Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Johnson.
Hi Mike, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been involved with fitness in one way or another all my life. I played football and basketball and participated in track in high school. I enjoyed working out and being fit and when I joined the Navy right out of HS, I enjoyed the fitness part of boot camp the most.
While in the navy, I started running daily and doing a lot of 10k runs. This was in the early 70s’ before there was a Nike Swoosh. I ran in my Converse All-Stars. I read Muscle Magazine regularly and followed along on a lot of the workouts I found there. I was usually the most interested in fitness in the commands I was in and ran and worked out daily, so I was always assigned the duty as the command fitness coordinator.
During my 25 years in the navy, I ran all over the world and lifted weights in some interesting places. I installed fitness equipment on board any of the ships I was on; a frigate, an aircraft carrier, and even submarines, and organized fitness programs for the crews.
I was the Department Head for the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department at a major naval base, and I was in seventh heaven overseeing the gym, the pool, all the weapons ranges, the bowling alley, and all the intramural sports. At times I have been involved with assisting army units and special forces units designing and teaching combat fitness for them and doing some of the same for several law enforcement groups.
Upon retiring from the navy, I became a financial advisor. After a few years, a partner and I built our own office building. I included a workout space in the basement and would help clients develop a workout routine. I wanted to help them enjoy their retirement years with good health along with the financial security I was helping them with.
I had earned an MA in Counseling Psychology while in the navy. While at a Health Fair, I met the department head of a local private college that offered a course teaching the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) curriculum. He needed someone to teach psychology to the students and he asked me to come and teach that.
One evening the instructor for the fitness class was out sick and I was asked to sub in and just monitor the students. I asked what the topic was that night. It was “Cardio Adaption to Aerobic Exercise”. I asked for the textbook and spent 30 minutes reviewing the chapter and then taught the course. They asked me to become NASM certified and teach the fitness courses. I no longer teach there but offer the NASM course privately on occasion. By doing it privately I can do smaller groups and help with more hands-on technique and form and not just the textbook learning.
Functional fitness was beginning to become the way to work out as opposed to what I had grown up doing which was the body building style of working out. I had participated in one of the many online fitness programs that had become popular and took before and after pictures and won the $1,000 prize. In the process, I was doing more than just doing the workouts but learning more about the why and the physiology of being fit.
I have trained some private clients off and on along with various teams. I was the strength coach for a 9-year-old girls’ softball team, a high school wrestling team for the offseason, a men’s international hockey team, a boys’ HS wrestling team and an HS soccer team. I was a ski instructor for 12 years and I was the strength coach for the ski and snowboard Instructors Intermountain Division of the Professional Ski Instructors of America and had several instructors become private clients.
The wrestling team was particularly fun. They did not have access to the weight room as the football players had the priority in the weight room. And they were doing all body building style workouts which does not lead to ideal athleticism. I taught them caveman-style which they really liked. We used rocks, logs, sledgehammers, and tires, and pushed heavy objects. I have helped several high school teams and clubs raise money for their team by conducting speed and strength clinics for them. They will typically raise $500 – $1,000 for their team.
I tried a few other things like a website and a YouTube Channel. I finally gave up on the website as I did not know how to do one and then I got tired of doing all the videoing and posting to YouTube even though I had quite a few clients paying me and following the workouts. Some high school teachers talked me into a 2 x a week of a small group session for them and we have been doing that for almost four years now. I also have several other private clients. The pandemic came along and stopped all of that, but the teachers and I kept going on Zoom.
For the last three years, I have been working part-time as a fitness specialist at an independent adult 65 + living community. It was a newly constructed facility. I outfitted the gym, the exercise studio, and the pool and set up and designed the fitness classes. I need to keep up my Continuing Educational Units for my Certification so with my new position I certified as Functional Aging Trainer.
I teach several classes a day including strength and power classes where the ladies (It is mostly ladies who come to the classes.) used to lift the little pink dumbbells. I had to order heavier weights. They now lift 10-20 LB dumbbells and deadlift 40 LB kettlebells. I also teach water aerobics, Tai Chi, balance and posture class and educational classes on the why what, and how of fitness. We also do a lot of mobility and flexibility work. I will be 72 soon so I fit right in with the residents there.
