CategoriesMotivational personal training

Talent Matters

I was chatting with one of our high-school athletes yesterday when I asked how his (baseball) season had been going so far. We had a miserable winter here in Massachusetts and for a lot of our athletes they’re still practicing indoors.

This athlete, however, goes to a school that had the opportunity of traveling down to Florida recently so they were able to get their cleats dirty and see some green grass for a change.

“We played okay,” he said. “Our team, though, is having a hard time. We have a bunch of guys who just don’t “get it” and have hard time with the team concept.”

“How so?,” I asked.

He then went on to tell me how one teammate, during a game, in the dugout, took out his phone and started using Facetime.

My jaw dropped.

He then told another story where, with the team back up North, another teammate decided he was too cold to cheer and support the rest of the guys and took off for an inning to go hang out in his car to warm-up.

Again, I was flabbergasted.

If I or any of my teammates even thought about doing something like that back when I played in high school and college we would have at best been taken out of the game and suspended, or at worst been given a soap blanket party Full Metal Jacket style.

It just wouldn’t have happened.

Sadly, in both scenarios above, each athlete is headed to a respectable Division I program and I suspect each one feels they’re above the rules and/or have an overwhelming sense of entitlement.

It’s a case where both feel their talent is enough to be successful….despite the woeful lack of respect and social filter.

Here’s another example.

A good friend of mine opened a gym in downtown Boston a few months ago. It’s his dream, it’s kicking his ass, but he’s loving every second of it. I finally made it down there earlier this week to check it out and to get a quick lift in.

In between sets he told me how, a few weeks prior, he was contacted by a local organization asking if he’d be willing to allow a group of their personal training students to stop by and observe for a few hours.

Everything was set up so that the students would come by and watch as he and one of his other coaches were training clients. As my buddy noted, “something like 10-12 students came in, all in their early 20s, and they were pretty obnoxious and loud which pissed me off because it was distracting. All but one were talking to one another, texting, and not really paying attention.”

At the end, the group coordinator wrangled all of them together for the opportunity to ask my friend any questions they may have had.

“How do you make money?”

“How do I start my own gym?’

“Blah blah blah…How do I not do any of the work, but have what you have?

I told him that if I were in his shoes at that point I would have 1) probably Sparta kicked one of them in the chest and 2) picked someone randomly to show me and the entire group how to coach someone through a squat pattern.

My guess is that the result would have been worse than the infamous Miss South Carolina “Where is America on the Map” answer…..

Maybe I’m coming across as nothing more than an old, ornery strength coach who’s next order of business is to shake my fist and yell at people to get of my damn lawn.

I don’t know.

I’d like to think I’m just shelling out a dose of tough love and perspective.

A few weekends ago I was at my alma mater (SUNY Cortland, in central New York) as part of the Annual Strength & Conditioning Symposium. At the end of the day all the presenters were brought to the front of the room as part of a Q&A panel.

Giving credit where it’s due: I was impressed with the attendees, and praised everyone who attended for being more proactive in their learning and continuing education. The fact that they were there and chose to do so, on a Saturday, spoke volumes.

One theme kept popping up though, subtly, time and time again as students were asking their questions. Something to the effect of:

“How did you become so successful?”

“What do I need to do to get to where you’re at in your career?”

Opposite of the examples above – with the baseball players – I do feel the students in this case knew that “putting in the work” was part of the equation and that none of them had illusions of landing a gig which them training professional athletes on Day #1. All because they got an A- in Kinesiology or because they read SuperTraining once.

Many asked about blogs and websites and Social Media. All of which are pertinent, important questions to ask. We live in an ever growing digital age now, and all of those things matter and play a role – to a lesser or higher degree, depending on the person – in the development and growth of one’s fitness career.

But here’s the thing, and it’s something that Nick Tumminello stressed…..

Talent Still Matters

Or maybe a better way to put it: BUILDING talent matters.

It’s not the only thing that matters, of course. But it’s still pretty damn important. You just don’t want to be an uppity, entitled, brat with no work ethic like the examples above.

Far too often – at least nowadays – new trainers and coaches place too much weight on how many Twitter followers they have, YouTube views a certain video gets1, or how many “Likes” a certain article gets.

Some even brag about how many books they’ve read. Which is awesome.

But that doesn’t mean anything.

That’s like me bragging about how I read The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams 47 times cover to cover.

Unless I actually go out and do it, hit a baseball hundreds of times a day, day after day after day, for years on end, to the point where my hands start bleeding, I’ll never come close to sniffing Ted Williams’ ability……much less the Mendoza Line.

Ted Williams had talent, but he also worked his tail off.

You can read about the intricacies of breaking down the deadlift all you want, but unless you actually 1) deadlift yourself 2) deadlift appreciable weight 3) and coach other people through it, I don’t give a shit how many books you read.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to become a good coach.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to become a good writer.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to hit a baseball.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to get through an entire season of Downton Abbey. Trust me, I’ve tried.

Talent doesn’t happen without work ethic. The two go hand in hand.

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

The Key to Program Design. Diamonds?

I’m heading to my alma mater this weekend to take part in the 2nd Annual Strength & Conditioning/Personal Training Symposium at SUNY Cortland.

I – along with my colleagues Nick Tumminello, Mark Fisher, John Gaglione, and Joy Victoria – will be speaking to undergrad and graduate students (in addition to the event being open to the general public) on a variety of topics ranging from the meaning of life and other existential things like how to survive cafeteria food and nightmare roommates to more pertinent things like deadlifts and assessment.

A wide spectrum to say the least!

Okay, we’re not going to discuss cafeteria food or anything related to the meaning of life. Unless, of course, Mark (Fisher) goes into detail on leotards, ninjas, and unicorns. If that’s the case I’m all ears. The man knows a thing or two about living an epic life.

Our objective is to arm the attendees with some “real life” anecdotes on what it takes to be successful in this industry. For instance Mark will discuss what it takes to build a popular (and very successful) gym – built around culture – in one of the most saturated markets on Earth; the concrete jungle, New York City.

Nick (Tumminello) will discuss some of his secrets to single leg training. John (Gaglione) is going to coach the s*** out of everyone. Joy (Victoria) is going to discuss female fitness and how, to a large degree, it’s marinated in negative commentary and connotations.

And what am I going to discuss?

Plot details of Star Wars VII

How to Prepare For the Zombie Apocalypse

My Man Crush on Mark Fisher

Program Design

Or to be more specific: offering up the basic tools, insight, and inner dialogue young trainers (and old) will need to arm themselves with in order to write effective training programs.

I’m not going to discuss how to break down and/or choose the optimal set/rep schemes for any particular exercise. I’m not going to discuss ideal exercise order. Nor am I going to broach the idea of tempo, rest intervals, super-sets, tri-sets, how many days per week someone should train, or body-part splits vs. full-body vs. upper-lower splits vs. Godzilla.

Why?

Because none of it matters.

At least not for most young trainers anyways. Far too often young, impressionable trainers get too caught up in the minutia of program design. Often to the point where they’re stymied or paralyzed and are unable to think “big picture.”

“It is better to have someone squat past parallel with a 5-1-2 tempo with feet 17 degrees externally rotated; or should I have them deadlift instead using the rest/pause method with 6, no, 7 seconds rest between each set?

Some of you reading may be laughing, but scenarios like what’s described above happens all….the…..time.

Trainers and coaches get too caught up in the methods rather than the means.

One of the BIG ROCK themes I’m going to hammer this weekend is the notion of exercise variability. How much variety to trainees actually need?

We’ve all heard the concept of “muscle confusion” before. To dumb it down to it’s lowest possible dumbness (because, you know, it’s dumb): it can be watered down to the idea that we need to constantly “confuse” the body in order to make progress in the gym.

We need to go out of our way to change up our exercises every so often so that we don’t stagnate and/or lose all our gainz and turn into some catabolic ghost.

