This week for our second personal trainer interview, I talked with personal trainer Shea Crum. Shea has worked at the rec as a personal trainer for about a year now. Read on to learn about Shea’s internship in Colorado, and his tips for success in life. He shared lots of great quotes and principles to follow. Shea was also the employee of the month for February!
SN: “What is your major? And what made you decide to pursue that major?”
SC: “Kinesiology. Just growing up as a kid I was just interested in how I could improve my body for sport, and for appearance too. I had a dream as a kid to be an NFL football player. Now I can help others succeed in their goals. Sometimes you must be gifted with certain attributes and chance, and have certain types of influences in your life to be in the NFL.”
SN: “How many clients do you have?”
SC: “Six.”
SN: “You also work another position at the rec. Can you talk a bit about how long you’ve worked that job, and what you do?”
SC: “So I have been an assistant building supervisor for about half a semester. I come in, sign in, turn on computers, open doors, switch the signs on the tracks, then stand behind counter, check out equipment, swipe cards, and clean various parts of the rec during meetings. I’m also a weight room supervisor. I just stand around the weight room and replace bottles and towels around the rec. Usually we have to clean some part of the rec too during our shift. I’m also a rec ambassador. I get the poster and a container with info about the rec and go to campus and tell people about the rec. Sometimes we talk about intramurals too. This semester I’ll be working around 30 hours a week. It’s not too difficult to balance, but I’m a huge procrastinator, which is kind of bad. I feel like time management is key, you set aside time for what’s important.”
SN: “So, you did an internship over the summer, can you talk about what that experience was like?”
SC: “One thing I had to make sure I did before I went to Colorado was make sure I had reliable transportation and enough money to sustain myself since it was an unpaid internship. If you were late more than once you got fired. It was 8-5PM or 7-4PM everday. We started out going to Landow Performance Facility and shadowed clients, and everybody stated out going there for the beginning of the internship. They encouraged us to shadow as many different coaches as possible. I tried to get someone different throughout the whole day. I tried to shadow trainers and clients that were doing sports I was more interested in. Once the first four to six weeks were over, we started going to the high school and started coaching. We would critique their form, etc. Two interns would be on turf field and two in the weight room. In between there was a camp we helped coach movement at (Von Miller Camp). We coached milt direction, acceleration, and top end speed. Then we would go to facility and shadow. Once coaches saw you were comfortable, they would put you in charge of, or help coach a client at the facility. We also did an Ed McCaphery football camp. There we taught the same thing just different movements. Some of the guys who were into football got put in charge of a youth football team. Once that was over we’d go back to the facility and shadow and coach. There was also a sports dome that we would help coach with a team at. Another cool part was meeting Case Keenen, Peyton Manning, and others. Neil Magne UFC fighter. Just being in Colarado, you got to go to different hiking trails. Seven Falls in Colorado Springs was one of the coolest; also hanging Lake, Garden of the Gods, and Lookout Mountain. There you could see pretty much all of Denver. Black Canyon was somewhere I wanted to go but wasn’t able to. This internship showed me the life of a strength and conditioning coach in the private sector. I learned that you have to be more wary about how hard you push your client. Working with a team you are like a glorified personal trainer.”
“Things that stood out: how dedicated you have to be to be there from 6 or 7AM until 8PM at night. Sometimes I barely had time to eat. One coach Jin, one of the most cut throat, very dedicated and opinionated coaches told me, “I don’t teach my athletes to lift weights, I coach them to lift trophies.” Another thing that stood out was the blood flow restriction cuff. It goes on the arm or legs, and can decrease recovery time from ACL injuries. It trains the muscle fibers to type two. It can also make you bigger. It limits blood flow so it fatigues a lot quicker training those type 2 muscle fibers. One thing I didn’t expect was all the metaphors/similes of how the body compares to athletic training. One thing Loren Landow does is compare CNS (central nervous system) to a driver of a car. Driver is CNS and there’s always guardrail alongside of road. Guard rails are the body’s prevention of athletic injury. Training the CNS to do its job is the better option of the guard rails. Something else I took away from my internship was a demonstration where you hold your arm out and count backwards in threes from 100. It shows that the more info you give clients the less competent it will make them. Another quote that stood out was, “fear not the man who practices ten thousand kicks, but fear the man who practices a kick ten thousand times.” -I heard Loren Landow say it, but it is originally from Bruce Lee.”
SN: “What advice do you have for other Kinesiology students, or any students about getting internships, or what to expect from them?”
SC: “Network and communicate with other students and coaches. Be a people person, that will get you in the door. Have a strong understanding of the subject matter, but it’s always changing, so stay on top of your research. Do as many internships as you can, network, and if you’re shadowing a client, try to connect with that client because they could someday become your client if you end up working there. Go to conferences and network. Also, when at an internship don’t become complacent, because if people see you aren’t interested they won’t share with you what they know. Also, just in life the same holds true. At my internship, the girl was able to connect with people better than us guys were. She was the only girl, and I felt like she had better synergy and rapport. A few of the guys were able to communicate well and make client comfortable in the setting of having someone watching them though.”
