Categoriescoaching fitness business Motivational

You’re a Coach, You’re Busy, Lets Adapt

There’s a thick common thread that weaves throughout the fitness industry, for coaches in particular.

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Copyright: venezolana74 / 123RF Stock Photo

This common thread is made of stress and loops its way through our daily schedules. It pulls on our time blocks and puts us in a crunch. We’re giving all of our time, and our energy, to our clients and leaving none of either for ourselves.

Our training isn’t consistent enough.

Meals are missed.

The stress compounds.

The frustration mounts.

Instead of carving out time to fill our bucket so that we may give to others, we exhaust our resources then burn through our reserves and leave our buckets empty, with a hole in the bottom. It’s no way to live, and it’s impossible to perform at our best in this condition.

Chris Merritt and I developed Strength Faction to help other coaches and trainers avoid this downward spiral that ends in the burnout pit.

It’s time to open the discussion about busy schedule training strategies.

Take A Deep, Lung-filling, Relaxed, Fucking Breath

It goes in through your nose, fills your belly and expands into your chest. It expands in 360 degrees through your thorax. It comes in for at least three seconds—four is even better. Then you release it for twice as long as it took to take it in.

You do this every time you feel hectic and scattered—when stress mounts and frustration overwhelms because your responsibilities to everyone else are overshadowing your own training desires. You do this until the frustration escapes from your head, releasing your body’s tension.

Break Up The Workout

We all suffer from a fitness industry cognitive condition I call the spreadsheet paradigm—we have to follow a program exactly as it’s dictated on a spreadsheet. There’s no shame in this thought process—it’s rote conditioning at its finest.

We’ve learned over time that if we don’t start the day’s programming at the top, and finish at the bottom, that we’ve failed. This line of thinking continues on. Since if we can’t begin at the top and finish at the bottom, and that denotes failure, there’s no use in doing anything at all.

Bag it. No training today.

The spreadsheet paradigm is bullshit. I mean, it’s totally real, but it’s a bullshit thought parasite that needs extermination—especially for busy coaches and trainers. Reality is we just need to do the work we can manage to do in the time we have to manage it in. We need consistency that fits our work and life.

(Before we move on, note that if you have the full blocks of time, and have the mental, physical and emotional resources to perform the program as is, do that.)

But if you can’t, that’s totally cool. We just have to break up the workout into smaller blocks.

Start by considering your goals. Is your main goal right now to move better, or is it to get stronger? Are you looking to be so hot that you frequently find yourself in precarious sexual situations? All are valid. All are worthy.

51458156 - couple in love, hot fire woman and cold man, romantic girl kiss lover

Copyright: inarik / 123RF Stock Photo

Consider your goals before we break up the workout so that you may prioritize which part of the programs you’ll accomplish. This implies that you may not get all of the components complete. Take a deep breath, one of those breaths we described above, because it’s O-fucking-K.

Now that you have your goals in mind, think of your schedule. Find your breaks and note them all.

Even if they’re miniscule, ten minute gaps between clients.

Now that you know your goals and have noted your breaks, look at the components of the program: warm-up/movement training, strength training, conditioning. Consider which components will most impact progress toward your goals.

Do you have your goals, your schedule blocks and the programming components written out in front of you? Cool.

Let’s hypothetically say that you have a client at 6 am then another at 7:30 am. It takes you a couple of minutes to set up for each client, and your current goal is to achieve ridiculous super hotness that makes underwear fall off everyone, guys and gals alike, as you walk your sweet ass down the street.

So the most impactful components to achieve your hotness are your warm-up, your strength work and your conditioning. Well, on this particular day you only have one break that you’re certain you’ll be able to get training in before other responsibilities overwhelm you and your energy is drained.

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Copyright: ammentorp / 123RF Stock Photo

So you say to yourself,

“Sexy, we’re going to get to the gym at 5:40am so we can get our warm-up in before our first client at 6. Then, when that client finishes, we’re going to get our conditioning done and grab a quick meal before our 7:30 client. Then we’re going to feel good that we made good use of the time that we had and we’re going to have a great rest of the day.”

See what happened there? We prioritized based on our goals and we made use of the little time we had. It was awesome.

Now, if you have more blocks of time, you include more components of the program.

Ten minutes here?—do your warm-up.

Another ten minutes there?—do your power and core training.

Oh boy! Another 20 minutes over there?—hit as much of your strength training as you can.

And so on. And so forth.

Most imperative is that we break the spreadsheet paradigm and accomplish what we can with the time we have while prioritizing our actions toward our goals.

What If You’re Just Wrecked?

If the more intense components of the program are too taxing based on your current stress level, bag them. Seriously, it’s O-fucking-K. You’re not going to do anything good by compounding the stress when you feel overwhelmed. Think recovery and regeneration instead.

Do some cardiac output.

Do your warm-up a few times.

Just get out of the gym and take a walk.

Meditate.1

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Copyright: mangostock / 123RF Stock Photo

Read.

Just do something that takes your stress level down. If you’re totally at a loss, do some cardiac output. The light neural stimulation promotes recovery and regeneration. The constant, low-intensity movement relieves stress.

Kicking Ass Is Doing The Right Things For Ourselves At The Right Times

You’re busy, adapt to your situation rather than trying to force something that isn’t there. Just because you’re not ripping barbells to and fro doesn’t mean you’re not kicking ass. Kicking ass is being intelligent and doing what you need to do for yourself right now. Use this article and do just that.

About the Author

Todd Bumgardner, MS, CSCS is a co-founder of Strength Faction, an online coaching program for strength coaches and personal trainers that helps fitness industry folks transform their bodies and their coaching. He and his partner, Chris Merritt, just released a great, free E-book on how to keep your training on track, even while you’re training all of your clients.

