Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself or something that would surprise us.
Most importantly, I’m Annie’s husband and Lily’s dad. Annie and I have been married for 8 years. I joined the active duty Army duty straight out of university and have lived all over the US – deploying a couple of times to Afghanistan along the way. Annie and I moved back to Houston (closer to both extended families) in 2014 and I started a career in finance after two years of grad school here. I’ve been in corporate finance consulting for 4 years now and I’m a senior associate at EY. Work, life and my more recent commitment to CrossFit have made free time scarce over the last two years. That said, I’d like to get back into music (playing/recording) soon.
How and when were you introduced to Behemoth?
I kept up with running very consistently after leaving the service. I think it was Superbowl 2017 when I saw a Crossfit commercial thematically linked with the “everybody knows your name” song from Cheers. That peeked my interest enough to give CrossFit a try. Behemoth is about 8 minutes from my house, and it was the first place I checked out. Coaches Johnny and Aryan were my onboard team and had me ramped up pretty fast. The rest is history.
What are you most proud of, physically, mentally or both since beginning with us?
Being able to complete/show up on a handful of the 2019 Open workouts @RX+. Shooting for more this year.
What has been your biggest, yet most rewarding obstacle to overcome, whether in the gym or on your health journey to date?
Physically it’s anything olympic-lift related, and especially cleans. I’m still working on getting this movement down after 2 years but am happy with progress. I’ve really come a long way from where I started on these and want to recognize the coaches for working with me day after day.
Why Behemoth?
Incredibly gifted and diverse set of coaches, each with impressive credentials and interesting backgrounds. This is a great place to meet new people and get through shared challenges. No bad attitudes…..except for when I whip myself during double-unders.
What next? What are you excited about pursuing here in the future?
I’m looking forward to being able to pull off some high-end movements – heavier lifts, muscle-ups, HSPUs, etc.
“3, 2, 1…Go” Mad Lib section
-My favorite lift (movement) is… Burpee-box jumps
-My most frequent class I come to is… 6/7pm
-I have always wanted to… Be a soldier – had a pretty good time, learned some pretty bad words
-When I’m not crushing weights, my favorite thing to do is… Family time, music and video games
-If I could make ANY of the Behemoth coaches do 100 burpees it would be... Coach Brad for being a Star Wars snob. I’m writing this in December so his stance on Episode IX may have redeemed him by the time this comes out.
-Favorite “application of fitness” outside of the gym is… Funny story - I carried Annie four blocks to our car last year after being on her feet all night in heels at a Christmas party. All while wearing a tailored suit I had trouble fitting in the year prior.
-Favorite band/genre/Pandora station to workout to is… 80’s music
-Beast mode engaged when this song comes on… Beat It, MJ
