This is how Nick sold his mentorship programme to me:
You'd get 3 hours each day private time with me to discuss specific topics along with anything else you'd like. It sounds like a long time, but I can assure you that it goes fast when you're talking shop. You'd also see a few live sessions along with us having lunch and working out together.Being in the company of a well-known and respected coach for 3 days with the opportunity to discuss anything training related, as well as watch him work and train with him? Sold.
The gym itself isn't in Baltimore city (where I'm staying), so I had to get a train to a spot that was 20 mins away from it, and then walk. Looked easy on Google maps, but what it failed to mention was that I would have to walk on the freeway, where there's no pavement, against the traffic, in the blistering heat, and the possibility of getting bitten by a snake. Brilliant.
Anyway, I arrive in one peace, meet Nick, am introduced to everyone who works there and am given a tour of the gym. It looks like this:
I like it a lot, it's very well equipped and there's plenty of space to get things done. There's also a carpark out the back where medicine balls can be thrown and the tyres are stored.
From looking around the gym, there's everything there should be including, sled, sledgehammers, heavy dumbbells, cables, 20+ medicine balls, Valslides, bands, hex-bar, fat bar, fat gripz, peg climbing wall, boxes, a huge bed to lie down and chill on and a whole lot more.
I'm asked what I want to discuss and go over first, so I ask to start at the beginning - how does he assess and begin training a new client. This is a key component of my trip as I believe that it's something that if you do right, you make a great impression and you'll do well.
Many coaches and trainers take their clients through a full biomechanical screen, testing all the range of movements at all joints, but realistically, how many of them actually use the information gathered, and more importantly, how many of them regularly re-assess? That isn't to say that they're all like that, but a lot are. If I'm honest, I have been guilty of it.
You're always going to want your client to be able to squat, push, pull and move without pain, so early on you want to see what their capabilities are. To quote Nick: "In the assessment, you're not finding out what they can't do, but what they can do." Therefore, the assessment should be movement based and will begin with a squat.
A person's squat has the potential to tell you a lot about them, provided you interpret it well. Another important feature of the assessment is how quickly you can fix dysfunction. For example, if the knees cave in, can you very quickly teach the client not to do that or activate the hips in a way that will prevent it? It may be that they can't do the task you ask them without putting their body in compromised position, so alternatives will be found.
Other times, the movement might look good, but due to a lack of stability, the range of movement isn't great, which brings up an important point: After a few weeks of training within a given range of movement, stability will increase and the ROM will increase. If ROM doesn't increase, then maybe there's a reason for it, which leads me to my next important lesson, the difference between an adaptive change and a protective change.
An adaptive change is a change in the body due to an imposed demand, for example, tight hip flexors from sitting at a desk all day. In most cases, this should be corrected. Exceptions would be if the adaptive change assisted with their sport, for example, hamstring tightness, as long as it's symmetrical, can assist an athlete in speed and power development, thus static stretching and increasing length may impair perform. (Eric Cressey briefly mentions - and does a better job of it - here)
A protective change is a change in the body, in order to prevent it from getting hurt - but during an assessment it would look like a dysfunction. Protective changes should not try to be corrected. Using myself as an example, my left shoulder will show a decreased ROM if I try to reach behind my back, so the obvious solution would be to try and increase my mobility. Wrong. My shoulder also clunks if I move it, thus increasing mobility would equal more clunking and potentially more damage. The restricted ROM is there for a reason.
We grab some lunch at a Sushi joint (the best Sushi I've ever had - gutted I didn't get a photo as it was amazing) and Nick gives me some insight into his work outside of training including writing, filming and presenting. All awesome stuff.
Lunch is followed by training, which is an upper body push day and looked like this:
Warm-up, followed by:
A1) Press-up complex with Medicine Ball:
Plyo push-ups onto Medicine Ball - 3 reps
Lateral press-ups over MB - 6 reps/side
Press-ups on MB - 12 reps
A2) Lying band external rotations - 15 reps
A3) Single leg squats on airex pad - 12 reps/leg
3 rounds with minimal rest
B1) Incline press - as many reps as possible - more than 15 but less than 30
B2) Horizontal row on barbell - as many reps as possible but there must be 1 second pause at top
B3) Neck bridges on swiss ball - 8 reps
C) Power push (outwards circles) - 3 x 20 seconds
D) Power push (inwards circles) - 3 x 20 seconds
Cool-down:
Throw MB into air, partner jogs forward and catches it before second bounce, throws it up in the air and repeat.....for length of carpark....4 times.
(Note: If it's 100+ degrees outside and you're running and throwing a medicine ball - it isn't really a "cool" down)
Following training, I get the opportunity to see how Nick trains a few of his clients, and we are filmed for a new video of his.
Then the day is over and fortunately for me, instead of having to complete my 'total wipeout' mission back to the station, Nick is kind enough to give me a lift back to the hostel and pick me up again the next morning.
Top bloke.
5 lessons I learnt from today:
1) I'm a trainer - not a physical therapist, therefore all training I provide should be geared towards the goal of the client (fat loss, hypertrophy, increased speed etc.) and not spending the length of the session correcting some minor issue I discover during an assessment.
2) If someone is awesome at their sport and you then tell them that they move badly - that won't make them feel good. Also, they're awesome at the sport - is a movement screen really correlated to sports performance. No it isn't.
3) Catching medicine balls can be a useful training tool to teach force absorption
4) Single leg raises and bicep curls are both "non-functional" single-joint exercises - yet only the bicep curl gets criticised.
5) You'll get more experience doing a few number of hours training per year with a huge variety of clients than doing 10 times the number of hours churning out the same programmes for the same clients.
Bonus:
6) Corrective exercise is just good exercise
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