Zūk Fitness founder Dillon Connolly was once an NCAA All-American swimmer. Throughout high school, his 26-hour per week training regime began at 4:45 each morning. Eventually, hard work paid off; he earned a swimming scholarship to the University of Southern California where he studied engineering. Following graduation, Dillon worked for several years as a design engineer at an aerospace company while staying in shape during his free time.

At 25 years old, Dillon was feeling stronger than ever and realized he hadn’t yet reached his athletic potential. He decided to quit his job and follow his dream and train for the 2016 Olympics. That same weekend, Dillon dove into a wave at Newport Beach, hit a sandbar, and severed his spinal cord, instantly becoming a quadriplegic.

Ever since that day in 2014, Dillon battled depression and chronic pain for years, but the two things that still gave him joy were designing adaptive devices and helping people. He also recognized how much a simple little adaptation was able to improve his life by creating a little bit of independence, and felt so fortunate that he still had his mind. He needed to take advantage of it.

Realizing how hard this life is and that so many other people were dealing with the same thing, he, at last, found his calling, his life’s purpose. He now had a MISSION: to help improve the lives of other spinal cord injuries and anyone else he could along the way. 

Thanks to the Swim with Mike Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund, he enrolled in the master’s program at USC for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, met his future co-founders, and started Zūk Fitness. And here is where the next chapter in our story begins.