A tribute to Ryan Job TRX ® “Summit” Workout Born in Washington State, Ryan Job spent his childhood hunting, exploring the backcountry, and dreaming of becoming a Navy SEAL. He left college after three years to pursue his dream, made it through Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUDS) on his first try. He eventually deployed to Iraq where a sniper’s bullet blinded him. Fitness Anywhere founder and CEO Randy Hetrick, a Navy SEAL veteran, designed a TRX program that helped Job regain his fitness and conquer Mt. Rainier. Tragically, Ryan Job died of complications related to a subsequent round of reconstructive surgery to repair his injuries on September 24, 2009. To learn more about Ryan Job, visit www.fitnessanywhere.com/warrior-fund
Transcript
A tribute to Ryan JobTRX® “Summit” Workout
Born in Washington State, Ryan Job spent his childhood hunting, exploring the backcountry, and dreaming of becoming a Navy SEAL. He left college after three years to pursue his dream, made it through Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUDS) on his first try. He eventually deployed to Iraq where a sniper’s bullet blinded him. Fitness Anywhere founder and CEO Randy Hetrick, a Navy SEAL veteran, designed a TRX program that helped Job regain his fitness and conquer Mt. Rainier. Tragically, Ryan Job died of complications related to a subsequent round of reconstructive surgery to repair his injuries on September 24, 2009. To learn more about Ryan Job, visit www.fitnessanywhere.com/warrior-fund
Crossing Balance Lunge
Ryan Job had never done any serious mountaineering prior to climbing Mt Rainier so in order to prepare his body for the challenge, he trained seven days a week and tackled this special TRX Summit workout designed by Fitness Anywhere. Whether you are preparing to summit your first mountain or just looking for a great new challenge, this program will take your fitness to new heights.
Complete this workout four times per week or incorporate these moves into your normal routine for a muscle-searing experience you won’t forget.
TRX® “Summit” Workout
TRX® SINGLE LEG SQUAT1 minute each leg (2-3 sets)
TRX® Crossing Balance Lunge
TRX® BALANCE LUNGE MATRIX30 seconds per each leg of each exercise in a superset (2-3 sets)
TRX® Regular Balance Lunge
TRX® Abducted Balance Lunge
Tip: Remember to keep your elbows high throughout all exercises.
TRX® SINGLE ARM ROW60 seconds each arm (2-3 sets)
TRX® HIGH ROW MATRIX4 reps to each hand position (2-3 sets)
Palms Up•Thumbs Up•Palms Down•Thumbs Down•
*Ryan Job tested his balance and added weight to this exercise by wearing his pack
TRX® SINGLE ARM CHEST PRESS 60 sec each arm (2-3 sets)
TRX® LUNGE w/pack*15 reps each leg (2-3 sets)
TRX® SHOULDER SEQUENCE (T, W, Y Raise)4 reps in each position (2-3 sets)
TRX® T Shoulder Raise TRX® W Shoulder Raise TRX® Y Shoulder Raise
Start Position
TRX® POSTURAL SQUATHold for 60 seconds at bottom of position (2-3 sets)
TRX® SIDE PLANK w/taps60 seconds each side (2-3 sets)
TRX® Oblique Crunch Right TRX® Oblique Crunch Left
Tip: Add a push-up for more intensity
TRX® Plank (Starting Position) TRX® Crunch
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TRX® CRUNCH MATRIX (Plank, Crunch, Oblique Crunch)Sequence through each exercise for 60 seconds (2-3 sets)
On August 2, 2006, Ryan Job was on an otherwise typical SEAL foot patrol in Iraq when he heard a gunshot crack through the silent night. It would be the last thing he heard before he went blind. “I was shot by a sniper through the right eye. The round fragmented inside my head and destroyed the right eye and the optic nerve of my left eye leaving me blind in both eyes. It also severed my olfactory nerve leaving me with no sense of smell or eyesight.” Two days later, Job woke up in the VA hospital in Bethesda,MD.“Icouldn’tfigureoutwhereIwasand why I could hear people but couldn’t see. I thought there were bandages on my face.”
