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Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#127 - The Art of Coaching: Jackson Lantz on Communication, Organization, and Leadership
At just 24, Jackson Lantz carries the coaching wisdom of someone twice his age. A former multi-sport athlete at Hamilton Southeastern High School and a Division I football player at Ball State, Jackson quickly transitioned from athlete to coach—spending valuable time as a strength coach at Indiana University and also working with other elite programs like the University of Utah and the New York Giants.
In this episode of Coaching Minds, Jackson shares the habits and principles that set great coaches apart. His ability to communicate effectively, stay meticulously organized, and prepare relentlessly made him a standout among coaching staffs. He dives into the importance of having your own work done, walking into meetings with solutions instead of problems, and setting a high standard for both yourself and those around you.
Jackson’s insights go beyond the weight room—this is a masterclass in how young coaches can earn respect, make an impact, and position themselves for success at the highest levels. If you want to be an elite coach, this episode is packed with actionable advice you can start using today.
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/academy
Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the official podcast of Mental Training Plan. We help individuals perform at their best when it matters the most Today. Very special guest Jackson Lance, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Of course, Ben. It's great to be here and thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1:So tell us a little bit about just kind of where you've been, maybe some of the backstory you know as an athlete, and then kind of getting into the professional world, and we'll sort of really want to just dive into your story today before we get to where you're at now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So start off as an athlete as most kids do. Grew up here in Indianapolis, indiana. Went to Hamilton Southeastern High School. That school district was a big football and track guy. Growing up Dabbled in a little baseball but that was just too slow of a game for me. So track and football were my main thing, more of a track athlete, and so did all the round circuit in the local Indiana area, ran for the Fisher's Fire, which was a great time and a great experience.
Speaker 2:Also played football, started off in flag back all the way in the first grade, flag in the second grade. Then when the pads came out in third grade, that's when things really started to get fun. So third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade played football, ran track and had a great time doing it. Track started tapering off the closer I got to high school, because that's when I really started taking football pretty serious. I saw all the collegiate athletes. I saw them playing football in the pads and the gear and I know that's something I aspired and it wasn't something I wanted to do. And so once I kind of got that goal in mind to play division one collegiate football, I kind of stopped running track, which now, looking back on. It maybe wasn't the best decision in terms of speed development, but at the time I really just wanted to focus all my energy on becoming the best football player that I could. Um, so when I got to junior high, ran track a little bit, but then, right when I got to that eighth grade year, I'm like you know, pops and my mom, I'm like I'm gonna stop running track and just focus on football, focus on training and going to camps during the summer and really focus on honing my craft. And so freshman year, high school, hampton, sastern, just really focused on football, and it was. I had a great time. Um, some right at all the camp circuits went college to college, camp to camp, coach to coach, not only to get better but to show my skills, you know, at the university and colleges. And that was joyous.
Speaker 2:And of course, that came with his own stressors, obviously. You know, being the kid that I was, I always wanted to perform at the best of my abilities at all times. Now I came to the conclusion that wasn't possible, but I still held myself to a pretty high standard. And so once I got to my senior year at Hamilton, southeastern, and was able to you know, look at the colleges that had offered me scholarships as well as look at my PWO or my preferred walk on offers. Ultimately, I decided to walk on at Ball State University as a wide receiver, had a couple of divisional offers, scholarship-wise for them to pay for my schooling. But the MAC was calling my name, and so was Ball State, and I wanted to stay in state, close to family, and luckily I had parents who were willing to support me and they knew that, with me going to the school, playing football, then also looking to get an education I was going to take both just as serious as the other, and I wasn't going to prioritize my athletics over my academics, and so they really pushed me to go there as well, as they were feeding into what I wanted. So I got it done, went to Ball State, graduated from HSC 2019, played football at Ball State University for about a year.
Speaker 2:Then COVID hit that March of what was it? 2021, I believe. So we all got quarantined and sent home, which was quite the experience, I think, for the entire country, Kind of a shock that all of our wars got turned upside down like that. And so at Ball State, I was a communications major, so I had to take all that school home and I also played football. And so coming home while also being a student athlete, I mean came with its chore of just responsibilities that you had to handle, um, and that's not only between meetings held on zoom, but then also workouts that were being sent to you. In terms of everything was at home modified. You know I'm out here deadlifting couches, um, pushing cars in the streets, um. I also went and got my own weight equipment because I still want to fall behind. You know, being a walk-on, I wanted to make sure that I was upholding the standard of Ball State athletics and then, as well as developing my body to a point where they're going to find a way to put me on the field.
