Archive for September, 2010

Guest blog from Eric Cressey.

Eric is one of the smartest minds in the fitness field today and one of the very few people that I’ve brought in personally to train my staff. I can bring in anyone in the fitness profession – but it’s a short list that I’ve actually brought in, as my staff are head and shoulders above most.

Show AND Go

In the marketing world, it’s been said that if you try to be appeal to everybody, you wind up appealing to nobody.  It’s a valuable message, as very few products are truly universal – and even if they were, not even large companies have the marketing budgets to make reaching everybody cost-effective.

And, when I started creating my new product, Show and Go, I had that message in mind: you can’t be everything to everybody.

Here’s the problem: there are a lot of things in a comprehensive strength and conditioning program that everybody needs to utilize.  From the minutia to the big picture, I could go on all day: foam rolling, mobility warm-ups, single-leg training, more horizontal pulling, fluctuation of training stress, sufficient deloading periods, extra posterior chain work, a balance of open- and closed-chain upper body pressing, glute activation, rotator cuff strength – the list goes on and on.

Wait a second…aren’t fat loss programs supposed to be entirely different from mass-building programs?  And aren’t powerlifting programs supposed to be a stark contrast from those followed by endurance athletes?  Yes…sort of.

If we are talking about the meat and potatoes differences, the big disparities really come down to the supplemental energy systems development/cardiovascular conditioning, supplemental plyometric training, and the total volume in the program – and what you eat.  In other words, the “constants” I outline two paragraphs ago – pretty much everything that’s done in the gym – really do hold true for all these populations, whether they’re trying to get huge, look good in a bikini, dunk a basketball, bench press 400, or knock ten minutes off their best 10K time.

So, that’s what I considered when I created a product that – with a few easy-to-apply modifications – could give people the Show and the Go.  It offers five different supplemental options to accommodate the fat loss people, the get bigger/stronger folks, and the competitive athletes in the crowd.  And, it’s got 2x/week, 3x/week, and 4x/week training options to work with the schedules and competing demands (or lack thereof) in these different populations.  Plus, there is an entire chapter devoted to exercise modifications to help trainees work around equipment limitations and mobility shortcomings.  And, there is an online video database of the more than 175 exercises featured in the program so that you can not only learn the technique for each exercise, but also quickly and easily find substitutions for exercises that might not work for you.

In short, this is a versatile resource, not just a static book.  You’re keeping the meat and potatoes, but changing the portion sizes, the side salad, and how frequently you eat them.

—

Back when Eric was first opening his gym, he was on the phone and emailing me all the time asking me questions about pricing, marketing, strategic objectives. I knew I could help him a lot, and I also knew that I didn’t need to worry about the quality of his services – the programming was always going to be top-notch at Cressey Performance.

I was one of the first people to pick up a copy of Eric’s new programming manual. Now I get sent a TON of products and programs at our facility -most of which you guys never hear about as quite honestly they aren’t good enough for me to finish – let alone tell you guys about.

This product is one of the few that I consider a must read.
Check it out => All Show AND All Go

–
AC
PS – one of my business coaching group members was actually part of a test group of subjects that went through this program. His results were outstanding (and he’s a veteran of training). Pick up your copy => All Show AND All Go

Access to the video database alone is worth the investment.

Below is a guest newsletter/free manual from Tom Venuto

Tom is one of the all-time experts in fat loss, body-building and improving body composition. This is
 great stuff from Tom, as always (and free stuff is 
always cool!)

The Next Generation of Muscle Building and Fat Loss Techniques

—

It’s so darn frustrating! Most people GAIN FAT when
they try to gain muscle!

The worst part is that “the experts” tell you that
you HAVE TO gain fat to gain muscle. It’s sheer nonsense!

In this new manual I show you the EXACT reasons why
most people gain fat when they try to gain muscle and
how you can stay lean and KEEP YOUR ABS showing -
even when you’re gaining muscular bodyweight.

This information on how to gain SOLID LEAN MUSCLE is
not based on guesswork or theory… this system comes
from research – AND from actual real-life trials
and tribulations (mine!)

Get Your Copy of My NEW Manual, “The End of Bulking…
Inside, You’ll Discover:

* Why almost all traditional methods of gaining muscle
make you fat… and how you can add lean mass while
staying lean ALL YEAR ROUND!

