​Just like that 2023 is all but finished. It has been a year full of great things. Accomplishments, adventures, education, friendship, and family are just a few of the themes throughout 2023.


Looking back at this year is probably a good practice for all of us to gain perspective and appreciate all that has happened. Therefore, this blog post will serve as just that.

​2023 is off to a hot start. New jobs, new challenges. Reasonable weather, fun adventures. Time with loved ones, a reminder why we moved back to the Midwest.


As the new year begins and with the previous one behind us, many of us had thought about, and hopefully continue to think about, our New Year’s Resolutions. Now, I know resolutions are a hot topic. Some people make them every year and have great success. Others, such as Equinox gym, demand that they’re silly and only fail.


I believe in resolutions. To give yourself something to work toward. A goal. A pivotal change. This is common in human behavior. Change comes at distinct times in our lives. Sometimes due to trauma or necessity. Other times because if just feels like the right time. I believe it is always the right time, especially if its something good for you and those around you.
I’ll never get down on resolutions as long as their healthy and reasonable. In fact, I kind of like them at the New Year too. Why not try to make change when the majority of others are too? Why not use the group mentality. Know that others are also motivated and interested in bettering themselves. We all better ourselves together and lift each other up. I’ll never keep anyone from that shared experience.


This year I did not make any New Year Resolutions. I made some back in September and November, but I wouldn’t call them a New Year’s Resolution.


I have however, joined some loved ones in another popularized New Year “challenge”.


That is Dry January.

Just like that 2022 has come to and end and we welcome 2023 with open arms. 2022 was a year of challenges and change. Challenges and change are good. Elisabeth and I seem to seek them out.

Since moving to Chicago, Elisabeth and I have been branching out and taking advantage of the variety in this city. Food, music, museums, etc. . . There is so much in this city beyond other places we’ve recently lived. This week Elisabeth and I did something outside of our comfort zone.


We took a ballroom dance class.


Let me set the stage.

Last week Elisabeth and I officially moved to Chicago. We’re settling in and coming to really enjoy living in the new city. Around every corner is excitement. In a city of 2.7 million people, there is always something to see. Being right in the city, we get to watch a lot of it from our window.


The windows are one thing that attracted us to this apartment. We get nice views of the city skyline, we over look a soccer field, and we can even see some of the lake. In addition the building has other nice amenities like a coffee machine in the lobby, in unit washer/dryer, and a gas range in the kitchen.


All of this was nice, but what really excited me about our new apartment was the gym. It’s a good sized apartment gym outfitted with sufficient dumbbells, awesome kettlebells, and a very robust cable machine. It wasn’t the nicest gym of all the apartments we viewed, but it is well above sufficient.

I've written about how lucky I am to have had great coaches and teachers in my life. From my track coaches in high school to mentors in the workplace, I've been taught well by great coaches ahead of me. 

Like many others, I had my fair share of bad coaches too. Unfortunately we've all had them. 

As both a health and wellness and track and field coach, I aspire to leave others with the desire to take what we learn in our sessions and spread it in the world. In fact, it's the mission of my career for my clients and athletes to help get younger people hooked on living healthier lifestyles. 

With that mission comes a lot of responsibility.

Over the last few weeks I have been spending time with my family in my childhood home. It’s been a great time seeing these people whom I have seen seldom since 2018. Living in Maine and the Czech Republic followed by the stretch of Covid has kept me from seeing my family as much as I would like. We decided that this natural transition time was perfect to spend with my family. It’s been a pleasure to wake up, eat breakfast with my family, have coffee and talk, work on projects, and take part in their day to day events.


What I have been enjoying doing quite a bit is waking up early (as I always do) and sitting down with an old family photo album. Memories of family still with us and memories of those past bring me joy. The memories and lessons are two in the same. I feel as if I have meaningful lessons from everyone in my family. Lessons of reverence from some and others of questionable ethics from others… It’s a big family.


One person in particular stuck out to me and got me thinking about life lessons. That person was my paternal grandmother- Grandmom.

Recently Elisabeth and I took a trip to go hiking in Stowe, Vermont. Stowe is a bit of a special place for us. We’ve taken several trips there over the years. We always have good time in any season. Ironically, Stowe is greatly known for its skiing and mountain biking- two sports we do not partake in. However, where there is skiing and mountain biking, there is usually hiking.

Over the last few months I have found my work to be a bit slower. Track and Field is done for the summer, I’m working at a new gym that provides more balance, and we’re finding ourselves in a natural transition time. ​

​In the world of fitness it is easy to get caught up in the new fads of exercise. Advertisements are always showing the newest gym in town. Revolutionary equipment is launched every quarter. The most studied diets come into vogue. It’s impossible not to be influenced by the next sexy thing that promises to make you healthier more easily than ever.

Coaches are influenced the same way. We see equipment, protocols, and trainings that promise to be the answer to all of the struggles we have when helping out clients. We are the same.

Sadly, few of these new innovations hold their weight and carry through on their promises. As we all know (but sometimes avoid) there is no easy quick fix, but instead it's the regular reasonable habits make the most difference in our lives.

Enter the bicycle.

We started the year off with a cold walk on Popham Beach.
​Here's to the new year!

Summer has come and gone here in Maine. Well, actually Fall is all but gone too. Daylight Savings Time has brought darker evenings. We even had a snow flurry yesterday. This got me thinking about the imminent winter coming our way

A cheesy blog title inspired by a personal finance book with an equally cheesy title. 

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, nearly all of its have felt changes in our lives. In the worst case scenarios, we have become sick or had loved ones fall sick. Other bad scenarios include loss of jobs, decreased hours, or simply the looming worry that jobs could be lost and security could be eliminated.

For those of us who have fared well thus far during the pandemic, we are undoubtably struggling with all of the obvious changes to life such as homeschooling children, distancing from immunocompromised loved ones, taking on extra chores for those who are unable, etc. . . Really, things that aren’t so bad compared millions who are severally suffering during this pandemic.

This is a time for us to step up and help others where we can. Shop for the elderly, provide video lessons for nieces and nephews, donate when possible, etc. . .

Within this blog and my scope of practice, today I would like to help you during the COVID-19 Pandemic. I won’t go into the didactic details of strength training and immune function, the role of sleep, and aerobic conditioning’s impact on increasing cardiopulmonary efficiency.

Instead, this blog is about your home office set up.