What inspired you to move into coaching? Did you have a mentor or inspiration?
My journey into coaching was pretty spontaneous. I was a casual CrossFitter and was asked by Jack Jones to be a founding coach of CrossFit Audacity in 2015. I was used to training soldiers, but had to tone down the intensity for Jack’s clients. We were a small affiliate and we just figured it out day-by-day.
What’s one piece of fitness-related advice you wish someone would have told you when you started?
Sleep and nutrition are more important than going to the gym. I still wish I believed this more wholeheartedly.
What’s a goal you are working toward right now and how is it going? What are you doing to achieve this goal?
Well, I’m currently a platoon leader for a group of individuals in the Missouri National Guard who are struggling to pass weight limit standards or are failing their physical fitness test. We call it the Health Improvement Program, or HIP, and they are our “hipsters.” It’s a pilot program for a battalion attempting to get these soldiers back up to the standard. It’s not just bad for the unit to have failing soldiers, but the soldier can’t use education benefits to pay for college or go to further military schooling to advance their career. So a healthier, fitter soldier benefits the organization and the individual.
We have 13 of 54 individuals who are already passing since we started in February, and graduation is in August. If we could get three more to pass by then, we will be at approximately a 30% conversion rate. That’s actually pretty good.
Gym goal? Not dread running workouts. I am not actively working to achieve this goal. Let’s lift!
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)? My readers love specifics like brand and model, where you found it, etc.
This is going to sound super lame, but the inventory tracking app “Sortly” has pretty well changed how my civilian work team stays organized. We operate as a three-man medical sales team that tries to keep track of hundreds of sterile instrument trays between five hospitals. The stuff travels between hospitals constantly, so keeping track of what went where got rough.
For $50 or something per year, Sortly lets us create an instrument tray by name, capture photos of it to maintain instrument integrity, and then move it between different named folders (aka hospitals). We can all check the app on a shared account and search for trays by name to locate what we need. See, told you it was lame.
Gym purchase? Pure Beta Alanine from Bulk Supplements. It’s like $20 and it’s the pre-workout ingredient that 1) gives you that “tingly” feeling and 2) promotes carnosine production, which reduces lactic acid accumulation in your muscles during exercise. I’ve noticed feeling better through long workouts on the days that I do take it.
What is an unusual daily habit or an absurd thing that you love?
I always put my left sock on first. And my left shoe. But not left sock and shoe and then right sock and shoe. That would be insane. Left sock, right sock, left shoe, right shoe. Please be my friend.