Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

Glute Training For Athletes

If you’re a personal trainer or strength coach you likely work with clients and athletes who 1) have glutes1 and 2) are looking to up their glute game.

Today’s guest post by strength coach, Menachem Brodie, goes a bit further down the rabbit hole than just giving you a bunch of glute-centric exercises to consider. There are a plethora of factors to consider when trying to ascertain what exercise will be the best fit for any one individual’s derriere.

What’s more, simpler is often better…;o)

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

Glute Training For Athletes

What is it about glutes that has made them the “back to the future” of strength and performance training?

Was it Bret Contreras creating the Barbell Hip Thrust and spreading the Gospel of Glutes?


Was it the invention of Yoga Pants?

Or maybe it was Mike Jureller going on his “International Tour of CrossFit gyms” that made them popular… The world may never know.

What is undisputed, is that glutes (and mid & lower traps) are signs that someone is an athlete, or at least training like an athlete.

Today we’ll grab our Glute Dolorean’s and head back to the past, to help us understand why glutes are so important, why squats are not enough, and what you need to consider when programming glutes for your athletes and clients.

The glutes, all three of them: Glute medius, Glute minimus, and Glute maximus, need to be developed in proper proportion to allow the hip joint to sit more properly. As the glutes lose strength they tend, like every muscle, to lose their optimal resting length.

This in turn affects performance, and in the case of the hip joint, can lead to the head of the femur sitting at a poor angle in the acetabulum, which as I found out, over time can lend to bone growth in paces we don’t want it, leading to impingement, or other mechanical issues.

One such issue that can arise, is what has been called “gluteal amnesia,” which simply put is the glutes losing the ability to execute hip extension, leaving the hamstrings to do all the work and can cause the head of the femur to clunk around in the acetabulum like a drunkard in a demolition derby.

Putting Down a Great Base

In order for us to have the best chance of fully expressing our athleticism, we have to have a solid base.

via GIPHY

Now while (especially) the average client, cyclists, and triathletes tend to think of “core” as being the base, this is not the full truth.

The base involves the Axial Skeleton (Spine & rib cage) + the Pelvis. This is of critical importance, as failure to stabilize these two together can sap power and strength. There are of course sports that are exceptions to this, such as rowing, but it’s this author’s opinion that this is why we tend to see disc injuries in that population.

Butt, developing your glutes REQUIRES that you have a stable and strong midsection: the rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, the pelvic floor, and quadratus lumborum all work together to stabilize the pelvis from the top & middle. I won’t go into these items in this post, but you can read more and learn a few exercises to help address your midsection in this great post from Sarah Duvall, DPT.

You should also read Tony’s piece “Stack the rings for better Squat Performance” , and check out his friends’ Dr. Sarah Duvall, Kellie Hart, and Meghan Callaway’s stellar product Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Online System.

Note From TG: It’s stellar!

It’s often necessary to break down movement(s) into their respective parts to make certain we’re getting motion from the right areas and that we’re using/engaging the areas we want to use/engage to perform exercises well, which is what we’ll dial in on next.

Cycling and Sitting: The Bane of Gluteal Existence

When glutes are strong and full and the diaphragm, ribs, and pelvic floor all move properly for breathing, EVERYTHING works better: Squats are more full range, your back feels like a titanium beam, and jumping and sprinting tend to be out of this world (for a 6th grader).

Butt (<– haha, I see what you’re doing there Menachem) when one starts spending more time in a seated position where the glutes are partially stretched, but not used, and the diaphragm is out of alignment with the pelvic floor, these muscles tend to lose some of their abilities, as they are essentially being told to shut off in those static positions: We don’t need them to work because we are slouching and hanging off the ligaments/connective tissues instead.

Cyclists and triathletes also suffer this problem due to the inherent position of their sport.

You lose power potential in a muscle that cannot stretch, or is in a stretched position for so long. This is an issue many cyclists, triathletes AND our clients/ athletes face, due to the long periods of time that we spend sitting with our glutes in an elongated position, and “the rings” (pelvic floor + diaphragm) out of alignment.

Glutes Are a Keystone to Performance Oft Neglected

While the running joke is that “I got glutes cuz I squat a lot,” Squats actually are NOT enough to fully and properly develop the glutes. There is far more that goes into developing glutes than being able to perform the 30+ something squat variations.

I know what you’re thinking:

But this is important, as it relates to an oft-missed portion to training the glutes: PELVIC CONTROL.

Pelvic stabilization and control is extremely important if we are to get true hip extension, and not extension from places not intended to work “like that”, such as the lumbar spine.

If I had a dollar for every time I saw a trainer or coach working on “Hip extension” with a client/ athlete who was getting movement from the lumbar spine, I’d be a very rich person.

In order for us to build up the glutes properly, we have to begin by thinking about giving stabilization to the pelvis through teaching the hamstrings, internal obliques, the deep hip rotators (pelvic floor), rectus & transverse abdominus, and Quadratus lumborum to all fire in good sequence and with great strength.

This is a challenge for many, as we tend to perform our front planks by hanging off the hip flexors, we work our hamstrings by laying down on the machine, and often don’t include many anti-rotation exercises (although, you ARE reading Tony’s blog, so you’re officially “one of the smart ones” who does in fact train rotary stability).

Getting to Work

Glute work isn’t simply throwing a few exercises into your dynamic warmup and main routine, there is much more that needs to be done to maximize your athletes results.

We MUST think about the different positions the athlete will be required to perform in their sport:

  • Do they include deceleration and change of direction?
  • Is it a fixed motion similar to cycling or rowing, or is their sport more dynamic, such as basketball and rugby?
  • Is the athlete in anterior pelvic tilt for their sport, such as hockey, bowling, or cycling?

Each of these questions must be answered, as they help us understand the joint positioning of the hip….and as we all know:

JOINT POSITION DICTATES MUSCLE FUNCTION

If we’re actually to train the athlete and their glutes to perform in their sport, we MUST know how the muscles will be asked to work in the “real world”-  that of dynamic movement and uncertainty required by their sport.

This is one of the things many of us forget as we write programming: What positions are the joints going to be in, and due to these changes in joint position, how will the muscles ACTUALLY be responding/used for movement?

  • Stabilizer?
  • Prime mover?
  • Prime mover through full range of motion?

Next we need to answer:

What kind of lever arm should you use for the athlete when training the glutes?

Weighted at the lower leg? (Reverse Hypers)
Weighted at the shoulders? (Barbell good mornings)
Weighted at the hip? (Barbell Hip Thrust)

 

Weighted long fulcrum? (Deadlifts)

Weighted medium fulcrum? (Sumo Deadlifts)

Resistance bands at the knees?
Resistance bands at the shins?
Resistance bands at the feet?

Resistance band at the crotch? (Band Pull throughs)

 

Bodyweight weight-bearing? (Hip lifts)
Bodyweight non-weight-bearing? (Side lying straight leg lifts)

The answer to this can and should vary throughout the training year, but there should always be one or two lever arms which are staples to that athletes program, to help combat the movement deficiencies that their specific sport, AND POSITION in that sport, entail.

After all, you wouldn’t train a pitcher as you would train a shortstop.

Programming Glutes for Your Clients & Athletes

Every single warmup we do here at Human Vortex Training starts with some form of the hip series, depending on the athletes ability to recruit the glutes & stabilize their midsection. This doesn’t mean that these exercises are the only warmup, that would be poor planning. Rather, we should be looking to include at least 1-2 of these moves in our dynamic warm up to help the athlete/client connect with, and utilize their glutes.

Here are the foundational warm-up exercises which I’ve used a mix of over the years:

1) Side Lying Straight Leg Lift

1 @ 8-15 each

 

2) Hip Lifts

1 @ 15-30

 

3) Clamshell Variation

Side Lying Clamshells (beginners)

1 @ 8-15 each

 

Side Lying Half Clamshells (intermediate/advanced)

1 @ 8-15 each

 

4) Side Lying Straight Leg Adduction

1 @ 8-15 ea

5) Birddog Variation or Regression

1 @ 5-8 each

PLEASE Don’t butcher the Birddog exercise! Our affable, giant-triceped host, Tony Gentilcore, has a great video about this and how to better teach it here:

 

6) Single Leg Hips Lift

1 @ 8-15 each

 

7) Banded Lateral Walks

 

8) Banded Monster Walks Forward/ Backward

 

Along with 2-4 of the above exercises, we would get 1-2 breathing exercises, and 2-4 other dynamic warm-up exercises to prepare for that specific days session.

Burnout Session at the End of Your Lift for Glutes? No Problem!

