The fitness level of a Division I basketball player differs from an average Joe, but with a journey of workouts, anyone can get there.

Former Saluki men’s basketball player Josh Swan started his own motivational fitness social media pages, “The Progression Journey,” as a stepping-stone to starting a company or opening a gym in the future.

Swan averaged 4 points a game in two years before suffering a career-ending knee injury in the 2012-2013 season. He served his last two seasons as an undergraduate student assistant coach.

“I can relate to athletes just a little more than the average person can because I was an athlete,” Swan said. 

Swan said his injury is the main source of inspiration to start his program.

“I just look at it as a way to get people information,” he said. “Hopefully they can prevent getting any kind of injuries that stop them from playing a sport they love.”

Along with being told he could not play basketball anymore, Swan was told he would struggle to stay active, according to his Facebook post announcing his pages.

“Basically, I said to hell with that and got into the gym,” it reads. “Now I’m feeling better than ever.”

He posts motivational quotes and videos of different workouts on his Twitter and Instagram pages. He turned his personal accounts into professional ones, and has 3,588 followers on Twitter and 1,500 on Instagram as of Wednesday.

Swan said he is unsure how much money he would need to support The Progression Journey, but knows it would be quite a bit. He said he would have to do some research to calculate what the membership fee would be.

“A lot of gyms, I feel like, are over charging,” Swan said. “I’ve been to some that have been $50 a month where people don’t necessarily get the full benefit of how much they’re paying.”

He said he has not taken money from anyone yet.

“I’m kind of just doing it out of the goodness of my heart right now,” Swan said.

His workout videos include lifts, push up claps, pull up claps and handstand push ups. Swan said he would have someone new to the program start with many reps of the basic exercise without claps.

“Some of the things I put on my page are just ways of me showing what can be achieved with time,” he said.

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Swan said junior guard Anthony Beane has taken advice from him on how to gain weight and how to heal his body.

“That’s my go-to person whenever I have a question about certain things that involve exercise,” Beane said.

Beane said physicality helps in basketball because the longer he plays, the more wear and tear his body goes through.

Swan has a graduate assistant position next year with head strength and conditioning coach Clete McLeod while pursuing a master’s degree in kinesiology.

Swan, whose personal workout plan varies, said he is currently doing heavy lifting four times a week.

One can follow @JoshSwan_Fit on Twitter and/or Instagram to view his workout videos.

Aaron Graff can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3311 ext. 256.