Now, before someone gets all huffy and thinks I’m telling everyone that exercise variety is  a waste of time, hear me out.

I’m not saying you can’t switch things up every now and then – whether due to a change of goals or sheer boredom. I understand that sometimes we just need to do something different in the gym.

What I can’t stand is when we have trainers telling people that they have to switch up their exercises because the body will get used to them and then they’ll be unable to make any progress.

The human body is not stupid. And, correct me if I’m wrong……people back in the day did just fine with just a barbell. Plenty of people got massive and and in shape with very little variety. I suppose it’s just the nature of the beast when we live in a society where entire conversations take place in 140 characters or less.

Is someone really going to try to make the argument that if we perform back squats for eight straight weeks – and we’re staying cognizant of progressive overload – that the body will somehow stop making progress because there’s not enough variety?

Puh-lease.

Having said that, I do agree with Chad Wesley Smith in that the more advanced someone gets in their training career (I.e, strong) – and especially if they compete – their programming will reflect less variety, because the objective, then, is to hone in on their competitive lifts.

Powerlifters will focus on their competitive lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. Their accessory work will address a weakness or technique flaw in those specific lifts.

Weightlifters will focus on their competitive lifts: snatch, clean & jerk; with a healthy dose of front squats, deadlifts, and clean and presses.

CrossFitters, well, they’ll still need to focus on their competitive lifts too. I just don’t know what the hell that is. They’re a bit of an outlier.

In his article, The Pyramid of Strength, Chad notes that the tip of the pyramid is where advanced lifters will live. They won’t need much variety. This SHOULD NOT be interpreted as there is NO variety (there is!). It’s just not as diverse as many are led to believe for advanced lifters.

Yes, they rotate exercise or implement the conjugate method – but if you take a deep look at what their programs look like, for many advanced lifters – especially world class, elite level – they don’t stray too too far from their competitive lifts. Particularly the closer they get to an actual meet day or competition.

Conversely, at the bottom, where the base of the pyramid is wider, this is where most beginners will live.

Here variety is more or less open to interpretation. Using an easy analogy, I find one of the biggest mistakes young athletes make is to concentrate or specialize in ONE sport too soon. I encourage every young kid to play as many sports as possible throughout the year to ensure a more saturated motor learning environment. An environment where there’s no pattern overload and where they can explore new movements and stimuli.

I can see this mentality falling into the strength training side of things as well, but we have to be careful.

Here motor learning is still important and I want to ensure that the BASICS are stressed. Squat pattern, hip hinge, lunge, push-up, core stability, carry, crawl, etc. There’s variety, but it’s still manageable and not crazy. Beginners, for the most part, don’t necessarily need to be too concerned with high bar vs. low bar position on their squat, adding in chains and bands on their deadlifts, or performing board presses to help with their bench lockout.

The pyramid is a great starting point, but I do feel there’s an even better model to emulate, and what I feel is the key to better program design.

The Diamond

This is a concept I believe James “The Thinker” Smith first came up with, and something I heard Greg Robins discuss in the past.

Instead of a pyramid, think of program design as a diamond.

At the bottom are your beginners, and at the top are your advanced and high-level competitive clients/athletes. Neither need a ton of variety in their training.

Beginners need to learn and master the basics.

Advanced trainees/athletes need to be concerned their competitive lifts and/or because they’re so strong, don’t require a ton of variety (or stimulus) to maintain that strength.

In the middle, however, are the intermediates. Not coincidentally this is where most of us (even myself) reside.

It’s here where we can be a little more Willy Wonka(ish) and immerse ourselves in the crazy, zany world of variety.

In this stage we’re past being labelled a beginner – I can hip hinge like a boss, thank you very much – but we’re not where near the advanced level.

Here is where adding in some semblance of variety will come in handy and have more of a place. Here’s where maybe switching up from a low bar position to a high bar position on the squat – to help with staying more upright- can be beneficial. Or maybe adding in chains to work on bar speed?

Here’s where rotating through various deadlift iterations has a place. Maybe your hips come up too fast due to weak quads. If that’s the case, maybe performing some deficit deadlifts will help with that?

Maybe you’re weak off the chest on your bench press. If that’s the case, some dedicated speed/technique work using sub-maximal weight (55-70%) may be in order.

I don’t know: Maybe it’s Thursday and you just want to blast your biceps?

Whatever the case my be, it’s in the middle of the diamond – where intermediate lifters reside – where the concept of “exercise variety” has more applicability and more wiggle room.

Just something to think about.

CategoriesAssessment personal training

What I Learned Taking the FMS

This is what I looked like last Sunday after spending three days and 20 course hours taking the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) I & II modules.

That’s my face melting.

It sounds (and looks) like a bad thing, but I assure you it’s the exact opposite.

Sitting through 20 hours of anything can be daunting.2

Sitting through 20 hours of non-stop talk on anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, and how much I suck at the Active Straight Leg Raise can be downright overwhelming. And to be honest there were times I was overwhelmed.

But this was easily one of the best 20 hours I’ve spent doing anything not involving a book, baseball, Star Wars, or chocolate covered strawberries. BOM CHICKA BOM BOM.

Trying to overview the entire experience in one simple blog post isn’t doing it any justice. But I figured I’d try to highlight some “big rock” concepts and tidbits of information I learned while everything was still fresh in my head.

Lets Do This

I’d be remiss not to first give a shout out to both Functional Movement Systems and Perform Better for putting on and running a class-act event. The two together are like peanut butter and jelly or Jordan and Pippen or Batman and Robin (<— without the weird sexual tension).

I’d also be remiss not to lend a huge kudos to the bandleader, Brett Jones, who was the epitome of class and professionalism the entire weekend. He’s like Justin Timberlake, only with kettlebells. And a 500+ lb deadlift.

He along with Mike Perry and Diane Vives did an amazing job coaching all the attendees up and offering their expertise. A slow clap goes out to all of them.

NOTE: From here on out I’m using bullet point format because what follows is going to be a massive brain dump that may or may not make any sense. Good luck.

– The “S” is the most important letter in “FMS.” It’s a (S)creen. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s NOT an end-all-be-all assessment. I’ve always used components of the FMS when assessing my athletes and clients, but always viewed it as the outer layer of an onion. If I need to peel back more layers and dig deeper with other protocols I will.

What does the FMS accomplish? In a nutshell: it ascertains whether or not someone can “access” a pattern.

– Simplifying things even more: the FMS helps to figure out if “you move well enough to do stuff.”

– The FMS can also be seen as a litmus test to see if someone is at risk for injury. Of course a previous injury is going to be the greatest risk factor, but the FMS looks at other things such as asymmetries, mobility, stability, and neuromuscular control.

A great analogy that Brett used to describe the process was to ask the audience whether or not smoking increases the risk of cancer? Yes. Does not smoking protect you from cancer? [Interesting question, right?]

Just because you do or do not do something doesn’t mean anything. The primary goal(s) of the FMS is to set a movement baseline, identify the pain or dysfunction, and set up proper progressions and conditioning to address it.

– Fitness professionals are the worst at testing. We overthink things. There’s no such thing as a “soft” or “hard” 2. There’s no such thing as a 1+ or 1-. The screen is the screen, and it’s important (nay, crucial) to hold yourself to the standards and criteria set forth by the manual.

I’m paraphrasing here, but either shit looks good – and meets the criteria for testing – or it doesn’t.

You can’t overthink things or start doing stuff like, “well, his heel only came up a teeny tiny bit, and only rotated 8.3 degrees. I guess that’s a 3.”

– We can’t feel bad for giving people the score they present with and deserve. It’s doing them a disservice in the long run. It’s just like Brett said and made us pledge as a group before we started testing one another: “I’m still a good person and am not a failure if I score a 1.”

It’s not the end of the world and you won’t be considered the spawn of Satan if scored a “1” on your Deep Squat screen.

