Support Us Button Widget

10 questions with The Fit on Monroe Street in Madison, WI

Copy of Copy of 608-Q+A-Feature Image (1)

You’ve probably walked by 1709 Monroe St. at least a dozen times. | Photo by 608today team

This is a part of our Q+A series. Know someone we should interview? Nominate them here.

Profile: Jeff Liggon — co-owner of The Fit on Monroe — an esteemed trainer, strength coach + community supporter.

Join us for a conversation with a long-time Madisonian who’s spent over a decade building a neighborhood space honoring wellness and exercise science.

Q: Let’s start from the beginning.
A: I come from the tradition of athletics […] I played college football Division 1 and ran track and field. My degree and educational background is in exercise sciences and sociology […] Then I did a year of graduate studies at Tulane in Public Health and Health Administration with a concentration in nutrition.

Q: What were the post-graduate plans?
A: After having done that [school], I had some prospects. I worked out for the Chicago Bears and a couple other teams, a Canadian team, nothing happened. That turned into wanting to coach college football — so I got into strength and conditioning.

Q: With that goal in mind, what came next?
A: I became the coordinator of football strength conditioning at Northwestern University. A year later, Colorado offered me a position I couldn’t refuse — to just kind of run the football strength conditioning program. And, you know, basically be on the football staff.

Q: Tell me about the transition from college athletics to community fitness
A: So I was like, you know what? I really love training people. I’m gonna try to bring what I did in strength conditioning at Northwestern University and Colorado, into the lay person’s training world, right? And the Fit came out of that.

Q: And so The Fit was born, where did you pop up?
A: Originally, we were down the street in Mystery to Me — the bookstore. It was a great space for starting out. People came in, we started with small groups, we’re doing some personal training. And it just grew really, really quickly.

Q: What’s the M.O. for the gym?
A: We want to keep our classes and our training at a high level + high standard — we will never change that. Our standards are really, really high. But we do it especially because we have a certain commitment to not necessarily perfection, but technical accuracy.

Q: Where does the exercise science come into play?
A: We take [clients] through an assessment, and say you know you have an imbalance in your shoulder, right? And you have this hip issue, right? And your hamstrings are a little tight, right? So what we have to do now is get you to a place where we can balance those things out, and then we can get after it.

Q: What advice do you have for someone looking to venture into beginners fitness?
A: Resources are different now than they were years ago, because the internet exists. There are some very credible spaces online that people can go to to gain a better understanding of fitness and exercise. Broaden your scope + go to several different places to get a better sense of what is right and what is wrong. It’s almost like politics.

Q: Tell me about the writing on the walls
A: This is about goal setting. It could be meditating a few times a week, doing a pull up, reading 50 books. We are open to any goals so long as you are working towards something. It’s how we keep evolving.

Q: What’s next for The Fit?
A: We’ve got some stuff coming in the fall, we’re concentrating a lot on our semi-private training to get people into a space where they can focus more on their specific goals and wellness.

More from 608today
Whether you’re a weekend warrior or the next Tiger Woods, these 11 places to play golf around Madison are sure to make for a good round.
Check out these 14 yoga opportunities around Madison which offer beginner classes, memberships, hot yoga, and more.
Check out our guide to the many meaningful murals you can find around our city.
Prepare for fall weather in Madison with these seasonal temperature and precipitation outlooks.
Check out these brunch restaurants, cafes, and diners in Madison, serving a variety of egg dishes, mimosas, bloody marys, and more.
If you don’t have coffee already in hand, consider this your sign to grab some.
Football season is upon us, and we have the need-to-know info about the Badgers + how to make the most out of game days.
Here’s what makes Madison a great sports city.
From lifting weights, indoor rock climbing, personal training, dance fitness, boxing classes, and martial arts programs — we’ve rounded up some gyms and fitness offerings around Madison.
Consider these our Hollywood signs.