My name is Zachary Ruhl. I’m 26 years old and I was born with a birth deformity which led to having both legs amputated at the age of two. Despite having no legs, I have lived my life to the fullest.
I started weightlifting in high school as part of my commitment to football. It was love at first lift and I never looked back, getting stronger every day since. As my skill set increased so did my competitive nature and I worked harder everyday to keep my high ranking in the Fieldhouse charts.
From playing varsity football for C.E. King High School in Texas to winning a professional arm wrestling meet, I’ve managed to have success out of the competitive arena as well. I’ve opened up my own personal training studio called DNA Athletics with my good friend David Pullen and couldn’t be happier doing what I love.
I first started cross-fit about a year ago. I originally saw the competitions on ESPN and thought to myself, “dang, that seems legit.” I immediately checked out crossfitjournal.com and began doing the WODs they posted. If I ever came across a workout I couldn’t do, I simply modified it to fit me. The first workout I did was called “Fran” and instead of doing Thrusters I did strict form shoulder presses and I totally gassed out. Even though Fran almost killed me, I began modifying my workouts to more of a crossfit style and shied away from the more traditional “body builder” workouts.
- Zach Ruhl
I started weightlifting in high school as part of my commitment to football. It was love at first lift and I never looked back, getting stronger every day since. As my skill set increased so did my competitive nature and I worked harder everyday to keep my high ranking in the Fieldhouse charts.
From playing varsity football for C.E. King High School in Texas to winning a professional arm wrestling meet, I’ve managed to have success out of the competitive arena as well. I’ve opened up my own personal training studio called DNA Athletics with my good friend David Pullen and couldn’t be happier doing what I love.
I first started cross-fit about a year ago. I originally saw the competitions on ESPN and thought to myself, “dang, that seems legit.” I immediately checked out crossfitjournal.com and began doing the WODs they posted. If I ever came across a workout I couldn’t do, I simply modified it to fit me. The first workout I did was called “Fran” and instead of doing Thrusters I did strict form shoulder presses and I totally gassed out. Even though Fran almost killed me, I began modifying my workouts to more of a crossfit style and shied away from the more traditional “body builder” workouts.
- Zach Ruhl