Life…will…go…on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ois60CobLZM

 

– If pain is present…ALWAYS REFER OUT. If pain is present and persists, don’t just blame the hip flexors. Again, as Brett noted, there’s 32 muscles that act as hip flexors, why is the psoas always the culprit for back pain? If you do the screen, apply the correctives, and pain persists, it’s (probably) something deeper and outside your scope of practice.

Seriously, refer out.

But that doesn’t mean we still can’t train the athlete or client. As coaches we can usually train around any injury; we don’t need to keep everyone in a safe bubble where we just tell them to “rest.” To me that’s unacceptable and not an option.

– Take a gander at the Functional Performance Pyramid. Don’t worry I’ll wait.

If you decrease one’s movement capacity and increase their performance (make the movement block less wide compared to the performance block), that’s bad.

If you increase one’s movement capacity (think: yoga) and decrease their performance, that’s also bad.

We’re really good as coaches and personal trainers at building better engines (improving performance), but neglect to address the brakes and suspension (movement). Hence, people often break down sooner.

This is also another fantastic reason why the FMS is valuable. It’s helps you figure out where people need the most work/attention.

– Raise your hand if you feel the Active Straight Leg Raise is a great screen to test for hamstring length.

It’s not.

If anything it’s more of a screen for the “core,” and how well you’re able to control your pelvis. I.e., can you maintain extension on the down leg as you bring the other into hip flexion (and vice versa).

– The Deep Squat Screen (<—- bolded on purpose) takes place with the toes pointing straight a head. It’s not how we coach the squat in the long run.

1. Toes forward provides some semblance of standardization. It doesn’t make sense to allow people to externally rotate their feet (even a little bit) because that defeats the purpose. You allow someone to rotate 5 degrees, and the next person rotates 15. Like, WTF?

2. Toes forward also makes it easier to see faults and compensations in the pattern.

I literally had a “tense” exchange with a female attendee who gave me push back on making her perform the screen with her toes pointing forward.

Her: “Well I can’t squat if they’re forward!”

Me: “Then you won’t get a 3.”

Her: “Last time I went to this (she attended module I at a previous time), I was told we could point our toes out.3

[Relax, deep breaths]

Me: “Sorry but we were told otherwise yesterday. Toes forward.”

Based off her reaction you would have thought I insulted her yoga pants. With a little bit of a huffy attitude she reluctantly conceded and ended up with a 2.

I guess I’m an asshole.

– Corrective exercise is like boxing. It’s generally accepted that there are four different kinds of punches in boxing: the jab, cross, hook, and uppercut. The Five-Point-Palm-Exploding-Heart-Technique from Kill Bill didn’t make the cut.

 

You don’t need 500 different correctives to “fix” something. You only need a few and to OWN each one. Don’t overwhelm your clients with 17 different variations of glute bridges to perform before they go to bed. They’re not going to do them. Ever.

– Breathing is all the rage in fitness today. And for good reason: it’s something that needs to be addressed.

I’ve seen magical things happen when you help someone address a faulty breathing pattern. But pigging back off the previous comment about corrective exercise, you don’t need to get all fancy pants on people.

Showing your athletes and clients how to properly perform “crocodile breathing,” where they learn to get 360 degree expansion (and to not rely on their accessory muscles like the upper traps, scalenes, etc) can go a long ways in helping to set the tone on fixing stuff….even a straight leg raise or shoulder mobility.

Dumbledore can’t even do that.

 

How’s that for a super scientific explanation.

– You need to be RELAXED when you foam roll. We’re not deadifting max effort weight here. Chill out.

– Don’t underestimate the power of grip work (squeezing the handle of a dumbbell or kettlebell) to help improve rotator cuff function as well as shoulder mobility.

– You need a minimum of 30 degrees of ankle dorsiflexion to run well. Just sayin…..

– Here’s one of the best analogies I’ve ever heard with regards to overhead pressing courtesy of Brett Jones. When explaining the path of the DB or KB during an overhead press tell your client to pretend as if there’s a booster rocket underneath the elbow and that it takes the weight to space.

The path should be straight up, not to the side or in a zig-zag fashion. Straight up.

I Could Easily Keep Going

But I think that’s enough.

Needless to say I HIGHLY encourage any and all fitness professionals to attend one (or both!) of these courses if you have the opportunity to do so. I learned a ton and there’s no reason to suspect you wouldn’t either.

CategoriesMotivational personal training

A Tale of Two Clients

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…..

Even for those who aren’t avid readers, the words above are fairly recognizable. At some point in everyone’s life they’ve (probably) heard the phrase absent of whether or not they know the origin:

Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities.

Yeah, I haven’t read it either.

But the book reference serves as a nice introduction to today’s post as click bait. Because, you know, everyone goes bat-shit crazy over Dickens quotes.

I was asked two questions recently (from two different people) that I felt would be best served answering here as I know a lot of personal trainers and coaches read this site.

Question #1:

I’m curious what’s the longest amount of time you had the same non-athlete client and I’d love to see more articles on what makes a good lifting trainee/student!

Question #2:

Not sure if you have touched on this in a previous blog post but would love to hear your thoughts on how you go about motivating your general fitness clients vs. your baseball players. I imagine they come in with different experiences, expectations, etc. and I imagine they both pose unique challenges in getting them to engage and buy into the process.

Two different questions, albeit not altogether too dissimilar.

Before co-founding Cressey Sports Performance in 2007 I worked as a personal trainer in both the corporate setting and commercial setting….for five years. That’s five years of early mornings, late nights, working on weekends, working on Holidays, and working with every permutation of human being you can possibly think of save for a one-legged pirate and an Astronaut.

Repeating the borrowed prose from above, my life literally was “the best of times, and the worst of times.”

It was the best of times because I was doing something I loved. Right out of the gate I was making a living wearing sweatpants to work and hanging out in a gym helping people get stronger, lose fat, address an injury, and making people of the opposite sex want to hang out with them.

That didn’t suck.

Too, it was a point in my life where I was a sponge for knowledge ( I still am). Upon graduating from school I thought I knew what I was doing – I graduated Magna Cum Laude, I played four years of college baseball, I had been lifting weights since I was 13, I had six-pack, I got this! But once my first client was handed to me I experienced a hefty reality check.

I didn’t really know as much as I thought I did.

Luckily my first client survived, I didn’t set the gym on fire or anything, things were going to be okay.

It was that time where I found sites like T-Nation.com and other reputable publications that helped me peel back the onion and understand that what I learned in school wasn’t exactly how things are in the real world. I made it a point to read, and read a lot. And I got better.

It was the worst of times because life as a personal trainer isn’t shall we say……all that glamorous.

As mentioned above you work when others don’t, there’s a bit of “politics” involved – pressure to hit quotas and numbers at the expense of quality programming and coaching, and you learn quickly that life as a trainer is just as much about becoming a good “people person” as it is a coach.

Put another way: some (and I’d say most) clients are amazing, wonderful people; while others are life sucking, Debbie Downer/Johnny Raincloud, soul crushers that would give Godzilla a run for this money.

Given all that, however, I wouldn’t change anything from my past as a fitness professional. The one piece of advice I give all incoming personal trainers – especially to the entitled ones who think they’re going to train professional athletes their first day on the job4 – is that you should work in a commercial gym setting.

For 1-2 years.

You need to grind it out, work shitty hours, and learn to work with as wide of a variety of clientele as possible. You do this, and I GUARANTEE you’ll get better and learn to appreciate which niche – if any – you’d like to pursue to further your career.

In my 13 years as a personal trainer and coach I’ve had the opportunity and honor to work with so many different people. Everything from young athletes to professional athletes to CEOs, doctors, fat loss clients, powerlifters, post rehab, and anything you can think of in between. Still waiting for that Astronaut, though.

