Navy Veteran Games His Way To A Stronger Healthier Back One Second At A Time

Navy Veteran Games His Way To A Stronger Healthier Back One Second At A Time

The best thing I have done for myself is buy the Stealth Board! It has changed my life in a short period of time and has been an incredible tool to help restrengthen my core after my back surgeries. 

My name is Dave Richard and I’m 36 years old. I am a disabled Navy veteran and have had three back surgeries. I served in the navy for fifteen years as a Hospital Corpsman. I did one tour in Iraq and Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Later in my career I was stationed on the Hospital Ship USNS Comfort where I initially injured my back during an evolution where we were removing extremely heavy old weightlifting equipment from the hull of the ship. I ended up with my first lumbar surgery in 2015 and was medically discharged in 2016. In 2018 I ruptured my C5 disc in my neck which required another surgery. In November of 2019 I had another surgery in my lumbar area, this time a spinal fusion to help fix my injury from the Navy. 

Shortly after my surgery last year we got into this pandemic which initially made it hard for recovery; I could not receive and physical therapy. After my surgery I weighed 224 pounds. I decided it was time for a change to help get my life back on track so I can physically be there for my wife, my two-year-old, and two teenagers. I started dieting in April, but I still thought I needed to do more to help my core.

I finally bought the Stealth Core Trainer plank board in August! When it came in, I weighed 180 pounds had some soreness and back pain from where I had surgeries and I was weak. I started off getting on my Stealth every day for three minutes. Although, when I started, I could only do about 30-40 seconds on my toes before my knees hit the deck. But I stuck with it and now I am at day 73 without missing a single day! Each day I increase my time by only one second and now am up to 3:51 for my initial daily workout. I can now hold a plank on my board for over 4 minutes on my toes and find myself using my board a few times a day now!

Since I started using my board my back now has virtually no pain. I am now down to 165 pounds and could not be happier with myself and my journey! This truly has been a life changer for me and improved my daily quality of life.

-Dave Richard

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