I had the lovely opportunity to make another cameo appearance on the All About Fitness Podcast hosted by Pete McCall.
Pete’s a fantastic interviewer and has built one of the most popular health/fitness podcasts out there because he makes it his mission to invite intelligent, jacked bald dudes on his show relay actionable and relatable content on his show.
No fluff.
No BS.
No keto recipes.
This episode was recorded live at my studio in Boston and I think you’ll dig it as Pete and I discuss everything from why strength training doesn’t differ that much between athletes and us normal folk, as well as a bevy of other topics.
It’s been more than a year since I’ve done any in-person workshops, and now that vaccinations have started to improve things I’m thinking about venturing out again soon.
I’ve already begun talks with possibly doing TWO workshops in England this Fall, but I am also itching to travel around the States too.
I’ve tossed Charleston, SC out there, as well as Philadelphia, PA (the latter would likely be a Strong Body Strong Mind Workshop with my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis).
I’m hoping I can pull them off, but am also open to other options as well – Milwaukee, Memphis, Mordor, whatever.
If you’re interested in possibly hosting me for a day or two (or know of a gym who’d be a good fit), please reach out and let’s chat.
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I almost exclusively have all my clients use the trap (hex) bar to perform their deadlifts.
It’s more user friendly and all I really care about is that they’re able to lift some appreciable weight in a safe(r) manner.
Prioritizing competency over ego is a game changer for many.
It’s okay to have a life outside of strength & conditioning.
Just as well, it’s okay to infuse your love of Star Wars, bo staffs, and/or Prancercising into your day-to-day interactions with your clients and athletes.
Just my two cents, but being authentic is just as powerful of a marketing tool as the most powerful SEO algorithm devised by Skynet.
Demarco does a nice job summarizing the same theme in this article.
Okay before we get to this week’s list of stuff you should be reading, I have a few minor house cleaning tasks to take care of.
First: for those who missed it, yesterday I challenged everyone and their mom to a deadlifting battle, and so far the turn out has been awesome. My goal was to get at least 100 people signed up, and as of the writing of this blog post (9:13 AM) there are a total of 45. Sooooo, we’re almost half way there. Not bad considering it’s only been one day – but I feel we can do better.
Much, much better.
Come on people this is for bragging rights, not to mention FREE swag and delicious dead animal flesh. Or, to put it more succinctly……….
STEAKS!!!!
If nothing else, you can look at it as a new challenge or as something different to do for a week. Or, for some, at least temporarily, just another way to make your spine flip you the bird.
Whatever the case may be, it’s going to be a epic. For more info (including rules, etc) go HERE. Pretty please, with dark chocolate covered (organic) cherries on top???????
Secondly: who else is pumped to go see Flight this weekend????? I for one, cannot wait. Denzel’s the man, and I’m really excited to finally see director, Robert Zemeckis, make his way back to live action film. After directing hits like Forrest Gump and Cast Away, he ventured into live-action animation – The Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmal Carol – and while they were all stellar in their own right (except maybe for The Polar Express – the animation was kind of creepy) I’m still excited to see what the end result will be from him and Denzel teaming up.
Anyways, I’ll be sure to give a quick review on Monday.
I’d argue that no one in the fitness industry – or anywhere, for that matter – has a way with words and can make any topic a “life lesson” more so than Dan John.
This was an absolutely phenomenal article and I encourage EVERYONE to read it.
Last week an article written by worst reporter ever Tara Parker-Pope in the NY Times titled Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups (link to the original article appears in the link above) made huge tidal waves in the fitness community for its woefully generalistic, chastising, and downright faulty conclusive remarks concerning a recent research study looking into women’s ability to perform pull-ups.
My boy Dean Somerset also wrote a “Tara Parker-Pope just got PWNED” recant HERE, but I thought this piece also hit the nail on the head.
Which comes first: the chicken or the egg? Me vomiting a little bit in my mouth or listening to anything Tracy Anderson has to say? Lifting heavy things or performing conditioning or aerobic work?
With regards to the latter, as is the case most of the time, it’s going to depend. But if you’re going to do both in one session, Patrick Ward has some interesting (and enlightening) things to say.
It’s the last day of vacation, and I’ll be heading back to Boston soon. All I have to say is this: 1) It’s amazing how fast time flies, because I feel like I just got here; and 2) ohhhhhh boy, do I ever have some commercial gym stories to share.
Nevertheless, I’m going to be soaking up as many rays as I can between now and departure time, so today I have another guest post from Pete McCall.
Pete’s actually an old colleague of mine and was actually the Continuing Education Coordinator at the first club I worked at in Boston close to six years ago. He and I crossed email paths not too long, and after catching up, Pete expressed interest in writing a little sumthin sumthin for the site while I was away.