It’s the kind of nightmare scenario no one, not even a Navy SEAL, is emotionally or physically equipped to handle gracefully. Less than two years later, Job fought his way back into shape with the help of the TRX and Fitness Anywhere CEO Randy Hetrick to stand atop the summit of Mount Rainier as part of an expedition withCampPatriot,anonprofitorganizationcreated by Navy vet Micah Clark to facilitate transformative expeditions and outdoor recreation for injured vets.
During the summer of 2009 after enduring a total of 18 surgeries and counting, Job, who had become the spokesman for both Camp Patriot and the San Diego-based Challenged Athletes Foundation, returned to Rainier. But on this expedition he passed on the glory of the summit for the backbreaking task of humping gear up and down the mountain to support the other wounded warriors making the climb. Hauling gear up and down a mountain might not sound like fun, but Job savored the challenge—and the reward that awaited him every time he returned to base camp. “If you spend 6-9 hours climbing you burn 6,000-9,000 calories and you can eat whateveryouwant.There’sapizzaplaceatthebottom,andIgottoeatatonofpizza.”
Job’s road from Iraq to the summit of Rainier—andendlesspizzaatthebottom—startedoffin rural Washington where he spent his youth backpacking, tracking and hunting bears, deer, and elk in old growth forests. Job wrestled in high school and played rugby at Washington State, but never considered himself an outstanding athlete or student. His singular mission in life was to serve his country as a Navy SEAL. “The only reason I went into the NAVY was to become a SEAL. I had a private pilot’slicenseandwantedtoflyjets,butIwantedtodoboth:flyandbeaSEAL.Thethingthatappealed to me most was the unconventional
nature of the SEAL community compared to the normal military, the kinds of missions they do.”
Job wanted to be a SEAL so badly that he left Washington State in 2002 after three years of school to enlist in the Navy. He negotiated a clause in his enlistment contract that guaranteed no matter what, he’d get a shot at Basic Underwater Demolition School, or BUDS, the firsttestingphaseforprospectiveSEALs.“Rightafter boot camp and my A school, I went straight to BUDS. The A school I picked was aviation ordinance, and the only reason I picked it was to get to BUDS more rapidly. I started BUDS four months after I went in.”
When he made it to BUDS, he found the challenge he’d been waiting for his whole life—and then some. “BUDS was a major kick in the nuts.” But he made it. After graduating from BUDS in 2004, he joined SEAL Team 3 and spent the next year training with his platoon. In April 2006, his platoon deployed to Iraq and Job spent the next four months performing special operations. “I shouldn’t go into much detail about where I went in Iraq. We did all types of SEAL-style missions. Let’s just say my platoon made our deployment worth it. If there was a bad guy, they paid the man.” That doesn’t mean he had fun doing it, though. “There is nothing about combat that I enjoy except the fact that I did my part of it.”
Two days after being shot, Job was back in the States at the VA hospital in Bethesda, MD where he faced surgery after surgery for the next six weeks. Navy SEALs and other special operatorshavethefitness,mindsetandskillsof professional athletes and put those aptitudes to the test every day in combat. Before the accident,Job’sfitnessandcombat-readinesshad been central to his identity. Now he couldn’t even go to the bathroom on his own.
“When I was shot, I went from being in the top 1% of most physically capable people in the world to being in the bottom 1% in a fraction of a second. I was skinny and weak and didn’t resemble a SEALanymore.Ispentalmosttwomonthsflaton my back in a hospital bed with my muscles atrophying. It’s incredible how far backwards your fitnesscanslideduringsuchashortperiodoftime. I was pretty depressed about the physical state I’d deteriorated into and I knew I had months of inpatient rehab left to go to get me back to my normal life.” As trying as his situation was, Job never gave up hope. “In the SEAL teams, we had a saying. When all else fails, plan B is just make it happen. Never be a quitter.”
