Hey, I’m Kirk Williams. I’m an outdoor enthusiast, mountain biker, camper, photographer, live music lover, and a quadriplegic from a spinal cord injury. I was into many of the same things before breaking my neck as I am now, I just have different tools to do these activities now.
As far as fitness is concerned; I think it’s just as much mentally beneficial as it is physically. The better shape and condition that my body is, the easier life is. I need to have enough strength for transfers, pushing up hills, and the idiosyncrasies that come with daily life as a quadriplegic. With this strength and fitness, I’m able to be more independent and hang out with friends, family, and do the things I love.
“I think it’s just as much mentally beneficial as it is physical. The better shape and condition that my body is, the easier life is.”
After breaking my neck in 2009, my fitness journey started at a spinal cord rehab gym. It was great early on for me to work with trainers and specialized equipment to re-learn my new body. Unfortunately, those services are specialized and are super expensive, so the money ran out and I started trying to do more on my own.
One thing I’ve come to love is my handcycle. I love getting away from the house, getting good cardio and strength, and being able to be independent getting on and off. Biking was always my main sport and apparently, that hasn’t changed.
Another sport that helped me tremendously was wheelchair rugby. By being around other quadriplegics, I learned to push myself, train, and technical life tricks that made my life easier. Rugby was a huge factor in my strength-building, confidence, chair skills, and general independence.
“With this strength and fitness, I’m able to be more independent and hang out with friends, and family, and do the things I love.”
Now that I live on my own and don’t have a gym anymore, Adapt to Perform has been super beneficial. I love that it’s a lot of at-home workouts that I can do without somebody needing to be there to help me. The band workouts are super creative and helpful even without any core function or grip.
Being able to be physically active and move around is super important to me. I need a base level of endurance to push around town and explore without being too overwhelmed. Having this base of fitness is critical for my mental stability. I need to be active to feel like myself; I need to feel some independence and I need to be in decent shape to be independent as a quadriplegic.
I think my advice for newly injured people would be to interact with other wheelchair users. By being around those who have lived a lifestyle similar to the one you want, you can see and learn different techniques that help with everyday life. Ben, with Adapt to Perform, is included in that idea as a great virtual resource because often the hardest part of getting in shape is just figuring out what exercises you can physically do. For me, the resistance band workouts have been super beneficial. I’m working the muscles that I’m not using every day to stay balanced. I also try to stretch and keep my body limber to keep the spasticity down.
“One thing I’ve come to love is my handcycle. I love getting away from the house, getting good cardio and strength, and being able to be independent getting on and off.”
I used to always struggle to figure out the best ways to exercise. I’d get bored or not get much of a workout because I’d spend all my energy figuring out how on earth to do whatever I’m trying to do. Adapt to Perform has remedied that! Ben has helped me and countless others learn a way to workout out what your body can do. It’s helped build confidence, strength, techniques and building up muscles I didn’t even know I had!
Fitness is a part of me and always has been. I was an athlete before my accident and I still consider myself an athlete. I think as a quadriplegic or a wheelchair user, you kind of have to be athletic to a point or else you’re going to require more caretaking and more help from the people around you. You know, which is fine. It’s totally up to whoever is going through it to decide what they need and what they want out of it. But for me, personally, the main goal of fitness originally was to regain independence, to be able to push up hills and go meet friends and take the dog for a walk and do all these things that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do post-accident.
“Being able to be physically active and move around is super important to me. I need a base level of endurance to push around town and explore without being too overwhelmed.”
Moving forward, fitness is also for my mental clarity. To be able to push myself and get a workout, get the heart rate up, feel the burn. I think having somebody out there showing people how to do that or being around people who are mentally driven will lead you to be a stronger, more fitness-driven and healthier individual.
Well, future goals. I mean, I’m always trying to get in better shape. Always trying to keep my shoulders in good shape without overdoing it. The band workouts work well for shoulder strength and mobility. It helps ensure I’m not overdoing it in day-to-day life. It comes down to my independence and longevity more than anything else. As long as I’m strong enough to do the things I love to do like biking and camping and pushing off-road, I’m happy.
“Fitness is a part of me and always has been. I was an athlete before my accident and I still consider myself an athlete. I think as a quadriplegic or a wheelchair user, you kind of have to be athletic to a point or else you’re going to require more caretaking and more help from the people around you.”