 These were the words I got in a text a few weeks back from my good friend, Smitty, from Diesel Strength & Conditioning. We were having a short conversation and he dropped a bomb on me about a pretty big opportunity that he thought would be a perfect fit for me. You hear these types of things often from people in your life, they make big promises but rarely deliver. I've known Smitty personally for a few years now and we even held a small seminar together at my place a while ago, as well as attended quite a few functions together over the years. Smitty is one of the few guys in my network that I truly listen to when he talks. |  He is sincere and is definitely a man of his word. While others are talking to get attention, Smitty is talking to help you out, give you information, and point you in the right direction. I've met so many people, especially in this on-line world, that always seem to have some sort of hidden agenda. In addition to being one of the most innovative and knowledgeable coaches in the strength & conditioning industry, Smitty is one of those dudes that isn't playing a game or plotting his next move when he talks to you. He is in the moment, he is passionate about what he does, and he knows that a man's word is to be respected. For that, I highly respect him and will always be grateful for his friendship and mentorship. |
| Let's back up a little bit. A few years ago I moved away from my friends and family to Virginia Beach, in search of more opportunity. I moved in with a friend and took a few odd jobs to get by. I had big aspirations to be successful, I had a college degree, I had drive, and I had personality. But, I also had a knack for finding passion at the bottom of a bottle. I was 24, I lived a block from the ocean, I loved to train and I loved to party, there was always something to do, but little money to do it with. I sold cars, I sold time shares, I cleaned carpets, I waited tables, and eventually started personal training at a local fitness club. Like many personal trainers out there, I woke up early to train a few clients in the morning, a few more in the afternoon, then would cut out to get to the restaurant to wait tables at night because my training job wasn't cutting it. After a long night of slinging steaks and drinks in a busy oceanfront restaurant, |  what's a guy to do but chase some tail around for a few hours and blow all his money buying a few rounds for some people that don't even know his name? Besides, nothing screams professional like bloodshot eyes, wrinkled clothes, and beer breath. I'm still not sure why I wasn't more successful as a trainer back then. These rich chicks didn't even have a clue that I was an All-American running back at a Division 3 college. Hell, I even scored 5 touchdowns in a single game. I was awesome, and someone needed to pay. |
 Lets back it up a little bit. I started training and lifting weights to get better at sports when I was in eighth grade. Back then I only cared about ONE thing - Football! And wrestling, I loved wrestling, and and a few other sports, and budding boobies, and... My mom would pick my brother and me up after school and drive us to the local high school where we would attend the following year. The football coach at the time let us train there even though we didn't go to that school because my brother was a senior and he played for the team. Coach knew we were going to play for him next year so he allowed us to get a jump on our strength and train with the guys. I was clueless at the time, but I followed the other guys and copied what they did. I still remember our basic training plan. It was simple and those that followed it all got stronger. We did upper body twice a week and lower body twice a week, and we always trained our arms! | For 2 weeks we would perform sets of 10-12 reps, then 2 weeks of 6-8 reps, then 2 weeks of 3-5 reps, always trying to use as much weight as possible to get the required reps. The next 6 weeks we would simply try to beat our numbers from the previous cycle. It was too simple, it couldn't possibly work. Form wasn't perfect, and coach let us do what we wanted for the most part, but they gave us some basic exercises to follow. Unless some serious dicking off was going on, he would just sit at his desk and read his newspaper. We had to maintain our training charts and turn them in weekly. Obviously some of them were botched by the kids that wanted to appear stronger, but those that wanted to be strong, were honest and accurate about their numbers. The results showed on the field as the truth always comes out eventually. I loved seeing the kids whose journals indicated a bench press of 225x12 getting crushed by 185 on testing day. You can imagine the clever excuses they would conjure up when their performance sucked balls compared to their journal numbers. My numbers were never great, but they were always honest and they were always a little bit better every month. |
