Quotes from Arnold

“For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.”

-Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

Have a Plan!

There is a phenomenon in the gym that plagues my mind and causes me excessive frustration. I have even at times been guilty of participating in it, and it is, simply put, aimless, random, haphazard working out. People enter the gym, maybe get on the treadmill for a couple of minutes and amble about the weight machines without any clear purpose. They might then finish off with a few more minutes on a piece of cardio equipment. Even more “sophisticated” gym goers appear to follow this mindless approach. They might know they want to target specific muscle groups, but there is still no system at play.

 

Maybe I am just sensitive to this behavior pattern because it is my job to study human performance and fitness. However, I get upset because I know that a majority of the gym crowd will make NOTHING of their membership. They have no idea where they are or where they want to go. They simply have an abstract idea or a poor or non-existent methodology. Consequently, they are wasting their time and failing to pursue their goals on a higher level.

 

What are obvious solutions?

 

• Education: No person can become great at any pursuit unless they become a student of the activity or discipline. There is so much information out there if only people would simply seek it!

 

• Planning: Since when did anyone get through school, a business program, or trip without having at least some rudimentary step-by-step strategy? Life without planning is chaos!

 

• Assessment: How can you develop goals or track change if you have no idea where you stand or rank? What marks success, failure, or stagnation? Exercisers need to invest more time in determining where they are before they ever lift a weight or run a mile!

 

• Tracking: Is it possible to progress without recording key information? Is it possible to form new or more ambitious goals if you are not charting your activity in some way? I don’t think so!

 

• Scheduling: We are ALL creatures of habit and routine, even if that routine seems random or constantly changing. We live by the clock and calendar with regard to business, academic, and social spheres. Yet, in fitness only a minority of people has a regular, planned, and disciplined schedule. However, we know that training is only effective if it is changed systematically and frequently. You cannot expect to see results if you train irregularly, at the same intensity, or for an indefinite period of time.

 

The solutions presented above are integral components of a successful program. The people who excel in the gym are those that apply, model, and adhere to these disciplines. I know that Haphazard Workout Disorder will continue, but it is my commitment to eradicate it wherever I encounter it. It is a dangerous condition, and it will sabotage fitness goals and threaten the quality of lives if it goes untreated.

Adventures in Training

My 5 AM Pickle

Oh the joys of morning pickles! This morning I was scheduled to meet at the gym at 6:30 AM for a session. I woke up at five, made coffee, showered, and had my ducks in a row. I was on time and was about to head to my appointment when I realized my keys were nowhere to be found. I frantically searched through the house, awoke my wife, and practically had a panic attack. I had no idea where they were, and I couldn’t even find a flashlight to check my truck. Finally I found a light and ventured outside, and it was a beautiful day by the way–32 degrees and raining! Sure enough, there they were dangling from the ignition, mocking me and destroying my plans for an uneventful morning. After the inevitable mourning and denial stage, I decided to take my wife’s car (with her permission, hehe). I had enough time to be there before my client, but the thing about Anytime Fitness is that you can’t get in without a key Fabe, and you can’t follow someone that has one. So I had to get creative. I had to use my client’s to get in, at which point I located our hidden key, opened the main office, and disabled the alarm. I breathed a sigh of relief and took my client through a challenging lower body workout, complete with back loaded walking lunges,one-leg lying leg press, and one-leg RDL’s. Now everything is dandy, except that my wife is left to call a locksmith, and I have no planner (which I can’t really survive without). I guess I just have to laugh about the whole thing and make the best of the rest of the day. I know this is a random tale, but I figured my story would demonstrate that the life of a trainer is NEVER boring. Hope you’re having a more uneventful day!

Here’s To My Clients!

I consider it an honor and privilege to be in the personal training industry, and I am in perpetual awe of the degree to which people will include me in their lives, struggles, dreams, and unique battles. It is rewarding and humbling, overwhelming and extraordinary, maddening and joyous all at once. I am afforded a position of respect, authority, and friendship. I am still attempting to master and understand my role, and I am sure that I will always have room for improvement. In the mean time, it will be an adventurous and exciting path!

 

I am also convinced that the job will never be boring or monotonous, because it continually recreates itself with each new face and every goal—great or small. Science leads to further understanding of human performance and better training techniques, and industry creates tools that make the job exciting. But ultimately, it is my clients that make the job, and it is they who renew my enthusiasm and drive me to be better.

A Great Resource

The Stretch Deck

Yesterday I stopped by Barnes and Noble and picked up a valuable resource for information on stretching. This detailed deck of flash cards is great for fitness novices, enthusiasts and practitioners alike. Unfortunately, I am not as devoted to stretching as I should be, and I think this is the solution. I intend to study and implement many of the stretches before the day is done. It is always exciting to add to the repertoire!

New Beginnings and Old Relics

“I am only an average man, but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man.”    -TEDDY ROOSEVELT  

Recently my brother came across a document that reminded me where all of this training business began. It is a document that takes me back to the Winter of 2002-2003, when my life changed. I had been in college for one full year and one semester. My physical activity, except to walk to class, was limited. I did not exercise, and I was nearly 230 Lbs. at the height of 5′ 7″. My diet was as poor as poor can be, and I was miserable. I had become very isolated and rarely ventured outside my dorm room except to eat and go to class. I still had a good set of friends, but I often  turned down social opportunities.

Then something changed within me. Even now I can’t pinpoint what happened. Maybe it was brief experiences with exercise that made me feel better, or maybe it was just a desire to return to my life. I’m not sure. I started running right before the end of the first semester (or light jogging is more appropriate). I could not even run one lap around the track when I began. Over the holidays and the extended break my school offered I began to devote most of my energy to exercise and fitness.

