Fitness gave me discipline, control, and purpose.
For me, fitness was never just about six-packs or personal records. It was survival, and it was therapy. It was a way to take everything I was carrying—and move it, rep by rep, one workout at a time.
Growing up, I had a childhood that forced me to grow up fast. Like many, I wasn’t given the space to fully express the emotions I was feeling. There were things going on in my world that were far too big for a kid to handle, and with no real outlet, everything stayed bottled up—until I found movement.
Fitness gave me the space I needed to release all of that built-up pain, anger, fear, and confusion. It became my therapy long before I had the words to ask for help. The gym didn’t ask questions. It gave me something solid to hold onto when nothing else felt steady.
Another part of my story is my mom. She was extremely sick during some of the most formative years of my life. Watching someone you love suffer, while feeling helpless to fix it, does something to you. I knew I had to be strong for her—not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too. Fitness gave me a framework for that strength. It gave me discipline, control, and purpose in a world that didn’t always make sense.
Eventually, fitness also became my ticket out. I used it to develop my athletic ability, and that ability opened the doors to college—a path I might not have had otherwise. I earned my bachelor’s degree through hard work, grit, and the strength I had built both inside and outside the weight room.
Fitness isn’t just what I do—it’s who I became. It gave me structure when I had chaos. It gave me goals when life felt uncertain. And now, after 10+ years of coaching, I use what I’ve learned to help others find that same power within themselves.
Because I know what it feels like to carry things you can’t talk about.
And I also know how life-changing it can be when you finally find a place to put them down.