I’ve had clients who have worked with me for 5+ years – both in person and in a distance based format. Most often when I’ve been working with someone that long they’re someone I’d train for free. I’d be lying if I said you never build a rapport past the trainer-client dichotomy with some people. You absolutely do.

I’ve had clients become really good friends, and I even have one who’s going to be an attendant in my wedding this May.

I wouldn’t say this is normal or happens all the time.

But given that circumstance is more of an outlier scenario, here are some quick bullet point traits I find make for a good client(s).

1. They pay. You have bills, right? It sounds tacky and trite, I know, but if you have a client who pays, pays on time, and is willing to do it for months, and if you’re lucky, years on end….that’s grounds for a solid start.

2. They respect you as a professional. Admittedly, there are a number of examples across the country of inept personal trainers and coaches who give the industry a bad reputation. All you have to do is peruse YouTube for 30 minutes and a small portion of your soul dies.

So part of me understands why the industry as a whole is looked down upon by many people.

But nothing grinds my gears more than when someone hires me for whatever reason – fat loss, performance, dealing with an injury – and then proceed to question/bitch/whine every…single….thing I ask them to do.

When this happens I do this:

Me: “Say Al, what is it that you do for a living?

Al: “Well, Tony, as it happens, I’m an Astronaut.”

Me: “What the what. Finally! Can we be BFFs?

Al: “Only if we can practice karate in the garage.”

Me: “Obviously.”

“Also, you know, Al, I wouldn’t have the faintest idea what the ideal ambient torsional velocity should be when ascertaining the longitudinal axis of a rocket during space docking.”

Al: “I would think not.”

Me: “Soooooo, shut up and do your freakin deadlifts.”

The point is: I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t question an accountant about their taxes or their lawyer about their lawyering. While being inquisitive is one thing (and should be expected), they shouldn’t constantly question your expertise with regards to differentiating flexion intolerant back pain from extension intolerant back pain.

Mind you, you should have a rationale and be able to explain everything written in a program. Conversely it’s not too much to ask that your client trust you. That is what they’re paying you for, right?

3. They show up on time. They schedule on time. They wear deodorant.

4. They do the work. Both in AND outside of the gym. I often give my clients homework. This may be something like asking them to keep a 3-day food diary, or maybe doing an extra active-recovery circuit on one of their “off” days from working with me. Are they compliant? The ideal one’s make an effort to be.

I’m sure I can easily keep going, and maybe I will at some point down the road. I’d encourage you to look up some of Alwyn Cosgrove’s stuff on the topic. He’s written several things on how to build an ideal client roster and how to fire clients if need be.

Meet Eddie

Eddie is a professional athlete (baseball). He works his ass off. I’d make a case that he’s one of the hardest working athletes I’ve ever coached.

Lets be honest: any professional athlete who chooses to spend his off-season in Massachusetts – we’re currently under 2+ feet of snow with more on the way – probably doesn’t need much motivation to train.

The thing about Eddie is sometimes he’s TOO motivated.

As much as it is for us coaches – as a team – to write effective, efficient, and safe programming, a large portion of our job is also to pull the reigns or pump the breaks when needed.

It’s not uncommon for me to tell Eddie to chill out and that it’s okay if he didn’t break his PR for the 16th consecutive week.

While Eddie is also an outlier, we’re very lucky to have so many hard-working and dedicated athletes (and not just baseball players) walk through our doors at Cressey Sports Performance.

Motivation, generally, isn’t too much of an issue when them. They’ll either put in the work or get released. Their choice.

Meet Robin

Robin is not an athlete. In fact, she’s a working professional who started training with us three months ago. She came to us with a vague background in strength training, but was also dealing with a few nagging injuries.

One of the advantages I have is that most people who seek out my services KNOW what they’re getting into. They read my stuff, they read Eric’s (Cressey) stuff, they read Greg Robins, Tony Bonevechio, Miguel Aragoncillo, and the rest the CSP’s staff material.

People know they’re not going to be doing Zumba. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So, in a way, most of the people I work with at CSP don’t need a whole lot of motivation to train. The brand sort of sells itself. What many of them do need – and especially in the case of Robin – is someone to help them gain their confidence back.

Some have been so “broken” for so long, and have worked with any number of other trainers, that it’s sometimes difficult to buy into what it is I have to say.

Showing them success is paramount.

They’re motivation is literally, training.

What can I do as their coach to get them to train pain free, or to do things that they thought they couldn’t do? It isn’t my objective to have everyone conventional deadlift on day one. Some people aren’t ready for that because it’s too aggressive or above their ability level. But I can have them perform some light glute bridges or some pull-throughs to get them to feel what turning on their glutes feels like in addition to grooving a hip hinge.

And then I can progress them from there.

If a female client can’t do a push-up, I’m NOT going to have her do “girl push-ups.” That’s lame and provides an initial connotation I’d prefer to avoid. Instead, she’s going to do push-ups – elevated on pins.

I’m going to show her success so that she gains some confidence. THAT’s oftentimes all the motivation anyone ever needs, and how I approach things with the bulk of my general fitness clients.

Prove to them that they CAN do “stuff.”  Once that happens it’s pretty much a domino effect in terms of progress and compliance with their programs. It’s not a sexy answer, but it works.

Categoriespersonal training

Your Career in Fitness: A Guide to Professional Success

I get asked all the time from new and incoming trainers and coaches what they can do to better position themselves for (long-term) success in the fitness industry.

Statistics show that most trainers burn out within a year and a half to two years. Granted there are many, many trainers who have long, prosperous, and fruitful careers teeming with PRs, inches melted away, pounds lost, boundless interpersonal relationships, and client success stories. And maybe, just maybe a 401K or SEP IRA you can brag about.

In the fitness industry, however, that tends to be the exception and not the rule.

I don’t feel many people enter this industry under the impression they’ll make a ton of money and that they’ll end up living an MTV Cribs lifestyle. I’m sure they’re out there, but it’s rare.

Rather, most dive in because 1) pretty much anyone can become a personal trainer, so why not? 2) they’ve always been passionate about health and fitness and have a genuine interest in helping others OR 3) they’ve always been passionate about health and fitness and have a genuine interest in helping others. Oh, and they hate their current job and are thiiiiiiis close to grabbing a brick and knocking their boss’s teeth out.

To Point #1:  It is what it is. For better or worse the barrier to entry into the fitness industry is low.  You don’t need a four-year degree to train someone, and you could make the argument that taking the time to do so does nothing but teach one to get really good at memorizing answers and not preparing him/her for any application of “real-world” skills like movement assessment, coaching, and writing a competent training program that makes sense and doesn’t require a drunk pirate to decipher.

There’s that and the whole thousands of dollars of debt thing.

This isn’t to say I don’t advocate one get a degree, but in this day and age it’s definitely a discussion worth having and weighing one’s options.

To Points #2 & 3: I’m lucky in that I know dozens – if not hundreds – of top notch trainers and coaches who are really good at what they do, and have been doing it for a long time. Likewise, I’m also friends with a know of several people who started off in one career only to perform a 180, take a real risk, and enter fitness.

My good friend Roger Lawson (Rog Law) comes to mind first. He was living in Michigan back in 2008-2009 and graduated school with an English degree, only to realize that that wasn’t what he wanted to do.

Instead he took a chance and applied for an internship at Cressey Sports Performance. Admittedly we were skeptical, but he was persistent (even making the trip from Michigan to Massachusetts just to introduce himself), and we accepted.

The rest, as they say, is history. To this day he’s still considered one of our most popular interns/coaches we’ve ever had.  And, to top it all off, he’s amassed his own cult-following and successful fitness career since leaving.

He didn’t take the traditional route, but he’s done a litany of things right which has allowed him to become successful.

Look, anyone with biceps, a cute smile, a casual interest in fitness, or six-pack abzzz (<— 3 z’s for emphasis) can sign up for a weekend personal training course and become certified.