At the end of a session is a great place to add in some more sport-related fatigued state specific glute training. These are usually done bodyweight only, as we’re looking to help improve the athletes resilience and strength-endurance in sport-specific positions, although it’s best to find what works for YOUR athlete….Some respond better, or actually need weighted or resisted variations.

Use your best judgement to find what’s best for your athlete at that time.

1) Back on Bench Single Leg Hip lifts (Rotary Stability)  (Sprinters, Track and Field, Triathletes)

 

2) 45 Degree, Duck footed Glute Back Extensions  (Cyclists, Triathletes, Hockey)

 

3) Frog Hip Lifts (Weighted or Unweighted)  (BJJ, Hockey)

 

But It’s Not All Strengthening

As we all know, simply making a muscle stronger and better able to work in chorus with other muscles, doesn’t make it a rock star. We still need to ensure it’s able to work through it’s full intended range of motion, as well as to rest at its ideal resting length.

For this, we can do a few different exercises:

1) Brettzel

 

2) Half-Pigeon Stretch

3) Dynamic LAX Ball Glute Release with Mid-Trap Activation

 

I like all of these as they also help the athlete learn where the rest of his or her body is & what it’s doing as they get into the proper positions… a big win for Proprioception!

Give these a shot, and let the glute gains begin!

About the Author

Menachem Brodie, NSCA-CSCS, PCES, is a leading Strength Coach for Cyclists & Triathletes. In the health, fitness, & wellness fields for nearly 20 years, he has worked with professional & amature atheltes from around the world. He has authored 2 courses: Strength Training for Cycling Success and Strength Training for Triathlon Success, and has presented internationally on Strength Training for Endurance Athletes, including at the 2018 USA Cycling Coaching Summit.

www.HumanVortexTraining.com

Categoriescoaching personal training psychology

The Subtle Art of Shutting Up and Listening

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of TG.com regular, and my 1-day-per-week training partner2, Justin Kompf.

Listening, I mean really listening, is a learned skill and takes a lot of (purposeful) practice to master. Those who are able to so, however, are often the ones who separate themselves from the masses in the fitness industry.

This is a quick read, but worth your time

Copyright: aaronamat / 123RF Stock Photo

The Subtle Art of Shutting Up and Listening

I take a deep breath before I knock on my advisor’s office door.

“Keep it together Justin, whatever you do don’t cry”

I take a seat in his office and immediately start crying. We don’t need to go into details, but I was in a tough place.

Fine, my girlfriend broke up with me and I had no idea where I was going with my career. Okay, great, sharing feelings, my favorite.

Can we move on?

I’m sitting in his office, which mind you is surrounded by other offices, just balling.

But as I’m talking, I’m starting to feel better.

Why?

Well, here’s what he was doing. Just listening, providing me with enough silence to think thoughts and say them out loud. He asked me open ended questions without giving advice. That was special for me because up until then I don’t recall ever really being heard like that.

via GIPHY

Of course, there are friends I could say anything to, but I never really had this kind of experience before. This experience profoundly changed the way I interacted with people and even changed my approach on coaching.

Empathetic Listening

The other day in a lecture I hammered home the importance of forming relationships with the people you coach.

Given enough time in anyone’s life, something stressful (which is not necessarily bad) or crappy is bound to happen with different magnitudes of crappiness.

Sometimes I like to think of God as Donkey Kong from Nintendo just throwing barrels filled with crap (like bad or stressful events not actual poop) at people. It’s not a bad thing, that’s just life and it happens to everyone but it’s nice when you have someone to help you work through it.

Low levels of crappiness might be failing to get a promotion at work whereas high levels of crappiness might mean going through a divorce or a death in the family.

Many of the clients I train I’m close with, especially those close in age to me. I’m sure lots of other trainers are the same. Over time, trust forms and when things that bother them come up, they know I’ll listen.

This isn’t to say that a lift should turn into a therapy session, because it shouldn’t. But imagine how much a client would appreciate it when something came up and you just said:

“Hey, it sounds like you’re going through some tough stuff, let’s grab a coffee after the session”

How to Do This Empathetic Listening Thing

I don’t have set in stone guidelines on how to accomplish this, but I know when I’ve done it the right way and I know when I’ve failed.

I think one of the biggest issues people have in conversations is that they wait for their turn to talk. They have already concluded what they are going to say next even before the person in front of them has finished talking.

Yes Karen3, you’re guilty of this so pay close attention.

As soon as you’re thinking about what you are going to say next, you’re not fully engaged with the person, so that means you’re not listening.

Side Note: This is also super important for a successful initial consultation with a client if you want to truly understand their goals and why their goals are important.

If you’re going to be a good listener, you need to suspend your thoughts.

via GIPHY

Good listeners don’t jump to give advice or relate their experiences to the person in front of them. If you feel like you have something that the person can relate to, try saying:

“You know, everyone’s experience is different, and I don’t want to pretend like we’ve gone through the same thing, but I’ve got a story that I think you might relate to.”

People don’t always talk to get advice back.

They just want to talk because things are tough, and they want to get it off their chest. If they want advice, they’ll probably say “what do you think I should do?”

The last thing that I know for sure is that if you want to be a great listener you need to put your phone down.

All the incredible memes will still be there when your conversation is over.

The Subtle Art of Shutting Up

Listen…

Listening is incredibly important. Yea, sometimes it can be just about as comfortable as being single for the third year in a row at your families Thanksgiving get together.

Right…

But in order to be a good listener, you need to shut up.

Something great happens when a person feels accepted and can speak their mind. You might find out way more about the person you are working with, whether it’s about their goals or about their life, by saying nothing.

Just like lifting, writing, or slipping high brow poop jokes into casual conversations with your highly successful clients, listening is a skill that needs to be practiced.

So, I would encourage all of you to go out their and in the appropriate times, just shut up.

About the Author

Justin Kompf is doctoral student studying exercise and health sciences. He is a personal trainer in Boston at CLIENTEL3.

You can follow Justin here and here.

Categoriespersonal training

You Are Never Too Good To Work in a Commercial Gym

I’m still in London at the moment.4 I’ve been having a blast taking in the sights and hanging out with my wife and little man. I’ve done zero writing.

Fret not. I coaxed another friend of mine – with a handmade coupon for a redeemable tickle fight – to write a guest post for the site while I’m away.

Kevin Mullins nailed this one. Couldn’t agree more with what he has to say.

The fitness industry is rife with opportunity these days.

It seems that anyone with an interest in health and wellness, human performance, or aesthetics is a personal trainer. The qualifications are just as diverse with individuals having degrees in kinesiology and nutrition or certifications in personal training, strength and conditioning, or bathroom lighting management.

It seems that the industry is expanding upwards and outwards at an exponential rate each year.

This landscape of opportunity is both thrilling and concerning as the fitness industry has become a sort of “Wild West”.

On one hand, every day thousands of people begin studying for their personal training certification, converting their Instagram profile into a business, and launch transformation groups for low introductory rates.

The addition of online training has surely changed the game as so many fitness professionals have never trained an in-person session.

In a similar manner, thousands of talented minds who have acquired multiple degrees and certifications in the field pour into the workforce each year – all looking for the same things.

Determined that they are “above-the-fray” these educated individuals apply only to small facilities owned by the top coaches, become interns for universities, or begrudgingly accept jobs at a local gym until they get found. The lure of the strength and conditioning arena, in addition to working at exclusive locations, convinces an entire population that there are no other options.

And holding steadfast and steady remains commercial fitness.

Oh yes, that commercial fitness – the dreadful, evil corporations that employ trainers by the dozens and just throw them onto the gym floor with an iPad and biceps veins in search of profits.

These are the brands that hire you because you look the part, are willing to be taught, and can work the early mornings and late nights.

The hours spent training for a commercial brand nets a trainer invaluable experience in programming, problem solving, sales, and patience.

If you can build a business that persists for years on end while employed with a commercial brand, then you are certainly capable of doing your own thing, applying to an “elite” facility, or interning for your favorite sport.

The workload that you must have to meet standards and pay your bills is exhausting, but invaluable as your work ethic develops at an exponential rate. Each facility like a proving ground where the challenges range from the complexity of a special populations client to the arrogance of a client who no-shows and still wants their sessions in their account.

It’s also the very same commercial fitness that gets disrespected when you submit for publication, an opportunity to speak at a conference, or work side-by-side one of the industry “legends”.

It’s the arena where no matter how incredible you are at your job there is always someone who thinks “well, if you were any good you’d just open your own spot”. It seems that you can only be great at your job if you are doing your own thing – as if being a business owner is a desire of all who join the field.

Plain and simple, commercial fitness is hard.

And it demands respect from new trainers and industry legends a like.

Far too many people look past it and its merits as though being a personal trainer for a commercial brand is the worst thing that could happen to your career.

