Fitness Journey....

I’ve remained active since I was a teenager, but life and setbacks have cause me to press “pause” several times during my lifetime. I’ve tried every program and legal supplement under the sun and over the years and after somehow miraculously ingesting all these compounds and coming out relatively unscathed on the other side, my fitness journey continued as I became a police officer in 1996. I loved the structure and paramilitary training which spoke right to my OCD sensibilities lolol. I continued with training and eating in a very traditional model of bodybuilding basics, ie the "BRO SPLIT”, training each body part separately one day a week ie: chest, back, legs, arms, shoulders, and a TON of cardio (HITT, Sprints, Running, Plyometrics). My diet was also very “traditional” treating carbs and fats as the evil empire and consuming WAY too much chicken, rice, broccoli, egg whites, etc. I competed and won a body transformation contest in 2012, and while I loved the results, I literally was killing myself to get there and the method I used was unsustainable long term, and I rebounded immediately within a couple of weeks, putting all the weight I had lost back on.As the years went by, training evolved, transitioning into a full body workout 3-5 days a week, and still doing endless hours of cardio (managed to train for and complete the Providence Marathon, thanks to Nichole Rich, as without her, that accomplishment NEVER happens), but as the years wained, so did my over all consistency with workouts and nutrition, more remaining on the hamster wheel not ever really getting anything but little to average results.

All was status quo until the night of October 18th, 2019 when while working at I was sitting stationary in my cruiser, and struck from behind by a drunk driver at 70 MPH.  The crash left me with a Grade 2 concussion, back issues, and the need to get my left shoulder completely replaced. The surgery was completed in February of 2020 (forever indebted to Dr. Glen Ross out of the Baptist Hospital https://nebh.org for the successful procedure), and the next 9 months was spent rehabbing, and you realize very quickly that gaining muscle, strength and speed takes a LONG time, but atrophy sets in almost immediately as I was left weak as a “newborn kitten”. On top of all of that, this was right before the start of the “pandemic” where the world and gyms effectively shut down or at least became very difficult to work out at for a while. Marriage and the birth of my two children over the  would follow over the next two years.  In this time, my weight never grew out of control, and I maintained a “soft” 165-170” # range (5’ 7” respectively). As I adjusted to being a parent of two children, I looked to focus back on my overall health. As I started to work out and do cardio again, reality set it that I now had limitations on my workouts due to my shoulder replacement, so I would not be setting an “PR”’s anytime soon, and my passion for running (which was never all that passionate to begin with) had completely waned, so where did that leave me?? It left me starting old programs and eating regiments I had used previously, only to fall off soon after, I simply could not keep up consistency. After retiring in January 2025, I refocused my time that was not spent being a father and husband on my new journey back into physical fitness. My weight had creeped up to 173#'s, a new high for me as an adult, I needed change, so STEP ONE was figuring out my body fat percentage and getting a DexaScan.  I was shocked to see the results, as my body fat was at 23.1%. Looking at a recent study by VeryWellaHealth.com, the average BF% for a male over 50 is 28.6%, but the thought that almost 25% of my mass was fat did not sit well with me. 

So, what to do?? I had purchased nutrition/eating programs in the past from various trainers but never hired an actual coach.  I started to poke around on YouTube watching different social media health personalities to see what the latest and greatest information was. A lot of the information was the same, but one channel stood out and the amount of information given was astounding, and that was Dr. Mike Diamonds from https://sculptbyscience.com/ (SBS). Even though he ran an online coaching business, he seemed to be giving his programs away for free, literally 3,4, and 5 day work out splits, recipe guides, and a walking strategy. If the last one caught you off guard, it did me as well. How could walking be the key to losing body fat? I watched more of his videos, and the science-based approach he was preaching resonated with me. I NEEDED accountability at this point in my life, so I joined SBS, was introduced to my coach Max Linley, and I have not looked back.