E komo mai! “Welcome!” Being born and raised on the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii competition came naturally to me especially being the youngest of three boys. Little did I know that the challenge of keeping up with my older brothers and their friends laid the foundation for me to become a champion. Thanks to my brother’s persistent beating, ridiculing and leaving me behind (all in a loving manner) I developed the attitude necessary to understand what it takes to be successful, yet most importantly the ability to deal with failure and to never quit.

I believe that in every athlete there is a Warrior and preparation for battle should not have any stones unturned. The philosophy of “Winning is Everything,” is an aggressive approach to take with athletes and it is the only way a warrior must prepare. Whether you win or lose the lesson taught to each athlete is to always be prepared and excuses will not be tolerated. When an athlete loves to win more than he hates to lose, the day defeat or failure occurs future of competition is gone as many of these athletes quit due to their inability to deal with failure and humility. However, I’ve learned that a humble approach to success and failure is taught to each athlete in subtle ways, “You must learn to win with dignity and lose with dignity.”

I would like to take this time to share with you my life experience as an athlete and how it developed me into a passionate and informative performance coach.

Being of Asian descent, my potential for achieving my dream of playing in the NFL was “cut short” (no pun intended) the day when my mother and father decided to create me. My Dad being of Japanese (Okinawan) descent stands a mere 5’4” tall. My Mom being of Chinese descent stands a mere 4’11” tall. So somewhere in the middle is where I ended up standing a whopping 5’1 ½” tall. So growing up I was always undersized and had to deal with the childhood humility of being called names or being underestimated when it came to sports or activities. The funny thing is that in Hawaii there are a lot of Asians and for me to always be in the front line for picture taking days in school goes to show just how little I was, but that never stopped me from competing with the rest.

I can remember the day when one of my Pop Warner Football Coaches “Boy” said to me that if I wanted to play football and beat up my brothers some day that I should start lifting weights. Coach Boy was a big Hawaiian man and whether he was serious or not I took it to heart and from that day forward I began lifting weights on a consistent basis at the age of 11 as I entered the 7^th grade. I would ride my bike to my Coach Boy’s house and would lift in his garage 3-4 days a week. I had no formal program or high tech equipment, just the intensity of the guys in the gym.

Well, as time went by my genetic disposition didn’t change much as I went from 70 lbs at 4’10” to 92 lbs at 5’0” my freshman year in High School. However, I later noticed one thing, I had a gift. During the time I started lifting I made tremendous progress in the bench press and realized that although I was too small to play Varsity Football (according to my Mom) I was great at lifting weights. Weighing 70 pounds I managed to bench press 140 lbs and by the time I got to High School I was benching 205 lbs at a body weight of 92 lbs. I had found my sport and realized that all the work I put into training with weights for football had developed me into an athlete of another sport, Powerlifting.

I started Powerlifting my Sophmore year and by the time I was a senior I manage to break a world record in the bench press and a record that would change my life. I was 17 years old, I weighed in at 112 pounds (114 lbs class) and benched press 303 lbs. It wasn’t the record that change my life, but the work, sacrifice and desire learned during that journey to break the record. I went on to later break a total of 8 world records throughout my Powerlifting career.

Following my accomplishments in Powerlifting I took on another challenge and converted into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. It was this change in my life that provided me with the opportunity to grow as a young man (not in height as I was set for life at 5”1 ½” by this time). I furthered my life journey by being recruited by USA Weightlifting to become a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. I was now able to train full time as an athlete while acquiring a full scholarship to attend college in search of my Olympic Dream.

During my 6 years as a resident athlete I had managed to break 21 National Records, win 5 National Championships and win 16 National Titles including 3 Olympic Festival Gold Medals. I had the opportunity to compete at the World Championships where I finished 13^th place and competed at both the 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials. Unfortunately, as part of my life changing experience I failed to make the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team due to a poor performance at the Olympic Trials. But simultaneously while I experienced the biggest failure in my entire life, I also was blessed with the greatest reward in my life…as my future wife, Racquel Dizon, was there to share with me my downfall and pick me up with her love and support. Today I am blessed with five beautiful children (Chance, Rosalani, Tiare-Lynn and , Mahealani and Melia).

Through the years I’ve managed to meet and learn from some of the leading coaches, trainers, nutritionist and doctors in the sports performance & fitness industry. I turned my passion for competition into a career that helps individuals improve their lifestyle. Over the years, I have developed an unparalleled approach to strength training with the vast knowledge & experience in Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting which sets me apart from others in the industry.

But it’s not only the knowledge, experience, programs or results that interest our clients, but it is also the atmosphere at the center that attracts our clients to bring in their friends and family. I sought out to establish a training center with the goal of being an “Ohana” friendly environment. As the Disney movie Lilo and Stich,made popular the phase “Ohana means Family, and family means no one gets left behind.” With the passion, desire and integrity of our staff and the love and support from my family, we have developed the most intense workout environment with the warm “Aloha” sensation of welcome.

My passion for the development of the ultimate athlete is driven by experience, knowledge, success and failure as a father, son, husband, coach, friend and most important of all an elite athlete. Ikei Performance is known for producing results, no pampering or resort style of training is tolerated. Ikei Performance looks to prepare the warrior within, whether young or old, professional athlete or weekend warrior, Executive or homemaker, whoever the individual may be, Ikei Performance will ensure success to every client.