Using the sage words of 50 Cent:
Go, go, go, go, go, go
Go shawty, it’s your birthday. We gonna party like it’s your birthday. We gon’ sip Bacardi crush grassfed beef, like it’s your birthday. And you know we don’t give a *bleep*, it’s not your birthday.
In case you weren’t picking up what I was putting down, it’s my birthday today. And since it’s my birthday and I just spent the past two hours writing programs, with today’s blog I figured I’d have a little fun and not take myself too seriously (but when do I ever do that??) and talk about myself. I mean, if there’s any day where you’re allowed to talk about yourself it’s your b-day, right?
I turn 36 today. Freakin 36!!! I’m now officially well on my way to 40 and I’m not really quite sure yet how I feel about it.
On one hand, I look (and feel) pretty darm good. Compared to most dudes my age, I’m Brad Pitt. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch. But there’s something to be said about not being scared to take my shirt off regardless of what time of year it is.
Summer? Done!
Middle of winter? Lets do it!
Columbus Day? Fo sho.
Check out aisle in the grocery store? Bring it!
On the other, pretty soon I’m going to be telling stories of when I was 18 and how the internet didn’t exist and how there were these things called walkmans and mix tapes back in the day.
Okay, lets get to it.
36 Things You May Not Have Known About Me
In no particular order.
1. Growing up my dream was to be a professional baseball player. Actually, first, I wanted to be Han Solo, but baseball player was a close second.
I think I lived half my childhood in my side yard hitting baseballs back and forth with my dog, Daisy, following me every step of the way.
One of the scariest days of my life was when I accidentally hit a baseball right through the back window of the car my parents were trying to sell. OMG, I just about packed up all my He-Man and GI Joe figures and left home for good.
They parked it smack dab at the end of the yard, so I guess they were asking for it.
2. I was kind of a good baseball player, actually. I was a right-handed pitcher and made all League both my junior and senior years of high school. I spent my first two years of college playing at Onondaga Community College (OCC) in Syracuse, NY where I was MVP Pitcher both my freshman and sophomore years, also making it to the All Conference and All-Region team my sophomore year as well.
I earned a scholarship to play baseball at Mercyhurst College, in Erie PA where I was named a Division II Player to Watch in 1998.
Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a high school football gane once, and I was a 1998 Player to Watch, bitches!
I had a few professional tryouts, but unfortunately being a 6 foot 1 right-hander throwing in the mid-80s, I was a dime a dozen,
3. Did you know I actually released my very first product earlier this year?
Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body
You should check it out……hint, hint.
4. I also have another one coming out in the near future – The Spinal Health and Core Seminar – in collaboration with the same guys from MIRU (Rick Kaselj, Dr. Jeff Cubos, and Dean Somerset.)
5. Speaking of Dean Somerset, he gave me what’s arguably the best b-day message on Facebook, ever.
Holy shit, you were actually birthed?!?!!? I thought you occurred when Megatron and Optimus Prime came together in a collision and the energy of that impact formed into a solid state mass who liked deadlifts and dead animal flesh.
What ever. Have a great birthday man.
6. Along with my girlfriend, I own a cat, Dagny. Now I’m not quite as obsessed with her as the guy in this commercial:
But I kinda am.
7. I ran Cross Country my sophomore year in high school and it was about as fun as getting dropped kicked in the nuts.
8. I also never had a girlfriend in high school. Probably because I freakin ran Cross Country (and, you know, I was completely terrified of them).
9. Hey – did you know I have a Fan Page on WeightTraining.com? I didn’t either up until yesterday. You can check it out HERE.
10. I may be the only guy this side of the Mississippi River to say this, but I HATE bench pressing. There, I said it.
11. My favorite rap group of all time is A Tribe Called Quest. I feel the early and mid-90s was (is) the golden days of rap – hands down.
