I was never an athletic kid. I was never good at sports and it took until I was in high school to do a pull-up while being exceptionally skinny. I was slow, weak, and didn’t like the way I felt. I eventually tried weightlifting in college, but the sheer amount of contradictory information out there gave me analysis paralysis or had me jumping from training system to training system always in search of “optimal.” It took about 5 years, most of it wasted, until I started figuring out what really worked, how it worked, and what was simply a gimmick designed to sell products.

Focusing mainly on powerlifting, I achieved a 330lb Bench, 420lb Squat, and a 530lb Deadlift, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I knew what I was doing in a gym. The problem is that I still didn’t look the way I wanted to. I was carrying more fat than was reasonable and I only looked big (and still not really good) with my shirt off. I wanted to feel good about how I looked and wanted to lose weight for my health. Finally, and more surprisingly, I wasn’t as “strong” outside the gym as I should have been. I had gotten “skilled” at powerlifting without gaining the overall strength and physique I was hoping for. I incorporated more body-building style training into my programs and began running. I went from a fairly fat 220lbs to a fairly fit 185lbs and people started noticing. Despite losing 35lbs, people started calling me big for the first time in my life.

It was about this time that I decided I wanted to do something radically different with my life. I was in my second year of Law School at Notre Dame when I decided to join the Marines. Since they didn’t have any law contracts available, I signed a standard ground contract. I will never forget the first workout I did with Captain Nate Bibler: a Crossfit workout called Barbara. 5 rounds of 20 pullups, 30 pushups, 40 situps, and 50 squats. At some point I’m pretty sure I blacked out. But now I had something new to push towards. By the time I shipped to Officer Candidate School (they did end up opening up a law spot which I got), I was running an 18:30 3-mile, doing 27 strict pullups, and maintaining my powerlifting strength at a bodyweight of 195. I graduated OCS, passed the New York Bar, went through 7 months of infantry training at The Basic School, and began my career in the fleet as a Judge Advocate.

The great thing about the Marines is that because they send Judge Advocates through the exact same training as anyone else, I had the opportunity to do non-legal jobs. Being a lawyer was fine, but I didn’t love it. I have spent over a decade in the Marine Corps and earned the rank of Major while doing non-lawyer work which I have continued as a Reservist. I’ve continued to experiment with different exercise and nutrition protocols while helping friends, family, and other Marines with their fitness goals. The key to what I’ve learned is that small improvements add up over time and you absolutely don’t need to thrash yourself to improve.

I had my first daughter a year after I left Active Duty and my second daughter 18 months later. I was in the USMC Reserves and took on the job of stay at home dad after deciding I hated being a civilian lawyer. I worked out, slept 3-5 hours a night, and spent my days taking care of the little ones. It was rough, to say the least, but working out kept me sane, even if it probably didn’t do me much good during this time.

Now my girls are 4 and 6 and I’m generally able to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night (depending on who has a bad dream). But I’m in better shape at 40 than I’ve ever been in my life. I decided I wanted to do something that I loved and actually made me excited, so I started to do what I’d always done in a more I’ve helped Marines, civilian friends, and family get into better shape with personalized coaching and I would love to help you.