Revved Up: John's Road to Redemption
From Rock Bottom to Full Throttle
Meet John Pretti.
Born in 1964 and raised in Germany by a German mother and American father, who was a military officer in the U.S. Army. He grew up as an athlete, playing and competing in soccer, football, basketball, and wrestling.
In 1988, he moved to the United States and became a police officer at the age of 24 and later joined the Pennsylvania and Florida National Guard. John got by with limited physical training as he simply wasn’t interested and lacked discipline.
Fast forward to 2010, after working 22 years as a law enforcement officer, the job began to take its toll in the form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Deep in his battle with depression, John turned to alcohol for comfort for nearly two years - almost losing his family along with everything else. He knew he had to get help. In 2012, he joined CrossFit Black Box in Tallahassee and there he discovered a place to channel his emotions and stress. He found relief.
In 2014 at 50 years old, John retired from law enforcement and bought a motorcycle training business and a home near Monticello, Florida and eventually discontinued his membership at CrossFit Black Box in 2019 due to the long commute. He was busy running his business and had begun working at a horse farm with his daughters which gave him more time with his family and helped with his PTSD.
Life was good. Until it wasn’t.
On September 26, 2023 at 2:00 pm, John’s life changed dramatically. While he was riding his motorcycle, he hit a coyote at full speed with an impact so violent, it threw him off his motorcycle. He endured two surgeries - one for his left shoulder where he received two long metal rods held in place with about 8 screws and one for his hip which needed two long screws to hold it in place. He broke 8 ribs and needed to have his ear stitched together by a plastic surgeon.
He suffered traumatic injuries, but he survived.
After spending a weekend in the hospital, he was sent home to recover for a couple of months before beginning physical rehabilitation. Even with the rehab, he wasn’t able to sit for longer than 30 minutes without his hip or shoulder aching. During this time, he lost his motorcycle training business and could no longer physically perform work at the horse farm. Depression began to creep up again along with his weight. His physician diagnosed him as pre-diabetic with an HbA1C of 6.0%.
In conjunction with taking medication for depression, he began taking a GLP-1 to help with weight loss and hopefully lower his A1C. But these things weren’t really moving the needle. John was still struggling.
In late May of 2024, John discovered Rose City Barbell Club. He saw our gym on Facebook and noticed the military flags and photos of first responders. He even saw a photo of his neighbor, Duke, an Army veteran, working out here. It looked familiar, like home. He scheduled his one-on-one consultation with Coach Nick, they created a plan, and began putting in the work.
It’s been just over a year since John joined our gym and he’s made significant lifestyle changes and progress. Coach Nick brought John back to the basics and laid a strong foundation in functional movement, helping him increase his strength, mobility, stamina, and endurance - domains of his fitness that were heavily impacted by his motorcycle accident. At the age of 61 and even after shoulder and hip surgeries, John has conquered squats, push-ups, rope climbs, and so much more.
A few months after joining RCBC, John sat down with Coach Abrie and together, they assessed his existing diet and metabolic markers. They decided on some nutritional changes he could make to improve his health - namely increasing his protein and fat intake and reducing his consumption of carbohydrates and sugar. He started making measurable progress with every monthly check-in. After his most recent check-up with his doctor in September 2025, we’re proud to share that John has a normal HbA1C of 5.4% and healthy triglyceride levels. John no longer requires any medications for depression, diabetes, or cholesterol and has quit both dipping snuff and drinking alcohol. He’s gained 8.6 pounds of lean muscle and lost 31.2 pounds of body fat since the start of his journey with us.
When we asked John why he trains at Rose City Barbell Club, he said “I feel so much better mentally and physically. I can ride my motorcycle from tank full to empty. I can tow a horse trailer to Virginia, I can climb a ladder, I can get off the toilet and I am off depression drugs. These were daily struggles until I walked into the doors of Rose City Barbell Club. There were numerous times that I wanted to quit. It was easier to lay on the couch and blame everything and everyone. But then I think about the banner hanging on the wall at Rose City Barbell that reads “Nobody Cares, Work Harder”. It always reminds me to stop feeling sorry for myself and get busy making a better me. Working on me has become my job now. I go to the gym at 8:00 AM because I finally told myself that this is my life now. My full-time job.”
Since working with RCBC, John has attended many of our community “coffee talks” with one in particular led by Lexi Davis, a licensed counselor and owner of SISU Elite Performance. Lexi’s talk and engaging discussion positively contributed to John’s mental health journey and led him to work on box breathing and meditation - and he felt encouraged to seek professional help through FSU’s Neuromodulation for TMS therapy (transcranial magnetic stimulation) - all of which has helped him make tremendous progress with his mental health.
John would also like to give a big shout out to Major Mark Welch (retired) from the Florida Highway Patrol. “He has helped and continues to help me in my struggles with my mental health as my own agency kind of let me down when I retired. In their defense, there wasn’t much support in mental health back in 2014. Police officers suffer from PTSD, they just hate to admit it and hide behind the shield and drink for happiness,” said John.
When we asked John about what’s next for him at Rose City Barbell, he said “I am just hanging on for the ride! See you in the gym!”
As his coaches, we (Nick and Abrie) want to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to John for trusting us with his journey and allowing us to share his story with the rest of the world. We’re so proud of his progress, admire his work ethic, and love his presence in the gym every day. Keep kicking ass, John!
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