My Story
health & fitness has been a journey for me too
I got into fitness at a pretty young age but the health half came much later. Growing up, I played a number of sports but ultimately found my passion in track & field. In an effort to improve my performance, I joined a gym and started lifting weights. I soon landed a spot on a Division 1 track team at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This experience was invaluable, but also came with it’s ups and downs. Either way, it sparked my career in health and fitness.
I chose to study Art over health in college
I was not a kinesiology major or a nutritional science major, I studied sculptural techniques including ceramics, woodworking, and welding. Not your typical fitness coaches path, right? All I wanted was to pursue my sport but it wasn’t long before I started to notice my own health slowly but surely starting to suffer. The real problems started when I ignored the signs and pushed on like nothing was wrong.
athletics wasn’t the healthy lifestyle i Expected it to be
As an athlete, I worked out endlessly, pushing my body to it’s limit everyday. This allowed me to do some amazing things but also took a toll. I started getting serious injuries, getting sick frequently, and I developed a horrible relationship with food out of fear of gaining body fat. At one point, I was down to 13% body fat and I distinctly remember looking in the mirror, pulling at my own skin, and questioning the accuracy of the extremely high-tech body scanner that gave me that result. My self-esteem was low, my attention span was short, and I was so tired yet going days without sleeping more than 2-3 hours. Worst of all, I was never satisfied with my body or it’s accomplishments which only caused me to push harder and led me to 3rd degree adrenal fatigue by the time I was 23.
Then My life took a turn in a different direction
Towards the end of my college career, I happened upon a local gym and landed a job as a fitness trainer. I had no experience or certifications, just a good sense of exercise and a passion for bettering people's lives. I soon became one of the busiest trainers there and eventually expanded to be the sole nutrition coach consulting with 250+ gym members. In those three years, I learned a lot but I also realized that there were so many problems with the health and fitness industry that still needed solving.
After college, I dove into my education
I found the best programs and received multiple certifications in exercise techniques, program design, nutritional science, and holistic health coaching. I engulfed myself in books, research articles, courses, seminars - anything to expand my knowledge. But deep down, I still struggled with my own health issues and realized all the research in the world would heal nobody if I couldn't first heal myself.
I was my first client
In the process of healing myself, I had to put myself through the work that my clients go through everyday. I was faced with the same obstacles and had to find ways to get myself up and keep myself going through my own bad habits, excuses, and self-sabotaging behaviors. In the process of healing myself, I discovered my true values as a coach and realized that this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I discovered that I have a unique gift to offer the world: a new way of doing things that actually works.
CERTIFICATIONS