Speaker 2:So I came home during that time and came a month in, two months, in I kind of was sitting around and looked at my pops and I was a communications major and really just chose that major because it was the easiest one I think they offered. I walked in. I said I play ball, I really don't do school. So I said give me the easiest major you got, and communications, was it? No hate to any communications major? That's just what they said at Ball State. And so I went to my pops and said, hey, I really don't know what I want to do. I mean, I'm communications, I'm playing ball, I'm home. During COVID, there's talks for our season getting canceled. He's like you know, jack, let's just wait till everything gets back subtle, to normal. Obviously, right now things are in flux and you kind of are in this weird spot.
Speaker 2:So, after talking with my parents that's kind of the conclusion we went to and then I got back to school and we were about ready to get fired up and I called my dad again and my mom and I said, hey, pops and mom, this is something I think I want to do. I think I want to stop playing ball. I think I want to focus on my future, focus on my education and really find out what I want to do in life. I really didn't think I was going to be an NFL guy, and that's not me not having confidence in my abilities, but that's just me understanding the game itself and seeing the players around me and seeing my skillset and seeing how that best would translate. And so, after I kind of made that conclusion, sat down with my coaches Coach Bailey, coach New was very thankful for the opportunity, but they were understanding a path that I wanted to go.
Speaker 2:So that December, in 2020, I made the decision to change my major to exercise science. Then what also came with that decision was finding a different school that was going to provide me the best education for that major, and that was Indiana University, bloomington. So January 2021, I transferred down to Indiana University Bloomington and that's kind of what got me kickstarted on now my professional career, which is a personal trainer. I initially started as a strength and conditioning coach, got down there December 2021, sorry, january 2021. And I got met with a person named Lainey Depp. She was actually one of my teachers with my only in-person class during the COVID, and during this class we had a Friday free day.
Speaker 2:I brought in a written workout that was something similar to what we've done at Ball State, but then something similar to what I also do on my own time. She looked at it. She goes wow, this is a great workout. She goes are you interested in strength conditioning? I'm like you. You know I just switched to exercise science. I'm really just dabbling in the field. And she goes would you like to be an intern for indian university olympic sports? And I'm like you know why not? Why not see what it's about? And so that summer, um, I got integrated into indian university athletics as an intern for their olympic sports athletes and for all who don't know, the olympic sport athletes were all the athletes that were not men's football and men's basketball, so that's that's anything from rowing to women's basketball that I worked with that summer, and it was phenomenal experience. I'm really focused on working with teams like men's baseball, track and field, and then really honed in on men's soccer, which was, honestly, at the time, one of Indiana's best teams umigning national champions, always ranked top five and so that was a team that I was extremely blessed to work with, because the athletes are pretty incredible.
Speaker 2:From then on, I continued my education and in the following summer in 2022, I actually integrated with the Indiana University football team. Now, looking back on it, I always said I was never going to be a football strength coach. I ran at 4 am, 3. 350 am. I looked over. I said, yeah, that's not for me. I'm gonna go with Olympic sports. You know, showing up at 7 am and calling it a done deal, but something was calling me towards that, and I think it was not only my passion for football but my willingness and wanting to get better in the profession and I feel like that was just an area of growth for me and since it was something I was shying away from, like, you know, let's just flip the script and go attack and see how it goes.
Speaker 2:So that summer got integrated with them. You know, head strength coach there was Aaron Wellman, who's now a player development coach with the New York Giants. He integrated me and he kind of sat me down and went over what it meant to be a strength coach at the football level. You know, coaching Olympic athletes is one thing, but coaching division one power five football players is a completely other thing, you know, and I'm close to their age, and so it came with a different type of responsibility and mindset. So these, these athletes understood kind of what I had going on and kind of what I knew about the profession itself, so got integrated with them in 2022 and actually stayed with the football team the entirety of the remainder of my college academic career. So that was an entire year and almost eight months I was with the team.
