Most people who meet me think I must have always been into fitness and exercise, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Actually, I can’t even remember working out for the first time until I was almost done with high school.

I played a lot of different sports during my teenage years such as swimming, tennis, basketball, and football. Although naturally athletic and very mobile, at that time I wasn’t as good as some of the other guys on my teams. I had considered trying to exercise to improve my athletic skills, however, that wasn’t my main motivation. In fact, there was one moment that I remember ever so clearly, which became the catalyst to my obsession with exercise.

One day, while flipping through the channels on TV, I stumbled onto a WWE wrestling match. I wasn’t a big fan of professional wrestling, but I was blown away how impressive those guys looked. They were jacked, strong, fast, and I thought to myself “I want to make my body look like that.” Immediately, I knew I had to figure out how to make that happen.

Fortunately for me, my mom knew the weightlifting coach at my high school and I begged him to teach me how to lift. He obliged, and for the next 16 months, I spend 5-6 days a week working with him at the local YMCA. In between trips to the Y, I would spend hours using the old sand-filled weight-set at my house. Despite my lack of knowledge about proper recovery (haha), by the time I went off to college, I had a pretty decent frame and good foundation of lifting knowledge.

College was tough for me. I wasn’t great a student and I pulled Cs and Ds through the majority of my first two years. Heck, I was even considering dropping out. That is until I was flipping through the college program manual and saw that I could major in Exercise Science. After I took my first introductory weight training class, I met with my advisor who set me up in my first exercise science class and that’s it. I was hooked.

From that moment forward I cleaned my act up and I focused learning every bit of information I could. My grades skyrocketed, I locked down some internships, and I even committed to pursuing my graduate degree. Then, at the age of 22, I became an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist as well as a Certified Personal Trainer.

I felt like I was finally fulfilling my life’s purpose, but I knew that I had one milestone to reach: becoming one of the few to achieve a PhD in the science of exercise. Fortunately, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque took a chance on me and gave me a full ride.

So here I am, four years later with my passion burning stronger than ever. I’ve spent the best years of my life learning and teaching about exercise and my personal mission is to bridge the gap between researchers and coaches. Having been on both sides, I have realized that the best solution is collaboration instead of contempt and that starts with guys like me making an impact on the field, in the gym, and at the forefront of the classroom.