Iron Will: The Amputee Who Rebuilt His Life

From YouTube's automatic captions, so a few words may be wrong.

00:01 This is not a comfort podcast. This is a confrontation. If you're looking for soft motivation, easy answers, [music] or permission to stay the same, this isn't for you. This is for those who've been overweight, addicted, broken, finally tired of making [music] peace with their own excuses. Here, we choose discipline over comfort, faith over feelings, action over intention. >> [music] >> We train the body, sharpen the mind, and rebuild the spirit one hard decision at a time. This is where the old you ends

00:33 and the strong one is earned. This is the Body by Phil podcast. And welcome back to the Body by Phil podcast. This is Phil. With me today is a good friend of mine. His name is Tory. I met Tory, it's been what, about a year and a half? >> About a year and a half. About a year and a half now. And Tory has an incredible story. It's a It's It's a story of strong will. It's a story of

01:04 inspiration. It's a story of not wanting to be to stay down when dealt a tough hand. Tory is a below the knee amputee, and I met him after his physical therapy was already up. And he was struggling with uh some balance and stability issues, and his doctor recommended that he come and see me. I'm not going to segue into this too much because I want you to hear from Tory what brought him here to Body by Phil and and how we

01:35 struck up this friendship. Tory, first I just want to thank you for coming in today. Uh really appreciate your time and sharing this incredible story with me and with all these viewers. Why don't you go ahead and just just go back to when when you first came here, how how you got here. So, about 2 years ago, um I was experiencing some some weird numbness in my foot. And um I was going to work and everything, and um the numbness would not leave. And it started to creep up my

02:07 calf, and I didn't know what was wrong with it. So, I dealt with it for a couple days, and um finally went and seen a doctor, and they did a couple tests, and um they told me that I needed to go see a vascular doctor, kind of like immediately. So, I made an appointment with uh Dr. PK, and um you know, from there, you know, he recommended that I, you know, have a go to the hospital, have a few tests ran, and everything. You know, he did a a few tests and everything, and um from there, they found a what's called peripheral arterial disease, which was

02:38 clogged arteries in my calf that I had. So, long story short, had a couple surgeries. They worked, and then they didn't work. So, the end result was a below the knee amputation I had to get. So, then I went through physical therapy, did some home therapy. You know, everything was going pretty good. And my main goal was to get back to work. You know, I wanted to I was a I was a truck driver. I wanted to get back to work. So, after all the physical physical therapy and everything that I had done, I told Dr. PK I had an appointment with him last January,

03:10 and I told him I was going to get a Planet Fitness membership so I can start building up my strength. He told me to hold on. He got in contact with Phil, and he was like, "I got somebody I want you to work with." Um he hooked me up with with Phil, you know. And um you know, that's right. That's where you put it now, you know. >> It doesn't seem like it was that long ago. I mean, I remember the very first day you walked in because you were the first time I've trained I have helped a few amputees since you, but you were the first first time I ever dealt with anybody with that situation, and I think

03:42 I was as nervous as you were >> [laughter] >> because I'm thinking, you know, I'm not really sure what what we're going to do, but we're going to we're going to work on some stuff together and figure some stuff out, and we did. Right. Before we get into that training, I I got to ask you, Tory, cuz I know you and I've talked about this a lot, and um you know, what did that feel like when you were told that you were going to lose your leg? That was, you know, that was life changing. You know, I'm I'm 53 now. So, this happened when I was 51. So, you know, you you go through life, you know, working, and same thing every

04:14 day, you know, you know, my life was kind of going in a certain direction. You know, everything was going good, you know, and then all of a sudden, bam, you get I had to get my leg amputated. And it was just like like my life just went off off rails for a second, you know, for actually for a while. And mentally, it really hit me. You know, it was it was it was life changing. You know, I you know, I I don't I'm not a I'm not I don't I'm a kind of guy that I don't like change. So, something like this was like we're going to change it up, you know, whether you like it or not. And so, you you really did have to

04:45 change. I mean, you had to change um you had to learn how to walk. Yeah. You had to learn how to drive. Yeah. You had to learn to do regular day-to-day things that I think we take for granted. I know when before you trained, I tried to come in here. I actually took a band, and I tied it around my leg and brought it up and held it and tried to move around to see what that would feel like without a leg. And the balance and moving and everything was just It was just It felt impossible. It's a So, what was your prime motivation? How did you not just