Hint: It isn’t and here is why:

Generalist Before Specialist

Working the last seven years for two lifestyle fitness brands, Sports Club LA and Equinox, I’ve literally trained everyone.

Congressmen, pregnant women, young students at George Washington University, budding high-school athletes, retired old ladies with scoliosis, retired old men with multiple sclerosis, young guys with poor posture and no legs, CEOs who master everything I teach them, and the run-of-the-mill “I just don’t want to be fat” person. From disability to amazing ability, I’ve seen clients all along the spectrum.

And it taught me that you must be good at everything before you can become incredible at something specific.

If you would have poked at me when I was graduating college and asked who I wanted to coach, then you would have heard “I want to be a baseball strength and conditioning coach”. I still do today, but I’m so happy I wasn’t given an opportunity to be one early in my career because I would have bobbled that chance like a barehanded double play exchange.

It wasn’t because I was dumb – I had just graduated from University of Maryland with a degree in Kinesiology, had obtained my USAW level 1 and a personal training certification in one summer, and had spent time learning directly from some great coaches. I would have failed because I had never trained anyone, experienced the gut-wrenching moment when you over-program someone and get them hurt, or learned what personal training actually is.

See, commercial fitness and its wide variety of clients help you isolate which variables in the fitness spectrum matter and which ones don’t.

Calculating a geriatric client’s one rep max doesn’t cross my mind, nor does a push up repetition test.

You want to know what does?

Assessing their hip and ankle mobility, lower-back strength, and posture. So too does strengthening their posterior chain, moving them in three-dimensional space, and accounting for the challenges of falling well, and getting back up correctly.

But, tell a young trainer who wants to start his own gym at 22 that he needs time to learn how to train and you’ll be met with a list of qualifications, their body fat percentage, and some pseudo-motivational quote about how Einstein found the theory of Relativity at age 26. I love the fire, but we need to learn to control the flame.

And that is where the experience of training people of all ages, sizes, goal-types, physical conditions, and viewpoints on Michael Jackson’s contribution to music is critical.

You must be able to train the person in front of you and not force the person into your program. You can’t even be “specific” if you don’t know what is general in the first place. Thus, the greatest gift commercial fitness provides a good trainer is the ability to shape-shift programs to the unique aspects of the unique individuals you are presented with.

Hard Hours and Rapid Experience

In the gym by 5:30am and out by 9pm – that was my life for the last eight years (I’ve recently limited my evenings to only two nights per week). The alarm clock goes off five minutes after you set it, or so it feels as your days turn to nights and nights to mornings before you do it. Each morning a series of three or four people in a row, with no breaks, and a night schedule that isn’t much different.

via GIPHY

Sure, you get the middle of your days to workout, study, take a nap, binge Netflix, and generally live your life while everyone else is at work.

But you work when others don’t.

You often bill five or six hours before noon – an incredible realization at times. Your meal schedules are all jacked up and you have no idea of what shows other people watch at night because you’re still at the gym training.

But that is what is so amazing about commercial fitness.

If you are good at your job and you are capable of building, and maintaining, a client base, then you’ll undoubtedly work these absurd hours. While it is absolutely exhausting, and at times nauseating, this schedule builds character, work ethic, and hours of experience in quick fashion.

In my nine years of fitness I’ve done roughly fifteen thousand one-on-one sessions, a few thousand group fitness classes, and have taught a couple hundred hours of lectures in-house.

Point of that last sentence – is that I’ve worked a lot over the years and that experience is now invaluable as I teach other trainers, write text like this, and coach my clients on what works and what doesn’t. This is how it works at commercial fitness facilities – you grind and grind until you either burn out, get promoted into management, leave to do your own thing, or go back to school.

I know coaches with double my experience who still show up everyday and deliver amazing work.

So, if you are new to the industry – full of energy and hope, then it is imperative that you spend time working these hours. First to build your work ethic, but then to build your bank of training assets. Only weeks of thirty or forty sessions can help you refine your craft so quickly. Success in personal training is so dose dependent, for the trainer and the client, it is absurd.

A great trainer from a commercial gym knows what a real workday feels like, has been humbled by the stress of meeting standards, has thought about leaving to do something else at least hundred times, and knows that squatting on a BOSU ball is as useful as cooking in a freezer. All of this is invaluable.

Group Vetting and Growth

Working alone, at least in your early years, is one of the worst things that could happen to your career.

While you may be proud of your independence and feel empowered by business acumen – you will not get better as a trainer until you’ve had other trainers see you in action. For one, knowing other people are around keeps you from doing dumb shit that has no place in a training session. But secondly, and more appropriately, the camaraderie of a fitness club allows for healthy discussion on a variety of topics and methods.

I remember my early years well.

I was loud (still am), always trying to do things in the front of the gym and trying to find the most spectacular way of doing things possible. I wanted the members of the club, my peers, and the world at-large to know that I was there to train, and it was going to be awesome. Except this behavior caught the attention of some veterans who pulled me to the side and metaphorically slapped me back into reality. I still look up to these people as mentors no matter how much I’ve accomplished since those days.

via GIPHY

Being in a commercial setting means you aren’t in a bubble and someone can observe you at all times (both members and trainers alike). This responsibility makes you pause when you program and ensure you are doing the right thing.

Moreover, knowing eyes are on you should make you pay extra attention while your client is moving. You’ll focus on cueing instead of counting and cheering them on. You should be adjusting and only programming movements that make sense for the individual in front of you.

Throwing burpees at the fifty-year-old lady who just wants to lose a few pounds and feel better when she wakes up?

Well, this isn’t going to go well for you when I see you around the desk later. Want to let your client deadlift two plates with a spine that looks like an egg? That’s cool – we’ll talk about it during the next meeting and make you own your suck in front of everyone.

Afraid to coach harder exercises because you don’t quite understand what you are doing and fear hurting someone? No worries, we’ll sit down and discuss the biomechanics and then workout together to make sure you got it down.

See, it does take a village and every trainer should experience the phenomenon of the group vetting process. If you are great at what you do, then you’ll have no issues, but if you are not – you’ll know about it and quick.

Emphasis on Training

The final point emphasizes how different being a trainer is from being a business person. The two can absolutely overlap, but one does not make the other better inherently.

This fact is why many great coaches have business minds involved, or partnered with them, in their endeavors. Just because you can coach the shit out of a deadlift doesn’t mean you can manage the books, design a successful marketing plan, and maintain inventory of your toilet supplies well.

Being a business owner is admirable and a goal of many coaches out there. Yet, being a business owner does not mean you are a great trainer. How many people are out there making stupid amounts of money selling lies and poop-on-a-stick? Those folks are great business people but horrid trainers.

So, with that said, one of the perks of working in commercial fitness is that your focus is on training first and foremost. Sure, you need to manage your clients and stay on-top of their billing and session counts, but you aren’t paying the electric bill, dealing with equipment maintenance, and handling new member acquisition. You aren’t figuring out how to pay debts, pay yourself, and have enough left over for growth. Instead, you wake up and put on your pants and train your ass off until you can take them off.

Which is perfect for those formative years where you need to learn how to train.

In time you’ll find yourself asking managers for a better look at the big picture or sitting in on meetings that discuss profit margins and retention. You can read the works of Pat Rigsby or spend a day interning for guys like Tony – where you are a fly on the wall and simply watch how a trainer runs a business.

But, when you have a few hundred hours of training experience you need more training experience…not your own spot.

A Message to the Top

I think it is important for some of the coaches who do the lecture tours and the brands that host them to realize that being a commercial trainer isn’t a kiss of death. You aren’t less than someone who runs their own business just because you don’t want a mountain of debt. You can be an incredible strength and conditioning coach even if you aren’t being paid in T-shirts and light beer at a division II school.

Sure, there are some “not-so-good” characters at every gym that are doing the unthinkable. Yes, commercial fitness can make trainers care more about session quantity over quality. And of course, there are way more divas and ego-lifters flexing in the mirrors of these gyms then there are SC coaches or business owners.

But, it isn’t a wasteland.

I’d argue that the advent of online training brings greater concern than commercial fitness when we factor in that no one is overseeing the actions, or programs, that are being implemented. That doesn’t mean online trainers are bad, or that training online is bad, but it does acknowledge that bad online coaches have no checks and balances.

I think is imperative for the industry to rethink how we view commercial fitness. Instead of mocking it and the people they employ – let’s look to build up the new trainers, refine the veterans, and harvest the skill-sets and experiences of the best in the bunch to only further our industry. Like anything we must retain our fine-tooth comb and brush away the noise. But we don’t have to shave the whole head.

