I started lifting as a dysfunctional 12-year-old, trying to overcome my obesity. Lifting transformed my life physically and mentally. I have been lifting for 43 consecutive years, 100% natural. I lift almost every day. It's part of who I am and it will always be, but it doesn't define me.

At 18, I started my policing career. A few years later, I became a SWAT team officer and then at the age of 26, a detective. At the same age, I accepted the head coach position at a high school, a decision that began a lengthy volunteer coaching career. I wrote my SWAT No-Huddle Offense and Defense manuals, (and recently published them) explaining the systems I had created and refined throughout 40 seasons of coaching football at the high school, college and semi-pro levels.

After 15 years, I left policing to teach law enforcement at the local college. During the next 20 years, I became a bestselling academic author, writing 6 law enforcement textbooks that are used in colleges throughout Ontario. Also during that time, I earned a Master degree, an undergraduate degree, and Level 3 NCCP Coaching certification. Then, in 2001, I opened a 24-hour gym called X Fitness Welland Inc. The gym continues to enjoy success entering its 13th year of operations. eXplode: The X Fitness Training System is a book I wrote that explains my workout system, based on 40+ years of lifting. 

In 2010, I left teaching to make the literary transition to motivational writer. My first book, Soul of a Lifter was published in 2011. In the last year, I've added several books. Blunt Talk is the name of a series I'm writing dealing with everything from fat loss to interrogation. Soul of an Entrepreneur is a 3-part series meant to enlighten business owners - current and potential. In the series, 4th and Hell, I tell "David vs Goliath" tales about my Canadian club football team playing in the United States. When my first granddaughter was born, I wrote, Beauty of a Dream and last year, Mondo piu Bello to commemorate the birth of her cousin.

I am motivated in my writing by my belief that we all have a potential soul of a lifter. We are called to lift for life. We can lift ourselves. We can lift others.

Keep lifting,

Gino Arcaro, M.Ed., B.Sc.