About Me

Growing up in the Netherlands, I started to get into football at a fairly young age. I was passionate about the game and being part of a team, which not only gave me a purpose, it also taught me discipline and respect for others.

I looked up to big players like Kluivert, Bergkamp, Seedorf and many others that were part of Ajax’s Golden Generation of the mid 90’s.
All those athletes had a common feature, the winners mentality, making them one of the most memorable football generations ever.

Every school day during the breaks, we would play a 5 vs 5 football game in the school’s playground. This was the time to shine, impress your fellow classmates and at the same time develop that winners mentality.
At the age of 10, I moved to Brussels where I enrolled in judo as well as tennis. Also, I used to bike to school and train for multiple hours a week in several other sports.

I always received full support from my parents and I remember my dad encouraging me not to miss a single training session. In hindsight, this is what nourished even further the winners mindset I started developing earlier in my life.
It is easy to give up when the path gets tough but sticking to discipline is what ultimately will create your freedom and success.

Education

The mind needs training like the body. I learned that gaining practical knowledge and helping others achieve their goals is what I was meant to do.

After high school I enrolled in Science Communication at Brussels University where I truly discovered my passion for sports and coaching. With the freedom university provided, I found myself in the gym more and more. Although fitness is an individual sport, you meet a lot of people with similar goals and mindset, which often creates a bond that goes much further than just fitness.

I’m truly grateful for the more experienced guys that mentored and educated me to become a better version of myself, physically and mentally. Then one day, the tables turned when a person came up to me to ask for advice and knowledge.

It wasn’t much later that I dropped out of university and started to get into coaching, focusing and dedicating myself to personal training full time.

This was almost a decade ago and at that time not many institutions were providing education concerning fitness and health in Belgium. Therefore, I joined a course where we were introduced to the basics of personal training and anatomy.

This led me to my first job as a personal trainer, which made me understand that I needed to get additional education in order to be able to assist my clients to the extend they deserved.
I enrolled in the NASM program and got certified in February 2013 allowing me to become a member of the Physical Coaching Team in Belgium. PCA was responsible for conducting high quality courses and handing out numerous certifications in the fitness industry.
Working together with the National Association for Sports and Medicine in the US, they grew to be the market leader in fitness education in the Benelux and are currently expanding their business to countries like France and even Morocco.

As I started to work with entrepreneurs, housewives, professional athletes but also people with more specific medical conditions such as diabetes and heart diseases, I felt the need to learn more. And it’s true what they say, the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know all that much.

Since 2013 I have attended over 15 different courses on training, nutrition and lifestyle worldwide and I keep improving myself on a daily basis. I truly believe that we can never invest enough in knowledge, especially if it’s used to help others.

Nutrition

My mom and dad always had very busy schedules, so growing up my mother would ask me to assist her in the kitchen. That’s when I started enjoying cutting vegetables and being the ‘sous chef’ at home.
Since I was always full of energy, it helped me to calm down and to this day I refer to it as my kind of meditation.

Shortly after, I started working in restaurants preparing food for up to 150 people. After years of strength training, I concluded that without proper nutrition, a person was just not going to get the results they were looking for. Thus the reason why I started to read more about this specific topic, gathering knowledge on which food choices would be more beneficial to reach different results.

To feel energized, have sharp focus, achieve optimal body composition or simply be able to perform at the highest level in life, one needs to eat the right things at the right time.

More importantly, it’s necessary to understand that food has its own context. Nutrition is so much more then it seems. It’s part of our culture, our social circle and it’s embedded within each society in its unique way. This is why I use a holistic approach, it ensures that my clients will create long lasting change, will be able to apply the knowledge they gain throughout the 360° coaching program and achieve ultimate performance in each part of their life.

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