You can download it here: Train Yourself…Even While You’re Training Everyone Else.

Categoriescoaching Exercise Technique Strength Training

Big Rock Cues That Work For Pretty Much Everyone

As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to be more succinct in many facets of my life.

– When I was 25 I’d consider it a travesty if I didn’t spend at least two hours in the gym. Now? A few “top sets” of my main movement, followed by an accessory movement to compliment that movement, and 45 minutes later I’m good.

– I’ve learned to trim my prose over the years, too. One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned on the topic came from my good friend (and my former editor at T-Nation.com), Bryan Krahn.

“Write your first draft, and then cut 20% of it, no matter what. Get rid of the fillers, fluff, and extraneous jargon2 that doesn’t do anything to support your message.”

– When I first met my wife and was wooing her I was all about impressing her with my collection of vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirts culinary skills. I remember a time or two3 attempting to drum up a four-course meal without burning down my apartment.

Now? “Babe, how about some tacos?”

The same can be said about my coaching career.

In a presentation I did last weekend at Iron Village Strength & Conditioning in Beverly, MA titled The Art of Coaching I discussed how, early in my career, I made the mistake of trying too hard to win-over my clients with big words like reciprocal inhibition, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, post activation potentiation, and plethora (<— because, you know, that word is a boss).

Moreover, I made another huge mistake: Peppering my clients with too many coaching cues.

A set of squats would sound like this:

“Okay, squeeze the bar.”

“Push your knees out.”

“Don’t forget to spread the floor with your feet.”

“Big air!”

“Chest up.”

“Drive out of the hole.”

“Finish with your hips.”

“Stay tight, stay tight, I said STAY TIGHT!”

It was a juxtaposition on how not to coach clients. More often than not, they would end up feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and thiiiiiiis close to wanting to drop kick me in the kidneys.

So today I’d like to share some succinct, BIG ROCK cues I feel work for pretty much everyone. At the expense of sounding like a fitness cliche, less coaching is more.

The Deadlift: Place Shoulder Blades in Your Back Pocket/Squeeze the Orange in the Armpit

Anything we can do to ensure (and maintain) upper back tightness throughout a set is going to be money. I could wax poetic and quote Dr. Stuart McGill here and all the work he’s done over the past 10-15 years to demonstrate how counteracting sheer force is kind of important for spinal stability and reducing the likelihood of back injury.

Instead, go read Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance.

“Place shoulder blades in your back pocket” or “squeeze the orange in your armpit” do an amazing job at engaging the lats, which are a big player in spinal stability.

 

The Squat: Sit Down, Not Back

Like many young, impressionable coaches at the time, back in 2002-2005 I read many, many articles written by Dave Tate and the crew over at Westside Barbell.

And why wouldn’t I? If you were (and still are) remotely interested in getting yourself or your clients strong, you’d be hard pressed to find better information. More to the point, if you were/are a powerlifter or training powerlifters those were the guys to read.

There’s no question there’s validity in using the cue “sit back” when coaching the squat. We can break down the biomechanics and draw lever arms…but at the end of the day, if the goal is to lift as much weight as humanly possible it makes sense to target the hips and posterior chain more by sitting back.

However, as the years passed and as I coached the squat more, I started to see a trend where people’s lower backs started flipping them the middle finger. They didn’t feel good.

This is when I started putting two and two together and understanding that the cues that work very well for powerlifters – specifically, geared powerlifters, where squat suits help with providing more stability – don’t necessarily jive well with un-geared lifters.

The cue “sit back” (and subsequently: arch!) places a lot of people in a compromising position where they fall into excessive anterior pelvic tilt, which can promote a more unstable position…to the point where they’re relying more on their “passive restraints” (ligaments) and bone(s) to stabilize their spine and not their “active restraints” (muscles).

“Sit Down, Not Back” (bracing abs, moving through the hips (not initiating with lower back), and pushing knees forward/out) works very well here. The squat is equal parts knees coming forward and hips going back

You know, a squat.

NOTE: Yes, there is still a forward lean in the torso. Relax. Deep breaths, internet.

Individual differences need to be taken into consideration, of course, in terms of injury history4 mobility restrictions, anthropometry, stance width, depth, etc, but I’d encourage you to give this cue a try and see if it feels better.

The Bench Press: Wrapping the Barbell

The bench press is a much more nuanced lift than some people give it credit for. As far as technique is concerned, I find it’s a black hole for many lifters – myself included.

There are many things to consider here.

For starters: is it Monday?

Secondly, cues like “meet the bar with the chest,” “shoulder blades together and down” and “put force into the ground with your feet” (leg drive) all have merit.

However, one cue that has resonated with me (and that of my clients) is the idea of wrapping the barbell. It’s a great way of ensuring lat activation/upper back stiffness without having to cue someone to “turn your lats on” when they have no idea what the fuck that even means.

Cressey Sports Performance coach, Miguel Aragoncillo, explains it better than I:

 

These Cues Don’t Mean I’m Right5

My objective here was not to insinuate these are the best cues for everyone. Only “pretty much everyone.” (<— It’s a fact. A true, fact).

Rather, the idea was to demonstrate various cues that have worked for me and my athletes/clients throughout my time as a coach. They may not be a good fit for you and your clients, and that’s cool. I’d be honored if you’d consider them nonetheless.

If not, “I HATE YOU. YOU’RE RUINING MY LIFE!!!”

[Slams door]

Categoriescoaching personal training

Why Not Every Client Needs Perfect Form

Today’s post comes courtesy of Jonathan Hamilton-Potter, and it covers a topic I feel is an important one for many new and up-coming fitness professionals to consider. Heck, industry veterans too.

