Hello

A Little Bit About Me...

Born and raised in the Greater Philadelphia Area (Bucks County), I grew up with athletics being a regular part of my life. I was in the pool before I was 5, and my main sports growing up were competitive swimming, soccer, and I dabbled in track as well as tennis. Fortunate that a lot of my time was spent PLAYING sports either competitively or recreationally. I played competitive sports through high school, club sports in college and summer soccer leagues after college. I then spent quite a number of years in my 30s not doing ANYTHING athletic. I spent eleven and a half years smoking at least 1 pack of cigarettes per day (closer to 2 packs a day) and beer drinking was a pretty regular aspect of life. At 5'10" and some change (I've always gone with 5'11"), by the summer of 2018 I had ballooned up to 194.5 pounds of slop. Little-to-no muscle and/or muscular definition. Not eating properly and doing things (smoking and drinking) that were actively taking me away from being healthy. Running?? Come on. 

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And I am FORTUNATE that I was within myself enough to say "I can't do this anymore". It started with leaving a dead-end job that was actively contributing to me wanting to self-numb, returning to a tough landscaping job and combing that with intermittent fasting and resistance-training post-workday (I had some weights at home...a curling bar with some standard plates, and there was a school up the street that had a jungle gym which I utilized for training). Some changes I remember making back then were working to cut out added sugars (looking at you daily iced coffee from Starbucks) and working to limit sodium (I don't remember "prioritizing protein" being something that I emphasized during this stage...it was strictly limiting when I ate and making sure that when I did eat, I wasn't eating stuff that had added sugars, a ton of sodium, or was heavily processed....if you work to avoid a lot of that stuff, it naturally points you towards protein-based meals with vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts). 

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I continued my fitness reclamation project by joining a local gym, and I was there until the pandemic brought that to a halt. I, like other gym goers, had to find ways to train at home. I was fortunate to have the previously mentioned weights and just worked to fill things out (got some additional weight plates and a good set of resistance bands). And I, like a lot of others, made the decision to simply not return to the gym. I am proud to say that I have been working out at home (and have built the body that I have built AT HOME) since that time, and not only do I workout at home, but I workout OUTSIDE every single morning. This is A BIG PART of what makes me who I am!! I am VERY THANKFUL for David Goggins. During the pandemic, I must have listened to Can't Hurt Me at least 50 times walking around my neighborhood. I took A LOT from that book and from that man's mindset. He opens that book by saying "Once you accept that life, in some way, is going to f*ck you up, then you can start to prepare for it". I took that to heart!! I embrace the suck and workout outside every morning NO MATTER THE CONDITIONS, to say to the Universe that I am here to start my day ON MY TERMS, by getting after myself FIRST, before life and anyone in it has an opportunity to come at me.  No matter the conditions. Every, single, morning.

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I am here to PUSH you towards your goals. I won't challenge you without challenging myself first.