We were lucky to catch up with Ian Wells recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian , thanks for joining us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

I blew my knee out when I was with the Lions, and my knee was and still a mess. There really isn’t a day where my knee doesn’t bother me. But after rehabbing and attempting to make a comeback, just could never get back to what I was and had to make a business decision. I always wanted to be done playing ball on my own terms, not be done because the game was done with me. So that was tough on me for awhile honestly. Couldn’t even watch football for a couple years. Then I sat and decided what my next move was and decided to get into personal training. I liked being in the gym and I knew my stuff so it was a no brained for me. It doesn’t feel like work to me and I’m always learning so I can be the what at what I do, and I let my work do the talking.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a former NFL cornerback turned movement specialist. I train normal everyday clients, from former athletes to people that never worked out a day in their life. With these clients, not only are we hitting fitness goals we also maintain proper movement patterns that relate to your everyday activities outside the gym. My main specialty is working with athletes, correcting and optimizing movement patterns they would use in their sport in a controlled setting so they can go perform at a high level on the field/court. And being someone that had their playing days cut short because of an injury, I’d hate to see opportunities to play be taken away because of movements patterns we can correct to prevent that.

One of the things I take pride in is leaving people better than I found them. So my goal with each and every client is to have them walking out the door better than when they walked in.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Being able to practice what I preach. I’ll never ask my clients and athletes to do something that I can’t do or explain the reason behind why we’re doing it. Being able to do everything I’m asking them to do also helps me be a better coach because I know what certain movements should feel like and if it is done incorrectly, easily give the right cues to get them in the right position.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Basically when I got into this field. I was with the Lions when I blew my knee out and never really got right again. But along my rehab journey of trying to come back, I paid really good attention and detail to how the body suppose to move, how everything kind of works together. So then getting into personal training at first was a smooth transition for me being a athlete for so long.

Contact Info:

• Website: the ianwells.com
• Instagram: eedub_
• Twitter: eedub_

Image Credits
Charles Preston Lynne Jones Jacob McCready

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