I was first introduced to the world of weight lifting and bodybuilding when I was 14. My high school offered an option to enroll in weight lifting classes instead of the regular P.E. classes to fulfill the required credits. Being the overachiever I've always been, naturally I opted for the higher level, more challenging course. This is where I started learning the fundamentals of constructing training programs, lifting positioning and technique. Even though it was simply a high school course, I took it very seriously. It’s not that I felt that I had to be the best in the class, but I did find that initial competitive drive there.

It was during that same time that I got involved with sports medicine as an athletic trainer, working with the various sports teams in school. I was trained in the areas of prevention, assessment, and rehabilitation of sports related injuries. I kept up with that involvement in high school and then continued with the same field at Oregon State University. I majored in Exercise and Sport Science with an initial option of Sports Medicine. I then moved into the Fitness Program Management courses, which gave me a wider range of curriculum in the general health and fitness fields, including more intense focus in the areas of kinesiology, nutrition, and psychology.

Now, just like a lot of college students, I fell prey to the entirely too conducive atmosphere of parties, pizza, and beer. My training took a back seat to the social scene and I lost touch with that drive that I’d previously had.

One day I was perusing through some new photos that I had gotten back from a family weekend at OSU. I barely recognized myself. The “freshman 15” had hit me like a ton of bricks and brought along a few extra pounds for good measure. I realized then, that was not the way I wanted to be. I had free student access to the gyms on campus and I hadn’t been using them. I was disappointed in myself and I knew I needed to make a change. I started getting myself back into training. I’d taken too much time off and I was suffering the consequences of that. So it took a while to get back to where I needed, and wanted, to be.

During that time of trying to rebuild my physique, I had some friends that competed in NPC Fitness. I went to support them at a couple of their shows and that competitive drive bit me again.

I kept that goal of competing in mind. Fitness looked like a fun category to be in, but I also felt that I needed to brush up on some agility and gymnastics training before I made the full decision to do it. Then Figure class became NPC sanctioned and I knew that it was time to make that commitment to compete. Figure’s classifications fit what I was really looking to do. In 2003, I finally entered my first Figure competition. I had no idea what I was walking into at that first show, but as soon as I walked off of stage from my first judging round, I was hooked!

This is a sport where I’m in control. No one else can affect how I look but me. Going into a show, there’s always a mystery of who I will be competing against. And that’s the ultimate push. I can’t be a slacker and just expect to win. It’s got to be 100% all the time.

The way I try to look at it, somewhere, someone is training, training hard. And if I’m not, when I meet that person on stage, they will beat me.

It's a never ending drive to better myself. And the responsibility is all my own. That's why I love this sport.