My name is Caleb Carte. I began training my junior year of high school. I was training specifically for sports, but found myself enjoying my time in the gym more than on the court. When high school was over I dedicated myself fully to the gym and decided I wanted to be the best version of myself possible. I busted my butt in the gym for 2 years but lacked dedication outside of the gym with things like nutrition and recovery.
In March 2013 it caught up with me. I finished some golden era volume supersets with back squats and front squats. My legs were toast. I couldn’t stand up once I took a seat on the bench. I had to call my brother to come pick me up from the gym. I had to literally be carried out and he drove me to the hospital. I had been diagnosed with Rhabdomyolysis.
The doctors told me I would never be able to be as strong as I was at that point, especially in my legs. They also said that my legs were so wrecked that they recommend that I never perform a barbell squat again due to the severity of my diagnosis and the likelihood that it could happen again.
I was given a mandatory 4 months lay off from any physical activity. I fought a mental war for a while with even wanting to step foot inside a gym again.
While fumbling through twitter during the few months that I was sentenced to my couch I came across this guy named Cory Gregory. I was able to reach out to him and find out all that I did wrong and why my body shut down on me. The nutrition and training tips I got from him through twitter or his Youtube taught me all that I had been doing wrong, and how I set myself up for disaster.
His mentality gave me motivation to not give up, but to get my butt back in the gym and rebuild my body even better than before, despite what doctors or anyone else was telling me.
Fast forward to nearly 150 days deep into squat everyday. The guy who was told he should never squat again is now squatting his old max for sets of 5 and squatting every day! My legs and body are stronger than before, despite my diagnosis. I’ve added 20lbs of muscle back on since then and I am stronger than I was before at a lighter weight.
Squat everyday gave me my ability to be a gym rat back and refueled my confidence. Nothing worked before squat everyday. So I thank you for being dedicated Cory. Thanks for setting the bar high and doing what you do. You turned this 23 year old kids nightmare into a success story. Thanks for letting us know that the body lies to us. I know now more than ever that there are no limitations due to your influence and how you have changed the game both in they gym and in the mindset as well.
Thanks a lot,
Caleb Carte