And that is…being too strict with exercise technique.

Enjoy.

Why Not Every Client Needs Perfect Form

My eyes narrowed in disgust as I scanned the gym, trying to take in what was going on.

  • There was fellow personal trainer James, whose client Kelly was performing upright rows with no scapula retraction.
  • I spied Denise, training two girls to bench press, but completely neglecting the fact that using a lower-back arch and utilizing leg drive would have made them far more efficient and given better leverages.
  •  And worst of all – Kevin, who had one of his guys squatting, but cutting reps short of parallel.

They were gym crimes of the highest order. As a personal trainer, I should have been furious.

But I was okay with it, and here’s why –

1) Not Everyone Can Perform Exercises 100% Correctly

This is basic biomechanics.

If you have a client who can’t squat to depth because they’ve experienced knee or back issues in the past, then having them squat slightly higher than what’s usually considered acceptable in order to prevent pain isn’t such a bad idea.

With slightly less depth the muscle will still be getting worked (albeit not as well as if full range was carried out, but worked all the same) and if this allows Dave, the 63-year old former fireman who’s had three knee surgeries to be able to do a greater selection of exercises then I don’t think it’s such a bad thing.

Photo Credit: EliteFTS

You can obviously try to fix the issues though flexibility work, mobility and stretching but it’s also ok to move away from a particular exercise or modify it if the client cannot perform the movement at any range of motion without pain.

It doesn’t matter what Internet ‘experts’ say – not every client needs to train like they’re going into a powerlifting meet.

If someone can’t do an exercise in a particular way, then don’t force it upon them.

2) If You Try to be a ‘Form Perfectionist’ Then Your Clients Won’t Progress.

If I was personally spending hours and hours and huge amounts of my clients hard earned cash (which they most likely gave me for physical results such as fat loss or muscle gain) and spent the whole time working on postural correction, making sure there was absolutely no momentum used in any exercise, breathing was perfect and every single lifting ‘cue’ was nailed then I would have zero results to show and one pissed off client.

It’s ok to allow for a little form breakdown when it comes to an exercise, as long as a client is still moving safely though a movement.

You can correct a client’s posture over time if needed, but let’s not forget what clients come to us for – to be happy.

They’ll get more happiness from seeing results in terms of fat loss and body composition changes, than from you barking orders at them and stopping a set every single time they don’t quite get the movement perfect.

Obviously this is a trade-off.

In an ideal world, you might see a client seven days a week, and spend one hour on postural correction and mobility and then another hour actually training, but this is the real world.

Clients have a limited amount of time, so get them working hard when they see you, and advise they visit a sports massage therapist, a chiropractor or physical therapist to iron out any postural issues, as well as giving them some home mobility drills to do.

3) Perfect Form Doesn’t Allow For Maximum Intensity.

When it comes to any form of strength training a certain amount of effort, intensity and overload is required to coax your body to want to get stronger and better.

As training experience develops it becomes harder and harder to progress without regimented periods of high intensity. This should be carried out through the use of heavy weights or sets taken close to muscular failure coupled with muscular overload.

Maintaining ‘perfect form’ throughout every rep and set of every exercise will result in an extreme lack of the muscular overload needed for the client to progress, get stronger and improve the way they look.

Once again: clients want results and without them feeling and looking better then they’ll eventually leave.

4) Constantly Drilling Form Can Confuse a New Client and Make Them Feel Like They’re Always Doing Something Wrong.

Imagine you were doing something completely new to you – perhaps learning the guitar, or trying to speak a foreign language.

 

How would you feel if your tutor gave you 25 different instructions and made you stop every time something lapsed slightly?

Probably pretty down and demotivated.

That’s how a client can potentially feel.

They’re already doing something new and scary by joining the gym and working out (possibly for the first time ever) so give them small, manageable, bite-size chunks of information and don’t pick up on every error all at once.

Certain cues do need to be in place initially in order to prevent injuring your client.

A mistake I see a lot of trainers make is that they throw numerous teaching points at a new client in a single session, often resulting in the person looking mentally exhausted and disheartened.

Look at teaching a client the basic cues first such as keeping a neutral lumbar spine, monitoring breathing and so on, then every week or two once the basics have been developed (along with confidence) you can then look at adding one or two more teaching point to the mix and repeat.

Gradually adding teaching points this way allows clients to feel they’re accomplishing something each session and doesn’t leave them overwhelmed.

Take Home Points 

  • As long as a client isn’t risking injury then let them do the exercise.
  • Let clients lift sufficient load with enough intensity to cause progression.
  • 90% of your clients pay you for aesthetic improvements and fat loss, not to correct their form for a whole hour.
  • Don’t throw 100 teaching points at a new client and overwhelm them, add a new cue in every couple of weeks until each are mastered.
  • You don’t NEED to do any one exercise with a client.

About the Author

Jonathon Potter is a personal trainer, bodybuilder and is the owner of JHP fitness online coaching company.

You can check out his website HERE, and his Facebook Page HERE.

Categoriescoaching Exercise Technique

Layering the Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing offers many benefits and can be utilized in many ways.

It’s a fantastic modality to train explosiveness and power (especially as a more “user friendly” alternative to Olympic lifting), it’s a back saver in that 1) when it’s performed correctly it helps to dissociate hip movement from lumbar movement (it’s all about the hinge baby) and 2) even Dr. Stuart McGill agrees that the KB swing is the bombdiggidy6, it serves as an excellent conditioning tool, and it’s one of those things that doesn’t take up too much gym space or equipment.

All you need is a body and a kettlebell.7

The thing is, the kettlebell swing isn’t as intuitive as it looks.

