It would not be an overstatement to say that working with Steve Hoffacker has been a life changing experience. Almost four years ago, I was introduced to Steve and his holistic training model, and after working with him I am physical stronger, have increased flexibility, am better able to manage my stress, sleep better, and more optimistic about my fitness and overall wellbeing compared to when I started.
This was not a foregone conclusion. I am forty-one years’ old and have been dealing with arthritis of my left hip for over twenty years. I was an active athlete through high school and after developing hip and groin pain was diagnosed with femeroacetabular impingement (FAI, or “impingement”). Over the course of many years, chronic inflammation slowly led to the reduction in activities including giving up sports, then routine exercise, and ultimately leading to a life of daily pain and negative impact of most normal activities. Along the way, I had steroid joint injections and a significant surgery on my hip to clean up the cartilage and resurface the bone. While this helped reduce the pain, after years of false starts, I had not been able to successfully maintain active fitness or exercise.
Approaching forty, I was acutely aware of the long term consequences limited activity has to both my physical and mental health and was discouraged. After a chance meeting with Steve, he heard my story and offered the chance to work together. Candidly, I was not overly optimistic that much would change. I was wrong. Steve and his team took a very patient, intensely personalized, and holistic approach to really understand my baseline strength and flexibility, and injury/discomfort patterns. While the progress was slow at first, and there have been bumps and redirections along the way, I am just fundamentally in a different place than four years ago. At that time, I worried a hip replacement was imminent and two orthopedic surgeons told me there was nothing I could realistically do to change the outcome – just tough it out as long as possible, then do the surgery. Now, I firmly believe that surgery is years in the future, and at the rate I’m improving I can actually consider the chance I could avoid it altogether. Steve is just different – he has a passion for his craft that is unrivaled. I would recommend him to anyone looking to meaningfully improve their health and fitness, especially those that may have struggled with past injuries or numerous false starts getting on a regular fitness routine.