Unfamiliar Ground
PJ’s Adaptive Workout at ADK Fitness - Sept 13, 2026
PJ, the reason this morning came together in the first place. His adaptive workout invited everyone at ADK Fitness to approach familiar movements from a different perspective.
My connection to ADK Fitness started with PJ. I first reached out after hearing about the adaptive workout he was planning. That conversation led to an invitation to photograph the Iz Memorial Workout. I wrote more about that first visit here: Following the Story: A Memorial Workout at ADK Fitness
A Room With a Pulse
That first visit gave me a glimpse into a community I had almost no exposure to before. The room is built for effort. Steel, rubber, ropes, bars, racks, and machines, all there to demand something from you. Without the people, though, it would still just be a room. They give it a pulse.
Speakers filled the space with bass heavy pump up music as weights rattled, bars struck the floor, and voices rose above the noise.
When I returned for PJ’s workout, I brought that first experience with me. I was there to document the event that started our conversation, but I was also paying closer attention to the people around it.
Changing the Terms
The workout used one armed adaptive exercises that changed the terms for everyone. A small modification turned a familiar movement into something that had to be figured out again.
PJ was not the only amputee taking part. Andy Godard, a below knee amputee and coach with the Glens Falls Greenjackets, joined the workout as well.
For a while, everyone was working from unfamiliar ground.
The goal was not to recreate someone else’s experience, but to offer a brief glimpse into it. However temporary or incomplete, even a small shift can change the way you see things.
The room settled into the challenge quickly. People adjusted on the fly, laughed when coordination failed them, and encouraged each other when things clicked.
PJ seemed perfectly content to avoid the exercises for a while, watching and recording as everyone else took them on. He had organized the event and, for a moment, simply got to enjoy it. Eventually, he worked in a few reps of his own.
The next day, PJ was set to leave in his motorhome on a cross country trip to meet other amputees, work out with them, and share their stories. You can follow and support the journey through his Cross Country Journey for Amputee Awareness.
What Stayed With Me
I was working from unfamiliar ground, too. I came into these events with little exposure to this kind of fitness community, and each visit has changed what I notice when I walk into the room.
By the end of the workout, the unfamiliar had become shared ground.
Sometimes you have to leave what feels familiar before you can see things differently.
Learn more about ADK Fitness or support PJ’s Cross Country Journey for Amputee Awareness.
Following the Story: A Memorial Workout at ADK Fitness
A story about PJ Cote led somewhere unexpected: a memorial workout at ADK Fitness honoring its founder, Israel “Iz” Deltoro, and the community he helped build.
The community that gathered at ADK Fitness for the Iz Memorial Workout. PJ Cote, whose story first brought me to the gym, is kneeling at the bottom left. It was through PJ that I was invited to document this afternoon and given my first glimpse into the community Iz helped build.
Where the Story Started
I originally reached out to PJ Cote after hearing about an event he’s hosting at ADK Fitness in Glens Falls. PJ is a local upper extremity amputee who trains at the gym, and his story caught my attention. I introduced myself through a local Glens Falls community page and asked if he would be open to having me come along with a camera and document the event.
That was supposed to be where this story started.
Before PJ’s event could happen, though, he invited me to a memorial workout honoring Israel “Iz” Deltoro, the founder of ADK Fitness, who recently passed away. So, a little earlier than expected, I found myself walking into the gym with my camera.
One more rep. Surrounded by encouragement, PJ Cote works through the barbell during the Iz Memorial Workout at ADK Fitness.
Remembering Israel “Iz” Deltoro
I didn’t know Israel and never had the opportunity to meet him, so I can’t pretend to tell his story. What I could see was what he meant to the people around him. Iz’s commitment to the community was evident, and his absence was clearly felt in the number of people who came together to remember him.
The memorial took the form of a CrossFit workout. There were weights hitting the floor, chalk in the air and people pushing themselves through another repetition. But I was just as interested in everything happening around the workout: people catching their breath, encouraging each other and the quieter moments in between.
Following Rather Than Covering
I wasn’t there to cover an event in the traditional sense. There was no shot list or expectation that I photograph every participant. I was there to observe and photograph the moments that felt meaningful as they unfolded.
That’s the kind of work I want to make more of around Glens Falls and the surrounding region. I’m interested in the people who make up this area and the communities they create. I don’t necessarily want to arrive knowing what the story is supposed to be. Part of the process is listening, paying attention and seeing where one connection leads.
In this case, I reached out because I wanted to photograph PJ. Instead, that connection first brought me into a room full of people remembering Israel Deltoro, someone I had never met but whose influence on the community around him was impossible to miss.
Where It Goes Next
Next week, I’ll return to ADK Fitness for the event that originally brought PJ’s story to my attention. I’ll spend more time with him, learn more about his story and continue photographing a community that I’ve only just begun to get to know.
I don’t know exactly where the project will lead yet, and that’s part of what interests me about it. Sometimes following a local story means giving it enough time and space to show you where it wants to go.
A selection of photographs from the Iz Memorial Workout. Use the arrows on either side to move through the gallery and follow the morning as it unfolded.