Frankly, more often than not, whenever I watch someone try it (or even coach it), it ends up looking like whateverthefuck dance Drake’s doing in his Hotline Bling video.

 

There’s a lot going on with a (good) swing, and it’s understandable why many mess it up on their first go. And second, and 7, 912th.

A lot of “things” need to happen and be in working order from a patterning standpoint to perform one competently. And it’s compounded further when we start to factor in load, not to mention the ballistic nature of the movement itself.

Whenever I begin to coach someone up who’s new to the movement (or even if I’m working with someone with a little more experience and have to iron out some technique kinks), I prefer to break things down into more manageable, bite-size chunks and attempt to “layer” the swing.

Layering the KB Swing

Technically, the first “layer” is slowing things down and allowing people to appreciate what the finished – standing tall – position should feel like.

Here is where abs should be engaged, knees are locked out (quads/knee caps flexed), spine is an anatomical neutral position, and one should be firing their glutes so hard that their butt cheeks could crush a Volvo.

I’m not kidding.

Here, too, is where I try to get someone to understand what it means to HINGE and not SQUAT the swing.

The KB should never dip below knee level – again, it’s a hip hinge not a squat – and there are a litany of cues I default towards to get this message across:

  • One I like a lot is one I stole from Dan John: “attack your zipper.”
  • Another one I like is to tell people to “play chicken with your (you know what).”

 

Essentially I need to get people to appreciate that they’re going to stay upright for as long as possible – till the very last split second – before they “break” and get out of the way.

From there I find time best spent working on the set-up.

A big mistake people make is to pick up the KB and then try to start the swing from a standing position. It’s awkward and vaguely resembles dry humping a tree. See? Awkward.

Teaching the HIKE POSITION is crucial, as it gets people in a more efficient starting position and helps to set the tone for the subsequent hip snap.

 

This in fact may be someone’s wheelhouse for a week, maybe longer. I’ll generally keep things in the 8-10 rep range and perform multiple sets as either part of an extended warm-up or as a stand alone exercise.

The key, though, is to ensure an aggressive hike and that the hips don’t pop up too far.

Once we have that nailed down, it’s time for the next layer….

The Hike +1

Here is where we take the hike and start to incorporate an actual hip snap (swing)…albeit only ONE repetition.

The goal is to ensure quality reps.

 

I also want to ensure people learn to use their HIPS (and not “muscle” things with their arms). The hips more or less serve as a launching pad to “thrust/push” the arms out front.

Note: and since we built a little context beforehand and started everyone in the end position (standing tall) they should kinda-sorta know what it feels like, or what to expect. Basically, it’s not a foreign “thing” to them like a good episode of The Kardashians or, I don’t know, a leprechaun.

I’ll keep reps a little lower here, usually around FIVE, and utilize the same approach as above with the hike.

Moving Forward

Once those two things are dialed in, we can then experiment with an actual repetitive swing. However, I find many people will benefit more by not being too aggressive from the get go and veering too far away from the Hike and Hike + 1.

Some may pick things up quickly and be able to perform a swing within 10-30 minutes – Dean Somerset and I do it all the time at our workshops: TORONTO (3/19), SEATTLE (4/9) – and for others it may take a few sessions, if not a few weeks.

The important point to consider is to break the swing down into more manageable parts for people, and to not perform or coach an American Swing.…;o)

Categoriescoaching Interview

A Candid Conversation With Mike Robertson

Whenever I get the chance to listen to other coaches speak or to watch them in action, I’m always locked in. I sit with bated breath and intense concentration as I listen to him or her’s train of thought on everything…

…in addition to listening to how they cue certain exercises and coach up their clients and athletes.

Mike Robertson is one of those coaches. He’s high on my “bring a notebook, bring a pen, shut the eff up, and listen” list.

I remember reading his articles on T-Nation back in the day and thinking to myself “I’m totally picking up what he’s putting down. Samsies!”

And when I finally met him in person, when he came to Connecticut for a weekend to stay with Eric and I as he and Eric were planning Magnificent Mobility (watching it now they both look like they’re 16), I just knew he was someone I’d stay in contact with for years to come.

And I have.

Mike and I have been good friends for over a decade now, and he’s still someone I learn from and respect a ton. Plus, he has impeccable taste in old school hip-hop music.

Mike teamed up with one of the most ginormous human beings in the world, strength coach Joe Kenn, to film the Elite Athletic Development 2.o seminar.

It’s amazing.

But more to the point: it’s a 12 DVD set where Mike and Joe talk about program design, periodization, exercise technique, and how to develop your own training philosophy (and what they actually means).

It’s a sound investment for any personal trainer or coach to add to their continuing education arsenal. And, it’s on SALE this week at $100 off the regular price.

Mike was kind enough to take some time to talk some shop and answer some questions. Enjoy!

TG: Joe Kenn is a massive human being. Is his gravitational pull more powerful than the moon?

MR: You know back in the days when he was powerlifting, they called him “Big House” for a reason.

But ever since I’ve known him, he’s been pretty damn lean and pushes himself in the gym. And with his injury history it’s impressive to see him do what he does on a day-to-day basis. Respect.

TG: Elite Athletic Development 2.0 is going to entice a lot of athletes due to the title. But after watching the videos I know full well that the bulk of the information applies to your every day gym rat/meathead/goddess too. 

 Can you elaborate on why “training like an athlete” will help the average gym goer?

MR: Great question, and this is really at the core of my overall philosophy. In fact, I tell everyone who trains at IFAST that when they step in our gym, they are going to be the best athlete they possibly can.

I think most people get too focused on the singular quality of “strength” – and trust me, I get it.

