The Truth behind my Journey
Everyone talks about when you first start a blog the opening post should be focused on your background and who you are as a person, so let the journey begin. I grew up in Hanford, CA which is a small town in central California . I looked up to my two older brothers Zack and Drew. Just like any younger brother I thought my brothers were the coolest cats on the planet and would follow them around every where they went, which I believe helped me excel in sports down the road. As time went on Zack shifted away from playing competitive sports (except for tennis with friends) and Drew’s interests became more occupied with local government and striving to make an overall impact in our community, and my passion to play baseball continued to grow. After high school I attended Fresno City junior College where I excelled in baseball as a starting pitcher and amassed an 8-0 record. That was enough to get me noticed by the coaching staff at Sonoma State University, and in 2006 they offered me a baseball scholarship.
Mid way through my career at SSU I had to red shirt because of an elbow injury. I went looking for answers on why I got hurt and that lead me to Bobby Aldridge a Strength Coach in Marin County. I will never forget the day I met him because he told me to bring in my workout plan so he could see it and when I did he looked it over ripped it up and said lets begin. I was like “who the hell is this guy”, I had been training since I was 14 and thought I knew what I was doing, but boy was I wrong. After being mentored by Bobby for 3 years I returned to my home in Central California to become the Fresno Monsters Head Strength Coach (Junior Hockey Team). I knew nothing about training hockey players, it was my first big gig and I was fresh off the fitness boat. So what did I do? I searched for strength coaches who train hockey players and sure enough Mike Boyles name pops up all over the internet,so I knew I had to go to Boston to learn from him and that one decision to fly to Boston for a 1-day seminar in 2011 would change my life forever. I arrive in Boston on a Thursday night, a few days before the seminar was to begin, so I could explore the city and have some fun. After settling in, I headed down to the hotel’s restaurant where I pulled up to the bar and ordered dinner. After about 30 minutes a man taps me on my left shoulder and asks if anyone is sitting next to me. I look up and say no, the seats all yours. He sits down and orders a whiskey and he asks me what I am doing here in Boston. I told him I was here for Mike Boyle’s 1 day seminar and came early to do some site seeing. He replies “oh really?” “my name is Dan John and I am the keynote speaker for the seminar” 
and at that time being only in the fitness industry for a few months I hadn’t known the impact Dan had made yet on the fitness community but I was still shocked and caught off guard. The rest of the night we sat there and he went over everything he was doing, writing on napkins (which I still have) and talking about how tomorrow we are going to do this and that, after a while I mentioned that the seminar is on Saturday not tomorrow (Friday) and he said “oh I am speaking to Mike’s staff tomorrow, you want to go?” and that is where my life changed. I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with Dan and Mike soaking up their conversations and knowledge they had developed over the years of hard work and dedication to their craft.
I have now been in the fitness industry for 9 years and Dan is a very good friend and mentor to me and all the work I have been doing. I am currently the Director of Sports Performance for Future Prospects Performance, the Sonoma State Baseball Head Strength Coach and I work closely with Barry Bonds training Major League baseball players, youth baseball players and personal clients committed to improving their overall fitness levels. I just completed my masters degree at SSU and during that time found a passion to help individuals with Cystic Fibrosis. I am in the process of developing exercise programs for individuals with CF with some of the smartest researchers I know down at Stanford and hope to help find a cure for CF.
I have made it my mission to learn from some of the best strength coaches in the World and I believe that all my work is a reflection of what Dan John, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, Brad Jellis, Sean Skahan, Mike Potenza, and Bobby Aldridge have taught me over the years. The one thing that all of them have taught me has been, to keep learning, stay true to my beliefs, don’t be scared to be wrong and always strive to improve my craft.
It is the goal of my blog to impart some of the knowledge that these giants of the fitness industry have impressed upon me, and to share my experiences as I incorporate these philosophies with my own clientele.
“To Know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of knowledge.” – Confucius
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