What drives me is helping others find the courage to go for what they want
Hailing from Killeen, Texas my fitness impetus seemed to be during middle school. Not my athletic leanings, I’ve been into sports as far back as my memory dates. This is when what would be considered a sort of bodybuilding (building the body) carbon dates; 6th/7th grade in Ft. Knox, Kentucky.
I wanted abdominal muscles. I wanted abdominal muscles badly: crunch variations, sit ups, flutter kicks, static leg holds, leg lifts, various ab gizmos you’d see in infomercials.. I saved every dollar of my babysitting/quarter gambling money. I did every maneuver I could think of (it wasn’t until later I learned it takes more than exercises for visible abs). An early moment of abdominal pride comes to mind in tackle football practice.
My teammates and I were doing what we called “six inches” where you lay on your back with legs erected six inches above the ground.
Agonizing is an accurate description.
While we suffered our coach would gleefully strut, row by row, and drop his Wilson football on an unsuspecting player's stomach.
He enjoyed the “umph” we’d belt out upon impact.
I’d been working on my core for a while now, so prepared I was. It replays in my mental Blu-ray.. one blazing summer, coach approached my row, releasing the ball right above my belly button.
My time to shine.
Me the day before high school graduation versus me late 2023
The ball bounced back at him, like a 7 year old on a trampoline. He said, "Young (my last name) is that a rib protector?"
Me: "Aaall abs coach."
Felt like a made man.
Thinking back this discreetly started my love for bodybuilding (along with Dragon Ball), but it was a distant third to football and basketball. I took my drive to the court after moving to Germany, there was no middle school football team.
Over the years I worked and gained skill, dominated all through middle school even scoring 70 points once for my German u-16 basketball squad at 13.
Freshman year of high school I was back in Killeen, Texas and anxious to get the hoops going until I hit a wall.
Had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, my diagnosis came after many standing blackouts during preseason practice, eventually I had to have something done about it. I underwent a heart procedure, which forced me to miss almost my entire 9th grade season, however I still worked and worked all throughout high school.
Then managed to showcase my way onto the radar of a college basketball recruiter. I performed at an invitational tryout and was selected to play college basketball despite my lack of high school hoops film.
College is where fitness kicked up another level in the form of muscular training. I knew a bit more than most of my friends in high school about strengthening the body, so I would bring them along for workouts, but in college my learning amassed and I actually conducted sessions with my new teammates; still my college hoops career was short lived.
Middle of sophomore year, while recovering from a season ending wrist injury, I learned I’d soon be a father and decided to enlist in the Army. Here I honed my growing discipline, gained even more fitness know-how, trained fellow soldiers with the aim of improving their fitness training scores, orchestrated various physical training programs for my departments, and heightened all seriousness about weightlifting.
I earned my first official certification, then I was off to the races.
At the end of my military enlistment, I returned to my home state of Texas, set up "shop" in San Antonio, and started on as a fitness trainer with Golds Gym. There I started stacking certifications, expanding my fitness foundation mentally coupled with application to continue helping myself and be as well-versed as I could for my clients. I quickly reached Golds’ highest level earning the title of: Expert Fitness Trainer.
After years with Golds I cut ties, went off on my own, got married, added some more muscle, added some more kids, and started Able-Bodied Fitness (not in that order).
Things didn’t progress quickly it required, and still requires, a certain resilience, belief, and dedication, but my ability to assist others continues to sprout and Able-Bodied continues to grow.
I have a deep passion for all aspects of fitness: strength, stamina, coordination, speed, agility, balance, maintaining a relatively low body fat percentage, and of course the all-precious muscle tissue.
Yet I’d be incomplete in my synopsis if I didn’t mention my passion for fitness of the mind running just as deep, if not deeper.
Blogging, online fitness training, fitness plans, and social media posts are some of the things you can look forward to from me.
I’m grateful that, although mostly men seeking extra muscle tissue, a range consisting of children all the way to elderly have given me the pleasure of coaching and mentoring in more ways than I ever foresaw.
If you’re reading this, I thank you because you’re part of the contribution, whether you’re aware or not.
You may stumble, you may fall, but the only way you’ll fail is if you fail to continue on.
Let’s get it ! ! !
