Walk into Cobra Command in Basehor on a Tuesday or Thursday at noon and you’ll see Frankie working harder than almost anyone in the room. He uses a power chair, he’s north of 60, he’s been a member here for five years, and his story is a big part of why we do what we do.
Frankie spent a long career serving in the United States military. Near the end of that career, he was diagnosed with a neurological ataxia disorder. The kind that doesn’t get better. The kind that slowly takes function away, a little at a time.
Most people, handed that diagnosis, are told to manage it. Rest. Slow down. Protect what’s left. Frankie decided to fight for it instead.
He puts it in the bluntest terms there are. “Get busy living, or get busy dying,” he says. “I have to train because I have no choice but to keep moving.”
What five years of showing up actually does
By training consistently, week after week, year after year, Frankie has significantly slowed the progression of his disease. Not stopped it. We’re honest about that. But slowed it in a way that has kept him stronger and more independent than the timeline said he’d be.
Muscle you use is muscle you keep. Strength you build is a buffer against decline. For someone with a degenerative condition, every pound of muscle maintained is a pound of independence protected. Frankie understood that early, and he’s shown up for it ever since.
You can see the payoff in places that have nothing to do with the gym. Last week Frankie went to his college football team reunion at Pittsburg State. Standing next to guys he played with decades ago, none of them carrying what he carries, and he looked like one of the healthiest people in the room. That is what showing up buys you.
He trains twice a week, one-on-one, with Coach Jarrad & Coach Tiffany. The work is focused and specific. Strength. Maintaining muscle mass. Movement patterns that keep him functional in his actual life, the transfers and the reaches and the everyday things most of us never think about until they get hard.
And one thing that might surprise you: walking. Frankie uses a power chair. But part of his training is assisted walking, supported by a coach and a walker. It’s slow, it’s demanding, and it’s some of the most important work he does. Function you don’t practice is function you lose.
The 500-pound morning
Frankie is strong. Genuinely, jaw-droppingly strong. This year, during one of his assisted walking sessions, he pushed over 500 pounds on his walker. More than 500 pounds. A man in his sixties, living with a degenerative disease, moving that kind of weight.
If you’ve never watched something like that up close, it’s hard to explain what it does to a room. The coaches went quiet. Then not quiet at all. It’s the kind of moment that rearranges what you thought was possible, and everyone who saw it walked out a little different that day.
It’s what all those unglamorous noon sessions add up to. It’s strength converted directly into a life Frankie gets to keep living on his own terms. Independence isn’t an idea for him. It’s the whole point.
Frankie doesn’t train alone
Frankie’s wife, Margaret, who is 60 herself, trains at the same time he does. She’s in our Small Group Training, building and holding onto her own strength. And she’s doing it with a clear purpose. She wants to stay strong enough to support Frankie as the years go on. To be his partner in this in every sense, including the physical one. But also to enjoy her life… namely scuba diving and traveling.
Sit with that for a second. A husband training to stay independent as long as he can, and a wife training so she can be there for him when he needs it and still enjoy life. Same gym. Same noon timeslot. Both refusing to be passive about their future.
Frankie and Margaret don’t think of themselves as remarkable. They just show up and do the work like it matters, together, week after week. Because it does.
The reason we built this
Frankie and Margaret are a big part of why we built the Adaptive Athletes in Motion program at Cobra Command. Watching what training has done for them made something clear to us. This shouldn’t be a lucky accident that only happens for the few people who stumble onto the right gym. There should be more places built for it, not fewer.
We believe fitness is for everyone, and we want that to be true in practice, not just on a poster. So we designed a program and a space where people like Frankie and Margaret belong from the moment they arrive.
We’re proud of Frankie. We’re proud of Margaret. And we’re proud to have built a place that was ready for them.
If their story resonates, or you’re already thinking of someone who’d love a gym like this, book a free No Sweat Intro and come talk to us. Whatever your starting line is, there’s a place for you here.
See you in the gym,
Jill
