Mark Watts has had such an incredible journey going from football player, coaching and interning, director of education here at EliteFTS, and finally a 5th grade school teacher. He was recently a guest on Jim Kielbaso's podcast: The Impact Show, which is "a podcast for strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers, sports and fitness entrepreneurs who want to make an impact on others."

Jim Kielbaso, now director of Total Performance Training Center, has a never ending background in the strength and conditioning industry, some accomplishments being that he has coached at all levels (youth, high school, collegiate, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and even Olympic athletes), served as the State Director for the National Strength and Conditioning Association for six years, he has written three books, many article, and has made multiple training videos. Seeing those credentials and the names of others that have been on this podcast, including Mike Boyle and Eric Cressey, you could say this was kind of a big deal.

To some, seeing this is a strength and conditioning podcast you may be inclined to not take the time out of your day to listen, but let me tell you, that is a mistake. This podcast gives many great cues for not only coaches and trainers, but for everyone.

Listen to Mark Watts on The Impact Show here.

There are so many great quotes and points Watts and Kielbaso touched on, here are some that hit the hardest:

  • Strength and Conditioning is a cutthroat job - there are more coaches and interns than actual jobs to fill.
  • Experience and unpaid internships are necessary - no one has the time or money to pay to teach you how to do your job.
  • "I'm blessed to have the opportunity" - Mark Watts talking about the opportunity Dave Tate gave him to write and educate on elitefts.com
  • Young people get into the profession thinking they're going to be "the next Mickey Marotti or Ken Mannie" and make a lot of money - this is not the case.
  • "The best thing you can do to get to the next job is do a great job" - work hard doing what you're doing NOW, don't just wait until you get that dream job.
  • Filter who you hear, who you listen to and who you're influenced by.
  • A Strength and Conditioning coach should be thinking "how is that person different because of me?" at the end of the day.
  • "Do you want to be a Strength and Conditioning coach because you want a selfie with them when they make it big or do you want to do it so that when they are in a tough situation in their life off of the field, they handle it with more humility and stick with their values because of the lessons you taught them."
  • Stick to your core values.
  • Opinions are the weakest form of communication - everyone has one. empathy is strongest - you have to strip down and put yourself in someone else's shoes.
  • 4 Phases of life 1 - people only care about what they feel. 2 - people care about how others feel about them. 3 - people only about about how they feel about themselves. 4 - People only care about how others feel about themselves.
  • Mark Watts tells his athletes, "You are not your likes on instagram, that is not how you value your worth."
  • Anybody you teach or coach should be TWICE the coach you are. They should have all of their experiences PLUS yours - don't keep your strategies and experiences a secret just because they could become your competition one day. Make them better than you are.

Sources:

http://jimkielbaso.com/ep-25-mark-watts/

http://jimkielbaso.com/about/

 Allison is an intern at EliteFTS. She recently graduated from The Ohio State University with a BS in nutrition and a minor in business. Allison hopes to become a marketer for a fitness or nutrition company.