Lying on his back, Jesse Hope pumps the bar smoothly above his face. He’s pushing 225 pounds of clanking metal plates.
He cranks out 10 repetitions.
“This is just a warm-up,” the Catoosa County, Ga., native says with a smile.
Between bench press sets, he slowly rises to his feet and takes a couple shaky steps to his wheelchair. The recently pumped arms roll him to the dumbbell rack for some shoulder work.
He’s rebuilding strength at Peak Fitness in Dalton, Ga., after a few months off before the highlight of his year: competing in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games for his 11th time in August.