CategoriesMiscellaneous Miscellany Uncategorized

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: The Day After Hurricane Sandy Edition

WHEW – well, that wasn’t fun. Hurricane Sandy hit with a vengeance yesterday and hammered the east coast.  From what I can tell, we didn’t get it too bad here in Boston (I had to dodge a lot of fallen trees on my way home last night, and understandably there were areas that had blackouts), but we survived relatively unscathed.

Sure it was an inconvenience, but I’m simultaneously grateful that that was all we here in Beantown had to deal with.

Unfortunately, I know that’s NOT the case further south towards the Cape and especially down in the New Jersey/CT/NYC area.

I’ve been glued to the news this morning and have seen all the reports of massive flooding, fires, and blackouts, so my thoughts and prayers goes out to all of those who are most affected.

1. Coincidentally enough we hosted out very first annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar this past Sunday, and while some attendees from the NYC and Connecticut area had to (understandably) jet out early due to the pre-hurricane festivities, it was a massive success!

I first want to thank EVERYONE who attended and made it such an awesome event to begin with.  The feedback we’ve been receiving has been nothing short of “the best thing since sliced bread” (only a slight exaggeration), and we’re really looking forward to making next year’s addition even better!

I’ll be handicapping the entire day later this week and offering up some highlights/knowledge bombs that were offered by all the presenters (myself, Eric Cressey, Brian St. Pierre, Nate Tiplady, Eric Schoenberg, Greg Robins, and Chris Howard), so stay tuned for that.

All I’ll divulge now – as it relates to MY presentation – is:

1.  About fifteen minutes before I was scheduled to speak, Michelle, our office manager, walked up to me and handed me this note:

For those who can’t read the print, it says:

Those are the worst pants I have ever seen.

How’s that for a vote of confidence??? Hahahahahaha.

2.  As part of my introduction I was thanking everyone for coming and for taking a day out of their busy schedules to come to the seminar.  I think my exact words were, “I know many of you could be working, spending time with family, or sitting at home watching football today – by the way, the Pats won!”

Then all I hear is a massive “nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.”

Like an a-hole I spoiled the game for those who were recording it on DVR and waiting to watch it when they got home.

Fail.

In my defense (sorta), the Pats won 45-7, so it’s not like it was a close game.  But still, I felt a bit sheepish about it and definitely made a mental note to myself to try not to spoil results of games in the future.

Next thing you know I’ll just tell people who haven’t seen The Sixth Sense yet that Bruce Willis is dead the entire time!

3. Brian St. Pierre and I were catching up over the weekend and we both got on the topic of vitamin D.  I’ve long been an advocate of vitamin D supplementation and feel  it’s one of those things that people should look into just for the health benefits alone.  Well that, and because most people are woefully deficient.

Anyways, we were discussing dosages and what’s an acceptable range for most people (of course, there are many factors that come into play here: overall exposure to sunlight, light skinned people need less than darker skinned people, for example), and I had mentioned that because I rarely ever get exposure to sunlight and that I’m whiter than a Coldplay concert, I usually take around 5,000 I.Us per day, which is definitely not out of the ordinary or “aggressive” by any means.

We had a lengthy discussion, but the take home message from Brian was, “you should at least get your levels checked so that you KNOW where you’re at, because if you’re too high, you could be doing more harm than good.”

As it happens, he just sent me this message yesterday via email:

Here is an interesting study that just got published a few days ago – http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0047458

They looked at mortality statistics and people’s vitamin D levels.  They determined the best levels were 20-40ng/mL, with 30-40ng/mL showing the best numbers.  5,000IU per day will take you FAR beyond those numbers.

Overall adverse events (overall mortality, some cancers, CVD, and fractures and falls) have been noted when levels get into the 40’s and higher.  Specifically there was a study in Denmark where when people’s levels were 56ng/mL or higher they had a 42% increased risk of dying than people with a level of just 20ng/mL – http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/early/2012/05/09/jc.2012-1176.abstract.

Just some food for thought.

It’s not to say that people shouldn’t supplement with vitamin D, and that in certain circumstances people shouldn’t have higher levels as directed by their doc (which happens), but in general I think many take a good thing too far.

4. For those interested, I recently wrote a little sumthin sumthin on kettlebell training over at TribeSports.com.

I like kettlebells.  It think they’re a valuable “tool in the toolbox.” But what puts a bad taste in my mouth is when people who are passionate about what they like – whether it’s powerlifting, yoga, TRX, and yes, kettlebells – feel that their way is the ONLY way.

In this article appropriately titled Tony Gentilcore on Kettlebells, I shed some light on what I feel are the best uses and applications for most trainees, and I even provide a video of a staff in-service I filmed a few months ago breaking down the KB swing and get-up.

5.  Speaking of staff in-services:  we “host” a weekly in-service for our staff and interns where we cover a bevy of topics ranging from upper and lower body assessment, program design, anatomy, or anything you can think of.