Speaker 2:December 2023 was my last month with them and it was an amazing experience. Loved IU, loved the school, loved the kids, loved the coaching staff, and working for someone as renowned as renowned as coach Wellman I mean, the things this man was able to teach me at the facility in terms of strength conditioning, in terms of life, is something that I'll never get back. And then, from my graduation in 2023 December at IU, hopped in the car and actually drove out to Salt Lake City, utah, and that's where I became a paid intern for the University of Utah football team and was with them for three months, all the way up until March. I also dabbled with their men's tennis team as well and served as an assistant strength coach with them, which was an awesome experience. But in March, I actually got a call from my old coach, aaron Wellman, who is now head of player development with the New York Giants, and he said hey, jack, I know you're out there with Utah. We're not trying to steal you away from them, but we're trying to get somebody an intern paid here, that's integrated, that knows the way I go about my business, and someone where you don't have to catch up to speed and he goes. I know your name was at the top of my list and so I just want to give you a call and if you're interested in, let's take some next steps. And so I was like coach, this is just a phenomenal opportunity and it's definitely something I want to do. So after we got the ball rolling on that and I was able to sit down with my Utah coaches about this opportunity, end of March around my birthday, actually March 27th this was when I hopped in the car, came back to Indiana, repacked some things up, got re-situated and the week later I was off to East Rutherford, new Jersey, where I moved into a studio apartment there and just got after it with the New York Giants. Luckily, their facility is in New Jersey and not in the city, so I didn't have to worry about dealing with Manhattan and all that stuff. So it was an easy commute to work only about nine to 10 minutes. But work with the Giants is again another experience that I'm extremely thankful for. Unfortunately, my time with the Giants is again another experience that I'm extremely thankful for.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, my time with the Giants got cut short three months into. It had a slight back injury. That kind of set me back a little bit, and the way I go about this profession and doing my job, I always want to do it at the highest capacity. So I got this back injury and I noticed myself slowing down. I noticed myself not able to give my all to these players. I knew it was time to really think about getting back into recovery mode and getting my mindset back so I can hop back into coaching at the highest level.
Speaker 2:I sat down with coach and beginning of summer around May time is when I came back to Indiana.
Speaker 2:Luckily my parents were very accepting of that and they knew I like to take care of my body and they know the type of level I want to coach at and so after I was done with the Giants, came back in the summer, healed up, and that's when I got integrated into personal training and that's kind of what I do now.
Speaker 2:So started off over at Crunch Fitness, which was a phenomenal time. Had up to 15 clients there and they were all phenomenal. Different goals, different age ranges. I've been working with the 1% athletic type for a couple of years now, and so being able to work with somebody as young as 25, but then as old as 57 was an awesome experience and just seeing how it was different from training NFL guys to these people, but then how much more fulfilling. It was to kind of be, you know, boots on the ground here and to really help these people reach their goals. You know, getting athletes to reach their goals is something that I will always cherish and will love, but taking somebody who never thought physically they could take themselves somewhere and bring them to that point, that's just an otherworldly experience for me.
Speaker 1:Now I love that man. We had talked about a little bit how the mental side of things and the physical side of things are so intertwined together. Were there any times that you can identify that you went through your own struggles on the mental side from an athletic standpoint or even in into your professional career?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean I think I can point out many moments and back in my own time as an athlete as well as my career, but I'll say stuff from both. As an athlete, I would say the hardest times for me mentally were game days and it almost felt like it was just a buildup effect. You know the game days were on Friday in high school. It was just a buildup effect. You know the game days were on Friday in high school.
Speaker 2:And so you build Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, even that previous weekend, sunday, saturday, after the previous Friday game, I was still building and so I was just big on focusing on game day. But it actually took over the days leading up to it and so that was my biggest struggle was finding the ability to detach myself from game day and just be in the moment, be at practice number one on Monday, practice number two on Tuesday, three on Wednesday and so forth, so that when it came game day, it wasn't that I was thinking about game day for five days straight. It was that Friday hit, that morning hit, I snapped into it and I kind of got into it. But that was my biggest thing is I was really big on this leading up until game day the prior days is having my mind focused on that 7.00 PM start time instead of focusing on that day and when I kind of the task I had to get done.
Speaker 1:Sure, and then the you know, as you kind of, as you kind of shifted gears into the professional world. I mean, here you are, you know you're. How old were you when you started working with IU football players?
Speaker 2:So at that time I was 22, 22 years old.
Speaker 1:So I mean, you got, you got some probably some 22 year olds in that room with you. What was that like Kind of that experience of you know you're? You're trying to portray yourself as this professional that's there to help them. It's there to guide them. Is there to you know kind of be to help them. It's there to guide them. Is there to you know, kind of be instructing them, telling them what to do, leading them. And it's there's also some of the maybe intimidation factor of do I have what it takes? Am I experienced enough? How'd you, how'd you overcome that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, that's a great.
