Education:
B.S. – Biology, 1990, Colorado College
M.S. – Physiology, 1991, Georgetown University
Ph.D. – Neurophysiology and Biophysics, 1998, Georgetown University
Professional Member, American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
Certified Personal Trainer, AFAA and NSPA
Specialty:
Exercise protocols for orthopedic and medical limitations. Training programs for advanced and general population settings. Advanced athletic training for any sport, especially triathlon at any distance. Expertise in plant-based, whole food nutrition as it relates to athletic performance as well as healthy guidelines for optimum health and wellness for the general population.
Training Philosophy:
“I enjoy focusing on the technical aspects of training; proper biomechanics, structure of workouts, etc. Along those lines, I also believe that exercise and your fitness should be fun! Exercise can be one of the hardest things to accomplish in your day sometimes, especially if it’s something you dread or are not looking forward to. However, if it’s something you enjoy, you are definitely going to make sure you get your groove on somehow, some way, each day!”
Personal Fitness Goals/Accomplishments:
“I swam competitively for 15 years growing up. Played rugby for three years, and raced mountain bikes (sport class) for the same amount of time. I’ve run the Marine Corps Marathon and many half marathon races multiple times. I am a seasoned triathlete, having competed in every distance multiple times from the Sprint to the Ironman.”
Testimony:
As with many people, I can honestly say that my life has been anything but easy. I’ve had my fair share of the same challenges most others have faced in their path of life: Financial difficulties, injuries, death and/or medical concerns of loved ones, stress, anxiety and uncertainty have all been my unwelcome companions, much to my chagrin. There are two things that have gotten me through these struggles. One has been my wife (Beth) and having been blessed with two amazing kids, and the other has been the reason why I’m sharing my Testimony in Christ with you.
My Story:
My life changed completely in April of 2003. Beth and I had gone up to Pennsylvania to visit her parents for Easter that year. As we had done in previous years, we went to church over the holiday weekend to her parent’s church. In years past, I had always dutifully gone to the services every time we were up there for a holiday and had gone through the motions of being a “good sport”. However, it was this particular trip that ended up being vastly different. How was it different? It was in April 2003 that Jesus Christ entered my life and I became saved. I didn’t really recognize it at the time. Beth and I had sat in the service up in one of the front rows, right in front of the part of the stage where the pastor speaks. During the service, there were multiple times the pastor had either looked at me directly or made me feel as if he was talking directly to me. Keep in mind that I had never met him before, nor had anyone ever told him about me or that we were coming to the church, etc. The things he said that night and the fact that it felt as if he was saying them directly to me had a profound effect on me. God had reached out to me, slapped me upside the head, and was letting me know that this was my opportunity to change. I listened! Beth and I walked out of the service that night, longing for more. A few weekends after that, we would purposely drive up to Pennsylvania (from the Washington, DC area) just to go to that church. We asked the pastor if there was another church he would recommend to us that was similar to his. He guided us to the church we are now members at in the DC area and have been attending since then.
Keep in mind that this was not a smooth transition for me! It wasn’t as if a switch somehow just flipped inside me. I “felt” Christ come into my heart, but didn’t know what to make of it or if I even fully believed what was happening to me. Up until that date, I had always been an “unbeliever”. While I believed that there was the likelihood of a “higher power” in the universe somewhere, I didn’t believe that Jesus Christ was anything special or that he was the way to salvation and heaven. I was way too analytical for my own good, and my science background and life at that time blinded me from seeing anything like this as truth. However, it was this same background that actually helped guide me towards becoming a Christian. I tested, I did careful scrutiny and asked questions and looked for answers and rigorously pursued what the truth was. I was, essentially, conducting a science experiment on myself and on whether or not God exists or if Jesus Christ and the Bible could be what they claim to be. The combination of the overwhelming sense of having had God enter into me and the ensuing scientific process and scrutiny I undertook to seek the truth is what brought me to Christ. Since that time, my life has been completely different.
As I wrote earlier, it’s not that my life has magically become easier, that I am now somehow perfect, or that I am devoid of making mistakes or that I never face adversity. Far from it! However, it is because of my faith and because I know that God has a plan for me that makes the things that happen in my life, good or bad, rewarding and gives me the ability to handle anything knowing that I will always be taken care of. God brought me to this point in my life for a reason. In retrospect, there have been key points in my life (points where I had to make decisions) that have guided me to becoming a fully devoted Christian:
- If I had never been accepted to Georgetown for my graduate studies, I would not be here in the Washington, DC area.
- Had I not been in DC, I would have never been at NIH and been faced with the decision to stay there or leave there to start up my companies.
- Had I stayed at NIH, I doubt I would have come to Christianity as I have now (or it may have taken a lot longer, who knows).
- Had I not moved to DC, I would have never met Beth and would have most likely never had the concept of faith and Christianity presented to me.
- Had I never met Beth, we would have never been married and subsequently been able to go through struggles together successfully, had talked about the importance of sharing our faith together, or been able to have received the gift of two incredible kids.
- Had Beth never met, married, and subsequently gone to church in April of 2003, and then subsequently had made a decision for Christ, I may not have been saved to this day. However, I believe that God has orchestrated all of this for me and through me in order for me to share my faith with you.
There are so many positive things that have happened to me from adverse situations that have proven to me that God is watching over me. While the list is long, my back injury in 2007 is the one I feel was the strongest proof. I believe that my back injury was a way that God was hitting me upside the head again and it really helped me rethink my life, how I was living, and my priorities. It was my faith that helped me through that situation and it drew me closer to God and served to strengthen my resolve, my dedication to my family as a priority, and to stop overworking myself to death (or injury, in this case).
I hope that, at some point, I have been able to meet you (the reader) and share my faith with you. I am asking you to allow God and Christ to enter your life right now. Make a decision for Christ and open your heart to him. I am asking you to do this because of how much I know that God loves you and that he sent His only Son to the cross so that you may be saved.
“All glory comes from daring to begin.”