Evolution

I used to hate lifting weights for school basketball.  I would always skip and half ass the majority of my workouts.  As a result I was weak and had no self confidence on the court.  I didn't play my senior year.  If only I had the dedication to workouts as I do now.  This was a year before I got serious about lifting and wanting to put on mass.  At the time I was eating like a bird.  I remember my daily meals were a bowl of cereal before school, school lunch, a pop tart and a cold mocha for snack then whatever my mom would make for dinner.  Now wonder I was only 175lb and I had already grown to 6 foot 3.

After about 3-4 years of solid lifting and eating this was the result.  A few months before this picture I was my all time heaviest at 255lb and was cutting down to compete at the Universe Weekend show in Miami in June of 2007.  In this picture I weighed around 225-230lb still quite a bit of body fat.  Still wasn't educated on proper nutrition or proper cardio.  At the time giant sets became the craze to do made popular by Ifbb Pro Milos Sarcev.  I remember people would make jokes as to who would throw up first on our leg days.  My training partners were Ben Bowles and Cris Edmonds.

This picture was from my very first photo shoot set up by Adam Silver of Silver Model Management in Miami FL at Universe Weekend.  I ended up placing 25th out of 75 guys.  I didn't know anything about modeling or photo shoots.  A few months after this I went on to book my first job and got the cover of the Under Armour catalog.

In 2008 I made the decision to take a step into "The Darkside" of the things and do my first and ONLY cycle of steroids.  I had always contemplated using them because I had the mentality that I just wanted to get as big as I could fast.  Patience is something I've had to learn over the years.  Although I didn't do a mass gaining cycle I put on some quality size.  I did it for 8 weeks and felt like an animal in the gym.  Strongest I've ever been.  Still at the time I wasn't as educated about nutrition and cardio as I am now.  I weighed around 220-225lb in these 2008 pictures.  A few months before I had done this was when I had spoke with my friend Whitney Reid and he had referred me to his trainer Hany Rambod.  I then spoke with Hany on the phone but at the time could not afford him.

So after I had went out to California to shoot for Men's Workout magazine and Exercise and Health I came back to Roanoke with the intentions of still doing fitness and continued the "bodybuidling" lifestyle.  In late 2008 early 2009 I had made a trip to NYC and ended up booking a couple of jobs.  If anyone knows about NYC the fashion industry rules.  I wanted to be a part of the "cool kids" since I had got caught up in the club scene and everyone looked like skinny fashion models.  I had been told by my agency that I had the face for fashion and there was a lot more money to be made than fitness but I had to lose the fitness body.  So I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for me to get out of Roanoke and move to NYC to pursue modeling full time.  As soon as I got back to VA I started the pursuit to lose my fitness body and get skinny.  What the hell was I thinking?!?  I can look back now and say this but everything happens for a reason and if I didn't experience what I had then maybe I wouldn't be where I'm at today.  As a result of me starving and abusing alcohol this is what I looked like which ended in me battling with an eating disorder.

Fast forward to 2010 and I had moved out of NYC got my health back in check and picked up the weights again.  I went back to what I knew best.  I started this website in November 2010 and still kept in contact with my agent Jason Kanner which had left Major Models and started his own agency called Soul Artist Management.  In the back of my mind I still had goals of shooting with Bruce Weber (a famous fashion photographer).  So I went to NYC for a weekend trip in December 2010 and shortly after that realized that working with Bruce Weber was not going to happen and fashion really wasn't in my heart at all anymore.  I weighed 195-200lb in these pictures.

It's been close to another year that has past.  Man does time fly by.  Through many different experiments with dieting and trying different methods of training (everything has been posted in my workout section and personal nutrition log)  I got sick of doing the guess work and decided to hire my trainer Hany Rambod.  Through my whole journey I have never felt the way I do now.  I think a lot has to do with being more mature now and realizing what I want and do not want in life.  I'll be doing some shoots very soon and I'll keep everyone updated as soon as I know more.  Here are a couple of picture that were taken on Halloween. I weigh 228lb in these pictures.