Great trainers, private or commercial, must be at the helm of the crazy landscape that is the fitness industry. Where you work means much less than how you work. Let’s never forget that.

About the Author

Kevin Mullins, CSCS, is a personal trainer and group exercise instructor at Equinox Sports Club in Washington D.C.

Kevin utilizes a listen first, coach second strategy to ensure his clients, and programs, are exceptional…and not his ego.

When he isn’t training clients or writing content Kevin can be found deadlifting, Bicep curling, or finding new, corny ways to emphasize squeezing the glutes. Kevin maintains his own personal site at KevinMullinsFitness.com.

Categoriespersonal training

Confessions of a Middle-Aged Personal Trainer

I’m currently in Europe.[/efn_note]Nah, nah, nah, nah, nahhhhhhhh.5

I had a speaking engagement Bonn (Germany) this past weekend, and I’m doing a 2-day workshop in London this coming weekend.

Before that, though, Amsterdam is on the docket starting tomorrow. Figured it would be a good idea to queue up this guest post from personal trainer Shane McLean today rather than wait till any shenanigans and debauchery take over.

Which is to say: I’ll still be in bed by 9 PM. Who am I kidding……;o)

Confessions of a Middle-Aged Personal Trainer

If you’re thinking this is some old dude ranting, who longs for the good old days, then you’re partly right.

I’m not yet 50, but I love stepping up to my soap box and offering my opinion.

Although gyms have been around for a while, personal training is still a relatively new profession that has a (reasonably) low barrier for entry and has seen its fair share cowboys come and go in the attempt to make a quick buck.

To pay the bills as a fitness professional usually involves getting up at the arse crack of dawn, working long hours, attending management meetings and consuming copious amounts of coffee in the hopes you have enough energy to workout.

NOTE – this is changing due to the rise of online personal training.

And when working for most commercial gyms, the trainer will be lucky to earn a 50/50 split, which sounds good in theory but those new to the industry fail to account for all the work that goes into preparing for a session.

Hint, when the trainer is a newbie (like I was) it’s a lot.

However, most fitness professionals want to help people and not stack their wallets full of cash, unless you’re a celebrity trainer who really likes to be on TV endorsing crappy products that act as overpriced clothes hangers.

Do I really need to name, names? I’ll get into trouble.

However, I’m stepping off my soap box now and stepping into the confessional and revealing my deepest, darkest secrets that I’ve been hiding from my clients for years.

I hope none of them are reading. 😊

1. I’m a Lousy Repetition Counter

There’s a saying around the industry that trainers are gloried rep counters. They count the reps, write it down on the workout card and say “good job” as they move on to the next exercise.

 

Unfortunately, for my clients I’m terrible at counting reps because I’m focused on technique, external cues to fix their form or encouraging them. Amid all of that, I lose count and when they ask how many reps to go I say, ‘Do 2 more.’

Then a dirty look comes across their face as they respond with ‘you’ve got no idea.’

I’ll never tell. However, wait, I just did.

2. It Never Turns Off

Being a coach and getting paid for it is one of the greatest jobs in the world. Essentially, coaches get paid for telling people what to do, how do it and to rip them a new one when they screw up.

 

Furthermore, coaches get to wear comfortable pants and pass off their caffeine addiction as hydrating. However, there’s a price to be paid for this……….

The coaching button is always on.

When I’m working out or training a client, I’m always looking around the gym and judging people’s form to see if they’re performing an exercise well or poorly. And the more I tell myself not to look and judge, the more I do it anyway.

So, when you see some guy at the gym slapping his forehead and shaking his head while someone is humping the ground doing push-ups, that will be me.

Please wave and say hi.

3. Do As I say, Not As I Do

Good nutrition and exercise work hand in hand for superior health. One is better than none, however both are ideal if you want to crush your goals. And I recommend this to all my clients like a broken record but there’s only one problem, my diet is far from perfect.

I love chocolate, beer, potato chips and burgers and sometimes all at once. If it’s battered and fried, it’s in my mouth and when I eat out, I finish what’s on my plate, no matter how full I am.

When telling a client, they must eat better, cut the crap and suck it up if they want to lose weight, I feel like the biggest hypocrite of all.

4. I Am Working, Really.

The gym floor is a unique workplace environment because the trainer is always on show. It’s not like your usual office cubicle with a desk, chair and a computer where you can pretend to work while catching up on the weekend highlights.

You can definitely tell when a trainer is not working.

However, it seems hard for the general gym public to realize when a trainer IS working with a client. I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve been interrupted (other trainers can back me up here) when a client is in a middle of an exercise.

“Can you take a picture of me and my friend?”

“What’s the best exercise for (insert body part here)?”

“Are you using this?”

“Is this squat rack free for biceps curls?”

“Do I look fat in this dress?” Oh wait, now I’m getting confused.

I often reply with ‘can’t you see I’m working?’ Which is often met with a blank, confused stare and snooty huff and puff as they storm away. The next person who does this to me, I’ll go all Samuel Jackson on their butt.

That will learn teach them.

5. Sometimes the Gym is the Last Place I Want to Be

Like a chef who orders pizza for dinner when he or she gets home from work, sometimes I’d rather watch Oprah re runs than drive to the gym and train.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the gym environment but after a while of training clients, watching silly people do silly things and the management chewing your butt out for not tucking your shirt in, the weight room is the last place I want to be.

I’d rather take my dog for walk.

Finishing Up

That feels great to get that off my chest and I hope it was as good for you as it was for me. Please keep in mind that coaches are human too and they’re not perfect.

And please don’t break my concentration when I’m working. You’ve been warned.

About the Author

Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Texas. Shane believes in balancing exercise with life while putting the fun back into both.

Categoriespersonal training

The One Thing That Annoys Me Most About the Fitness Industry

I consider myself a fairly even keeled guy.

I try not to sweat the details nor to come across as someone who complains or argues about trivial things such as traffic, the weather, low bar vs. high bar back squats, LCHF diets vs. any other diet equated for protein and total calories, or which is the best Harry Potter book.6

Then again I am human and sometimes my capacity to suppress my annoyance hits a crescendo, and I’m left with no other alternative than to write about it, like every other a-hole in the world with an opinion and access to a laptop.

Brb…I need to go throw my face into a brick wall.

Copyright: givaga / 123RF Stock Photo

Incessant Entitlement

I can’t tell you how many emails or messages I receive from new(ish) trainers on a routine basis bemoaning the fact they work in, GASP, a commercial gym.

They usually invade my inbox in several iterations, but this is the most common:

“Tony, this sucks. I don’t know what to do. I want to train professional athletes. I didn’t go to school to work with house wives or Jack from accounting. My life is over.

How do I get to where you’re at in your career?”

I don’t know what people expect from me.

I’m not their boss. There really isn’t much I can do, even with a high speed internet connection.

The meanie-head in me wants to say something like:

“I’m all for having goals, but LeBron doesn’t want to train with you.”

However, I’m not a meanie-head and what I usually end up saying is something to the effect of:

“Not to blow up your spot, but I didn’t train my first athlete until year five of my career. His name was Tim, a sophomore in high-school. He played basketball. 

I didn’t train my first professional athlete until year seven.

Also, what’s wrong with training house wives? I love house wives. And Jacks from Accounting. Hate to break it to you, but those lowly house wives (and accountants) you’re too cool for outnumber professional athletes by a ratio of a kajillion-billion to one and are going to be the ones  paying your bills and helping to pay off those student loans of yours.

I also hate to break it to you, but working with athletes isn’t as lucrative as Instagram makes it seem. 

What’s more, and this may come across as blasphemous, I prefer training general pop clients.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

 

Pretty much every “successful” or well known coach today, every…single…one, from Mike Boyle to Eric Cressey to Mike Robertson to Nia Shanks, at some point or another, worked in a commercial gym.

What’s more, there are an infinite number of fitness professionals out there right now who thrive in commercial gyms and end up building very successful brands (and careers).

This may be an unpopular viewpoint and not what you want to hear, but I’d make the argument working in a commercial gym for 2-5 years is often what’s necessary (if not mandatory) to be successful in this industry.

Well, that and a decent bicep peak…;o)

In the end, you get out of it what you put in.

You can either bitch and whine about your situation like every other entitled asshat, or go out of your way to use this time to gain experience, hone your craft, take pride in having an insatiable desire to learn and get better and to make yourself more indispensable (FYI: this should never really stop), get up early, work late, work on holidays, and weekends, fail, fail again, fail some more, and then, at some point, inevitably, reach the same conclusion as many before you.

That who you work with has far less of an impact on your success in this industry and is as insignificant of a thing to concern yourself with as say, what Meghan Markle had for breakfast this morning, or, I don’t know, Tom Selleck having too sexy of a mustache.