That’s all fine and dandy, but unless you arm yourself with the tools necessary to separate yourself from the masses – a competent understanding of anatomy, nutrition, business, and even psychology (how to deal with and motivate people to change) – like I said, statistics prove most trainers burn out within a year and a half to two years.

At best, taking the time to implement the steps necessary to actually have a fitness career – and a successful one at that – is hard, takes effort, and isn’t for everyone.

At worse, you take the easy route, embrace your overwhelming sense of entitlement, putter out like I said you would, and end up living in your parent’s basement managing all your different Fantasy Football teams while working at Applebee’s.

So What Can You Do?

I don’t do this often. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever done it – link to a singular article. But if any of what I said above strikes a chord with anyone reading, I’d HIGHLY encourage you to read the article below written by Nate Green for Precision Nutrition.

I read it this morning and felt compelled to showcase it on my site today because I think the information provided is priceless.

There are no gimmicks. You don’t need to sign up for anything. It’s just an article. A really good one that provides a ton of direction and resources. Enjoy!

Your Career in Fitness: A Guide to Professional Success

CategoriesMotivational Off Topic personal training

Confessions of an Introverted Strength Coach – Part II

Oops, one day late.  My bad.

In part I of Confessions of an Introverted Strength Coach I discussed some of the misconceptions of what it actually means to be an introvert and then dissected some of the characteristics separating introverts from extroverts.

I also linked to a simple test you can take to figure out where on the spectrum you lie (Note: no one is 100% either/or), as well as shared some personal perspective throughout my own life on how I’ve learned to embrace and accept my introversion.

I.e., I’ve hugged myself a lot.

You can catch up HERE in case you missed it.  Don’t worry, I’ll wait.  

To say I was thrilled with the response part one received would be an understatement.

I knew it would be a hot button topic and strike a chord with a lot of people, but I had no idea so many would go out of their way to say “thank you,” say how much they could relate, or be willing to name their first born after me.

Okay, that last part is a slight exaggeration.

It’s with that I first want to first say THANK YOU to everyone who responded and for all the kind words. I guess being in a relationship with a psychologist for five years – outside of learning some nifty Jedi-mind tricks (and yes, I just used the word nifty in a sentence) – has spoiled me into assuming that most people had a general grasp on the topic.

I’m elated everyone is now more aware that being an introvert isn’t a disease and that it doesn’t mean you’re weird, socially inept, or a recluse.  It just means you have an affinity for using your inside voice, books, and, I don’t know, maybe spending an evening watching old re-runs of Party of Five episodes by yourself.

Oh, and cats……;o)

Just to save face, however, and to be clear:  all of this isn’t to say that being an extrovert is bad or that extroverted people are horrible human beings.

I know many delightful, enjoyable, and overly pleasant people who are extroverts (ahem, my girlfriend is one).  Many of my good friends and colleagues are extroverts.  Heck, my own brother is the KING of extroverts.

It’s not as if I’m trying to instigate a 90’s East coast-West coast hop-hop battle where introverts represent Biggie on one side of the fence and extroverts represent 2Pac on the other.

We can all get along here. There’s no need for tension or judgement or mix-tapes calling one another bad names.

On the contrary all I want to convey is that the two sides are just…….different.

More to the point, that being an introvert, especially in world that seemingly rewards and encourages the polar opposite, may take some minor tweaking on your part to thrive.

This is especially true if you happen to be a coach or personal trainer for a living.

I played baseball all through high-school and was lucky enough to earn an athletic scholarship to play in college.

I was a pitcher and between high-school and college combined I had a variety of coaches who challenged me both physically and mentally.

My high-school coach was a very level headed and calm coach. I don’t think I ever saw him lose his temper in practice or during a game.  Sure, he’d get fired up, like any coach would, if someone missed their cut-off man or missed the sign to bunt.  But all in all, he was a coach who kept his cool at all times.  And I responded very well to that because it matched my demeanor.

Similarly, I rarely lost my shit on the mound. Whether I was pitching a complete game 2-hitter or I was taken out in the 3rd inning, I generally kept the same levelheadedness at all times. I never liked to show emotion or demonstrate to the other team I was flustered. I was like Liam Neeson’s character in Taken, except without the hand-to-hand combat skills and not remotely as badass.

My JUCO (Junior College) coach was a bit different.  He was the type of coach who was intense, expected a lot from his players, and didn’t refrain from letting you know when you did something wrong. But he coached, and it just made it all the more sweet when he praised you for doing something right.

He was an amazing coach, and I appreciated the fact he was hard on us at times. He definitely rubbed some players the wrong way – some ended up quitting the team – but I think some guys just didn’t like being held accountable and were used to being coddled.

When I eventually transferred to Mercyhurst College (now Mercyhurst University), I had the misfortune of being recruited by one coach, only to see him leave once I arrived, and then go through two coaches in two separate years my Junior and Senior seasons.

My senior year coach was a nightmare. He was from the south and as hotheaded as they come. He’d get in player’s faces during practice, he’d get in their faces on the team bus, and he’d almost always get in our faces during games.  It got to the point where we’d start betting one another what the over-under was for when he’d get kicked out of a game.

He loooooooved guys who showed emotion. I wasn’t one of those guys.

I remember one instance where I gave up three consecutive hits to the first three batters of a game. He called time out and charged out to the mound to tell me, in no uncertain terms, to “get my ass into the game” and that I better “start giving a shit.”

You know, as if I wanted to give up three straight hits to start the game.

For whatever reason he always took my demeanor on the mound as being cavalier and that I should get more fired up.

Anyways, on occasion he’d come out and do his song and dance, I’d take it in stride, and then I’d just continue doing what I always did.

Long story short: I ended up pitching a complete game where we ended up winning 5-2. Whatevs. No big deal.

Funnily enough a few of my old teammates sent me THIS story on coach Norwood which was featured on Deadspin.com a few months ago.

Give it a listen.  That’s what I had to deal with.

NOTE: then again, anyone with the same name as an infamous field goal kicker who lost a Super Bowl would probably have a case for being an assclown.

Needless to say he was one of those RAH-RAH coaches. Admittedly he was an outlier and took the RAH-RAH to a whole nother “douchey to the douchiest” degree, but it speaks to the topic at hand.

I am not a RAH-RAH coach

I think most introverts would agree that they aren’t either. This isn’t to say that we never get animated or fired up for our athletes, but those instances tend to be few and far between.

In truth ‘m much more animated at the gym than I am at other social events. Being in the gym is what’s comfortable for me and is where I feel at home. Also, it doesn’t hurt that if there’s ever a place where making noise is warranted and par for the course…..it’s the gym.

Still, while exceptions are made whenever a good EDM (Electrical Dance Music) track comes on the stereo, I think if most people watched me coach and saw what my animated looked like, they’d think I was drinking tea, or at most, playing a friendly game of Jeopardy.

It may be a bit naive on my part to say this, but I truly feel, as one person put so succinctly in the comments section on my Facebook page, “if you put off the laid back ‘I’m just here to make you better not break you down to rebuild you’ vibe your clients feel comfortable quicker. You get to know them and they reveal more about themselves, what they like, what makes them tick, which in the long run enables you to motivate them for the longer haul.”

My coaching style definitely feeds into this mindset.

I often chuckle to myself when I’m watching someone perform a lift and after their set they look up at me like a sad puppy expecting me to berate them or go off on some tirade about neutral spines, tucked chins, knees not being pushed out, or WHY THE HELL DID THEY MAKE ANOTHER TRANSFORMERS MOVIE??? DID YOU SEE THAT LAST PIECE OF GARBAGE???? AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

*runs through brick wall*

In fact what usually happens is I give a nod of approval and say something like, “naw man, you’re cool.  Looked good!”

