Yes, usually… but not the way you were training before, and not without help. Kevan Welsh did it with two herniated discs, and it took him just over a year to get feeling back to normal. But he did it.
He’s been a member here at Cobra Command for eight years. As part of this series, I asked him to tell you what happened in his own words, because I suspect a lot of you will relate to him.
“The damage was done”
“Early 2025, I hurt my back. I’m still not sure whether it happened during a workout or while lifting something around the house with poor form, but either way, the damage was done. I later learned I had two herniated, bulging discs.”
He doesn’t know exactly when it happened. Most people don’t. It’s rarely the dramatic moment you’d expect… it’s usually a slow build that finally shows up on one random Tuesday.
And he didn’t know about the discs until later. The pain came first… the injury. The diagnosis came after.
The part he’d take back
“At first, I did what a lot of us do: I tried to stretch it out and work through it. That turned out to be the wrong call. The pain got steadily worse until, by the end of most days, I could hardly walk.”
A couple days ago I wrote about “I’ll come in once my back settles down” and how it’s the slow version of quitting. Kevan did the opposite version of the same thing. He didn’t wait it out, he pushed through it. Same instinct, opposite direction, and it cost him with even more pain, discomfort, and likely time.
Stretch it. Push through. Hope it sorts itself out. That tends to be the default plan most people go with… but it’s the wrong one. Not because moving is bad (if you take nothing from this series it should be that movement is key!)… but because he was moving without any idea what was actually wrong, and how to fix it, which means it potentially gets worse.
Then he got help. All of it.
“Eventually I saw my primary doctor, who referred me to a specialist. From there I got a steroid injection in my back and started physical therapy, along with daily stretches that I kept up for months. Progress was slow, but it was real.”
Primary doctor. Specialist. Injection. Physical therapy. Daily stretches for months.
None of that is gym work outright. He needed medical care and he got it.
And then he did the thing most people don’t.
He kept coming
“The biggest thing I learned was to keep moving, just smarter. I stuck with my daily stretching and kept showing up to CrossFit, with modifications. My coaches were a huge part of my recovery. They kept me in check when I wanted to push too hard, and they gave me alternatives that kept workouts fun and challenging without risking another injury.”
Most people assume a gym like ours would have pushed him harder. His coaches did the opposite.
“They kept me in check when I wanted to push too hard.”
That’s the job of a coach, and it’s why coaching is at the center of everything we do at Cobra Command. When somebody’s coming back from an injury, most of the coaching isn’t getting them to do more. It’s getting them to do less than they want to, on the days they feel good, so they don’t set themselves back a month for one workout.
And the other half of it: “alternatives that kept workouts fun and challenging.” Modified doesn’t mean sitting in the corner doing bicep curls while everybody else trains deadlifts. It means you’re in the class, doing the thing, with the pieces swapped out that you can’t do yet.
It took over a year
“It took over a year before I truly felt like myself again. There was no single fix. What got me there was consistency, losing weight, building mobility and core strength, and being willing to modify at the gym instead of forcing it.”
That’s the least sexy part of this whole process and it’s the truest. Over a year to truly feel better. No single fix.
Consistency. Losing weight. Mobility. Core strength. Willingness to modify.
Not one thing. Five things, stacked, over twelve-plus months.
Mobility. Core strength. Those are the same things I wrote about earlier this week with the sitting stuff. Because at the end of the day with back pain, it’s almost always the same problem underneath. It’s not a bad back… it’s actually your highly intelligent body needing to rebuild a motor pattern, and that takes as long as it takes.
Where he is now
“Today I’m back to doing hard workouts again, and I’m stronger and more careful for it.”
Stronger AND more careful. Both.
He’s not fragile. He’s not training around his back forever. He’s in regular class doing hard work, and he knows his own body better than he did before he got hurt.
That’s what the other side looks like. Not “back to normal.” Better informed.
His advice, not mine
“If you’re dealing with an injury, my advice is simple: don’t try to tough it out alone, get it checked early, stay consistent, and lean on the people around you. They’ll help you get back to where you want to be.”
Don’t tough it out alone.
Get it checked early.
Stay consistent.
Lean on the people around you.
That’s a better summary than anything I was going to write.
If this is you
If your back hurts, go see somebody. That part comes first and we’ll say it every time.
Then bring us the plan. Hand us what your doctor or your PT gave you and we’ll build your training around it, so what you do here supports what they’re doing there. We modify. We adjust as you change. And on the days you feel great and want to do something stupid, we’ll be the ones telling you not to.
Book a No Sweat Intro at Cobra Command in Basehor and tell us what’s going on with you.
Kevan’s still here. Eight years in, two herniated discs, still training.
And he’d tell you himself… don’t tough it out alone.
-Jill
