“I am so freaking busy right now I can’t even see straight!”

“I am just barely keeping my head above water… in the best possible way!”

“Sometimes I feel so covered up that I can’t even breathe, and I LOVE it!”

If you have asked me how things were going in my life anytime in the last 6-9 months, it’s very likely that you got one of those above responses.  Everything has been absolutely bananas, in some really good ways and in some really horrible ways.  That being said, I figured I would give you guys a little insight into what’s happening in my world right now.  Check it out:

 

Personal:

I’ve had a ton of stuff going on personally over the last 7 months, from the unexpected loss of my Father (you can read more about that here) and the HUGE impact that’s had on my family, to the loss of two former co-workers, to just trying to learn how to balance a crazy work schedule and the rest of my life.  It’s strange because personally it’s been THE hardest year of my life, and yet professionally, it’s been the greatest year of my life.  It feels very hard at times to bounce back and forth between grieving deeply and being extremely happy and excited.  Learning how to deal with all of that has been quite the experience, but at the risk of sounding cliché, I know I am stronger because of it.

 

The best Dad in the whole wide world…

 

Professionally (J&M Strength and Conditioning):

My business partner Jim Laird and I started our training business together a little over 2 years ago, and in the last year, our gym has BLOWN up!  In fact, we have grown so quickly that we are moving from a building that has about ~1,800 sq. feet of usable space to a 7,500 sq. foot building with almost 7,000 sq. feet of usable space.  Holy moly!  

We’re blowin’ up baby!

 It’s so cool because we do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing, and our clients are loving it!  One of my favorite parts about our program is all the kick-ass women we have training with us!  In fact, I think we may have a group of 5-6 absolutely stunning and strong women compete in their first powerlifting meet this year!  That would be so awesome!  Talk about Girls Gone Strong!  And speaking of…

 

Professionally (Girls Gone Strong):

As you probably know, I have teamed up with 6 other amazing women and formed a group called Girls Gone Strong.  Our whole purpose is to empower women to improve their physical strength, mental strength, and strength of character through strength training.  We want to de-bunk myths and spread as much great information as we can, so that women everywhere know the truth… strong is SEXY!  We want women to be excited about getting strong, we want them to not be afraid of food, we want them to train because they love their bodies, not because they hate their bodies, we want them to feel like they can conquer anything!

That being said, we are working extremely hard behind the scenes on some projects that will help us accomplish our mission.  Our website should be up very soon, as should our apparel.  After that there will be products, e-books, seminars, conferences, radio show podcasts, webinars, and much, much more!  Anything we can do to spread the good word about women and strength training, we will do it!  If you haven’t already “liked” our page on Facebook, please do and please share it with your friends!

 

The Co-Founders of Girls Gone Strong

 

Professionally (My own project):

I have a product  coming out in the next few months and I am SUPER excited to share them with you.  It’s called Bootcamp in a Box.  I teamed up with my business partner/mentor Jim Laird, and my Coach/mentor Mike Robertson to create a FANTASTIC product that will help any Coach/Trainer/Bootcamp Instructor learn how to safely and effectively train their clients. 

It comes with progressions and regressions for all the major movement patterns, ideas for safe (yet challenging!) conditioning, as well as 6 months of done-for-you bootcamp workouts. It’s awesome!  We also have a top-secret-super-huge contributor who will be doing the lifestyle and nutrition section.  In this section he will teach Coaches how to help large groups of clients integrate nutrition and lifestyle changes, to help them look better and feel better.  Finally, we have 3 awesome Fitness Industry All-Stars contributing bonus material.  So keep your eyes peeled for this product.  It should be out soon.  You don’t want to miss it!

 

Training:

As you probably know, I have been training with Mike Robertson of IFAST in Indianapolis for almost 3 years.  I have made huge improvements in the way my body moves and functions, and I have hit PR’s in both squat and bench, and rep PR’s in deadlift since training with MR.  Overall I feel better and move better than ever. 

That being said, back in February I was going for a close-to-max-effort deadlift, and I lost my neutral spine and my back has been bothering me ever since.  It wasn’t the deadlift that was the problem, it was the fact that my hips/pelvis are rotated anteriorly and also to the right, I had no clue how to use my diaphragm to breathe properly, and I couldn’t stabilize my pelvis properly. 

All of that was going on behind the scenes, and the deadlift was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  (I will also admit that I didn’t understand the importance of the breathing and pelvic repositioning stuff so I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have, and didn’t always do my exercises cuz they’re BOOORING!  Oops.)

However, the last several weeks I have been an absolute CHAMP and my back in already feeling much better and I feel MUCH more stable. 

I also just got a new program from MR based on the assessment that I got last weekend at the Diagnosis Fitness Seminar and I am pumped to get started!  I am ~70-80 lbs away from a raw, elite powerlifting total and I am itching to get it… but I have to take care of my back first!


My bench PR


My squat PR

So… that’s what’s going on with me these days!  I am super excited because I have so many wonderful things happening professionally and so many projects that I truly believe will help lots and lots of people!   Do you have any questions about what I have going on?  Products I have coming out?  What my favorite flavor of M&M is (it’s peanut butter in case you’re wondering)?  Anything…?  Let me know below!

 

 

 

 

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