The community of current and former SEAL operators takes care of its own, and a steady stream of SEALs past and present showed up to support Job. One day, CAPT Rick Woolard (Ret.),aformerCommandingOfficerofSEALTeam SIX visited Job in the hospital. Woolard
asked Job what he would ask for if he could have anything. Job didn’t say, “I wish I had my eyesight back,” or, “I wish I could taste my food,” or, “I wish I could use the bathroom without someone helping me.” The only thing he wished for was a way to work out on his own. In a quest tofulfillJob’swish,WoolardgotintouchwithRandy Hetrick, the former Navy SEAL Squadron Commander who started Fitness Anywhere.
A mutual friend in the SEAL community relayed the tale of Woolard’s visit with Job to Hetrick. Hetrick knew he had a solution for Job in the form of the TRX. “It was like, hey here’s a training system he can do blind without any assistance. I knew he could challenge himself from his current elementary level back through the most elite levels. I liked that there wasn’t anything he could benchmark his effort against on the TRX. If Ryan had jumped on a bench press and could only bench 100 pounds when before he could bench 300, he might’ve been discouraged. With the TRX he was able to start from scratch and it gave him something to practice,” says Hetrick. When Job transferred to the Palo Alto VA in December, 2006 for rehab to help him adjust to being blind, Hetrick had a special TRX workout protocol waiting for him.
The TRX can be set up literally almost anywhere—including in a hospital room. This was key for Job, because his biggest problem with working out was that until he got the TRX he had to have someone else help him work out and transport him to and from the weight room. When a TRX arrived in Job’s hospital room, his wish
“Never be a quitter.”
Ryan Job, the Ultimate FighterPhoto C
ourtesy of the Seattle Times
wasfulfilledandhestartedtoworkoutagain.Thenext step was conquering the beast of a training regimen that Hetrick had waiting for him.
“Ispentweeksdevelopingthatfirstroutine,”saysHetrick. “I had this hypothesis that many of our hundreds of exercises would be exemplary for blind people. But I didn’t know for sure without testing it. So I donned this pair of blinder shades for air travel and started with squats, rows and curls and other stable positions. Those exercises turned out to be no big deal, I could do them just as well with my eyes closed as open. So I started pushing the envelope all the way out.
“It turns out you can do just about all of the TRX exercises with your eyes closed. You never have to take your hands off the harness. I could go through a whole workout with my eyes closed because I know how to adjust it, how far it should befromthefloor.Youlaydown,youputyourfeetin. You stand up, you hold onto the handles. You never lose contact with it. You can’t get a visible horizonwhenyou’reblind,sotheTRXalmostbecomesavisiblehorizon.Youknowwhereyouare because when you tug on the straps you know they’re up and in front of you or up and behind you, etc.”
Hetrick met with Job and introduced him to his new workout protocol during a hardcore session on the TRX in the garage of Hetrick’s San Francisco home. Job was gassed, but thrilled. “The timing of when I started using the TRX wasgoodformyspecificinjurybecauseIwaslearning how to be blind,” says Job. “I had been blind six weeks and was learning how to do everything blind. The TRX works on your spatial orientation, your body position, your balance, it’s something that teaches you how to do physical activity and coordinate yourself blind. Besides all of the strength training and physical training, it really enhanced my proprioception.”
Throughout his rehab in Palo Alto, Job continued totrainontheTRX.Whenhefinishedthataspectof his rehab, he settled in Scottsdale, AZ where lived with his wife, Kelly, earned a business degree at Jones International University, and worked in the defense industry. While Job’s indomitable spirit helped him adapt to life after his injury, he was thankful he had the TRX to help keep him sane and get back into shape. It was an experience he hoped that more wounded warriors would have the opportunity to experience. “I’d like to see the VA buy it for all wounded service personnel. I think it’s a reasonable request. I thinkitistothebenefitofthegovernment,too.Ifthe government enables an injured guy to keep himself in shape by giving him a TRX, then he stays healthy and out of the system and takes up less resources from the government.”
