Category
you compete in: IFBB Fitness
Date of birth: 7/12/83
Hometown: Aurora, CO
Career: IT Network Engineer
Competition history:
10/2013 – IFBB Europa Phoenix Pro – 9th place
8/2013 – IFBB PBW Tampa Pro – 14th place
5/2013 – IFBB Toronto Pro Show – 10th place
8/2012 – IFBB North American Championship **Pro Card winner
8/2012 – IFBB North American Championship Fitness 1st place class B winner
8/2012 – NPC Warrior Classic Fitness 1st place tall class and overall winner
8/2012 – NPC Warrior Classic Figure 3rd place class D
8/2011 – NPC Warrior Mixed Pairs Bodybuilding 3rd place
8/2011 – NPC Warrior Figure 5th place D class
5/2011 – NPC Jr. USAs Fitness 2nd place C class
11/2010 – NPC Rocky Mtn CO Fitness 1st place overall winner
4/2010 – NPC Northern CO Fitness 2nd Place .jpg)
7/2009 – NPC CO State Fitness 1st place tall class
Next competition:
IFBB Wings of Strength Chicago Pro
IFBB Wings of Strength Tampa Pro
In your opinion, how important is motivation and confidence when aiming to accomplish a goal?
Intensity stems from the mind and heart and directly impacts success. Without constantly believing in perpetual growth your success will be limited. If you believe in yourself and are passionate throughout your journey you’ll intrinsically be motivated to be the best that you can be.
In your eyes, what combination of hard work and natural ability is needed to reach the top?
Hard work trumps natural ability any day that natural ability doesn’t put in hard work. It doesn’t matter what you are born with if you don’t work hard to prove it.
What are some motivational strategies that have or currently work for you?
Recently I created a group called Forever Fitness CO, inspired by the fitness legend Carol Semple. Bringing together a group of Jr., teen and adult fitness athletes that share the same passion for fitness inspires me to become a fitness legend. There is the act of being great and then there is motivation of “becoming” something greater….Forever Fitness CO is becoming a community that inspires and motivates NPC athletes to explore the fitness division. Forever Fitness CO is reciprocal motivation; we feed off each other.
Give me some ex.jpg)
amples from your life where confidence has helped you to achieve?
I was not the perfect child in high school to say the least. My junior year I had to go to vocational college in order to gain enough credits to graduate high school because I was so far behind. My career advisor was reviewing courses with me and told me Cisco Network Academy would be too difficult of a course for me. I was confident that I could prove him wrong. I got a 4.0 that year and the 2 years after in Cisco Network Academy. I received my Cisco Certified Network Associates-CCNA at 17 years old. I’ve built my career off proving that career advisor wrong and being confident that if I wanted it bad enough I could accomplish anything.
What do you find the most challenging about competing?
The competition itself is the best day ever!! I LOVE to compete and perform my routine. The challenging part of this sport for me is maintaining intensity while balancing my professional career, personal life, and fitness training.
What are your top 5 key strategies for success?
1- Energy efficiency; when you don’t have extra time to give you better make the best of the time and energy you do have. You have a fixed amount of energy each day; use it wisely.
2- Stay true to your core values; don’t jeopardize anything you have and love today for what may, or may not, make you successful tomorrow. For me this includes quality of life, integrity, health, and loyalty… my career, my friends and most importantly my family.
3- Remember why you have passion and don’t lose sight of your goals.
4- Proactive physical maintenance is as important as training; stretching, massage therapy, chiropractic care & ice therapy keeps my passion sustainable.
5- When you start to feel like your passion is work….re-evaluate the steps above. Remember everything is a choice and if you don’t love what you are doing, figure out why or find something else. This includes your diet, your training and even your cardio. If you aren’t intrinsically rewarded by eating clean, accomplishing a work out or killing it at the gym – you are in the wrong sport. This should read “enjoy your meals and prep or stop doing it”.
What is your favorite protein powder? Why do you like it?
The only powdered protein I use is Casein and I use Dymatize Elite! I use Casein as a pre bed meal. Favorite flavor is the chocolate peanut butter mixed with minimum water to create a pudding like paste – so good! And I eat it with a baby spoon
I also use MuscleEgg 100% bioavailable pasteurized flavored egg whites for breakfast and pre/post workouts. My favorite flavor depends on what I’m doing with it. If cooking crepes and pancakes, I use either chocolate caramel or pumpkin spice, or vanilla and add a ton of cinnamon. If drinking straight I like the chocolate because it taste like chocolate milk. If I still have rice cakes with my eggs for a meal, I crumble them up in a bowl and add the vanilla MuscleEgg as the “milk” and that’s my cereal. MuscleEgg has revolutionized my contest prep!
Favorite Inspirational Quote:
I heard the CIO of the State of Colorado in 2010 say a quote at a conference that made me quit my job two weeks later to go work for my current company, which is Trace3.
“You’re either green & growing or ripe and rotting”. Woah – this is powerful; it changed my life. The world will never stop for you to catch up. If you are stagnant, you are dying. My job was not challenging enough and I was dying a little every day. There is no such thing as maintaining, because the world stops for no one. You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting and that is the true beauty of bodybuilding.
In closing, Who would you like to give a shout out to?
There are so many people to thank. I’m so fortunate for the people in my life; my sponsors; MuscleEgg, ProMeraSports, Suit Yourself & Urban Acrobatics; my friends and family and their ongoing support; my employer, Trace3; Innovation and Business transformation partner that truly believes in work life balance.
The following are so near and dear to my heart. They are the foundation to my fitness success and deserve the utmost credit:
Dan Wells; I met him at a fitness competition in 2010 and now he is “my everything”. My trainer, my complete contest prep coach, my rock and my best friend. Oh and the love of my life.
Lauren Niehaus; She’s been my choreographer since day one and I give her the most kudos in the world for still working with me. I’m the WORST dancer ever, had no idea what an 8 count was and couldn’t find my hips to save my life – yet she puts together killer routines for me!
Forever Fitness CO & Carol Semple; I didn’t know it at the time of creation, but this community is why I’m so passionate about fitness. To hear that I’ve inspired and motivated others to be better is an incredible feeling that I can’t begin to describe. It’s incredible and I’m so honored to be a part of this community.
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