We were lucky to catch up with Kenny Watt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kenny, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the best advice you’ve ever given to a client? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

One of the best advice I feel I have given to a client was ” Just Jump “. The referrence started in our training sessions, it was something I had to always reiterate when it came to plyometrics/ jump training. Whenever movements became more complexed or the height of the boxes looked intimidating my client would freeze, talk themselves out of it, hesitate to trust that they had the ability to complete the exercise. As a coach it’s our job to believe, encourage, and develop. For clients its much of the same believe, encourage, and develop within self. With repetition it stuck and my client continued to accel in all thing jumping and training. Not from the workouts prescribed but because of the confidence that was built in the training to trust and believe in themselves to ” Just jump “. That advice would all go full circle in their aspirations to train/coach others themselves. It was first just an idea that was held back with the same intimidation of the jumps. It all just needed to be believed and encouraged. Every time the idea was mentioned I would reply ” You got this, Just Jump” until it finally happened! Through educating, repetition and making the decision to ” Just jump” my client is now an up and coming trainer here in Atlanta.

Kenny, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Going into my 7th year in this profession, Ive worked in both the public sector (college/Highschool) and private sector (Private Gym/personal training). Started my internship at my 4 year University at Chowan University working with Football’s Strength & Conditioning. From moved back to SC to start my first job and interning at Velocity Sports Performance with my mentor. Spent 3 years their Training athletes on every level as well as coaching and training inside of 3 of the local high schools. I then moved here to Atlanta to work with Georgia Tech as a S&C intern and train part time at STACK ATL located in West mid-town. As The internship didn’t workout I trained full time at STACK and have continued over the last 3 years until my recent new position as the assistant Strength Coach/ Ass. DB Coach at Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross which shifts me back to part-time private training/online programs during the school year.

Being able to work out of my newly founded LLC, PEAK PERFORMANCE within STACK has allowed me to start Cultivating a community for my clients built on the belief of Maximizing your potential. Whether it’s to be the Leagues MVP, be the strongest Powerlifter in your weight class, Set a new PR, or the most discipline store manager in the area we are all called to be the best version of ourselves and It starts with believing, encouraging, and developing. My Services include Sports performance/speed development training , Combine training, Off-season, Olympic lifting, General fitness, small group/ personal training, and Online programming.

Over my 6 years of Coaching I believe what sets me apart is knowing I’m living out my purpose and truly enjoy the process. Everyone is different, has different needs and has different why’s to why they want what they what but we all share the common goal of maximizing our potential. Reaching our PEAK PERFORMANCE.

If you had this conversation with me 2 years ago I would’ve tried to convince you that my exercise selection and how I program is what sets me apart. While there may be truth to that and have had my share of experience if my clients aren’t motivated, believe they can accomplish their goals, or aren’t held accountable none of it matters. What I’ve learned as a coach is that we are the facilitators of growth and its much bigger than just handing out workouts. What you see, hear, and do on a daily all shape who you are and whether you move towards your goals or away from them. What’s your WHY?

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I believe the beginning of the pandemic was a moment of resilience, not only for me but the whole industry. Like most private/small training facilities around that time mine closed. Working from home or online training at the time had not been established for me and not knowing the full nature of Covid training in person had a lot of us hesitant. It quickly became a sink or swim moment for me knowing that just because the world stop doesn’t mean my bills would. It became the perfect time to start recording exercises for my online training, provide informative content for everyone working out at home, and moving my business outside to a local stadium that gave my clients plenty of space to still train. Looking back my focus never changed, it was about maximizing what I had keeping the community of clients I had around active and aligned with their goals. What it did teach me though is to bet on myself. that I could run my business anywhere, with little to no equipment if need be, if I just continued to show the same level of intentionality and authentic service that had already gotten me to that point.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One of the things I believe has really helped my reputation within the sports performance field was simply providing a good service. People come to you with problems and it’s your job to know how to solve them. For that reason you’re never done learning and will forever be an educator. Providing my clients with the why has always bridged the gap of trust and buy-in because at the end of the day results don’t lie. With the pressures of social media to build your reputation a coach/trainer has to ask themselves, are you doing this work to facilitate growth or do you just want famous? Put the goals of your people first and everything else will fall in place.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Coachwatt21