Scott Jones

Hometown: Saint Louis, MO
Age: 36
Occupation: Physician Assistant Student

When did you first start Strength & Conditioningting?:
Summer 2011

What is your favorite movement? Favorite workout?
Favorite movement: burpees. Favorite workout: NONE (I love all of them).

What is your least favorite movement? Least favorite workout?
Least favorite movement: handstand pushups. Least favorite workout: NONE.

Tell us about your sports & fitness background:
Rover, Northwest Avalanche Football Club, 2004
Defensive Back, University of Missouri Tigers (1997-2000)
Officer, United States Marine Corps (2001-2009)
(8 marathons, 5 half marathons, countless 5-10K races, 2 sprint triathlons…)

How did you first get exposed to Strength & Conditioning? Do you remember your first WOD? How did it go?
The Marine Corps fitness regimens are similar to Strength & Conditioning, and Strength & Conditioning is highly encouraged yet still not entirely endorsed. My very first exposure was completing Fight Gone Bad with one of my Marines, a Strength & Conditioning Level 1 certificate-holding individual. I was highly interested, but I still thought I could complete a solid workout as an individual, with a personal plan and standard. Boy was I wrong. Even following Strength & Conditioningfootball.com’s WOD, I found myself skipping important portions of the WOD and not pushing my limitations during exercises. I ultimately found myself commuting past Rudy Nielsen’s Outlaw Strength & Conditioning on a daily basis and was intrigued by the sledgehammer-on-tire WODs, the block running and the tire flipping. It was primitive fitness from a garage, simply put. I did an orientation WOD, and became a member.

What sort of changes have you seen in your body, health and fitness since starting Strength & Conditioning? (before/after)
To answer this question, I delved deep into my Gmail to find a response that I had sent a researcher about wounded veterans using Strength & Conditioning – I feel that it strongly explains this! I was not wounded in combat while serving, but I responded with my view nonetheless:

“Peter,
I just had this pushed to me. I’m a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom but I was not wounded or incurred serious injuries while overseas. However, Strength & Conditioning helps me and probably many other veterans in other ways. When you’re in the military, your day is filled with a culture of fitness and risk. It’s about random, unknown challenges that you have to face with your chin up and confident that you’ll overcome them. Interestingly, there is a certain “pleasure” that’s associated with knowing you are a member of a small tight circle that has been washed clean of those who wish not to face or cannot face these challenges. Strength & Conditioning also provides something after a veteran has separated: you don’t know what to expect in a workout when you start it, but there is that apex or level of ultimate exhaustion when you have nothing in the tank but you still have to keep going farther and faster or you’ll “lose”. This relationship to survival is something that allows me to keep the “edge” I need to be Scott Jones and remain at the peak of who I am. I apologize if this is a poor definition but it’s the best I can do right now from work.”

What is your advice for people just getting started or thinking about starting Strength & Conditioning?
1. Don’t hesitate – find if it’s what you seek and don’t put off inquiring.
2. Don’t be bashful or arrogant: a box is filled with those who may never admit their beginnings but are no different than you.
3. Be consistent – don’t skip workouts for stupid reasons.
4. Make incentives for yourself. Meet them.
5. The secret is simple: you have self-conceived limitations that are shatter-able. Find those, bloom your confidence
6. You never want to be the best guy at the gym or the worst guy in the gym…there is a increase of survival-type fitness obtained in chasing down the leader while simultaneously being chased from behind. Think antelope-lion scenario.

What are your hobbies, interests, and/or talents outside of Strength & Conditioning?
Among others, I enjoy subjects such as medicine, military history, wine, travel and those who push these institutions to their limitations.