Elevate

I’ve been engaged with this whole fitness thing unknowingly since I was in grade school. I was your typical 10 year old kid with more energy than I knew what to do with. Recess and gym were my favorite classes. As I grew up my attention and curiosity for the opposite sex grew. Questions about fitness no longer became about how many push-ups could I do, or how many laps around the gymnasium could I run in 12minutes but rather, could dodgeball qualify as a type of flirting/ foreplay that I, as a strapping young adolescent teen become skilled at to win her affection? If you fill in the blanks, that particular day in gym class did not go so well; (note to self: foreplay isn’t suppose to hurt until later in life hehe).

Fast forward 10 years; I find myself in creative writing 101. I had this crazy idea at the time, that since I loved hiphop and rap music I could major in the literary arts. I loved the wordplay in some of the 90’s hiphop lyrics, “a rat tat tat tat wit ma gat is where its at” by Mobb Deep. Unfortunately, my aspirations to become an accomplished lyricist didn’t agree with the mandatory pre-requisite of technical writing….Damn it! So like every lost soul in the early semesters of College I was trapped in the proverbial academic purgatory. Until I enrolled in a class called Socio Culture in Physical Education did I really appreciate exercise, the art of “play”, and human movement. I fell in love with everything that had to do with human anatomy and movement. Fast forward 4 years- here I was graduated with a Kinesiology degree and 30 pounds overweight from the 4 years of mental academic and social anarchy that my body endured.

Looking back the whole situation was ironic, here I was studying how to keep people healthy yet ignoring the rules for myself. Its comedic to remember taking the final exam for Nutritional Science and then celebrating with “Peters Drive In” afterwards. And, to add insult to injury- literally, I had torn my knee (ACL) in a game of rat-pack basketball. Here I was on top of a physio bed practicing how to bend my knee, when just 3 years earlier I was running 12sets of suicides. “Why did this happen?” I asked myself over and over while forcing my knee to bend to 90degrees (which took 3 hours, the day after surgery). After post-op rehab my right leg had shrunk 3.5cm. The visual difference was astonishing.  Eventually, I rehabbed the knee to 100% and got on to become a personal trainer.This was a point in my life where I did some real learning. My first few years as a trainer was truly a wakeup call, a definite reality check. My mindset was "I'm educated, a fairly nice dude, clients should be flocking at my doorstep wanting to train with me". That just wasn't the case. There's just some skills that can't be learned in lecture halls."Softer" people skills like empathy, trust, and non-verbal communication. Skills I felt that my peers just intuitively obtained. I however, was a late bloomer. I later learned that its not what you say or how "gospel" like you can phrase something, its what you do. At that point I took responsiblity for my own health, wellness and physical circumstance I began my personal journey with the help of coaches and mentors- whom I'm truly greatful for. And, on this journey I obtained a physique that I set out to obtain while learning the real essence of my craft as a trainer.

I love witnessing the positive physical, emotional, and mental changes in my clients. I love hearing their stories of triumph over perceived health and fitness limitations. I am amazed of how much success, love and happiness they begin to attract in their lives by becoming healthier and fit. That reason itself drives me to become a better trainer. I view myself as striving to become a sharper instrument in a clients’ toolbox on their journey to leading a healthy, happy and productive lifestyle.To me training is the ultimate metaphor. The metaphor of how much a person love's his or her self. I'm passionate about being that bridge to an individuals real potential. I love the feeling of exciting and inspiring people into action. I love training because I love connecting with people. In making that connection I discover more about myself. In my mind every connection I make with clients reflects aspects of my craft as a trainer and as a person. It"s as though I'm a composite of every client who is important to me (and they all are). I gain knowledge from those clients who I intensley love to train and from those who I intesley dislike to train. Its as though one may represent my higher aspirations, and the other my deepest fears but that will be another story......