Interview with Mark Young
Questions by Stacey Nolan Young
I thought it was about time that we got up close and personal with the owner and creator of Nutrex Solutions- Private Personal Training to answer some questions. Mark opens up about his motivations and reveals some very personal thoughts and experiences in the process.
What is your educational background?
I graduated in 2000 from McMaster University with a degree in Kinesiology. I loved McMaster so much that when it came time for grad school it was a no-brainer. I went on to a Masters program in Biomechanics, which I ultimately decided (after a year and a half) wasn’t for me. I transferred into Exercise Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Stuart Phillips and went to work doing research in one of the leading exercise metabolism research labs in North America.
What made you decide to get into this field?
Another year and a half after I made the transfer to exercise physiology my father got very sick. He’d had severe pain in his lower back for well over a year and it was diagnosed as chronic pain which everyone knew was a load of BS. Still, they couldn’t find a suitable diagnosis and things continued this way until he ended up in the hospital due to his insurmountable pain.
During his time there he went into cardiac arrest and we later discovered that there had been a blockage in an artery that supplied part of his intestine and that had been the source of the pain all along. Inevitably, the result was that his body became quite toxic, and after a long and painful week, we had to let him go. That experience tore me up and I was completely devastated.
The whole time I was going to school from 9AM to 3PM and running my own part-time personal training business on the other end of the city from 5 to 9PM. I didn’t own a car either so I was spending at least a couple of hours per day on the bus. Something had to give.
Finally I sat down and asked myself what I REALLY wanted to do with my life. I completely shut out thoughts about what everyone else expected from me and I decided that all I really wanted to do was to help people change their lives. I’d only worked with a few people to that point, but I knew the power of the passion I had and that if I worked hard enough I could change the lives of hundreds or maybe thousands of people.
I had to tell everyone I knew that I was leaving grad school (after investing $30,000 and three years of my life) to pursue my dream. I expected this part to really suck, but strangely everyone seemed to be on my side. I can’t say thank you enough to all of the people involved for your understanding and support.
How have your philosophies changed over the years?
In too many ways to count. I’ve literally read for thousands of hours about nutrition and training and everything in between and I’ve tried so many methods only to find out that most people tend to over-science everything.
I used to worry about this vitamin or that mineral or what supplement could accelerate this or slow that. Now I tend to focus on big picture stuff like whether people are exercising or not. Are they eating frequently? Are they putting healthy food options on their plates?
Ultimately, I’ve gone from the basics, to the really advanced stuff, and come full circle back to the basics. Sure, I still read the techy fitness information but the basics will always prevail.
What is your favourite recipe?
I don’t particularly enjoy cooking and I don’t love doing dishes so if I’m going to make something it’s going to be quick and easy. My favourite dish we’ve made recently is our coconut curry stir fry (which will be included in our soon-to-be-released recipe book). I could probably eat that for a month without getting tired of it.
Who in the fitness and health industry do you most respect and admire?
Wow…that’s a tough one. I don’t think I could narrow it down to one person. John Berardi, Paul Chek, Mike Robertson, and Eric Cressey have had the biggest influence on how I go about training people and managing nutrition programs. Aside from Paul Chek, I’ve chatted by email or talked on the phone with the rest of these guys and they’ve all been incredible.
To a lesser extent I’ve been influenced by Mike Boyle, Dave Tate, Charles Poliquin, and Ian King. I’d also like to learn more from Alwyn Crossgrove who is taking the industry by storm.
On the business side, I like Ryan Lee and Jim Labadie. They’ve totally changed the way I think about doing business in the fitness world.
What are your thoughts on regulating the personal training industry?
It depends on who does the regulating. If it is done by the same people handing out weekend crash course personal training certificates then it will be a total disaster. If the standards were too high (like having a university education) we’d lose a lot of good trainers who are completely self taught.
To be honest though, I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon because it would require a large body of trainers to agree on some fixed training and nutrition standards and that could take a century.
If it does happen, I don’t foresee that it will be much more than a government cash grab. I think enforcement would be poor at best so most trainers would just keep doing what they’re already doing.
What do you really think about all of the fad diets out there?
Apparently there are more diet books than there are religious texts in the world. That should tell us something. As I mentioned earlier, the basics are always the most obvious route to where you want to go. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.
What sets your services apart from all of the other ones out there?
Truthfully I don’t think there is anything in our program that hundreds (maybe thousands) of other people don’t already know. What is different is that I feel we’ve made it into a realistic plan that actually works in the real world and we actually care about our clients.
There is no magic, no gimmicks, no supplements, no marketing hype. We’ve just taken what is tried and true and found a way to make it fit into most people’s busy lives.
What, in your opinion, is the key to getting fantastic results?
Above everything else, consistency is the single most important factor in creating an incredible physique. Many people follow excellent programs in short bursts which essentially gets them nowhere. Following a solid exercise and nutrition program with steady devotion is paramount.
The program does not need to be severe. It just has to be one that you can follow for the rest of your life.
What worries you most about the climbing obesity rates in North America?
It scares me to death because I know that during some point in my life I’m going to lose a lot of friends and family to the diseases associated with obesity.
I’m also afraid because the children of this generation don’t know any differently. I can remember the days when my family would sit down to dinner and we’d eat a real home cooked meal that didn’t come from a box in the freezer or a Styrofoam fast food container. I remember my mother making me carry my lunch to school instead of a fistful of cash to spend at the local pizza joint.
I remember my parents sending me outside to play in every season of the year instead of sitting on the couch watching the electronic babysitter (TV) or playing Xbox. I remember throwing a baseball with my dad and tobogganing with my mom and my sister.
It frightens me because a lot of kids these days don’t have these memories. They never play physically the way I remember playing. They’re being slowly poisoned with artificial foods for the sake of convenience. Their parents are so stressed from trying to pay the bills that they hardly have time to raise their kids by the same principles they were taught. What would our great grandparents think of the way we feed our kids?
These children don’t remember a time when there wasn’t a fast food restaurant on every corner and their friends didn’t have Type 2 Diabetes. This is our future. This is all they know. That terrifies me.
What do you think that people can do to prevent it?
Parents need to start with their children. They need to find the time to create healthy meals made from real food and stop feeding their children convenience foods, candied snacks, and sugar laden beverages. They need to send their kids out to play. They need to play WITH their children. Most importantly, they need to lead by example because kids model their parents’ behaviours. Quite simply, if we want to have a healthy future on this planet it has to start at the kitchen table.
Of course, I have plenty of idealistic views about the governments in North America stepping in to regulate our food industry and grocery stores, but this is probably never going to happen in a way that truly makes any difference.
What is the most important thing that you have learned over the years?
The single most important thing I’ve learned is that you must love those close to you with everything you’ve got. You never know when they’ll be gone.
Add comment January 7th, 2009