Iron Anatomy Personal Training and Fitness Coach

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.