Gabe Wilson--Student Athlete to successful Strength & Conditioning coach

In this episode, we sit down with Gabe Wilson, a former student athlete who turned his passion for performance into a thriving career as a strength and conditioning coach. Gabe shares his journey from competing on the field to coaching athletes in the weight room and the lessons learned, the challenges overcome, and what it really takes to make it in the world of S&C.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Welcome podcast listeners. My name is Colin. I'm Ricky.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

I'm Jaden Virgis. And today we'll be talking with a student athlete turned successful strength and conditioning coach.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Yeah, what's up, everybody? My name is Gabe Wilson. I'm a recent graduate from the University of Mary, Washington in the class of 2025. I received my bachelor's degree in international business and sports management. And I also had the privilege of being a part of the men's basketball team where I had a successful career, two NCAA tournament appearances and a conference championship. So very thankful for my experiences there. I currently am working as a strength and conditioning coach at Focus Performance Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia, as well as a brand ambassador for Active Sportswear brand Stack of Days. Thanks for having me, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Welcome. So uh just going through a couple questions. Uh, what motivated you to begin your journey, starting off as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Well, yeah, I would say the first thing that motivated me would have to be my journey as an athlete. You know, I was always around athletics as a kid, and I eventually started taking basketball serious in middle school. Um, and from that, I knew that in order to be a good basketball player, I had to be strong and disciplined in the weight room, um, which is when I began training with my dad, and he taught me how to weightlift myself. So from there on going forward, I was kind of doing my own thing in middle school and high school, and um then I got to my freshman year at Mary Bowen University playing basketball, and as you guys know, you guys are all athletes. Uh collegiate athletics are very demanding on the body. Right, right. So, you know, I I think I went in there probably 185 pounds and I came out barely 170 at the end of the season, and my body was hurting. So I knew if there was I knew if I wanted to be successful in it and have longevity within the sport, I needed to kind of up the level of training, which is when I discovered strength and conditioning training and athletic training. And um, the more that I got educated on it and trained within that that training philosophy, I saw great results for myself, which ultimately made me fall in love with it just as much as I did basketball.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Did you uh did you train at all in high school before getting into college, or is just starting in college?

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Uh I did train, I I lifted weights in high school. It wasn't necessarily athletic, I guess you could say. It was kind of more of the traditional, you know, bench press and some curls. You know, I I didn't really know too much of what I was doing. Um, but in terms of getting more athlete specific, that happened after my freshman year of college. And, you know, now I can say what continues to motivate me is seeing how my training benefits other kids and the results that they're getting from it.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Yeah, no, for sure. And I I just was about to ask you that question as well is um, how is it going into you know this growing industry where you have sports performance becoming a need in these communities and things like that? So, what resources did you find that were helpful for you and like how did you go about networking into your position in your field?

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Right, well, not to sound you know kind of corny or or cliche, but I kind of started my journey with with absolutely nothing. Um, I didn't have a trainer for you know skill development or the weight room in middle school or high school. And matter of fact, I didn't get my first trainer till after I graduated high school, and that was for skills training. So I didn't know any coaches, you know, I didn't have a network, and on top of that, I didn't have any money. I didn't really have a job. I you know, I was busy with a lot of stuff going on at home, and on top of that, I went to high school two counties away. So I was waking up at probably four or five in the morning and not getting home till ten. Um, and that was just my life for four years. So the first thing I did was I decided to get educated. I did a lot of research on my own. You know, what what does it mean to athletic train? What does it mean to be a coach, um, a facility manager? How do you get involved and stuff like that? And once I had a baseline understanding of what it was and what I was getting into, I just went gym to gym and introduced myself to coaches and said, Hey, I'm Gabe Wilson. This is my resume. I'm very interested in becoming a coach. Do you have any internship availabilities? And from then, you know, I landed internship after internship. I was able to learn, get experience, hands-on experience, and network with other coaches.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Yeah, no, definitely. And like for you specifically, your role, entrepreneurship, people think of these big brand businesses and things like that, whereas what you're doing is more so individual. Yeah, you're representing yourself every time you walk into a different gym. Could you say a little bit about how that's been an obstacle or how that's helped you grow as an independent person?

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Yeah, uh of course. Well, you gotta look at it like this way. You hit okay, let's look at that example. You see see a brand like Planet Fitness or you know, Amfam, those big gems, those are those are businesses, right? But also, you are a business individually. Right? Um, Jaden Burgess is a business, Colin Mitchell is a business, right? Gabe Wilson is a business. So one of the obstacles that I faced with that was, you know, how can I invest in myself to make myself valuable? You know, people don't pay for a name, they pay for the value, right? If I didn't know what I was talking about, if I wasn't a good coach, if I didn't have something to bring to the table to make you a better athlete or meet your physical and fitness demands, then what good am I serving? So I had to figure that out, um, which came from just getting educated on the topic and you know, getting to get to meet different people and network.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

