LOSS TO LEGACY

May 13, 2026
Long Beach, California

May 12, 2020.
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9:59 PM.
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My phone rang.
‍
‍

Then I saw the message.

I didn’t just lose family…

I gained a responsibility I never asked for
‍
but refused to run from.

My name is Ti

I was born and raised on the east side of Long Beach.

Both of my parents are immigrants.
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They came to America when I was one
chasing an opportunity they didn’t fully understand,
‍
but believed in anyway.

We grew up on government assistance.
‍
Moving from place to place.

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Six different homes before I even hit 11th grade.
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Every time rent went up…
we had to figure something out.

New schools.
New people.
New environments.
‍
Over and over again.
You learn to adapt…
‍
whether you’re ready or not.

I lived in six different houses before 11th grade.

Looking back…
‍
that’s where I learned how to keep going.
‍
‍

After high school…
I hit a crossroad.
‍
‍
I never really felt like I fit in.
‍

I wanted to leave…
‍
start over somewhere new.
‍
‍
San Diego was the plan.
‍
‍
But life had other plans.
‍
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My dad suffered a stroke
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So my mom took whatever she could get…
‍
working in the back of a restaurant.12-hour days for $50.

Coming home exhausted…
‍
her hands torn up from the work.
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And I felt it…
‍
it was on me to stay.
‍
‍
So I did.

After graduating from CSULB in 2012
I had no idea what I was going to do next.
‍
No experience.

No real guidance.
‍
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Just a willingness to figure it out.
‍
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I knew what fitness did for my life…
‍
and I wanted to give that to someone else.

I knew Randall from class

we always got along.
‍
At the time, he was leaving Bally’s
and starting his own private training.

I asked if I could shadow him…
just to see how it worked.

He said yes.
‍
A month later
he gave me a shot.

So I kept showing up.

Things really started to pick up in 2013.

That same yearI linked up with my best friend Jandar.

We were in the same spot…
‍
just trying to figure it out.
‍

So we built something from nothing.

And slowly…
‍
‍
things started to move.

People started noticing.

Our name started spreading.

Then everything sped up.

we eventually outgrew the space we were in.

It was time to start looking for our own location.

We were 27.
‍
No real business experience.
‍
No track record.
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And every landlord we talked to?
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Not a chance.
‍
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After a while…
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it started to feel like it wasn’t going to happen.
‍
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Like maybe we weren’t ready.
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Then out of nowhere…
‍
an opportunity came.

We took a shot.
‍
And somehow…
‍
they took a shot on us too.
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We signed the lease.

One month.
‍
That’s all we had.
‍
No blueprint.
‍
Just learning as we went.

And from there…
‍
‍
everything changed.

We built something from the ground up.
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A gym.
A community.
A life.
‍
‍
Everything I once dreamed about…
‍
I had it.
‍
I was living it.

Then in the middle of the pandemic…
‍
May 13, 2020…
‍

I got news that I wasn't ready for.

Suddenly,
I became the male role model I never had.

From that moment on, everything shifted.

My life was no longer just about me.

It became about showing up…
no matter what.

From flying back and forth between California and Florida
for birthdays, for holidays… for anything that mattered,

Itried my best to show up for the boys any way I could.

Each trip meant something.

But every goodbye…
got a little harder.

My body was in California.

But my heart stayed in Florida.

I remember sitting alone at the airport…

Thinking to myself
‍

One of my biggest fears
was looking back one day
and realizing I had the power to do more…

but didn’t.

When I got back to California…

I tried to get back into my routine.

But something felt off.

The more I tried to move forward…

the more I realized

I wasn’t the same person anymore.

When I got back to work…

I could feel it.

My energy wasn’t the same.

My focus wasn’t the same.

And the quality of my work
started to slip.

I wasn’t fully present anymore.

So I started paying attention.

I started noticing that my quality of work
wasn’t where I wanted it to be.

I knew I was just going through the motions.

Showing up physically…

but not mentally.

That’s when it hit me.

I couldn’t keep living like this.

I had two choices:

either accept it…

or do something about it.