None of it matters.”

Okay, that still had a bit of a meanie-head vibe to it.

But it had to be said.

CategoriesMotivational personal training Uncategorized

Is Age Just a Number? Is There a Way To Be Taken Seriously Before 30 In the Fitness Industry?

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Sydney, Australia based strength coach Meer Awny.

There’s a common theme in the fitness industry, especially amongst young and upcoming coaches/trainers, that in order to gain recognition or notoriety there’s some “deep state” secret algorithm that exists:

Social media follows + number of letters you can squeeze next to your name in your bio / (selfie to shirtless pic ratio) x (# of days you brag about either going to CrossFit or how you feel so UHmazing you feel going ketogenic7)

In fact, it’s pretty simple: get good at what you do, be consistent, and consider some of the strategies Meer points out below.

Copyright: bowie15 / 123RF Stock Photo

Is Age Just a Number? Is There a Way To Be Taken Seriously Before 30 In the Fitness Industry?

You’ve graduated with a piece of paper and want to work with athletes.

I mean of course they should work with you, you’re now one of the exclusive 15,000 fresh graduates who have inundated the industry and you…are…important.

But you quickly realise that’s not the case.

The title of “Sports Scientist” doesn’t hold career certainty and so you find yourself working on a gym floor, putting weights away and training general population clients. Now, there should be no shame in being able to apply good coaching principles to a wider audience.

But you also wanted to train the sports stars and get recognition.

With the advent and saturation of social media, it’s easy to feel pressured to have a voice and make a contribution to the field you’re so passionate about.

But often we fail to contextualise and ask how did the person I look up to get to where they are?

Instead of asking the harder questions and actually doing the work, the list of books to read gets larger, and the search for the perfect Instagram filter continues.

That’s not always the answer.

Eventually you come to realise the ‘big names’ in the industry aren’t the same age as you, have a lot more experience, and go out of their way to provide consistent, quality content for free and don’t complain about it.

You just want to be taken seriously despite the “Oh you’ve got plenty of time” diatribes every time you announce you’re a 24-year-old coach.

But what is experience?

We’re told that it’s learning through trial & error and that with more relative experience, through the years, you gain wisdom. And so you vision the day you’re a 35-year-old coach working with all the people you hoped you would from day one.

Age is wisdom, right?

Or is the value of the time spent more important then the time itself?

Here are some ways to add more value to the time you have rather than waiting for the clock to provide you with experience.

1. Volunteer

Get comfortable with this.

If you aren’t willing to give up your time, as precious as it may seem, then things aren’t going to bode well for you. It doesn’t necessarily mean an internship (we’ll get to that), but it does mean being genuine and selfless when it comes to learning and working with people.

This includes taking the time to talk and to have conversations with your athletes and clients.

Remember: To steal a well-known quote from strength & conditioning icon, Mike Boyle:

“Your athletes don’t care about how much you know until they know about how much you care”.

2. Internship/Mentorship

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was “Find the person that is doing what you want to do and go and learn from that person.”

In 2017 I packed up for five weeks and flew across the world to Denver, Colorado (I’m an Aussie).

In those five weeks I grew new branches on my tree of networks (BTW – I didn’t know what a metaphor was until I was 17), made friends, and had the opportunity to learn from one of the best strength coaches in the field…Loren Landow.

Not to paint a smooth picture, the process in making this happen took time, patience and persistence.

Words can’t describe how much I learned and how indebted I feel for the opportunity. Also, internships allow an opportunity to “ooch,” or to test out and dip your toe into an area or field you’re not too experienced in.

You may feel like you want to work with athletes (or circus performers or pre & postpartum women)…but how do you really know?

An internship offers an opportunity to gain experience, but also a way to get a taste for whether or not you want to be in this field or work with a particular demographic.

3. Networks

The cliché will always stand:

“Who you know is more important than what you know.”

Reading all the books and knowing every muscle insertion and programming variable will not trump the friends you have in the industry.

Act on this by attending conferences, worthwhile seminars, and giving up your time to learn from people who can improve your attributes as a practitioner and more importantly, as a person.

Attendance alone is not enough.

You need to be active in introducing yourself (even if your bio isn’t ‘Hot’), taking emails/phone numbers, asking questions and then following up within two weeks post event.

Getting good at this will open opportunities, and also give you some credibility as a young coach.

4. Patience & Expectations

Setting realistic goals and expectations are important.

Don’t expect to work with world champions in the first year.

But don’t deny that you will eventually.

Put in the work, get good at what you do, be consistent, and it stands to reason people will seek you out.

5. Hobbies & Yourself

Being immersed in the ‘field’ is great.

Know the content and all the science.

But understand that this job involves communication with lots of different people; so being broad in your knowledge will help. Spend time away from reading sport related material, develop new hobbies, read outside of the common ‘self development’ section of the bookstore, and you’ll find a heightened ability to connect with people from all ages and sorts.

A strong mantra to apply daily is:

“How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Constantly show up and make it clear that you care about the people you work with. It shouldn’t be too hard; otherwise you might be in the wrong field. Gary Schofield did a great presentation and used the metaphor of “dogs and monstah’s” (He had a pretty cool Boston accent-almost as cool as Matt Damon”) to describe two types of people (10s mark).

 

The dog needs guidance, treats, and their hand to be held.

The monstah asks ‘What more can I do?’ and gets after it. Time is not irrelevant, and experiences will come with years of effort. That can’t be denied. What you can do is be a monstah and apply some of the mentioned principles to be taken seriously before 30.

About the Author

Meer Awny is a Strength & Conditioning coach & Personal Trainer from Sydney, Australia.

His work is primarily centred on working with combat sport athletes, ranging from amateur levels to national competition, as well as top #10 ranked athletes in the world; across a variety of martial arts.

Meer has travelled the world to better his development of the ‘fighter’ and himself as a coach, and has spent time with multiple UFC fighters and learnt from some of the best combat sport performance coaches in the field.

In his spare time Meer likes to attend coffee tastings, scuba dive, read, cook, travel and continually practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and boxing.

You can find Meer on Instagram HERE.

Categoriescoaching personal training

The Problems With Over Coaching (And Some Solutions)

A few weeks ago I Tweeted something to the effect of “Don’t be afraid to let your clients figure things out for themselves. Not every rep has to be a pristine vision that makes the Virgin Mary weep tears of joy.”

I gave the example of the knees caving in during a squat. Many coaches see this and they start hyperventilating into a paper bag no matter what.

I keep it real.

There’s a stark difference between the knees caving in TO neutral and caving in to the point where someone falls into excessive valgus.

Anyways, my little rant inspired Baltimore based strength coach (and fellow Lord of the Rings nerd), Erica Suter, to write a guest post.

It’s pretty baller.

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

The Problems With Over Coaching (And Some Solutions)

Sit your butt back.

Keep your chest out.

Put your shoulders back.

Engage your lats.

Wait, pretend there are tennis balls under your arm pits.

Squeeze your glutes too.

Breathe.

Don’t smile.

Did you get all of that?

Does this sound like you as a coach? Let’s hope not.

Too many cues have their way of confusing and frustrating our clients. More often than not, they become overwhelming. Worse yet, they become too much information for people to process during a session, let alone, mid-lift.

via GIPHY

Don’t get me wrong: correcting people is a good thing. We wouldn’t be coaches if we didn’t coach. To that end, we have to instruct people so they are executing pristine form and progressing.

However, too much instructing, over-coaching, over-cueing, or saying-shit-just-to-say-shit-and-hear-yourself-talk, is problematic.

Over-coaching is real and it permeates across the fitness industry as one of the biggest issues, besides perfectly staged selfies in yoga pants on a beach:

So why is over-coaching bad?

Problem 1: Too many Cues Confuses People.

Since clients are performing complex movements that excite the nervous system, the last thing they need is someone barking orders at them.

As an example, there’s already so much going on in a client’s mind during the deadlift:

Chest out, butt back, Megan Fox is hot, credit card bill due tomorrow, get kids from school, breathe, shoulders back, if only I could marry Megan Fox.

You see how stimulated their mind is already?

So a coach adding 5-10 things for them to fix is bound to go in one ear and out the other.

Solution: Focus on the most glaring mistakes.

Try and keep it to one to two cues, too.

You may find that one cue is what works the magic for multiple problems. As an example when you see a client with a “rounded back,” this happens because the client fails to engage their lates, sink their hips back, or keep their chest proud.

One magic cue could be “project your chest like Superman” or you can go as far to as to give them tennis balls to actually squeeze under their arm pits so they can adjust their posture.

Or to touch on a more tactile cue (no pun intended), for this pallof drag, the only thing my athlete needed in order to maintain and athletic stance was put a mini band above her knees:

 

Again, sometimes one thing fixes EVERYTHING.

