It all began when I was just 13 years old. You see, I was
always athletic, but I have not always known how to train to be as strong and
fit as possible! I am going to give you a timeline to help you better
understand my journey into fitness and perhaps influence yours.
1992-1999 (GROWING UP) Wow! Amazing years! I grew up with
dreams of being a collegiate athlete. I began more serious fitness training in
high school as a Football, Wresting, and Track athlete. It was an exciting time
during my high school career. I had supportive parents who, despite their work
schedule, made it to every single sporting event that I ever had! I remember my
mom missing one game EVER in my entire high school athletic career. Although I
never became a collegiate athlete, I did gain a great deal of confidence and earned
many awards such as All District Wrestling and 2nd in Columbiana County, Ohio.
During this time, I also met one of my best friends, Scott, who encouraged and motivated
me to stay active and have fun doing it. This is truly when Personal Training
became a desire. Scott was so knowledgeable and for 3 straight years we hit the
YMCA gym to lift weights and exercise in a very serious way!
P.S. Scott now serves his community as an extremely fit Ohio
State Trooper!
1999-2003 (Higher Education) This phase of my life was
filled with higher education. During this time, I earned my bachelor’s degree
in Art Education and prepared to teach K-12 students. I learned many skills
that I would apply both to my teaching position and unknown to me at the time,
my personal training journey!
2003 -2012 (PROFESSIONAL YEARS) More professional years and
more education continued. While teaching, I had the wonderful opportunity to
coach high school athletics in all of my favorite sports. Did you guess what
they are? If you thought football, wrestling, and track, you got it. Coaching
really made me happy, engaged and fulfilled my desire to give back to young athletes.
I loved my job, my family (wife Sarah and daughter Maelee), and I thought I had
reached my goals and dreams in my life. Ha ha, boy was I in for a surprise.
Keep reading to find out what happened. This is my true “turning point…”
2006 (BODY BUILDING) This was a great learning experience. I
made countless mistakes, including not giving myself enough time to prepare. I
lost 50 pounds in 3 months, from 210 to 160 pounds. I would never recommend
losing weight like I did! Very unhealthy! I did however, meet my goals and beat
out some of the competition. Just as a side note, this was not my favorite
experience because I found the environment to be somewhat too self-infatuated.
Remember, I like to be a servant of people. I did not win the competition, but I
did get into great shape again. Honestly, a little too good. I was at around 8%
body fat which compromised my ability to keep muscle. I learned a great deal
from this experience regarding how to help others safely. If you you scroll down, you’ll see that they spray tanned me to look like an Oompa Loompa. If you think I look funny, no problem, I laugh at the photo every time I see it!
2010 (POWER LIFTING) This was so much fun! I learned great
form for lifting through application and gained extreme power with a deadlift
of 455 pounds, a squat of 400 pounds, and a bench of 320 (I’m at 365 now!) pounds. I learned that if I keep my elbows in, I can lift more weight! ;) I was proud to bring home awards this time (and huge, massive pieces of rock
awards…)
2012 (THE BOTTOM FELL OUT) Oh how did it ever! I thought at
this time that my dreams of continuing in education were over. The State of
Ohio was experiencing extreme budget cuts in education. I was cut to part time at
Chardon Middle School. My family and I were struggling to keep our heads above
water. I needed to do something and fast! Suffering from circumstantial stress,
I gained about 50 pounds (not in muscle) and began to feel sorry for myself.
The partial loss of my job led me to self-destructive behavior, which in my
case is food. If I ended my timeline at this point, you would not be reading it.
Don’t worry it gets better!
2012 -2020 (NEVER GIVE UP) I was taught at a very young boy
to never give up no matter what I am faced with. I started to look inward and
think about self-care again. I tend to shoot for the stars in this vein, so I
began to focus on losing fat and getting fit again. Along the way, I gained my personal
ISSA Personal Training Certification. I began
to build my business and work personally with clients. This helped supplement my
income and my family was able to make ends meet for the time. I began to think
outside the box. I felt that I needed to bring workouts to my clients that were
innovative a fun. This was when I began using tires, sledge hammers and other unusual
objects for weight during training. I would load them up and take them to my
clients homes, parks or where ever we were scheduled to train that day.
2012 (VIRGINIA BOUND) We moved to Virginia for a brighter
future. It wasn’t easy, leaving Ohio but we did what we had to for the
betterment of our family. I was offered a full time teaching job with Fredericksburg
City Schools. As we began to build our new lives here in VA, I built Iron Anatomy
back up and began to train locally in person and virtually!
2014 (HIGHLAND GAMES) More goal setting! Yes, I know, I
never rest lol! Through my good friend Jerry Witzman, I learned about the
Scottish games! This was a ton of fun! I threw heavy stones, “attempted” to
flip logs/cabers (another way to say this is I lifted heavy ….) and just have a
great time! It was a memorable experience and I still enjoy watching on of my
best friends compete in these yearly competitions.
2015-2020 (RE-INVENTING MYSELF) I continued my studies into school
administration. This is my current day time position. I love my job and the
people that I work with. While I studied for my Post-Secondary degree, I put my
personal training business on the back burner. This was not ideal and I would
grow to miss it. I simply had to prioritize what I needed to do to grow in the
education field. I don’t regret the decision because all of my experience lead
me to where I am and my ability to help clients reach their greatest potential!
2020 (COVID AND BUSINESS BACK ONLINE) This is such a hardship
for so many people. For a time, gyms were shut down. Many became extremely
stressed and are still feeling the stress for the months to come. My passion to
help people led me to regaining my certification and developing a reinvigorated
business model where I put you first! We are all in some way trying to overcome
our own challenges. I want to be the inspiration in peoples lives to help them
rebound. Fitness and my touch to personal training can be such a life motivator
for so many. I would love the opportunity to be your turning point in fitness. Based
on my life experiences, I believe I can help lead you to success in all areas
of your life from personal, to family, to occupational success! Thank you for
reading and supporting my dreams.