At this point in time, autism is my entire life. This is by my choosing, but more so by God’s plan. I graduated from college at the end of 2010 with a degree in exercise science. I had plans to just train typical people in some capacity...I don’t think I had any grasp on what autism truly was either. I had known very few people with disabilities of any sort growing up, and never really saw/interacted with them much in all my years of school.

In 2012, I met a mother who had a son with autism. His name was Chad. She was looking for someone to support him in the community, as well as get him in better shape physically in the gym. I agreed to take this on. I got a crash course in all things autism very quickly. Chad had challenges I had to get used to. He was non-verbal and needed a communication device to speak. He was also very rigid with what he liked to do. He was prone to meltdowns and could be aggressive. Needless to say, he was not too thrilled to start a workout routine. He had never really done structured exercise in his life. These were all things that I had to learn how to manage quickly. His diet was also very rigid. The vast majority of his diet was hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and fries. He also drank probably 5-10 cokes a day. I was told by several people that it would be a small miracle if Chad ever tried a fruit or vegetable.

Fast forward maybe six months, and Chad was doing really well. He was on a regular exercise routine of running/walking on the treadmill, riding a stationary bike, and doing some strength training. He ended up losing 30 pounds. He was able to run several 5k races since his training was going so well. He also eventually started trying different foods with me after months of working on it. Now he eats fruits, vegetables, and drinks water more than soda. He probably has a better diet than 95% of people I know. I had a lot of success working with Chad.