I have been coaching barbell-based strength training since 2017, but my own journey with strength training began in 2008 during my senior year of college, when I stumbled my way through several months of novice training, learning as I went by following the methods in Starting Strength, 2nd Edition.

That was, truthfully, my first experience with athletics of any kind — I was a dancer as a child and young teen, but had not pursued any type of physical activity since then. I never participated in sports, and, generally speaking, I was the last person you would ever expect to become passionate about fitness!

After college, I would go to the gym haphazardly, but didn’t start training seriously again until 2014. Something “clicked,” and getting strong became a priority for me. I realized that making my body stronger, not smaller, was the key to improving so many aspects of life, from my practice as a performing artist, to daily tasks, to keeping up with my friends on hikes.

I attended a Starting Strength Seminar in 2015, competed in my first Strengthlifting meet a week later, and the rest, as they say, is history. I’ve competed five other times since then: twice in 2016, twice in 2019, and once in 2023.

I have been coaching since 2017, and in 2019 founded Paladino Strength.