Photo:PelotonAdrian Williamswoke up one day earlier this year with his left arm locked at a 90-degree angle.“I couldn’t get it down,” thePelotoninstructor tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.After getting an MRI scan, he was told that he had developed a bone growth around his joint. It was treatable, but the 39-year-old New Yorker — who teaches running,rowingand strength classes on the popularfitnessapp — was faced with a choice.Adrian Williams is sharing his story of recovery and healing after an arm injury.PelotonWilliams says, “The option was, ‘You can continue to do movement, but you [won’t] be able to move the way you’d like to, or you can opt for surgery. Then you’ll be able to get back to yourself 100 percent.’ I immediately opted for surgery.”Asked why, he explains, “I don’t want to be 60 percent injured. I want to be 100 percent [well].”But going under the knife meant that Williams ultimately had to take an eight-week break from teaching classes and working out in his downtime. For him, it wasn’t a daunting prospect, as he says, “I love exercise. I’m not addicted to exercise, and there’s a big difference in that."“So, with me making the decision to have the surgery, it didn’t even cross my mind that I wouldn’t be working out for X amount of time," he continues.In fact, Williams admits he did “nothing” for most of that time. “No running. No movement for six weeks. Zero. I did nothing," he says.Adrian Williams teaches running, rowing and strength training classes.PelotonIt’s a far cry from the level of activity that sparked the injury in the first place. Williams was away at a fitness retreat in Upstate New York in 2018 when he hyperextended his arm while doing a bear crawl.He says, “It was a 100-yard gallop up the hill and then a bear crawl back down to the hotel. I was crawling back down, and we didn’t happen to see this hole that was kind of in the earth. I fell into that hole, and it came down to my arm. My arm hyperextended. I got really nervous.”Acting on instinct, Williams says he pushed his arm “back into place and never thought about it again.”“It was probably sore the next day,” he adds. That was until that morning in February when he woke up with his arm locked into place.Williams was later told that, while his arm felt fine, his body grew bone spurs to protect the joint that he hyperextended and pushed back into place.“As a spur grows, it stops [movement] from happening. And then there were pieces that were hitting nerves in my arm and affecting my grip and things like that,” Williams says. “I didn’t want to hurt myself one day or long term or suffer nerve damage. So, that’s why I [had] surgery.”Adrian Williams announced his return to teaching on Instagram.Adrian Williams/InstagramThe instructor went to the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York, which is renowned for treating top professional athletes.Williams says, “They’re amazing. I went there for surgery [where they shaved the bone down] and PT [physical therapy]. Surgery was quick and easy. I think it was an hour. Went home the next day and then I started my rehab journey.”Despite not having exercise as an outlet, Williams says he leaned into his other hobbies to staysane.“Because working out for me is work, and then I also do it on my own, it’s important for me to have other interests," he says.Listing non-workout activities that give him joy, Williams notes, “I love photography. I like going for a long ride in my car. That’s a big one. I call it moving meditation."“It’s the quiet and, honestly, it’s the power of being in a machine that makes me feel some sort of way. And Istarted meditatinga lot, which I’d been neglecting for a while, and now that’s part of my daily practice," he continues.Williams adds, “It was one of those moments where I just paid attention to other areas of my life that needed a little bit of TLC.”Adrian Williams is back teaching classes and lifting weights after an eight-week period of rest and recovery.PelotonIn the end, Williams says it took him just two weeks to “feel back to normal” when he finally started exercising again.The Bronx native, who ran track when he was growing up and became a personal trainer in his 20s, says, “I’m 39 and I’ve done this more than half of my life. My body’s not going to forget something that was habitual. It knows. Your body is one of the best computers. It knows, it’s stored, and it learns to be stronger.”While he admits resuming cardio exercise like running “was tough,” he says his strength “popped back in two weeks.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Williams now hopes that his healing experience will be valuable for others, especially his followers and Peloton’s army of fans, whether they take classes at home or in person at the company’s live studios in New York and London.“We hear this constantly in the studio. People have ailments and they don’t want to get them taken care of because they know it means stopping whatever form of exercise that they’re into,” he says. “Why get to the point of being broken, if you can take care of something now? Why get to the point where you’re doing more damage over a longer course of time, versus, here’s the problem, let me fix it?”Adrian Williams in Los Angeles in July, leading a pre-workout warmup session during a stop on Peloton on Tour 2023.Scott WildNow that he has recovered, Williams is being intentional about sharing his message, as he did in Los Angeles earlier this month, when he and colleagues likeKendall TooleandBen Alldiskicked offPeloton on Tour 2023. (The tour, which runs through October, will give fans in the U.S., London and Germany a chance to work out with their favorite instructors.)He says, “This is a part of [my] story, but it’s also giving people the information. This is my job. This is my livelihood, but it was okay for me to take this break and I’m better."
