As the Co-Owner of Stanley Boxing & Fitness I’m a strength and conditioning coach for MMA, boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and youth sports like hockey, track and field, and soccer. I’m a personal trainer and I also work with older clients focusing on strength, rehab, and quality of life.

I also compete in kickboxing and Brazilian jiu jitsu, play hockey, play softball, and I coach hockey and soccer, but most importantly, I’m a Dad.

These days I’m not just working out to stay in shape—I’m doing it to be the best version of myself for my family. I want to have the energy to keep up with my kids, to be an active part of their lives, and to model the importance of fitness and self-discipline so that my kids have someone to not only look up to, but to have around for a long time!

This blog kicked off back in 2009 as “YourInnerSkinny” when I just needed a place to track my weight loss journey. I called it that because, at the time, I thought “skinny” was the opposite of being fat (which I was then). A few years in, I realized that “skinny” wasn’t what I was after, so I rebranded to “YourInnerStrong” and had a blast with it. I kept things going and shared a lot of content until my first son was born—then dad life took over, and the blog slowly faded away. Now, 9 years later, I’m pumped to bring it back and share what I’ve learned. I’ve left a lot of the old posts up because they show how much I’ve grown as a person and in the gym. I hope you enjoy the new content!

I grew up in a very small community on a small island on the East Coast of Canada, Prince Edward Island. I was an active kid. I played hockey, baseball, golf, and rugby all at the competitive level, and then I played pretty much any other sport recreationally. As athletic as I was, I was never a gym guy. I was small and lean, and I only weighed about 155 pounds when I graduated high school.

When I was 18 years old I had the opportunity to play ‘Junior A’ hockey but unfortunately I tore my MCL, LCL, and my meniscus, and required surgery. Instead of chasing the false dream that I was going to the NHL, I decided to focus on my education and went to college for Interactive Multimedia; studying a three year diploma program full time and graduating in 10 months.

When I got to college, I completely stopped playing sports and dove headfirst into drinking—like, almost competitively. I also picked up smoking and quickly found myself going through a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. My meals were nothing but the worst kind of takeout, pretty much for every meal. That was the start of my terrible lifestyle that quickly spiraled into something I’d later really regret.

With my first desk job at 20 years old, and my new terrible lifestyle, there was a point in my life when I weighed somewhere between 265 and 275 lbs. I was sedentary, I was smoking like a chimney, I drank 8-12 beer every night, I didn’t cook and I ate nothing but the worst kind of take-out food in mass quantities. I was the definition of someone who was on the fast track to a short life.

I lived this way for five or six years, not knowing or even noticing that I was obese and that I had put on 110 pounds. It’s funny to say that I didn’t notice putting on that much weight, especially after looking at my pictures from back then, but I didn’t see it at all, and never understood why my friends and family mocked me about my weight, which they did regularly!

After years of hearing comments like “Man, you’re fat” and “Dude, what happened to you?” it finally hit me—I had enough and knew I had to make a change. At that point, I still hadn’t connected the dots about how or why I’d gained over 100 pounds (a lot of it tied to my struggling mental health), and it would take another decade for me to figure that part out. But at least I was finally ready to take control and start doing something about my unhealthy lifestyle.

When I first started my weight loss journey, talking openly about it, especially as a male, wasn’t a thing. There were a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of failed efforts emotionally and physically. I yo-yoed with my weight and I failed more times than I can count. After attempting to do this on my own and failing, I decided I needed to get some professional advice and that’s when I hired my first personal trainer. I was still scared shitless of the gym but he showed me what to do, how to do it, how often to do it and then told me not to worry about what anyone else in the gym thought. As we trained together, he shared his own personal weight loss story and it inspired me.

Once I started to lose weight and feel good, unfortunately I ended up at the opposite end of the spectrum; I went from an unhealthy 265+ lbs to an unhealthy 155 lbs. I was cutting calories way below what should have been my daily intake, not eating properly or not eating at all sometimes, and working out far too hard and too frequently. I popped diet pills, caffeine pills, took all kinds of diet supplements, and I tried pretty much anything anyone would give me to lose weight. I went from the “fat guy” to the “skinny guy” and not in a healthy way. I was skinny, but I still wasn’t healthy. That’s when I realized I needed to get educated and get healthy and strong, and be smart about it.

After losing the weight, I realized that fitness wasn’t just a goal—it was a passion. I became certified as a group fitness coach, then as a personal trainer, and was given the opportunity to be the co-owner of our gym. Through this I then dove into strength and conditioning for athletes and over the last 14 years I feel like I’ve become a very well rounded coach and trainer. As my love for fitness keeps growing, I continue to pursue more certifications, all while constantly learning and refining my skills through training and working with clients and other coaches.

Today, I’m proud to be a role model for my kids and my gym community. My boys remind me every day why I do this—because they deserve a dad who can run, play, and wrestle with them without getting winded. They deserve a dad who leads by example. And I’m honoured to be that for them.

My mission now is simple: to help other busy parents navigate their own fitness journeys. Whether you’re trying to lose weight, get stronger, or just keep up with your kids, I hope my story inspires you to take the first step.

Click here to learn about my programs and my approach to coaching.