How finding OPEX ended this man’s agonizing search

For months, Andrew embarked on a feverish pursuit for the perfect training program.

The former college football player had tried pretty much everything along the way.

He found CrossFit in 2005 when he was with the US military. It worked for a while, he said.  

“But it was kind of like the law of diminishing returns. Eventually I was like, ‘This is stupid. There’s gotta be a better way to train,’” Andrew said of how he grew tired, burnt out and injured from testing his fitness every day.

After leaving the military and undergoing shoulder surgery in 2012, Andrew decided to look elsewhere for a more sustainable way to train. This led him to dabble with various strength programs.

“From 5/3/1 to Juggernaut: I’ve done pretty much every strength template out there,” said the 38-year-old.

He added: “All I really wanted was to stay fit to fight off the dad bod, stay injury free and continue to improve, or at least not atrophy as I get older. I was no longer chasing PRs or 1-rep maxes necessarily.”

While he did stay fit on his own, he was tired of feeling like a dabbler.

“Eventually I was like, ‘All right, I’m just hopping around here,’” he said. It was time to find a program that he could stick with for the longer term.

Then two years ago, Andrew moved to Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and two kids for a new work opportunity, and his friend introduced him to OPEX.

The individual program design immediate spoke to Andrew.

“It really takes into account all the variables in people’s lives, from their lifestyle, to their goals, to their training history, to their injury history. It’s the most methodical and holistic approach out there,” he said.

Andrew added: “Finally, it didn’t feel like I was trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. The whole idea with OPEX is they meet you where you’re at. And depending on where you want to go, your coach will chart a path to get you where you want to go. When I did CrossFit, it always felt like we were throwing random shit into a blender and the (group class) coaches were kind of like PE teachers.”

OPEX coaches, on the other hand, have way more knowledge of how to train people based on their individual wants and needs, Andrew added. He couldn’t be more impressed with his coach, Mike Lee.

“I have developed implicit trust in Mike and the methodology, and I’m always taken aback by how accurately he’s able to program for me. He can prescribe weights and paces for me better than I can. He knows exactly where I’m at and what I need, and it never feels like (my program) is just haphazardly and randomly thrown together,” Andrew said.

This helps make Andrew’s life at the gym stress-free.

“I have a young family and am building a business, so my priorities are my family and my career, and I don’t have a ton of time or bandwidth in my life to stress about my personal fitness,” he said. “I don’t want to waste my energy spinning my wheels wondering if I’m doing the right thing at the gym.”

With OPEX, he never has to spin his wheels, he said. As a result, Andrew is getting exactly what he wants and needs from his workouts, and ultimately his life. He shows up to OPEX North Scottsdale at 6 a.m. before work, puts his head down and puts in the work with all the faith in the world that what he’s doing is exactly what he needs. And when he leaves the gym, he has the rest of the day to focus on what really matters to him: his family and his career.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m done searching for a new way to do fitness,” he said.