Interview: Victor Mooren

Geschatte leestijd: 3 minuten My name is Victor Mooren. I am the founder of Recomp Zone and SmartPT. My passion for strength training, nutrition, and lifestyle change has enabled me to help hundreds of clients achieve successful lifestyle changes and assist dozens of professionals in boosting their expertise.

Interview with Victor Mooren

Name: Victor MoorenAge: 29Location: AlmereSpecialization: Online coach and personal training teacher

When and how did your interest in fitness develop?

I was inspired in my youth by training & tricking videos of Jujimufu and Antoine Vaillant. In addition to their muscular physique, they also possessed acrobatic skills, which I found impressive.

Do you have any other sports background?

I played hockey, did running, and street football for many years. Around the age of 18, I started to focus more on fitness. At the moment, my focus is on strength training, and I love to skate when the weather is nice.

Why does fitness play an important role in your life?

For several years now, I have found the right balance around strength training. This has been a huge enrichment of my life. It helps me to live stronger and healthier. Moreover, it is now easier for me to keep my body fat percentage under control without having to eat less!

When and why did you start coaching and how did you develop yourself?

During the last year of my Nutrition & Dietetics studies (2012), I delved into online coaching. I knew there was a demand for honest and substantiated information. With my background (dietitian and practical experience), I saw opportunities. I further educated myself by following Lyle Mcdonald. I literally studied all his books and articles. From there, I started following Martin Berkhan, Borge Fagerli, James Krieger, Alan Arago, and Brad Schoenfeld. At one point, I read somewhat controversial articles by Menno Henselmans and decided to take one of his first courses (Bayesian PT Course) and his coaching. That has been a good investment, clarifying many things for me. Meanwhile, I gained practical experience by simply coaching test subjects and later charging for it. Applying theory in practice is ultimately what matters.

What can you tell me about your company and approach?

I value facts highly. Therefore, everything I publish or provide is as well-substantiated as possible. If something is debunked or there is insufficient evidence, I am of course willing to change my stance. This means that I don’t want to sell nonsense to my clients. I genuinely want to help them in their self-development, both mentally and physically. The lifestyle they follow should be sustainable and healthy rather than a struggle, where they lose control over their lives.

What is your specialization and why did you choose it?

I have a strength sports background (powerlifting and strongman), but my specialization is in helping people with a positive lifestyle change. Simply put, by living slimmer, stronger, more muscular, and healthier lives. I find this the most enjoyable target group because it’s nice to see how you can positively change someone’s life sustainably.

What are the most important characteristics of good coaching for you?

1. Practice what you preach

If you haven’t succeeded in losing fat, building little muscle mass, or controlling your diet, then you lack the basis to become a good coach. You need to experience some things yourself to be able to help others best.

1. Substantiated knowledge

A good coach has sufficient basic knowledge about training, nutrition, lifestyle, and mindset. They don’t go along with fads, don’t let anecdotes determine everything, but seek grounded evidence to substantiate a certain standpoint. It is also important to note that a coach with many certificates in personal training, nutrition, and lifestyle is not necessarily a good coach. Extensive theoretical knowledge is not a guarantee of effective implementation in practice. A good coach has therefore applied their acquired knowledge in practice, on themselves and on clients, and based on that, knows what works and what doesn’t. Bayesian bodybuilding and chivo courses offer a wide range of courses in which you learn a lot of relevant theory that you can apply in practice. I also offer a practice-oriented training specifically for beginning personal trainers, in which you learn from A to Z how to become a successful personal trainer. 3. Coaching Success Coaching is more than just motivating or giving instructions. You need the combined experience and knowledge of a personal trainer, lifestyle coach, and mental coach to provide the highest quality. Personal trainer: Do you master all techniques, do you know enough about developing schedules, injuries, anatomy, and how to deal with customers in a responsible manner? Lifestyle coach: Can you create effective meal plans, take lifestyle factors into account, and improvise when short-term changes occur? Mental coach: How do you form a good relationship with the client, how do you help with behavior change, how do you deal with relapse and a crisis in which the client’s life is turned upside down? So, there is much more to being a good coach than you think.

When are you as a coach satisfied with the work you have done for a client?

When they are satisfied with your guidance and you actually manage to change their lifestyle sustainably.