Photo:Peloton
Peloton
Adrian Williamswoke up one day earlier this year with his left arm locked at a 90-degree angle.“I couldn’t get it down,” thePelotoninstructor tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.After getting an MRI scan, he was told that he had developed a bone growth around his joint. It was treatable, but the 39-year-old New Yorker — who teaches running,rowingand strength classes on the popularfitnessapp — was faced with a choice.Adrian Williams is sharing his story of recovery and healing after an arm injury.PelotonWilliams says, “The option was, ‘You can continue to do movement, but you [won’t] be able to move the way you’d like to, or you can opt for surgery. Then you’ll be able to get back to yourself 100 percent.’ I immediately opted for surgery.”Asked why, he explains, “I don’t want to be 60 percent injured. I want to be 100 percent [well].”But going under the knife meant that Williams ultimately had to take an eight-week break from teaching classes and working out in his downtime. For him, it wasn’t a daunting prospect, as he says, “I love exercise. I’m not addicted to exercise, and there’s a big difference in that."“So, with me making the decision to have the surgery, it didn’t even cross my mind that I wouldn’t be working out for X amount of time," he continues.In fact, Williams admits he did “nothing” for most of that time. “No running. No movement for six weeks. Zero. I did nothing," he says.Adrian Williams teaches running, rowing and strength training classes.PelotonIt’s a far cry from the level of activity that sparked the injury in the first place. Williams was away at a fitness retreat in Upstate New York in 2018 when he hyperextended his arm while doing a bear crawl.He says, “It was a 100-yard gallop up the hill and then a bear crawl back down to the hotel. I was crawling back down, and we didn’t happen to see this hole that was kind of in the earth. I fell into that hole, and it came down to my arm. My arm hyperextended. I got really nervous.”Acting on instinct, Williams says he pushed his arm “back into place and never thought about it again.”“It was probably sore the next day,” he adds. That was until that morning in February when he woke up with his arm locked into place.Williams was later told that, while his arm felt fine, his body grew bone spurs to protect the joint that he hyperextended and pushed back into place.“As a spur grows, it stops [movement] from happening. And then there were pieces that were hitting nerves in my arm and affecting my grip and things like that,” Williams says. “I didn’t want to hurt myself one day or long term or suffer nerve damage. So, that’s why I [had] surgery.”Adrian Williams announced his return to teaching on Instagram.Adrian Williams/InstagramThe instructor went to the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York, which is renowned for treating top professional athletes.Williams says, “They’re amazing. I went there for surgery [where they shaved the bone down] and PT [physical therapy]. Surgery was quick and easy. I think it was an hour. Went home the next day and then I started my rehab journey.”Despite not having exercise as an outlet, Williams says he leaned into his other hobbies to staysane.“Because working out for me is work, and then I also do it on my own, it’s important for me to have other interests," he says.Listing non-workout activities that give him joy, Williams notes, “I love photography. I like going for a long ride in my car. That’s a big one. I call it moving meditation."“It’s the quiet and, honestly, it’s the power of being in a machine that makes me feel some sort of way. And Istarted meditatinga lot, which I’d been neglecting for a while, and now that’s part of my daily practice," he continues.Williams adds, “It was one of those moments where I just paid attention to other areas of my life that needed a little bit of TLC.”Adrian Williams is back teaching classes and lifting weights after an eight-week period of rest and recovery.PelotonIn the end, Williams says it took him just two weeks to “feel back to normal” when he finally started exercising again.The Bronx native, who ran track when he was growing up and became a personal trainer in his 20s, says, “I’m 39 and I’ve done this more than half of my life. My body’s not going to forget something that was habitual. It knows. Your body is one of the best computers. It knows, it’s stored, and it learns to be stronger.”While he admits resuming cardio exercise like running “was tough,” he says his strength “popped back in two weeks.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Williams now hopes that his healing experience will be valuable for others, especially his followers and Peloton’s army of fans, whether they take classes at home or in person at the company’s live studios in New York and London.“We hear this constantly in the studio. People have ailments and they don’t want to get them taken care of because they know it means stopping whatever form of exercise that they’re into,” he says. “Why get to the point of being broken, if you can take care of something now? Why get to the point where you’re doing more damage over a longer course of time, versus, here’s the problem, let me fix it?”Adrian Williams in Los Angeles in July, leading a pre-workout warmup session during a stop on Peloton on Tour 2023.Scott WildNow that he has recovered, Williams is being intentional about sharing his message, as he did in Los Angeles earlier this month, when he and colleagues likeKendall TooleandBen Alldiskicked offPeloton on Tour 2023. (The tour, which runs through October, will give fans in the U.S., London and Germany a chance to work out with their favorite instructors.)He says, “This is a part of [my] story, but it’s also giving people the information. This is my job. This is my livelihood, but it was okay for me to take this break and I’m better."
Adrian Williamswoke up one day earlier this year with his left arm locked at a 90-degree angle.
