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

Luqman, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

Yes, every first Sunday of the month I do a movement clinic at 4dwn organization. 4dwn is a nonprofit that helps distribute food to underprivileged families throughout Dallas, grows organic produce, all while providing a safe place for skateboarders in the city

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I first got into the industry it was at a point right when my grandmother began not moving as well anymore, but seeing her play with her grand kids and how much joy that brought her let me know movement and play was truly magical. At an early age my mom always took me with her to yoga classes, then during the summers when I’d visit my dad in Abilene he would do janitorial work on the air force base which had a nice gym and basketball court the ticker was it started at 10pm. So after deciding training was what I’d want to do and knowing how I wanted to incorporate play led me to a creative way of training. Even though movement and play were at the forefront I also knew education was going to be my driver within this new industry so I sought after well known professionals within the industry. This led me to a chiropractor out of New York that taught me postural restoration, then learning about the teachings of different strength and conditioning coaches like Charles Poliquin, to mobility experts dr. Andreo Spina. Going to school to add another layer of manual therapy and provide a powerful way of dealing with soft tissue issues, and be able to deal with any issues that may arise within the body.
Most of the time I’m solving lack of mobility issues. A lack in mobility makes it hard to enjoy little things, do certain things, or even continue to see progress inside the gym. We solve the lack in mobility and layer strength, the client gains confidence and usually tends to reflect back to being able to do x easier, or not having pain while doing something, or just being able to get up and down with the kids for extended amounts of time.
Main thing I want people to always see is the evolution of exercise and the way we think of it. In history we have thought of exercise as primarily linear when we truly need to be thinking rotational strength first. Understanding that a proper warmup speaks to the deeper parts of the body first, then expands outward into the tissue. (Feel it) Understand your routine should bring you closer to your goals not further, also slow down and listen to your body more frequently. Usually our food has a way of speaking to us and letting us know if it agrees with us or not while we are eating, but we need to be aware to even be able to receive that signal.

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

If anyone was in business during 2020 understands the words “pivot.” There was a lot of ways we all had to change trajectories to be able to stay relevant in different ways. I believe at the time it was prevelant a lot of professionals turned to online. Even though online was a place to continue connecting I wanted to use the time wisely and go back to school to add manual therapy. As things slowly opened back up, I only took clients in the mornings, and went to class in the evenings. Even though it was really rough for a year, I was very fortunate Audra was also just getting back into training. Even though I was receiving a good amount of inquiries I was not taking any of them with my current school schedule so I was able to get a lot of them to train with her, and they absolutely loved her!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I spent a year in massage school to get out and find out that all that rubbing does nothing but warms the tissues. Directional pressure works best. Bands are more effective for strength training than weights.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @uncle_luq