Speaker 2:It's a great point Cause that's something I really felt strongly Guys being my age, gaining respect for them, and the way that I fought through it was two key things.
Speaker 2:When I first had gotten there, aaron Willman said in order for these guys to respect you, no matter the age, you need to capture their mind, you need to capture their heart.
Speaker 2:If you can do those two things, these men will respect you at any age.
Speaker 2:And what that means is capturing their heart is knowing that you got their back and you're there for them at every stage. A lot of coaches are big yelling, big pointing, big, do this, do that, but these players don't understand if you're actually there for them. So capturing their heart in that way is one way to go about it, and the other way was capturing their mind, and that was just knowing what you're talking about, stud, studying the lift, studying the movements that we got going on that day, studying the reps, the sets, the weights, even studying the guys, knowing their names, knowing their stories, knowing where they're from, where they come from, and it just brings those two things together. So, at the end of the day, all the that worry and that stress that I had leading into it was slowly brought down by me really getting attached to their hearts and coming across as a guy who was knowledgeable in the field and knew what he had going on, and coming across as a guy who was knowledgeable in the field and knew what he had going on.
Speaker 1:I love that line. You've got to capture their hearts. Tell me, tell me a little bit more, you know, cause I've got I've got coaches that are listening to this that maybe here's something like that and it's like, well, okay, well, that that sounds good. How do we do that? If I'm a, if I'm a high school coach, how do I capture the heart of one of my high school athletes? How do I let them know I've got your back? How do I let them know, Like, what are some maybe tangible action steps, either that you took, or that you saw Aaron taking, or you know things that you experienced?
Speaker 2:First thing off the list is being extremely upfront and detailed. Individual Kids, especially the younger they get, I feel like they really reflect who they're working with. And so if you yourself are not on top of your programming, if you yourself are on top of your coaching, your cues and bringing to the table your best effort, I think these kids kind of feed off of that, and they still do at the college level. And so in order to capture their hearts, first off they have to know that you're fully in it as well, meaning your heart's fully in it. And so if you take care of this strike program and you take care of these kids as if they're one of your own and not just think of them as an afterthought, that's where you really start to capture the heart and that's in the detail.
Speaker 2:Another way that we really went about capturing the heart is let these kids understand why they're doing something. You know, a big thing within households and a parent and children is kids don't want to do something. They don't understand why they're doing it. So that's where you get that pushback, that's where we get that head buddy. But if you can break it down, the logically form on why we're doing a movement, why it's important to lift, why it's important to train in the weight room and get your body big, strong, powerful and fast. They're just going to dive more into that because they understand. Okay, this is how it's going to translate. So let me not put up my blockers in terms of apprehension of actually getting in the weight room, but let me be open to it and it's attack it head on and see where it brings me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know here here you are now working with these athletes what were some of the different problems or issues or, you know, obstacles, that in this physical realm, in this you know, your training is bigger, faster, stronger, but there's still some, I'm sure some times, where you saw mental obstacles getting in the way. What were some of those and how'd you guys overcome them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, the biggest mental obstacle within the weight room for a lot of these athletes was overcoming that rep they didn't want to do.
Speaker 2:Uh, when it comes to putting on muscle, you need to reach a certain stimulus, um, and there's a certain threshold point where the next reps falling at this point are going to actually lead to muscle growth, and those are the hardest reps of the set, and so that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2:When you're dealing with the 1%, like at Indiana, like with the Giants, we need those reps, and so being able to push an athlete through, that was the biggest thing, and that just all comes from you being a coach and being present in the moment. Kids who don't have a present coach, who are there to help them push through I feel like that's where they're going to stop. So, being in the moment and being with your two feet on the ground in front of said athlete as they're pushing themselves towards this rep, and you as a coach need to have in your mind too okay, this is going to be a growth set right here, and this could be across the board. This is not only in the weight room, but this is on the field as well, with repetitions in terms of play on the field. So once you know that that rep that sets coming up really start prepping their mind to be able to overcome it. And so when you get to that point as a coach where you can, okay, I'm feeling this coming up.