Problem 2: There’s Nothing Worse Than Being Told How Wrong You Are.

And I get it. People fuck up. But over-coaching makes them to feel like failures.

As an example, I had a client unable to back squat. And no matter how many fancy cues, various demonstrations, correctives, and prayers to the squat Gods I threw out there, he couldn’t get it down and told me he felt like a failure because he couldn’t squat.

So instead of saying, “sorry, squats are off limits,” we had to change things up.

Solution: Realize some people need a variation on a basic movement in order to “get it.”

What my client needed to get more depth and hip mobility in his squat was front loading.

So we tried this gem from strength coach Joel Seedman:

 

Not only did it help him better groove the squat position, it also helped him not feel like a failure that is banned from squats forever.

Will he progress to back squats one day? I’d argue never say never.

Problem 3: Over-Coaching Doesn’t Give People Autonomy.

Sure, they hired you to hold their hand, but allowing clients to gain independence helps them gain confidence back in themselves.

People aren’t paying coaches to have a babysitter. They’re paying coaches to get strong, instill confidence back in themselves, and be able to go out into the wild alone at times, namely, do shit themselves.

Solution: It shouldn’t be a surprise that you should allow them to fix it themselves.

This much I know: people’s bodies are awkward.

But.

They’re also capable of amazing feats of strength and movement and exploration. The body plays mysterious tricks on us and surprises us with its abilities.

Oftentimes, I may have an athlete struggling with a movement like the dumbbell snatch on Day One. And saying coaches cues, sprinkling fairy dust on them, and performing wizardry still won’t work.

With that said, I’ll give them one cue, and if it still looks like shit, I’ll leave the facility, go get a burger, go to bed, and come back the next day, and boom….their snatch is flawless.

Again, the body is amazing and people can be capable of fixing themselves after they learn a movement, fuck it up and learn and feel what NOT to do, sleep on it, and come back with good form.

One More Thing: Please don’t toss out too many cues just to say shit. Sometimes, the best coaches are able to sit back, observe, drop one knowledge bomb, and exit stage right.

Let your clients work their magic and trust me when I say keep it simple.

After all, simplicity is the highest form of sophistication.

About the Author

Erica Suter is a certified strength and conditioning coach, soccer trainer, and fitness blogger who has worked with athletes and non-athletes for over 5 years. She is currently a strength coach at JDyer Strength and Conditioning, and also runs her own technical soccer training business in Baltimore, MD.
Her interests include writing, snowboarding, and reciting Lord of the Rings quotes to her athletes and clients.
Categoriesfitness business personal training Uncategorized

The Importance of Client Retention

In today’s day and age being a personal trainer runs somewhere in the spectrum of one of the most rewarding careers out there and a dumpster fire.

The latter comes into play often, especially when you work in a large commercial gym where you’re one of dozens of trainers vying for everyone’s attention (and wallets). It’s seemingly become harder to separate yourself from the masses, and when you compound that with the long hours and the massive trepidation from many trainers to understand the business side of the equation, it’s no wonder the burnout rate is so high.

In today’s excellent guest post Michael Anderson he explains why keeping the clients you do have may be the “x” factor.

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

The Importance of Client Retention

This is sort of a weird post to write for me because I’m specifically speaking to the coaches and trainers that read Tony’s blog rather than the average Joe or Jane who just likes training and wants to be awesome.

It’s also weird because I don’t often talk about the business side of this industry…mainly because I’m a WAY better trainer than businessman.

Today’s lesson is one I learned probably 7-8 years ago and it should help anyone who heeds this advice make more money: retain your clients.

I don’t mean tie them up and keep them in the yoga studio, I mean make sure that once you get a client you’re keeping them for the long haul.

Many moons ago I was a personal trainer at a fairly upscale privately owned globo gym in Boston. Per the usual for a commercial gym like that they constantly pushed the trainers to sign new trainees up for sessions. The owners and manager went to great lengths to keep increasing new sign-ups. We offered two free sessions when you signed up for a year membership, several times a year we offered a special deal where you could buy three sessions for $99 and they started to give bonus incentives to trainers who signed up new clients for X amount of sessions.

The only problem was that this ultimately didn’t make anyone any money; neither the trainers nor the gym itself.

The two free sessions would work well if you had a really polished approach, but it took a long time to get comfortable with it. The sessions that we put on sale were a waste of time and effort; the “sales hunters” would wait until these were available and then buy a few of them with no intention of training beyond the length of those packages.

They’d do a few sessions and get some new ideas and then work out on their own until the sale became available again. As the trainer conducting these sessions, you were doomed to fail.

These people almost never wanted to continue as a regular client.

Providing a financial bonus to the trainers when you signed up a new client created a system where people were more interested in selling packages to get the extra money short-term than they were in building a solid long-term client base.

The result of this was that there were a lot of gym members who did a few sessions with trainers who were just trying to get paid vs enjoying quality sessions. Ultimately these people would now be harder to convince to use our training services again.

Why Long Term Is Better

As a personal trainer it is going to benefit you dramatically in the long term to have clients that come back to you month after month, year after year.

During my five year stint training at that gym, I had 8-10 clients who would train with me multiple times per week and that core group lasted for 2-5 years.

Most of these clients would purchase our largest package of sessions (52) which was sold as the “annual package” and resulted in the cheapest per session cost; my clients were going through 2-3 of them a year!

Out of about 35 available training hours per week, my schedule typically contained about 20-25 hours of long-term clients. The rest of my schedule was usually filled in with new members who were using their two free sessions. My conversion rate with these was pretty good, so my goal was to get them interested in training regularly and then I would pass them off to other trainers who had more availability or were just starting out.

I hate suggesting this, but its important thing to remember from time to time: your clients are your business and each one represents money to you.

In the grand scheme of things you will make more money having 3-5 people train 2-3 times a week each for multiple years than chasing new clients every month so you can get the bonus. 

I’ve heard a general rule when it comes to business marketing that it takes 5-10 times as much money to obtain a new customer as it does to retain an old one. In the personal trainer world this means it takes you more time talking to people on the gym floor, more time emailing and cold calling and more time doing intro sessions that I’ve always found to be much more draining and intensive than someone you’ve been working with for a while.

If you’ve ever had a day where you do 3-4 first time sessions with someone then you know what I’m talking about. Now, I’m not suggesting you should be opposed to doing all of those office-work things, but I feel like many of you would agree with me that it’s more fun to be in the gym coaching than it is to be sitting at a computer send out the same annoying email over and over.

via GIPHY

The other benefit is that when you work with someone for a long time and they really trust and appreciate you they will do the marketing for you.

These clients will tell other gym members and friends about how much they enjoy working with you. If you read Pete Dupuis’ blog (and you should) then you’d know that word of mouth advertising is the One Ring of fitness business advertising….it rules them all.

These referrals almost always produce a stronger client relationship than someone who just walks into the gym and says “yea I guess I’ll try a session with you”. If a person you’ve been working with for 18 months can produce one or two more people who will work with you for 18 months each, you’re doing really well.

But, How?

Unfortunately this is where I tell you that there is no secret formula to creating and retaining a good client base.

I think Tony’s blog in general is filled with great advice that will help you succeed in this regard; I know that it helped me tremendously back in the day when I was figuring this shit out (and still today). Other than that you just have to work hard and refine your technique.

It also really helps if people like you. No one likes working with a dick.

Make sure you take care of your current clients first.

Much like exercise, make sure you master the basics of good customer service first: be on time, don’t smell like hot ass, don’t let them see you pick a booger at the front desk, don’t complain about your personal problems during a session, don’t allow their time slot to get compromised because you’re a shitty scheduler, and ensure that you’re doing your part to help them meet their goals.

Personal training is both a soft science and an art form. You have to do what you know is right to help them achieve a goal, but you also have to relent a little on some stuff. If a client hates push-ups and you keep forcing push-ups on them, they will just say “F it” and not come back.

You’ve got to develop a broad enough range of methods and approaches that you can meet any client where they are and create an enjoyable training experience.

As a current small business owner, I’ve seen this scenario play out even more substantially than it did when I worked at a globo gym.

I don’t have the capital to spend on any advertising and showing up at high school sporting events to hand out business cards isn’t a great use of my time. It has become even more important that I focus on keeping the clients I have and slowly adding to my roster through word of mouth referrals.

While getting new clients in the door is important, I’d be a fool to not first take the best care of the people currently coming to train with me. Do right by those you train now and build on that slowly.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!

