My name is Keegan O’Brien, a bodybuilding ballet dancer.

Athletics has always been a large part of my life; growing up in Santa Barbara, California I played just about every sport., basketball being my favorite. After moving to Texas, I continued to play basketball – for both my high school and a traveling AAU team. After my sophomore year, I suffered an injury to my left hip flexor that took me out for a couple months. Then, after a few weeks back in practice, I suffered the same injury to my right side, and the hips were unfortunately never the same.

Since I was unable to run and play sports, I needed something else to do to keep busy. I started doing theatre because I loved to perform; but I needed something more active as well to keep my body moving. I turned to weightlifting – and so started my love of fitness. I loved seeing what the body was capable of, and I realized just how amazing the human body was and how fun it could be to watch it improve and transform.  I knew from then on that I wanted to make fitness not only a part of my life, but everyone’s! I went to college to pursue my degree in Kinesiology – Exercise Science. At Texas A & M University – Corpus Christi, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0. It was also in college where my love for ballet was born.

I continued to do theatre at the university, performing in numerous productions on stage. During my second year, a friend of mine thought I should audition for a movement piece. Though I had never been in a dance production, I thought that it could be a fun experience. During the rehearsal process, it hit me that I loved the physical aspect of dance, and I knew that is how I wanted to perform.

I started to take ballet classes in 2010, and was able to perform with Corpus Christi Concert Ballet that year in their production of the Nutcracker. My background in Kinesiology and bodybuilding served as a good base for ballet, and helped me make up for lost time. After all my years of sports and bodybuilding, ballet was easily the hardest thing I have put myself through – the combination of flexibility, strength, and both muscular and cardiovascular endurance (all while trying to make it look simple) is just grueling.

During the summer of 2012, I traveled to Austria to perform with CCCB as part of the annual Tanzsommer festival. But all the while I never gave up my love for bodybuilding, and planned on doing my first competition about a month in a half after I returned to the states. Unfortunately, during one of the performances, I ruptured a ligament in my left ankle and went on to perform in two more shows before going to the hospital. Needless to say, it severely affected my training for the competition. Not one to give up, however, I still trained to the best of my ability and was awarded fourth place in the lightweight category. Trying to balance a bodybuilder’s physique and a ballet physique is a challenge, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. And as a personal trainer, both disciplines give me a unique style and experience to pull from with my fitness business, KO Fitness.