All time Deadlift PR 265lbs, Back Squat 185lbs
CrossFit Level-One Online Certification. Certified personal trainer through NASM for general population focusing on strength and conditioning, sport specific training, and injury recovery/prevention at Under Armour Performance Center from 2016-2020. Exercise Science major at Towson University. Former division one athlete
I think all of the experiences I have had in my life make me the coach I am today. I was always involved in sports from a young age until college and continued to coach lacrosse and other sports once my own career was over. In high school I was a 3 sport athlete playing field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse for high school and played year round club lacrosse and continued to play lacrosse at a division one university. I had some amazing coaches and trainers who inspired me to make fitness and athletics a forever part of my life. After working with Under Armour for my personal training internship, I knew that I wanted to help people through health and wellness. Working as a personal trainer and a coach taught me so much about fitness, but it also taught me a lot about people. Everyone works differently, is motivated differently, and has different goals and the best caches teach you how to get there yourself.
For me my biggest enemy was my brain. Unfortunately playing so many competitive sports really puts a toll on your body and I still deal with the injuries I sustained when I was a competitive athlete. During my high school and my college lacrosse career, I sustained five concussions. My freshmen year I went from a division one athlete to being told that I have a traumatic brain injury and I will most likely experience the result of that for the rest of my life. So not only was my brain injured, but I did not know how to mentally handle all of this. I stopped being active for a while out of fear I would injure myself or trigger a migraine, I stopped doing the things I loved out of fear and I wasn't a person I liked very much. However, I realized that the only person telling me I can't do these things is ME. I know my body and capabilities better than anyone and I was tired of living life scared of pain. Exercise and fitness were the biggest things that kept me sane and I took that out of my life. So I slowly started reintegrating them into in my life and ceased thinking about the expectations in my head. Finally I was feeling like myself, physically and mentally! I began pushing myself more and more. I definitely learned my limits, but that's the only way to progress. We fight the story we tell ourselves in our heads to prove that we are much more capable than what we expect. Pain is temporary no matter how intense and we can decide how we deal and treat it by listening to our bodies and doing the things that make you feel happy and fulfilled.
My purpose for coaching is teaching others to enjoy fitness. I think a lot of people who were competitive athletes when they were young, end up burning out, or associating exercise with punishment. And even if they weren't an athlete they may look at exercising as something that won’t be a very fun time. We should all be grateful we get to move around and push ourselves, but you should also enjoy your work outs! The perspective of "I have to workout” creates dread and the expectation that we won’t enjoy our exercise. The perspective of “I get to workout” leaves all kinds of possibilities and you might just have a good time! My goal for every session is for my client to walk away feeling like they learned something and that they enjoyed at least one aspect of the session that day.
