Archive for July, 2010

I’ve been traveling a lot recently. Like a lot of you I’m busy and find it hard to get to the gym when I’m on the road. so I have to use bodyweight exercises to maximize my training when I’m short on time and on equipment.

Then when I get home, I have so much work that I need to catch up on, so even with short workouts, traveling to the gym and back adds some more time that I really can’t afford right now. So I’ve started to do more home workouts.

Enter the TRX – which was recently voted the “Best Total Body Training tool” by Men’s Health magazine.

We had the Fitness Anywhere team out at our facility early last year to train our staff and show us some cutting edge bodyweight training.

After this training I picked up a TRX for my own use and have started doing some Metabolic Resistance Training workouts on the road and at home (actually out in the backyard) in place of some of my metabolic workouts that are traditionally done at the gym.

Here’s what I did yesterday (click the link for videos):

Circuit one:

TRX single leg squat (each leg)
TRX Inverted Row
TX Chest press

Perform as many sets of 6-8 reps as possible in 15 minutes (I got seven rounds).

Circuit two:

TRX suspended lunge
TRX Atomic Push up -( a push-up prone jacknife combo)
TRX Power pull

Perform as many sets of 6-8 reps as possible in 15 minutes (I got six rounds)

Trust me – this was tougher than it looks – took 30 mins – and hit a ton of muscle, and burned a ton of calories. It was a fantastic workout and the TRX is a fantastic tool.

Take advantage of the good weather that’s starting to arrive (at least in California) and get outside for some of your workouts.

–
AC
PS – For a GREAT article on the TRX and Planar Training – check THIS out. It’s mandatory reading for my staff and has a place in our staff training manual.
PPS – For more EXCELLENT TRX exercises – check out the TRX exercise database here

This is something that regular readers will know I’m big on. A hybrid or “mixed” approach to training. Instead of picking a “style” e.g. kettlebells – why not take an MMA approach to training and just use what works – even if it means combining “styles”. With that in mind – Pavel and Chris Frankel KILL it with this new program!!! Check it out:

–
Alwyn
PS – For more EXCELLENT TRX exercises – check out the TRX exercise database here

In 1993 the ultimate fighting championship was created.

The initial concept was to determine which martial art – under a no holds barred scenario was superior.

It was karate vs judo vs wrestling vs boxing etc.

Fast forward 15 years…..

We no longer talk about martial art styles — we talk about MIXED martial arts. It’s a mainstream term.

We no longer use the term ‘style’ to describe a fighter — we say “he has good stand-up” or a “good ground game”.

Because martial arts have evolved and have embraced a totality.

Styles were a reductionist approach.
A strong guy went to wrestling. A good striker went to kickboxing etc….

But a holistic or total approach to fighting was always superior. And it’s a mixed system.

Bruce Lee advocated this (he died in 1973)……

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless”.
“Accept no way as the way, accept no limitation as limitation”

Here we are, 37 years later and the martial arts world has embraced that ideology completely.

But the fitness world is still arguing about which method is better – powerlifting vs olympic lifting, aerobics vs bodybuilding…

We need to evolve from this reductionist approach…

–
Alwyn

Duane covers this type of hill training (and much more) of it in detail in his product:

Total Football Training

–
AC

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in Chicago.  It was the 2nd of three Functional Training Summits they hold throughout the summer, with the 1st being in Providence, RI and the third still to come this August 6th-8th in Long Beach, CA.

While I was at the event I thought about how much fitness professionals could learn from Perform Better the company – so I decided to share some lessons I’ve taken away from doing business with them which could benefit all of our businesses:

• Deliver Value To Grow Your Business – I’ve attended about 10 Perform Better events and made numerous purchases from them and every time I’ve felt like I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth.  In fact, to this point I’ve yet to come across someone who didn’t feel like they’ve received their money’s worth (or more) at any of the Perform Better events.This kind of consistent value that they deliver is the foundation of their success and should be the foundation of any businesses success.  It’s as simple as this: In every transaction you have with a customer or client provide them with an experience that makes them want to do business with you again.

• Educate and the Sales Will Come – The Perform Better Summits, the Functional Movement Screen Workshops and all the other Perform Better events are all incredible sales vehicles without ever really ‘pitching’ anything.  The key is simple – each of these events educates fitness professionals on how they can do a better job serving their clients.
  This is a great way to generate sales in two ways:
  1. Any of the tools or resources used in the presentations are made available by Perform Better so if fitness professionals want to implement what they’ve learned, Perform Better offers solutions so they can.
  2. The fitness industry is notorious for turnover so by educating fitness professionals, Perform Better is essentially helping people stay in the industry, become more successful and in turn potentially become a long term customer.

