Olympic Hall of Famer’s Secret Weapon
A two-time Olympic gymnast ruptured his Achilles on a Nike commercial. He used LiveO2 to recover in five months — then built the best physique of his 20-year career.
Hear the Full Story
From career-threatening injury to legalized blood doping — an Olympic athlete’s journey with LiveO2.
A two-time Olympic gymnast, Hall of Famer, and 20-year film and television veteran discovered LiveO2 at the Bulletproof Conference in 2017. What started as injury recovery turned into the most powerful training tool he’s ever used.
A Career-Threatening Injury on a Nike Set
He was in his mid-40s. Still performing at the highest level. Working on a Nike commercial with an Oscar-winning director.
The floor wasn’t great. He knew he was pushing it. But he got caught in the moment — the way professionals do when the work is going well — and ruptured his Achilles tendon.
For most people, that’s a six-month recovery minimum. Surgeons tell you to plan for it. Accept it. Be patient.
He had a different idea.
“I took my approach to recovery as serious as I did making an Olympic team. I said I don’t want any limitations in this body.”
— Two-time Olympic gymnast & Hall of FamerHe threw everything at it. Peptides. Growth hormone. Blood flow restriction. Essential amino acids. Every tool from the medical field and biohacking world he could find.
And LiveO2.
Running in Five Months
The fastest Achilles recovery that his rehab facility — the same one used by top professional athletes — had ever seen was six months.
He was running in five.
The rehab team was impressed. But for him, the most striking moment wasn’t a milestone on a timeline. It was what happened right after his first LiveO2 session.
“After I did LiveO2, I got off the bike and my brain had forgotten that I was injured. I almost started walking normal. I realized — no, don’t do that.”
— Two-time Olympic gymnast & Hall of FamerSomething about flooding his body with oxygen desensitized the protective pain mechanism. His brain stopped guarding the injury. He could move freely for the first time since the rupture.
That isn’t just a psychological trick. Research shows that enhanced tissue oxygenation can modulate inflammatory signaling and accelerate soft tissue repair (PubMed: 24040886).
The Metabolism Problem Nobody Talks About
When you rupture a major tendon, the worst part isn’t the surgery. It’s the six weeks of doing nothing afterward.
Crutches. Sitting. Waiting. Your metabolism tanks. Your workload capacity drops. And now you’re trying to rehab from a major injury with a body that can barely produce energy.
LiveO2 solved that problem. He could ride a bike with a torn Achilles — boot on, foot strapped in. The system let him maintain a high metabolism during the weeks when most people are losing theirs.
By the time he was cleared for full rehab, his body was still ready. His engine was still running. He didn’t have to rebuild his fitness and heal the injury at the same time.
“It allowed me to preserve my metabolism so I didn’t have to — in the middle of rehabbing — fight an impaired workload capacity.”
The Best Physique of a 20-Year Career
The injury healed. But he kept going.
He developed a stacking protocol at home. Start with LiveO2 — sprint intervals, hypoxic training, load the body with oxygen. Then move to weight training under red light panels. Then hit the sauna. Cold shower to finish.
The result? The best physique he’d ever built. In his mid-40s. After a career-ending injury.
Lean. Strong. Shredded. More energy than he’d had in years.
“I built the best physique I ever had. Shrink-wrapped. A ton of energy. Strong. Muscular. Lean. I call it legalized blood doping.”
— Two-time Olympic gymnast & Hall of FamerHe wasn’t 25. He wasn’t at the Olympic Training Center. He was in his apartment in Los Angeles with a LiveO2 system, some weights, and a sauna. That’s it.
The Upgrade That Made Him Weep
He started with the original Adaptive system. Loved it. Got incredible results.
Then he upgraded to the Adaptive Extreme.
The first two or three sessions were so intense he had a cathartic emotional response. Not pain. Not discomfort. A full-body purge. Years of accumulated stress and tension flushing out at once.
He called LiveO2 afterward and said: “What the hell? This is unbelievable.”
The deeper hypoxic training — pushing to the equivalent of 20,000 feet of altitude before switching to oxygen — created an experience he’d never felt with any other modality. And he owns saunas, red light panels, and every biohacking device on the market.
Nothing else comes close.
Outfitting an Olympic Training Center
When the coach of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team asked him to help build out a world-class training facility, the first thing he recommended was a LiveO2 system.
He told them straight: this is legalized blood doping. Your athletes will have more endurance than anyone else on the floor.
The pommel horse event requires sustained sets of 60 to 70 rotations. Before LiveO2, the gymnasts were struggling to hit 60. After incorporating oxygen training, they were doing it effortlessly.
Studies confirm that intermittent hypoxic training combined with hyperoxia can improve exercise performance and VO2max in trained athletes (PubMed: 31713165).
“There’s nothing like a LiveO2 system. I have saunas. I have red lights. I have so much gear. There’s nothing I get from anything else like what I get from this.”
Common Questions
LiveO2 drives oxygen-rich plasma into injured tissues, which may support the body’s natural healing processes. This Olympic athlete used it as part of his Achilles recovery protocol and was running in five months — faster than his elite rehab facility had ever seen.
Hypoxic training uses reduced-oxygen air to trigger your body’s adaptive response: blood vessels dilate, heart rate increases, and nitric oxide floods your system. When you switch back to high-oxygen air, your body absorbs dramatically more oxygen than normal. LiveO2’s Adaptive Contrast automates this process. Learn more.
More oxygen reaching your cells means more efficient energy production in your mitochondria. This athlete describes it as the single most impactful tool for sustained energy he’s ever used — above saunas, red light, and every other modality in his arsenal.
Yes. LiveO2 systems are used by Olympic athletes, professional hockey players, and elite training facilities. This athlete helped outfit a U.S. Olympic training center with LiveO2 as its primary recovery and performance tool.
The Adaptive Extreme allows deeper hypoxic training — simulating altitudes up to 20,000 feet equivalent. This creates a more intense contrast effect and can produce more profound results. This athlete described the upgrade as a “must” after experiencing the difference immediately.