26 Sep Faith, Recovery, and the Responsibility of Helping Others
Article Rundown
- Dr. Lysander Jim and I discuss the emotional weight of helping people in pain and why partial progress still counts as success.
- I share how my comeback from injury started with simply aiming for pain-free living before chasing big squats again.
- Faith in the right people and being honest with patients, even when the message is hard, are central to true recovery.
- Unique experiences — whether medical, athletic, or personal — create powerful perspectives that help guide others out of pain.
The Weight of Carrying Others’ Pain
When I sit down with Dr. Lysander Jim, one thing that always resonates with me is just how much responsibility comes with the work we do. He talked about the challenge of only being able to see a couple of patients a day if the consultations are heavy. I understand that completely. You can only pour from a full cup. If you are not healthy, rested, and grounded, you will not be at your best for the people who are trusting you with their pain.
What stood out was how he used to feel crushed if even one patient did not improve. I can relate. In my lifting career, it was easy to let one setback overshadow all the progress. Over time, he has learned, and I have too, that partial success is still success. If someone gets 50 percent better, that is a win. It may not be the whole story yet, but it is a step forward.
Learning to See Progress Differently
When I first started working with Dr. McGill, I did not know if I would ever squat again. Forget world records. I just wanted pain-free living. My goal at the time was modest: chip a little past my old best of 1185. Maybe 1200 if everything went perfectly. I never imagined I would add 121 pounds to my all-time squat and go on another seven-year run at the highest level.
The first steps were simple but not easy. Identify the cause, get out of pain, desensitize, and then rebuild capacity with the right exercises. That is what I call “stage two.” After calming the fire, you start carefully stacking bricks again. Pain-free was the goal. Everything after that was a bonus.
Dr. Lysander Jim pointed out something critical. People often want hard timelines. They ask, “When can I squat again? When can I play pickleball? When will I feel normal?” The truth is that no one can guarantee that. You can give generalizations, but every case is unique. What you can do is commit to the process. That is what I did with McGill. I failed enough times with other approaches that by the time I met him, I was all in. No halfway. No shortcuts.
Faith, Trust, and the Right People in Your Corner
Here is the truth: I had to put my faith in McGill. Even if surgery ended up being in my future, I knew his approach was the only path worth following. That faith was rewarded. Dr. Lysander Jim touched on the same thing. Patients do not just invest money when they come to see us. They invest their hopes. That is not something to take lightly.
This is why honesty matters, even when people do not want to hear it. Sometimes the message is tough. Maybe surgery really is necessary. That can make people angry. But integrity is about telling the truth, not what someone wishes was true. At the end of the day, if someone is putting their trust in you, you owe them your best effort, your best knowledge, and your best communication.
The Unique Value of Experience
Something I admire in Dr. Lysander Jim’s perspective is how he values the unique vantage points we all bring. His medical background and his study of biomechanics, even in swimming, give him insights most clinicians do not have. When he listens to a patient talk about shoulder pain from freestyle swimming, he can pinpoint where their stroke mechanics are breaking down.
For me, it is the barbell. Years under the weight, thousands of training sessions, and navigating my own injuries gave me a perspective that no textbook can provide. That is what makes this work powerful. Each of us, clinician or athlete, brings a different lens. The key is to merge knowledge with lived experience so we can guide others better.
Closing Thoughts
I never expected my squat comeback to unfold the way it did. And Dr. Lysander Jim never expected his career path to lead from conventional medicine into a more impactful, patient-focused approach. But both of us share the same principle: do the work with honesty, bring your full self to the process, and be willing to learn from every experience.
Helping people out of pain, whether it is a world-class lifter or someone just wanting to garden without their back screaming, is serious work. You cannot save everyone, but you can always move the needle. And sometimes, that small step forward is the start of something far bigger than either of you could imagine.
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