Biohacking With JohnXD: A Personal Account of His Journey into Wellness

The Beginning

I was born in 1974, and underwent a critical open heart surgery just four years later.  Six months after surgery I was living the typical, active lifestyle of a young boy - playing hockey and riding mini motorcycles.  My childhood was strained as my father underwent back surgery in 1983 and developed an addiction to pain meds, which was enhanced by alcohol.  During this time, I  utilized sports as an escape and a coping mechanism. 

Riding ATVs and waterskiing in the summer and playing hockey and ice skating in the winter.  Post high school graduation, the summer was spent keeping in shape by working on a lobster boat in Rhode Island, before shipping off to the Navy.

Military

In January of 1993, I was shipped to Great Lakes, IL for two extremely cold months as I attended US Navy Boot Camp.  Soon after attending Boot Camp, I arrived in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where I spent three years aboard a Nuclear Fast Attack Submarine. This grueling lifestyle was not conducive to health and wellness. After the military the intention was to seek warmer weather comparable to Hawaii, so Florida was the choice. There, the next 17 years would be forged.

Wellness Journey

At 29, I was in poor shape weighing in at 240 pounds.  A friend introduced Gold’s Gym as an option and with dedication and discipline, in less than one year, I was down to 180lbs and just 14% body fat.

From 2003-2010 JohnXD was born out of necessity, both for a way for people to remember me, and my company at the time, Xtremely Digital. These years were spent being a pro photographer with a magazine traveling all over Florida covering events including fights, both MMA and Boxing, working with athletes, and building a network.

After relocating to Colorado In 2017, a long time friend introduced me to OsteoStrong and biohacking. Here is where my endless research started on biohacking and all the natural ways to heal and grow. One year later, I was given a unique opportunity to move to Las Vegas, NV. Within one month of arriving, I was able to connect with Osteostrong Vegas and explain the intention to build the program.  During 2019 while doing Osteostrong sessions, learning the industry, seeing the results and becoming a raving fan, I partnered with the original owners to grow Osteostrong and ultimately help the Vegas community. 

Then, in 2020, Covid hit and shut the world down.  During Covid, my team and I decided to move Osteostrong to a more prominent location which allowed them to offer additional modalities like the Biocharger and Red Light Therapy.  And, when we opened back up in 2022, we started seeing immediate results from all types of members within months of starting the program. The addition of energy therapy and red light significantly amplified people’s results.

At that time, like many others, I was overweight and not in optimal health due to a very sedentary lifestyle during the Covid shutdown - I was 230lbs, so I was looking for solutions, too. Starting to work out and doing the Osteostrong program was a great start, but the amplification came in August of 2022. I was introduced to B3 Sciences BFR Bands (Blood Flow Restriction). This was a game changer! Workouts could be cut in ⅓ of what I used to do, and get better results with less weight. This means no more damage. Once using the bands for 2 workouts I called the owner Dr. Mike, and joined the company as a Founder. He and I have been on a mission to change lives ever since. Technology that is this good and effective needs to be available and introduced to everyone. That’s why I’m wearing them on this cover!  In September of 2022 I stepped up the game with adding a Full Body Vibration plate into the mix. BFR plus Full Body Vibration is a whole new level of muscle burn. As a creative person, I always look for a new way to do something. Having a virtual reality gaming system, I was curious if it could be incorporated into workouts. I started with Beat Saber due to the arm movements, plus hand eye coordination benefits, and figured with BFR there should be a good burn. I was right, especially if I added hand or wrist weights. Now the other game I focussed on was Creed, which is a VR boxing game. This game is pretty intense while using BFR, and fantastic to continue my hand eye coordination training. One day I decided to try something really crazy and do VR Beat Saber with BFR Bands, on Full Body Vibration. This is what I was looking for! Every muscle, every movement matters. These are the type of workouts I need to be doing- efficient, effective, no damage, and all about results.

While on this path I had been doing a lot of research on supplementation and nutrition, and also recovery. With BFR there is minimal recovery because you’re not doing that damage, but proper recovery is still important to build muscle. Another important aspect is blood circulation, and it’s one of those things most people don’t think about. Poor blood flow will hinder your results. So as I start to ramp up supplementation to help with these factors, and of course research shows BFR bands help with a natural Nitric Oxide release and HGH (Human Growth Hormone) production. Nitric Oxide is a natural vasodilator for blood vessels, and HGH stimulates protein synthesis for muscle repair and growth, collagen boost to repair tendons, ligaments and skin, and even helps with the body’s inflammatory response, helping reduce inflammation. 

