This year is a 20 year in-person training game and although it has not been a full-time job there has never been a time when I have not had at least some clients keep my hand. the idea of learning more comes from mistakes and I have made many – many mistakes so you can write stories about them. The following are the first ten lessons I learned from my 20 years of study. (Read the second part for eleven to twenty lessons.)
Lessons 1 to 10
1. No one knows everything.
People like to have faith. We tend to believe that there is one solution to every problem we face, be it financial, religious or solid. But education is not black or white and there is not one thing, or person, that is the whole answer. Paul Chek had good ideas but there were also problems. Charles Poliquin is also very intelligent, but he misses things. The same goes for Boyle, Cosgrove, De Franco, Cook, Tsatsouline, King, Tate, and Francis. But one of the things that sets these men apart from most of their contemporaries is that they realize what they are getting into, and they want to fix it. Mike Boyle and Pavel Tsatsouline, in particular, have always fascinated me with their unforgiving journey and their efforts to fix a way that is already well established. Good education and a lot of stories – don’t just focus on one idea.
2. Do not just have a hammer.
If you want to repair a car you will need a big box of tools. One of the things people have is that they tend to tie themselves to one head or person. Using RKC as an example, there are many fun kettlebell trainers but when you remove them from their single device they get lost. I have to quote Alwyn Cosgrove’s words here, “I’m not a kettlebell or a weightlifter. I’m a result boy.” Select the appropriate tool to complete the task as fast as I can.
3. Do the opposite.
The first person I heard say was Charles Staley, who wrote an article on how if you want to be successful in the gym do something different from what everyone else does. If they are making upper bodies using isolation lifts train the lower body with double lifts. If they are making three-tenths you should do ten-thirds sets. If they are using a machine you should use free weights. It is a simple but powerful guide and works well. To the coaches I have added this to the business, and I thank one of my bosses, Christian Marchegiani of Thump Boxing, for telling me this: whatever anyone else is doing around you according to their business, just change it. and act differently. Trust me it works just as much as Staley does in teaching.
4. There are no cookie cutters.
I can’t stand what you read about “football policy” or “management policy.” Each person has a different body and different needs depending on their injury history and education, as well as other factors such as their health and diet. When you fail to think about it all it can have customers who are not progressing. Take running lessons as an example. You can have two clients who want to act fast. One may be strong but gentle, while the other may be blunt but weak. The first one needs to explode and the second one has to be strong to keep going. While the final goal is the same the process will be different.
5. You are not superior.
I have a simple test to see if I am training a professional athlete – I look around their necks to receive a medal from anything that is in the national competition or beyond or a contract for their sport. If you do not have one of them you are not an election, so stop trying to teach as you are.
Second of all you should stop trying to train as an MMA fighter-Navy SEAL who performs parkour on weekends in mid-air missions. Pick a few things that work best for you and try to do the best you can. It’s important to start with getting up, lifting, pushing, and running. You will be amazed at how fast you can run if you are not wasted on trying to teach as a movie star of all ages or do more but be a little better. The benefit of exercise is the transition to it. Changing what you do often hinders you from making changes and slows you down.
6. Stop eating garbage.
7. Consistency is the best teaching method.
It does not matter if your qualifications were written by a PhD who worked with the Olympic gold medal if you do not follow their instructions. Repeated sessions are the key to success. Tour de France legend Miguel Indurain taught five or six days a week with only one trip a week. The rest of the ride was about five hours at steady speed. I think this is one of the reasons why you will find old bodybuilders able to train, but you will not find the old CrossFitters in a decade – the strength is very much in the work of the “metcon” type. In contrast to hypertrophy the function is usually about 70 percent of your volume, which is stable throughout the year. Similarly aerobic speed is usually about 60 to 70 percent of your workout and is stable. Who will be the best in the year – a person who trains three days a week but injures himself too much to move, or a person who trains six or seven days a week all year long?
8. Don’t train yourself.
This should be at the top of the list. There is a real reason why the best players in every field of sports have coaches. Educating yourself, or beyond, trying to reform yourself, does not work well for most people. They lack the purpose and self-control needed to correct their weaknesses and then stick to a plan that may include feeling like they are breastfeeding for several months. But that’s how progress is made – you train your weaknesses. Not only that, but an experienced trainer has walked this path many times and is aware of its challenges and potential challenges and can try to help you deal with it before it even becomes apparent.
9. Change = work + recovery.
10. Get out.
Even arms manufacturers may tell you that there is a big difference between running on a treadmill and running outside. The same is true of any popular gymnastics, such as cycling and cycling. Studies show that running outdoors is ten times faster than running indoors on a treadmill. That’s ten percent more energy if you look at it from the fat burner. In a few months this could be a huge difference.
There is also a wonderful world out there full of sunlight and vitamin D. Research into this field shows that even small amounts of sunlight have a profound effect on mood, perception, and saturated fat. I also believe that many of the things that people suffer from environmental incompatibility. Ever since I became determined to do outdoor work for a few hours each week a few years ago my hay fever has reached zero. You do not need a treadmill to be comfortable, or a gymnast to use a stool. Walking and running are free and are available anytime during the day or night with no time limit outside your front door.
Read the second part for the second set of ten lessons I have learned in my 20 years of study.
Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.