REAL LIFE

MOVING ON

By: Maria Kang

A racing accident threatened Sandy Young’s way of life. But even paralysis couldn’t keep her down.

What inspires you? Those words written by Max Muscle President Sean Greene in the November 2008 Max Sports & Fitness magazine issue peered back at Sandy Young, 52, as if he was speaking directly at her. “I will never forget his words,” recalls Sandy. “He said there was power and potential in each one of us, and that the bottom line was that inspiration comes from within.” At the time Sandy had overcome many life obstacles. She was bound to a wheel chair and paralyzed from the chest down.

Sandy was an active tomboy raised on a large ranch filled with horses and motorcycles in Mill Valley, Calif. While she never worked out with weights or went to the gym, she was always active physically and trained her body at home. She was married at 18 and had two daughters, Jennifer and Christine, when she was 20 and 21 years old, respectively. At age 31, after several years of being a homemaker and wife, she divorced. During this time period, she began teaching herself how to ride a jet ski. Within three months, she excelled in performing tricks and began entertaining during half time at Jet Ski races.

In less than a year, she started racing in both the women’s and men’s classes and became number one in Northern California in the freestyle course. Racing became a family affair with her daughters also competing. “I got the kids active. It kept them out of trouble and occupied their time during the weekends,” Sandy says. This was an exciting period in Sandy’s life, for she not only enhanced the physical lives of her children, but she also excelled in a competitive sport, an opportunity she lacked while she was married.

In January 1996, she met her future husband, Marc Young, at the San Francisco Sports and Boat Show. Instantly they clicked in their common interests for outdoor sporting activities. By 1997, Sandy was fifth in the country and ninth in the world among women for Jet Ski racing. Then, an accident changed Sandy’s life forever. She was entering her fifth practice lap for a race when she crashed going off a log jump. While she was trying to get back on her Jet Ski, another competitor went off the jump and landed on her back.

In an instant, 350 pounds of weight broke Sandy’s spinal cord, lacerated her liver, punctured her lungs, broke three ribs, tore her rotator cuff and broke her T-4 thoracic vertebrae. “I knew I was paralyzed right away,” Sandy remembers. Surprisingly, despite the traumatizing incident, she never went through a depression. Sandy slowly began rehabilitating her body back to health.

“In my life I’ve been kicked in the nose, sprained my ankle and broke my leg twice,” says Sandy. “But, you should never let injuries get you down.” Her strong spirit wouldn’t let her waste time pitying her physical disabilities. Instead, she redefined her strength and limitless power to overcome any obstacle. Four years after meeting and two years after her accident, Sandy and Marc married in 2000.

In 2005, Sandy started noticing she was adding weight on her 4-foot-10 frame. In the past, drinking Gatorade and eating muffins didn’t stick to her body when she was active; now that she was more confined, her weight rose from 110 to 140 pounds. “One day someone told me I was top heavy! And so I made up my mind and began a new lifestyle.”

Sandy began following a high protein diet and started hand cycling 45 minutes a day, five times a week. In addition to her upper body cardio, she also performed free-weight exercises such as pushups, sit ups, curls and presses for an hour. Within six months, she lost 40 pounds of fat. Eventually she began working with a Bowflex Versatrainer to help build muscle, which helped to her to lose an additional 16 pounds.

While she trained weekly and followed a low carbohydrate diet of fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, tuna, chicken, fish, Tofurky and olive oil, she didn’t incorporate a supplement schedule until she read “The President’s Point” in the MS&F November 2008 issue. “I felt it was time to learn more about protein, to build up my muscle and learn more about Max Muscle products,” she says. She decided to speak with Pierre at the Brentwood Max Muscle location to get more information and began incorporating Max Pro Strawberry and Vita Boost into her daily diet.

Today, Sandy is a lean 82 pounds and enjoys fishing Pro Team Tournaments, a challenging sport she competes in with her husband. Her goal? To stay fit, healthy and be in the best shape so she can be a good wife, mother and grandmother (she has a new granddaughter due in July). “I love getting up and exercising because it gives me confidence and motivation,” says Sandy. “Even though I’ve been paralyzed for 12 years, I never got depressed. I just moved on.” MS&F