I competed in powerlifting for many years, and in a lot of ways, still think of myself as a powerlifter.

But I also think you can make training infinitely more fun, and your body much healthier, when you focus on all the qualities of athletic development.

An athlete has to be fast, powerful, strong, conditioned and mobile. If he/she lacks any of these qualities, then their performance will suffer.

If you train all of this in the gym, you’re going to be pretty darn awesome in real life, so it just makes sense to me.

TG: I couldn’t agree more. It amazes me how many adults have lost the ability to do something as simple as skipping.

Your R7 System is pretty fucking brilliant. One thing I feel is hindering many fitness professionals is PRI (breathing drills). I know you and the rest of the coaching staff at IFAST are in the same boat as us at CSP. We both find a lot of efficacy in it, we both use it, but we also know that people need to freakin train!

Breathing drills, in simplest terms, helps “reset” the body. Can you briefly explain this?

MR: Yeah I’m not shy about the fact that I love PRI, but like anything, if you want to learn more about it go the source.

Too often, people learn about a system via the zealot who bastardizes the system, and then assume that everyone who uses the system “does it that way.”

Not true. But I digress…

To make this incredibly simple, too many of us struggle to exhale, and thus live in a position of “system extension.” To see what I mean, try this:

Take the deepest breath in you possibly can. If you’re like 99.9% of the awesome people out there who strength train, then chances are you extended your back to a degree to get the air in.

So this system extension isn’t an awful thing when you’re trying to fun fast, jump high, or lift heavy things, but it’s also associated with the sympathetic response (fight-or-flight).

When you’re training, this isn’t bad – but so many of us struggle to get out of this and we’re locked in sympathetic mode all the time!

I could go really deep into this, but the inability to breathe (and more specifically, exhale) never allows us to shift the parasympathetic dominate (i.e. rest and digest – RECOVER).

Breathing, and the ability to not only exhale, but to inhale from an exhaled position, can help reset our body. For training purposes, it can open up mobility in the hips and shoulders by improving core stability and position.

But the even bigger benefit is the fact that by doing this at the end of a session (or before bed), you can really shut your system off and kickstart the recovery process.

I think that’s the biggest benefit of all this – we love to talk training, but proper breathing starts the discussion with regards to proper recovery.

TG: YES! Thank you. If I could hug you right now I totally would.

Deadlifts. You know I have to pick your brain on this. With any movement I tend to take more of a “less is more” approach when coaching it. I know you feel the same way. Can you give us your top 3 coaching cues/tips for the deadlift?

How about the squat?

MR: Absolutely man. I’m actually trying to streamline all this so people are getting a similar message across movements.

So these three would work for both the squat and deadlift.

1 – “Exhale, inhale, brace.”

The exhale sets proper position, the inhale allows you to breathe 3D (into front, side and back of your core, and then the brace seals the deal.

2 – “Feel the whole foot,” or simply, “whole foot”

I think this is a big one, and it cures damn near everything.

If someone gets too far forward, it gets them back towards their heels.

If they get on their heels, it gets them back on their forefoot.

And if they have a tendency to supinate or pronate, it cleans up frontal/transverse plane issues.

Note from TG: give THIS post a read on Active vs. Passive Foot (or “whole foot” as MR alludes to).

3 – Push

This one is simple – if I cue someone to “push” then we get balanced (and well-timed) movements at the hip and knee.

What you see all too often is that the hips shoot up, and puts the back in an awful position to finish the lift.

By cuing someone to push, it improves timing and fixes a lot of stuff.

TG: Conditioning. It’s a double edged sword. Where do you feel most athletes (and average gym goes) go wrong with it?

MR: I think there are two main camps out there:

1 – The people that do none, ever, and

2 – The people that only go balls out, all the time.

The people that do none are doing themselves a disservice – it’s negatively impacting their recovery, health, and ultimately, their quality of life.

But people that go balls out all the time aren’t much better. They’re essentially driving themselves into sympathetic overload, and then wondering why they can’t recover, why they aren’t making progress, or why they’re always injured.

I think there’s definitely something to be said about the middle of the road here. Not everyone needs to be as conditioned as a soccer player, and I’m not saying you need to go out and train like an endurance athlete, either.

But a little bit of true aerobic development can go a long way.

TG: Speaking of aerobic development, like yourself I’ve become more and more aware that I was a tool bag for dissing steady state aerobic work for so long in my early years as a coach.

Can you explain to my readers why implementing more of it will help them in the weight room?

MR: Great question, and yes, I absolutely made this mistake early-on in my career.

We talked about sympathetic overdrive above – and high intensity (anaerobic development) is tied to sympathetic dominance.

On the other hand, if we want/need the able to access our parasympathetic nervous system, then we can use low-level aerobic development to help stimulate that process.

Now here’s the cool thing – that aerobic development will help us in several ways:

  1. We’ll be able to do more (and recover from) more training volume,
  2. We’ll recover faster in between sets,
  3. We’ll recover faster in between training days,
  4. The improved parasympathetic drive will allow us to truly shut our system off, which will improve systemic recovery.

It may sound counterintuitive, but I feel as though improved aerobic development can do a lot for us both in and out of the gym. That’s why I’m such a huge proponent of it these days.

TG: Legit answer, thank you. 

Do your low intensity aerobic work everyone!

Finally, movies: Favorite ones you’ve seen lately? 

MR: Moment of truth here – I’m jealous of your ability to see new movies every week. I was a huge movie buff as a kid, but family, work, and life just seem to get in the way!

These are a bit random, but here are some of my recent faves:

Ex Machina – Defiinitely a cool plot, and I love sci-fi so I thought it was cool.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi – Joe Kenn told me about this one. It’s a documentary but it shows what it takes to be truly excellent at your work.

