I started in the fitness space from a really young age. I was automatically implemented into it because my grandfather was a professional weightlifter and bodybuilder. He was Mr. New Hampshire in 1956. My father was a professional weightlifter and bodybuilder, and my mother was a professional arm wrestler.
I have four sisters. They all played sports. I played sports ever since I was five years old. I grew up with a massive gym in my house, bigger than our living room because fitness [indecipherable 16:31] lifestyle literally [indecipherable 16:34] the amount of vitamins that I would take growing up, my family’s all about natural.
I grew up on a farm in New Hampshire. We have grown chickens, and I was outside on the trampoline every day. I was never allowed to play video games. I was always active. My life has always been a fitness-driven lifestyle.
I never knew that you can make a career in the fitness world, to be totally honest. My father owned a construction company, so I always help him out with that, making money by the hour, and scrapping metal, and doing whatever on job sites.
I then went to a military academy. Played sports there, succeeded pretty well. We ended up winning a national championship in football. Played baseball. Out of there, I got a scholarship to play football and academics at Long Island University, so I did that.
As you can see, a trend. I’ve always had fitness in my lifestyle, I had to. I love it. It’s inevitable. It was never a question. It came so natural. It wasn’t, “I want to be in the fitness.” It’s, I wake up, I brush my teeth, I worked out. It was my whole life, that’s how it worked. I never thought twice about it.
When I was in college, I was at a military academy for high school. [laughs] When I got to college I wanted to unleash myself. [laughs] I started getting into nightlife a little bit more, and bartending, trying to make a little extra cash in college; bar-backing, whatnot.
I ended up dropping out when I was a junior. I got linked with EMM group, which is like [indecipherable 18:11] . They’re a nightlife company. I got thrown into the wolves and started managing nightclubs when I was 20 years old. Did that for about three years, and then got into my own things.
I enjoyed the hospitality industry. I love taking care of people, and showing them a good time; just talking with people. I look at myself as a pretty personable individual. I like talking in general and helping people out.
At that point, when I was in the restaurant industry, there was a couple things that happened. If anyone has ever been in the fitness industry, it’s tough. There’s a lot of moving parts.
There was a point where I got to make a decision of do I want to stay in this industry or do I want to switch? I sat down with a guy. He was like, “What do you like to do?” I was like, “C’mon.”
He’s like, “I see you in the gym every day. Why don’t you get in the fitness industry?” I was like, “I don’t even know where I would start that.” [laughs] He’s like, “You should start posting your workouts,” and so I did.
Then someone reached out to me and they were like, “Hey, I see your workouts online. Would you ever consider training?” I’m like, “I don’t know how to train people. I played sports my whole life. I can throw you through some sport workouts, but…”
They’re like, “No, I want to learn some things from a sports perspective, just be around your energy.” I’m like, “Cool.” I started working out with them. I wouldn’t like sit there and train them, I would literally sweat with them, encourage them, and talk to them about life.
This specific person was going through a divorce at the time. He was in not a good place in his life. In three months, he ended up losing like 60 pounds. He got through his divorce, and he found a new girlfriend. His whole life changed. I was like, “This is awesome.”
Then another person came along, and another person, and I kind of became this life coach, workout partner for these people. I think the big differentiator on why I got so busy quick is the hospitality part.
I would listen to these people. I would take them out for tacos. I would chat with them on the weekend. We’d go have a drink. It wouldn’t be, “OK, sit there. Watch, and do curls for an hour.” I would physically workout with them. I would physically take them out to eat. It was a whole experience.
It’s fun for me. I didn’t feel like I was working. It turned one thing into another. Some of my videos online started getting reposted, whether it was Barstool or ESPN, and some of these bigger accounts, and my following started growing.
I never intended to be an “influencer.” I was just posting my workouts, and I think they were untraditional, whatever the word is. They’re just different. That’s what caught people’s attention.
Overall, I have a fitness-driven lifestyle. Fitness is always going to be a part of my life. I think it should be a part of everyone’s life. That’s the point I want to get across. You can be a part of multiple businesses. You can continue to do your job. You can continue to do whatever you want in life.
Just like you brush your teeth every day, you need to focus on your health every day. You need to work out every day. It needs to be a non-negotiable mentality. You can’t try to convince yourself that you’re not doing it. It needs to be implemented to your brain that you’re doing it every day. That’s just my mindset.