I’ve been coaching and motivating people in and around health and fitness for the last 20 years. Many people find it hard to believe that I ever had a life before fitness, however, I wasn't an athlete at all prior to college, I was, in fact, a musician. Growing up in a family of classical musicians, I played just about every instrument you can think of... finally settling on the trumpet by the time I hit high school (with the string bass a close second). The culmination of my musical study came with my acceptance into the Eastman School of Music. Freshman year of at the University of Rochester changed ALL that – surprise, surprise!

That first year of college I learned about fraternities, sports, and girls…Need I say more? Music was now completely out of the picture, and with an ROTC scholarship, and a desire to be a Marine, fitness became a priority. Training for Officer Candidate School, and then OCS itself became my introduction to intensity - days and days of training and workouts that could literally leave you wasted for hours, depleted, dehydrated, utterly exhausted, way worse then just a "nice" visit from Mr. Pukie. With school, my platoon sergeant, early morning workouts, fraternity parties, and finals behind me, I graduated and was commissioned an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

The first year in the Marines probably the most challenging... it was also an amazing learning experience. I learned everything about being an infantryman or “grunt” – from tactics, and land navigation to communication and leadership. I became an expert shot, learned knots backwards and forwards, learned how to SCUBA dive, even repelled off helicopters. Then, as a combat engineer, I learned about building things, laying minefields and obstacles and then explosives – how to blow things up! After that, the real “fun” began - I reported to my first duty station, Camp Pendleton, CA in the First Combat Engineer Division, checked in with the Colonel, and got the personal files of 40 Marines that I now was responsible for – in the Marines, they call it “Platoon Commander.” I traveled the world with my platoon – California first (a long way from my home state of Maryland), then Hawaii, Panama, the Philippines, and finally Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – yes, the first Gulf War. I loved my experience as a Marine, but after four years, it was definitely time to move on.

For most people, getting a job is priority one when they get out of the military. Not me. I decided to ride my bike across the United States with a couple of friends! Then I got a job – as a sales rep/engineer for a Fortune 500 specialty chemical company. In my free time, I went outdoors taking up cycling, mountain biking, outrigger canoe paddling, whitewater kayaking, snowboarding, rock climbing, and mountaineering. Most of the sports I tried, I took to the extreme... paddling Class IV & V whitewater and waterfalls throughout California, paddling across the Molokai channel, climbing Rainier multiple times, racing my bike across Costa Rica. Then, in 1995, I tackled the Eco Challenge, a round-the-clock, 300-mile expedition adventure race that is regarded by athletes across the world as the greatest, most extreme challenge ever; the premiere test of physical skills and mental tenacity. Yes, it was all that! And since in that first one, my team didn’t finish as a complete team, I HAD to do another one… which led to my third… and fourth. I went on to get sponsored by Red Bull for shorter distance races (24 hours or less), and routinely placed in the top three in at least 30 races over five years.

Mine was a circuitous route to the health and fitness industry, but a route just the same! During years of racing, people regularly asked about what I did to stay in shape, and when I stared telling them, advising them, and training them, it was a very natural fit. I got an entry-level sales job at Gold’s Gym Venice – in the nutrition department, and also became a massage therapist. Wanting more education, I enrolled in UCLA’s fitness instructor program and subsequently attended the prestigious CHEK Institute for corrective, high performance exercise kinesiology and nutrition. I have trained with some of the world’s best coaches in running, corrective exercise, Olympic lifting, gymnastics, and yoga and have coached thousands of people in all aspects of health, fitness and conditioning.

In ’04, while surfing the web, I stumbled upon CrossFit.com. That day forever changed my life. CrossFit to me was a system that encapsulated all I believed about fitness at the time in a very well developed, thought-out and organized system. And when I tried it, it turned my boring, mundane training workouts into athletic challenge... more of a sport. CrossFit had me at day 1... it is currently MY training system of choice. I workout about 3-5 times per week. My diet fluctuates between Zone and strict Paleo. And I quite literally, after 6 years of CrossFit and 44 years old, in the BEST shape of my life! I’m inspired by overachievement and by people beating the odds, and love to see transformation happen in front of my eyes almost every day at CrossFit LA. I love what I do, and love my life. I now have another part of life to love – fatherhood. Julia, my wife, gave birth to our son, Dashel George, on March 8th, 2007 - he is the love of our life. At 4 years old now, I'm starting to teach him some of the things Daddy does... and the next chapter begins!

Links
Endurance Radio.com
Mountain Zone.com - Hi-Tec Adventure Race
Mountain Zone.com - Hi-Tec Adventure Race
Great Outdoors.com - Girl Teams
Mountain Zone.com - Eco Challenge Australia

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