And just to show how totally out of the loop I am, I have DVR’d V is for Vendetta – just looking for time to watch it!

Elite Athletic Development 2.0

Two of the best strength coaches in the biz sharing with you what’s helped make them successful and how they go about making people into BEASTS in the weight room (and on the field).

It’s quite impressive to listen to Mike and Joe talk. And all for the price of what it would cost to go to a nice steak dinner for two.

Seems like a no brainer to me.

Categoriescoaching

How To Get the Best Out of Your Athletes and Clients: 4 Points For Better Coaching

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of my good friend and phenomenal strength coach, Todd Bumgardner.

Enjoy!

A few moons ago I was a promising high school football player. Quarterback offensively and a defensive utility man. I was good enough to get recruited by schools from D3 to the lower D1 levels—eventually settling on a tiny speck in Williamsport, PA named Lycoming College.

Don’t worry, ladies and gents —this article isn’t going to be a metaphorical showing of my letterman jacket patches. I’m just setting the stage.

I played football, and attended college, in rural, Central Pennsylvania—one of the greatest places on earth. Humbly stated, of course. But for its beautiful ridges, rivers and creeks, it’s also backwards in its ways. People that didn’t grow up here are often thought of as “strangers”, and good coaching often means simply being hard on someone until they rise to an occasion.

In the late 90’s and early 00’s it wasn’t strange to see a kid get ripped around by his facemask after a practice blunder. A few times, after royally fucking up, I was taken on the facemask merri-go-round. I usually responded.

Being hard on me worked.

During my junior year I was the personal protector on the punt team—a position reserved for linebacker/safety types. One particular fall day I didn’t have my shit together, and the 230 pound maniac I was responsible for blocking kept whooping my ass—he nearly drove me into the punter 4 or 5 times.

My coach gripped my facemask, brought his person a few inches from mine, and gave me the business in all kinds of ways. I’m pretty sure I just finished washing his spit out of my eyes. I’m 29 years of age.

But I stepped up.

During the next snap I sprinted at the line like a man on fire and planted my facemask in my foe’s solar plexus. I figured it’d be tough for him to block a punt if he didn’t have any air in his lungs. I was right. I also earned pat on the back and what I’m pretty sure was a concussion. And though I responded, it doesn’t mean his approach was optimal.

Tough Love Isn’t For Everyone

Not every kid handled that type of coaching. My team was loaded with kids that were physically tough. They busted their asses in practice and in the weight-room. They played with zealot enthusiasm on Friday nights. But screaming at them was counterproductive. It either evoked contention or shut them down. Neither reaction was productive for the team, nor the individual.

These kids were often labeled “pussies.” Being the ever-aware and observant youth, I noticed it—but it didn’t seem like a good enough explanation to me. I didn’t know what to do; hell, there wasn’t anything I could do. Besides I was still trying to figure out what to do with all the boners I was getting.

The past ten years of coaching experience, as a strength coach and a sport coach, along with multitudes of continuing education has taught me what to do.

It’s helped me develop a coaching paradigm that I use daily and speak about regularly. It comes in four parts and will profoundly impact the way you interact with your clients. It starts with finding the bright spots and ends in celebration.

Find the Bright Spots

90% of the coaching battle is keeping people open and receptive to what we have to say. But, unfortunately, trainer and coach behavior doesn’t always reflect that.

Show of hands:

How many of you have heard someone immediately begin coaching someone by saying something to the tune of:

“No, no, no. Stop. That’s not it.”

You know, or something corrosively negative.

Second show of hands:

How many of you have done it?

I have.

Guilty. As. Charged.

Note From TG: Yep, me too.

What happens? People clam up.

Immediately finding fault puts someone on the defensive.

We know this, and have known this, for a long time. It’s in the first chapter of How to Win Friends and Influence People. But, as coaches, we’re the punishing hammer that buries the nail. Our job is to find, and correct, fault—so we hop to it.

Here’s the bright reality—it’s rare that someone is performing every part of an exercise incorrectly. They are doing something right. Find that something and tell them about it.

Let’s pose a hypothetical.

Your client/athlete/boyfriend/girlfriend/boyfriend’s girlfriend just finished a set of goblet squats. Their foot position blew, but they did a great job creating upper-body tension. Try saying something like this:

“I loved your upper-body tension, that was great, keep it up! But we need to work on your foot positioning…”

It shows that you want to level with them, that they’re not fucking everything up, that your relationship doesn’t hang on the contingency of them doing everything right. This makes them willing to listen to you.

Find the Bright Spots First

Clearly Identify, Succinctly Communicate

Clearly Identify

Clear identification starts with knowing what you’re looking for. I can’t teach you that in a blog article—it comes from experience. From squatting a lot of times and from watching other people squat that many times. Extrapolate those numbers to every other major exercise and technique you use.

But to effectively, and succinctly, communicate what you want, you have to know what you’re looking for. Learn the patterns and learn how to identify issues.

I can, however, tell you that it helps to work from big to small. See a pattern, then break down the idiosyncratic deficiencies.

Succinctly Communicate

Say as little as possible. If you don’t have to talk, don’t.

Let’s consider what’s happening in the world of the trainee while a coach is watching.

They’re feeling the social pressure of wanting to please you.

They’re telling their body to do something.

They’re body is telling them what is actually happening.

There are noises.

They could potentially have a bathroom emergency.

That’s a lot of info to deal with at once. Dashing a bunch of your sentences into that cognitive soup does more harm than good.

Time for another hypothetical—you’re coaching someone intra-set and need to make a correction. What do you do?

First, try to find a solution that doesn’t involve your words.