Enjoy!
Tony and I met a few moons ago when we were both employed by the same New England-based health club company. Recently I ran across his blog and have enjoyed his pontifications on all things Matt Damon and his occasional tidbit or two on training.
When Tony asked if I could help fill in while he was enjoying sunny Florida, my first response was that’s why I moved from MA to San Diego, because it’s sunny all of the time and every day off is like a vacation. My second was response was “hell yeah” because I’ll have the opportunity to do a little rant-blogging.
Let me be perfectly clear, I’ve been a personal trainer for a number of years; most of them CSCS-certified. I currently work for a certification organization, I previously taught another organization’s certification, and I fully plan on opening my own conditioning studio within the next two years.
I love what I do because the general public needs professional fitness advice for the most effective way to use exercise for results from better health to a larger contract and signing bonus. The fitness industry fills a vital role in providing exercise information and helping change people’s lives; however like a piece of food that gets stuck in your teeth and you can’t quite get it out there are a few things that bug me about this industry, so here goes:
1. Why the flip are we so obsessed with six-pack abs? I’ve never seen any evidence that the rectus abdominus (or any other muscle) sees itself in a mirror and thinks: “hey baby, you look gooood.”
Muscles do one of two things: they produce force or reduce force. That’s it. A muscle simply has to convert from the lengthening phase to the shortening phase in the fastest time possible to produce the greatest amount of force. The amount of time and energy the industry spends on training this one muscle should be redirected to better uses.
Want a strong core? Deadlift. Romanian deadlift. 2-handed cable press-outs. Barbell bent-over rows. Medicine ball chops and lifts. Those basic exercises will produce a rock-solid mid-section; everything else related to six-pack abs is controlled by the proper nutrition, rest and genetics.
2. Why do manufacturers spend so much time and energy trying to reinvent the same equipment? Have you ever been to a big trade show like IHRSA or Club Industry? All of the equipment companies spend tons of time and effort every year to basically put lipstick on a pig and try to upsell health club and studio operators on newer equipment because it is now internet-ready. WTF?
Training time is the one time when people should be completely disconnected from any sort of device other than an Ipod cranking out old Guns and Roses. Want to increase strength? Lift something heavy. Want to increase muscle size? Lift something heavy repeatedly. Want to lose weight? Lift something heavy a number of different ways with minimal rest periods.
We don’t need ellipticals that connect to the internet or machines that allow people to sit comfortably while they “exercise.” Club operators would be better off spending their money on education for staff to teach members how to train for results rather than buying the newest version of a treadmill with a larger TV screen.
3. Why do so many personal trainers let clients dictate the course of their programs? Did you ever go to a doctor and say: “this is how I want you to treat my…?” Did you ever go to an attorney and say: “this is the way we should handle the case?”
No. Why not?
Because they are professionals who know what they’re doing and we pay them for their professional advice and knowledge. I’ve heard comments from many trainers like: “my clients don’t like to do that,” or “my clients only like to use machines,” or “my client says that she doesn’t want to sweat.”
Fire. Those. Clients.
We are the professionals; people come to us for advice. We should have the knowledge, skill, ability and confidence to provide the results clients want. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing repeatedly yet expecting different results. Clients come to us because they want one thing: results.
Coach your clients on what is needed to achieve results. You’re the professional, they are the client – keep it that way. If you do a needs-assessment on a client and recommend a specific course of action and the client doesn’t want to follow it then you are not responsible for his or her lack of results. Your time is better spent working with clients who will listen to you because they respect your knowledge and your interest in helping them move towards their goals.
Working in fitness is probably one of the best gigs out there. Where else can you get paid to tell people what to do? While I love this industry these are just a few things I’ve noticed over the years that, like that piece of salmon from dinner last night that got stuck in my teeth, are a little annoying.
The thing about the salmon is that I can get a piece of dental floss and the problem is solved. The problems with the fitness industry are a little more systemic and require some action from those of us on the front lines of the business to address by changing the way we do things so we can help move this industry forward.
Hopefully Tony enjoys his trip to the sun and fun of FL. As he gets settled back in to the last month of New England winter I’ll try not to remind him that with it being sunny and in the 70s every day here in San Diego I actually lose track of what season or month it is. Stay classy.
Pete McCall Bio:
As an Exercise Physiologist with the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Pete creates and delivers fitness education programs to uphold ACE’s mission of enriching quality of life through safe and effective exercise and physical activity. He is one of the creators of the new ACE Integrated Fitness Training (IFT®) model of exercise program design. Outside of his work responsibilities Pete serves on the content review committee for ptonthenet.com a fitness education website and coach’s youth (U16) rugby for the San Diego Mustangs.