Speaker 1:I've prepped them. Now, let's know, at Westfield, before Jake Gilbert got there, there were, there were a lot of assistant coaches who were just never in the weight room. You know, obviously, at the high school level, you know some schools not all, but some schools have a strength conditioning coach. Very few schools have an entire strength and conditioning staff, so a lot of that responsibility falls on. Well, the coaches need to be involved in that, and so I know, when Jake showed up, there was a big push from him that we're not in there to talk, we're not in there to hang out with each other, we're not even in there necessarily to be getting a workout in ourselves. We're in there to coach our athletes and to be paying attention and to, as you said, be present. What were some of the ways that maybe Aaron pushed you guys, or some of the expectations or the standard that he held you guys to of hey, this is how, as coaches in the weight room, we're going to be acting, talking, all of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean coach Rome was a hardcore guy. I truly don't think I would have been the coach or the trainer that I am now without working underneath a guy like that, especially at a young age. If I would have found him later in life, it may have not had the same effect, but young college me, this was the greatest thing that could have ever happened. One thing he told us off rip was we're going to be the best coaching group in the facility and that's across the board Olympic sports head coaches, whatever it might be. He wants us to have a sort of presence to us. We're in early, we're out late, we know our stuff top to bottom, no matter what it is, and so starting things off like that just the standard off for it it builds the foundation of what we're kind of about as coaches. So if we come in with the mindset, hey, we're going to be the best staff today, then we're already starting off up top. A second thing that I was extremely appreciative that we did is we were big on meetings. We met pre-lift, post-lift, two hours before the lift, you name it If there was a question that came up or meaning about it, and so that's just makes it so that there's no discrepancies between coaches.
Speaker 2:I love when there's a group of coaches in a in a room, but if everybody's coaching differently then it adds. It adds to the dysfunction. So his big thing was let's sit down. Let's. All you know, we had five main coaches, two, maybe two, three interns at a time. So at one point we we had five main coaches, two, maybe two, three interns at a time. So at one point we got eight bodies in the room. And if there's eight bodies in the room, all eight of us are differently coaching the same workout. That's just going to lead to disaster. So having almost a one brain type of mindset really led to us being extremely successful in the weight room.
Speaker 1:I love that. We've found that so often working with teams on the mental side of the game, right. Like you know, we've found that so often working with teams on the mental side of the game, right. You have this quarterback coach who read this book, and you have the head coach that has maybe been to some training and heard some speakers talk, and then you bring in an expert to talk to the team, and then the DB's coach is talking about what he used to do when he was in high school, and it's almost like just a random buffet of all these ideas instead of hey, here's the program and here's the verbiage, cause I mean, even you know something as simple as a past concept where you're running a hitch in a corner.
Speaker 1:If you've got somebody calling that a smash concept and somebody calling that you know a city or a state or whatever they used to call it. Like it's just, it takes away from the effectiveness of what you're trying to do in there, along with, along with speaking the same language. We always, we always thought it was important Like we need to have the same verbiage and the same cues so that I can just I can say a word, or I can even, you know, in the course of a game, just look out at my quarterback and tap my helmet and remind him oh yeah, that means I need to pay attention to this and do this and execute that. What were, what were some of the maybe weight room specific cues that you guys used as a staff? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I think there was so many different cues for obviously many different movements and the cues are really going to be personal to each staff and so each staff understanding kind of the way their head coach or head strength coach wants to go about it. But things for presses and pulls, as well as any lower body movements. Cues for us was bracing, engaging the abdominal muscles, obviously to get everything intact, everything secure and everything tight, because the moment you lose that, especially when we're lifting the weights that we are, things can get a little scary in terms of bodily injuries. But obviously staying tight and bracing. But another cue that we used a lot within the weight room was knee over toe and that's something we utilize for a lot of our sprinting, high-speed sprinting. So for a lot of our bending movements or movements where we're down in a stance where we want to have a positive shin angle, forcing that knee over the toe is going to help us generate the most force production off the ground and so simple cues like that. But it's really going to come down to coaches understanding the point of cues and the main point of cues is not only to keep things the same across the board, but it's also used to speed up the process in the weight room.
Speaker 2:You know we don't have unlimited time when we're with our guys and so if all the coaches have a cue, that's going to instantly lock somebody back into a movement and get them moving in a way that you want. That's what we really want. You know, cues are great for having things universally known across a staff, but when I can give you a cue from across the room hey, do this, and all of a sudden that kid's going to lock in for you in that second, then that just adds more time into my bank that I can give to the kid I'm currently working with or go do something else. But if I have to take the time to then go over to that kid explain what I'm trying to get across, because I've used one cue, the coach over there used another cue, then this coach used another cue that's just taking away time for me as a coach that I could be spending with somebody else that could really need it in that moment. That's where I really see the benefit of cues and things like that.