While myself, Chris and Greg like to think we’re the bees knees when it comes to presenting to the staff, the highlight, of course, is whenever it’s Eric’s turn and he goes all Jedi on us and blows our minds.

He recently filmed an in-service on movement training that, while it sounds about as exciting as watching NASCAR – was really informative.

And that’s just ONE example. He’s also filmed in-services on breathing patterns, shoulder anatomy, and how to deal with sports hernias, just to name a few.

And they’re ALL available to you – along with other content from Mike Robertson, Tyler English, and Dave Schmitz – by joining the Elite Training Mentorship, which is a monthly membership site geared towards personal trainers and coaches who are seeking to take their knowledge base to the next level.

I’ve noted this service in the past, but thought I’d mention it again now because after listening to Eric speak the other day it reminded me just how valuable this resource is and how it will make anyone who invests in themselves exponentially better and separate themselves from the masses.

6. I normally don’t go out of my way to post shirtless pictures of myself, but I recanted on this one for a few reasons:

  • I didn’t take this picture myself.
  • I’m not standing in front of a bathroom mirror.
  • It’s Halloween, and like most bald dudes this year, going as Bane is way more badass than Mr. Clean or Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

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Try Elite Training Mentorship for $1

As I noted last week, a few friends of mine (and colleagues I HIGHLY respect), Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, BJ Gaddour, and Dave Schmidtz, have all been working tirelessly for the past year or so on a project that I feel will help the entire industry step up its game.

And, based off what I’ve seen the past two days down here in Florida training at a commercial gym (and observing the personal trainers), this couldn’t have come soon enough.

Read: I’ve had to try really hard to resist the urge to go jump on a live grenade, the trainers have been THAT bad.  But I digress.

The project is called the Elite Training Mentorship, and it’s going to be a game changer.

Eric, Mike, Dave and BJ are not only among the best coaches in  the industry, but each of them have their own unique areas of expertise and this is your chance to be mentored by each of them.

Eric is obviously the “go to” guy when it comes to shoulders, baseball specific training, and being able to out-nerd anyone when it comes to anatomy.

Mike knows a thing or two when it comes to knees. And he’s without question one of the brightest guys I know dealing with assessment and program design.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone more knowledgeable on fat loss and metabolic training than BJ.

And, if band work is your cup of tea, Dave is your man.

Combined, the four of them are like some kind of Voltron. Except in this case, instead of joining together to form a super robot that defends the galaxy from evil….they just make personal trainers and coaches more informed and less douchy.

In all, Elite Training Mentorship is really the next best thing to actually flying to their facilities and being mentored by them face to face – but you get to do it much more conveniently, watching staff training and coaching sessions from the comfort of your own home.

What’s more, from today until Friday (3/9) they’re letting everyone give the program a test drive for the first month for just $1! Pretty sweet if you ask me.

To learn more about this incredible resource, go here:

Elite Training Mentorship

CategoriesUncategorized

Is Eric Cressey an Assessment Jedi?

In a word:  yes. Yes, he is. But more on that in a second.

This industry is constantly changing – almost on a weekly basis. One week it’s boot camps that are all the rage. The next? Dude, you’re gonna kill it if you incorporate more semi-private or group training into the mix.

Even still, there are plenty of trainers and coaches out there who are doing very well following more of a private, one-on-one approach.

In the end, it doesn’t necessarily matter which avenue you choose to go down – private training, group training, Victoria Secret model boot camps (which would be awesome) – when you don’t take the time get really (really, really, really) good and what you do.

The people who tend to be the most successful are the ones who take pride in what they do and go out of their way to master their craft. They’re the ones who are constantly learning, trying new things, changing their train of thought, and most important of all…..

…….are TEACHING it to others.

A few of my friends, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, BJ Gaddour and Dave Schmitz have collaborated on a pretty baller project that I think is going to help a lot of upcoming (and even seasoned) fitness professionals out there.

It’s called the Elite Training Mentorship, and as of yesterday, they’re giving people an inside look at what it’s all about with some amazing FREE content.

Yep, that’s F to the REE.  As in, you don’t pay a dime.

To kick things off, and to give you an idea of what kind of amazing content is to come, Eric Cressey has shared a staff in-service video on lower body assessment that, for lack of a better term, is pretty freaking good.

Watch Eric Cressey In-Service Video!

And I’m not just saying all of this because Eric’s my good friend (and business partner). He’s one of the industry’s best at what he does and this staff training could easily be a stand alone product due to the depth and quality of information he provides – but you can get it at no cost here:

Seriously. Just Watch It.

The cool part? This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Every month these guys will be releasing similar, in the trenches content that is normally only reserved for their own staff.  If you’re looking to separate yourself from the masses and become a better coach or trainer, you’d be insane not to take advantage of this incredible offer.