I have presented several times on “Real World Fat Loss” (the 2007 Perform Better tour, the 2008 NSCA conference, the 2009 IDEA and ECA conferences to name just a few).
As part of my presentation I talked about my “story” – why I became fascinated with fat loss and effective fat loss training — and the need to destroy the myths that surround the topic — and why it keeps me up at night scouring journals for new information.
I believe that behind every person who is trying to change something — or present something new — there is a passion – an overwhelming why – that drives them to find the answers. It’s become something that I look for before really listening to coaches or trainers. The why. The Raison d’être.
I recently heard from my long time friend Jason Ferruggia (Jay and I first met about thirteen years ago at a strength training seminar). Jay was busy putting the finishing touches on his new muscle building and athletic development course. I was surprised that he hadn’t mentioned it to me before as it was a big project.
But then when I thought about it a bit more I wasn’t surprised at all. You see Jason looks at building muscle in a very analytical way — he’s always looking at research, reading training logs, testing methods and refining his ideas.
That’s his passion.
And that’s why guys like myself, and a bunch of other trainers are always asking his input on how to gain muscle. I flew him out to California to conduct a staff training for my team because he’s not only one of the best there is – he’s constantly improving his methodology.
I mean – we’re talking about a guy who took himself drug-free from 147 to 231lbs.
We’re talking about a guy who has tried every training method under the sun and confesses to spending $60,000 on worthless supplements to try to gain size.
This is a guy who would email me in the middle of the night when I was going through my chemotherapy treatments with ideas on halting muscle breakdown and using different nutrients to enhance my immune system. His desire to find the solution to muscle growth problems drove him.
And it continues to drive him today.
Some of you may be aware that I used to have a column in Mens Fitness magazine called Hardgainer. I was a skinny kid who gained muscle (fought my first mens black belt event at 136lbs) and the editors felt that a regular column would be a great idea.
I did it for a year before I gave it up and handed the reins to Jay. You see – his passion for the topic, and to be brutally honest, his knowledge on how to gain muscle was ahead of mine. I pride myself, and have always done so – on honesty and integrity and being authentic- and felt that he would make a great resource for the magazine, and for the topic matter, a better resource than I was.
Jason’s written several articles and manuals on muscle building.
But his newest product is something different…
After being out of the gym for a while due to a book deal, various other business ventures, some family issues and rehabbing his own injury taking up his time, Jay couldn’t resist the pull anymore…. he’s back full time running a gym and training people. Testing new ideas, and transforming people. Truth is, I don’t think in his head, he ever actually stopped – because every couple of days I’d get an email or a call about something he’d been reading, or thinking about or trying out…
We talked recently about muscle building when you’re NOT a skinny teenager or hardgainer, and how today’s clientele want to not only look better but to feel better (no one wants to be unable to go for a walk or play a pick up soccer game or basketball game because they are so beat up from their supposedly healthy exercise schedule), and to actually perform better (you want to not only look athletic – you want to be athletic…)
So – Jason being who he is – went to work – trying out new methods, exercises, splits, recovery techniques, diet.
And now he’s sharing his findings in his latest product.
I spent last night reading the new course. Even just reading the information you can almost feel the passion behind the words — and you’ll see why Jay is one of the best in the field at this.
I think the overall message when you’re looking for information in any field is to find the most passionate individuals – those with a Raison d’être and an incessant desire to find out why… and a primary question of “how to make it better”… when it comes to muscle building – it’s Jason Ferruggia.
Maybe one day I’ll know all the answers. Until then I’ll keep studying :)
–
AC
PS – If you want to read Jay’s story – get over HERE
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