My name is Wes Crew and I am a lifelong competitive athlete. I’ve competed in body building, powerlifting, wrestling and Jiu Jitsu. I currently train at Barum Jiu Jitsu in San Diego, a gym that is known to have a strong competition team. As competitions approach, the training ramps up in frequency and intensity. My daily schedule during this time consists of JiuJitsu training, strength training and cardio vascular work, resulting in 2-3 workouts a day all while working a 40 hour week. I’ve competed in IBJJF Worlds and IBJJF Master Worlds in the last year year and half or so. Before Worlds I injured my back to the point that I could not take breaths without experiencing a lot of pain. I had two weeks to go before the competition and thought that I had ruined my chances of competing. About 5 or 6 people from my gym told me that I had to go see this awesome lady named Julie. All my teammates said that she was truly amazing and that she would know what to do. Well I took their advice and contacted Julie Pitois at Pro To Col systems. Julie told me to come in, which I did. She was very professional as she did a full body/ posture evaluation before she did any work. Just by looking at me she identified some things that I needed to work on. Julie was able to identify the cause of my pain as being a rib that popped out of place. She worked the area for a couple of minutes and then popped my rib back in to place, INSTANT RELIEF! I couldn’t believe it! She then worked on everything from my knees to shoulders. I can say that going to see Julie gave me confidence to compete in Worlds, which I did and was able to win gold in the masters 1 white belt division.
Fast forward about a year after Worlds…. I was now in Japan for work but I was also training very hard and getting ready for Master Worlds. I again injured my back and this time being on the other side of the world, I though all was lost. So I reached out to Julie on FB and she gave me some stretches and exercises that I could do to eleviate the pain. They absolutely helped ease the pain and loosen up the area. When I got back to San Diego I went to a local competition to watch some of my teammates compete. Julie had a table there and was working on all the athletes. She waved me over to come see her and laid me on her table. Literally in 5 minutes, she had another rib of mine back in to place. Once again she restored my confidence as I went on to compete at Master Worlds in Las Vegas taking 3rd place in Blue belt Master 1 division!
As I’m writing this I’m sitting in my hotel room in Japan with what I think is another popped rib. I have an appointment with Julie when I get back. On top of the therapy work I plan on getting with Julie and her team to work on injury prevention.
Being injured is so tough, mostly mentally tough. My mind rests easy knowing that I can count on Julie to put me back together. She truly is gifted at what she does and I am very grateful to have met her. Not to mention that she is so nice and very genuine! You’re the best Julie! Thank you!