Speaker 1:Love that I know beforehand. Efficiency was a big thing that you and I were talking about, because I know when we're training the mental side of the game, there's literally some teams where you got 10 or 15 minutes every Monday to do whatever you need to do when it comes to that week's mental performance training. I know that you guys feel that pressure. Also, urban Meyer talked a lot about making sure that you install things the right way, making sure that you tell guys things, you show guys things, you walk through things at the beginning. Then you do it in a small group setting or a one-on-one or seven-on-seven, and then you move into a team where you're getting live reps. What's that look like for you guys as far as an organizational piece and efficiency piece and just making sure everybody's on the same page? Yeah for sure, um, and an efficiency piece and just making sure everybody's on the same page.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. Of course I talked about today the meetings if you are as a staff are on the same page. The workouts. It's not going to be a wash, but it's going to be pretty hectic, um, but another thing going into it is find moments within the workout that you can see could be problematic, and what I mean by that is after you've scripted it, after you've sat down with your coaches. You all talk about, okay, if we're there making the transition from this movement to that movement, what could be the issues there? Could it be they don't understand the movement correctly? Could it be that there could be some crowding issues between the weight room? This group of guys move into this space. This group of guys move into this space. All of a sudden they're going to collide heads. They're going to have to sift through that. That's also wasting time, and so the ways to go about that is really coming into the lift, knowing the possible issues and then having plans for said issues.
Speaker 2:And so one of the things to go about is, if you think a movement's going to be difficult to perform for said athletes or it's going to be difficult to explain, have somebody ready to demonstrate, have a coach that's your prime demonstrator Usually that was me or your youngest guy, someone who's semi-athletic you can say hey guys, let's bring it up here real quick. Eyes on coach So-and-so. He's going to show us through movements that we have today. So when you get to said station, we don't have to waste 15 minutes explaining it. We can just do it now. And if you have any questions, let's go over them right now. So when we get there, we're ready to go. Yeah, I love that, and so this is where you can go. This is that time that's used when you're going over the entire lift. Prior to the lift hey guys, these are these three movements. They're going to be difficult, they're going to be different. Let's go over them really quickly with the demonstrations that when we get there, there's no confusion, type of thing.
Speaker 1:How do you, how do you, or or maybe how did you see, you know, coach Wellman, during those, during those meetings, make sure that everyone is dialed in and everyone's ready to go. I've, I've just I've been a part of you know, there's some times where coach, the head coach or the strength coach is going to say, hey, we're doing this, make sure you're checking for this coach, or the strength coach is going to say, hey, we're doing this, make sure you're checking for this. Guys are kind of engaged, guys are short of paying attention. Some guys maybe get on their cell phone. If I'm a high school football coach, how do I get, how do I stress the importance of those meetings, those pre the pre-lift demonstrations, just making sure that that we are all on the same page.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. One I would promote the environment you want it to be. So phones are an issue of, electronics are an issue. They just stay out of there. You know, obviously we had a lot of these meetings when we weren't even allowed to have phones out for a lot of these players. And so, starting off there by telling them hey, this is what it's going to be. We need people's eyes because this is a visual thing. You can't understand a movement if you're not looking at it, and so if their eyes are going to be down, their eyes are going to be wandering. They're definitely not going to get the most out of it.
Speaker 2:Two, what I would do is I would you don't have to script like right out exactly what you want to talk about, but really be dialed in on three main things that you want to bring up in this pre-meeting. Okay, this is the movement number one that I wanted to talk about. This is technique number one or two I wanted to talk about. And number three, this is the reps and sets for said movement that I wanted to talk about. So you as a staff, having scripted a little bit not fully written, but just in your mind where you want to go with this meeting and not just kind of have a random oh we're showing up. All right, guys, this is a lift. Let's have a good lift today. Let's make sure we're locked in. No, guys, this is a lift. This is why we're doing said lift today. This is why we're doing said movement, giving them a why is also going to give them best coaching staff here.
