ABOUT: Ford Fitness Performance and Nutrition

All-time world Record holder, former Westside Barbell lifter, and often considered one of the strongest powerlifters to have ever done it, my first introduction to competitive powerlifting was under the guidance of Greg. Through Greg, I was exposed to the actual cost of what it takes to become great in the realm of strength sports. Through his stories and experience, Greg repeatedly stressed the importance of spending time in the sport, seeking out better lifters and learning or training with them, and taking recovery just as seriously as your workouts. From Greg, I learned that if you want to be elite at something, you need to be obsessed. It needs to consume you. It needs to become your top personal priority. Greg taught me that there are many people who say that they are willing to "do whatever it takes" to reach a goal, but most have no idea what that means. In the early stages of my powerlifting career, I was very fortunate to have been trained by someone who has the experience and resume that Greg Panora does.

Multiple-time national champion, U.S. record holder, and Olympian (Beijing 2008) in the 20Km racewalk discipline at 44 years old, my exposure to Mrs. Dow while distance running competitively in the early days of my athletic endeavors was the first time I was able to see the differentiation in training with intention vs training just to do something. Mrs. Dow would help my cross-country running coach with practices and share her experiences with us. When she was around, practices were different. There was a new level of intensity that I loved. Having to overcome multiple setbacks, battling age and time in her sport, and ultimately becoming the oldest track and field athlete at the 2008 Olympics was my first experience witnessing someone succeeding at the highest level possible in athletics through adversity. Mrs. Dow was able to qualify for the Olympics on her fourth attempt. The first time I heard that, I could not wrap my head around someone working toward an athletic feat for 16 years consecutively just to get the opportunity to compete at the highest level. Now, I am so grateful for the perspective and experience that she shared with us as young teenagers.  

Both a college professor and a renowned New England area basketball coach, Coach Hogan showed me as a young man, and then later taught me in a college classroom at NHTI, that coaching and leadership are skills that need to be practiced. Growing up, I attended a few of Coach Hogan's summer basketball camps, and the thing I remember to this day is how much fun they were. I don't remember the drills, or even hardly any of the time we spent on the actual court. I do, however, remember our first meeting of every morning where Coach Hogan would speak to each kid individually as we came into the gym, or gathering at center court when he would blow his whistle and shout "North Carolina" so that he could speak to us all as a group. I remember Coach Hogan speaking to us each night during his overnight camps after dinner. He was ALWAYS positive. ALWAYS smiled. ALWAYS having fun. It wasn't until I was an adult in my 30's that I sat in his classroom for a leadership course that I put it all together. Coach Hogan and I spoke several times during that semester about his camps and how much fun I had, and he taught me that all of that was intentional. He spent all of that time talking with us, laughing with us, learning what made us tick, because it made him a more effective coach. He was always in a good mood because it made it easier for us to hear what he was saying, receive it, and apply it. He told me that he had to make the conscious choice to leave his personal baggage at the door and come to camp every day fully invested in the athletes on the floor. He told me briefly about several hardships he faced in his life during the time that I was attending his camps, and I realized that the mark of being a good coach is not the titles, championships or accolades, but it's how well you can know your people. 

Master Chief Navy Seal (Ret.) Bill Atkinson and the Naval Special Warfare (NSW)/Naval Special Operations (NSO) communities:

After High School, I enlisted in the Navy and had some very lofty ambitions for myself. This never-ending internal desire to push limits and perform at an elite level led me to be introduced to one of the most mystical human beings I have ever met. Prior to leaving for boot camp, after graduating high school, I was lucky enough to be trained for a year by Master Chief Atkinson. When I first started training, I very quickly realized that there was another level of intensity that I had never been exposed to before. In that community, there is no such thing as quitting. It does not exist. It is your job to be successful at being successful at anything. At 18 I fell in love with the mentality of it all. The unwavering ability to adapt to any situation, the supreme confidence in your own ability, the rush of pushing yourself beyond what you thought was possible before, relying on your team to accomplish what seems like an impossible task. Master Chief Atkinson was not only physically one of the sharpest men I have ever met, but the thing that struck me the most about him was his intelligence. He helped teach me that at the highest level, any physical feat is actually a thinking man's game. He explained to me that SEALS are experts at becoming experts, and that requires a level of mental acuity that most don't understand how to access. Most of the X's and O's of cardio and calisthenics-based training I take from my time with Master Chief Atkinson, but above that, I learned that before being physically capable of something, you need to be mentally capable of it.