I am a strength & conditioning specialist turned strongman performer and motivational speaker.

I was an overweight, insecure teenager who started using drugs in high school. My life got real bad as my addictions worsened and I saw myself on a path of self destruction. In a moment of prayer and self reflection, I knew that I would either kill myself, end up in jail, or spend the rest of my life as a loser.

Only by the grace of God was I able to stop using and turn my life around.

Progress was very slow at first. Not much changed initially but I slowly began to distance myself from toxic relationships. I had to find new friends, new things to do and new places to go.

Lifting weights became my favorite pastime. As I got more into it, I wanted to learn how to get the most out of my workouts.

I realized I needed to exercise my brain like I exercised my body, so I started reading again. I progressed from muscle magazines, to books and eventually went back to school for a degree in exercise science.

As my workouts improved so did my strength. I began competing in strength sports like Strongman and the Highland Games. I won the Maryland Strongest Man competition and realized that to go any further in the sport I would have to start using drugs again (i.e. steroids).

At that point, I switched my focus from strongman competition to strongman performances. I started doing feats of strength like bending steel, tearing phonebooks and breaking chains. I trained under Dennis Rogers to learn how to combine feats of strength with showmanship and I joined Toastmasters International to get more comfortable with public speaking.

I did all of this while starting a family and opening a gym. Today I have 5 children and am the owner and operator of Baltimore Kettlebell Club. It’s been wild ride already and the story is just beginning.