An Introducition to Primiitve wellness and Chance Graves…

How did I get here? What led me to start my own personal training business? Well, it all started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Sorry, I’m a bit of a Star Wars nerd. But in all seriousness, it really did start a long time ago.

As a young athlete in middle school, I began lifting weights to better my performance in my athletic endeavors. I had no clue what I was doing and didn’t really have much for guidance other than the limited information I could find on YouTube (there was a lot less fitness youtubers in the early 2010s!). Nonetheless, I managed to spend most of my early teens in the gym, on the field, or playing videogames - not much else happened in this span of time. As I got older, I started to notice my athletic performance improving, I started to learn more and more about strength training as an addition to an athletes training regime. I was fortunate enough to have parents that were very supportive and helped me in this adventure ( I actually still use the squat rack my father bought me nearly 15 years ago in my gym today).

In my final two years of high school, I really began to excel in Football and Track and field. In this time, I was starting to actually have some real knowledge around strength training - which led me to dive into the world of nutrition. I realized the whole large pizzas to myself and weekly packs of filled Twizzlers really weren’t aiding in my performance. I studied nutrition and dietetics my final two years of high school and decided this is the route I would pursue in college. I attended the University of Maine in Orono and studied Human Nutrition and Dietetics as well as competing on the Division I track and field team there. I learned quickly in my time there that I didn’t want to work as a dietician in a clinical setting - I had worked in construction with my father growing up and the idea of sitting at a desk most of the time wasn’t appealing.

And then the big bang happened - COVID-19. When the world wide pandemic struck the nation by storm, students were quickly sent home to continue their studies online. Taking classes like anatomy and physiology and public speaking online were a bit counter productive to my college learning experience - so I transferred into the school of business and retired my track and field spikes. This led to the most depressing year of my life. Isolation was very bad for me. I was living alone, working 40-50 hours a week in a small construction crew, then getting home and spending the remaining two-three hours of the day doing online business school work. That was my life for a year. I was miserable. This miserableness led me to transfer to Husson University in Bangor to run track and field again with some friends of mine and continue my business degree.

Track and field there was honestly very mediocre. The 8 months off I took from sprinting had me in much worse shape than I thought, and that led me to finally fully retire my spikes and move on to the next chapter of my life after that indoor season. I don’t regret my time there at all, because it is what pointed me to personal training. I took an interest in the career of my strength and conditioning coach there, Frank. His job was to develop strength programs for collegiate track and field athletes as well as coaching them in track and field. I very quickly realized that it is something I would love to do. I researched more and more into the idea of being a collegiate strength and conditioning coach and learned that the pay and travel were not as friendly. I was a home body and wanted to have more financial freedom. That’s when I saw my first ad for becoming a personal trainer. So I decided, “why not?”

I paid for the course and took it over the next few months. At this time, I was hit with a digestive condition called GERD - gastroesophageal reflux disease. This led to a year of daily acid reflux nausea, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, etc. Basically a whole mess of tummy ache… it was a miserable time of my life. But a huge blessing in disguise. I spent the next few months going to doctor after doctor getting prescribed a new PPI medication - proton pump inhibitor (basically tells your body to stop producing stomach acid which just makes the problem worse) - after the third prescription, I decided this wasn’t working, what can I do? That’s when I turned to my trusty friend, the internet. I found - and tried - many horrible tricks, diets, and supplements that gave me little to no relief. But, in this time, I was able to find SOME relief, which kept me going. I never let myself get comfortable with feeling “good enough,” I knew I could feel better than ever, I just had to found out how.

Then came the carnivore diet. All of the medical textbooks, doctors, and gastroenterologists tell you a high fat, high red meat diet is the worst thing you can do for GERD or acid reflux. Man, were they wrong. 12 months of symptoms virtually disappeared in 3 days. 3 days and I was able to go to bed without the feeling of throw up in my throat. I wasn’t nauseous 24/7. I could leave the house without the anxiety of if or when I would ultimately throw up. It was amazing. This relief lasted for several months before Christmas time rolled around and I quickly fell back into some bad habits which brought all of my symptoms back in full force. I struggled for a few months with food addictions and binge-like episodes - I didn’t actually have a binging disorder but would routinely gorge on sugary foods. I was able to find some stability, that for the most part, I was able to maintain from then to now. I still have some slipups here and there but my health journey is a continuous process.

After getting back on my feet, I launched my business in January of 2023. I only had a handful of clients, so I trained in my teeny garage gym from 5:00am-7:00am, then went to work in construction until I got home at 4:00 and trained from 4:30pm-6:30pm Monday through Friday. I also trained Saturday mornings 7:00am to noon. It was a bit of a hustle for that first 6 months. As soon as I was in a position to scrape by just doing the personal training, that’s what I did. In June of 2023, I quit working in construction and went full time training. And I couldn’t have made a better decision for my health, happiness, and well-being. It was the single best decision I have made in my life. This career has led me to be truly my best self. I’m at my healthiest physically and mentally, I’m my happiest and most productive, and through my business I met my soon to be wife. The first 5 years of my 20’s have been quite the ride, but like I said, every obstacle that’s been put in front of me has been a blessing in disguise. No matter how difficult they were in the moment, I have come out on the other side stronger, more resilient, healthier, and happier.

So that’s the summary version of how I got to where I am today. If you’re interested in learning more about my journey, reach out and talk with me! I love talking about my experiences and how they helped make me into the man I am today.