 Moving forward. Living in Virginia Beach in my mid twenties I was a resourceful character. Much like a cockroach, I lived and slept in many different places, ate cheap leftovers, and entertained (annoyed) many people with my unpredictability. I realized I was spinning my wheels and unless I got serious I was never going to move forward in my new personal training career. I had taken the college courses, I got a few certifications to expand my credentials, but those books never opened themselves up and spoke to me, they never told me what to do to be successful, and they were all loaded with the same basic stuff regurgitated from another resource. Why didn't everybody in my town want to give me cash to show them how to get strong and awesome? Didn't they know I was Dope as Fuck? Time kept moving and nothing was changing. I started researching new material and reading books to learn new training methods and taking courses to advance myself. In 2005 I found CrossFit and I was enamored with the crazy intense workouts I came across. I immediately jacked up the intensity of all my workouts as well as my clients. I started doing everything as fast as possible. I was a fanatic, I needed pukie t shirts, and I had to be a certified fast exerciser.  |  A year or so later I finally bucked up and paid the grand to be a certified CrossFit Trainer. It was a great course that I remember being extremely impressed by at the time. It was motivating and the people were awesome. The best part about it was the community and all the people there were singing the same song, meaning we all had similar points of view and were looking for the same thing. The presenters were engaging and the atmosphere was intense, so much different from any other classroom based course I had previously taken. THere were quite a few people at that particular course that are running hugely popular gyms today. Too many to name really, mostly CrossFit affiliates, but even others that are running a different brand and still very successful. One of the guys I met there was Zach Even-Esh and we have connected on several occasions since. About a year after that CrossFit cert I won a scholarship to Zach's own Underground Strength Coach Certification. He occasionally holds inspirational contests to invite the most motivated young trainers to his certs because he remembers what his life was like when he was struggling early on in his career. Of all the courses, seminars, workshops and certifications I've attended over the years, I can say that the USC cert was hands down the single best course I've taken for my training career. Zach told me from the beginning, "I see your videos, they're nuts, I love what you do, it's like we share that same iron gene. You're going to be very familiar with the training that we do, but how is your business going?" That is where I faltered, that's where I needed help. Zach was different from the other guys in that he continued to help me and the other attendees with personal on going education and master mind groups, private information websites, etc. You can't possibly learn everything in a weekend, but when you invest in his course, you become a part of the family and you're treated as such. Over the following months and years I had continued to grow and learn more from Zach than anyone else I know. For that, I highly respect him and will always be grateful for his friendship and mentorship. |
 Now being part of the Underground family, I have met many people in Zach's network, which has become part of my network, and they are some of the most knowledgeable, friendly, passionate and helpful people you'll ever meet in your life. From Pauly, Uncle Mike, Smitty, Elliott, DC, Mandler, Isaac, Riess, Travis, Reed, Joe, House, The Renegade Jason Ferruggia, and the list goes on and on, these guys have shared so much information with me and helped me grow as a coach and business owner, that I would never be in the situation that I am now had it not been for their friendship, experience and business acumen. My point is, surround yourself with like-minded, motivated people if you want to be successful. Oh yeah, grow up, stop acting like a kid, be professional with your business but never lose your child mind. Always strive to learn and grow better and stronger. Never be a know-it-all. Acknowledge your weak areas, know who to ask for help, make a plan and take action. Or better yet, fuck the plan, just go, fix it later. |  Back to the original point of this story. "I'm about to change your life forever," read the text from Smitty. He notified me that Joe DeFranco, one of the most sought after strength coaches on the planet, was helping the WWE in their search for a new strength coach to train their athletes. Upon his recommendation I entered my resume in to what seemed like an impossibly large hat at the local Bingo night in Jersey. Would you believe a few weeks later Joe emailed me and said that I was one of the finalists for the position. There were approximately 144 resumes submitted and 5 coaches were selected and flown to the armpit of America, I mean Dirty Jersey, to train with Joe and his athletes as a "hands-on" practical interview, and then the following day to meet with some representatives from the HR department of the WWE for a more formal interview. |
