A Los Angeles-based member finds pain-free movement with his COACH.
Forged at Equinox is a series highlighting an Equinox member’s foray into a new workout regimen, with help from an expert Coach. The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
For at least 30 years of his life, Nick Friedberg battled the looming prospect of an invasive spinal surgery. In the decades after suffering a back injury at 16, his spine would regularly “lock up” — “I'd have to lie on the floor for two days,” he says. He flowed through yoga, practiced Pilates, received electrostimulation, Rolfing, and deep tissue treatments — trying everything he could to feel pain relief without heading to the operating room, he recalls.
“I finally hit the wall with that when my kids were young and we were in Mexico,” says Nick, the founder of NSF Clothing (available in select Equinox Shops). “My back would always lock up when I was on vacation with my family. So I finally was like, ‘That's it. I can't do this anymore.’”
In late 2020, he met with a new doctor who told him that his lower spine was 90 percent compressed, and his right hip wasn’t functioning well, either. Surgery, the doctor said, was the only way forward.
Looking back, the two titanium discs now installed in his spine “changed my life,” Nick says. Given his long athletic history — he's played a laundry list of sports — recovery was quick; he was up and walking the day of the procedure, says Nick. About a year later, he joined the Club down the road from his house, Equinox Miracle Mile, and started training solo. “I kind of did my own thing for, like, at least a year,” says Nick. “[But] I had always worked out with a personal trainer previously. It was always something that was very beneficial for me…I didn't want to have any setbacks in terms of what I had been through and the surgery.”
Enter: COACH+ Andy Bowland, whom Nick spotted across the Club and instantly wanted to chat up. “First of all, he's long and lean, which is something I aspire to be and never will be,” Nick jokes. “But he was always doing very, very weird, unconventional stuff — and that's the stuff I love.”
Andy was up for the challenge of working with a member relatively fresh off back surgery. (It helped that Nick is “the coolest dude.”) “This was my fifth or sixth year at Equinox, so I had already worked with a lot of individuals, and that was one of my specialties — teaching people how to move properly, aiding them in recovery, rehabbing things, strengthening, stabilizing so that they can feel better in their body and not have pain anymore,” says Andy. “I was really excited [to work with Nick.] I was like, ‘Sign me up, man. This is going to be fun.’ And that's all it is. It seems like every time I see him, we're just hanging out, but we're getting things done and we're trying to improve each other.”
Since 2021, the duo have continued training in the Club three times a week and have overcome what many would call a major obstacle — a full hip replacement. Their main focus? Keeping the newly pain-free Nick moving well for years to come.
“I'm turning 49, and I've watched most of my friends around me completely let themselves go. I like to challenge myself, and I hold myself to a different standard. For me, it's just about maintaining a certain physical state [with] food and exercise,” says Nick. “I don't want to get any bigger. I'm not trying to lose a ton of weight. I'm very content with where I'm at. I gotta watch my diet and continue to work out with Andy and do all these things that are going to build longevity and physical health.”
Here, Nick and Andy open up about training for longevity and its real-life benefits, navigating movement post-hip surgery, and the value of working with an Equinox Coach.
With your focus on enhancing longevity, what do your typical training sessions look like?
Andy: “Longevity is really about building the stability in [Nick’s] body and his core strength, and from there, we work around that to challenge him in different ways, to really connect to his body. It's more about the mind-muscle connection for him, stabilizing, knowing where we're strengthening, so that when he does that movement, he's getting a lot more out of that. Some days, he'll come in and he's really sore, so we know it's a mobility day. We’ll work really on flexibility, mobility — and he's really good at that stuff.
“He makes me feel comfortable, because he's comfortable doing the things as well. He doesn't make me feel rushed, like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to create this for him, create that for him.’ He trusts in the process. So whatever I give him, he does it.
“Longevity for him means waking up [without] having back pain, waking up feeling like he can get out of bed, walk around and operate and not have to worry about any of those issues that he's had before.”
