Meet Steve Johng | Movement and Performance Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steve Johng and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steve, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
This actually happened in stages. The first stage was when I first became a personal trainer. All the excitement of teaching people the benefits of moving and helping them to just get strong and feel better. However, I realized 3-things shortly into my new career.

1. I, myself, didn’t know all that much. So I had to go and look for as much information as possible. Personal training certifications are actually very inadequate in making good coaches and is entirely WAY too easy to become a trainer. Its no different then going to school for 3-months taking an exam and saying you’ve graduated with a degree. Anyway, I needed more information to help clients with different issues.

2. Most, if not all, of my clients dealt with some type of issue. Shoulder, knee, back, or whatever. I had absolutely NO CLUE how to address and fix those issues. Plus, a lot of clients also had NO clue about nutrition. They just thought if they ‘eat healthy’ they would be ok, but where were they getting that information from and how did they define “healthy?”

3. Lastly, some of my clients were also dealing with mental health issues like depression and anxiety, and I could empathize because part of my story is from dealing with a type of depression called dysthymia. But realized that if they missed a session they didnt really feel good. Started noticing how the body, mind and spirit are all integrated.

The Second Stage, came when I started working at a Physical Therapy Clinic shortly after receiving my Correctional Exercise Cert. This is where my education really began and took off!

RPM Physical Therapy in The Woodlands, TX essentially was like a paid internship!

This is where I really learned about how the body works, how to get people out of pain, and realized that when pain is in our lives just how much it can jack with our beliefs and mental state.

Finally, I started seeing the pattern in all of it. We all end up where we are because of patterns in our lives that we conform too. How we move, how we eat, how we think, and even how we believe. We need something different, we need a way to not conform.

In the Book of Romans in Chapter 12 the Apostle Paul writes, ” Do not be conformed to the patterns of the world, but be transformed through the renewing of your minds.”

And so after a move to Denver and going to REI and seeing a pair of pants from Khul, I saw it had the name that I used for my bootcamps back in Houston, RENEGADE. And at the time it had a definition on the pants that I like and still use as a foundation for the company: “Rejecting lawful convention”.

Combining all of that it eventually became R3NEGADE Training. A wholistic approach to training the person.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The premise behind R3NEGADE Training is that its ongoing. We get what we train for, and what very few of us actually realize is that we are always training for something…if we choose to not do anything, we’re literally training for nothing.
Also, the fact that there is conformity that needs to be broken, and that renewal starts from within.

In regards to training clients, I use a lot of my physical therapy background with bio-mechanics, tactile cuing and Physical Therapy techniques that get clients out of pain, keep them out of pain, and then make them stronger and have peak performance.

Professionally has been a long journey. I’m one of those ‘all who wander are not lost.’ type people. I’ve done things from working as a teller at a bank, a barista, did contract work for a non-profit, church work, did UBER for a spell, soccer coaching, and it wasn’t until a friend encouraged me to pursue personal training with my soccer background and doing bootcamps!

This was not easy by any means, simply because I was and still deal with to this day the effects of the depression that I went through. Dysthymia, like other forms of depression, impact the left prefrontal cortex and it severely impacts my ability for planning, focus, emotional blunting, and other aspects. When your brain is fighting against you, it makes it so much more difficult. You’re no longer fighting an uphill battle, but you are fighting yourself, moving uphill in mud, with one hand pulling you up and the other behind your back!

Like I tell my clients, its just one day at a time. We do what we can, with what we have. The only time we fail, is when we quit. As long as I don’t quit and show up, I’ve succeeded. There have been a lot of definitions and preconceived notions that I’ve had to redefine, but that is also what makes me and my training so different.

One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned is that imperfect messy action is the best. I can find myself trapped in the mindset of looking for the ‘perfect opp’ but those never come. I’m just procrastinating something…But by doing one step at a time and just experimenting, it becomes less stressful and begin developing a better mindset.

As far as what I’d like the world to know about the brand and the story is we are in a fight. Very similar to Star Wars. We are The Rebellion fighting against the Empire. We live in a world that will tell us what we need to do, how we should live, etc.

As R3NEGADEs, we Never Conform.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Hahaha this is will be a fun question. As someone who is relatively new to the area I’m still learning myself. But here are a few things and places that I’d probably have us go to

Day 1:
– Denver Buiscuit Company for breakfast
– Head to Red Rocks and take a hike around morrison or around that area.
– Probably head to one of the out door breweries at night

Day 2:
– Go to Corvus for some coffee
– Head to the mountains and spend the rest of the day at Breck or Further out

Day 3:
– Spend Time locally and just hang out to recover from all day hiking
– Go to dinner in downtown littleton

Day 4:
– See a buddy of mine at Kula Sports who runs Aion and do a workout
– Head to Washpark
– Then end up going to Star Kitchen for DimSum

Day 5:
– Go downtown and visit one of the gyms I work at that is in McGreggor Square next the Stadium
– Walk Platte river
– Go to Izzio’s for some baked goods

Honorable Mentions:
– Chatfield
– City Park
– Seoul BBQ
– Flight Club

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The biggest ‘Shoutout’ that probably needs to be given is to Jonathan Ruzicka at RPM Physical Therapy, and the team that I worked with at the time. A culture that helped me grow in my profession, helped countless amounts of clients, and gave me a set of skills that I use today in my trainings.

Also, the NCI (Nutritional Coaching Institute) has developed a way of coaching nutrition that is SO much more applicable than any of the other certifications that are out there. Plus, helping me with the business development side the community and trainings are second to none.

Lastly, I have to credit my faith. As a professing follower of Christ, without the Bible I would not have even come up with the foundation of R3NEGADE from Romans 12!

Instagram: @r3enegadetraining

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/stevejohng

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/r3negadetraining

Youtube: @stevejohng4337

Other: Instagram, FB, and Linkedin Is where I spend most of my time

Image Credits
Jena Darnall
Sunshine Sentiments photo