About

I think I had better get right to explaining who I am…or better yet, who I think I am.  After all, I’m in my early 30’s, but this business focuses on folks aged 30 years old and above. What is it about me that helps me understand the unique issues (and the urgency) of an age group I’m really a part of? I’m a fitness guy.  A former athlete (football was my thing).  For a lot of my clients, that alone is very different from their world…and maybe from yours.
This is my story…2003 to be exact.
I was always a bit undersized, due to the fact that I didn’t even know how to lift weights. I became aware of the importance of working out when I met a guy named Wayne, whose son was on the High School Football team. Wayne was a former bodybuilder, who taught me the importance of weight lifting and how to take care of my body. I was only about 16 years old at the time.  Wayne not only taught me about proper form and technique, but also about the importance of pre- and post-workout nutrition. This was something I didn’t have a clue about.
Seeing the steady increase in strength started to amaze me. I remember thinking, “I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t met someone who was determined to not only show me how to work out, but also hold me accountable. I don’t ever want to be sedentary again!” Now, of course, no one can twist your arm and make you work out like he did, but I was starting to see some health issues going on with my family that I wanted to prevent in my own life. I had to make a change for the future.  Your personal challenge could come in the form of an illness, heart disease, or an accident. Who’s to say? It was difficult to identify the importance of a healthy lifestyle at such as young age. But as I got older, the straightforward goals of people just a few years older than me became clearer. You want to feel better, have more confidence, and maybe lose a few pounds long the way. For many of you, it’s possible you’ve had your own ‘struggle’ in some way.  Maybe some health struggle that served as a “wake-up call”.  
High blood pressure, an injury, a health crisis of a family member, or good friend.
Let’s face it…it’s more likely than not that by the time you hit your 30’s and 40’s, you’ve seen something along these lines… In my opinion, this is a part of the irony of fitness…. something that motivates me every day. Generally, people over age 35 actually start to decrease their physical activity for one reason or another…just when they need it most!  
Life just gets in the way…preventing you from putting the time towards your health you KNOW you should. But is just doesn’t have to be this way.  And I find this all incredibly frustrating (can you tell!). So, back my story… Like I said, I had been a pretty decent football player when I was in high school and college.  This kept me in touch with training and all.  Eventually, I decided to get my undergraduate and graduate degree in exercise physiology, leading to get my career in personal training and sports performance. It’s a good thing too, because at 21 years old, I suffered a knee injury on a pass protection drill that put me out for a year.   Now, I was young and it was not wildly traumatic; nonetheless, but events like this stop you in your tracks! I took it as a learning experience.  I was very ‘hands on’ about my recovery. I had never been injured before, so I didn’t know what to expect with the recovery time frame.  In fact, I took the opportunity to get stronger during the process on my own time, due to the lack of funds for a qualified professional to help me get back to 100%. I now knew that if I could get myself back to playing form by next season that I could put myself in a position to help others live the life they fully expected after injury. I also said to myself, “What if I was 53 when this happened and not 21?  Would I be ready for that?”  Suddenly this becomes a MUCH different conversation! Then things hit even closer to home… Recently my dad had to have hip replacement surgery.  He had known for a while that he needed this surgery, but now it was time due to the joint being bone on bone. For those that know, this is VERY Painful.  He has a long road to recovery ahead of him.  The first thing I thought about was how long will the recovery be. I was praying that this would be smooth and that he would be back to work within the allotted time for recovery.  The bad part is, had he been taking care of his self over the years leading up to his surgery, he may have recovered quicker …or, who knows, maybe he would not have had to have this surgery in his late 50’s! Like I said, “being ready” in the event something like this does happen is sooo important…this was even more proof to me. In the end, I created the exact facility I had envisioned with the exact mission I had hoped for. This is the only thing I really want to do…
Coach Aaron