmer of hope when I hobbled into Precision Fitness. My muscle spams were so bad I couldn't even do the simplest of exercises very well, but I had faith in Bryan and I knew that he wouldn't let me hurt myself. I also knew that he was my last chance before surgery. Basically Bryan slowly and precisely rebuilt my muscle structure. Because of the pain and the structural problems of my lower back I had actually stopped using my muscles properly and had developed coping mechanisms to avoid pain. Those changes that I had made unconsciously contributed to the problems and in turn caused more pain. (I wonder why the traditional physical therapists that I had worked with previously had never recognized these patterns?)
My path to recovery has been a steady process of strengthening my muscles the proper way. I am still discovering what my body is capable of doing, and I honestly and completely give all of the credit to Bryan. He seems to intuitively understand my weaknesses and no one I have met knows more about muscles and how they mechanically work. Based on my latest MRI I have a long, long list of lumbar problems, but you would be hard pressed to believe it based on the way that I look and move now.
Robin Cochran
“Because of severe osteoporosis with multiple spinal fractures, unrelenting back pain limited my ability to walk no more than ½ a block, and to stand for no more than a minute or two. I became dependent on a scooter for mobility. Since adopting Bryan's Back to Feeling Great program I am able to go about activities of daily living comfortably and independently and can enjoy normal mobility and activity without pain or the need for assistive devices.” E. Greenwald, MD
My health insurance has $10,000 deductible. In 2008, I met my deductible.
I was an extremely healthy and health-conscious triathlete
who got out of bed one morning and “threw my back out.” I had no history of back problems, other
than the sciatic pain one should expect (so I thought) from spending so many
hours on a bicycle. When the pain did
not resolve after several weeks, I sought out the most well-respected back
doctor I could find in our area.
Following months of unsuccessful
treatment for a cyst on my spine, it was recommended that I have a
consultation with Bryan Fass.
The constant extreme
pain, as well as not being able to exercise at all, made me irritable and
depressed. I had lost all hope that I
would ever be pain-free again, much less return to my athletic lifestyle, and I
was willing to try anything. But
what Bryan Fass told me during my evaluation just
made sense. Bryan showed me, in very graphic and horrifying
ways, how poorly my body was moving and why.
He took the time to explain how the body should function, as well as how
I had been compensating due to all the imbalances I had developed from my years
of training thoughtlessly. It was no
wonder my back had developed this lesion!
So began my road to recovery, with little tiny baby steps.
My first training sessions with Bryan weren’t like any other
training I had ever done. I didn’t
sweat. I didn’t feel like I had burned
calories. But it was challenging to get
my body to do the movements required the correct way. I was given home assignments and did them
religiously, because I was so ready to feel better.
At the end of one week
– that was three sessions – I went to put my daughter to bed on Friday night,
and I chased her up seven stairs to the landing. I stopped dead in my tracks. My back pain was insignificant, and I was
running up stairs and laughing. I sat
down on that landing and wept for the pure joy of feeling good again for the
first time in over nine months and for the hope that I would someday return to
a normal life.
I still have a cyst on my
spine, but as long as I continue exercising with and doing the other things
recommended by my trainers, my pain is non-existent. I am stronger than I have ever been, in a way
that feels so good – no injuries or nagging pain anywhere. What’s more, if I ever do feel a “twinge,” I
now have the knowledge and tools with which to eradicate it before it becomes
another big problem. And I will be
competing in three triathlons this season!
I have learned that back pain is not something that pretty
much everyone has to deal with as they get older. There are things that you can do, with the
help of these incredibly knowledgeable people, to move in ways that will be
healthier for your spine. Whether you’re
an athlete or not, your quality of life can
be improved with less pain. I am
proof. And it is not an exaggeration
when I say thank you to Bryan for giving my
life back to me. Peggy R.