WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. -- What is your position here at Westover?
I am the wing Health Promotions and Fitness Program Manager.
How long have you been doing that?
I started this position officially in February. As far as the fitness world both in and out of the military, I've been doing it since roughly 2006. I was a master fitness trainer in the Army, and that kind of kicked off my motivation into the fitness world.
What is your main role here?
I do the basics of administering PT tests but that's not my main focus. My primary role is creating fitness routines for people or groups to encourage more of a fit community. I'm creating programs that people can just walk in the door, boom, there's a new program for a marathon runner. And if you don't run it all but you really are interested in it, I have a “couch to 5k program.” I’m also your strength guy and, if you want just do interval training but still want to get that “hammer” in? Boom, we got the hammer style training ready. I'm trying to encourage multi facets of different styles so everyone can be engaged.
Is fitness a big part of your life outside of the military too?
Yes! I got my degree in Exercise Science in 2015. During that time, I became an Army mountaineer, so I taught people to traverse mountainous terrain and things like that -- really cool stuff and it was super fun. And then I started my own business. I opened my own CrossFit gym and that did pretty good until the pandemic hit. In addition to owning the gym, I coached gymnastics and national level weightlifting and Olympic lifting, and I competed in powerlifting and CrossFit. I do jujitsu to this day because it's just something that I'm stuck on. I love it, it's such a good way to be humbled and relaxed. I've been really into fitness and just dedicated to it for such a long time.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Honestly, I don't even remember. The military has been such a big part of my life that like all I can ever imagine now is the military. As a kid, I was all about sports and I was good at everything. Sports were always part of my life and physical activity was always a part of my life, and now it is my life, so it all just kind of fell in place.