How I Got Introduced Into Fitness

I have found that a lot of my passions that I have in life, that feel true to my core and that I can remember, are introduced to me during my elementary school years. As a kid sports were a large part of my life. I was introduced to wrestling at the earliest age of about 4 or 5, then soccer & t-ball, football followed around 3rd grade, and then finally track & field as well as basketball in middle school. Activity was always around when I was young and that is where I made a lot of my life long friends. My association with fitness has always been a net positive for me but it is not the main reason why I choose this as my profession.

I grew up in a smaller town in West Michigan with both parents being public school teachers within the school system that they grew up in where my grandfather also taught. My father was a varsity wrestling coach first and foremost, a varsity football coach, and a varsity throwing coach for the track and field team. Hopefully you can picture the amount of time and attention that was committed to sports, coaching, teaching and community involvement. Over the course of my childhood I heard about all sorts of kids that my parents taught, and all sorts of parents they had to deal with as teachers and my father as a coach. If you were wondering what teachers talked about outside of work to their friends and too each other, its usually about the kids they are teaching.

I’ve heard about kids overcoming immense obstacles, kids missing opportunities, parents being helpful, and more often than not, parents being the problem. They would always discuss how they could help, provide support, how they could celebrate wins for their students and give praise to the parents. I could give thousands of examples here, but we will save those for another time. This was what I grew up hearing my entire life until I moved away to college. But, throughout those years a past student more often than not, would seek out my parents and tell me how much their teaching or coaching helped them in other aspects of life. The joy on each face was impossible to miss and it left an impact on me.

I chose personal training to continue on with that tradition of helping others realize the potential that they have in their life, and how having an active and mobile body can be a major advantage when it comes to living out a fulfilling life.

The motto of StoelenStrength is “Taking Back Control” You were given a body when you were brought into this world as a tool to make an impact and steer your own ship. I want to carry on the tradition of helping others steer their own ships and succeed in what life they want to live.