12. I didn’t perform my first deadlift until 2003, when I was 25 years old.
13. My best deadlift is 570 lbs (at a then 3x bodyweight of 190 lbs).
Operation 600 lb deadlift will commence on Monday (for real this time) – Greg Robins has agreed to write my programming for the next three months. Yeah buddy!!!
14. Raise your hand if you balled like a baby when Red and Andy met up in Mexico at the end of The Shawshank Redemption.
*Raises both hands*
And for anyone who’s pissed because I just gave away the ending, that movie came out in freakin 1994!
15. I majored in History at one point in college. You laugh – but don’t underestimate the power of Post-Revolutionary Imperialism or Roosevelt’s New Deal. Chicks LOVE that stuff.
16. Since this is the age when most kids get their driver’s license. I failed my drivers test not once, but twice.
Once because I forgot to put the car back into drive (from reverse) when performing a three-point turn; and once because apparently it’s not in good taste to drive over the speed limit.
17. Whatever, don’t judge me.
18. The number I wore all through high school and college.
19. That’s me in the upper right-hand corner during our spring trip to Florida my freshman year (OCC).
20. Favorite shows growing up: Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Party of Five, The Fresh Price of Bel Air, Perfect Strangers.
21. Favorite shows now: The Daily Show, Fringe, House Hunters.
22. All-Time favorite shows: Six Feet Under, Lost.
23. Some people don’t know that I started off in this industry working in corporate fitness in a small town called Skaneateles, NY. I interned at this place called Welch Allyn (who hired a separate company to run their gyms) in the summer 0f 2002, and when I finished, they hired me. I worked there for three years and eventually moved to New England in the fall of 2005.
24. Eric Cressey served as the impetus for my move. He was hired by a club in Connecticut after finishing grad school and mentioned to me that the same place was looking for another trainer. He called me up, I went and interviewed, I was hired, and the rest, as they say, is history.
25. I can’t stand the taste of alcohol. Or coffee.
26. But I love me some Spike!
27. And Olivia Munn (<—–HER).
28. I was never an avid reader until my ex, ex, ex girlfriend broke up with me (don’t worry, I’m over it). In an effort to get my mind off of things, I randomly came across the Modern Library’s list of Top 100 Novels and decided that summer that I was going to tackle that sumbitch.
I started with Catcher in the Rye, and haven’t looked back since.
29. By that same token, I also feel it’s important to “diversify” your reading (which, coincidentally, also helps if you’re trying to improve your writing skills). At any given point I’m reading a fiction book, a non-fiction book (and usually listening to one in my car as well), and I’m always plowing through something related to my field. Currently Deadlift Dynamite and Dan John’s Intervention.
30. Numerous studies have shown that listening to classical music while writing or trying to do anything that requires a lot of concentration (tying shoes for example) helps with the flow of things.
I actually prefer ambient music and my favorite station/website to listen to is Allegro Lounge. Click on it and thank me later.
31. I can’t win a staring contest to save my life – especially if it involves Michelle Elwell (CP’s very own office manager and my longest tenured client), or Chuck Norris.
32. There was a time in my training career where I thought it was pretty bad ass that I did leg presses in a Smith Machine. What an a-hole I was.
33. Favorite snack in the world: Larabars. In fact, whoever Lara is, I want to marry her. This is her, right? (Rhona Mitra as Lara Croft).
34. My hometown, Groton, NY, doesn’t even have one traffic light. And my graduating class in high school was 55 people. The weird thing: even though I graduated with so few people I wasn’t even voted “Most Likely to Become Bald and Sexy As Hell.” That’s messed up.
35. You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook and RebelMouse.
36. If you actually made it this far, you’ve earned yourself a golden sticker for today! I should get a golden sticker for coming up with 36 things to say about myself – that was a lot harder than expected! I got to like #13 and thought to myself, “I’m not remotely this cool where I can think of 36 things about myself.”
Here’s hoping that my 37th year will be filled with just as much happiness and appreciation* as the 36th!
I’m totally have two Spikes today.
* Not to mention a 600 lb deadlift.