Nick Winkelman talks about creating an environment in which the athlete coaches themself. Do you have RNT (reactive neuromuscular training) techniques that can fix the problem? Can you alter the environment safely so the client automatically responds and “coaches” themselves into correction?

If you have to use words, keep the count down. And base those words off of simple cues you introduced early in the training process. One or two words based on information they already relate to make coaching effective. If you don’t have a list of common cues that you teach people immediately, get that list started, fool.

Clearly Identify, Succinctly Communicate

Cue Externally

When I was in college there was a local “speed coach” that screen printed “Fire Your Glutes!” across the back of his promotional t-shirts.

He was creepy.

Not only was he creepy; he was doing it wrong. Body party cueing, in a performance situation, is a bad move. This is another Nick Winkelman gem.

Cueing: Lats! Glutes!—whatever body part you so choose—during an exercise creates cognitive dissonance that decreases performance. The result is more confusion, less force.

The reasoning follows suit for that of succinct communication: load the processor with too much info and you get diminishing returns. Folks spend time trying to identify the muscle that they want to perform rather than performing the exercise.

Direct your cues to objects outside the body like the floor, the implement they’re lifting, the finishing position.

Cue Externally

Dramatically Reinforce Success

We claim stoicism, but we’re all emotional. We learn, change and grow mostly because of emotion, not logic.

Successful coaching relationships also require some kind of attachment. This means people that we influence have to like us in some way, shape or form.

Team sport coaches get results with the respect and not like paradigm, but that doesn’t work as well for personal coaches. People don’t have to spend money with us. Besides…no one ever said that the respect without like paradigm was optimal.

How do we make use of this knowledge? We emphatically celebrate client success.

One of your clients, let’s call her Rhonda, just nailed the rack pull for the first time. Put on your party pants and celebrate! Ladle excitement into your voice. Jump like a Rhesus monkey. Fist bump. Slap hands. Do something emphatic.

Creating an emotional event helps Rhonda remember what she did—emotion imprints the cerebellum with info. She’ll be a better rack puller from now on. The event also strengthens the bond between you because she sees how authentically you care about her. Get ready to be happy, because compliance just jumped through the roof.

Beyond those two points, aren’t we in this to help people realize awesome shit about themselves?

Dramatically Reinforce Success

Four Simple Things

Tomorrow, when you coach, be aware of your coaching in relation to these four simple points and lay this paradigm over your current practice. Keep the expectations high, people will rise to them, but there’s no need to grab a facemask.

About the Author

Visit his website HERE.
CategoriesMotivational

Fitness Industry “Pros.” Are You One (Or an Amateur)?

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of today’s post (it’s going to be a quick one because I’m t-minus ONE day before I leave Boston and fly down to Florida to get married. Of course, I have yet to pack. And I have every intention of spending my last day in Boston as a single man living life dangerously: writing in a coffee shop), I wanted to fill everyone in on some speaking dates.

Dean Somerset and I have started penciling in dates for this year’s version of “Dean and Tony Talk About Stuff.”

We’ve already confirmed the following dates:

– Edmonton, Alberta (< – that’s in Canada) at SVPT Fitness & Athletics on August 22nd and 23rd.

– St. Louis, MO at Blue Ocean Fitness the weekend of September 26th-27th.

– Chicago, IL at Rebell Strength and Conditioning the weekend of October 17th-18th.

And we’re in the process of confirming dates and locations in both Austin, TX (Nov) and the LA/Anaheim area (Dec), respectively.

 

We’re pretty much giving every boy band a run for their money in terms our travel schedule this Fall. Except with no tour bus, 5-star accommodations, media hype, or groupies.

Nonetheless, we’re really excited and looking forward to unveiling our new Complete Hip & Shoulder Workshop to the masses.

For more information regarding itinerary and sign-ups go HERE.

Note: you’ll need to scroll down and click on each respective location to sign-up.

Turning Pro

When I was in NYC a few weekends ago a friend of mine recommended I pick up Steven Pressfield’s book, Turning Pro.

Having previously read The War of Art, and loving every freakin page of it (and recommending it to numerous friends and colleagues), it’s not as if I needed heavy convincing to give Turning Pro a go.

The book is all about what it takes to “turn pro,” what it means, and how to get out of your own way and create your life’s work.

Pressfield describes what he calls “shadow careers,” or careers which many people default towards either due to an overwhelming sense of fear of stepping outside their comfort zone or because they lack the courage (most often, work ethic) to pursue their true passion.

We all know someone (or have heard the stories) of Jack from accounting who, rather than take risks, spent his entire adult life in a cubicle hating life and playing solitaire rather than filling out his TPS reports.

He got really good at solitaire. And before he knew it, he was 55, with a passionless job (and often a passionless life).

This isn’t to say there aren’t accountants or desk jockeys out there who don’t thoroughly enjoy what they do and view that as their life calling. But, it’s a gleaming example of a far too common reality: People parlaying into a “shadow career” when they’d rather be a writer, dentist, entrepreneur, fashion designer, mechanic, or, I don’t know, someone who trains bomb-sniffing dolphins.

Pressfield himself relayed stories of being a truck driver and cab driver before he “turned pro.” He had written countless novels and screenplays – all of which admittedly sucked (his words, not mine) – before he “turned pro.”The book, in not so many words, is all about putting on your big boy (or girl) pants, growing up, and understanding that it’s going to take a lot of hard, arduous, work and effort (and innumerable failures) to create your life’s work.

It’s all about fighting the urge to stay an amateur, and the obstacles we have to overcome to curtail or better yet, conquer, that massive hump.

It’s resisting the urge to settle.