“I couldn’t get it down,” thePelotoninstructor tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.
After getting an MRI scan, he was told that he had developed a bone growth around his joint. It was treatable, but the 39-year-old New Yorker — who teaches running,rowingand strength classes on the popularfitnessapp — was faced with a choice.
Adrian Williams is sharing his story of recovery and healing after an arm injury.Peloton
Williams says, “The option was, ‘You can continue to do movement, but you [won’t] be able to move the way you’d like to, or you can opt for surgery. Then you’ll be able to get back to yourself 100 percent.’ I immediately opted for surgery.”
Asked why, he explains, “I don’t want to be 60 percent injured. I want to be 100 percent [well].”
But going under the knife meant that Williams ultimately had to take an eight-week break from teaching classes and working out in his downtime. For him, it wasn’t a daunting prospect, as he says, “I love exercise. I’m not addicted to exercise, and there’s a big difference in that."
“So, with me making the decision to have the surgery, it didn’t even cross my mind that I wouldn’t be working out for X amount of time," he continues.
In fact, Williams admits he did “nothing” for most of that time. “No running. No movement for six weeks. Zero. I did nothing," he says.
Adrian Williams teaches running, rowing and strength training classes.Peloton
It’s a far cry from the level of activity that sparked the injury in the first place. Williams was away at a fitness retreat in Upstate New York in 2018 when he hyperextended his arm while doing a bear crawl.
He says, “It was a 100-yard gallop up the hill and then a bear crawl back down to the hotel. I was crawling back down, and we didn’t happen to see this hole that was kind of in the earth. I fell into that hole, and it came down to my arm. My arm hyperextended. I got really nervous.”
Acting on instinct, Williams says he pushed his arm “back into place and never thought about it again.”
“It was probably sore the next day,” he adds. That was until that morning in February when he woke up with his arm locked into place.
Williams was later told that, while his arm felt fine, his body grew bone spurs to protect the joint that he hyperextended and pushed back into place.
“As a spur grows, it stops [movement] from happening. And then there were pieces that were hitting nerves in my arm and affecting my grip and things like that,” Williams says. “I didn’t want to hurt myself one day or long term or suffer nerve damage. So, that’s why I [had] surgery.”
Adrian Williams announced his return to teaching on Instagram.Adrian Williams/Instagram
Adrian Williams/Instagram
The instructor went to the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York, which is renowned for treating top professional athletes.
Williams says, “They’re amazing. I went there for surgery [where they shaved the bone down] and PT [physical therapy]. Surgery was quick and easy. I think it was an hour. Went home the next day and then I started my rehab journey.”
Despite not having exercise as an outlet, Williams says he leaned into his other hobbies to staysane.
“Because working out for me is work, and then I also do it on my own, it’s important for me to have other interests," he says.
Listing non-workout activities that give him joy, Williams notes, “I love photography. I like going for a long ride in my car. That’s a big one. I call it moving meditation."
“It’s the quiet and, honestly, it’s the power of being in a machine that makes me feel some sort of way. And Istarted meditatinga lot, which I’d been neglecting for a while, and now that’s part of my daily practice," he continues.
Williams adds, “It was one of those moments where I just paid attention to other areas of my life that needed a little bit of TLC.”
Adrian Williams is back teaching classes and lifting weights after an eight-week period of rest and recovery.Peloton
In the end, Williams says it took him just two weeks to “feel back to normal” when he finally started exercising again.
The Bronx native, who ran track when he was growing up and became a personal trainer in his 20s, says, “I’m 39 and I’ve done this more than half of my life. My body’s not going to forget something that was habitual. It knows. Your body is one of the best computers. It knows, it’s stored, and it learns to be stronger.”
While he admits resuming cardio exercise like running “was tough,” he says his strength “popped back in two weeks.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Williams now hopes that his healing experience will be valuable for others, especially his followers and Peloton’s army of fans, whether they take classes at home or in person at the company’s live studios in New York and London.
“We hear this constantly in the studio. People have ailments and they don’t want to get them taken care of because they know it means stopping whatever form of exercise that they’re into,” he says. “Why get to the point of being broken, if you can take care of something now? Why get to the point where you’re doing more damage over a longer course of time, versus, here’s the problem, let me fix it?”
Adrian Williams in Los Angeles in July, leading a pre-workout warmup session during a stop on Peloton on Tour 2023.Scott Wild
Scott Wild
Now that he has recovered, Williams is being intentional about sharing his message, as he did in Los Angeles earlier this month, when he and colleagues likeKendall TooleandBen Alldiskicked offPeloton on Tour 2023. (The tour, which runs through October, will give fans in the U.S., London and Germany a chance to work out with their favorite instructors.)
He says, “This is a part of [my] story, but it’s also giving people the information. This is my job. This is my livelihood, but it was okay for me to take this break and I’m better."
source: people.com
