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So whether your goal is to be the hammer, destroy mediocrity, or simply move the dirt, you've come to the right place. Now with the warm up done, let the gains begin. So what was your background leading up to that? I mean, obviously we talked about, you know, you going to Berkeley and as an organic chemistry major and looking for that. But like, what did that lead into? Like, was it high school? Were you doing stuff at Berkeley?

Like, how did that all lead in and then post that?

Yeah.

I mean, it was, it was a pretty, I mean, as I reflect back now that I'm older and just seeing

like how kids just sort of following footsteps of what they know, like I grew up in a household

of a bunch of health care practitioners,

a physician, you know, a chief technologist in the ultrasound department. My brother was in medical

school and residency when I was younger. And I love sports. Like I did the, I did all the sports,

gravitated towards soccer and golf as my competitive outlets. But I think it was like midway

through high school wanted to go and lift weights to like build muscle. I just love training.

I loved training in all aspects back then, which was weird. Like I would be the kid that was

at the weight room at 6 a.m. with the physics teacher lifting weights before high school classes

started. I was the one that would be like, hey, I think it would be a good idea to go run hill sprints

over here. And people are you crazy? Like, why would you do that? We don't like, the coach didn't even make us.

And I just really excelled in math sciences. And so when I got to Berkeley, I got an opportunity to play soccer. And I did, I played three seasons. But it was like immediately a different experience for me because I went from Top Dog and then I was like third string goalie. And so and then then playing behind like an All-American and then he left after a freshman year and a new All-American transferred.

So I was like, okay, I'm I'm just going to accept that this, you know, part of my life like being a player is no longer my focus. And what do I still get out of this experience? Why do I still keep showing up and doing the hard things? And it was clear to me. I was like, I just, I love the training of it. And I love that freshman year. They got us exposure to the weight room. And I'm, you know, I'm working with the same, pretty much like the and conditioning coaches that are there to coach the football team, but they're like, you know, like they give the junior strength and conditioning coach like the soccer team like, hey, you got to deal with these people and they're pissed about it and they're like grumpy that were even in the weight room. But I was, I was the one guy on the team that showed up and was like, no, no, I'm here.

I want to learn, teach me how to get strong.

And so, you know, doing bodybuilding routines in high school turned into like, oh, there's

such a thing as a power clean and a power snatch.

And I can actually get really, really strong in college.

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