When I got back to school in late January, I had only lost 5 Lbs, but I was a different creature. I had been running up a hill by my house that must have been a 30% grade–it felt like it at least. I ate up the track that had once been daunting, and I began running around campus. I was probably really obnoxious to other student’s because I was always running, but I didn’t care. I also began lifting.

Anyway, back to the document my brother discovered. It is a running mileage and weight loss tracking chart that follows me from 214 Lbs. on February 4 to 185 Lbs. on May 1. People around me and at home couldn’t believe the metamorphosis. I couldn’t believe it myself completely. All I knew was that I had been granted a new chance at life, a new vision, and a new passion.  Now I know that it is my duty to help others have the same opportunity. It is a good thing to discover relics of the past. They often return you to old thoughts, feelings, and memories. They also re-energize your life and keep you true to yourself in the present. I look back on that time fondly, and I realize that even as intensely devoted to fitness as I am now, my devotion will never be quite so pure as it was then. 

Application

Here we are at the start of a 10 week weight loss, and I am excited to be leading my clients towards bigger and brighter exploits and achievements. The assessments are nearly complete, and I am really inspired to draw from knowledge and wisdom I have recently acquired. As I discussed in a previous entry, I heard Dr. John Berardi speak on the topic of coaching nutrition. His main contention was that great instructors, trainers, and counselors can be called great because they are committed to diagnosing and eliminating “limiting factors” in the lives of clients and players. I am truly attempting to apply this advice in every aspect of the program. I can only hope that this individual attention will produce outstanding and noteworthy results. I also recognize that as I help my clients overcome barriers, I will have to overcome a few myself. I cannot limit the scope of what I do, and it is my duty to develop my skills to the greatest extent possible. By doing so I will benefit those around me, and I will have the ability to express the art of training with a broader and more elegant palette.

Quotes from a President

“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. “

“The experience taught me what probably no amount of good advice could have taught me. I made up my mind that I must try to learn so that I would not again be put in such a helpless position; and having become quickly and bitterly conscious that I did not have the natural prowess to hold my own, I decided that I would try to supply its place by training. Accordingly, with my father’s hearty approval, I started to learn to box. I was a painfully slow and awkward pupil, and certainly worked two or three years before I made any perceptible improvement whatever.”

-Teddy Roosevelt

 From the moment I first learned about the life of Teddy Roosevelt, I have been captured, wowed, and awestruck by him. He was proof that resolution can take you far beyond your expectations for yourself. As you can see in the second quote, boxing did not come natural to this great man. He had to work, and work, and work. He realized that the training itself was of as much value as the final product. I don’t know about you, but this inspires me to live for each day and invest in my pursuits, fitness or otherwise.

Roadblocks & Barriers

Roadblocks & Barriers

At the conference I recently attended, I had the privilege of hearing Dr. John Berardi speak on his health and fitness program entitled The Precision Nutrition Coaching System. Before he came on stage, I expected somehow that I was going to become a nutritionist just from sitting through an hour long presentation. However, when he finally did, I was surprised. He did not even provide nutritional information. Instead, he gave one of the most insightful lectures on how to coach people on nutrition.

 

One of his main contentions addressed the fact that it is easy to tell someone to eat this many grams of carbohydrates, this many grams of protein, or this many grams of fat per day. It is much more challenging, even impossible to actually ensure that the player or client is applying your recommendations. As I heard this I thought back over my many consultations and sessions in the past. I thought about how trainers constantly complain and gripe that their clients won’t eat right and over the limited success many of my clients have had due to poor lifestyle choices outside the gym. I even thought about how I have ignored sound nutritional advice in my personal life . . . and just like that Dr. Berardi Had my attention.

 

He argued very eloquently that the solution to the disconnect between knowledge and application is to make failure impossible. He stated that the truly great coaches are diligent and adept at removing “limiting factors” in the lives of their players. This contention resonated with my mind and convictions. However, “how exactly does one remove limiting factors?” I thought.

 

The answer came later in the lecture when he talked about the concept of leverage. Simply put, coaches, trainers or individuals must have the power to exercise authority. Where is that power derived? It stems from two main sources: accountability and evidence. They must have the ability to inflict some sort of punishment or penalty for not complying with their recommendations. Secondly, they must have proof that what they recommend works and leads to positive results.

 

Dr. Berardi’s presentation addressed several other issues and concepts, but his idea of removing limiting factors impacted me. I can only go so far to help my clients—only as far as they allow. But I can try my hardest to help them remove the insidious barriers to success. I can attempt to overcome the elements of their lives that paralyze them. That means, as he stated so poetically, that I have to transform more than my clients. I have to become a role model. I have to become diligent, thorough, and hard working. I have to become an investigator and root out the elements that plague them. Otherwise, all my efforts as a trainer will fall by the wayside, and I won’t really make much of a difference at all. I feel excited by this challenge. I feel inspired that life is now and that I must commit to each moment to be the best.

New Toys!

fun, fun, fun

I recently ordered these babies for one of my in-home clients, and man, do they pack a punch! I was impressed by the ease of moving from 5 Lbs. to 55Lbs, and my client got an incredible workout right in his living room–with the aid of some other toys like a stability ball, Slastix band, and medicine ball. Though I would not buy these dumbbells for a public gym, they are perfect for private or in-home gym settings. To own the equivalent range of standard dumbbells would take way more space and would cost at least twice what we got these for from Perform Better. I definitely give them my seal of approval.