In 2020, I graduated from nursing school and began my career on a post–cardiac surgery floor. I cared for patients recovering from bypass surgeries, valve replacements, and heart attacks.
I loved learning about the heart.
I loved science.
I loved the patient interaction.
I loved hearing their stories.
But something didn’t sit right with me.
That same year, I started my journey as a coach. At the time, most people only knew me as the guy who liked to work out. Nobody knew where I came from.
Nobody knew that my whole childhood I struggled with obesity and severe asthma.
Nobody knew I was on Nightly nebulizer treatments. That I’ve probably tried every type of inhaler out there. That I would be off and on Weeks of Prednisone. That my Mom would have to stand around at football practice with my inhaler just to make sure I could Breath. That I often found my self at the doctors office with the constant fear of not being able to breathe.
I remember looking at my asthma doctor like he was Superman.
When I couldn’t breathe, he was there.
He helped me breathe.
As I got older, I slowly moved further away from that version of myself. Fitness changed my life. Slowly over time as the weight came off my asthma improved. But I never forgot what it felt like to fight for air. To look at myself and not want to be the “big kid” anymore.
The Hospital Taught Me Something
On the post cardiac surgery floor, I had an incredible nurse who helped guide me as a new grad. She was everything I aspired to become — knowledgeable, compassionate, deeply passionate about her work.
I wanted to feel what she felt.
But over time, I wasn’t finding that same passion.
I enjoyed taking care of patients. But I kept seeing the same pattern.
Patients would come in.
We would stabilize them.
We would discharge them as quickly as possible.
And then we would fill the bed again.
Over and over. The cycle would continue sometimes. I saw the same patient months later.
After some time I realized that’s how most of the healthcare system is. Fixing you just enough to have to come back. This is what you get with a treatment first approach. Which in some cases is needed, it’s certainly needed in a hospital. It’s certainly needed when you can’t breathe. But unfortunately that treatment first mentality has trickled into other areas of healthcare.
In 2020, while coaching at a local CrossFit gym, Jake walked into my class.
Jake weighed over 300 pounds.
A week earlier, he had been hospitalized with diabetic complications.
He didn’t walk into the gym because he loved fitness.
He walked in because he was scared.
He had been put on new medications and sent on his way.
At this time I quit my hospital job and went all in on coaching due to the impact I knew I could make on peoples lives far outweighing what I could do in the hospital.
After class, I told him I was building out a program that would bridge the gap between healthcare and fitness. A program where I could use what I learned as a nurse and apply it through coaching.
He agreed to get on a call.
We talked about his hospitalization.
We talked about his medications — Metformin for blood sugar, Lisinopril for blood pressure.
We talked about what those medications actually do and why he was prescribed them.
And then we talked about something different:
What if we worked towards him getting off the medications one day?
What if we changed the trajectory of his life?
The Vision Behind Pursuit Fitness
As coaches and nurses, we are the swim coaches. As Greg Glassman puts it, doctors are the lifeguards.
Lifeguards save you when you’re drowning.
Swim Coaches teach you how not to drown in the first place.
My asthma doctor was my lifeguard. He was there when I couldn’t breathe. No questions asked. He was my Superman.
But what changed my life was learning how to swim.
Teaching someone to swim — instead of watching them sink and wonder what’s going to happen — is where I knew I needed to be.
“We are the Lifeboat Against a tsumnami of Chronic Disease” – Glassman.
This is about advocacy.
This is about empowerment.
This is about prevention.
Why This Matters
Chronic disease is overwhelming our healthcare system.
A Chronic Disease is defined as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both.
“Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. They are also leading drivers of the nation’s $4.9 trillion in annual health care costs. Three in four American adults have at least one chronic condition, and over half have two or more chronic conditions.” – CDC
But here’s the truth:
Most chronic diseases are driven by lifestyle.
I’ve seen what happens when people wait until surgery is required.
I’ve also seen what happens when someone decides they’re done living that way.
Jake walked into my class willing to get better; he didn’t need another hospital bed.
He needed someone to help him build a new identity.
That’s what Pursuit Fitness is about.
It’s not about six-pack abs.
It’s not about aesthetics.
It’s about helping people breathe easier.
Move better.
Lower their risk.
Rewrite their story.
Because I know what it feels like to struggle for breath.
And if I can help someone avoid that feeling —
That’s impact.
Below is a Photo of Jake and I after we got to workout together. Truly a Full circle moment for me and one Ill forever hold close to my heart.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—About Chronic Diseases page (Mar. 4, 2025). (CDC)
