Although my full-time job is overseeing Ted, I am also a client 🙂
Here’s my story: I started my athletic career around 30 years old. I didn’t play any sports in High School or College and I went from zero to one hundred and ended up with a severe back injury.
When I started my athletic career, I was training with one of the top five female triathletes in the world. Two days a week we would get up at 5:30am and head up to UCSD to do the track workout with all the pros. In my first year of running my gait was great but by the third year my knee dropped in and my foot went out. Shortly thereafter, I suffered herniated discs from L3-S1. The pain was searing! Even today the thought makes me cringe. I went for an X-ray and MRI. I was told the treatment was an epidermal and/or major back surgery. I was also told I would never be able to run again and would have to limit my bike riding to road only – no dirt! Needless to say I was devastated. I was too scared to have the epidermal (giant needles—no way!) and no way was I going to have back surgery. Ted had recently been hired at the Egoscue Clinic in Del Mar. I was very skeptical of Ted’s new job, but I needed help. So Ted talked to Pete Egoscue about my back and Pete told me to come see him.  I went the very next day. During my meeting with Pete he evaluated my posture and gait and told me my back wasn’t the problem and the treatment being offered wasn’t going to get me running again. I listened. It made sense, but I still thought “who is this guy”? I decided to give it a try and he took me through my first session.  I went home and did my routine every day; and went to the Egoscue Clinic each week.  In the beginning I felt a little better after the routine but the pain was still there. Many times I wanted to give up but Ted convinced me to keep working at it. For once I did what he asked me to do J and after several months I was a different person. Eventually I was out running and biking again. My first race post injury was the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. It was the first ever and my team won the co-ed division!
I have done a few triathlons and adventure races but my passion has been mountain biking. I started racing (and winning) and I still train and compete at 53, and plan on completing until they bury me!
I admit I don’t always like to do my exercises, at times I find the routines time consuming so I understand why some people give up after 3 or 4 sessions. I have been doing this for a long time so I have adapted my routines to fit my daily life. My gym routines are all based on the same principles that I began years ago and I update and modify them based on what I have planned for the day or how I feel.  I also do a trail workout when I am out walking my crazy pointers; I have a beach workout that I do when I SUP, and after long bike rides and long days standing, I do a post routine.
I truly believe that I am getting better each year. Ted and I were lucky enough to find this program when we needed it, and it helped us personally and professionally. I actually changed careers and went from working in an ad agency to starting our first company, Function First. I went back to school, got my exercise specialist certification, became a certified personal trainer and started training clients. It has been quite the adventure!
And speaking of adventures, I will again be joining Ted in training clients, both in the gym and outside.
If you are interested, let me know 🙂
TEDD OVERVIEW
Tammy is an example to all of my future clients sitting on the fence because they think they have to do their corrective exercise program everyday and the commitment overwhelms them.  But, here’s the thing, the functional corrective exercises are designed to change the biomechanics, muscle imbalances and neurological pathways. Once this is accomplished you only need to do your routines as maintenance; your daily activities become beneficial and your sports no longer hurt. The first few months are front-loaded with a time demand but once you finish the corrective phase you move on to a lifestyle phase that is based on your goals and lifestyle. Tammy’s gym workouts are simply amazing! One of the long-time trainers at Snow Creek rated her routines as one of the top three they have ever seen. The reason her workouts are so unique and effective is they are not designed for just muscle mass, strength training, weight loss, cardio or high intensity training, but all of the above. Her dog hikes are interlaced with mindful movements; her SUP workout includes a beach routine.  Each workout encompasses bio-mechanical functional training principles that are the foundation of our entire program.
The lifestyle component of our program is that you can do it anywhere. Once you understand the theory you will do it the rest of your life.