The book is rife with quotable quotes. I’d argue Pressfield rivals Dan John in that department. But I wanted to share one quote which struck a chord with me, because I feel it has a lot of overlap with what I see is a common practice in the fitness industry.

The Amateur is Easily Distracted

“The amateur has a long list of fears. Near the top are two:

Solitude and silence.

The amateur fears solitude and silence because she needs to avoid, at all costs, the voice inside her head that would point her toward her calling and her destiny. So she seeks distraction.

The amateur prizes shallowness and shuns depth. The culture of Twitter and Facebook is paradise for the amateur.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how many stars and asterisks I scribbled onto that page.

Lesson to be Learned (Listen Up)

If the health and fitness industry is truly your calling……..

……….You’re not (really) as important as you think you are.

Just because you wrote an article with a lot of “Likes” and you’ve accumulated a lot of “friends” on social media, doesn’t mean you’ve made it.

Likewise, just because you write about health and fitness and have a voice and audience (which IS an accomplishment, I’m not denying that), it doesn’t mean you’re a pro.

Bragging about Twitter followers and placing far too much precedence on “marketing” yourself on Facebook, most specifically when you’re new to the industry, is pointless.

All you’re doing is hiding and not really doing anything.

Likewise, and maybe this is my own biased, old-school opinion, unless you’re actually coaching people – like, in real life – don’t write an article titled “How to Get More Clients” or  “X Mistakes Someone Makes Doing X Exercise.”

How would you even know?

The difference between a “pro” and an “amateur” in this context – in the fitness world at least, – is that a pro actually get results.

They don’t just write about it.

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?

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Edmonton Workshop: Dean and Tony’s Sequel (That Doesn’t Suck)

I hope everyone had a relaxing and well deserved Labor Day weekend.  The weather here in Boston was piss poor all weekend, so there wasn’t much that Lisa and I were able to do.  We did meet up with her old college volleyball team and ate dinner with her coach on Saturday night.  And some of you may recall on Facebook a few weekends ago I was asking for advice on bike buying tips.

Lisa’s new job is only 1.5 miles from our apartment, and it makes a lot of sense for her to start biking to and from work to help save time in the mornings.

We know as much about bikes as we both know about World of Warcraft.  If you ask me the only thing you need to know about buying a bike is which one makes you look the most jacked.  But needless to say there’s a bit more to it than that.

After test riding a few different brands, Lisa ended up really liking the Specialized Vita, and that’s exactly what she ended up getting.

This is her after I dropped her off at the bike store and she rode her brand spankin new bike home.

And as much as I’m sure everyone is thrilled to read about Lisa’s new bike – I mean come on, how good does she look? –  lets jump into more pertinent territory.

Namely:  Dean and Tony’s Traveling Fitness VooDoo Magic Time Roadshow

Or, to put it in non-five year old speak:  Dean Somerset and I doing a sequel to our Boston Workshop, but this time in his neck of the woods up in Edmonton.

AKA:  The Edmonton Workshop.

But unlike most sequels, which generally bite the big one (thanks Matrix Reloaded), this one won’t suck. I promise.

We’ll be covering the exact same material as we did in Boston; you know stuff on assessment, corrective exercise, breathing patterns, coaching the big lifts, and how to make an F-16 out of paper mache.  But I’m sure we’ll be adding a few smaller details to the mix.

For a full breakdown and tentative itinerary go HERE.

The Boston Workshop was a huge success (no one left early!), and many who attended were more than happy to offer their words of appreciation and praise:

“The workshop with Dean and Tony was fantastic. They mixed science with real life, in the gym, practical solutions. I feel like I’m better off after attending in all aspects of my ability to train others.”

– Ryan Andrews, Precision Nutrition Coach, author of Drop the Fact Act & Live Lean.

“This clinic was a home run!  I’m a trainer with a yearly budget for continuing ed. I’m glad I spent it here.  I signed up because I knew these guys would drop some knowledge bombs…. I wasn’t disappointed. Tony and Dean’s Excellent Workshop gave great insight on post-rehab exercise and how it can be used in conjunction with training, as well as hammering technique in the basic lifts. I’ll admit I went back to the drawing board to re-evaluate my training techniques.

These guys are tops in their field. I would recommend this seminar to any beginner level trainers /strength coaches, right on up to advanced.  It will separate you from the pack.

Thanks Guys!”

– Clark Evans, Boston based trainer.

“Dean and Tony are not only two of the brightest guys in the field, and they’re also two of the most entertaining.  Newer trainers will get brought up to speed on progressive training strategies and take away hands-on coaching techniques.  More experienced coaches will benefit from Tony and Dean’s refined understanding of more complicated concepts.  The only part that was weird was at the end when they made everyone do a group hug for 10 minutes, but after they explained it was really a “mind meld,” we all understood.  Don’t miss this seminar!”

– Mark Fisher, co-owner of Mark Fisher Fitness, NYC

We want this to be a one of a kind learning opportunity for those in attendance.We’ll do our best to cover the stuff YOU want to learn about, and want to spend less time talking and more time doing. As coaches ourselves, we both feel more comfortable on a training floor with people working their tails off. We want to give you that same kind of experience.

As such, we will also limit registrations to a max of 30 people in order to keep it as intimate and give you as much face time with Dean and Tony as possible. This will also allow us to give more individual instruction on coaching specific movements, spotting corrective strategies to implement, and answer questions efficiently.

The whole shindig is going down the weekend of October 19th and 20th at World Health City Centre in Edmonton.  It’s the weekend AFTER Canadian Thanksgiving, and the weekend before it starts getting cold as balls.

So you really have no excuse not to attend,

For more information and to sign up, please follow the link below:

—> Edmonton Workshop <—