Inflammation is a very big topic nowadays, and having Red Light Therapy in my Osteostrong Center I wanted to learn as much as I could about it and be a component of that, too. Learning how great it was for anti inflammation, skin health, mitochondria support, collagen boost, testosterone boost, improved circulation, and the list goes on.I decided to get one and try it out. I received my own personal Red Light on Nov 10, 2022 and I started using it for 12 min per session, once in the morning and once at night. To this day I have the same routine, I don’t miss Red Light. The benefits are not only visible, but I really do feel better. Red light is part of my “non negotiables” list. There are a few things on there like B3 BFR Bands, and Vibration, as well. Basically these are things I will not live without again. They are not only affordable, but extremely valuable for their price. I have always looked at myself as an investment, and what better investment to make than myself? We only get one body! 

Biohacking Las Vegas

As I continued my wellness journey, I attended several networking meetings a month, but just could not seem to find the health and wellness people. As it turned out, me and my good friend Gary were having the same issue. It was then that I decided to start Biohacking Las Vegas, a group that could hold monthly meetings for businesses to network and bring biohacking information to the community.  With Gary’s help, Biohacking Las Vegas held their first meeting.  Unfortunately there were only 6 attendees, and I knew immediately that they had quite a bit of work to do in order to build the group. Today, each meeting has over 40 attendees and an array of different health and wellness focused businesses. Biohacking Las Vegas continues to grow and enhance the biohacking movement here in Las Vegas. Monthly meetings are always free to attend!

The Biohacking Las Vegas Network

Biohacking involves making changes to our bodies, lifestyles or environment in an effort to maximize our health.  While putting forth the effort to extend our longevity, which is both lifespan and healthspan, we have to look at the things we can do that offer the most value.

I have built an amazing biohacking network thus far..  The meetings have garnered me some now life long friends for which I am extremely grateful. I am always the first to say that “the health and wellness industry here in Vegas is amazing.”  

Business owners like Earl and Katrina at Hydration Station have now become a part of my family. Their hydrogen water is an integral part of my home as well as my business. I also was able to meet Michelle and her husband over at Body20 where an EMS suit provides muscle contractions while doing a simple 20 minute workout. Body20 has an InBody scan to see your body metrics which helps track your results. I have also added in compression therapy, as well. The concept of the compression is to push blood and lymph out of the limbs more effectively, by improving blood circulation, and therefore reducing muscle soreness and fatigue.

John’s Non-Negotiables

I’d like to circle back to something I mentioned called my “non negotiables” list. These are things that are just too valuable to me, that I will continue to use for the rest of my life.

Here’s a couple more to add to my list: ASEA Redox, and ASEA Renu Gel, and Timeline Nutrition’s Mitopure. Up until October 7, 2023 I was getting post Covid migraine headaches. I’ve never really had headaches before, so this was not fun for me. I got introduced to Asea from a fellow biohacker friend. I did the research; it all makes sense, your body makes less redox signaling molecules as you get older. Mitochondria support and cell health is very important to being healthy. I tried my first bottle of ASEA, which has a slight saline taste to it, but it’s very drinkable. One bottle in, which was 2oz in the morning, 2oz at night, I felt different. Something immediately changed. To this day I have not missed a day of ASEA, nor will I. My energy is different (ask anyone who knows me). I feel more alive, and most importantly I haven’t had a post Covid migraine since I started taking it. I also have added the supplement Mitopure to increase mitochondrial strength and function. Recently, I added an Align PEMF mat to my nightly routine, while doing compression which in the wellness world is called stacking, or combining biohacks.

The future of health and wellness is here, especially in Las Vegas. There are so many businesses dedicated to this community just trying to get people to be the best versions of themselves! 

Look for my upcoming monthly column, Biohacking with JohnXD where I will discuss all things biohacking and highlight our local health and wellness businesses. 

Connect with John and follow him on his wellness journey:

JohnXD

IG: johnxd247

B3 Bands

IG: johnxdb3

Biohacking Las Vegas

IG: biohackinglasvegas

Web: biohackinglv.com

OsteoStrong

IG: osteostronggclv

Web: osteostronglv.com