Mike Robertson is the President of Robertson Training Systems and the co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training (I-FAST) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mike has made a name for himself as one of the premier performance coaches in the world, helping clients and athletes from all walks of life achieve their physique and sports performance goals.
Q: What’s your background?
A: I’ve been in the performance enhancement/physical preparation field for 14 years now. In that time I’ve done a bit of everything – I was an assistant D-1 strength and conditioning coach, a rehab practitioner, a 1-on-1 personal trainer, and a semi-private coach /business owner.
Basically, I’ve done a bit of everything over the years!
Q: What do you do in your career today?
A: Today I own Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training, which has been named one of America’s Top 10 Gyms by Men’s Health magazine two times.
At IFAST we offer both small group/semi-private training (groups of 2-4 at a time), as well as large group training which we call Team Training.
I, personally, work almost exclusively with professional and elite athletes at this point in my career. A short list of my clients includes Roy Hibbert from the Indiana Pacers, Danny O’Rourke from the Columbus Crew, Lori Lindsey (formerly of the US Women’s National team), and a handful of blue-chip prospects who are waiting for their chance to make it big.
Q: What does the IYCA mean to you or how has the IYCA impacted you?
A: Even though I’m training mostly professional athletes now, the IYCA and young athletes are what originally drew me to this industry.
I was a young kid who loved sports, but never really new how to use physical preparation in the right capacity to give myself the best chance for success. I was always a pretty good athlete, but never the best. And I always knew that if I could make myself bigger, faster, stronger, etc., that I could be a bigger contributor on the court.
So that has always been my passion – to help athletes get more out of their own bodies via improved movement and training. I love work with kids especially because they are so malleable, and the tools you can teach them via training are things that they will take with them for a lifetime.
Q: Why you created / contributed to your IYCA products and who they are for.
A: I contributed to CAD 2.0 and the HSCC product, because as rewarding as it is to coach young athletes, I love coaching the coaches as well. I like to think of this as growing my web of influence.
If I train one kid, that’s one kid I made better. But if I work with one coach, that coach has an influence over all of his athletes as well.
So instead of just the one I helped, I could help 10, 50, or 100 athletes by helping one coach. That’s powerful.
At the end of the day, my goal always has been (and always will be) to make the people around me better. I know that if I do that, I know that money, clients and happiness will never been an issue.