…I was Born in Indianapolis, IN. I lived in Indianapolis until I was 27 years old and then moved to Miami, Florida. It was one of the best decisions I could’ve made at the time. I am going to tell you a bit about myself. I love to be as authentic and transparent as possible. So, hopefully this will give you a deeper insight into myself and my drive to be the very best I can possibly be.

My mom Nina Lantz, and my father Jeff Lantz are not only my parents, but my best friends. They raised me with love and free will. Meaning, as long as I wasn’t hurting myself or anyone else, I had free reign to live as I pleased. I never enjoyed school. My parents never felt one way or the other about that or more or less a continued education after high school. I never knew college was even possible for me and I knew mandatory school and mandatory studies just weren’t for me. I fell in love with martial arts at a young age. Taekwondo was the Art I gravitated most towards.

I was a natural when it came to most sports, but the sports I enjoyed most, were mano e mano sports, One on One. If it was me vs another athlete, I knew I had to be tougher, faster, stronger and have better endurance. If I checked all of those boxes, I knew I had the best chance to win. I usually won. But, as life will always be, there was always someone better. To be fair to myself, I knew I had to try my best, and maybe I would shock myself. This mindset has been so good for me over the years.

However, there was a time who I stopped playing sports. The time in my life that I stopped going to Taekwondo. I started immediately filling that time with video games. Once that became boring, I hung out with the neighborhood kids. We did what most kids in middle class neighborhoods do: got into trouble. I gave up the interest of being an athlete. I had zero focus. There was nothing on the agenda or a goal laid out. Looking back at it, guidance would’ve been great, but my parents were very busy with trying to provide for three kids, and they felt confident that the life I was living was normal for a kid. My mom and dad have always had confidence in me, but what I was lacking was guidance. As life works, It took something dramatic to wake me up, and open my eyes to a better me.

When I was 17 years old, my friends and I were drinking and smoking in my car. We decided to go to the movie theater. I was intoxicated from not only alcohol, but I was high, too. (Side note: kids should not get a pass for “being kids,” because kids have the youth, energy and tenacity to change the world. The youth can absolutely change the world. The belief in their-selves, and guidance is instrumental to creating their vision. On the flip side, if you give a kid a pass, because he’s a kid, the are more than likely going to make mistake after mistake until something dramatic happens, forcing a change. Direction and guidance can change all of that. Now back to the story). Once we reached the light, to turn left into the movie theater, I thought the light was green. It wasn’t. I turned into oncoming traffic, causing a horrific accident. I injured everyone in my car. Broken femur, facial injuries from a shattered windshield, broken arms. That was just my car. I remember getting out of my car, to see the accident I created.

I was shocked, but coherent. There wasn’t a scratch on me. I started to help my friends out of the car. I noticed the 3 other vehicles in the accident were so badly wrecked. I wasn’t sure the people were alive. I remember walking over to the side of the street. By far the lowest point of my life. To this day. I remember thinking not only how FUCKED I was, but asking myself “what have I done?” My selfishness. My bad decisions, had effected so many people, and then Diana, a complete stranger came up to me, as if an angel just appeared. She put her hand on me, and asked if I was okay. She never judged me or scolded me. She just helped me. I TRULY know the effect of special people and what a human can do for another by just being there. No one died. I went to jail, rightfully so.

I paid the price of my wrongs, and so much came from that. So much, but that isn’t the point of this. I grew from that, but it took long hours by myself in jail. It took a horrific accident. It took me becoming desperate to make a change. And so another angel appeared. I was in jail, and a police officer asked me why I was in jail. He didn’t care why, but more shocked that I was in there. He could tell I was angry and lost. He told me I should box. He gave me a recommendation to a gym in Indianapolis called the Sarge Johnson Boxing Club. He told me it was the best gym in the city. When I was released from jail, my parents gave me nothing but love. I was on a mission to be a better person. I never answered a call from any friends that would get me in trouble. I drove myself to the boxing gym everyday. I would stay in the gym for hours, and watch boxers. I would hit the bag and work, but I wanted to watch these guys. Boxing is a sport you can learn a lot by just watching. I was hooked.

Boxing was in my blood. I would wake up, run, hit the heavy bag to strengthen my hands and knuckles. I would go and work at my dads cafe, Jeffrey’s Java Cafe, which taught me people skills, and how to communicate in a business transaction. My dad’s cafe taught me people skills in business. I worked the cash register, made the coffee, and would try my best at remembering the regulars’ orders. I would watch my dad work his cafe, and thought he was incredible. Everyone loved him. He was so charismatic, but very professional. After working at my dad’s cafe, I would go to the gym to spar, shadow box, jump rope, strength training. Whatever I saw the best do, I was doing, and more of it. I hadn’t even had an amateur fight, but I trained like a pro.

Once I felt I was ready, the coach I had at the time got me my first fight. In amateurs, you don’t know who you’re fighting until the day of. Once I heard who I was fighting, I was told this kid won multiple state titles. This was my first fight, but I had no fear of this kid at all. I knew my training was better. He had never faced someone like me before. It took me 2 rounds until that kid was flat on his face. I knew at that moment that I was ready for whatever came my way in the boxing world. The following year, I won golden gloves—the best boxer of the year—and made a great name for myself in my state for boxing, but I’ve always been very introspective. I knew that boxing was dangerous and could lead to brain injuries, but I had made a 180. I was a different man. I thought to myself, if I could use this discipline, and focus on business, I would be very successful, so I stopped boxing, and focused on business.