05:15 throw in the towel and say, "You know what? I'm just going to stay here on my couch. I don't really care anymore. I'm not going to do anything." What How did you rise above that depression? I'm going to tell you, people people, Phil, when when when when you're going through something like this, going through an amputation, it was the people around me, my family, my daughter, my mom, my doctors, you when I met you. You know, it When you're going through something like this, it's important to have people who care about you and want you to succeed through this, you know, cuz

05:46 there was times where it was just me at home, and I was like, man, I might as well just give up. I might as well just you know, you know, it's so easy to get into those ruts, you know, when when something like this is going when you're going through something like that. So, the people around me really helped me come up out of this and, you know, keep pushing forward. That's great. Yes. That's That's fantastic. >> when I met you, Phil, when I told doctor, you know, I was going to I'm going to go to Planet Fitness and get my strength back, I probably would have went to Planet Fitness. I was like, how what What do I even do here as an

06:16 amputee? How do I even start working out and getting my strength back, you know? So, Dr. PK, when he introduced me to you, it was the perfect combination, you know, I you know, so Yeah. I I remember that and our training was just fantastic. I'm going to show some pictures and some videos of our training sessions here together. When he told you to come here and your first day here, what were you What were you expecting to get from this? And was there anything about what we did together or the training styles you received here that surprised you? When I Well, when I when

06:47 I first got here, I I really didn't I just expected us to just, you know, build up a little strength, maybe a little bit more than what physical therapy offers. You know, that's what I was kind of like, well, maybe this will just be a just a little bit more extreme than physical therapy. You know, going through all of this with you, you know, we built up a good friendship that will We will be friends forever. Sure. Absolutely. And, you know, you helped me with You let You let me talk about my, you know, what the depression and everything where I was going through. So, it was almost like a It was what I ain't going to say almost like, but it

07:17 was like physically and mentally here at at Body by Phil that, you know, you helped me get through a lot of, you know, times, you know, so Well, Yeah, it it it helped, you know, and it really helps to, like I said, with good people around you. Right. That helps. You're a good person. I think. You're a great great man, you know. I remember we were we started training, and one of the key things we wanted to work on was was balance, getting getting the balance right. So, I would give Tory these Bosu exercises to to work on balance. We would do deadlifting where

07:49 the weight was out in front of him, so it would change the entire weight distribution. We actually put him on the leg press. He did leg presses. We did squats. We tried the elliptical. We went and actually did really well on on the elliptical, which I wasn't even sure how that was going to go. I'm like, "What do you think?" And you think we should try this? Do you think we should do this?" And he was always, "Yeah. Yeah, let's try it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work." Right. We started to see unbelievable results, and and pretty

08:20 quickly, too, I got to say. I mean, some things were really uncomfortable, and and like I would remind you, if they were uncomfortable today, it doesn't necessarily mean this is going to be something we can't ever do again. If it's uncomfortable today, we'll try to work these muscles and build the muscles up and try it again. We'll try it again in a week, maybe 2 weeks, and eventually some of the things that were really really challenging or almost impossible to do became possibilities, and then they became relatively easy, and we got into such a good routine here. It It It really did just become normal. Right. It did. You have You have a wonderful

08:53 story. I hope you'll share with me because I wondered you were driving before I met And I asked him because I started training other amputees after the success of Tory, um I started getting more more clients with with the same type of situation, but they did not have the ability to drive yet. So, they asked me, "How long do you think it would be before you could drive before I could drive?" And I wasn't sure what to what to tell them. So, I I asked Tory one day. I said, "Hey, when when was it that you were allowed to drive or when did you feel comfortable to drive, and how did that happen? Could

09:24 you share that with me?" Well, my I I started driving my car pretty early, even before I had my prosthetic. My doctors was They told me like, "Well, we don't recommend that you drive." And that's not, you know, something that they say, "Oh, yeah, you can just drive." You So, being at home by myself, and I live I live alone, you know, it was I had this love Can I say the name? Right. I love fish. I love Ruby Tuesday's fish. So, every Friday they have fish, and I stay maybe a half mile from them. So, one Friday, I'm like,

09:54 man, I want some fish. I didn't I didn't have my prosthetic. All I had was my walker and that was it. So I got I got myself into my car and I drove with my left foot cuz my right foot is amputated. I folded my walker up, put it in next to me and I drove to Raley Brothers, you know, got my fish, you know, I'm walking to Raley Brothers on my walker, no leg or anything. You know, they're looking and So motivation comes in all [laughter] sorts of forms. >> Right, exactly. >> instance, it came in the form of wanting some good money to eat good.

