Learning to Fly. Again. (Feat. Sam Constantin)

Sam Constantine, welcome to the show.

Hey, Matt, glad to be here.

I'm so glad to talk to you.

I saw you last year at the 2025 CrossFit Games.

You were in the neuro major division and it was really cool to just watch you moving across the floor.

You could tell from your leg braces that, you know, moving across the floor was an effort for you, but you were so strong and it was fun to watch you and see you just compete.

And then this year, you were in my division.

I wasn't competing, but I was cheering you on as I was cheering on the other guys in the division.

So I'm excited to talk to you and hear a little bit about your story.

So let's just start right with it, right? If someone Googles you, they're probably going to find the CrossFit story about what happened to you on the accident that you were in.

So tell me about what happened to you a couple of years ago.

So almost three years ago, I was doing skydiving.

My goal was to be an instructor and a make other people jump on a everyday basis.

And, uh, one day I just went to the, to the drop zone and I did a drum when, uh, where I, uh, I did a maneuver where I need to take some speed before my landing to like really float just above the ground, like the, the, the making the most distance possible.

Mm-hmm.

And then like my maneuver, I did it a little bit too low.

So when I finished my maneuver, I didn't have time to break.

And I just like hit the ground at a hundred kilometers.

A hundred kilometers per hour.

Yeah.

So like 60 miles per hour.

Yeah, exactly.

Wow.

So at this moment I broke my spine.

I got paralyzed from the hips.

Sam Constantine, welcome to the show.

Hey, Matt, glad to be here.

I'm so glad to talk to you.

I saw you last year at the 2025 CrossFit Games.

You were in the neuro major division and it was really cool to just watch you moving across the floor.

You could tell from your leg braces that, you know, moving across the floor was an effort for you, but you were so strong and it was fun to watch you and see you just compete.

And then this year, you were in my division.

I wasn't competing, but I was cheering you on as I was cheering on the other guys in the division.

So I'm excited to talk to you and hear a little bit about your story.

So let's just start right with it, right? If someone Googles you, they're probably going to find the CrossFit story about what happened to you on the accident that you were in.

So tell me about what happened to you a couple of years ago.

So almost three years ago, I was doing skydiving.

My goal was to be an instructor and a make other people jump on a everyday basis.

And, uh, one day I just went to the, to the drop zone and I did a drum when, uh, where I, uh, I did a maneuver where I need to take some speed before my landing to like really float just above the ground, like the, the, the making the most distance possible.

Mm-hmm.

And then like my maneuver, I did it a little bit too low.

So when I finished my maneuver, I didn't have time to break.

And I just like hit the ground at a hundred kilometers.

A hundred kilometers per hour.

Yeah.

So like 60 miles per hour.

Yeah, exactly.

Wow.

So at this moment I broke my spine.

I got paralyzed from the hips.