How can you apply this?  The more informed your clients are – the more successful they will be.  If you educate them on nutrition, supplements and a supportive lifestyle, they’ll be more likely to reach their goals and more likely to stay with you as a client. Not to mention that if you provide some of the solutions like supplements or nutrition education – you can offer them to your clients as a profit center.

• Make Everything A Win / Win – This is similar to my first point but since we deal with Perform Better on a bit of a different level than most consumers since we offer a pre-conference IYCA Certification Workshop and have done a few other things with them outside of simply attending events or making purchases.What I’ve consistently seen from them is that in every transaction, every project and in every working relationship – they work to make sure that both parties come out ahead.This sounds simple – but in business and especially in the fitness industry – it’s not as common as it should be.They’ve worked diligently to make sure we benefit at every turn when we deal with them – and you should be doing the same in all of your business relationships.  You should make it a goal that every client, prospect, JV partner or member of your network feels like when they deal with you – they benefit.

• Keep Evolving – Every year Perform Better Summits keep changing and improving.  Each year there are new presentations highlighting the latest successful industry trends in training and equipment. In fact, the Summits are often the vehicle to educate fitness pros on the latest industry developments – so they’re usually the people setting the tone for a lot of what successful trainers and coaches are doing with their clients.

• Use Relationships As Your Foundation – We talk about it over and over and Perform Better is a perfect example of it – relationships are crucial to business success.

When I attend Perform Better events it feels kind of like a big family reunion – but more fun 

This isn’t an accident.  Their team is incredible and takes a personal interest in everyone they do business with.  In fact, it’s pretty apparent in everything that they do from consistently looking for ways for you (or us) to save money when making purchases to little things like Chris Poirier – taking a couple minutes out from running the event – to have an I-Phone Lightsaber battle with Tyler.

In fact, the Rep that we work with, Jennie Rohde had a baby gift for Holly and me when we showed up.  How thoughtful is that?

All of this is stuff you can do to.  Take a person interest in your clients.  Be nice (and attentive) to their kids.  Go out of your way to help them be more successful.

There you go – 5 big lessons you can take away from the equipment company I consider to be far and away the leader in serving the fitness professional market.

By the way – if you’re going to be making any orders with Perform Better soon, give Jennie  Rohde a call at 888-556-7464 ext. 114 and tell her you read this blog and she’ll make sure you get our discount 

Dedicated to your success,

Pat Rigsby
www.fitbusinessinsider.com

This total football training program was designed by Duane Carlisle, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the San Francisco 49ers and, quite frankly, there is no other speed, strength and conditioning program for football that you could even compare it to.

=> Total Football Training

I’ve known Duane for years, (we’re on the Perforn Better tour together) and earlier this year he came down to our gym, Results Fitness to exchange training ideas. Duane is always learning and improving and this program reflects the very latest in his training arsenal.

It truly is a revolutionary program and one that *every* football coach, trainer and/or parent of football players should have (if you’re interested in faster, stronger, more explosive players).

Like any comprehensive athletic development program, it covers football specific speed (linear and  multidirectional), strength, power, flexibility and conditioning in great detail.

That alone makes it King of the Hill in terms of football specific training programs. But that’s not what changes the game…

Coach Carlisle built the entire series around an 8 week off season training program. The DVDs and the manual work off each other so you don’t have to think about what to do. All the workouts, for every single set, rep, drill and exercise are laid out for you.

All you do is open the manual and look at Day 1 Workout 1. Put in the DVD and you’ll see that everything you want to do for Day 1, Workout 1 is demonstrated on the DVD.

This is how the program works for *everything*, soup to nuts. Day 1, Week 1 to Day 4, Week 8. So you don’t have to piece together what to do and when.

And that means you don’t have to become a strength and conditioning expert or sacrifice time you normally spend on offense/defense/special teams trying to figure out what speed workout to do or what lifts, sets and reps you need for the weight room.

Because it’s already done.

But don’t be scared off by the ‘offseason’ structure.

You can run the bulk of the program while you’re inseason because your players need to continue to improve their speed, strength and specific endurance throughout the season, not just during the summer.

It’s as much a guide as it is a specific program.

Of course, there’s a lot more in the program than the workouts and drills on video.

So, look, I’ll end on this note:

If you’re involved in coaching football and/or football players, Duane Carlisle’s Total Football Training program is a no-brainer. I highly recommend you invest in this program.

Check it out => Total Football Training

–
Alwyn
PS – Even though I think it should be called hand-egg – this is a great resource!
Check out the seven minute preview of the DVD series HERE