After shattering his sternum and back in six places 30 months ago during an off-roading accident near Kelowna that required him to be locked into a halo brace during his recovery, then-36-year-old Ed Sebastian gained 60 pounds and was “afraid to go to the gym.”

Sebastian needed a kindred spirit, someone who understood his predicament and could restore his well-being. He found that guy in Rod Flahr, a trainer who knew first-hand what it took to recover from a life-threatening injury.

While moving to Regina for business purposes and divesting himself of that motorized side-by-side vehicle he had flipped in the backwoods, Sebastian was introduced to Flahr, fitness director at The Nest Health Centre, by managing director Ankit Kapur. Sebastian was planning to build rental housing in Regina’s core neighbourhood while Kapur was establishing an integrated health/fitness centre nearby.

They meshed nearly as well as the other duo, who have become nearly inseparable through the past months, with Flahr overseeing Sebastian’s full-fledged commitment to health through regular workouts, proper eating and no more alcohol. Sebastian has lost 70 pounds.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with personal trainers over the years and never, ever really saw the results,” said Sebastian. “I was about 240ish and dropped some after the injury, but then I ballooned to just shy of 300 pounds.

“I needed to take control, but I kept using my back injury as an excuse. I had built a rapport with Rod. With his history of working with pro and amateur athletes, I figured Rod was the right guy. So we started slowly”

Flahr played junior football for the Regina Rams before becoming a trainer, mentoring as a volunteer intern with well-known fitness gurus in college and pro programs that crossed paths with Anthony Munoz, Cris Carter, Alexander Ovechkin and Steve Nash. While still supervising dozens of amateur athletes and teams weekly at The Nest, Flahr counts former NHL players Peter Schaefer and Brooks Laich among his friends and past/current 27,000 clients.

“Ed was hesitant,” said Flahr. “I said, ‘Let me work on your spine, see your parameters.’ That’s what we did the first month and a half, making him comfortable enough to exercise, strengthening his back. It was a lot of anatomical adaptation and things you need a professional to help with.

“It’s probably the worst condition I’ve dealt with. Mine was the only messed-up body I had ever trained.”

That’s how he became Sebastian’s kindred spirit, because Flahr had been paralyzed and near death from a 2002 incident that also could have been avoided.

“I was coaching high school football when some gang members came to beat up one of our kids,” said Flahr. “I broke up the fight and held the guy for the cops. That was in May.

“In September, I was with a few of my hockey players shooting pool at a pool hall when (someone from the gang) hit me in the back of the head with a pool cue. Wow! A coma for three months, paralyzed for a year. They said I’d never walk, that I should accept my position in life. I told the doctor where to shove it, moved to Peter Schaefer’s place and I fixed myself.”

Watching them together or individually, Sebastian and Flahr thrive on the activities, inspired by the second chances they’ve been given to make themselves as healthy and “fixed” as possible.

“Workouts are the highlights of my day,” said Sebastian, who even takes his Flahr-designed diets and workouts along on road trips.

“I used to be the guy who hated the gym, it was the last place you would ever find me or the last place I would talk about. Now I’m trying to get everyone I know to work out at The Nest, whether it’s with me or another time.”