Once he settled in Scottsdale, the TRX remained a cornerstone of Job’s training. “I run on a treadmill, swim, and bike and lift weights for strength and power, but I also use my TRX. It’s reallyanefficientwaytogetaworkoutdone.It’s something I always have an option to do. It totally eliminates my problem of transportation to and from the gym or who am I going to workout
with? And where am I going to workout? The TRXisveryefficient.Allofthemotionsaremoving your own bodyweight.
“I like the fact that you can stretch on it, too—flexibilityisimportanttofitnessalso.Ilikethefactthatyoucantravelwithitandtakeit,well,fitnessanywhere! I like the fact that you can incorporate it into any training routine whether you’re a runner or swimmer or weightlifter. You really can develop a program on it for any type of sport.” Including mountaineering, as Job found out. Job had never done any serious mountaineering prior to his Rainier attempt so in order to prepare his body for the challenge, he trained seven days a week and tackled a special TRX mountaineering protocol designed by Fitness Anywhere’s head training guru, Fraser Quelch.
*Take a look at the workouts attached to give the TRX protocol Ryan used to prepare to tackle Mt. Rainier a try.
Once on the mountain, Job found himself ready to face the challenge rising more than 14,000 feet in front of him. The Camp Patriot team had reached the summit with a blind veteran the year before in 2007. The guides used the same system they developed on that climb to enable Job to ascend safely. Job was roped to a sighted guidefivefeetinfrontofhim.“Icouldfollowhimbased on the tension and direction of the rope.” AsecondguidefollowedfivefeetbehindJobandverbally described the terrain. “I used trekking poles in both hands for stability and steeper terrainandforfindingobstacles,justlikeI’dusea cane.” The system worked and Job and the team successfully made the summit.
“I attribute summit success and making it to thetoptotheteam,firstofall.Second,fitnesswas a huge key for me. Everyone else could see what they were walking up and take the right height, length and direction of steps. I’d have to pick my foot up a little farther each time, stride a little farther, spend more time on each step just to identify where to put my foot. I had to use my upper body to pull myself up the mountain sometimes and support my upper body inadditiontofindingthefootinginfrontofmewith my foot, testing it and seeing if I could put my foot down safely. My process was twice as energy consuming as a sighted person.”
He didn’t let that get in the way of enjoying the climb, though. “I love the mountains, I love the outdoors. I was very tired at many points but I was happy the whole time, excited the whole time. I loved being able to go back up to Washington state because that’s where I grew up. I liked the cold air on my face. I’m very sensitive to sound now. I like the sound of things when there’s snow on the ground. It sounds very different, it’s muffled,echoessounddifferent,butIcanstillhear when a cliff or rock wall is next to me. On the summit there’s nothing above your head and nothing on your sides, just entirely open space.” The team made it to the summit and back down to the parking lot in just four days. “I was recovered from each leg of the climb each day we did it. Once we got back down to the parking lot, I was ravenously hungry but by the time I was eating the big mountain of food I was ready to go back up the mountain!” He got his chance in July, 2009 when he helped the Camp Patriot team successfully attain the summit.
The TRX and an iron will helped to propel Job to heights that most sighted people don’t even dare to dream of attaining. He made motivating other Wounded Warriors to reach beyond their disabilities a priority with his work as spokesman for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and Camp Patriot. Working with Job gave Hetrick apowerfulrealization,too.“RyanwasthefirstWoundedWarriorwewereabletohelpplay the deck that he’d been dealt with a new hand. That was really exciting and one of the most rewarding things I’ve done since leaving the SEAL teams.” The experience resonated so strongly with Hetrick’s core values and the core values of Fitness Anywhere that it led directly to the development of the Fitness Anywhere Warrior Fund, a program that provides equipment, training and encouragement to injured athletes and soldiers. “We learned that the TRX is great for all Wounded Warriors, whatever their injuries. The two things the TRX gives Wounded Warriors are independence andtheabilitytopursuefitnesswherevertheywant to or are able to, whether it’s at home, in a hospital room, with a trainer or therapist, or alone.” Five dollars of every TRX Force Training Kit sold through FitnessAnywhere.com goes to support the effort. Click here to buy a TRX Force Training Kit and support the fund today.