I worked for my mother’s real estate company. Her entrepreneur mindset always appealed to me. My dad was good in business, but my mom was the true entrepreneur of the family. Once I talked my mom into letting me work in her business, I think I single-handedly grew my mothers business 2x in less than a year. My mom was so impressed with me, we partnered to create my own real estate business, Power House Real Estate. Long story short, the business was a great concept, but my mother got sick, and the business wasn’t set up properly to sustain itself. I was a good salesman, but running the business wasn’t my best ability. The business failed.

At this point, I was 27. I wasn’t depressed until I literally lost every dollar I had. Fast forward, and my mom and dad moved to a small apartment in Key Biscayne, Florida. My dad got a great job offer, and my mom recovered from her cancer. I stayed in Indiana because I was scared and I didn’t know anything about Miami, or how I could make money. Once I truly let myself hit rock bottom, I moved into my parent’s apartment in Key Biscayne. I was sad and hurt, but not much of a better place to be than Key Biscayne, FL. I eventually got myself together. My dad mentioned a boot camp class called TFit 360. He said I should try it out. I walked by and was slightly intimidated about asking the head coach if I could train, but eventually got the courage to ask.

I loved his training style, and got a lot of benefit from it. The training woke the beast up that I created from boxing. I started to get my confidence back. I slimmed down. I got into great shape. I would start working out on my own. My workouts were much different. I love athletic training. So, my training style is unique. I would start shadow boxing and working jump rope, and people would ask me if I was a boxer. I would say I used to, and I would let them train with me. I had the hardest time charging. Once I got home, I would tell my dad about who I would meet and that people were interested in training with me. My dad and my uncle John who was visiting at the time, suggested I become a personal trainer. My first thought was personal trainers don’t make any money, and I was set on getting a job that paid well. My second thought? I was nervous.

I had no money at all, so this would fill the gap before I got my real estate license. My first client was a little four year old girl. Her father wanted me to teach her boxing. It was incredible. I loved the connection between her father and I, and also to see this little girl get better, class after class. I started getting confidence to advertise myself. Once I started to advertise myself, I started to get a name for myself in Key Biscayne. I started to see that my training methods had a place in this fitness industry. What I did worked for other people, too. People really enjoyed my training style. I’ve had many people ask me “what is your style of training?” I could never put it in one style. I love strength and conditioning. I love power-lifting. I love running, and sprinting. I love athletic training. It’s the escape from reality; it’s the higher level of consciousness; it’s the feeling of a higher self worth.

I remember just starting to run a mile or two. I remember being elated once I ran a sub-8 minute mile. Once I hit that goal, I wanted to run a sub 7minute mile, and then once I hit that goal, I wanted to run a sub-6 minute mile. Once I hit that goal, I wanted to run a half marathon. Once I achieved that, I wanted to cut my time down substantially. I did that. I hit my goal for running, then I moved on to weight training, and power-lifting. I hit every goal I had for power-lifting. I would start to develop workouts that involved all of these training methods. I wanted to combine it. I wanted to be a true Cross Training athlete. What that means to me is being capable.

I am able to compete in really any fitness competition there is, and do well. This gives me a lot of pride. A large part of my identity is within health and wellness. I can’t think of better work than to teach my methods to the masses and hopefully impact millions of people. My ideal client: an ambitious individual. Someone that has a fire inside of them. Someone that is eager to learn, and open to being coached. Someone that doesn’t believe in ceilings of personal potential—a human being is the most incredible creation, and a human being is endless with possibility. The person must empty their cup and be in student mode. NO EGO, but ready and willing to learn. I don’t think every training method is good for everyone. I also believe many people are busy, with time constraints. I have developed 30 minute workouts, and I have developed workouts that can go for up to 2 hours.

If you can walk, you can workout and exercise. I like to find what works best for each person, along with what workout programs work best for my clients’ schedules. That’s my job, and we can do that through communication. Moving forward, I want you to understand the difference between exercise and training. Exercise is movement with a focus on getting your heart rate up, calories burned, and hopefully the release of some endorphins. Training is a specific focus. Training a specific movement to become more efficient. One example would be “boot camp classes” based on high intensity training, with the sole purpose of making you sweat, and burn calories.

A fighter, power-lifter training, or a track athlete’s methods are not meant for burn out sets, nor to reach failure. A fighter focuses on technique, proper breathing during sparring, combinations, angles, etc. A powerlifter is focused on mechanics, compound lifts. Breathing is also extremely important in power-lifting. The athlete needs to focus on incorporating multiple muscle groups. Track athletes should focus on stride, mechanics, breathing, hip mobility, flexibility, as well as cadence. People have always looked at Bruce Lee as a leader in martial arts. All fitness to me is art. Yoga is an incredible practice and I think it should be integrated into every program as an active recovery.

Power-lifting is so good for men and women. It builds incredible self confidence, a strong frame, and a solid body all the way around. I really preach all my clients about getting into some sport or activity. Boxing has always been mine. Sports will be an immediate test of your strengths and weaknesses. Running, and HIT training will test your durability, toughness, and grit. Strength training conditions your muscles to handle the stress these training methods put on your body. Put all of these together, and my friend: You are a cross trained athlete.