We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joel Younkins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Joel, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.
I started my coaching business early on when I was only 24 years old. At that time, I was a former collegiate football player at a D1 University. I was highly competitive and I used training myself as way to not only build my physical self-up, but as a way to build confidence in myself.
I took training very seriously and I wanted to serve other people who felt the same way I did about training. I assumed that I would be training people who were all very similar to myself, as far as how they viewed physical training for themselves.
I was wrong…
However, I have trained numerous people who I could closely relate to, a lot of my clients (even high-level athletes and pro athletes) did not view training in the gym how I experience it. I needed to be able to better understand how their minds worked and how to speak their language to better relate to them.
In order to better communicate and connect with my various types of clientele and personalities, I started learning more about human psychology, social dynamics, and started asking them more questions about who they are as people.
By doing so, it allowed me to open up my mind to how others experience it and ultimately, I believe has led me to be a better coach instead of remaining as my young 24-year-old self who saw the world very singular at the time.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I own a private training facility in Northeast Ohio called Joel Younkins Training LLC. It started in my parents’ basement utilizing our home gym. At the time, I was finishing up my Exercise Science Degree at Youngstown State University while I was taking on new clients to help launch my coaching career. In 2013, I purchased the equipment that I needed and moved into a warehouse space to open as an official business.
Since then, I work with Motocross Racers, Athletes, Powerlifters, and High-Performance clientele. I coach them how to train, program for them, and fill the gaps in for their nutrition and lifestyle needs so that they can perform physically at their best for whatever their goals may be.
Along with in-person coaching, I added an Online Coaching Service where I work with clients all over the world. Some are pro motocross racers, some are former clients who had moved away, and some people who simply cannot make it into the facility to train in person with us.
I use traditional training methods that are methodical and precise to what my clients need. Additionally, to the training results, we have built a great culture of attracting really good people to the facility to make it an extremely supportive and positive environment to be in!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
While I was finishing up my college degree and after my college football career came to an end, I worked in the Olympic Strength and Conditioning staff as a student intern for a full year. I believe this was the first crucial part of my development as it allowed me to build and create my coaching skills I have today. I could’ve easily gone down a different path, but I was fortunate enough to be around some great coaches who got me started off on the right foot!
Secondly, learning how to communicate and connect with others is a huge skill that is extremely necessary when it comes to professionals who work with people. There’s a lot of ways to improve these skills by books and online resources and should be an ongoing development for someone.
Lastly, I believe to have success, you need some sort of purpose or mission in your life that is bigger than yourself. I’m not sure how many people get to experience that, but those who do look at their work in a different light. It’s not just a job to them, it’s part of who they are as a person. It doesn’t make your work easier as what I think a lot of people believe, but because of your passion in your work you will work harder and accomplish more than if you just did the bare minimum of what is being asked.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
I’ve read a lot of books on different topics that have helped shape me in my adult life. Like Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky for training. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida for personal development.
As far as general professional development goes, I recommend Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. It is a great book to help you realize how your daily actions and intentions help get you into that 10% of your industry and help you “become a pro” at what you do.
I recommend this book to my interns to read as well for their own professional development and growth. What I got from it was deciphering how a pro handles situations versus how an amateur would handle them. What separates the two are their mindset and focus on how they view and attack a situation.
Also, I highly recommend high performing working professionals read the book Peak Performance by Steve Magness & Brad Stulberg to help avoid burnout and allow for better working performance on a daily basis so that they can allow their physical and mental readiness to be at a high level to allow their skills to shine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jytraining.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joel_younkins_training/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoelYounkinsTraining
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelyounkins/
- Other: https://motocrosstraining.buzzsprout.com/
Image Credits
Zachary Bako
