style=”text-align: center;”>I am a personal trainer and athlete. I was diagnosed with a rare eye condition at the age of 11and soon thereafter became legally blind. While it changed my life forever, I never let it define who I was. I had always been a good athlete growing up, and while the loss of my vision did cause its fair share of challenges, I learned to adapt, and my belief in my athletic ability did not falter. The name of my condition is called Stargate’s disease, and results in the progressive loss of one’s central vision. This is the vision one uses to look around and focus on things. It allows you to see things in detail. In the place of my central vision is a large circular blur. In order to see things i have to technically look under them where a small portion of my central vision is still intact to be able to focus on things. Even then, with my roughly 20/400 vision i cannot see anything in detail unless i am very close to it. While doing things like sporting activities i had to learn to adapt and would move my vision around and use my peripheral in order to see the bigger picture and put shapes together to interrupt what was happening. It sounds complicated, but thankfully it was a pretty natural process. With other things such as my cell phone, computer, or books i have different magnification devices or settings that help enable me to see and read. I was never really into formal sports, but I loved engaging in them in my own way. While I had some experience with playing football when i was younger as well as enjoying running and jumping, most of my other skills were self taught through putting a lot of my own research into practice. From learning the basics of mixed martial arts, submission wrestling, and standard amateur wrestling, to the true in depth study of everything relating to nutrition, strength training/ bodybuilding, and athletic development. A few things I have accomplished regarding these avenues include holding am ISSA fitness trainer and nutrition specialist certificate, having an unofficial world record lift in the weighted ring dip, and winning the gold in Cornhusker State Games beach wrestling against a former runner up in state wrestling.225lb Weighted Ring Dip – YouTubeCSG 2012 Beach wrestling- Finals – YouTubeWhile fitness and athletics is my main forte, personal development is a general interest of mine in life. To learn, grow, and evolve in many different areas. I have also spent time researching general personal development, human psychology, spirituality, business/ entrepreneurship, macro economics, and new emerging technologies. This website is a way for me to help share different resources that can help others gain skills, achieve goals, or overcome obstacles while on their own unique personal journeys. It is my honor and pleasure to help be a guide on the road to your many successes towards a more fulfilling and inspiring life.
