Welcome to Ferguson Performance Training!

Hello everyone and welcome to the first ever blog post of Ferguson Performance Training! It’s been a long time coming but I am excited to share my knowledge and experiences with whoever decides to follow me here. This page is still a work in progress but I wanted to at least get something up here. Before I delve into any nitty gritty topics, let me first tell you about myself and how I got into this industry.

Once upon a time about 7 years ago, I was about 70 pounds overweight tipping the scales at 220 pounds (I'm 5'10'' on a good day). After exiting a long-term relationship and knocking off some other non-sense I was involved in I decided I wanted to lose some weight. I started by running on the beach at night and riding my bike on the bike trail. After a while I picked up an EZ bar some plates and a pair of 25lb dumbbells from Sports Authority. I had no idea what I was doing and my "lifting" sessions included bicep curls, upright rows, and what I now know is called a floor press. I started to drink protein shakes and buy books titled "Muscles in minutes" like most teenagers would and slowly but surely the weight started to come off. 

Fast forward 6 months and I was down nearly 60 pounds and was now working two jobs compared to the ZERO I had before. I heard of a new gym opening in town and decided to go check it out. It was called Anytime Fitness, and they were still in pre-sale at the time but I signed up for a membership and was told they would be open within the next month. I didn't know it at the time but my life would be changed forever from this moment.

When the gym opened and I started going but still didn't have any idea what I was doing. They had a trainer working there and this guy was jacked! I instantly knew I wanted to be like that guy, and I would watch everything he did whenever I could. I got a phone call one day randomly from Aaron who was and is the owner of the gym and asked me if I would be interested in working there. Within 2 weeks I had my interview, quick both of my other jobs, and was officially a membership salesman. I continued to watch the other trainer and finally gathered enough courage to ask some questions. He told me I had a great personality to be a trainer and recommended the National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer certification. I bought it the very next day and within 6 months I was certified and started training people for free to get experience.

Fast-forwarding quite a bit, in 2012 I transferred to California State University, Fullerton to complete my Bachelors degree in Kinesiology. By this time I had been training for 3 years and feeling the early stages of burnout because of my loaded gym and school schedule. I considered many other career options and graduate schools including Physical Therapy, P.A and O.T. I graduated this past May having completed 70 units in 2 years and radically shifted my knowledge and mind-set on exercise, training, and performance. I realize now after navigating the many twists and turns of my life that I am exactly where I am suppose to be, doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing.

Since I started working as a trainer my specialty has leaned towards assessing musculoskeletal dysfunction and corrective exercise.  Although I do still train many individuals for performance, I always attempt to identify dysfunction first. I have trained individuals from elite level tennis players to people in there 80's with bi-lateral knee replacements and everything in between.

The goal of this blog is to share with the world the knowledge and experiences I have gained through my experience in the industry. I don't have any big plan or direction I will head so if anyone has any input on subjects they are interested in feel more than welcome to shoot me an email at s.ferguson89@gmail.com. My next post will be on my movement philosophy and how I approach training from practical perspective.