From Track to Rack: Pole Vaulter Denzel Brown's Journey Into the Weight Room

Pole vaulter Denzel Brown is from Sealy, a small town in Texas known as the ‘Home of Eric Dickerson.’ He attended Sealy High School, where he ran track, played basketball and became an incredibly talented pole vaulter. His best accolade landed him an opportunity to walk on at Prairie View A&M and Tarleton St. University as a pole vaulter. 

His seemingly bright future as a collegiate track athlete came to an abrupt halt in 2015, when Brown was in a serious accident that landed him in the hospital. He suffered a broken jaw which required surgery. The jaw surgery caused him to lose a considerable amount of weight, as he struggled to eat much while his  jaw recovered. During this time, Brown became motivated and wanted to get stronger from the situation, so he turned his attention to the weight room. It was here that his workout regimen, dedication and consistency, and eating schedule changed his life.

“Honestly, I didn’t fall in love with fitness until 2015 when I broke my jaw,” Brown said. “And for the longest time, my head stayed the same size while my body got smaller. So, I had a big head and a little body. I lost a lot of weight. I was waiting for the doctor to clear me, so I could lift weights and get active. Right when the doctor cleared me, I originally just started off doing random things like pushups, random videos I would see on Twitter or IG, and I would do things like that,” said Brown. 

“After a while I started researching things like bodybuilding and every week from that point on … I got cleared that summer and would just weigh myself and weigh myself and I probably would eat anything that I knew of, man. You could probably season cardboard and I would eat that, too. That’s how it originally started. And going into that summer of 2015, I decided I just wanted to lift weights and not go for my final year of track. I didn’t want to do track no more. I just wanted lift weights and finish up school. And that’s how it honestly started. And from that point of putting all my size back and going past from that point, I really just fell in love with process.”

After Brown saw the fruits of his labor, he continued his education in health and fitness, which allowed him to achieve his Masters at Tarleton. While Brown was in school, he worked hard on his techniques and teachings inside of the gym. Brown learned from his previous track coaches how to approach a workout and how to talk to a trainee. Brown was already on the path to becoming a fitness trainer, and it was in the gym that he began building his knowledge to prepare for this future career. His passion was golden and believable in hindsight, and Brown knew this was a goal he could accomplish. After giving up his future in track and pole vaulting, Brown knew what was at stake here in the gym. With that to drive him, no matter how sore or tired he got, Brown continued to push for his goals.

“Helping people reach their goals,” said Brown, “is a self-rewarding job itself. When you see people and they reach out and they want to get ready for a wedding and drop weight or they want to feel better with just the comfort of their own skin. Really things like that are the most rewarding part. It’s better than any medal I ever won in track or championship I ever won. Seeing somebody invest their time or money into you and they get results they want. That’s the biggest accomplishment I took away from this health and fitness world.”

Besides training correctly, Brown helps his clients focus on eating well to see their desired results. Protein, vegetables, and simple carbs are the basics Brown uses to get his clients on the right track, along with protein shakes as supplemental meals. Brown also preaches how having the correct form in workouts is important. As we all learn after a while in the gym, not skipping reps and doing the workouts properly goes a long way, and is more important than just lifting big numbers. Brown makes his clients successful if they listen to him and helps them to understand why this is so important for their physical performance.

“I tell my students when they want to get ripped or jacked or anything like that, the biggest thing to take away is to do your compound lifts and eat correctly, and on top of that is to do the correct form. And if you learn the correct form now, it carries off when you get older. And that’s what I really emphasize when we are doing a lot of weightlifting or running. And really, it’s just those keys. And if you have great form now, it leads to great form later. It’s like having bad tendencies in the working room. If you pull up to your job, X, Y, and Z, you carry those tendencies over. I tell them if you lift good, you start off with light weight, and don’t ego lift, later on when you put on size and get stronger,” Brown says. 

“And for the reverse side, for the people who want to lose weight, I really emphasize the benefits of nutrition and it’s just the simplest things you can take away. And you don’t have to officially cut out junk food all the time. You can have cheat meals. You don’t officially have to take it completely and cut it out of your diet. Just have it less. Nutrition is a big thing. You can lift like a mad man, but if you’re not eating correctly, the process will be harder and slower.”

Brown has loved the journey he started in health and wellness. It has made him a better person because he gets to take care of his body and help others do the same. The process that started as an escape became fun and enjoyable for Brown, and even became a career. Brown now wants to over achieve the goals he sets for himself every year so he doesn’t feel complacent in his body. He wants his body to be in the best shape it can be in. The more challenges he creates, the better he gets in life as a trainer. As of right now, Brown performs all his methods as a track and volleyball coach while being a performance coach at International Leadership of Texas in North Richland Hills. Like himself, he challenges his students and trainees every day so they can get better and grow, both physically and mentally. 

“The beautiful thing about health and fitness is chasing that ideal goal you have yourself and sometimes it changes during the season,” Brown said. “The fitness world is a very learning world. So back in the gap I really wanted to be ripped. When I kind of figured out the livelihood of a bodybuilder and having to take certain supplements, it was a no go for me. But for me I’m really comfortable in my skin. I’m very comfortable in my skin. So, for me it’s just feeling comfortable. And enjoying being who I am. And even when I get older. When you get older, your metabolism starts to slow down. The muscles don’t sit right no more. And I won’t say I’m at my best body goal because I always tell myself that the next year is going to better than the next year. So that’s what keeps me pushing and going.”

Brown’s eventual goal is to spend more of his teaching time around children so he can help encourage them to develop positive health and fitness habits at a young age. Brown also notes that the kids that he teaches allow him to learn even more about himself. He also aspires to work as a school coordinator or at a Division-1 facility to work with more collegiate athletes. Although Brown works with children from the kindergarten to eighth-grade level, he still wants to make a big impact. Every day Brown wakes up, he creates a challenge and pushes through adversity so he can help someone in the gym or life.

“Overall health and wellness, I really pray about it a lot because I really love this, and this is my second year being a coach and a performance coach. So, I work with K-8^th kids, and we teach them a lot about fitness, health, hygiene, and you get to learn these kids from a different standpoint to where realize you're around them more than their parents. So that’s a blessing in disguise because if you do your job right, you are a role model to these kids. So being in this room right now is a blessing. Because right now I am learning things about myself that I honestly didn’t know about myself. Thanks to my kids, I’m able to learn that. In the next five-six years, I’d like to be school coordinator and in another round, I want to be a strength and condition coach at D1 faculty. Either or, God has me on a good path to make an impact.”