Today we’d like to introduce you to Quentin Pullen.
Hi Quentin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Quentin “Coach Q” Pullen. I am a strength and conditioning coach and a movement therapist. I am originally from Atlanta, GA but I’ve spent the last 32 years living mostly in California. Recently (April) I moved back from California to Georgia. I joined the Marine Corps out of high school, which awarded me the opportunity to see a lot of the world. I chose to make California my home as I pursued my interests in competitive bodybuilding. Growing up as a skinny kid, bodybuilding was where I first found my love for fitness. I competed for several years earning titles such as Mr. Los Angeles and top placings at the National level. In 1998 I reenlisted in the military with the US Navy reserve and at the same time enrolled in college to obtain my business management degree.
I started coaching part time as a means to support my family and quickly fell in love with the industry. Upon graduating from college in 2002, I decided to pursue fitness as a career because I had always been passionate about my own fitness. The transition was seamless. I began working with all types of athletes and decided to dive deep in the health and fitness industry, traveling around the world to learn different methods of fitness and physical therapy. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, gyms and therapy centers on the west coast were shut down and my business was severely affected. My wife and I decided to move to Atlanta to restart our business, so we loaded a 4000lb trailer and brought our fitness/therapy equipment home and set up shop.
Many of my family, friends, and classmates have followed my career and expressed that they “Wished I lived in Atlanta so that I could help them get fit”. I’m happy to say that A LOT of them have followed through on that desire and we are hard at work here in Georgia changing lives.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Geez! Well, my mindset doesn’t really see obstacles or challenges, I see things as learning opportunities. After my time in the military, I hand drew plans to build a hybrid fitness center and obstacle course. I was able to make that dream come true but a bad business partnership took away that dream. So I pivoted and restructured my business adding the movement therapy element to my business. The COVID pandemic caused another shift, but this time I was able to come home and be in a situation where my business has more meaning and influence.
I am currently in the process of rebuilding this dream here in Georgia. We have a 4 acre property in the Metro Atlanta area complete with a 1000 square foot fitness facility, a therapy clinic, an archery range, a pool for aqua fitness, and we are currently trying to raise funding to build a military styled obstacle course here on the property. I believe that understanding how to pivot and continue working at your goals is the best way to overcome challenges thrown your way.
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?
Throughout my career in Health and Fitness, I have come to understand that there is so much to learn and I couldn’t possibly learn everything.. I have a broad spectrum of education and experience in the Health and Fitness industry from weigh training, speed and agility, kettle bell training, boot camp instruction, and Crossfit, to Physical therapy, massage therapy, and injury correction. I do not believe in narrowly specializing as the Health and Fitness industry has vast modalities. I consider myself to be a professional dot connector. I have sat in conferences with medical doctors who knew very little about anything other than the specific thing they did, which for me is a limitation of overall health. We are in the business of helping build stronger, healthier bodies, and, in my opinion, it would help to know as much as you possible about how to do that.
A back injury broadened my attention from training in the gym to how to also fix a broken body. Through the process, I started working with athletes with disabilities to learn how they could adapt to their physical limitations. It’s easy to take a fully functioning body with some busted parts and get it on the right path, but working with people who no longer have parts is different and enlightening.
When I teach fitness, I teach from the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects because I believe that’s what being balanced means. What sets me aside from many other coaches is my understanding of this.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is kindness. Kindness spans a spectrum of everything. Are you kind to yourself, are you kind to your surroundings? If you can answer yes to those questions truthfully, the how is the most rewarding thing in the world to me. Kindness means stepping outside of your own selfish thought and giving everything you can in every way. I train my body, eat healthy, and meditate because I understand that’s being kind to myself.
Contact Info:
- Email: CoachQ@QtheCoach.com
- Website: www.QtheCoach.com
- Instagram: @Q_the_Coach
- Facebook: @QtheCoach
- Twitter: @QtheCoach
- Youtube: QtheCoach
- SoundCloud: 30min on Q podcast
- Other: www.QthePeople.com