10:26 So [laughter] when I tell people that, I guess it really just depends on when you feel comfortable, when you feel ready to to take that that that leap. So and give me a couple of examples when you were training here, okay? When things would get really hard and we would try things and we had some frustration days in here. We had days where, you know, we couldn't do something. What motivated you to keep fighting, to keep advancing and to keep pushing forward? Well, it's it's it's in in the mind. You know, your body sometimes wants to quit. You know, and

10:59 then being a older amputee, you know, there was times where, you know, I would get in my mind and I I would want to quit. I'd come in here full energy and then we start working out and doing things and maybe I was just a little sore from the the workout before or something like that, but you know, my body just wanted to at times it just wanted to not move, not do anything, you know. So I had to really get it in my head, you know, to to keep pushing forward because you're really not going to get anywhere if you just sit around and just let your body just waste away. I mean, you got to fight through things.

11:30 You have to. You basically have to get your mind right and, you know, battle through the tough times. Absolutely. >> we had a like I said, we had a lot of tough times here, you know, where we would try something and it didn't work. Right. But you're such a good motivator, Phil, that you know, we'd be like, oh, we'll just try it in a couple weeks. And then in a couple weeks we'd try it again a little a little lighter and then a month later I was able to do that exercise, you know. So You know, I got to tell you I I trained a lot of people and I trained a lot of people that give it everything they have. Yeah. And I trained a lot of people that don't, that make every

12:03 excuse in the world why they can't do something. And it's people like you in your situation that makes me so inspired myself to share with other people and I tell them about you and I tell them about stories and how hard somebody in your situation would fight and come in here and it makes me very less tolerant to put up with the normal complaining, the normal not giving 100%. Because I see somebody like you that just fights with everything they had and

12:34 you were relentless in your pursuit. You just would not give up. Even on the hard days, you know, when you would leave here, I'd see you leave here frustrated because of everything and maybe we didn't have a great day in here, but you know, you were hurting, you were in pain, but you kept coming back. You know, you showed up, you did all the work that was required of you and this is what I try to teach people. And now, you know, Tory, he does work out on his own now. He comes in here occasionally, but we got to the point where I try to get people. I get them to a point where I teach what I can and let you take

13:05 these lessons with you to anywhere and apply them. And then when you find you're in a rut or you find you're in a in a standstill cuz I check on you. We talk we talk back and forth. That you know, if you find yourself in that rut and you're like, look, I'm in a standstill, I'm not really doing what I I used to do. You know, we get you back in here, we get that motivation going again and we start back up again. A lot of people going to see this, okay? Okay. And this is going to give people a lot of inspiration. What what would you say to people? I have to imagine that losing a

13:36 limb has to make you feel like you're going to lose your independence, that you're going to lose your life in the way that you know it, that, you know, despair and depression have to set in. You have people around you that cared about you and wanted to you you wanted to rise above, but some people may not have that support. >> That's true. What would you say to people that feel that, you know, this is it. I you know, I'm never going to be the same, I'm never going to be how I used to be. What advice could you give them? If you

14:08 you know, I like I said, I was blessed to have a strong support cast around me. Some people, like I said, don't have that, you know, enough people or the right people around them. You know, there are, you know, organizations where, you know, you can reach out. There's amputee groups, you know, I I was on a few amputee groups on Facebook, on Instagram, you know, where people would chime in and and and, you know, tell their problems and what's going on that day, you know, and I'd read the comments and sometimes I would chime in, you know, cuz I'd have the same problems that that person posted. So

14:38 you know, just just keep it does get dark. And and and there's times to this day, I mean, it's been 2 years since I had my amputation, you know, and there's times where I do get still down in a a little funk, you know, and I have to think about things and get me out of there, you know, so I would say to people just just don't let the darkness take over. Just try to all there's all there's light somewhere. Go if you if you're alone and you don't have that support system, go for a walk. Go outside, you know, get some fresh air, you know, just go to a

15:08 grocery store or something. Just do simple things to get yourself out of the your your surrounding situation, you know, just remove yourself, you know, and and go do something. Go work out. And even if you just do a couple little things, you know, find something to do to get your mind out of the darkness. Just just keep pushing forward because at 53 years old, I thought, man, this is not I don't want to be an amputee. Well, I never never wanted to be an amputee, >> Right. Right. you know, it wasn't my choice, but I always thought that maybe

