I wasn’t an athletic kid - I was a nerd. I never tried out for a school sports team. I was "that kid' who could barely finish running the mile in school.

What did I like? Reading. Video Games. Medieval History.

I had no real motivation to take care of my body. In high school I’d drive by Dunkin on the way to school. Lunch was pizza and chocolate chip cookies, and I’d get Taco Bell before I got home for dinner. On weekends it was movie theater popcorn, candy, and video games. This is who I am, I told myself. I’m not athletic.

Then I discovered historical re-enactment. In the mid-2000s someone kind put a rapier in my hand at a public park and I discovered the joy of historical fencing. Suddenly I had a purpose to get outside, meet new people, and work to be stronger, faster, and more agile.

But I had no experience. No sports coach or athletic trainer had shown me how to lift weights or choose foods that fueled my body. I associated the gym with perfect bodies, perfect hair, and toxic fat-shaming, at best. I remember feeling like fitness and exercise was a foreign world that I was not a part of. 

I remember that fog of not knowing where or how to start. Bypass the brain fog with a coach who has the tools and understands the unique demands of your sport.