This is the response I have heard from people who contact me about personal training. After we’ve discussed their goals, their needs, and their current level of fitness, they ten proceed to end our conversation by saying “once I’m in shape I’ll give you a call”. That’s like cleaning up the house before the cleaning lady comes. Now this may be a way to avoid committing to a training program, and if so, that’s a discussion for another time. I always thought that after people attempt to get in shape on their own, and either don’t know how or just aren’t motivated, they hire a trainer. Read More
Functional foods, super foods, gluten free foods, anything-with-kale-in-it foods, etc. are all hot nutrition topics lately. Fats, particularly oils, are right up there, as well. To be more specific, coconut oil is probably at the top of this topic list. Nutritionists seem to be amused at watching some of these nutrition trends. They watch how fast these products flood the market and how fast they die down. As with the rest of our nation, you probably have noticed the rise of the popular coconut oil. The health claims of this product seem endless. Up to this point I have stood at arm’s length from talking all that much about coconut oil to its fervent followers. Although I have had reservations about the coconut rage, I waited for more research results. Read More
So you want to learn how to successfully get in shape? Here is a major insider’s tip. Take it slowly, step by step. As a normal part of my health and fitness history forms that I have new clients fill out, I ask about fitness goals. Many people start off their new fitness programs by setting their immediate goals at unrealistic levels. They proclaim that they will eat only healthy food, take supplements, and go to the gym every day. Most of the time this just leads to failure and winding up right back where they started, if not worse. There is usually a deepened feeling of lower self esteem and lack of confidence in their fitness journey Read More
Planning the start of my semi-private training has been both exciting and stressful. It’s a lot of work, but will be very rewarding in the end. Throughout the years I’ve had to deal with the obstacle of how I can help more people, without sacrificing quality. As my time has drawn more and more scarce, this has become a consistent problem. Working with 3-6 people at a time finally solves this dilemma. My next question has been what is my niche? I have come to a point in my career that I know I can’t be a trainer to everyone. Could I work with anyone? Maybe. Would I be better at focusing on a few specific goals, and mastering my craft towards them? Yes. So I have focused my energies towards creating a fat loss & strengthening class that I can coach in a small group setting. The last 5 years of my career I have spent studying and learning efficient & safe ways to implement kettlebells, the TRX, and sandbags into my programming. That being said, I have chosen these tools as my choice pieces of equipment. Read More
Can you boost your metabolism? Even if you have a genetically slow metabolism, there are ways to help increase it. Here are some straight forward tips and habits to practice on a daily basis to get your furnace burning better. Strength train and increase muscle mass, even if it is just twice a week. Since muscle mass uses more energy, increasing it will mean your body will burn more calories even when not exercising. Read More
This past weekend Randy Hetrick and the rest of his fine crew at TRX hosted the first ever TRX trainer Summit in Long Beach, California. This event featured Randy the creator and CEO of the TRX, Fraser Quelch TRX head of training and development, Chris Read More
I’m always looking for that next training cue, that line that provides a client with an “Aha” moment. If you’re a fellow trainer you know what I’m writing about. What I’ve come to observe is that everyone learns differently. You have those that you explain or demonstrate an exercise once, and poof… they got it. And when I say got it, I mean they can perform the exercise exactly how you demonstrated it. Sometimes better. Then there’s the other 90% of the time. Either they don’t understand how to do it, or worse, they think they got it, but in reality they don’t. Now in regards to the latter that is when you need to peel the onion back and start to coach them up on the area they need work. Also I must mention, hopefully you have picked an exercise that is a good fit for them. For example, if you’re working with a person with big asymmetries in regards to lower body strength, maybe split squats with dumbbells are a better option than rear barbell squats. Remember my mantra when picking an exercise “for what & for whom”. I truly don’t believe in bad exercises, just bad exercise selections. Read More
Do you remember that Life cereal commercial in the 70s? I know I may be dating myself. It opens up showing 2 boys pushing a bowl of healthy Life cereal back & fourth. Finally one of the boys gets this ingenious idea to give it to his younger brother Mikey. “I got it, give it to Mickey. He won’t try it, he hates everything”. The little boy looks at the bowl after it’s pushed in front of him, proceeds to pick up the spoon, and starts to chow down on the cereal. The commercial closes with the older boy saying in a shocked voice… “He likes it, hey Mikey”.
Reflecting on this commercial made me think of many personal trainers & strength coaches. Frequently when a new training concept, theory, or piece of equipment enters the fitness world, many of us (including myself) tend to condemn it before truly giving it a chance. I look back on my 23+ year career and think about how I misjudged so many things initially (TRX, kettlebells, the benefits of the Turkish get up, etc). I will say that with experience and age I’ve learned to hold off on making quick judgments before I truly spend some time with the idea or piece of equipment. I’ve said this before, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. Recently I reflected on how many trainers embraced balance training in the 90s, with very little research and data. Interesting enough we didn’t question that. What we did know was that it made people work harder. Many of us overstated the carry over effect in strength training, only to later admit, maybe we were wrong. This isn’t to negate the improvements in posture and balance that can be gained from balance exercises. I frequently will hear a trainer knock kettlebells, followed by admittance that they have never used them. I will agree that many fitness gadgets can come off as gimmicky, if that’s a word. But it all goes back to those two questions we always need to ask, “For what & for whom?” For those who follow me, you probably are aware, through my social media & blog post, that I use kettlebells, the TRX, and sandbags when training my clients. That doesn’t mean that I stopped using dumbbells, barbells, cable pulleys, or bodyweight. All it means is that my toolbox got a little larger, and the trunk of my car just got heavier. I still perform rear barbell squats, dumbbell presses both horizontal & overhead, and mix in work on the cable pulleys. I think the variety is good, and learning new exercises is a good stimulant for that muscle between the ears. I think that what some strength coaches and trainers fear is that by giving credence to a training philosophy or piece of equipment outside of their realm, devalues their gold standards.
What helped me to come clean was listening to legendary strength coaches (Mike Boyle, Dan John, JC Santana) say … “I was wrong about that”. What this has done for me is too broaden my awareness to new things. And the current stance I take is that I’ll listen to you, experiment for myself, and then come to my own conclusion. And we may not agree. What works for you and your training protocol may not work for me. I’m not a kettlebell, or TRX, or bodyweight guy. I’m a guy who will do what works for his clients. If performing Turkish get ups naked (that means without the kettlebell, this is not that type of blog) provides my small groups a great warm up, I’m in. If performing kneeling movements on the Bosu, yes I did mention that forgotten balance tool, helps improve posture awareness to someone performing a traditional strength exercise such as overhead presses or barbell curls, and I’m doing it. Bottom line is that we all need to take a step back from casting judgments on other training styles, and be a little more open minded. So maybe Mikey was on to something years ago. He didn’t have preconceived notions of what a “good” cereal should taste like. He didn’t hear about other cereals that were a waste of his time or worst … would make him fat. What he did know was that he was hungry. Being hungry for me is improving someone’s strength or dropping body fat. “He likes it, hey Mikey!”
Despite many marketing attempts, there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” fitness class. As appealing as some classes may look, a new participant must understand the possibility of having to modify the class. Since every individual is unique in his or her health history and exercise profile, there is certain to be specific movements that may not be suitable for everyone. That is not to say that participants cannot take the class. A sound and effective class design should encourage modifications when needed. Read More