Powerlifting has had a significant role in my coming of age story. Like many teenagers, I discovered fitness through means of sports. Basketball was something that I thought would be a part of my life for the rest of my years, but in the pursuit of athletic greatness, I stumbled across weight training by accident and immediately fell in love. Because the basketball courts in the community center were often being used by many of the older kids in the neighborhood, I found myself doing sets of curls and leg press to simply keep myself occupied as I waited for the courts to empty out. Sooner or later, basketball slowly faded out of my life, and was replaced by consistent weight training. I developed somewhat of a reputation as "the kid who worked out a lot" in my high school, and I embraced it and became utterly obsessed with exercise. I made it my goal to learn the ins and outs of weight training, venturing beyond simply exercise science, and indulging myself in topics such as physical therapy, orthopedics, physics, embryology, psychology, motor learning etc.

I began coaching for free my first year of college, and found myself having an exorbitant amount of fun despite making no profit for all of the time and effort I put in. I found that my unrelenting care for each of my lifters combined with a willingness to make mistakes and adjust lent itself well to coaching, and I found myself succeeding exponentially more as my coaching career progressed.

My primary goal with coaching is to be as unbiased as possible in my approach to my coaching process. I believe that the developing exercise science research doesn't lend itself well to practical application. Oftentimes coaches will become tied to a certain system or hold onto a certain belief because the literature confirms it, but I believe that coaching should be an athlete-centric process. I pride myself in being able to transition between bottom-up and top-down coaching, understanding when the decisions should be athlete-driven or coach-driven. In my opinion, the end game for coaching should be that the lifter should feel empowered and knowledgable enough to feel comfortable coaching themselves. Through both mentorship and collaborative problem solving, I seek to provide my athletes with all the tools they need to be successful with or without me. I believe that through my various experiences working with multiple training systems and taking influence from several other fields not directly related to powerlifting, I am properly suited to guide any lifter to meet their strength goals.

Coaching powerlifting has given me a new perspective to what it means to build and foster relationships through clear, concise, and individually tailored communication. Clients are not thought of as just a program or several text messages. Coaching is an investment in the individual. The connection formed through a shared goal creates friendship and trust that lasts beyond powerlifting. The long hours after the computer shuts off, staring at a ceiling, thinking about potential programming or technique optimization strategies only comes through true care and dedication to one's progress inside and out the gym. Coaching has brought great pride and heartache, but it's been immensely rewarding to have the privilege of working with high effort and highly motivated athletes and witness their growth as they progress through their training career.

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