About the Author

Mike is a personal trainer and strength coach living in Cleveland with his fiance and adorable pit bull. He is the owner of Anderson Strength and Fitness, the strength coach for Healthy Green Athlete and is an all around badass dude. You can follow him on Instagram @AndersonStrengthFitness or shoot him an email at [email protected].

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Uncategorized

What You Need To Know About Sets

Straight sets, pyramid sets, drop sets, cluster sets…

…it can all be rather confusing to the newbie lifter, or even seasoned veteran.  How many sets should you do? What exercises are the best fit? What about rest? Is it normal to not feel the right side of your face?

All are pertinent questions and with today’s guest post Dallas based personal trainer, Shane McLean, helps to clear the air.

Enjoy.

Copyright: apichon168 / 123RF Stock Photo

What You Need To Know About Sets

When I first started lifting, I had no idea about all the different types of sets.

When I went to the gym, I would saunter over to the dumbbell rack and bust open my biceps with some curls.

And when I did curls, I did them it front of the mirror and the whole gym knew about it.

However, my biceps remained small and so did I.

That’s until I started learning about all the set schemes that exist in the iron universe. Like most boys when they started out lifting weights, I did the workouts from muscle magazines hoping that it would make me look like the guys on the cover.

That didn’t work out at all but, it was the first time I heard about pairing sets together, known as supersets. You mean you could pair exercises together, increase training efficiency and build muscle all at the same time?

My mind was blown.

This led me further down the rabbit hole of all the different set methods which in turn led me to be armed with a coffee cup, a clip board, a stopwatch and telling people what to do with a dumbbell while wearing comfortable pants.

Yes, that’s right I’m a Personal Trainer.

Now you can benefit from my 25 years in the iron game, with eight of those years writing programs for people that get results.

Read on and learn things.

NOTE: These are guidelines and there will be exceptions to the information presented here.

1) Straight Sets

What Are They? – Doing just the one exercise for one or multiple sets with rest in between sets

The Best Use For Straight Sets? – They’re often used for barbell exercises like deadlifts, squats, presses and rows. All your energy is focused on getting stronger with that one move.

Types of Exercises That Straight Sets Work Best For? – Compound barbell/dumbbell like those discussed above.

 

How Many of Sets Should You Do? – It depends on how many reps in each set. More reps mean less sets and less reps mean more sets. Another factor is load. The closer you are to your one rep max, you’ll do less reps more sets and vise versa.

For example- 3 sets – 3 reps 90% 1 rep max. Or 4 sets of 5 reps 83% 1 rep max.

How Much Rest Between Sets? – usually 2-3 minutes rest between sets.

2) Supersets

What Are They? – Is one set of an exercise is performed directly after a set of a different exercise with minimal rest in between them.

The Best Use For Supersets? – They’re ideal for building muscle, fat loss and for those who have a limited amount of time to train.

Types of Exercises Supersets Work Best For? –  Really anything goes here. Barbell, dumbbells, kettlebell, bodyweight, resistance bands and machine exercises all work. You can use compound (exercising multiple muscles groups) or isolation (single muscle) exercises.

Different Types of Supersets

1. Compound supersets, when both exercises work a similar body part.

For example:

1A. Squat

1B. Lunge

2. Non-competing supersets, pairing a lower body exercise with an upper body exercise.

For example:

1A. Squat

1B. Dumbbell bench press

3. Isolation/compound supersets which you pair a single joint exercise with a compound movement or vise versa.

For example:

1A. Triceps extension variation

1B. Barbell bench press

 

How Many of Sets Should You Do? – Anywhere from 2- 5 sets (depending on how much time you have to train) and repetitions can range from anywhere between 6- 15 reps per set.

How Much Rest Between Supersets? – Limited rest between the exercises themselves and anywhere between 60-120 sec rest between supersets.

3) Tri-Sets

What Are They? – Doing 3 different exercises back to back to back.

The Best Use For Tri-Sets? – They are ideal for fat loss, muscle building and for people who want maximum training efficiency.

Types of Exercises Tri-Sets Work Best For? –   Really anything goes here also. Barbell, dumbbells, kettlebell, bodyweight, resistance bands and machine exercises all work. Furthermore, having all the equipment close to you will cut down on transition time between exercises.

Different Types of Tri-Sets

You can use them to bring up a lagging body part.

For example, shoulders:

1A. Single arm shoulder press

1B. Lateral shoulder raises

1C. Reverse fly

 

Or mobility tri sets to help improve your movement.

For example, hip mobility exercise for the squat:

1A. Goblet squat

1B. Push up

1C. Half kneeling hip flexor stretch

 

Or when pushed for time you can combine strength and cardio exercises to get the best of both worlds.

For example:

1A. Leg exercise

1B. Upper body exercise

1C. Cardiovascular exercise 30- 60 seconds

How Many of Sets Should You Do? – Usually 3- 4 sets and anywhere between 6- 15 reps per exercise.

How Much Rest? – Limited rest between the exercises and 90-120 seconds rest after each tri-set.

4) Timed Sets

What Are They? – Doing an exercise for certain amount of time or completing the programmed reps in a certain amount of time.

The Best Use For Timed Sets? – They can be used for building muscle but they’re excellent for incinerating body fat.

Types of Exercises Timed Sets Work Best For? – Any piece of equipment that allows for an easy transition between exercises is a winner. For example, barbell, dumbbell, bodyweight, kettlebell and resistance bands.

Different Types of Timed Sets

Every minute on the minute sets where you complete a certain amount of reps and then rest the reminder of the minute before moving on to the next exercise.

For example:

1A. Goblet squat- 8 reps

1B. Row- 8 reps

1C. Goblet reverse lunge- 8 reps on each leg

1D. Chest press- 8 reps

1E. Biceps curls – 8 reps

 

Or you can scrape the reps and it’s just you versus the stopwatch where you try to do as many reps as possible in a pre-determined timeframe. For example, a full body circuit using bodyweight, barbells and dumbbells.

Work/Rest Interval Guidelines

Beginner – 20 sec work/40 sec rest.

Intermediate – 30 sec work/30 sec rest.

Advanced – 40 sec work/20 sec rest.

1A. Squat variation – BW squat, Goblet, Sumo or Barbell squat

1B. Push variation- Incline push up, Push up or Dumbbell bench press.

1C. Single leg exercise- Reverse lunge, Forward lunge or Side lunge

1D. Pull variation- Rack pull, Dumbbell bent over row or Standing cable row.

1E. Core- Alternating side plank, Mountain climbers or Front plank.

How Many of Rounds Should You Do? – It depends how long you’ve got to train. Using the above examples, these circuits takes 5 min to complete so 3- 5 rounds would suffice.

How Much Rest? – You rest when you’re done.

5) Ladder Sets

What Are They? – One big superset when you compete the reps of both exercises in an ascending or descending order. For example, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 or 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10.

Best Use For Ladder Sets – They’re great way to finish your training and to add volume to a body part that needs working on. Furthermore, they can be used for a stand-alone training when pushed for time.

Types of Exercises Ladder Sets Work Best For? – Bodyweight, kettlebells, medicine balls, battle ropes and dumbbells work great.

For example, the kettlebell swings/medicine ball slam combo:

Instructions: Do 20 reps each of the swings and the slams and go down by 2 each time you perform a round until you reach two reps for each exercise (for example 20-18-16-14….2). If you don’t have access to medicine balls, substitute in battle rope slams.

Battle Rope Slams

Med Ball Rotational Slam

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YHgXAFY4H1Q

 

How Many Rounds Should You Do? – Just one will do, if you’re doing it right.

How Much Rest? – Again, you’ll rest when you’re done.

6) Cluster Sets

What Are They? – Sets with a predetermined rest period between reps within the same set.

For example:

  1. Load the barbell to 85-90% of your maximum, a weight you could normally lift 3 times.
  2. Do one rep and rack the bar.
  3. Rest 10 seconds.
  4. Do another rep and rack the bar.
  5. Rest for 10 seconds.
  6. Do this 4-6 times total

Best Use For Cluster Sets – They’re best used for building strength but be warned, when using heavier weights with shorter rest periods while increasing volume can lead to fatigue.

For example, (4×2) x5 sets – is 5 total clusters of 4 mini sets of 2 reps with 10 seconds rest in between. That’s 40 reps at 85-90% of your 1 rep max.

Types of Exercises Cluster Sets Work Best For? – Barbell exercises like squats, presses and rows but can be used for chin-ups also.

 

How Many Sets Should You Do? – Anywhere from 3- 6 clusters.

How Much Rest Between Clusters? – 3 minutes or more between clusters because of their demanding nature.

7) Drop Sets

What Are Drop Sets? – Is a method where you perform an exercise and then reduce the weight (usually 15- 30% drop) and continue for more reps until you reach failure.

