Since I can remember — back to my junior soccer days — I always felt like a 'C' team player. And truthfully, I was. It didn’t just stop at soccer either. I hated the way I looked, felt slower than everyone else, and was never the popular kid. I didn’t have much going for me, and deep down, I knew it.

That mindset stuck with me. I became hyper-focused on everything I wasn’t, especially how I looked. I picked myself apart more than anyone else ever could. And for a while, it weighed me down.

But then I found the gym.

It became the one place where all that frustration actually meant something. I could pour it into the weights, into the reps, into building myself from the ground up. What started as self-criticism turned into a multi-year passion — a real purpose.

The gym helped me flip the script. I no longer see myself as below-average or someone trying to catch up. Knowing where I once was, that motivates me everyday in the pursuit of improvement.

INSTAGRAM: @_ykfit