Archive for August, 2011

As promised here is the workout we did at the Long Beach Perform Better Summit

Here’s a breakdown of what we did with a small amount of equipment, a couple hundred attendees and a LOT of heart and effort:

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The entire workout took just over one hour to complete (including instruction time).

Seriously, these PB events are amazing. If you’re a fitness pro and you don’t take time to attend a PB summit, then I’m not sure you belong in our field.

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AC
PS – Special thanks to the Results Fitness team for helping me out at this event. Our entire training team were at PB this weekend. None of our supposed “competition” were there. The best fitness presenters in the World were in Long Beach and my team were learning from them — our ‘competition’ weren’t. There’s a reason why our team are the best there is …. and the gap is widening.

Everything you thought you knew about running a fitness business has changed.

This has happened countless times throughout our industry’s history.
And is a reason why 80% of fitness businesses go out of business in the first 5 years.

So how do we as fitness business owner adapt?

Get all the details here…

http://www.repstorevenue.com

When you find out, you’ll either be happy and fired up…

…. or scared to death….

If you’re making a living in the fitness industry, or you’re trying to, you better listen up, because this affects you, whether you like it or not.

The most important thing you can do in your fitness business right now is to check this out:

http://www.repstorevenue.com

Please check it out, you won’t be sorry.

The fitness business model of the last few years is changing forever. Find out how you can evolve with the changes and not only survive but actually thrive and dominate your market:

http://www.repstorevenue.com

Changing the way fitness is done,

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AC

Just a reminder (in case you’re not on the email newsletter list)to download this EXCELLENT manual from Dave Tate and the EliteFTS team.
Oh, did I mention it’s completely F-R-E-E?

The Vault
This also includes links to TWO seminars for Training and Business….
There’s no charge at all – just get over there and download the goodies….

This compilation e-book contains:

* 200 pages of Dave’s best training information, including a ton of unpublished material.

* A full bench specialist program

* A complete meet-prep program for the squat, bench, and deadlift that resulted in an EFS lifter adding 230 pounds to his total.

* The complete Force Training Seminar – over 6 hours of video.

* Dave’s Passion to Profits Seminar – over one hour of video.

You can get this entire e-book for absolutely free. That’s right, there is no need to purchase this e-book.

All you have to do is go to THIS page and join the EliteFTS Strength Club.
To learn more about this club click HERE.

There is no cost to join and you get this compilation for free when you sign up.

If you don’t want to join the Strength Club but would still like to get this product, we’ll let you. There will be no refunds or exchanges on this item because it is an electronic download shipped at the time of conformation.

If you were to buy the contents of this e-book separately, they would cost you $840.00. That means this compilation an excellent value at $199.00 and a much better value if you get it for free by signing up for our Strength Club HERE

This compilation will allow you to:

Develop a personal strategic training plan that serves as a blueprint for your training success.

Pinpoint your training weaknesses for optimal gains.

Avoid the ten biggest training pitfalls that may be holding you back.

Push your squat through the roof without ever free squatting.

Avoid overtraining and overuse injuries.

Develop higher levels of training discipline, control, and organization.

Train any athlete for explosive power and maximal strength development.

Take up to 7 inches off your bench press stroke.

Get more out of your training with less work.

Break records every time you step on the platform.

Use bands for circa-maximal and extra workouts.

Use chains to overcome the strength curve.

Implement weight-releasers and other training devices.

Overcome sticking points in the squat, bench press, and dead lift.

Get the results you really want, faster and with greater certainty than before.

Clear up the clutter in your training program by focusing on those things that really matter.

Apply sub-maximal and maximal methods of training.

Implement extra workouts into your training for restoration and strength gain.

How to push up your general physical preparedness.

Finally lift the big weights you know you are capable of.

Understand the finer points of preparing for competition or test days.

Have a complete plan you can use today!

Learn very simple things you can do to transform your business.

Learn the most important aspects in starting your own business.

Understand what a Strategic Objective is and how to use indicators to track your progress.

Understand the biggest reasons why most business fail.

Have your own business that enhances your life.
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Seriously the “passion to profits” seminar alone is worth the price (oh wait, it’s FREE). Well, it’s worth the time taken to go download the manual.

