fara í víking

This has been a long time coming. I wasn't really sure where my journey was taking me, but I'm not mad at where I ended up.

Tampa, New York, Albany, New York, Tampa, and so many jaunts in between. The life lessons I've learned in such a short period of time could fill a book... OR a BLOG! I know my journey isn't over (at least I hope not...) and I look back, briefly, at where I've trekked and smile. With my eyes set on the future and the awesome journey I'm about to embark on.

I left New York about 18 months ago, I received a job offer in Miami and in Tampa. My family (for the most part) all live in the sunshine state, so I took it as a sign that maybe my path wasn't meant to be stomping through New York City, but rather basking in the sun in a land a little bit more... tropical. I had just graduated from school with a Bachelors in Fine Arts, and knew that I wasn't planning on using that degree, and happy with working in the fitness field a job offer as a crew coach sounded like a move in the right direction. I left my personal training job at Equinox and packed my things up in boxes and headed south.

The idea of being back in Florida wasn't really that appealing to me, but my brother's son and his wife with another on the way seemed more important than being in my beautiful, wonderful, smelly (gotta be honest), amazing city. Knowing I could only stand Miami for a long weekend, my plane landed me in Tampa, FL.

Tampa, isn't an awful place. Its a city with a great base, that just had a little trouble going through puberty. It had a hiccup with the recession, but is back at it, making great strides. The entire Tampa Bay area is full of culture, entertainment, art, education, etc; it may be a little more work to find than in New York City, but its all here. The one thing Tampa has that NY (the entire state) doesn't have is the beaches! While of course NYC has the Hamptons, Fire Island, hell all of Long Island; and upstate NY... well, upstate tries to sell you a lake as a beach; regardless none of these places can compare to the water and beaches here.

Tampa, took me in and I fell right into my groove. I was back to my crazy workouts, I found a few jobs teaching group fitness to help supplement my income from coaching crew. On top of it all, I was around my nephews. The first few months were great I enjoyed the slower pace that Florida can provide.

After the honeymoon phase wore off with my new-again home, I felt that itch for more.

I went into the fitness field because my own genetics were so difficult to deal with, my body wants to be 300+ pounds of fat, and I want to be a trim 190 , or well maybe 200 with some solid muscle mass (don't forget I'm 6'4" lol). After a knee injury and ballooning up to my heaviest right around 280, I made some major changes in my life. The biggest change I made, was mental. I changed how I perceived fitness, and healthy eating. I had always been active growing up, but never really understood working-out or fitness. I would go through the motions and expect changes or results. I wasn't getting the results I wanted, and therefore wasn't enjoying working out. I wasn't faster, or stronger, or leaner, or more muscular, I was just tired.

I dove into fitness-education like a fat kid into a pool of pudding! I began to research and educate myself about the body, with classes in anatomy, kinesiology, biology, movement and the likes at my University. I looked to fitness-certifications from outside sources such as AFAA and NASM for personal training, I got certified to instruct Spin, Kettle Bell, took seminars in squat and dead-lift form and technique. As I fell into my fitness education, I also fell into athletics at my school. I joined the crew team with the same fervor that I was pouring into my education. It all began to make sense to me. My body wasn't doing me wrong all this time, I wasn't listening to my body. I never knew how to deal with my body and finally I had a clue. I changed my entire mind-set on the fitness and the health world, and I started to enjoy my journey. I wasn't concerned with my destination, I was focused on taking in the journey on the way to where ever I was going.

That passion I had developed for fitness, was still alive in me, and something about Florida elevated it to a whole new level. I knew what my itch for more was, I wanted to affect peoples lives how I had affected my own. While still coaching and teaching group fitness, I got back into personal training and started working with a great group of people to help them achieve their goals. My clients goals were my goals, and we achieved successes together. I was happy to be making a difference, no matter how big or small, for these people.

When I saw my passion wasn't shared by every trainer I met, and saw people walking out of a group-x classes feeling unaffected I began to think about what I could do to change that experience for them. I was giving my all to every spin class, every bootcamp, cardio-kickboxing, personal-training client I had, but not everyone else was. So many people were in the humdrum routine that I had found myself in for so long. I knew more could be done.

Being stuck in a  mediocre big-box gym I could see some of the trainers with the same passion I had, being unfulfilled, and others who had become drowns to the corporate system of fitness. I missed having a facility like Equinox in New York, where the staff was there to make fitness happen for the customers of the gym, and not just waiting for their next pay-check. Equinox charged a premium for a top quality product that not everyone could afford, but should be able to afford. <bing> That's when the light bulb turned on. It wasn't about the big box gyms that provided sub par service for an inflated fee, but boutique fitness that people could afford and really gain something from.

I had seen the product offered before at the spin studio I was working at. Michelle (the owner), wasn't just offering spin classes, she was offering the experience and quality fitness that people wanted and deserved. It was just what I wanted to give to people.

I got to work, I started designing group-x workouts that would make working out fun, that would provide the vehicle for difference in people's fitness and in their bodies. All my education in fitness came into play as I mapped out affective workout programs.

This was the birth of Viking Fitness. The Old Norse feminine noun víking refers to an expedition overseas,  fara í víking "to go on an expedition". It was the new beginning of my fitness journey, and my personal philosophy fell right in line with the viking theme, "Fitness should be about the journey, not the destination",