It seems kind of ironic that James Stainton came to Trueform primarily looking to increase strength, when this guy is already one of the strongest people we know!

Meet James, a charismatic, charming, friendly and impressively positive person. The mental, emotional and social strength that James possesses is incredibly inspiring…

Blind since birth, James has lived without the precious gift of sight for 37 years, almost 38, his birthday is on the 21st. He is completely self-sufficient; he lives on his own with his guide dog and best friend Urban (aka “Urb”, a yellow Lab), he walks and takes the bus for transportation, and he is currently studying to become a massage therapist!

Dylan Wright, one of our Trueform Personal Trainers, is lucky enough to train him.

We caught up with James and Dylan to learn a little bit more about this dynamic training trio (Urb included)…

James On Urb…

He’s a 12 out of 10.

James On Getting Fit…

Being blind you can be active, but with limits. I can’t just go play sports or train with free weights on my own.

James On Dylan…

He’s really embraced training me! He treats me the same as anyone else. He is just grabbing this by the horns, really running with it and wanting to explore it. He’s gained confidence; I’m seeing results and really enjoying it.

Also, I can do free weights, which I hadn’t done before!

Dylan On James…

He’s driven and fearless. I’m supposed to motivate my clients, but he motivates me!

I recently trained for the Great White North Half Ironman. There were days when I did not feel like training. When I thought about what James has to go through just to get to his workout, hopping on my bike did not seem so hard.

Dylan On Training A Blind Stud…

I realized very quickly that demonstrating exercises and the visual cues that I use so often were not going to cut it. I need to use all verbal cues with James and as a result I’m better at explaining exercises to all of my clients.

When I plan his workouts and program, I need to think about it even more. With James, our focus has been primarily strength training and core. When he works out on his own he needs to use machines, so we use only free weights. Not only has this increased his strength (he’s increased weight in the 3 main lifts we’re working on); it’s also improved his spatial awareness and stabilization, which is great for his day-to-day routine.

Seeing Dylan, James and Urban do their thing at Trueform continually inspires our team. We hope this story has inspired you too! – Brian Starks, Trueform Co-Owner