Interview with Strength Coach Mark Young

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Young.

Aside from being a strength coach, Mark is very much a scientist in the field of exercise and nutrition.  One of the main topics we cover in this interview is the importance of reading research and being skeptical about things you read.

Hope you enjoy it!

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

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1.  Mark, thanks for taking the time to do this interview.  Can you briefly tell everyone about your background and what it is you currently do up there, north of the border?
 
No worries Patrick.  I’m proud to be asked.
 
As for my background, I’ve really been blessed with a lot of great opportunities.  I graduated from the kinesiology program at McMaster University in 2000 and stuck around long enough to do some graduate research in exercise physiology under Dr. Stuart Phillips who is one hell of a smart guy.
 
I learned a TON about exercise and nutrition from him and guys like Dr. Martin Gibala, Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, and Dr. Kevin Tipton (who actually came down to present his research in our lab).  If you look up any of these guys on PubMed.com you’ll see just how fortunate I was.  As much as people tend to think of me as a training guy, our lab was divided pretty evenly between nutrition and training research so we really got the best of both worlds.
 
From a more practical standpoint, I’ve also been helping people to lose fat, gain muscle, and get wicked strong for the last 10 years.  I generally have a pretty wide array of clients ranging from desk jockeys to advanced trainees, but due my obsession with biomechanics, I deal quite often with trainees who’ve busted themselves up due to crappy programming as well. 
 
 2. I have been reading your blog for sometime now, and one thing I greatly appreciate is your interest in science and your healthy dose of skepticism regarding claims in the health and sports performance fields.  Why is being skeptical so important and, what advice can you give to young professionals in this industry regarding reading articles and research.
 
When I was back in grad school our class (which was only about 10 people) were assigned several journal articles to read each week.  Then we’d meet for class every week to discuss what we’d learned from the articles along with the methods and statistics used for each study.
 
One day we were assigned to read a very frequently cited article on pre-workout protein consumption and asked for our conclusions.  After our class unanimously agreed with the conclusions of the study authors that pre-workout protein intake was superior to post-workout intake our profs flew right off the handle.
 
“Did any of you read more than just the damn abstract???”
 
To say that they were pissed would be an understatement.  Of course, being smart enough to know that whoever made eye contact first would be the primary target of the upcoming assault, we all looked down and slowly flipped through our papers as though we were looking for something we missed.
 
After being dragged through the mud for several minutes our professors pointed out the “obvious” fact that the blood flow measures in the pre-workout group were way off and physiologically unlikely.  It was also noted that the method of measuring blood flow in this particular study was known to be subject to such errors and that we should have been aware of the potential limitations of this method.  In fact, this minor detail affected the calculations that determined the whole outcome of the study and we’d all missed it.
 
Had you just read the abstract, read the study, or read someone’s summary of that study you’d probably have come to the same conclusions we had…unless you were skeptical in the first place.  I’m certain that our professors knew we would make this mistake and chose the study to teach us a valuable lesson.
 
I’ve never forgotten that lesson and I’ve remained cautiously optimistic ever since.  I’d suggest that any young professionals in this industry heed the same advice.
 
3. Can you tell us a little bit about your training philosophy, and how you go about assessing clients and the methodology you use to set up programs?
 
Wow…that is a tough one.  To be honest, I’ve never actually written out who whole training philosophy and that would probably take more space than we’ve got, but I can give you some of the gist of it.
 
Generally speaking, I use this layout.
 
Assess -> Set Goals -> Program -> Reassess
 
If the results are moving as expected (based on the milestones determined during goal setting) we continue the program as it is.  Only when results slow or other issues arise (such as boredom) do we need to change the program.  Doing this has provided me with a way of objectively knowing when to change a program instead of using this “muscle confusion” crap people are always talking about.  The same obviously applies to nutrition.
 Assessments – I think these are critical.  As my good friend Brendan Fox likes to say “Your treatment is only as good as your assessment”.  I wholeheartedly agree.
 
Goal Setting – Without this I’d have no idea what my client wants to achieve and would not be able to determine milestones for progress.  This is an underrated step that I think most people don’t spend enough time on.
 
Programming – As boring as this sounds, my programs are all dependent on the goals of that specific client.  Now if Patrick is nice enough to have me back and ask me specifically what I’d do for fat loss, hypertrophy, or strength, I’d be glad to indulge.
 
I ALWAYS include foam rolling, mobility work, muscle activation work, resistance exercise (strength or hypertrophy), core work, metabolic work, and flexibility.  Where and how these fit into the program is subject to the goals of the person and their initial assessment.  In addition, there are always such factors as linear speed, agility, and power that may come into play depending on who I’m working with. 
 
4. Thanks for your time, Mark.  Can you please tell the readers where they can learn more about you, and any future projects you may have coming up?
 
 No problem Patrick.  It was my pleasure.  I’ve got several projects on the go, but my upcoming audio interview series dedicated strictly to the core is set to be released soon. 
 
There are interviews with guys like Dr. Stuart McGill, Thomas Myers, Mike Robertson, and about 9 more industry experts that I plan to release for free so I anticipate this is going to be huge.
 
Your readers can check out my blog at www.markyoungtrainingsystems.com and sign up for my newsletter to stay in the loop.
 
Thanks for the interview!