Listen, I am not the athletic, hard-body type trainer who doesn’t have to exercise and eat right to stay in shape.   

I am just like you.  Same struggles.  Same obstacles.

In fact, I’ve had numerous struggles both in my personal and professional life.  Struggles that could’ve easily defeated me and sent me down a totally different path.    

However, it was within these struggles that I developed my positive attitude, work ethic, determination, out-of-the-box thinking, love for what is right, perseverance, compassion, empathy, thirst for knowledge, desire to help others, my training philosophy and a career that I love. 

And for those victories, I am extremely grateful!   

What you are about to read is not a story of a strong, smooth conqueror. 

My story reveals a very real picture of a regular person who fought, sacrificed and persevered by getting up every time he got knocked down by life’s challenges. Someone who persisted in pursuit of his passion: helping others improve their health, fitness and life.   

First, we need to start with a little background.  

Growing up out-of-shape

I’d like to be able to say, I was born a fit, gifted athlete which then led me to the world of fitness. 

Nothing could be further from the truth!  

Growing up, I was the typical un-athletic, chubby kid.  In fact, people used to say I looked like an “egg-on-stilts”!  

My interest in the human body began early

Around the age of 10, I developed a fascination with the human body. 

I’d spend hours reading all the biology, medical and anatomy books contained in my Encyclopedia Britannica set.  I loved examining all the physiology charts: muscular, skeletal, neurological, circulatory, internal organs, endocrine system, etc. and learning all about them.  

I found human movement to be intriguing too. 

I was in awe of how certain people and athletes from various disciplines and sports moved with such power, grace and ease.  

And then I saw… Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee’s power, speed and movement was beyond anything I’d ever seen.  And his physique was incredible too.  He didn’t have large muscles but every single muscle on his body was developed, sculpted and defined.  

I wanted to look and move like he did!  

I was gifted a copy of Bruce Lee’s book the “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” at 10 years old.  His book had a profound impact on me. The life philosophies in that book shaped my perspective on everything from exercise, self-defense, training and the importance of self-cultivation.  

Little did I know that I’d soon be faced with a perplexing issue.  

One filled with frustration, tears, but in the end, plotted the course of my entire life.  

[1]

STRUGGLE #1:
“You’re bleeding!”

I was about 12 years old trying to go to sleep, beyond frustrated, bawling my eyes out, tears running down my face, frantically scratching my annoyingly itchy arms and legs which have now started to bleed due to me scratching the scabs off my already severely irritated skin.     

My mother walks in my bedroom and shockingly says “Oh my god!  You’re bleeding!  Please stop, you’re making it worse!”   

As I’m crying uncontrollably, I try to speak in between sobbing… 

“It never stops!  I can’t stop scratching.  Why?...  Why?  The itching… it never stops.  I can’t take it anymore Mommy.  I can’t take it anymore!” 

My mother put her arms around me and just held me close.  I just kept crying and crying for what seemed like hours.  

I remember her quietly saying to me “It’ll be ok.  We’re going to find out what’s wrong, ok?” 

Though she tried her best to console me, I just remember feeling so desperate and hopeless.

My severe mystery rash

You see, for a long time, I had been suffering from an unexplainable severe rash on my face, neck, arms and legs.  It seemed to just come out of nowhere.  

No one could figure why.   

And since the itching was constant, so was my scratching.  My skin was red, inflamed and bumpy.  Some areas of my arms and legs were so relentlessly itchy that I could not stop scratching.  My skin would finally break because of all the scratching causing bleeding and scabbing.  Many times, I’d end up scratching the scabs off causing even more bleeding.  Like I did that night.  

It was bad.  And it was out of control.   

Doctors to the rescue, right?  Wrong

Before my tearful breakdown that night, my mother had already spent months taking me to a variety of doctors and specialists trying to figure out how to treat my severe rash.    

They ran test after test… prescribed ointment after ointment… I used medicated soaps, creams and lotions.

None of their medical treatments helped me!  

The doctors were confused and at a loss.  

My mother was beside herself.  

She was so frustrated, angry and in sheer disbelief that doctors had no explanation for my condition or could offer any help.  

She was desperate to find someone, anyone, that could help me.  

The last resort

As a last resort, my mother decided to take me to her friend, Elvira, who was an herbalist and iridologist.  She reasoned that since the doctors couldn’t help me, she’d start looking elsewhere for answers. 