I always like to give feedback, but my introverted tendencies sometimes get the best of me. Athletes or clients will occasionally take my silence as me thinking they’re doing something wrong or that they’re past the point of help.  This couldn’t be further from the truth,

Something that has helped me (and is something I “stole” from fellow CP coach Greg Robins) is to give a new athlete or client a bit of a heads up. I’ll preface their set by saying something along the lines of, “I’m just going to be a fly on the wall and let you go.  If I ever feel you’re going cause any harm or hurt yourself, I’ll let you know and stop you.  Don’t take my silence as something bad or that I’m not paying attention.”

I’m paying attention.  I’m paying attention like no one’s business!

Sometimes as coaches and trainers we get too carried away with OVER-coaching, throwing out cues and feedback at a lightning pace.  It can get overwhelming for some, especially if you’re working with an introvert.

I like to allow (some) athletes to feel they’re way through an exercise.

When I do need to give feedback I break it down like this:

1.  Show correct technique and what I’d like them to do.

2.  Show what they did wrong.

3.  Show them, again, correct technique and what I’d like them to do.

I may give a “WTF was that look” from time to time, but for the most part there are no theatrics, no yelling, and no tossing of chairs.

Here’s the Part You Skipped to Anyways (Tips for the Introverted Coach)

1. Set-up recharge blocks between clients so you don’t murder a client or co-worker.

This is something I lived by when I worked in the commercial gym setting. As coaches and trainers we work when everyone else doesn’t, and our schedules can be pretty sporadic to say the least.

I always had colleagues who would schedule clients from 7 AM all the way through the afternoon, and I never understood how they could do it. Most would burn out pretty quickly doing that long-term.

Personally I’d always “stagger” my schedule and purposely place gaps throughout so I could allow for some down time between clients.

Sometimes I’d use the time to get my workout in. When I was a trainer at Sportsclub LA in downtown Boston I’d use my re-charge time to hang out in the lounge and catch up on some reading or write. Sometimes I’d just go for a walk across the street in Boston Common. And sometimes I’d walk over to the adjacent movie theater and catch an afternoon flick.

Let me tell you, those re-charge periods were GOLD in my eyes.  So whether you’d prefer to take that time for power nap or to read or to play Candy Crush….I can’t recommend it enough.

2. Be You

Don’t be something you’re not. Don’t feel as if you have to cater to what society tells you you should be.  If you want to wear white after Labor Day then do it, dammit!

Too, if you’re not a RAH-RAH coach, then don’t be one

That being said, as an introvert that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be willing to adapt to some degree.  CP coach, Chris Howard, gave an excellent presentation at last year’s Cressey Performance Fall Seminar on this very topic.  He noted that two of the more prominent challenges of the introvert coach is that 1) he or she may seem unapproachable and 2) he or she may not give as much feedback or encouragement.

To point #1:  Smile!  Was that so hard?

To point #2: Read above where I discuss how I cue new athletes and clients.  See!! I knew you skipped to this section!!

3. But to Add to That

Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert I feel utilizing more EXTERNAL cuing when coaching new movements and exercises is more valuable than INTERNAL cues.

Internal cues focus within the body or a specific movement, while external cues focus on things outside of the body and/or on an effect or outcome of a movement

Using the deadlift as an example:

Internal Cues: flex the hip; extend at the top; squeeze your abs; arch your back; squeeze your glutes; rotate pelvis upward; flatten your back.

You might as well be speaking Elvish.

External Cues: Rope around waist pulling you backward (helps with people pushing their hips back); tap the wall with your butt (same thing); plates should rattle at the top (gets people to explode with their hips); pretend you’re getting punched in the stomach (instead of “squeeze your abs”); show me the logo of your shirt (helps with neutral spine and chest up); push away from the floor (gets people to put force into the ground).

Try it.  I bet you’ll be surprised with how much more smoothly things go.

In addition, learning how to coach an INTROVERTED client is important too. Stealing from Chris Howard (again).  When coaching an introvert it will help to:

– Be patient

– Check in regularly (they won’t be as verbal and won’t demand your attention)

– They generally won’t ask questions, so you should ask them!

– Let them observe first.

I’ll Shut Up Now

For a so-called introvert I sure had a lot to say! You deserve some kind of gold star for making it this far.

Hopefully this was somewhat helpful, and helped shed some light on the topic.

By all means I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts, insights, or any advice you’d have to offer. But remember:  use your inside voice….;o)

CategoriesMotivational Off Topic personal training

Confessions of an Introverted Strength Coach – Part I

Hi. My name is Tony Gentilcore, and I’m an introvert.

I always have been, and always will be. And, if I’m going to be honest with myself it’s only been within the last few years of my adult life where I’ve accepted it, embraced it, and recognized that it’s played a massive role in not only molding me into the person I am today, but that it’s also played a role in my success as a coach, trainer, and writer.

Rather than beat around the bush and talk about “feelings” (which is every introvert’s nightmare), I guess it only makes sense to dive right into it and discuss – albeit briefly – what makes an introvert an introvert and an extrovert an extrovert.

To that point, I’d be doing a huge disservice to all those reading if I didn’t direct you to the outstanding book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.

If there was ever a book that “spoke” to me (and to all introverts), this was it.  I can’t recommend it enough.

In the introduction Cain notes that “there are almost as many definitions of introvert and extrovert as there are personality psychologists, who spend a great deal of time arguing over which meaning in most accurate.”

Still, today’s psychologists tend to agree on several important points:

1. Introverts and extroverts differ in the level of outside stimulation that they need to function well.  Introverts feel “just right” with less stimulation, as when they go for leisurely walks, have coffee with a close friend, read a book, or, in the case of me, snuggle with a blankie watch a movie alone.

Extroverts are the exact opposite and tend to gain energy and re-charge by being around more people, meeting new people, and seeking out stimulation.

This is something that describes my relationship with my girlfriend to a “T.” By the time the weekend rolls around, I’m ready to veg the f*** out, plop on the couch, and become a home-body. Lisa, on the other hand, at times, would prefer to go out and meet up with friends and socialize.

I remember one instance when we first started dating heading out into the city to meet up with a bunch of her friends at some swanky lounge.

I spend the bulk of my week constantly stimulated by overactive athletes, weights clanking together and being dropped to the ground, and loud my-mother-never-loved-me music blaring over the stereo.  The last thing I want to do once the weekend arrives is go to a crowded bar.

Honestly, I’d rather swallow a live grenade.

But relationships are all about compromise, right?

Well, I did it……and while I can usually suck it up and be social (when I have to be), in this one instance it was just too much. I was withdrawn, I wasn’t interacting with anyone, and when I was engaged by someone I’d respond with one word answers. I was miserable and I’m sure I looked it, too.

I’ll be the first to admit I was a asshat that night, that I was a jerk and that I probably slept on the couch when we got home (I can’t remember).

The silver lining, however, was that Lisa and ended up having a long discussion about it a few days later.  We came to the conclusion I just need to communicate with here when something is too much or if I’ve had enough. If I need a night of “Tony Time” (I.e., nights where I can go to the local coffee shop and read, write, or watch LOLCat videos), then all I need to do is let her know.  No harm-no foul.

We literally came to terms with our introvert-extrovert dichotomy.

In the end, all I’m trying to say is that the main difference between the two is that introverts tend to re-charge by being inside their own heads, while extroverts re-charge by being in everyone else’s.

2.  There are a host of other attributes that can breakdown both personality types that Ms. Cain addresses in her book.  Some other highlights:

– Extroverts tend to tackle assignments quickly.  They make fast (sometimes rash) decisions, and are comfortable multi-tasking.  They enjoy the “thrill of the chase” for rewards like money and status.

– Introverts often work more slowly and deliberately. They like to focus on one task at a time and can have Jedi-like powers when it comes to concentration.

– Extroverts are often the life of the party, laugh gregariously at everyone’s jokes, and tend to be assertive, dominant, and tend to be comfortable with conflict.

