My Story

I haven’t always been considered an athlete. In fact, when I graduated from college in 1992, I was in the worst shape of my life. I weighed a very heavy 220 pounds, drank frequently and smoked up to two packs of cigarettes a day (depending on whether I went out to the bars after work). My day was a constant repetition of going to and from work, watching television, playing on the computer, eating poorly and smoking a lot.

I also wasn’t very happy with my life.

Then out-of-the-blue one night, I received a phone call from my best friend in college. She announced to me that she had stopped smoking and had lost over 35 pounds. Of course, this is the same person that got me addicted to smoking in the first place and didn’t do much to promote a healthy lifestyle while we were at the University of Richmond. She claimed that she was finally tired of being overweight, out-of-shape and unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to take a 15-minute break afterwards.

I believe everyone has a catalyst that finally shocks them out of their daily rut and makes them change the way things are going. That phone call was mine.

It didn’t happen that day or that week; in fact, it took me over 3 months before I acted. That phone call was always in the back of my mind, slowly eating away at me. It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that I decided to change. That night I threw out a half-full carton of Marlboro Lights and announced to all my friends that I was no longer a smoker!

They all laughed.

I showed them. After I stopped smoking, I started to work out, took group exercise classes and hired a personal trainer. I read books on exercise and nutrition. I started to eat better food and less of it. After 6 months, I had lost 25 pounds and could run up hills, flights of stairs or around Town Lake without collapsing.

I got into the best shape of my life, probably better than when I entered college from high school. I had less than 12 percent body fat, began to train for and compete in triathlons, and played competitive tennis.

My Dad couldn’t believe that I was going to give up the corporate world and my life as a consultant (and the regular paycheck that I received). I had just received my MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in May of 2000 and was just starting to make some good money. The only problem I had with the corporate world was that I truly hated it. I didn’t want to take orders, the work was boring, and I wanted to do it my way. So I did.

In April of 2004, I became a Personal Trainer.

I received my Personal Training certification from the American Council on Exercise (www.acefitness.com), the largest and most respected certifying body for Personal Trainers in the country and was certified in First Aid and C.P.R. by the American Red Cross.

In early 2007, I was certified as a Strength and Conditioning Coach by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (www.nsca-lift.org) and as a Sports Performance Coach by USA Weightlifting (www.msbn.tv/usavision).

Currently, I train a wide variety of clients, write a monthly fitness column for Shout magazine, and have continued to help people make the same positive changes in their lives that I made in mine over 8 years ago.