I played football and baseball as a kid, as an adult I was very unathletic until I found my way into CrossFit.

At 31 years old and extremely out of shape, I started doing a couch-to-5K program because I decided I needed to make a change in my life. Once I completed that goal, my fitness drive faded as I didn’t have any goals to work towards and no one pushing me to continue. I saw the “Fittest On Earth” documentary on Netflix and decided to give this CrossFit thing a go. I went to a free class on a Sunday at a box near my home in Newton at the time, and it was love at first metcon! I remember the workout involved rowing and farmers carries. I was hooked! Seven years and 135 pounds down later, and I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing on a daily basis.

I’ve had quite a few incredible coaches over the years, both as an athlete and as mentors on my own coaching journey. I teach CrossFit because more than anything, I want to be able to give people the gift of health and well-being that was given to me by my coaches and mentors. My favorite thing as a coach is seeing it “click” for someone. That might be something huge like a muscle-up or a PR with a barbell, but it could also be a non-tangible, like seeing that spark in an athlete’s eye when something in a movement clicks, or watching them realize that they have that next gear in the middle of a workout.

I like to inspire that belief in yourself—you can hold on to that bar for another rep, you can do another pull-up, push-up, sit-up. It’s in you, you just have to believe in yourself and go for it.

I measure my success against myself. That doesn’t always mean beating a previous score. But did I give everything I had on that given day? If the answer is yes, then today was a success.

My philosophy for fitness is simple: just keep showing up. That’s the beauty of what we do. Once you’re in the door, we take it from there. You don’t have to worry about what you’re going to be doing that day. You just have to keep showing up.”

Outside of CrossFit, Dan is married to his wife Jen and they have a daughter, Grace. He is a full-time project manager.