Elvira sat me down at a small desk where she sat across from me.  She placed what looked like a short looking glass on top of my eye, shone a light from all angles looking at my iris. 

After examining both of my eyes, she exclaimed…

“There’s nothing wrong with this boy!  He’s just toxic.  Seems like he has a build-up of waste that isn’t being eliminated properly.  What are his elimination habits?  How often does he go # 2?”  

My mother said “What?  Elimination habits?  Well, come to think of it, he has been having bouts of constipation and hasn’t been going #2 as often as he should.”  

After more discussion, Elvira prescribed a specific 10-day colon cleanse program that included various herbs and fiber supplements.

My mother thought… Could it be that simple?  Was constipation a factor?  The doctors never asked about that.  All their medical treatments had failed.  What do we have to lose?  Let’s try it. 

VICTORY: I’m cured!

The 10-day colon cleansing program worked!  

During the first few days I already started to feel better with less itching.  After the 10 days were completed, I hardly had any itching at all.  My skin was clearing up and I was eliminating more regularly. 

After a few more days… it was all gone!  

My itchy nightmare was finally over.  I was finally cured!  

And my mother?  She was ecstatic!   

Elvira was happy too.  On my next appointment, she looked me over again and said I was on track but I needed to keep an eye on my elimination habits to prevent any recurrence.   

My mother exuded gratitude, “Thank You Elvira!  You don’t understand what we’ve been through.  How much he’s suffered with this rash.  It’s been months going from doctors to specialists… and nothing helped him.  Nothing!  I just can’t Thank You enough.”  

I begin to question EVERYTHING

I can’t explain the joy and peace I felt not be itching anymore and to look normal again.  However, for me, there were now many more questions than answers:  

• Why did I have constipation in the first place?

• How did my bout of constipation cause such a horrible a skin rash?

• Why didn’t the doctors ever ask about my elimination habits?

• How was Elvira able to figure out my problem, within minutes, by looking into my eye?

• Why couldn’t the doctors figure out my problem over all those months of tests?

• How did a simple colon-cleanse cure me when the doctor’s medications didn’t?

Here are the key life lessons I learned at the “ripe” young age of 12:

1. Even though doctors are smart, they don’t have all the answers

2. There’s a difference between treating symptoms vs. treating the root-cause

3. The value of thinking outside-the-box when nothing else is working

4. Sometimes complex problems have simple solutions

5. Herbs and supplements can be just as healing as prescription drugs

6. The value of trying every possible option before ever declaring defeat

My family changed forever

My family was floored.  My father, little brother and especially my mother!   

My mother was so amazed that she became engrossed in learning everything she could about nutrition, herbs, supplements and natural holistic health.  My little brother became interested too!  

And as for me, well, what started as a curious interest some time earlier, had now became a lifelong quest for knowledge about the human body.  

My health & fitness education begins!

Solving my mystery rash awakened in me an insatiable thirst for knowledge about anything and everything about the human body.  

My mother was my first instructor.  

She would teach me all the things she was learning about physiology, nutrition, herbs, supplements and holistic health.  And I went back to my Encyclopedia Britannica set and began devouring all the health and fitness information I could find.  Any time Britannica came out with special health science editions, my father bought them for me.  And once they came in, I’d read and analyze every single page for weeks.

[2]

STRUGGLE #2
- Why isn’t my body changing?

I kept exercising for years with little results.  Things just didn’t seem to be working for my body and I didn’t understand why.  This was really demoralizing.  

As I got older, I got taller and lost the overall “round” body shape I had as a child.  I now had the dreaded “skinny-fat” body with long thin arms and legs with a lot of flab around my middle. In fact, my waist was actually wider than my shoulders! I was not happy.

[3]

STRUGGLE #3
– Lower-Back injury at 17 

At 17 years old, we moved to Pennsylvania.  In the process of moving, I severely injured my low-back moving a couch, leaving me doubled over and in pain for days.  I could barely walk or lift anything.  

It was bad.  

I just couldn’t believe that could happen to me… at 17?! 

That was it!  I was tired of being weak and out of shape.  I became more determined than ever to exercise, eat right and get stronger and in better shape.  

About a year after my initial injury, my lower back went into severe spasm again, leaving me very stiff, in pain and not able to move for days… all over again.    

