We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Quinton Yording a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Quinton, appreciate you joining us today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

Having visible abs are overrated. I see so many Personal Trainers and online trainers put such a huge focus on getting as lean as possible, Trying to create the perfect physique. While it’s obvious that obesity is an issue in our country- I think the focus needs to be shifted towards encouraging and empowering people to accomplish physical goals. Many people in our industry also lack true transparency. We try to hold up this personification of someone who makes healthy choices and lives a ‘clean living’ lifestyle with every decision we make. That isn’t the case for myself. I’ll take a beer and burger any day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been a coach for the last eight years. I originally moved to Dallas upon completing my Master’s Degree in Sports Management. I was fortunate enough to be hired by my current company, Equinox. I’ve served as one of the few Tier X Lifestyle Coaches there for five of those eight years. In addition to that, I also run an online company, New Pace Performance, where I coach mainly novice and intermediate runners and athletes who want to gain more strength and mobility for their specific sport needs.

My main goal when working with clients is to simplify the process. Usually somebody comes to me with what they seem as an unreachable goal (first half marathon, marathon, or even just the ability to touch their toes again). At the end of the day, most people know roughly what they need to be doing to accomplish this goal. My job is to simplify the process and help them create some lasting structure and habits to support their specific goal. I’ve been very fortunate to work with individuals and athletes of all skill levels ranging from Olympic Marathon qualifiers, to double hip replacement grandparents that want to play with their grandkids on the floor.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One theory that I had to unlearn was “to be a successful coach, you need to know everything about everything.” The human body, the practice of health coaching, it’s so diverse. You will literally drive yourself insane trying to be a master of all things health and wellness. I’ve learned this countless times through my career. It’s easy to spot when someone doesn’t truly know what they’re talking about.

I remember a client specifically asking me about the ratio of estrogen to testosterone in people his age. Being a younger (and a bit arrogant) I made a half empty attempt to explain the various factors of influence. He smirked and we went on both seeing it clear that I had no idea what I was talking about. My answer to remedy that situation today is having an extensive network of professionals that I can refer clients out. It saves all of us a lot of stress and headaches!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being transparent. I think a lot of clients are surprised when I don’t instantly try to correct a diet that’s gone astray, or use plenty of cussing when I’m cueing them into certain movements. At the end of the day, I find my profession to be pretty casual; or at least I’ve made it so. I would never want to work with people on a day to day basis and them seeing a ‘professional version.’ This isn’t to say that we don’t get things accomplished. The reason I’m there with my clients is to help them improve themselves. I believe this eases client’s pressure to be perfect and allows us to operate on a more realistic level.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.newpaceperformance.com
• Instagram: q_yording

Image Credits
Irving Marathon Spartan Obstacle Course Racing