Speaker 1:It sounds like you know that wasn't just some cute thing you put on a poster and hang up in an office. It sounds like that was the plan and he was going to do that. Execute that, whether it's, whether it's a meeting, whether it's a workout, whether it doesn't matter what it is. Are you preparing at an elite level? Are you more organized than everyone else? Do you have everything ready to go Is a theme that I hear you kind of bringing back up. How has that now carried over for you, as you've kind of begun your own journey now and you've started your own company and doing your own personal training? How have you carried over some of these lessons that you've learned?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the biggest lesson is the attention to detail, and I know I keep bringing that up, but if you can be attentive to that, that's going to check so many boxes. And so, when it comes to my programming, my nutrition programming, when it comes to my contact with my clients, when it comes to client acquisition, how I go about talking to potential clients, all that is extremely detailed. I want to go about it in this way and I try to do it this way every single time, and by having in your mind the way you want to go about your business and being able to replicate that consistently, that's going to produce the best results, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love that. So here you are. Now you're. You're not working with division one athletes anymore, I mean you're. You're. You're working with people that are busy, people that have. You know they're, they've got their own, they've got other things going on in their life. How do you help them? How do you help them take them from where they're at? How do you help them? How do you help them take them from where they're at, figure out where they're trying to get to and then come up with a plan to get them?
Speaker 2:there First and foremost. First and foremost, find out what they want. You know, I think personal trainers and coaches go wrong when they're not understanding the person they're training. And so let's talk about their goals. Let's talk if losing a lot of body fat is their goal. Let's talk about if adding a lot of muscle is their goal. Let's talk about if they've gotten some blood work back that they want to switch up, you know. And so, understanding their target and understanding their why and why they actually want to get in the personal training, that's step one. And so, after you do that, that's when things really open up to the possibilities of what we can do with said person. If that's a three-day week program, is that a two-day week program? It's all just about finding out the why and then formulating a plan around that why so we can achieve it as fast as possible.
Speaker 1:Love that. What do you do? If they haven't figured out that, why yet?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. I would say that's. I don't like to put whys onto people. I think, especially in today's day and age, that's a big thing. If someone wants something to work with them or they want to bring them on board, I'll give you a why. Oh, this is why you should do it. This is why you should do it. But if they're sitting down with me in almost a first consult type of setting, there's a why in there somehow. I rarely talk to people about personal training. Who's actually wanted to take some of my time and sit down and discuss that? There wasn't a why in there somehow. And with a lot of questions that I go about asking in these sessions, the why usually comes out, whether it's something subtle, something subtle. They say that I'm like oh what, let's talk about that a little more type of thing. So usually there's always a why, but at the end of the day, there's really not a why.
Speaker 2:My biggest thing is health is wealth. Health is wealth, and you only get one body. You get a limited shirts, shoes, socks you name it cars, but in terms of body, you only get one of them. You won't get a second one, and so if you really aren't working to take care of it in the moment. Farther down the line, you could be in a spot where you don't like it. So that's what I always say is you only get one of these? So starting early and doing your best to take care of it, I think it's the best bet.
Speaker 1:I love that. So knowing you know, as, as we kind of wrap up here, one of the things I always like to ask guests is knowing what you know. Now, if you could go back and tell a younger version of yourself just one thing, what would that? What?
Speaker 2:would that piece of advice be that you would tell a younger Jackson Follow your line. And what I mean by that is, my motto in 2025 is to follow my line, and what my line is is where my heart's pointing me to, and all the steps that are involved within my line are things that I want to keep doing, and so that's what I tell myself is don't sway from the path that you're on, even if there's some outside influences. Obviously, everyone's controlled by their environment. Environmental things can sway people, but stay on your line, stay your path and understand that just because you feel that someone's trying to get you off that or open up a new pathway to you doesn't mean you have to follow it. So that's what I'd probably tell my younger self is to stick with it and follow your line and see where it takes you.
Speaker 1:I love that man. Well, thank you so much for coming in and joining us today and sharing just a little bit about your experience and your story. Really appreciate it If folks want to get in touch with you, want to get ahold of you what's the best way to do that?
Speaker 2:Mostly through my email, and so what that's going to be is Jackson, which is J-A-C-K-S-O-N at Jelitefitnesscom.
Speaker 1:The letter.
Speaker 2:J the letter J.
Speaker 1:All right, well, thank you so much for your time. It's been really great chatting with you. I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thank you very much for having me on.
Speaker 1:If you have questions, would like to follow up. Head over to mentaltrainingplancom. Use the contact us button down at the bottom as always. If you've got questions about the MTP Academy or you want to look at how can my team get more intentional about the programming side of mental performance training, please don't hesitate to reach out and until next time, make your plan and put it to work.