In fact, my back would “go-out” on me like this 2-3 times a year, every year.   

It was so frustrating!  However, I did not quit.  

I struggled year after year to attain the smallest of changes.

VICTORY: I FINALLY did it!

At 22 something finally clicked. I stopped listening to conventional training and nutrition advice and I started listening to the real expert… my own body.

After years of experimentation, I learned that all the traditional programs were overkill for me. I would end up burning out and get no results for all my hard work. For MY body, I learned: Less = More. 

And once I listened to my body, it responded fast!

After only 12 weeks, I LOST 7 inches of FAT off my waist and built some muscle too! I then spent the rest of the year filling out my frame with more muscle.

No. I didn’t end up looking like a champion bodybuilder or a fitness cover model, but considering where I started from, it was a great accomplishment!  

Finally, after struggling for so many years - ONE year of doing the right things for MY body changed everything.

My new calling

What I learned during my years of study along with my fitness transformation, changed my entire outlook on life.  

I now felt a powerful urge, a calling, to go out and help others who were confused and struggling to attain their health and fitness goals.  I wanted to save them from all the wasted time, effort and frustration I had to go through. Especially when I learned how many people were being misled, like I was, by greedy “quick-fix” marketers that are more concerned with profits than solutions.    

[4]

STRUGGLE #4
– I’m walking with a cane?!  

Soon after getting into top from, my back went out on me again… really bad this time.  

Worst pain EVER.  

In fact, the pain was so excruciating that I literally could not move.  I was laid out on the floor, paralyzed in pain.  

I had to call 911.    

I was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and stayed in the emergency room for most of the night.  As I laid there in the hospital bed, pumped up with pain killers and muscle relaxants and barely able to move, I kept asking myself: 

“How could this be happening to me?  I exercised, lost a lot of fat, got stronger, am in best shape ever…. how did this STILL happen?”  

“What went wrong?”  

And I had just begun my new side-career as a Trainer!  “How could I ever help others, if I can’t even help myself!?”

I was so frustrated.  

Would I ever “fix” my back?  I’m only 24 years old!  “Where will I be 10, 20 or 30 years from now?  In a wheelchair?”

After I was discharged, I had to take muscle relaxants, missed work and walked with the aid of a cane for about 2 weeks as I recovered.  

Yes… I needed cane.  I couldn’t walk without it.      

That became a turning point

Even though I got stronger, lost fat, improved my conditioning and totally changed the appearance of my body…. my back was getting worse.         

This was the first time I began to question the real-world effectiveness of the conventional strength training I was doing.

I began to realize that all the traditional methods we are told to use, only work for people with “textbook” perfect bodies.   

I uncovered methods, you hardly ever hear about, that work so much better for the rest of us.  No wonder I was so frustrated years ago… no wonder my lower back was still a problem… I wasn’t getting ALL the information.  

And that is when things finally started to change for me.  I found more pieces of the puzzle I’d been looking for and more importantly…. they started to fit together. 

VICTORY: I fixed my back!

No more back going-out on me 2-3 times a year and no more walking around with a cane!  All without using daily pain-killers, muscle relaxants, going to a physical therapist or going under the surgeon’s knife.  

How did I do it?  By doing the RIGHT type of exercise and stretching for MY body.  

Here’s what I learned about my back issue:

My back was not weak….                          my abdominals and core were. 

Even though I got stronger….                      my stabilizing muscles didn’t.

Even though I stretched a lot….                   I had tight muscles all over my body.

Even though I exercised my entire body…..  my body was not working as a “team”.

Even though I worked for balance….           I had muscle imbalances all over my body.

Once I understood the root-cause of my back problem I was able to develop the right exercise plan that fit my particular body structure needs.  For me, this involved the total opposite of the traditional strength training concepts I was used to.

How many people were in the same boat that I was?  People who were struggling to get in shape or dealing with lower back problems?  This fueled my passion even more.

I wanted to help these people. Would these methods work for others too?
 

It worked for my clients too!

And it worked extremely well.  Oh, my clients had already been seeing some good results with me.  Blending these new concepts in with the methods I was already using just accelerated my client’s results.  I began to get the reputation as the personal trainer “of lost causes.”  Getting results for people whose bodies seemed to defy change.   

In fact, my core and structural muscles became so strong that I was able to place both feet on top of an exercise ball and stand straight up on it.