And now you have certifications too now.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Yeah, I do. I do have certifications. Um I'm certified in speed training as well as my CSCS certified strength and conditioning specialists, um, which are the gold standard of you know training that you need.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Speaking of obstacles, I mean I know I've known you for a while, and I know you had surgery recently. How's that affected you know your strength conditioning of yourself and like athletes getting injured? Because that's a main thing that a lot of athletes, you know, getting injured.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Yeah, great question too. Um, so for a little background story, I had torn my ACL am meniscus, my senior year of college, and you know, it was it was rough at first. Um, I kind of didn't know where I was gonna go with it as myself. I spent a lot of time alone thinking. And then I said, you know what, I'm gonna turn this obstacle into an opportunity. And all that free time I had, I put forth the time and effort to learning about various injuries, including my own, and listening to people's stories on how they came back from that, as well as the stages of rehab and training. And, you know, like I got discharged from physical therapy after four months, which is kind of like five months before you're even supposed to be. So I basically rehabbed myself, and that gives me the confidence to when I have a kid walk in the door and says, Hey, I tore my ACL, I don't know what to do. I can help you through every single stage of that mentally and physically. And I have. I got several kids who have ACL tears who I actually program for and I'm currently helping them with. So it's a good feeling to know that my obstacle and the pain I went through with that, it wasn't in vain. It was to serve a purpose that was bigger than me.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

For the people back uh listening right now, can you tell us about the entrepreneurial mindset that you believe in and that is important to be successful in this industry?

SPEAKER_03 8:31

Of course. Um, well, there's two that I take to my minds. Um, the first one would be you know, you have to be resilient. You have to constantly pursue something every single day, especially if you want to start a business or get involved in an industry. You can't just walk in there blindly or start up a business blindly. You have to be resilient, you have to be disciplined, and you have to be willing to make sacrifices to just get yourself started in that. Right? And then that leads me to the second one was you know, you have to you have to value creation, you have to value creation focus, right? You have to understand that you're serving a purpose bigger than yourself. And I think a lot of people struggle with finding that out, and I I tell them simply you gotta ask yourself two questions. What's something that comes easy to me, and what's something that I'm passionate about? For example, I was always good with people, it was something that came easy to me. It was never hard for me to make friends, communicate, or relate to people. And I was also passionate about athletic training and fitness, and I combined the two. And through that, I'm able to, you know, change lives, help athletes improve, make people feel more confident, healthier, and you know, go out and go out and kill it in their respective sport.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

What's one piece of advice you would like to share to um undergraduates to help them start whatever career path they want to go into?

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Yeah, I'm kind of basic, but you gotta control the things that you can control. And I know I'm sure everyone has heard that countless times in their life, but it's true. You can't add a dollar to your bank account, you can't add a day onto your life of worrying about something that you just cannot change, right? If you can control the things like your attitude, your physical shape, you know, your mental, your mental health, you can control those things, you can put forth effort to getting better in those areas. But sometimes life just comes at you swinging and you don't know what to do, and you just have to keep your head down and work and say, I'm gonna figure it out and I'm gonna I'm gonna get better from this.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

So, you know, we've already talked about your past and not present. What's your kind of plan for the future and how are you actively working, you know, in your industry to get up further?

SPEAKER_03 11:01

Right. Well, you know, something that my dad always taught me when I was a kid was you gotta have a five-year plan for yourself at every stage in your life. Where do you want to be in five years and how can you make that possible? And for me, where I would like to be in five years is have a lot more credibility as a coach and have my own gym, or at least get started in the process of being a gym owner. Um, and so how I plan on doing that in terms of coaching is continued education. Okay, what other certifications can I get? Um, I also plan on pursuing a master's degree in exercise science. Things that are gonna keep me up to date on you know the research because it's always changing, um, making sure that I'm aware of those things. And in terms of terms of my business, that just goes with starting, planning. You know, what do I need? Where would I put the facility? Um, how can I have the money that I have now? What can I invest in to kind of get me closer to the financial needs for that as well? Um it's very detailed planning, you know. We'd be here all day if I was talking about it. Um, but that's just where I see myself in the future, and I'm gonna make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

And no, uh just a quick follow-up with that is is sports performance and that industry of people needing and wanting their young athletes and even older clients wanting to stay physically adapted, is that something you see growing?

SPEAKER_03 12:27

Yeah, um, very rapidly too.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Just for people who might be interested in it or don't know about it.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Yeah, no, um, very rapidly. Um, you know, you know, a lot of my mentors, they told me that I kind of got into the the career at a right time because there's much more of a higher demand for it. And if you are if you are you know in shape and you're very educated on it, you're ahead of so many people. And the way that training is is becoming is people want to do more than just look in the mirror and do bicep curls. They want to feel young again. Older people want to feel young again, they want the back pain to go away, the knee pain to go away. Younger athletes, they want to be able to move a lot better. So you got to meet the demands of that. And if you're educated, you know, you got an advantage. You know so much more that the regular person doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

So a hundred percent. Well, Gabe, we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us once again. Student athlete turned successful, strength and conditioning coach. I'm Jaden Burgess. Mickey Manchalla. And I'm Colin Mitchell, and we thank you, Gabe, for being on with us today.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Thank you for having me, guys.