{Tell us something you love about yourself.}

I love my compassion for others and my relentless pursuit on making a difference in
people’s lives. Little did I know at the age of 5 I was on to something that lead me to
where I am today. I vividly remember sitting my mom down in my room and telling
her that I wanted her to write down an idea I had. I wanted to start a “Helping Club”.
Not the type most would assume, I wasn’t interested with helping kids with homework
or sports, I honestly had a vision of me being someone grown ups called when they
needed help with something, they were sad, needed to be cheered up and could
make them laugh (that was the extent of helping as a 5 year old in my head). God
bless my mother for entertaining the idea and telling me it was great. It just took 20
years later for it to come to fruition.

{What is your favorite physical feature?}

I really like my smile and my teeth. I like the fact that I have never had braces and
there are some imperfections with two of my bottom front teeth. They are a little
crossed, not anything major but enough to make me have to put in more effort when I
floss them. I think that is one of the first things I notice with people is there smile and
their teeth. You don’t have to have perfect teeth to have a beautiful smile.

{What is something you used to dislike about yourself that you have now come to appreciate?}

One of the things I used to not like about myself was that I was always too worried
about trying something new. I was afraid of looking stupid because I wasn’t
good at it. After many years of playing it safe and doing what I was always good at
it, in 2011 this inspired me to theme my year, “The year of the Challenge”. I made
a promise that I would challenge myself to do all things I wasn’t good at
and go all in. This ranged from business, fitness, and personal life. I was a college Football
player and 100m sprinter who would run the Boston Marathon and Big Sur Marathon
two weeks apart and then signed up for an Ironman. I would start my own company which
is now FNS Training Center. I would do seminars and public speaking to fitness
professionals from around the country and share my ideas and philosophies. Having
been fed up with playing it safe on so many levels,  I appreciate that this has inspired
me to become who I am today. I had reached my threshold safety and knew that
wasn’t going to get me anywhere. What I appreciate most is that, this wasn’t and
isn’t always easy for me and I now can relate to so many people who are in that
same zone. Those who are so close to jumping but afraid of what they think is looking
stupid. I can connect and relate and that is what I appreciate.

{What is your proudest accomplishment?}

Creating a company, Fitness Never Sleeps, and taking the risk to create something
so different in the industry. From playing it safe to going all in, this has been a vision
and goal of mine for the last 5 years. There are many things that I am proud of from
living abroad, playing college football, doing an ironman and winning competitions,
but creating a philosophy and then a brick and mortar version of making that come to
life is something that takes the cake. What makes it that much greater are the people that I get to coach and the coaches I am surrounded by. I was very particular what type of coach and leaders I wanted to surround myself with and I am equally proud that I have the best group of coaches I have ever worked with.

{Tell us about your style. What type of outfit do you feel the most like yourself in?}

Many might think it is hard to dress down from wearing lululemon to work everyday
but my favorite thing to wear is just board shorts and sandals. When I have to go out
outside of work and wear what I call “normal people clothes” jeans are like wearing a
suit to me and usually with some Chuck Taylor’s and a t-shirt. I am waiting for the day
Under Armour makes a tuxedo then my wardrobe will be complete.

{List your top three favorite things to do?}
1. Working out (FNS, hikes, and going on runs).
2.Coaching both physically and mentally.
3. Traveling around the world or to new cities.

{What makes you the happiest?}

There are many many things that make me happy, but what makes me happiest
where I feel in my total state of bliss would have to be waking up early Sunday
morning taking my dog, Buddy, out for a walk and coming back to have a cup
of coffee and breakfast with my wife watching a movie. With a great crazy work
schedule between the both of us, I cherish the moments where I can sit next to my
wife with my dog on my lap and relax.

{How do you find your motivation to workout?}

My motivation comes from a few different forms of inspiration everyday. First, is that
I am self motivated to never settle or be mediocre. That doesn’t mean I can lift the
most weight, run the fastest, or jump the highest. I pride myself on being consistent.
Getting in some type of workout everyday, whether it be 20 minutes or 2 hours. I
constantly remind myself, “this is what you do”, “You can’t slack off and coach without
leading by example”, it’s the accountability of what I do that helps me stay motivated.
Each year I set a new theme for myself, and every year when it comes to my fitness
goals I want to be in better shape than I was the previous year. Continuing to set
the bar high for myself and do things that are a challenge for me as well. Lastly,
inspiration from my fellow athletes at FNS when I am working in the trenches with
them seeing the unbelievable amount of work ethic they have in every class. From
Julie Grosso being told she would never walk again to watching her box jump and
Monica Ishak with a long history of back problems to overcoming them setting PR’s
in class. That inspires me and constantly reminds me that there are no excuses, no
complaining, others have had far worse days and have overcome them.

{How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle between work, family, and social life?}

Balance, like most people is I what I am striving for the most. What this really comes
down to for me is priorities. There are three main priorities in my life right now. First my family, second is my work and working with others and third is me time. I couldn’t do much of what I do on a daily basis without the support and encouragement of my wife Parisa.  We make sure that that we spend quality time together. Finding a work/life balance is part of that, which includes not getting on the computer when I get home from work and putting my phone away so that I can give my attention to our marriage and life outside of our careers. This is always a work in progress and with her help she reminds me of our pact. With a baby on the way and having a company in its infancy stage it will be like raising two kids. Much like I have done with my business, surrounding myself with supportive, hard working, and a caring staff is important to me.  I found that over the years the more I stay true to what I want and need and stand for that the more I can authentically give to others. For me, Compromising giving to myself comprises giving to others. It’s  important to me that I find alone time which allows me to clear my head and focus on what I need to continue to be successful.

{What are your main goals you are reaching towards in the next month, 6 months and year ?}

In the next 6 months I want be holding a beautiful healthy baby girl as I am
explaining to her what we are doing at FNS expanding the facility to double our size. I
want her to be raised by a village and have the love of everyone around her as we do
everyday. Raising a baby will not just be a 6 month goal but for the rest of my life, but I
want to be able to balance all these things while still continuing to grow FNS. For FNS
the main goal we are shooting for is to grow our culture and share our message with
the world, but it starts with our immediate community first. We set our GOal Big for 400
athletes by the end of our first year. We are currently at 280 athletes and plan to reach
400 by years end with the help of our athletes now. Since completing the Ironman this
year, most of my focus and attention will be on growing this community. I will continue
to do races and be involved with community races, but I will get ready for my next big
event next year hopefully in our expanded facility.