Best Use For Drop Sets – Ideally, it’s your last set of the day. This method is used to add muscle and volume to a body part. However, it’s not for the faint of heart because you will feel the burn.

 

Types of Exercises Drop Sets Work Best For – Barbell, dumbbell and machine exercises.

A Different Type of Drop Set

Rather than dropping the weight and lifting till failure, you can perform mechanical drop sets where you use the same weight the entire time. You start an exercise in a mechanically weaker position to one in which you’re in stronger position.

For example, the dumbbell bench press mechanical drop set:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KfYNhAGAm0w

 

This is a truly sadistic method for building muscle, but it works. If you want more ideas, read this excellent article by John Romaniello.

How Many Drop Sets Should You Do? – Once per training and probably no more than twice per week.

How Much Rest? – If you’re doing it right, you’ll need a nap.

Wrapping Up

Wow, you got to the end and you’re probably hungry. Please go get some protein.

Now, you’re armed with the knowledge to take your training to the next level and to hulk smash your way through any plateaus. Happy lifting.

About the Author

Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Texas. Shane believes in balancing exercise with life while putting the fun back into both.

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

My Top Shoulder Training Tips Part I

The shoulders (delts) are an area that many trainees wish were bigger. They’re also an area that’s often injured. In today’s guest post by Dr. Nicholas Licameli he discusses and breaks down some of his top training tips for shoulder health and hypertrophy.

Enjoy.

Copyright: xmee / 123RF Stock Photo

 

In order to build a quality and symmetrical physique, all muscle groups must be trained and developed equally. An overdeveloped muscle group can never compensate for an underdeveloped one. That being said, a well-developed set of shoulders, along with a narrow waist, can really enhance a physique and create a nice V-taper.

While the shoulders are one of the most sought after muscles to develop, they also tend to be one of the most stubborn and most commonly injured. Here are my top shoulder training tips to help you on the journey to strong, healthy shoulders.

1) Listen To Your Body

Early in my training career, I remember feeling as if there were some aspects of my training that could not be changed. Compound lifts had to be performed using a barbell only and with heavy, lower rep sets. Dumbbells and lighter/higher rep training were for isolation movements.

For years, I trained in the 6-10 rep range for barbell overhead presses and in the 12-20 rep range for lateral raises, rear deltoid work, and other isolation movements. I never really felt “satisfied” or that “good” fatigue after completing heavy sets of overhead presses.

I eventually took the leap out of my comfort zone and started using dumbbells and a landmine set up for overhead pressing.

What a difference!

 

I felt a connection to my deltoids like never before. The overhead press soon went from one of my least favorite movements to one of my favorites.

I also started to realize that my lighter warm up sets seemed to feel better (even when not taken anywhere near failure) than my heavier working sets. I took another leap and started training the overhead press in the 12-20 rep range and again, I was blown away at how my body responded. Does this mean I completely removed heavy overhead pressing from my training?

Of course not, but I am definitely not afraid of lighter training.

The take home message here is listen to your body.

If heavy barbell training doesn’t quite “click” for your shoulders, don’t be afraid to change it up.

We now know that if hypertrophy is your goal, overall volume (volume = weight lifted x sets x reps) and progressive overload at an appropriate intensity is what matters.

Note From TG: Technically speaking, for muscular hypertrophy three factors take precedence: Mechanical Tension, Metabolic Stress, and Muscle Damage.

For more insights you can’t ask for a better resource than Brad Schoenfeld’s Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy.

Hypertrophy can be seen by training with heavy weight and low reps as well as light weight and higher reps. Keep in mind that if your goal is strictly to increase strength on the barbell overhead press, you’re going to have to train the barbell overhead press with heavy loads, as specificity is much more important when it comes to strength.

2) Obey Your Anatomy: The Upright Row and Lateral Raise

The upright row seems to have more controversy surrounding it than Donald Trump administering a flu vaccine to a gluten-free, ketogenic, vegan, transgender circus elephant in captivity while drinking creatine sweetened with aspartame.

Is the traditional “muscle magazine” upright row the safest or most effective exercise to build big, strong, and healthy shoulders?

Probably not.

Can it be modified?

Absolutely.

By nature of the movement, the barbell upright row places the shoulder in resisted internal rotation with elevation. This is a less than optimal and, dare I say, vulnerable position because it narrows the subacromial space, which can increase risk of injury.

Does that mean our shoulders will break on the first rep?

No.

Our bodies are resilient and can handle less than optimal positions, but why risk it if we can find a better way? Need a refresher on what the sub-acromial space is and how narrowing it can lead to injury? Check out Tony’s awesome article right here.

Great alternatives to the barbell upright row are the dumbbell upright row and the face pull.

Face Pull

As mentioned above, the barbell upright row puts us into internal rotation, which narrows the sub-acromial space.

External rotation, however, can be a shoulder’s best friend.

The dumbbell upright row frees up our joints and allows us to externally rotate throughout the movement. The face pull reduces the amount of internal rotation at the bottom of the movement and increases the amount of external rotation at the end of the movement.

Many training routines tend to be abundant in internal rotator strengthening (pecs, lats, etc.) while lacking strengthening for the external rotators (posterior rotator cuff, rear deltoids, etc). Both the dumbbell upright row and face pull involve resisted external rotation, which means they can help balance out a traditional training routine (more on this to come).

Note From TG: Speaking of Face Pulls I am reminded of THIS classic T-Nation.com article by Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman on the topic.

The lateral raise is a staple in most shoulder training routines, however if done incorrectly, can be very similar to the barbell upright row.

By internally rotating at the top of a lateral raise, as if pouring a pitcher of water, the shoulder gets placed into resisted internal rotation with elevation, which we now know is not that great of a position.

Why is that a common cue (even Arnold recommends it!)? Because in order to maximally target the middle deltoid, it needs to be directly in line with the force of gravity and the “pouring-the-pitcher” position accomplishes this.

Middle deltoid is directly in line with the force of gravity (good!), however the shoulder is in internal rotation and elevation (bad!)

Anterior deltoid is directly in line with the force of gravity

Bending forward or lying face down in a bench targets the posterior deltoid because it is directly in line with the force of gravity.

Posterior deltoid is directly in line with the force of gravity

So how do we reduce our risk of injury while still maximizing the force through the middle deltoid?

Simple.

Hinge at our hips and lean forward, just a bit.

The line of gravity has now changed. We’re now able to externally rotate (reversing the pitcher pouring motion) while still placing the middle deltoid in perfect alignment with gravity.

Middle deltoid is directly in line with the force of gravity (good!) AND the shoulder is in external rotation (good!)

For a video demonstration and explanation of this, go HERE.

3) Don’t Overdo It…Pay Attention to Volume

When looking at weekly shoulder volume, don’t forget to account for all of the exercises that involve the shoulders as secondary movers.

Shoulder presses, lateral raises, and reverse flyes are not the only exercises that add to weekly shoulder volume.

The shoulders get worked during exercises like bench presses, rows, dips, and even pull-ups and pull-downs. If you have a volume goal you are trying to hit, be sure to keep this in mind to avoid overtraining and overuse injuries. Remember, more is not better…better is better.

4) Don’t Try To Get Too Creative Just For The Sake Of Novelty

Bruce Lee said,

“I fear not the man who practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

Too much variety for the sake of novelty can limit your ability to progress, especially when it comes to shoulder training.

In general, the basic variations of shoulder movements are presses, lateral raises, extension-based movements (face pulls, reverse flyes, etc.), and global stability movements (farmer carries, planks, bird dogs, etc.).

My suggestion would be to find your preferred variations of those movements and perfect, fine tune, overload, and progress them. Yes, change it up every once in a while, but don’t swap out a solid landmine press for a banded, blood flow restricted, single-arm kettlebell press while standing on a BOSU over a pool of sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow where I offer four more of my top shoulder training tips.

About the Author

Nicholas M. Licameli

Doctor of Physical Therapy / Pro Natural Bodybuilder

Youtube: HERE

Instagram: HERE

Facebook: HERE

Every single thing he does, Nick believes in giving himself to others in an attempt to make the world a happier, healthier, and more loving place. He wants to give people the power to change their lives. Bodybuilding and physical therapy serve as ways to carry out that cause. Nick graduated summa cum laude from Ramapo College of New Jersey with his bachelor’s degree in biology, furthered his education by completing his doctoral degree in physical therapy from Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (previously the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey) at the age of 24, and has earned professional status in natural bodybuilding. His knowledge of sport and exercise biomechanics, movement quality, and the practical application of research combined with personal experience in bodybuilding and nutrition allows him to help people in truly unique ways. Love. Passion. Respect. Humility.   Never an expert. Always a student. Love your journey.