Ep. 283 - Jared Maynard: Rebuilding Stronger

A long lifting career comes with plenty of ups and downs, so we’re accustomed to hearing stories about setbacks, comebacks, and perseverance from our favorite lifters. These setbacks can take many forms, but Jared Maynard’s extraordinary story exists in a league of its own. Over the course of a few short weeks, a rare autoimmune disease took Jared from being a young, strong, healthy man in his early 30s to being on life support in the intensive care unit. With survival odds worse than the flip of a coin, Jared fought his way out of the ICU and started training right away. The major difference is that his training program involved re-learning how to eat, sit up, and roll over before he could focus on squat, bench, and deadlift. Barely more than one year removed from life support, Jared was back on the powerlifting platform setting PRs and deadlifting over 500lbs. In this episode, Jared shares his incredible story with Omar and Dr. Trexler, and talks about how years of lifting likely saved his life and set him up for a remarkable recovery. 00:00 Not talking crap about our guest today as part of our Iron Culture apology tour 02:12 Introducing our guest Jared and his journey 10:40 The potential recurrence of mononucleosis and Jared’s plan if it does 14:49 Treatment and testing modalities 21:52 The crucial role of lifting in Jared’s journey and the gradual process of recovery 32:13 Restoring activities of daily living  41:25 Jared’s mental challenges and stoicism 50:40 Getting back into training and competing a year later 1:02:08 Setting the example to motivate and the recalibration of perspective  1:12:11 Jared’s study of stoicism 1:15:35 Where to find Jared and what’s next for him Instagram @jared.rebuild_stronger https://www.instagram.com/jared.rebuild_stronger/ Rebuild Stronger Website https://www.rebuildstrongeronline.com/

Om Podcasten

Iron Culture was started by Eric Helms and Omar Isuf, now currently hosted by Eric Helms and Eric Trexler with Omar as a returning guest, as a means of exploring the world of physical culture and attempting to distill a unified philosophy of lifting and to help listeners find greater meaning from the iron. The lifting community has become fractured over the last ~70 years and this Podcast will attempt to explore the fundamental threads that unite these different tribes. The Podcast focuses on dispensing practical, useful information to the listener, bouncing from history, to philosophy, to contemporary lifting culture issues, to science. This can range from teaching the audience about lifting, programming, nutrition, supplements/PEDs and the history of lifting culture. The format includes casual conversations between the two hosts on a variety of topics, discussions with a panel of experts and interviews with authoritative figures in the lifting community.