This week’s athlete spotlight is Dr. Hessam Khatami. Hessam has been part of the Floch for the last 8 years and was one of my very first clients. Hessam has a unique story, and I hope to show that in aging athletes, knowing your PRIORITIES should be the focus of any coach athlete relationship.
When Hessam and I first started working together, the goal was to improve body composition. There were two things we had to change:
Decrease Training Load-He was doing high intensity exercise 5 days a week (Crossfit Classes) and it was too stressful on his body with the amount of clinical work he was also doing
Improve Diet- Hessam didn’t have any direction and was flying blind
I wrote Hessam his own training program and prescribed a stepwise change in diet, starting off with changes in quality of food, and finishing off with some intermittent fasting to control caloric intake. With a new training program, and changes in his diet, Hessam shed over 20 pounds of fat and got down to a weight he hadn’t seen since high school. Hessam was a different man. Not afraid to take his shirt off, and beaming with confidence.
Once Hessam got down to the leanness he desired, we changed his training priority to match his new goal: absolute strength. Specifically, Hessam wanted to deadlift over 400lbs. and improve his upper body pushing and pulling strength. We changed his diet again to accommodate the increase in muscle mass, adding quality calories to his diet. After years of training, Hessam finally pulled 400lbs., and he has the video to prove it! Through that chapter of his journey, there was some ups and downs with his training consistency as his lifestyle had changed drastically. He was now a dad (to two awesome boys) and he expanded his medical practice and became the owner of FTX Wellness in Boca Raton,FL.
With these new chapters came changes in training priority, and instead of fitness for a good time, his goal was fitness for a long time. For me, this meant making sure Hessam was moving to the best of his abilities and had general preparedness (ready for what life has to throw at him). Can he squat fully? Can he touch his toes? Does he have good cardiac capacity? All of these questions and more were rolled into his new training program supported by lifestyle changes and a quality diet. In this video, Hessam is squatting some of the heaviest weight he has ever put on the bar, with the best quality and depth he has ever had.
Congrats Hessam, you are a shining example of what hard work, dedication, and a clear goal can do for an individual. It is an honor to share in your fitness journey along side you.
Has Hessam’s story inspired you to make a change in your own fitness? I’d love to help. Click the link below to set up a free assessment and let’s get started on your own fitness journey together.