Coaches

I’ve been around athletics and competition my entire life, all the way up through college. With that being said, I’ve also experienced burnout, bad training methods, and especially injuries… lots of injuries. I was looking for something new and different. Something that would steer me clear of overuse injuries while making me leaner, stronger, and faster. Something that would challenge me both mentally and physically as well as fill that void of competition.

I found CrossFit in 2008 when a friend in college who was training for the Navy SEALs got me to join him in a workout called “Barbara.” After about 50 minutes, I came away with what felt like a hangover, ripped hands, and a sense of humbleness that I had never felt before. After joining a box in Austin, TX, I felt what it was like to be a part of a CrossFit community. I received my master’s degree in kinesiology with a specialization in biomechanics and neuromuscular physiology from the University of Texas in Austin. I am also currently teaching an undergraduate class called Health and Sport at The University of Texas – Dallas.

I am currently CrossFit Level 1 and CrossFit Olympic Lifting certified. I am in the process of completing my Optimum Performance Training CCP Level 1 certification. In doing CrossFit and being around the community that it presents, I have found that I have a passion for coaching and helping others reach their goals through functional nutrition and fitness.

I believe that a hard workout is easy to find, but effective training is rare. I also believe that good dieting and a constantly varied and functional fitness regimen are foundations of health and happiness. The greatest wealth is health.

California born, Kansas raised, I have now found myself deep in the big city life of Dallas since moving to Texas in the summer of 2014. After finishing my Music Education degree at Wichita State University, and losing a friendly bet with an old friend that was called to Texas earlier, I loaded my life up into a truck bed and trailer, and headed south in search of teaching opportunities. After 7 wonderful, chaotic, and ever-changing years of teaching, I have now found a new path in coaching.

In my younger years, all the way through my collegiate times, I have been involved in every kind of team and individual sport I could get myself into; soccer, football, baseball, basketball, track, wrestling, tennis, golf, sand volleyball, you name it I’ve tried it. If there was competition to be had, and friends around to experience it, I was obsessed. I’ve had the privilege of competing with dominating teams, and have been humbled by dominated teams. Respecting the ups and downs of sports, fitness, and the thrills of competition has helped shape my pursuit of health and fitness.

Finding the right structure and goals of what I wanted from a gym has been an immense learning experience. I’ve tried handfuls of Apps, Classes, Routines, Fads, and “Get Ripped Quick” schemes. Finally, in January of 2019, I decided to walk in to East Dallas CrossFit and just get some information on what these crazy people were doing running up hills and seeing enthusiastic people lifting together inside. Fast forward and now I find myself in a community that feels like family, a true feeling of enjoying and looking forward to going into the gym every single day, and an L1 CrossFit Certification.

CrossFit has instilled my belief of “Mechanics – Consistency – Intensity” in the way that every person, at any age, and at any level of fitness can show up each day and get a great workout. I believe the best teachers and coaches are always learning and sharing knowledge through personal practice. My own obsession with the sport, community, and foundations of CrossFit is what I hope to show in my own coaching at EDCF.

I am a Florida boy that made my way to Dallas in 2010. Not being very athletic or involved in sports growing up, my athletic knowledge base was lacking. After trying the normal gym life for years (and failing at it), I started researching group fitness and came across CrossFit on YouTube. That day I spent 4 hours straight watching these athletes accomplishing amazing things. I made the decision that I was going to jump in feet first with CrossFit and go outside my normal comfort zones. I started at my first CrossFit box in 2014 as the newest of newbies and a New Year’s resolution. I generally understood what the basic lifts were but the Olympic lifts were so foreign and difficult to understand. After the prep course, I was hooked. All I knew was that I was sore all the time but I still had the determination to keep coming in every day and working on my weaknesses.

CrossFit opened up a world of fitness and wellbeing. Also, it showed me what a true “community” means.

I found EDCF after my old box closed. I dropped in one day and never left. EDCF has the best coaches, training, and community of any boxes I have dropped in at or worked out at. These people are family that I shed sweat, blood, and tears with day in and day out.

After two years of being an individual athlete, I needed something more. I went for my L1 CrossFit Certification in 2016. My new goal is to not only develop myself as an individual but to help the other members of EDCF reach their potential as athletes.

I am currently the logistics and supply chain management lead at Lockheed Martin on the PAC-3 Patriot Missile Program.

Since high school, fitness has been a part of my life where I played the big 4: football, baseball, basketball, and track. Luckily, my high school was small enough that an average size dude like me could make the teams. I was involved in martial arts and weight training during college and continued to lift at various globo-gyms for years after.

When I discovered CrossFit, I was originally attracted to the idea of learning the Olympic lifts, but over the past 7 years, my interest has expanded to all of the different modalities of fitness and ways to challenge myself in this sport/lifestyle. CrossFit has opened many doors for me: I’ve done obstacle course races like the Spartan Beast and Tough Mudder, started stair climbing groups at work, and competed at local CrossFit competitions as well as the CrossFit Open most years. In 2019, I decided to get my Level 1 certification so that I could elevate my involvement and contribution through coaching. Right now, I’m training for the Hotter than Hell Hundred cycle race in August.

I am a strict vegetarian and supplement my diet accordingly to support an athletic lifestyle. I do quite a bit of reading and research around nutrition, so I’m always up for those discussions.

I love this sport and the community here at East Dallas CrossFit. It’s been my gym home for more than 5 years. The coaching staff and members are friendly, knowledgeable, and always helpful. Come by for a class and see for yourself.