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AC

Soccer training still seems to be based on just “more soccer” – the conditioning is often just small-sided games or small area games. The biggest sport in the World in my opinion, still hasn’t embraced modern strength and conditioning training.
(Exception – the Athletes Performance guys have done a great job in trying to modernize soccer training)
There’s a reason they don’t have men play women. Because men are stronger. Therefore strength is a factor.
The theory that “running with the ball” is different than running without it, is fine. Until you realize that’s NOT always what happens – good players kick the ball forward and sprint to it, or receive a pass at full speed. Plus there are headers, defending etc.
It’s not all ball work.

The biggest sport in the World should be leading the sports science and strength and conditioning fields and it’s not. It’s barely keeping up.

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The average career length of an NFL player is about 3.5 years. The NFL recently said it was much longer than that but if we use the term average – it’s about 3.5 years. A first round draft pick averages about six years, but let’s face it, a first round draft pick isn’t exactly average.

Other than athletic talent though – what are the secrets to athletic longevity? What allows an athlete to play longer?
If we can accept the fact that training programs, smart nutrition and advances in recovery/rehabilitation could lengthen a career (and have dramatically when we compare todays careers in sports to careers thirty years ago), then we’re effectively saying that the biggest difference in a career could be smart training and nutrition.

How can we take this idea and start developing better exercise and nutrition programs for the general population that could actually enhance quality of life?

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I spent some time talking with Results Fitness physical therapist Amy Wunsch recently. Amy has been working on my hips, which after years of martial arts are surprisingly tight, despite all the stretching I do.

Amy pointed out that my joint was “congested” and she needed to mobilize it with traction work and various techniques. She said that no matter how much I stretched, my muscles would never be able to over-ride the joint.

Here’s where I started thinking — if the joint capsule is locked up, and the muscles can’t over-ride that – then movement will be impaired. If movement is impaired, muscles aren’t doing their job. If muscles aren’t doing their job, then as the single biggest contributor to resting metabolic rate – metabolism must be lowered.

Could we raise metabolism with joint mobilization and then corrective exercise?

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I’ve asked a lot of people this question as regards bodybuilding training and no one has come up with an answer. What was the last great advance in bodybuilding training? I can only come up with Arthur Jones (HIT training) and the subsequent work by Mentzer and Yates in that area. Jay Cutler, the current Mr Olympia’s program looks very similar to Lee Haney’s (Mr Olympia in the 80′s).
Thirty years and I can’t come up with a single change in training methodology. Now, bodybuilding has progressed for sure, but maybe only in the nutrition and supplementation (and pharmaceutical) categories.

Training in almost every other area has evolved, but pure hypertrophy training, bodybuilding, has remained stagnant.

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Something that works very well for fat loss, as evidenced by bodybuilders and fitness competitors is multiple meals per day. We’ve used that approach for years at Results Fitness and it always has worked.  We have clients who have skipped breakfast for years, and just adding breakfast speeds up fat loss significantly.

Over the past year though, we’ve experimented with intermittent fasting. It works too.
Two seemingly opposite approaches work pretty well. That’s a sign that both can’t be the “answer”. So what are we missing?

Both are ways of controlling caloric intake. Maybe it’s just what people can handle better? Or maybe it’s something else.

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At this point, if you’re not taking resveratrol, curcumin, fish oil and vitamin D3 supplements I don’t know what you’re waiting for. This year alone has seen 163 studies on Vitamin D supplementation, 281 studies on fish oil, 458 on resveratrol, and 401 on curcumin all showing beneficial effects.

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I wrote an article a couple of years ago about how the fitness profession over-reacts and then under-reacts.
Right now the over-reaction has to be as regards shoes. Yes I’m sure we originally over-reacted and had super air/gel filled six inch thick padded soles, but I think that the zero support “minimalist” shoes is probably an over-reaction too.

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AC
PS – for more of my random thoughts go HERE
PPS – Make sure you download the free manual and videos from EliteFTS HERE

I co-wrote the following top ten list with Jason Ferruggia in mid 2006 for EliteFTS.com. Five years later and it’s still pretty good career development advice – check it out:

1) Set benchmarks of success that you want to hit. If you work in a club, maybe you want to become the head trainer or the busiest trainer? Perhaps you just want to have a full client load or charge more money?  Maybe you want to go out on your own or open your own place? (Keep in mind that although it seems like a goal, opening your own place or even working for yourself is maybe not the way you want to go. There are some GREAT trainers who have made a name for themselves working for someone else)If you’re just starting out, seek out a mentor to help you. Offer to assist them for free or even pay them for their time. It will put your experience and education on the fast track to a level far beyond any financial investment you may make.

