My sporting career started at the age of 7. From then until the age of 24 I grew up as a competitive sprinter, running the 100 metres both in Malta and abroad. Through the years, I won consecutive national championships across various age categories, setting a national record in the Youth 100m along the way. I also represented Malta in several international events including the World and European Youth Championships. 

As a senior I took my 100 metres personal best to 10.87 seconds and made it to the 4x100m national relay team. However, several recurring lengthy injuries gradually forced me out of the sport that by then had shaped me for life. In fact I had to take a hard-fought decision to quit sprinting and totally devote myself to something which had been burning at the back of my mind (since my early teens when as part of athletics training I started performing bi-weekly gym sessions); i.e. building the most muscular and lean physique possible without the use of steroids or doping.

This triggered my desire to dig deeply into literature on bodybuilding and nutrition, where the more I read the more I realized that building your best body is not only dependent on lifting weights, but heavily related to holistic healthy living including proper nutrition, sufficient rest, quality sleep and a stress-proof mindset. While accumulating this knowledge I was keen at putting it into practice through my weekly routine, making sure I left nothing behind in chasing my goal. For the past 11 years I have therefore been working out at the gym religiously with the same discipline and frequency I followed as a sprinter, training 6 days a week, late evenings after work. 

Not too long after my transition from athletics to fitness I enrolled in my first bodybuilding contest at the age of 25. Fast forward to today and along the way I won 4 national titles in the IFBB Men’s Physique (sub 1m70 category) and twice placed in the top 10 at the IFBB European Championships.

At the end of 2013 I launched mirrorfriendly.com and the related pages on Facebook and Instagram on the back of a number of years during which my network of friends had been showing support and interest in my sporting journey. Through these platforms I have been sharing my journey through healthy living while educating and inspiring people from different spheres of life, regardless of their fitness level. I also seek to raise awareness in my country which unfortunately has always been stigmatized with obesity and lack of recognition when it comes to anything sport-related.

Encouraged by the positive response received within the first months from launching my blog, in 2015 I spent a sabbatical year in Melbourne, Australia, where I became qualified as a Personal Trainer at the Australian Institute of Fitness and the Personal Training Academy. While there I also had the opportunity to satisfy my wanderlust as I explored the rest of Australia, New Zealand and Asia, before returning to Malta where I resumed my career in the corporate world.

Concurrently I launched a shop on my website where together with Martina who is a certified nutritionist and dietitian, we offer personalized training and nutrition services in mentoring our clients towards living their best lives in a body they love.