You all know Nick Saban, widely considered to be one of the greatest football coaches of all time. Throughout his career, he has won seven national titles, the most of any coach in college football history. He is truly a living legend, but you might not know that his career could have taken a different path. Saban grew up playing football in a small mining town in West Virginia, and in college, he was a defensive back at Kent State University. He knew he wanted to get into coaching, but when the head coach position at Kent State opened up after the 1987 season, he was passed over in favor of someone else.
Today, no one could imagine turning down Nick Saban, but he had some growing to do before he became the legendary Nick Saban. His story is a great example of life taking you down a new path in favor of something greater down the road. Just like Saban, EW personal trainer Luke Percer had to go down a path he didn’t expect, but it turned out to lead him exactly where he was supposed to be. I got to sit down with Luke and discuss how his experiences with football and personal training intersect to make him a better trainer and what we can learn from his life and career.
Luke Percer, football junkie
Football has been part of Luke’s life for as long as he can remember. Like many in the South, every Saturday in the fall, he would be in front of the TV watching the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“My dad is a big Alabama fan, and that was what we watched every Saturday. He had a little football for me, and so we’d watch on the couch. Between each time out and during halftime, I would get up under the living room table and act like I was a quarterback, and the table was the center. I’d do my little drop back and throw the ball to my dad on the couch, so ever since then, I’ve had a love for it.”
Luke began his sports career in baseball, but only because he could start playing baseball sooner. He was really excited to begin playing football, and at age 7, he did just that. There was no touch or flag football for him—he would not be satisfied until he played like the guys he watched on TV. Luke not only enjoyed the game—he thrived, so much so that in his senior year of high school, he was named a permanent captain.
“That’s one of the best awards I’ve ever gotten, and the reason I say that is because no one voted on it except my teammates. The people I was around every day believed in me enough to put me as a leader of the team, so I’ll always cherish that.”
Luke continued to play both baseball and football through high school, but football was his true love - he stopped playing baseball after his senior year so he could pursue football recruiting. His dream was to play college football, and even though he didn’t necessarily have NFL aspirations, he never lost sight of what he wanted. Sure enough, offers began coming in from smaller schools around the state. He entertained a few offers, but when he visited UAB’s football program, they treated him like one of their own, and it seemed meant to be. Luke was a wide receiver at UAB from 2019-2022 and lived out his college football dreams while studying kinesiology.
Luke Percer, personal trainer
When he got to UAB, Luke wasn’t perfectly clear on his career path at first. He thought about becoming a coach, but decided that role was too much for the life he pictured. He just knew he wanted to work with athletes in some capacity, and pretty soon, he decided to work toward becoming a personal trainer.
“That’s the big thing as an athlete - you want to find some way to give back to the game that gave you all these opportunities and life experiences. You want to try to give back to it by helping it grow and making it better, and so I figured training athletes would be the next best thing.”
Being in a weight room all those years he played football, training came very naturally to Luke - he himself had done everything he was asking his clients to do. When it came time to find an internship his senior year, a church acquaintance recommended EW, as her daughter was a personal trainer there at the time.
“This place was more technical - you really got to hone down on the basics and get to the root of causes, and I thought that it would broaden my scope of learning if I came here for my internship.”
Once he completed his internship, Luke was offered a job here at EW, and the rest is history. He now sees many clients per day and gets to do what he loves: work with athletes and others wanting to improve their overall fitness.
“The whole point of me wanting to be a personal trainer was to give back to the sport that helped me.”
Personal training and football: how do they mix?
His experience as an athlete gave Luke an edge as he pursued personal training - he knew the weight room like the back of his hand, and his education gave him the opportunity to learn how to best teach others what he knew. But, not every client is the same - it’s called “personal” training for a reason.
“One that I didn’t really learn until I started working here is being able to adapt to each person you work with, because each person is going to be different. In sports you have to adapt to so many scenarios and situations on the fly.”
During his football career, Luke has been exposed to many smart people, including his strength coaches. This taught him to surround himself with those who have more experience, so he can be a lifelong learner and never stop trying to be the best trainer he can be. Through football, he learned discipline and accountability, and being a trainer has taught him the value of trust - building trust with clients is an essential step in helping them reach their goals. As an athlete, he had to learn to trust his strength coaches, so he understands exactly how his clients feel.
Luke’s key takeaways
So, what can we learn from Luke’s career? First, patience is a virtue. In high school while trying to figure out where he would end up, Luke struggled to be patient and trust the process. Football recruiting taught him that sometimes, things take longer than you expect, and that’s ok, because you will always end up exactly where you are supposed to be.
“The place you think you should go might not be the place that you need to go. Each person’s journey is going to be different, so trust the path you’re on, trust your journey.”
Luke has also learned that comparison is the thief of joy. It’s so easy to look at someone else and envy where they are and the success they have, but true contentment comes when you can find reasons to be grateful no matter what you’re going through.
“Be confident in who you are and confident in what you’ve learned. Don’t necessarily compare your circumstances to other people’s - your timeline is not going to be the same as somebody else’s."
Trusting the process and continuing to learn are the keys to success for football players, personal trainers, and everyone in between. We always encourage our training clients at EW Motion Therapy to find joy in the journey and celebrate the small wins, especially when it gets hard. If you’re curious about how personal training can help you reach your goals, click the button below to download our answers to 20 frequently asked questions.