2) Establish a level of excellence in everything that you do. For example – How’s your exercise technique? How’s your client’s exercise technique? What if you’re not there? Your client’s exercise form, without your supervision, is a window into your abilities. If you took a vacation and Dave Tate was supervising your AVERAGE clients’ squat workout (not your star client!), would you be proud of their form, or would you have the excuses lined up? Think through your communication skills too, your customer service skills, phone scripts etc. Revisit EVERYTHING.

3) Create a replicable system of program design. There has been a backlash against formal program design recently. The attitude has been “I don’t know what I’m doing exactly until I get to the gym.” This is acceptable when it comes from an experienced trainee, but in business, systems are everything. We should be able to write a program exactly as you do, without your input, by merely following your directions. This is the first step into hiring staff or increasing your business.

4) What are the results of your TYPICAL client? We all have the superstars that we can hold up and say “this is our work!” Well, guess what. ALL your clients are your work, even the “athletically challenged.” It’s easy to show us a picture of a pro athlete who you work with or  a Men’s Health cover model and take all the credit (even though these guys were pro athletes or models before they even met you). Your reputation is built on improving the average client, getting Johnny off the bench and into the game, getting 30 lbs of fat off of Suzy. Raise the standards of your results across the board. We have a basic rule that if you’re not getting 10-12 inquiries or referrals per month – go back and work on your skills because you’re not good enough yet.

“People who are cocky and arrogant say, “I know that” and move along.People who are confident and positive ask themselves, “How good am I at that?” and seek to improve”-Jeffrey Gitomer

5) Think about the type of clients you want. You may want to train baseball players exclusively but right now only 10 percent of your clients come from that niche. How can you target more in that market? Maybe it means offering your services to some local kids for free to build your reputation?

6) And what kind of clients do you have? If you were to classify them as A, B, C, or D, with A being a highly motivated client in your target market, who trains hard, never cancels, is a great ad for your business, and refers other clients, and D being “you need the work to pay your bills,” how would you classify them? (You can use any system of classification that you want but hopefully you get the picture.) Every three months, you should be able to “trim the fat” and get rid of the bottom tier of clients. If this isn’t the case, then it’s doubtful that your skills are where they need to be.

7) Start studying the ancillaries of your profession. For example, if strength is your forte, then make sure you have a basic understanding of nutrition, mobility, energy system work, flexibility, and injury prevention/rehabilitation. The goal is NOT to become an expert in all of these areas, but to build a basic level of competence so that you can communicate on the   topic and establish who the experts are in these areas. You want to look for THE expert and also the LOCAL expert. This helps build a network for you to consult. (It has basically been the impetus behind the EliteFTS advisory team). To be quite honest, until you are good at what you do, no one cares about your ability to write about it or wants to view your new DVD on it!

8)  Magazine writing and product development all hinge on your abilities as a trainer. Getting good is not a step you should want to skip. If you want to get away from training and coaching, then maybe this field is not for you. Coaching is why we all do this. Don’t be in a hurry to get past that stage.

9) Similarly, if you want to write, STUDY writing. Some of the top journalists in this field, such as Sean Hyson, Adam Campbell, and Lou Schuler, have spoken to more top trainers than anyone else. These guys know a great deal but NEVER pass themselves off as trainers – they never disrespect our field so don’t be disrespectful to these guys and think you know how to write. Learn your craft.

10) Business book number one has to be The E Myth by Michael Gerber. Your goal should be to read this book ASAP. A good goal is to read a business book a week, alongside studying training. The second book to read is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It has about 15 chapters. Keep reading this book. Read a chapter a day every day so that you basically read it twice a month. While we’re on the subject of reading, a competent trainer should be reading Entrepreneur magazine, Fortune Small Business, Inc, Fast Company, etc. You should also be reading all the fitness magazines and websites. You can make fun of the fitness magazines all you want, but it’s what your clients are reading and you should know what’s out there. And face it, there’s not a single trainer out there who wouldn’t love to have a column or article in a national magazine. Read the magazines.

11) Attend any and all seminars in your area. You’re not that good that you can afford not to attend. We’ve never got dumber from attending any educational event. In fact, the networking alone is worth more than the seminar fee. And don’t limit yourself to only training events. You want your butt in all the business seminars in your area also.

The fastest shortcut to career success? You just need to have a methodical plan to improve your skills and therefore your business, and do everything in your power to execute that plan.

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AC