My Journey

First off... Hello!

My name is Dylan, originally from Omaha, Nebraska, my journey into health and fitness started like many people's does, with sports. In 2011 I went to Wayne State College in Wayne, NE where I received a scholarship to play Division 2 football. Playing with multiple All-American athletes there gave me an appreciation of what it truly meant to compete. Learning the nuances of Powerlifting and Athletic Development I learned how to get strong.

After breaking my hip and ending my career in my junior season my whole perspective on exercise at the time changed. I had spent my whole fitness life up to that point in athletic development, trying to get bigger, faster, and stronger. But for the first time in my life I was incapable of exercising how I thought I should be able to. Everything became pain and rehab.

It was at this point when I first started to learn the importance of patience, consistency, and balance. Rehabbing injury is very different from performing on the field, both are difficult, balancing the body (performance), but also balancing the mind (expectations). When expectations don't meet reality, somethings got to give, and for me that was motivation.

After my athletic career ended I felt lost and adrift in my fitness, I knew how to exercise like an athlete, but after years of pushing myself to compete in sports I didn't enjoy the workouts I knew. It became difficult to maintain any consistency as I began to get bored of my routines in the gym. I began to put on more and more weight, and not in the way I wanted to. I had put on 40lbs before realizing that I had to make a change.

That change ended up being learning. I began to research how to workout for weight loss, utilizing weigthlifting and cardio, how to optimize each to get my weight under control, and it worked! Within 6 months I had brought my weight back down to my football days and even farther. I was seeing muscle and tone in a way I had never before. My confidence was at an all time high. This was also about the time I was becoming disenchanted with my job. So I chose to save up some money, quit my job, and travel the world as much as possible.

Over the following years I traveled whenever and however I could, trying to make my trips as long as I could. From backpacking around Europe, to volunteering in Kenya, to moving to Vietnam for a few years to teach english, I took whatever excuse and money I could make and ran with it. This however brought up another problem when it came to my fitness, consistency. Believe it or not when you travel as much as possible, your health and fitness often takes a backseat. Whether its because of lack of a gym or familiar environment I began to lose a lot of the health and fitness I had worked to gain.

After again losing and regaining progress over and over again I finally found the answer to my problem. It was during Covid while under lockdown in Vietnam that I first discovered calisthenics or bodyweight fitness. I had always of course known about pushups and sit ups but learning about higher level skill development like handstands and human flags gave me a sustainably accessible type of fitness that just made everything click. It was from then on I couldn't get enough of fitness. I had always helped friends and family workout and plan their programs, but now I wanted to live and breathe fitness. I received my certification as a personal trainer and began working with clients full time.

In 2021 I decided it was finally time to move back to the states and pursue my career at home. After landing on Denver, Colorado as the best place to start, I packed up all my stuff again and began the long journey home. Working in both personal training and group fitness to get my feet wet, I spent the first few years learning as much as I could, whenever and wherever I could, including the importance of hobbies (which Colorado has no shortage of) as well as using your fitness. What's the point in working out if you never use it outside the gym?

From here my goal has been simple, consolidate all the things I've learned over these many years, and fill in the gaps with as much outside, science based knowledge as humanly possible. Working with clients to reach their fitness goals is one of the most powerful and rewarding things I have ever done, and I truly feel blessed to have been on this path and do what I love. Fitness and health are ever changing, ever evolving areas that are individual to each person and helping other actualize their goals is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Thanks for Reading!