– Introverts, not so much. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and (I 100% relate to this) feel as if they can express themselves better in writing than in conversation.

What Introverts Aren’t

Being deemed introverted – whether it’s “self diagnosed” or not – has had a history of having a bad or unfavorable connotation in our society.

Hermit, misanthrope, recluse, and “anti-social” are all common adjectives used to describe an introvert. Highly intelligent and good-looking rank up there as well (<– it’s science).

Shy is also a common word tossed around to describe introverts.  As Cain states, “Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating.”

Which lends itself to the next question:  how do you know whether you’re an introvert or extrovert?

The “go to” resource for that would be the Jung Typology Test or how it’s better known…the Myers-Briggs Personality Test.

It’s a quick test, totaling 72 questions, all designed to give you a 4-letter formula which will serve as the crystal ball into your personality type.

Honestly, I think they could have narrowed it down to ONE question:

1.  Do you own a cat, and if so, is it like, the cutest most adorable thing in the history of the world?

Y_____  N_____

You check marked Yes?  You’re an introvert.

Kidding aside (I should note that it took a lot of will-power on my part NOT to include a picture of my cat here), the Myers-Briggs test, while not perfect, will help give people a little more insight as to which side of the fence they reside on.

So, Now What?

You’ve taken the test, you have a group of 4-letters jotted down on a piece of paper, and after deciphering what they mean, you’ve come to conclusion that you’re an introvert.

Relax, it’s not a death sentence.  Deep breaths.

As much as introversion has a negative stigma in regular ol’ society (and hopefully by now you understand that it shouldn’t be stigmatized), I think it’s twofold in the fitness industry.

Shows like The Biggest Loser don’t help matters.  The trainers and coaches on that show (and I use the word “coaches” lightly here, as I feel they’re namely actors playing the role of coaches) have a very in-your-face, crude, and quite frankly, obnoxious way of going about things.

Screaming and yelling and insulting their clients is the name of the game. Unfortunately this is what most regular people expect when they hire a personal trainer or coach.

In the same vein, many will watch YouTube clips like the one below of Alabama strength coach, Scott Cochran, and assume that this is the norm:

This isn’t to disrespect Coach Cochran – his results obviously speak for themselves – but this is a FAR cry from the norm.

None of the coaches at Cressey Sports Performance act like this.  This isn’t to say that none of us ever get animated or pumped up or start screaming and yelling to motivate someone…..but it’s an exception and not the rule.

I’m the farthest thing from a rah-rah coach. I don’t do a lot of yelling, I don’t get in people’s faces, and I tend to keep a calm, cool, and collected demeanor at all times. And my athletes and clients do just fine.

In tomorrow’s post I’ll outline some strategies I – as well as some of the other coaches at CSP – use to take advantage of our introverted tendencies.  Not only do you have to understand it from a personal level, but you how you coach and cue INTROVERTED CLIENTS comes into play as well.

Until then, I’d love to hear everyone else’s experiences as an introvert.  Agree with me? Disagree?

CategoriesMotivational personal training

What Every Personal Trainer Should Know

Like many of you I’m a member of a few Facebook groups. Some private, and some not so much. There’s a family page, a Cressey Performance page, a page that’s dedicated to my old JUCO baseball team, another one that I frequent which is for movie nerds, and another that may or may not be nothing more than a ode to………..you guessed it…..bacon.

What can I say? I love the stuff.

Another group I’m a member of is one that I was invited into recently – there’s a secret handshake and everything! – run by a group of young fitness professionals on the up and up.

They’re a group of young men and women whom I know and have a personal, if not a more than an informal relationship with, who asked myself and several other colleagues of mine if we’d be willing to participate and to serve as “mentors” so-to-speak.  Nothing fancy or time consuming, but rather just a place where they can ask questions, seek advice or just talk shop.

I said yes, but only under the stipulation that whenever I’m addressed directly they’d have to do this first:

It’s been great so far, and I’ve enjoyed the open dialogue and discourse.

One question in particular caught my attention the other day:

What are subject matters you think every personal trainer must know? And what are some subjects matters personal trainers should know, depending on what kind of niche they want to work with?

It’s a loaded question for sure, right on par with your girlfriend asking “do I look fat in this?” or “wanna talk about our feelings?”

But I felt it was a question that deserved some attention and something I’d attempt to tackle in today’s post.

Upon graduating from school back in 2002, when I first started out as a personal trainer I felt I knew everything.

I had been lifting weights since I was 13, played four years of college baseball, had a six-pack, and had graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Health Education. How hard could it possibly be to train Jim from accounting?

Come on dude…I got this.

Needless to say, out of the gate, it was a rude awakening for me.

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t a cakewalk. I quickly realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. And, to be honest, I considered it a success/borderline miracle if my client happened to finish his or her session with all ten fingers and toes still attached.

Of course the panic button was pushed less often the more experience I got.  After a few weeks I started hyperventilating less and less into a brown paper bag.  After a few months I started hitting my stride and getting more confident in my abilities.  And after a year or two I was basically a personal training Jedi.

Okay not really, but I was far cry from the rookie trainer who was green around the gills not long beforehand.

I can only speak from my own experience, but below are a few candid thoughts which I feel every personal trainer should consider:

1.  Career vs. Hobby

What’s your goal?  Are you doing this “personal training thing” because you see it as a viable, rewarding, long-term career, or something that, because you like to lift weights and stuff, will help you pass time until something better comes along?

Collecting baseball cards is a hobby. World of WarCraft is a hobby.

Taking people’s health and well-being into your hands is NOT a hobby.  At least it shouldn’t be.

I know I could sit here and wax poetic about how the barrier to entry in the personal training field is spotty at best.  At this point it is what it is.  There’s nothing I can do to stop people from getting certified on the internet by paying a random site $79.99.

That said, I truly feel that those trainers who approach this as a CAREER – and not just something to do – are the ones who are going to last the longest and do well for themselves.

2.  Know Anatomy

This seems like an obvious point, but you’d be amazed as to how many seniors in college on the cusp of entering the work force can’t even name all four rotator cuff muscles, let alone each’s function.

Let me ask you this:  shoulder bone connecting to the arm bone jokes aside, how do you expect to train someone’s body if you don’t even know what it is or how it works?

Now, I’m not saying you have to be an anatomy savant like Eric Cressey, Bill Hartman, Mike Robertson, or Bret Contreras – all of whom are on another level if you ask me.

But you should have a basic understanding of how the human body works, and I’m not just referring to insertion points and actions of the muscle.  You need to know FUNCTIONAL anatomy.

Take the glutes for example.  Read any anatomy book and you’ll learn that the glute max extends and abducts the hip, as well as externally rotates.  Cool, we’re all on the same page there.

But it also decelerates hip internal rotation and adduction, as well as pronation of the foot.  All of which are kind of important with regards to non-contact ACL injuries.

Knowing this will undoubtedly help a trainer (hopefully) choose appropriate exercises and movements that train the glutes (and posterior chain) in a more “functional” manner.

That’s a very rudimentary example, but it helps showcase my point.

Check out my Resources Page for recommendations for books, DVDS, and the like.  There are a lot of them.  Then again, I know a lot of smart people.

3.  Know Program Design

This goes hand in hand with anatomy, and is just as much of a learned skill as anything else. I love the analogy that Mike Boyle has routinely used in the past on program design and how it’s like following a recipe.

Some people need are cooks and NEED to follow the recipe as it’s written.

Some people are chefs that can write new recipes.

You can read more HERE (<—- please read it).

Along the same lines, trainers should write programs and NOT workouts.  Programs are planned, well-thought out, structured training plans with a goal or purpose in mind (fat loss, training around an injury, preparing for a competitive season, etc).  Workouts are nothing more than a trainer babysitting.

You’re not a babysitter.

4.  Know Technique

Whenever I train at a commercial gym I can’t help but observe my surroundings. Yes I always see some eye wash like a guy deadlifting with a rounded back or a woman who’s 40 lbs overweight performing DB curls on a BOSU ball.

