My mother divorced my father when I was 14 years old due to my father’s constant battle with
alcohol.

I was only 13 when they sat my sister, brother and I down to inform us. It tore me apart, even if I didn’t see it at the time.
I was an above average athlete all my life, despite my lack of size. I made all the travel, all-star and varsity teams through pure hard work and athletic ability. My father wasn’t the dad who was never heavily involved in my sports. He could often be found at the local bar after work with a wide variety of his drinking buddies. My brother and I often found ourselves growing up around these places. We made the most of it, riding our bikes, playing by the nearby stream and playing whatever games were in season on the grounds. After my parent’s divorce I didn’t exactly take initiative to be the best student athlete.
I often found myself drunk or high on the weekends and fumbling through the week of school work. Halfway through my sophomore year I found myself struggling to balance my athletics and school commitments. I didn’t realize it at the time but weight training saved me, for the first time. It was the reason I got back on track in school and even took the initiative to start working at a local furniture store in the evenings and on Saturdays. Strength training had been introduced to me at a young age but almost by accident. There was a small set of plastic weights my father kept in our basement that I often
experimented. At the time, my lack of consistency and structure, they yielded little results. It wasn’t until I found the weight room my junior year of high school, thanks to a good friend who was on the football team, where it would become a defining moment in my life. I would never stop. Even after until 6 or 7pm at the furniture store I would head right over to the local boy’s and girl’s club to use their weight room. I grew up as an athlete who never had to struggle with his bodyweight but it was my lack of size and desire to be a better athlete that would peak my interest in lifting weights. For context, as a freshman in high school I barely weighed 110 pounds soaking wet but what I lacked in physical stature I made up for in performance and determination. I grew up the middle child of three children in Bristol, Connecticut. A big baseball town where I played soccer, basketball and baseball growing up. I made up for my lack of size with speed, determination and solid relative strength for my weight which was prevalent growing up as I excelled at soccer and baseball even making varsity in both as well as wrestling varsity as a freshman 112 pounder. With more consistency and better structure I would graduate at a solid 155 pounds. I continued making strength training a large part of my life through my party years of college even working as a strength and conditioning consultant, at the campus gym for 3 years. Upon graduation I came to the realization I wanted to be a personal trainer and after splitting my time between two big box gyms I found myself starting a new position with a local gym chain.
In 4 and a half years there I would become their top trainer, with a fully booked calendar and over 300 clients seeing massive results. But something was missing. I knew I could help more people. After meeting a long time mentor and joining his mastermind ground I decided to jump. I started a boot camp in two nearby towns, splitting time running them in a karate studio and dance studio. Only six of my clients were willing to follow me into the unknown and through word of mouth I
coached 31 people that first week in January 2009. Fast forward 90 days and I was looking for my first stand alone location.
I’d find it in a 1,750 square foot warehouse space that would become the first home of Tyler English Fitness. Over the years TEF had grown to multiple locations and at any given time hundreds of clients. I served as the strength and conditioning coach at a local high school where I was able to build a program from the ground up and positivity impact the lives of thousands of athletes for nearly 8 years.
During this entire time I am blessed to have coached thousands of everyday adults from business owners, to busy dads and moms, to professional athletes all looking to make strength training, nutrition and performance a major part of their life.
Starting in 2006 as a personal trainer in a big box gym and continuing into the early years of growing TEF I began competing in natural bodybuilding. A venture I thought would offer me a challenge. Instead it became a journey that would see me compete 20 times between 2006 and 2012 including winning my professional status in September of 2009.
Competing as a professional was a wake up call. My first pro competition was the 2009 World Championships and I’d miss the finals by 1 point. I decided I needed to take the next step. I hired my first coach. With his guidance, structure and accountability I was able not only able to hold my own at the pro level but I’d go on to win a pro title and finish top 3 in the world twice between 2010 and 2012.

While bodybuilding continued to allow me to sculpt my physique I was now 32 and decided I needed a new challenge in my life.

I jumped into powerlifting.

Having built a strong muscular base over the years allowed me to gain massive amounts of strength in a 3 and half year stint in the sport while winning three local meets. Both bodybuilding and powerlifting taught me so much about the world of muscle and strength.

Today, I train to perform at my best, be a leader for my clients, and be at my best for my son Rory.