IGCT Episode #37: Jonathan Feinman-Making A Difference

Jonathan Feinman is the Executive Director and Founder of Inner City Weightlifting.  InnerCity Weightlifting is a non-profit organization that works to reduce violence and promote professional, personal and academic achievement among urban youth. They work with young people at the highest-risk for violence in order to reduce youth violence by getting them off the streets and into the gym, where they are empowered with the confidence and support needed to say no to violence and yes to opportunity. 

Students want to come to InnerCity Weightlifting. Once there, this interest evolves towards more positive and complex goals such as finishing school, getting a job, eventually leaving a gang. They see peers whom they respect making these choices, and they see adults whom they respect supporting these choices. The path to change suddenly comes into focus. 

Students most committed are eligible for an in-house career track in personal training and job opportunities running the InnerCity Weightlifting training locations, a career path that deepens them in a support system that has helped guide them through the most difficult decision points.

In this episode we discuss:

• His journey into Strength and Conditioning.
• How Inner City Weightlifting began.
• How he identify's and relates to his athletes.
• Where his Strength and Conditioning knowledge comes from?
• What a typical training session looks like.
• Recommendations for coaches that want to make a difference.
• His favorite quote, Book/App/Website recommendation.