15:39 if this would have happened to me 20 years ago, you know, I'd be further along, you know, maybe it wouldn't be such a problem, but you know, at 50-some years old, it happens. Some people it would shut them down, you know, they'd say, oh, my life's over. Yeah, I still got a lot of life left. >> Absolutely. I still got a lot yeah. So you just got to keep pushing forward. >> I would tell those people to >> Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Keep pushing. I'm wearing it right now. And you know, when you talk about that dark setting in, you know, I know a lot about that myself, you know, people who may not know about me or have not watched any of these podcasts. I

16:10 suffered from, you know, a 20-year drug and alcohol addiction, food addiction and, you know, I was in a really dark and lonely place for 20 years. Not really ever believing I would ever be able to come out of it. >> Right. Many many near death experiences that almost took my life on several occasions. Through the grace of God and a strong will to climb out of that pit, you know, I I survived and I was wondering why, you know, and I survived through that and, you know, it's training somebody like you and and the people that that have come into my life from first being saved and then being

16:40 able to to be able to help somebody is genuine and a true champion, a true warrior yourself. And this gives us so much inspiration to so many other people. I have to ask you to share one story. I didn't ask him to do this in advance. I hope you do. We we got Tory to a place where he was feeling pretty good and very very secure in in walking and going further and driving further and doing more stuff. So about a year ago on your birthday, I think uh you you took a birthday trip. Where did you go? Tell him tell the story Okay.

17:12 So I never been to Las Vegas and my cousin lives in California. So he was like, you know, you never been to Vegas, I'm going to have you out let's go to Las Vegas for your birthday. Cool. So I go out to Las Vegas and he he gets sets up where we can race cars on this racetrack. These are real cars? Real cars, yeah. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, like high-end sports cars. So you can rent them and you can drive them around this track full speed with a trainer. So I'm excited. We get up, you know, we drive out to this track and what did I drive? I think I drove a a McLaren and a

17:44 Ferrari. No, it was a Lamborghini. Well, it was one or the other, Ferrari or Lamborghini. So so we're you know, we're we're driving around this track, you know, me and the trainer and and you're going full speed, you know, and I got to use my right leg, which is my amputee my my my prosthetic leg, you know, and you got to the trainer's like, you know, hit the gas, you know, hit the brake. So you got to go back and forth back and forth back and forth. So after it was all done, couple hours later, we're back in the hotel room. My legs, my thigh starting to it's like on fire, so this was this was on a Thursday and

18:14 it this and it would not stop. I mean, it was just like in pure pain for like days after, you know, so it all that that heavy driving in those sports cars ruined my Las Vegas What did I say? It didn't ruin it, but it threw a monkey wrench in my in my in my vacation. I love that that you're so confident enough to to get behind the wheel of a race car with your right leg and fly around that track pumping that gas, pumping that brake and that is just such a great story. So, you know, so in Tory's story, you know, he

18:47 he he shares with us that you know, having the surgeries that did not work that required him to to lose his leg, did not lose his life and it did not lose his hope, it did not lose his drive. In fact, it it pushed him to do more and to get get his independence back and be be the same guy he was before this his surgery. And Tory, I want to thank you so much for being here today because like I said, so many people are going to see this and they're going to see you're just a guy, you're just a normal guy. He had a you know, a

19:18 situation, but you rose above it and through hard work, dedication and an iron will >> Right. you rose above. Thank you. And that's what these podcasts are all about. They're they're underdog stories. They're underdog stories that we fight against the odds and we rise above. How fitting that we have Rocky behind us here on on the wall, too. So a true underdog story, a very good friend of mine and a hope and inspiration to everybody. Tory, thank you again for being here. Thanks for having me. >> Guys, make sure you you like and subscribe to this channel so we keep you updated on

19:49 all the new things. We've got a lot of new guests coming up, too. Keep that driving alive. Remember, if you're dealt a bad hand, if you feel like you are struggling or you are lost, there is that light we talked about, and there is help out there. Reach out Reach out to me. I say it all the time. Reach out to somebody. You are stronger than you think. You can rise above these challenges and adversities, and be the best version you can. Stay strong. God bless, and thanks for watching Body by Phil.