One of the things we love most about our trainers at RMFLEX is that each brings something different to the gym and the people they train. This month we’re featuring Reid Wilson – a coach known for his direct approach, unique talents, deep knowledge, and commitment to helping clients get stronger in every sense of the word.
Reid has nearly a decade of experience in personal training and nutrition coaching, plus a background that includes multiple world records, circus strongman performance (the man can literally bend steel with his bare hands), and certifications in suicide prevention and survival speaking. His approach to coaching is just as bold as his resume. He combines functional strength, mindset training, and a belief that discipline always beats motivation.
In this spotlight, Reid shares his thoughts on why carbs aren’t the enemy, what people get wrong about personal training, and why your feelings probably can’t be trusted when the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to train with someone who genuinely wants your success more than you do, keep reading.a
1. What is the most common nutrition mistake people make when trying to get in shape, and how can they correct it?
People often avoid carbohydrates in their macronutrients, which causes their body to go into metabolic adaptation, slowing their metabolism and making it more difficult to lose fat. Once you understand that your brain uses 70% of your carbohydrates and it’s your most dominant macronutrient for fuel, you can start to break free of the thinking that carbohydrates are bad. Brain fog will no longer occur and you will perform as well as recover more efficiently.
2. What’s your top exercise for building strength in a specific body part, and why is it so effective?
I’m a huge fan of trap bar deadlifts. It’s efficient in building the entire posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and lower back), quadriceps, upper back, traps, grip, and core muscles. While it’s balanced, it hits the quads a bit more than traditional barbell deadlifts. It’s more rewarding and has less risk of injury, as it aligns better with how the body naturally moves (hands at your sides as opposed to in front of you).
3. What is the biggest misconception people have about personal training, and what should they know instead?
They think of it as a luxury rather than a necessity. Most people don’t realize that from the start of elementary school to now, they have been given generalized movements not specifically curated for what their body needs that likely have caused compensations ready to become land mines (injuries waiting to happen). We are injury prevention. We are here to keep you out of the doctor and give you tools to physically live the life that you want to live outside of the gym. We often want our clients to succeed more than they do. A good trainer cares immensely.
4. What’s the number one thing people can do to stay motivated long-term in their fitness journey?
Discipline before feelings. Feelings are liars. They’ll tell you to stay in bed, skip the workout, delay the work, and chase comfort. Okay, it feels good for a moment, but that moment is stealing your future. Discipline doesn’t care if you’re tired, bored, or unmotivated; it shows up anyway. Yes, it’s uncomfortable, but that’s where progress lives. You don’t build the life you want by following moods. You build it by keeping promises to yourself when it’s hardest. Every rep, every page, every small action stacked up becomes power. Feelings fade, discipline compounds. And if you want the life you dream about, discipline wins. Every. Single. Time.
5. How can exercise help manage stress, and what impact does it have on someone's overall progress and results?
Exercise stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in reward, motivation, and pleasure. More dopamine leads to stress reduction and increased dopamine production. This leads to exercise becoming something that people look forward to. The “I get to workout.” over “I have to workout.” Knowing that something makes you feel better drives you to do it more frequently. Frequency leads to faster results, so frequency and discipline are the keys to the fastest positive change.
6. How do you incorporate wellness habits like sleep, hydration, and stress management into your training programs?
While I personally am not a great sleeper, it has been a constant effort to improve since breaking my neck at 16 years old. Sleep is essential for recovery. I am a firm believer in drinking half your bodyweight in oz of water a day as a base and striving for even more. I average about 170 oz of liquids a day. When I get home from work, I lie in the dark, practice box breathing, and listen to an album from start to finish to decompress and reset. With things often being so loud, that’s a noise I can control. These are nonnegotiable.
7. What’s your favorite piece of equipment at RMFLEX for working a specific body part, and why do you recommend it?
My end-all-be-all favorite piece of equipment here has to be the ROGUE trap bar. I’ve gotten so many positive results with my clients and have built so much confidence in so many people. It’s effective and efficient with low risk.
8. Which piece of RMFLEX equipment do you think is underutilized but great for improving overall strength and mobility?
The Pendulum Squat by far.
About Reid Wilson
Reid is a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach with 9 years of experience specializing in functional strength, pain elimination, and kinetic chain rebuilding. He’s also certified in suicide prevention and survival speaking, using his feats of strength to show people that nothing is truly impossible.
Through his personal spiritual journey, Reid developed a mind-over-matter philosophy that he brings to his coaching. He combines motivational daily affirmations with real demonstrations of strength to inspire his clients. His core belief? Our only limitation is time.
Contact
Fun Facts
Multiple World Record Holder
Circus Strongman
Award Winning Circus Sideshow Producer
Certifications
- Certified personal trainer
- Certified nutrition coach
- Certified suicide prevention speaker
- Certified suicide survival speaker