RELATED: The Equinox Longevity Assessment
What improvements have you seen, in and out of the Club?
Nick: “There are so many things that I've learned through working out with Andy. Like, I was just doing it wrong, and that's why I was always hurt. He’s very much changed my connection. I don't think I had ever used my glutes or my stomach. Even when I was working on my chest, I was actually just doing shoulders — that's why my shoulders are big, huge.
“Form is everything, and that's what we really, really focus on. And it's fucking uncomfortable, and I totally feel the benefits in the most practical ways. If I'm playing catch with my son, if I'm batting with my son, if I'm pitching with my son, if I'm carrying stuff around work, if I'm lugging stuff in and out of a car, if I'm carrying a suitcase, traveling, and sitting — I'm not using my back. I'm always connecting [with other muscles], and that's what's going to keep me pain-free."
Walk through the hip-replacement journey. How did you two work together to recover quickly?
Nick: “Shortly after [beginning to work with Andy], I ended up having a full hip-replacement surgery on my right hip, and instead of going to [physical therapy], I did my PT with Andy. It was amazing. I was up — I was in tremendous pain — but I was walking the same day, and I was allowed to go to the gym and do limited exercise two weeks post-surgery.”
Andy: “Nick came in a week after [the procedure] and said, ‘I want to work this hip out with you.’ So I did my research, I dialed it in, and we had to get very specific on what we did. And he listened to it every day — day in, day out. He just did everything to a T. It was amazing watching the progress, going from barely being able to move his leg to, I believe it was the seventh week, we were back to normal. Then we could go back and start strengthening other things. That was one of the biggest accomplishments, if you ask me, was that hip replacement recovery."
Nick: “Even a doctor, when I went to the follow-up, she's like, ‘Oh my God, it's crazy how quickly you recovered.’ I'm good at following the script with rehab. I’m like, ‘I want to get out of here as quickly as possible.’”
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How does cardiorespiratory fitness fit into the picture?
Andy: “When we first started training…Nick hated running. I hate running. So [I said], ‘Don't worry, we'll find other areas, other things.’ His endurance has gotten better over time. So for him, it was more about putting him on the Airdyne bike — he would do sprint stuff, rather than long-term running. And for me, I understood that it wasn't just about the endurance for him, it was more about how it made his body feel. If he's running and bouncing and his core isn't connected, his back's going to start hurting, his hip is off. So you’ve got to find areas of opportunities for him to do other cardio that's not going to make him feel pain.”
Nick: “Listen, you get older, you get slower, you don't have as much stamina. I'm not someone who enjoys cardio…I never enjoyed running. So when we work out at a certain pace — where we're bouncing from one exercise to the other exercise to the other exercise — and he's got all these things that he throws in that get my heart rate up, I don't even realize it until I'm halfway through it. And after, I'm like, ‘Oh my god.’”
What do you wish other members knew about working with a Coach?
Nick: “If you're at the gym, it means you want to better yourself. It's like finding a therapist — you may have to go through four or five before you really click with someone. But if you've made it to the gym and you've got your own goal, talk to a professional…You'll reach your goal so much quicker or else you [might] hurt yourself or you’re going to get discouraged.”
Andy: “It takes vulnerability to step into the room and do an assessment with the trainer. It is intimidating, but if they can get over that fear and just go in, keep an open mind, they're going to get some insight on areas of improvement — even if they don't sign up. Trainers are always there to help them see those opportunities. And they'll walk out of the room learning at least one thing, I guarantee it.
“If they want to sign up, that's awesome, because now they're taking that step to improve themselves a little more. Studying something is going to take you how many years to master it, but if you go to somebody and learn it from them, it's going to cut that time down. Like Nick said, you could be doing something wrong. When you get that extra eye and they coach you — they give you a little snippet of how to change that and it clicks — that right there is worth every penny. That's going to set you up for the future.”