I started rowing as a freshman in high school in Atlanta and have been doing it ever since.  In high school I was the first person to stroke a men’s 8+ to youth invites at Cinncy in both lightweight and heavyweight.  After looking towards college and some unforeseen family issues I decided to go to school at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) and unfortunately they did not have a team so I was stuck on an erg for 4 years.  I attempted to start a team up and actually had a group of people erging plenty and trying to raise funds but ultimately we came up short and the only thing the team managed to do was race at a few indoor races.  Since there was no team to compete with at school I had to put my efforts elsewhere.  And so I entered a weight room.  At 135 lbs I was a bit small for my height (5’10”) and decided as all young males do at one point or another that I wanted to get some muscle and impress the women.  So from my freshman year to my senior year I got up to 215 lbs and maintained a body-fat percentage under 12%.  Lightweight No More.  I could now squat and deadlift over 500 lbs and bench over 250 lbs.  Needless to say I now knew what it was like to really sprint and pick up the speed on an erg.  Moving on, I now coach middle school rowers in Atlanta and am currently training again on the water.  I’m down to 186 lbs and will eventually get down to around 175 where I can cut water and race lightweight (yes I know this isn’t recommended), and have aspirations of eventually competing internationally. 

Currently I am: a ACE-certified trainer, I have over 100+ clients, I co-own/operate a supplement store, and co-own/operate a nutrition consulting/training firm and have contributed many training articles to forums of various aspects.