The following
Interviews are with coaches from the KSI Coach Mentoring Program (CMP)
- members of the world's leading physical
preparation coach education program!
From Issue No. 70 of the KSI Between Sets
Newsletter, The Newsletter for Physical
Preparation Consultants, April 2005!
This month we are please
to interview Jeff Morgan. We featured Jeff in an issue
last year after his initial success using the Get Buffed
training
program. It's now time to check in with Jeff to see how
he has progressed.
Darren: Tell us about yourself.
Jeff: I live in San Juan Capistrano, CA located
midway between Los Angeles and San Diego with my
wonderful wife and our two sons aged 8 (fraternal
twins). My wife is a stay at home mom and I work as a
firefighter.
Darren: Describe a typical day for our readers.
Jeff: A typical day at home has me rising at 5:30
am. I ready the kid's lunches, get them up and
breakfasted, make my wife breakfast and have the boys to
school by 7:30 am. Usually from there I go workout and
on my way home do any errands needed i.e. shopping etc.
Next, any projects around the house or outside the
house, handle any business chores (we have a property
tax consultancy), then pick up the boys. Now, homework,
some at-home baseball practice of batting, catching,
fielding, off to Tae Kwon Do. Returning home, its
dinner, bath and bed for the boys. My wife has about an
hour together and then its 9:00 pm and bed for us.
Darren: Now for industry specifics. How did you
get into the physical preparation field?
Jeff: I did a Google search on "Ian King" after
seeing an article on biceps in "Men's Health". I bought
GBI, the video, diary and got to it. The
results so motivated me, I bought GBII, III and as many
King books and videos as my wife would allow.
Inspirationally, I thought if I could teach folks to get
the same results I got, what a satisfying endeavor that
would be for both client and me. I followed through by
enrolling in Level I at KSI.
Darren: What's your personal athletic history?
Jeff: In childhood, I enjoyed baseball and Pop
Warner football, played racquetball later and kept in
shape for my job by running. I evolved towards the gym
and weight work, followed by cycling, Tai Chi, and now
back in the gym again.
Darren: What are your long term plans in this
industry?
Jeff: If accepted, continue my education through
KSI. I've committed the next 4-5 years to this goal.
Darren: Do you have any other business plans?
Jeff: Complement KSI coursework with real world
training experience.
Darren: What is it about this industry that you
are passionate about?
Jeff: Results that you can see and feel from an
Ian King principled program design. An experientially
derived and based, principled program of physical
preparation methods that is holistically based, injury
prevention founded, athlete (client) centric revolving
around the athlete (client) with his/her direct input to
an individualized training program.
Darren: Where do you believe this industry is
headed?
Jeff: I see it continuing to grow. The corporate
fitness chains will replace more gyms, but there will
still be a place for the small gym owner. Specialization
and innovation will continue. No consumer driven economy
(read that as US) will settle for status quo in fitness.
Something new, something a little bit different. At some
point, Ian King and his methods will be discovered by
the mainstream. Tai Chi, yoga, Pilates, and massage to
name a few, are now ubiquitous.
Darren: What formal education have you had
specific to this industry?
Jeff: BA in business.
Darren: What less formal education have you taken
steps to participate in?
Jeff: Sports massage background, currently
enrolled in KSI Level 1, and more King books and videos
than my wife believes one man should own.
Darren: Tell the readers about your experiences
with Coachking.com.
Jeff: I've gotten personal feedback from Ian when I've
commented on my experiences with his GBI and GBII
programs. For 'generic' programs, the results I achieved
that were easily visible after about 6-9 weeks amazed
me. They have provided the motivation to continue to
where I am today, enrolled in Level 1. Ian appreciated
my comments because it verified, by experience, the
power of his teachings through his program design. Also,
I injured my shoulder, posted a question and got
immediate answers with advice from Ian. I took his
advice to work with Mike Pimentel and it's been a great
learning experience working with Mike and rehabilitating
an injury. Without Coachking.com, I would have never met
Mike.
Darren: How did you hear about King Sports
International? What attracted you to King Sports?
Jeff: Very rational and logical progression from
my exceptional Get Buffed experience. I simply wanted
more from Ian King and moved on to KSI where I found it.
Darren: What recommendations would you make to
others coming up in this industry in relation to
education?
Jeff: Keep learning, solutions come from
everywhere. Eclectic is not a four letter word. If you
sincerely desire results with an open mind, learn from
Ian King.
Darren: What about on how to conduct themselves
professionally?
Jeff: Treat clients like you would want to be
treated if your positions were reversed. Be proactive.
Be well groomed and dress the part. Under promise and
over deliver. Return phone calls the same day. Have a 30
second elevator speech that clearly states what you do.
Behave with integrity.
Darren: Any final tips or recommendations you can
or would like to share with the readers about success as
a professional, in business, financially or in life?
Jeff: Be a good husband and father, have some
good friends, and do something you can breathe your soul
into with some passion. It's never too late to find it.
Darren: Mike Pimentel mentioned that you have
been doing new things since our last interview, learning
how to write your own programs, etc. So please go into
this area in detail.
Jeff: Well, I have been working with Mike
Pimentel for almost 6 months to get my right shoulder
back into shape. I injured it doing bench presses. With
and through Mike, I've learned the value of stretching
as it was made a major component of rehabbing the
shoulder. Also, I learned how important the control
drills are as a preface to the workout to turn on
muscles we will be working out. In doing the control
drills, I also became aware, in a more acute manner, of
the muscles I needed to recruit.
For example, in the
scarecrow, it took very focused concentration to recruit
the right muscles of movement while keeping the scapula
still. Having mastered ear wiggling and nostril flaring
was a plus here. Moreover, retracting the scapula during
deadlift was another big challenge for there are 3 keys,
at least for me, in the DL. Tight tummy, squeeze the
cheeks and retract the scapula. I was not retracting the
scapula during the lift, but rolling my shoulders back
at the top of the lift. On one occasion, the scapula was
retracted nicely at the expense of the cheek squeeze.
Yep, you guessed it, back pain (iliopsoas). What a
lesson that was! Since I was re-learning the DL, I
applied myself to mastering the squat as well. Both
techniques, DL and squat, took about 4-6 weeks to
re-master (the Ian King way) and to feel comfortable.
Now, I can add load.
Back to the shoulder, it's been frustrating at times to
feel the shoulder respond so slowly to Mike Pimentel's
training program, but on the other hand, I get first
hand experience with Mike because he immediately changes
the program based on my feedback. Briefly, Mike
initially assessed, developed a training program which
changed every 3 weeks based on cumulative feedback. I
believe this is what Ian teaches, that the client
(athlete) participates in the development the training
program. As an example, we seemed to get nowhere the
first 3 weeks, so Mike increased the stretching to 3
times daily. Doing my part, I was feeling around my
shoulder with my index finger and located a tender area.
Deep massage relieved a large part of the discomfort
therein, and I've made massage part of the training
program. Over 6 months, I can now bench without any pain
or discomfort (the original complaint), and we're now
pinpointing the deltoids to eliminate the remaining
feelings of discomfort. Stretching, control drills,
program design and client input have come together in
solution.
Most recently, we changed
the shoulder program to 1 day/week and upper body to 2
days/wk. Here, I designed my own program of exercises
for lower body on a maintenance level. One hip dominant
day and one quad dominant day with accompanying
abdominal exercises with appropriate control drills.
Also, I am writing an exercise program for my two 8 year
old boys who both have low muscle tone. It will be a
body weight based program.
Darren: Jeff, thank you for taking the time to
share with our readers about your personal successes! We
look forward to he next update.