Part of me wants to walk over, shake the shit out of them, and point them in the right direction. But it’s not my place.  And, to be honest, they don’t know any better.  At least they’re doing something, right?

What really sets me off is when I watch a trainer doing dumb shit with a client. Worse is when I watch the trainer allow poor technique and do nothing to correct it.  That to me is UNACCEPTABLE.

The problem, most of the time, is that the trainer doesn’t know what good technique is.  Well guess what???  It’s your JOB to know what good technique is!!!!!

A little humility goes a long way if you ask me.

If you don’t know how to coach something, don’t put it into a client’s program! Simple as that.

I’m often asked why I never include any of the Olympic lifts into my programming. My answer: I don’t have a lot of experience with them!  Not to mention they’re not a great fit for the population I work with.

Regardless, as a trainer or coach it’s imperative you hold yourself to a standard.  Use the window test.

If you were an outsider looking through a window watching your athletes or clients train, would you be proud of what you see?  Are they squatting to good depth?  Are their knees caving in on each rep? Do their backs round every time they do a 1-arm DB row?  Do their hips sag and elbows flare out when they perform pushups?

If so, why aren’t you fixing it?  Why aren’t you regressing the exercises?

You’re a coach, so coach!

5.  Get Into People’s Heads

One of the comments left in the original discussion was this (which I’m stealing):

For me, client compliance and communication with general pop. If you can’t convey your message and set up systems that your client can find success with then you’re basically a walking overpriced textbook that no none can read.

I read a lot of books on behavioral economics by authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Ariely, the Freakonomics guys, Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, as well as others like Robert Cialdini and Chip & Dan Heath.

The reason being, because of the statement above.  It’s important to learn how to communicate with people.  If you’re an uppity a-hole who talks over people’s heads all the time, how do you expect them to follow through with your advice?

Conversely if you’re someone who “just shows up,” counts reps, and does nothing to set people up for success other than charge their credit card each month…..then you’re not doing much.

To understand why people do what they do, and why they think what they think can be an invaluable asset to you as a trainer and coach.

No one is insinuating that you have to sit people on a couch and become a psychologist, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a better understanding of what goes on in their head and how you can better motivate them to not hit up McDonald’s on the way home or take their freakin fish oil……..GOSH!!!!!!!

CategoriesMotivational personal training

How to Get to Where You Want to Be

I was up late this past Saturday night.

Granted, late for me (10 PM) is not late for everyone else, especially on a weekend night. Moreover it’s probably when things are getting started for most people.

Lisa and I had just gotten home from the movies where we saw the new Whitey Bulger documentary Whitey: United States of America vs. James J. Bulger.  As resident pseudo Bostonians (neither of us born here – Lisa: Florida, myself: New York) we both felt obligated to go see it.  And boy oh boy was it a fascinating peek into the story of Whitey Bulger and the “was he or wasn’t he an informant for the FBI?” clusterf*** of a mystery.

If you get the chance, I’d highly recommend it.

Anyways, like I said, it was late. Lisa wasn’t feeling too well, so we decided to get ready for bed. Of course I made the mistake of checking my email just one more time to make sure there wasn’t anything pressing or important to take care of.

And that’s when I read the email.

It’s an email that I get at least once week, if not every couple of days. And while I understand that it comes with good intentions, I sometimes can’t help but feel a sense of wanting to throw my face into an ax.

While they come in a variety of iterations, the theme is generally the same: “Tony, you’re about as close to a real life Han Solo as they get, how did you get to where you are today as a coach?”

I’m often dumbfounded by the question. Sometimes, even at a loss for words. But I wasn’t at precisely 10:07 PM (or thereabouts) when I read the email. Do people really think there’s an easy answer?

I started typing a response, and when I was done, 20-30 minutes later, rather than send it to the person who wrote the email, I posted it on my Facebook Fan Page because I figured it was a message that more than one person needed to hear.

And it’s what that, I felt I’d share it on my blog today.

And Here It Is

How did the Beatles become “the Beatles? How did Steve Jobs build Apple?  How did the Golden Gate Bridge get built? Or, how did Will Hunting solve that seemingly unsolvable, hard as balls formula that Professor Lambeau left on the chalk board in MIT hallway outside his classroom?

HARD WORK, that’s how!!!!

Listen, Dr. Oz likes to propagate false claims and wishful thinking using flashy buzzwords and phrases like “magic pill” and “I’ve got the miracle answer for….”

[Cue hardship here: diabetes/fat loss/heart disease/raging explosive diarrhea/you name it.]

He prays on the notion that there’s an easy fix for “stuff”, an easy route to success, and caters to people’s lack of accountability for their own actions, or lack thereof.

There is no easy fix. It doesn’t exist.

Just like there’s no easy answer I can offer to the above query.

To put things into perspective, I started out as a personal trainer at a small corporate gym back in 2002. N’Sync was Dirty Pop’in, gas prices were $1.43 a gallon, and the iPhone didn’t exist. Not that 2002 is ancient history, but it certainly wasn’t yesterday.

I’ve been doing this for a little over a decade now, it’s only been within the past year, maybe two, where I’ve finally started to feel I kinda-sorta know what the heck I’m doing.

That’s countless client/athlete coaching hours, countless programs written, countless books read, and DVDs watched, and workshops/conferences attended. Not to mention innumerous words written from articles and blog posts. Well, technically, I could probably go back and count, but you get the gist of what I’m trying to say.

I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am. I didn’t get my first article published on T-Nation until 2006 (four years into my career). I didn’t train my first professional athlete until 2007.

And, to speak bluntly, I don’t feel “where I am” is anywhere close to where I’d like to be. I still have soooo much more to learn and understand.

I still feel like a moron whenever I’m in the same room as Eric (Cressey) or Bret (Contreres) or Gray Cook or Mike Boyle or Jim “Smitty” Smith or Dean (Somerset) or Mike (Robertson) or Nick (Tumminello) or Cassandra (Forsythe) or any other countless fitness professionals I look up to.

On a daily basis I’m reminded how much of an idiot I am. This isn’t to say I don’t recognize any of my success or that I de-value myself.  Instead, it’s a subtle reminder that I’m not that special and things don’t just happen.

None of this – whatever this is? – happens overnight. Or in a week. Or in a month. Or in a decade.

It takes however long it takes. No one knows, really.

What I can tell you is that you have to put in the work, you have to have an insatiable appetite to always want to get better and improve, and you sure as hell better be willing to be humbled in the process.

Stop asking how long it will take to be successful or how long before you get your first article published or when you’ll get 1000 “likes” or when you’ll train your first professional athlete or when you’ll whateverthef***.

That’s not the point, and if that’s all you’re concerned with why are you even in this profession?

Instead, ask yourself how are you getting better today? How are you making your clients and athletes better?

That’s the more appropriate question.

Do the work. Consistently give a shit. THAT’s how you get to where you want to be.

CategoriesAssessment personal training Program Design Strength Training

Two Dudes Talking Shop

I had the pleasure of recording an interview with Harold Gibbons, a fitness writer and trainer at Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC yesterday.

The word “interview” is used loosely here, because it wasn’t so much an interview as it was two intelligent and uncannily witty dudes sitting down to talk shop on things ranging from coaching and program design to more rabbit hole topics such as the Postural Restoration Institute and “corrective” exercise.

And, of course, there was Star Wars.

Not to mention Harold’s epic beard!

Nevertheless, if you’re sitting at work and need something to keep you occupied until lunch time or want something to listen to while you drive your car or ride the train, just press play.

Fair warning:  If you’re listening to this in a public place or work, you may want some earphones because I cuss like a sailor at several points throughout.  If, however, you have the coolest boss ever, and he or she doesn’t care, then by all means turn up the volume. It’s been said I have the voice of an angel.