* The 7 pitfalls of the old “bulking and cutting” method
and the 10 new “Holy Grail Body Transformation” methods
 for gaining rock-solid fat-free muscle

* Why women need these new muscle-building methods even
more than men!(hundreds are already using this system to
build sleek, lean, feminine muscular bodies, without
looking “bulky”)

Follow my lead and learn from my past mistakes by downloading
my F-R-E-E report. Just enter your email and you’ll get
INSTANT ACCESS:

=> The end of cutting and bulking

–
AC

Be sure to check out Tom’s newest manual HERE:

=> The end of cutting and bulking

“Someone who knows the state capitals of 17 of 50 states may be proud of her knowledge.
But someone who knows 47 may be more likely to think of herself as not knowing 3 capitals.”
-Chip and Dan Heath discussing ‘gap knowledge’
Made to Stick

—

Twenty-three years ago I passed my first degree black belt exam. The day I actually received my belt – my instructor tied it on me and told me – “Now, you start learning”.

Then in the next six months – my knowledge and ability continued to develop rapidly — I learned more than I’d learned in all of my years of training again. It was like my knowledge level was doubling every six months. The black belt wasn’t the end — it really was the beginning.

I think being a fitness professional is the same. If you’ve been a trainer for five years, and you are still actively learning, attending seminars, reading — you’ll learn more in your sixth year than you’ve learned in your entire career so far. Your ability to filter good information from bad, to interpret research, and to know who to listen to, who’s work to read etc is so vastly improved that you can actually improve exponentially. As long as you are still studying of course :)

I’ve read around 40 books this year so far, attended twelve seminars, read countless journal articles and business magazines, listened to audios and watched educational DVD’s. I don’t think I read 15 books the first year I was training people. I maybe didn’t read more than 30 books in my entire college education.

Craig Ballantyne told me that he has spent more money on education this year than he made his first year as a trainer – in fact he’s spent more than most trainers make in a year. I bet he’s learned more this year than he did back then.

Keep learning.

–
AC

PS – speaking of seminars- next week is a big week at Results Fitness. We have our last mentorship group of the year (sold out) and next weekend is our first Fat Loss and Body Composition Seminar.

What’s your goal for the rest of the summer? Or the rest of the year even?

I know quite a few people who reached their low body fat  goal – some even achieved their lifelong dream of seeing  six pack abs…

Now they want to gain some muscle, but they’re scared of gaining back the fat along with the muscle (which is very common… so it’s not an unwarranted fear)

If you want to:

* Gain muscle WITHOUT getting fat (NO “bulking up” – just lean gains)

* Lose fat without losing muscle (FORGET the “lean but bean pole” look)

* Or even gain muscle and lose fat at the same time (The “holy grail” of all fitness goals!)

Then you need check out this new free download – The Holy Grail Physique Transformation

Only 108 days left in the year…. what are you waiting for?

–
AC

From the San Francisco Chronicle

Ex-Navy Seal building a fitness empire

Randy Hetrick had a problem.

As a special ops squadron commander deploying on ships, submarines and safe houses, he needed a way to keep his team in world-class shape without having access to world-class gyms.

So during a deployment in Southeast Asia, Hetrick grabbed some parachute webbing and began stitching away.

He anchored the straps, and, using his body weight for resistance, started doing presses. And flys. And curls. Read the rest of this entry »

(I talked about kettlebell training for cardio previously here).

A new study that I just reviewed (for our upcoming fat loss seminar) had ten subjects undergo a customized kettlebell snatch workout.

The researchers had the subjects establish their maximum kettlebell snatch rate per minute, and then the subjects performed ¼ of the max reps in rounds of 15s on, 15s off for 20 mins alternating arms. (For example, if they performed 20 reps in their max test, they would work at a rate of 5 snatches every 15s for the workout).

So the workout was e.g. 5 KB snatches in 15s with your right hand, rest 15s, and then repeat with your left hand and rest. That would be one minute (or one round), and this was repeated for twenty minutes.

Caloric burn was 13.6 cals per min aerobically and 6.6 cals per min anaerobic (20.2 calories per minute). That’s a very intense workout and the subjects showed heart rates of 93% of max on average.  But again, as I pointed out before – you’re burning a ton of calories per minute, but the reps are a lot lower (and less heavy on the joints) than a traditional cardio workout (such as running sprints).

Kettlebell training can be a fantastic, perhaps even more effective than traditional methods, cardiovascular training tool.

–
AC
PS – For a done-for-you kettlebell fat loss workout program combining kettlebell training and traditional bodyweight training, check out => Kettlebell Revolution