Standing on the ball became so easy for me I could do it at the drop of a hat. I loved seeing people’s jaw drop in disbelief whenever I would do it.

For the next 18 years, I had zero spasms or problems with my lower back, no visits to the ER and I was in the best shape of my life.

During those 18 years I helped a lot of people solve their lower-back and fitness problems.

I wish I could say this was my “happily ever after” end of my story.

However, there were some unexpected chapters that followed…

[5]

STRUGGLE #5
– Not again… re-injured in my 40’s  

One winter, I slipped on an icy sidewalk, fell hard and it re-awakened my old back injury. Had to go back to the ER and my yearly spasms started again too.

At first I thought, no problem. I fixed it before, l can fix it again.

Boy was I wrong!

Everything I did before, did NOT work this time.

This re-injury left my body twisted and out of whack from head to toe.

It was something I’d never felt before.

I realized I needed a whole new strategy.

[6]

STRUGGLE #6
– Surprise! You have a heart problem  

And if that wasn’t enough to figure out, a few years later I got another surprise to deal with. 

My body surprised me with a heart condition that just came out of nowhere. I didn’t fit the profile for this type of heart condition and I tried everything I could to try and “fix” it. I looked at the things that were within my control and made every change I possibly could.

Even after all the lifestyle changes I could possibly make, it was still there.

My body began suffering from it’s effects more and more.

And when the condition worsened, my only option was to operate.

The heart operation drained even more life out of me, I lost a lot of muscle and my all the strength and fitness I built over my lifetime simply disappeared, leaving me feeling and moving around like a weak, 90 year old man.

It was a very tough place to be for someone who was used to feeling so young, energetic and agile.

After that curveball, I realized I had to strip everything down to the bare fundamentals and go back to the basics if I was ever going to rehab my back and regain what I had lost due to the heart operation.

Once I did that, everything changed.

And in a short time, I began making meaningful progress every single week!

Boy, did that feel good.

Honestly, even though I’m still rebuilding, I’m doing a whole lot better.

The great thing that came from all my lower-back and heart-health struggles, is that they made me a better coach.

As a result, I’ve gained a much deeper understanding of the body and developed more ways to help people better than I ever could before.

VICTORY: My approach works... I lived it

My approach works.  I lived it.  In my adult life I became leaner, stronger, healthier and in much better shape than in my youth.  

Today, in my 50’s, I’m managing the inevitable challenges we all face as we get older: a changing metabolism, new “surprise” health problems and bodily reminders of past injuries.  

Though it’s more difficult to stay in-shape, my exercise approach is allowing me to maintain my health, strength and fitness better than anything else out there.  

And I’m continuing to love helping others do the same.   

In fact, I’ve found that all my struggles prepared me for this work. 

• Growing-up out-of-shape

• My horrible skin rash as a child

• A body resistant to losing fat and building muscle

• My lower-back injury

I could have easily:

• Ruined my skin permanently or developed other skin problems… but I didn’t

• Become severely overweight or obese… but I didn’t

• Been through, at least, 2-3 spinal surgeries by now… but I didn’t

• Developed other joint and health problems… but I didn’t

• Been dependent on, or worse, addicted to daily pain medication… but I didn’t

I’ve dripped literal blood, sweat and tears to learn what I’ve learned and I feel I've used that knowledge in the worthiest of causes – helping people maximize their health, fitness and life.​

Every time I help someone:

• Lose inches and re-shape their body

• Get stronger and more fit

• Improve their energy and stamina

• Move around better and easier

• Improve sports performance

• Solve a training problem that was plaguing them

• Look, feel and move better than they have in years

…it brings me an indescribable level of joy and personal satisfaction knowing I’m helping that person live their life to the fullest.  And it proves to me that I’m doing exactly what I should be doing with my life. 

And if you feel I’m the person you’d want as YOUR coach to educate, guide, encourage, inspire and work with you towards your goals, then…  

Come in for a Free Consultation!  

Building your health, wellness and fitness has never been more important than it is in today’s world. And working with a qualified coach can ensure you get your results in the best way possible.

Put my:

• 40 years of personal study on the human body

• 30 years of in-the-trenches experience as a professional trainer

• over 35,000 hours of personally training people of all fitness levels from beginners to elite athletes

…to work for YOU!

Stop putting it off any longer..
Contact Me Today!