| I put on my thinking cap and I met those corporate cats in the lobby at the hotel. We went in to a conference room and chatted about the life and times of Matty Wichlinski for over an hour. It was one of those times that you do your best to prepare for and present yourself in the best possible way without coming across as a giant inflatable douchebag. I pretty much blacked out at this point and don't remember a damn thing. All I know is that when I finally came back to, I got up to leave the interview room and I noticed my shirt was unbuttoned and my nipples were purple, there was a midget on a pony wearing a Batman mask in the corner, my hands were duct taped together behind my back, and there was sticky shit everywhere. I mumbled a few words as I was about to leave the room, then I shook their hands and thanked them as they informed me they would be contacting me in the near future. |  You see, I've trained and practiced and trained and practiced some more. This interview wasn't my first rodeo, every day I put myself under fire one way or another. I don't train for stress, I train to kick stress right in the jimmy. When you get put in stressful situations, your training and instinct takes over. How you prepare is how you will perform. I must have humped that midget AND that donkey right in their tiny little donkey butts. I kicked ass and took names. Five touchdowns in a single game, Muthafuckas. |
 Right after the interview I was off to the airport to head back home, contemplating the whole time if I said the right things, made enough eye contact, smiled enough, presented myself with honor and integrity... I made sure I sent my Thank You messages the following day and within a few days I got the call notifying me that I would proceed to the "Final Final" interview with Triple H. He is a big time wrestler, former World Champion, and is now a top dog in the WWE organization. He has been training with Joe DeFranco for a while now and put his trust in Joe to bring him the best candidates for the job. Last Thursday I drove to Orlando to meet Triple H and his partners for the interview and everything went well. They invited me to hang around for the evening while they taped a few shows for their overseas brand the NXT. It was tons of fun and every single one of the athletes and crew that walked by me said hello with a smile and shook my hand. Not one of them knew who I was or could potentially be to them, they were just fun and pleasant people, not to mention big, strong and sexy. And the Divas were nice too. |  After a few matches I cut out of there and drove home. The following day, last Friday, at 4:55 pm I got a phone call from one of the girls I met at the hotel two weeks prior. She notified me that everybody was impressed with me and that I represented myself well. I sat and waited the the big "BUT..." But, it never came, instead, the WWE offered me the position as the Strength & Conditioning Coach for their Talent Development Center in Orlando, Florida for One MILLION doll hairs a year! Just kidding, not about the job, I got that shit, but I won't be making a million doll hairs. Not yet, anyway. Needless to say, I am super excited to start this new journey and I expect it to be just as awesome as I can imagine. I really don't have much else to say about anything except I'll be moving to Orlando soon and working for the WWE. Pretty awesome. I am not writing this to brag or anything, I just wanted to share what was going on with me and the new direction of TSS. TSS will never die, we are just turning a corner... a sharp corner, on the edge of a mountain, in a Ferrari. |
 Wrapping this little story up, I know I missed a lot of key points but it was already getting way too long, I just want to make a few things clear. I've been training myself and other athletes for several years now. There's many other coaches that have read more books than I've read, taken more courses than I have, pulled bigger weights than I have, and know more about muscle spindle fibers and sarcoplasm than I do. But I truly believe that nobody is more passionate or better suited for this particular opportunity. Nobody is better suited to show these athletes how to run faster, jump higher, lift bigger and get more jacked than me. This is my calling, this is my dream job, I finally found it. I would not have been in this position if it wasn't for a few things. If I didn't study and train everyday, my game wouldn't be on point and I would have never been recommended for the position. If I didn't surround myself with an amazing family, my network and support system would have been weak. I'm forever indebted to Zach Even-Esh and the Underground Strength Coach family, and to Smitty for putting his word on the line and recommending me for the position. If it wasn't for Smitty, this would not be happening right now, I know that. I'll never forget that text, "I'm about to change your life forever." Thank you, brother. I know you don't expect anything in return, but I got you, man, I'm gonna make you proud. Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart. |  On a final note, to celebrate this life changing time for me, I am offering a full year membership to The Consummate Athlete at 40% off. Until this Saturday it's only $57 for an entire year and after this it may never be this price again. Trust me, there is going to be a lot of really cool stuff going up in the future and there's already 2 years worth of videos, articles, programming, tutorials, interrogations and more. Also, make sure to represent The Consummate Athlete and grab yourself one of these super cool t-shirts while we still got em.
Thank you all for your support and listening to my story and I hope to chat with you all in the comments here or over on my Facebook page. When we get to 50 comments right here on the blog I'm gonna start giving away some free strength and conditioning and nutrition programs, because you guys are freakin awesome. Thank you. |
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