Building Strength, Building Hope
UNO graduates help break down
barriers in adaptive training program
By Kent Walton
Like other CrossFit athletes, Taryn Schaaf heads to the gym twice a week to take part in muscle-straining, heart-pounding, sweat-inducing workouts that push her to her physical limits.
But unlike most who participate in the popular fitness training regimen, Schaaf completes her workouts from a wheelchair.
Nine years ago, Schaaf, 33, was a competitive waterskier at the University of Iowa. But an ATV accident left the athletic farm girl from Sidney, Iowa, a quadriplegic. In the months following her accident, Schaaf went through rehabilitation at QLI, a nationally acclaimed rehab campus in North Omaha specializing in treating spinal cord and brain injuries.
After graduating from QLI, Schaaf earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from UNO in 2016. And, with the help of a mechanical exoskeleton, walked across the stage to receive her diploma.
Schaaf has adapted to what she calls her “new normal.” She lives independently, drives a modified minivan and works full time as a social worker. On occasion, she’ll head to the lake for jet skiing and tubing.
But she discovered a new passion when she joined a startup exercise program at QLI run by coaches from CrossFit Omaha.
“It really helped change my outlook on life,” Schaaf says. “Not that I had a negative one. It was a jump-start to getting back to being healthier.”
QLI’s fledgling CrossFit program, which launched earlier this year, was the idea of QLI Director of Nutrition Stephanie Roob, who has long dreamt of starting an adaptive CrossFit program on QLI’s campus.
“That’s what’s great about QLI. We’re always encouraged to dream big and nothing is taken off the table,” Roob says.
In late 2017, Roob reached out to CrossFit Omaha owners Dustin and Stacie Tovar, both UNO graduates.
“They came out to QLI, and we brainstormed what we want this to look like, and they left saying, ‘We’re in. We want to do this,’” Roob says. The first 12-week session started in spring 2018.
Dustin is a former UNO wrestler and the 2005 UNO Male Scholar Athlete of the Year who graduated that same year. Stacie, a former UNO volleyball player, is a four-time NCAA academic honor recipient and the 2017 recipient of the UNO College of Education’s 2017 Distinguished Promising Professional award. She graduated in 2007. The couple have owned CrossFit Omaha since 2016, when they bought it from its founders, former UNO strength coaches Ricky Frausto and Joe Westerlin.
Both Stacie and Dustin are former CrossFit competitors. Stacie is an eight-time qualifier for the international CrossFit Games and a three-time CrossFit Team Series Qualifier. The couple retired from competition to focus on running their business.
To prepare for working with people limited by spinal cord and brain injuries — as well as strokes, Parkinson’s disease, spina bifida and multiple sclerosis — the Tovars, Roob and Addi Kahrs, another CrossFit Omaha coach, completed a CrossFit adaptive training course. Specialists in spinal cord and brain injuries also assist at each class.
The CrossFit sessions are 12-weeks long. Classes are held three times on Tuesdays and Thursdays in a converted maintenance garage on QLI’s campus. Because space is limited and the Tovars want to provide personalized coaching, classes are limited to three participants. A nonprofit, QLI received a grant to cover program-related costs and to provide scholarships for participants. Eventually, the program will be funded by participant fees.
CrossFit workouts combine elements of weight training, gymnastics and rowing and can be scaled or modified to fit the limitations of an adaptive athlete. But the principals are the same for all participants of all abilities.
Coaches at QLI measure range of motion and flexibility and record video of each session so participants can see their progress. For some, the goal is having the strength to hold a pen and sign their name. For others, it may be doing an exercise they haven’t done since being injured.
“One of the younger guys with a C6 spinal cord injury said, ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to do a situp again. That’s just not something I can do.’” Roob says. “It took some time working with him and figuring out how his body moved. Now I have video of him doing a full situp holding an 8-pound ball.”
Because Schaaf has strength in her arms, she can transfer herself in an out of her chair. By participating in CrossFit, she hopes to maintain that strength and her independence.
“As I’m aging, my transfers are harder,” Schaaf says. “I would like to stay active, so I can be healthy. If I lose my arm muscles, my transfers are going to be harder, and I would have to have someone take care of me.”
It hasn’t taken long for participants and coaches to witness positive results.
“After the first six weeks, we saw huge strides in their range of motion, flexibility and confidence” Stacie says.
Beyond building strength and confidence, CrossFit has other positive aspects that make it a perfect fit for QLI, Roob says.
“I’ve always appreciated CrossFit for the sense of community they infuse into training,” Roob says. “One of the things we have here is a tight-knit community. Anyone who passes through our doors and participates in our program is family.”