Les Spellman on Rushing to Get Value

Everyone can attest to the desire for fast results. We want to go from point A to point B with little time and effort. We want it to be a smooth seamless transition and yield an awesome result despite the fact that we didn’t really have to try. If we look at the countless low-quality products and services out there, we know that there was no true intentional thought put into the process, even if they managed to be a success; but people know quality when they see it. Les Spellman is no stranger to the low-quality, fast-results mindset, as he has encountered it throughout his journey in his fields of work and interest. His life has shaped him to appreciate the time and hard work spent to get the best results possible.

Pushing Past the Pain

Growing up in DC, Les Spellman claims to have been a “…pretty average athlete.” Even to the extent that his own mother had told him sports were not for him, encouraging him to quit. Unfortunately, his senior year he did quit, though it was done to focus more on school. After a terrible car accident, Les broke a femur and, because of how badly he had been injured, was unable to finish high school. Whereas for many people this would be a means of discouragement, for Les it was the motivation he needed. Coming home, he had been given different forms of medication as he navigated through recovery. But his mom, having seen a family member struggle with substance abuse, dumped his medications down the sink and told him that he was just going to have to figure it out. And figure it out he did. Over the course of 18 months, Les dedicated himself to getting back on his feet—without medication. He had gone from friends getting him round in a wheelchair, to walking, to running to then joining a Division 1 track team. Early on, he adapted the skill of not allowing others to dictate his life or be deterred by the fears of uncertainty.

Setting the Standard of Speed

Through his journey in sports, Les realized there was a gap between the experts and those who coached at high school levels, particularly when it came to speed. “There wasn’t really a standard,” he explains in an interview with BUBS Naturals. This was a key motivator for Les to dive in to figure out how he could utilize objective data to teach people how to use it. Particularly pertaining to speed and running. After landing an internship giving him a ton of exposure to the work, his career started to take form. He was able to utilize the knowledge and philosophies of the professionals around him and from that, develop his own. He had a gripping fear of failing at the responsibilities that he had before him, and that became his motivator. “When you’re hopeless you never want to feel that again,” Les explains. And so Les put himself out there to utilize what he had to develop the best approach he could to train and coach others. “It wasn’t a risk for me…it was a level up,” Les says, reflecting on the different situations where he had to accept the discomfort of where life was at and what it demanded. Because of that mindset, Les was able to develop a system software platform—as well as a philosophy of his own—that has been utilized all over the world for athletics. “You should be rushing to get value,” he says. “Everyone wants the microwave experience.” However, Les understands that there is a grind that you have to work through for quality results, just as he worked through the grind of his own pursuits.

Connected Across the Nation

Through the hard work and the challenges he has navigated, Les Spellman's approach to coaching and training has made a mark. He had originally worked on an individual level with clients, but that changed. He has managed to work with such people as Kobe Bryant and Tyler Gaffney, and has utilized his program to benefit the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, as well as other sporting areas. The demands of COVID forced him to adapt and he was able to scale a lot of what he was doing in his work into a software system removing the demand for in-person training. This of course was because he picked up the skill of coding, staying consistent with his theme of not letting anything stop him. He discusses this in further detail in his interview with BUBS Naturals. Amidst his success and achievements, Les emphasizes his “…number one job just to be a father.” Even that translates into his work, however. Over time he has managed to develop the understanding of creating a family environment in his training. “The key is collaboration and communication,” he explains. “You gotta build trust.” He gets on the level of those he is coaching and connects with them. He figures out how they learn best, and applies that. And though it is challenging, Les knows that at the end of the day, it’s really all about delivering the best value possible.