StrongFirst Elite · SFG I · SFB · SFL
Co-Owner, Founder & Instructor
Mike Fickling
- Credentials
- CHEK Practitioner Level 2
- CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 2
- Achievements
- StrongFirst Tactical Strength Challenge
- The Amazing 12
- Outside the gym
- Family
- Dogs
- Surfing
- Lifting heavy things
My journey to becoming a strength and conditioning coach and gym owner/operator has not been a straight line. I was born and raised in rural Lancaster County, South Carolina where my foundations were set for a healthy and physical life. My mother provided us with awareness of health and good eating by growing our food and teaching my brother Chris and me how to cook wholesome food and take care of ourselves. We also had a lot of space to spend our energy outside and opportunity to express our natural athleticism and competitive spirit with sports and games. Finally, I was lucky to have a father that set a lasting example of fitness. This was in the ‘70s and he regularly weight trained and ran when it was not that common a behavior for a regular Joe. In addition, he often made his own equipment and tracked his progress all while working a lot of overtime supporting us.
Later my brother, who really pushed me athletically, and I both eventually played varsity high school basketball. We were born to be gym rats. Soon after I attended college at Winthrop University and got into intramural athletics and constant pickup games. College for me was great except my real education came when my brother died my freshman year. In hindsight it was a gift as I quickly became aware of our impermanence and removed a level of caution and fear that I think most of us carry inside. At Winthrop I really learned how to learn. In a few years I graduated with a degree in History, not Exercise Science. I told you it wasn’t a straight line.
After a bit of bouncing around and trying out some things I decided to move to Charleston. This was 1996. Growing up, we never had a lot of money but, with hard work, we always had what we needed. We were expected to work, both at home and at a job to support ourselves. This foundation of hard work and hustle I carried with me and it would pay dividends later. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities to learn from a variety of people and jobs and I have picked up very important lessons from all of them. The most important lesson of all was that I liked none of them! Fortunately, a continued gift of my brother’s death was the ability to change if I felt like I was on the wrong path. After all, life is, literally, too short.
I consider myself a lucky person even though my ego dislikes the concept of luck. The reality is, I’ve been good at falling into great opportunities because of a healthy curiosity to learn new things and a lack of fear of failure. I always want to do a little better, learn more, grow into a better athlete, citizen, friend and as it happened husband. That was definitely good fortune on my part!
I had never really applied myself to weight training before and decided that I would give it a try at a local gym. It seemed like a way to better myself and I couldn’t have been more right! In that gym I met great people that helped me on my way. There I met a person that would become my mentor and truly change my life. John Tysinger was a CHEK Practitioner that trained clients at the gym. I got to know him when I picked up a flyer regarding learning Wing Chun Kung Fu. Martial arts seemed like a good addition to my weight training and street basketball. After a single conversation with John I was in and quickly became his top student. I don’t know what he saw in me then but he believed in me and spent a lot of extra time teaching me everything he could about the art. John, to this day, was the best coach I have ever had the pleasure of being around. His plan for instructing me in Wing Chun taught me how to coach by having me train most of the new students. John soon opened his own studio.
At the time I was working a desk job and was miserable so I quit. Fortunately, I didn’t have another job lined up. One of my first calls was to John who immediately offered me a place at his studio. Having a mentor of his caliber in the strength and conditioning world was a real stroke of luck. I began with a NASM certification and went on to become a CHEK Practitioner Level 2 and CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 2. Just as he accelerated my Wing Chun instruction, he was able to push me to be a better coach than I could have ever become on my own.
Unfortunately, our relationship was not to last. John had cystic fibrosis and became unable to work or teach very much toward the end. Not long after I opened my own studio with another good friend, John died. Before the end he, like my brother years earlier, taught me many valuable lessons that I live to this day. I was again reminded to value life and not fear death.
At my new studio, based on John’s model, I continued my education and practiced my skills as a coach. I eventually was led to the RKC and then to StrongFirst, whose system complements my beliefs and coaching style ideally. Eventually, as businesses and people change, my original partnership ended and another grew. Brett and I slowly transformed the studio to what it is today. We’ve added new certifications like the Amazing 12 and we strive to continue improving both ourselves, our brand and our gym. Brett and I are currently StrongFirst Elite Coaches and are proud and excited to share our collective experiences with our students and our community.
No one becomes who they are alone. Although you must be responsible for your choices and you may work hard and be very lucky, you never do it alone. Your past experiences, your mentors, your fortunate breaks and losses and subsequent choices put you on your path. I hope that we can be part of your journey to whatever you are becoming. Let’s continue to get better together and never forget the ones that helped us along the way.
