Andy is a tenured Professor in the Center for Sport Performance at CSU Fullerton. He was born and raised in beautiful Rochester, WA and is a die-hard Seahawks, Huskies, & Mariner fan. RIP Sonics. As a youth, Andy played every sport at his disposal, excelling at Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Track & Field. While not playing, he worked at grocery stores, gas stations, hay fields, blueberry farms, and in the road construction business. It was during this time he discovered Strength & Conditioning.
Andy took his limited talents to Linfield College to join their Football team and pursue a degree in Exercise Science. While he experienced great success in both (2004 National Championship and 2x Captain and immediate inductee into the "All Ugly" Team), the true reward of this time was the meeting of lifelong friend (Doug Larson). The two fed each other's pursuit of knowledge of human performance and led them to attend the University of Memphis for the Masters degrees in Human Movement Sciences. A bit of luck and excellent faculty mentoring led Doug and Andy to meet Mike Bledsoe and the man formally known as "Barbell Buddha" Chris Moore - all of which later led to the creation of the #1 Health & Fitness Podcast in the world Barbell Shrugged. It also marked the start of Andy's competitive Weightlifting (culminating in his 7th Place finish in the 2007 National Championships), Mixed Martial Arts, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu careers.