SN: “Has your background in fitness and health affected your family or friend’s lives?”
SC: “Well with my brother and mom I try to encourage them to do more, my mom always has excuses and I get frustrated so I don’t push it. My brother…with me growing up being athletic he has pressure because people expect him to be the same. I’ve gotten to help train my Aunt’s husband, and gave him workouts for a while. I haven’t helped my grandparents as much because they are elderly and have injuries and both work.”
SN: “You mentioned before that you film your workouts for your Instagram, correct? When did you start doing that, and why?”
SC: “I kind of started because I wanted recognition for some of the things I was doing. It grew into trying to help more than just myself. I started incorporating nutrition and healthy movements for the body. I have kind of stayed away from the Instagram because if people don’t see that you treasure your knowledge, and you give away all your information, they will know everything without training with you. There’s only so much information you can give away to people. There are benefits and drawbacks from everything. A lot of the coaches taught me that people don’t know how much you know until they know how much you care. “Relationships are everything” was their last key to success.”
SN: “What made you want to become a personal trainer?”
SC: “I was in football wanted to learn more about training others. There was a class at my community college where you could get certified, so I did that and got it. I trained people under other people’s supervision, but it wasn’t until I came here that I started training people on my own. I thought about being an electrician at one point because my grandpa had a business, but I realized it was just not what I was interested in doing. I started watching YouTube videos of strength and conditioning. I wanted to be an entrepreneur of myself rather than take over what somebody else had made.”
SN: “Ultimately, where would you like to see yourself working in the future? Like, what setting?”
SC: “Strength and Conditioning Coach for a D1 program. I also want to start my own strength and conditioning facility for myself and franchise it if that doesn’t work. I would like it to be global.”
SN: “Have you always been active?”
SC: “Yeah, up until eight I wasn’t. I stayed home and played video games all day, but then I found football and fell in love with it. I started track, wrestling, swim team, soccer, basketball, and baseball from there.”
SN: “What plans do you have to stay active?”
SC: “Right now I’m getting into powerlifting and body building, but it’s expensive so we’ll see how that works out. I’m constantly trying workouts on myself before passing them on to others.”
SN: “Are there other health practices you feel are important to your life?”
SC: “Corrective exercise, nutrition, and sleep. You can significantly increase your health just by what you eat instead of just exercising. I feel like sleep is a big thing because it helps you be more mindful and less stressed, as well as build muscles and recover. Corrective exercise like foam roller and bands, are incorporated in the beginning or end of a workout to establish range of motion.”
SN: “What is your favorite form of movement?”
SC: “Probably acceleration. Just knowing how to move more efficiently.”
SN: “Is there anything else you want people to know?”
SC: “One of my favorite actors is Denzel Washington. Also, one thing that stood out, “Don’t have something to fall back on, have that one thing to fall upon.” Don’t always have a backup plan. Always have the desire and persistence to do that one thing you want.”
“Another thing about me is my favorite artist is Eminem. My favorite quote from him is, “success is the only option, failure’s not.”
“One of the things I always try to do is put good information into my mind. Put in things that are beneficial to me. That’s why I listen to Christian music and podcasts. So that I can lift myself up instead of put myself down.”
Shea also wanted to share some principles from books he has read that might help inspire others. The first principles are form his internship.
#1 genuine relationships are everything.
#2 Think critically and find mentors
#3 Market yourself, build your brand, and coach like your mentors are watching you (Loren Mendel
#4 the unpaid hours will get you paid
#5 Have faith in you, be authentic, and be a world changer -DC Motivational coach at mandal
#6 Don’t become complacent
#7 Always be kind
#8 Don’t be afraid to ask questions
#9 Closed mouths don’t get fed
#10 Eat your veggies (aka have a sense of humor)
#11 Build a network
#12 Be proactive, take initiative, appreciate those who have invested in you
#13 Create your own identity
#14 Volunteer your time, build relationships
Quote: “There is no rejection, only selection.” 90 sec or less book
From the books I’ve read:
Acronym for six habits from successful people in life (6 steps to the art of influence):
H: ave fun
A: assume the best in others
B: be good soil
I: insist on excellence
T: treat others as sacred
7 habits of highly effective people:
- Be proactive
- Think with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Think win-win
- Seek first to understand, then to be understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the saw
- Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs
3 good habits in communicating
K: know what you want
F: find out what you’re getting
C: Change what you’re doing to get what you want
Life purpose: 5 steps to knowing what your life purpose is. Adam Leizpig
- Know who you are
- What are you qualified to do, what do you feel like you’re qualified to do
- Who do you want to serve?
- What do those people want or need from you?
- What are you able to give them?
Advice:
Being able to smile when you meet somebody-the people that show they are welcoming to others establish trust and a sense of interest in them. If you can’t smile or give a good handshake, people won’t trust you from the start.
More on handshakes: when your hand is on top of theirs, it’s more dominating. When it’s flipped, you are more subjective.
People from European countries will ask where you’re from, whereas here people ask what you do. The way you frame things is important.
