I’ve been training for over 15 years now. I first started at 19 because I wanted to become a better athlete. I was playing basketball at the time and I was also overweight, so while my main goal was to become more athletic, training also became the start of a physical transformation for me.
Over the years, I completely transformed my body and learned first-hand what it takes to make progress over the long term. But my journey with training has never been completely straightforward.
Along the way, I got into American football and eventually started taking the sport seriously enough that I wanted to see how far I could go with it. That journey also came with some major setbacks. I went through four ankle surgeries, which repeatedly disrupted my training and took me away from sport.
I also lost my left eye to retinoblastoma when I was very young. Between that, transforming myself physically and dealing with setbacks in sport, I've learned that progress isn't always going to be straightforward. Sometimes you have to adapt, sometimes you have to be patient, and sometimes simply finding a way to keep moving forward is progress.
Years of coaching other people have reinforced something I learned through my own journey: more information isn't always the answer. Sometimes what you need is more clarity.
That’s a big reason I created Start Strong. There’s so much information around training and nutrition now that it’s very easy to overthink everything. I wanted to create something that gives you a clear direction, helps you understand what actually matters and gives you a structure you can realistically stick to.
Inside Start Strong, we'll focus on your training, nutrition and habits together. Not because training needs to take over your life, but because I want you to build something that fits into your life and that you can maintain.
The goal is to help you get into better shape, but also learn more about yourself through the process, build confidence in what you're doing and develop habits that can carry over into other areas of your life too.