I don’t push myself quite as much as I used to. No more long runs. I stick to 300 pounds or less on the deadlift and squats with the trap bar and stay away from back squats. I work on my upper back more than my bench press. For variety I use kettlebells, which I love, sandbags, rocks and logs, and sledgehammers, I have recently started playing with Indian Clubs and Steel Maces.
I love working out and even more, I really enjoy helping others learn how to strength train and learn to love the feeling that comes with it. I have found over the years that older people, women who have never trained before, and young men who are lightweight and want to put on some muscles are the ones I seem to enjoy working with the most.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth road? Ha, it wouldn’t be a fun life with a smooth road. Being married and having four children is not smooth for anyone.
We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this year and all the children are on their own. The struggles… being away from family on navy deployments and missing some of the children’s events. My wife once sent me a letter expressing the regret of my absences but then stating that as a result, she has had to grow in ways she never would have had I been there and was thankful for that.
Now, I struggle with an aging body that has aching joints and stiff muscles when I get out of bed and after sitting for longer than I should. I do what I tell those I work with. Get moving and get the muscles warmed up and the joints lubricated and don’t think about what you can’t do but do what you can do.
I recently took on a new challenge. I started officiating for high school basketball, girls’ fastpitch softball, and volleyball. The challenge along with learning all the mechanics and being in the right position for the plays is getting up and down the court fast enough.
The biggest struggle was trying to do something online. Giving up on that took the stress off that and now all of those I work with are by word of mouth. That keeps me plenty busy. I have my navy retirement, no debt, and no needs. I love what I do and don’t plan on ever really retiring. I would get bored.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Probably the thing that sets me apart is my age and my lack of need to work for the finances.
I love what I do and always strive to not just be a trainer but a role model and help them establish the love of being fit and the process it takes to get there and maintain that fitness. I do more than just what to do. I include the why and the how. My 40-plus years of doing training certainly set me apart along with my age. Older clients feel comfortable with me, and younger ones see what is possible for them. I have also been a life coach and end up doing a lot of that with those I train for fitness.
What I am known for is showing people they don’t have to go to a gym and they don’t have to lift really heavy weights and be sore and worn out from the effort of becoming fit. My clients all comment on my patience and motivating them to keep at it.
I am most proud of seeing those who had poor posture walking more upright and with more energy, people telling me they no longer have the pain in their joints they have had for a long time, and even on a few occasions telling me they feel I have saved their enjoyment of life as they are more mobile and feel younger.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I have learned we all have our individual limitations but with the desire and understanding of what to do and how to do it, we can all reach further horizons than what we thought was possible. I have also learned that in each of our lives there is a greater power that is in charge and sometimes when we think things are not going as we had thought they should or planned that with faith, we will come to understand the new opportunities. I have also learned that sadness, loneliness, and disappointment, will happen but those feelings are part of life and not the end and that providing service to others is the best way to overcome those feelings.
Regarding fitness, and comparing it to life, our body will adapt to the level of stress we are willing to put on it and it will get stronger. Struggles in life make us stronger if we have a perspective that, well, that is life, we are stronger for the struggle.
My formula for having a great day every day: Get up an hour before the world makes its demands and do something for self-improvement or for someone else. Now you have already had a great day. Now, just go and deal with the rest of the day the best you can and roll with the punches.
Pricing:
- I do individual training at $70 an hour.
- I do house calls for $90 an hour.
- I run clinics for high school athletic teams by conducting off-season clinics and do them as money raisers for the team.
- I work with 12-18-year-old athletes individually, small groups or as a team at various pricing levels depending on what we agree we are going to do.
- I do small groups…these are always females (the men “don’t need a trainer”) and we negotiate the price based on the numbers in the group and the time involved.
Contact Info:
- Email: cmikerun2@yahoo.com
