This weekend, I attended a major learnfest known as the ‘Perform Better Functional Training Summit’ in Long Beach, California. This was the third event of its kind this year with the first 2 being in Providence and Chigago (a lot closer to where I have been staying). I have read from numerous other coaches that if you don’t make the effort to attend this intellectual feast, you were doing yourself a severe disservice as a coach/trainer.
No way was I going to do myself disservice, so I travelled the 3000 miles from east coast to west coast, blitzed through 3 time zones and checked into the most expensive hotel I’m ever likely to step into. Committed? I think so.
As I’m at Boston airport, who should I see waiting for the same flight as me? None other than legendary strength and conditioning coach – Mike Boyle and I decided that it was 100% necessary to speak to him....
....So approximately 7 hours later at Long Beach airport baggage claim, I walked straight over to him and introduced myself. I think in all honesty he wanted to walk away, but as he was waiting for someone to collect their bag, he had no choice but to listen to me go on about how great I thought he was. He then offered me to ride in the cab with him and Kevin – the ‘Perform Better travelling band’ - back to the hotel. So that was my first brush with strength and conditioning fame. Great guy. As was Kevin (who in addition to being a great guy he also turned out to be a singer/guitar player).
The next morning, I ate the most expensive breakfast every known to man - but justified it as part of the experience. I then casually wandered over to the convention center and registered myself with the event.
I saw a total of 11 lectures and attended 2 practicals over the 3 days. In every one of them, I learnt something new that will be valuable to me upon my return to work. I will do a brief summary of each lecture/practical I attended, followed by 2-3 key points that I took from it.
Day 1
Martin Rooney – Speed training for every client (practical)
No one has more energy when presenting than Martin Rooney and he is maybe only second in humour only to Alwyn Cosgrove. His passion is extremely prevalent when he was up on stage and it became pretty infectious - you can tell that he absolutely loves speaking in front of people.
This practical consisted of how to implement speed training into your clients’ programming. He commanded the whole room through a warm-up and taught us 8 rules that had to be stuck to when training (which irritatingly, I have forgotten). The style of his warm-up would serve as a fantastic way when training a large group of kids who need to focus. Following the warm-up, we were taken through some activation drills for the glutes that all involved use of the mini-bands.
Finally, we all participated in various speed drills. As Martin told us in the beginning, he didn’t expect us to learn any new drills, and he was right there, but he did expect us to be taught them in a way that we had never experienced before – and he was bang on.
Lesson 1 – The most important exercise you’re doing is the one you’re doing now
Lesson 2 – You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable
Robert Yang – Breaking the fatigue cycle
This turned out to be one of my favourite lectures. Robert spoke about varying types of fatigue that clients are subjected to and suggested different strategies to help defeat fatigue. He discussed how lifestyle and nutrition play an important part in one’s overall health.
For example, craving sweet foods after each meal is a sign of fatigue. Interestingly, one teaspoon of sugar depresses macrophages (white blood cells – an integral part of the immune system) for up to 2 hours. So if feel tired and not up to full health all the time and you consume a fair amount of sugar – now you know why. Furthermore, after watching his DVD, I've learnt that eating certain inflammatory foods can inhibit the activity of the core muscles and lead to low back pain.
Lesson 1 – The bottom of the food pyramid should be water
Lesson 2 – Some medications (statins and blood pressure meds) deplete our reserves of CoQ10 – which is essential for energy production.
Lesson 3 – Despite what the majority of the population thinks, red wine is not that great for you. Firstly, after 2 glasses, growth hormone secretion ceases at night and thyroid hormone becomes depressed, thus decreasing fat loss and welcoming a lower metabolism and fat gain. Secondly, the amount of reservatrol (the nutrient that makes red wine healthy) per glass is so insignificant that you would need to drink about 6 gallons to get the equivalent of a single capsule in supplement form.
Bill Parisi – The 5 biggest mistakes I made in the personal training business
Unfortunately, this lecture came immediately after lunch and I had some trouble staying awake and paying attention (major sign of fatigue - as learnt from Robert Yang). This was a very business orientated lecture, in which Bill discussed mistakes he had made so that we would not make the same ones.
We were told how he set up the Parisi Speed School and the efforts he went to in order to be successful. Most importantly, we learnt what he would have done differently should he have to do it again.
Lesson 1 – If goals aren’t hard to reach, then they aren’t big enough
Lesson 2 – Being clear with what you want = POWER
Mike Boyle – Success secrets
A brilliant lecture from my mate Mike. He discussed the strategies necessary for becoming a successful personal trainer. Key point – if you’re not willing to work hard for it, then you’re in the wrong job.
Mike told us the efforts he went to get where he is today, and I’ll be honest, I’m not really that envious. I mean, working 80 weeks for 51 weeks of the year may sound great to some, but not me. That said, I have now learnt that there is a way round this.
Lesson 1 – Until you have done 10,000 hours: DON’T make a DVD, DON’T write an e-book, WORK and PERFECT the craft. Whatever you want to do – put the 10,000 hours in first.
Lesson 2 – Under promise – then over deliver J
Martin Rooney – Speed training for every client (lecture)
To begin with, Martin managed to ‘hypnotise’ the whole audience. When we opened our eyes, we were presented with this:
Yes, he was wearing an alien mask and continued to do so for about 20 minutes. It made sense at the time and was pretty funny.
He firstly pointed out the fact that humans are declining in health for a number of reasons (lack of sleep and exercise and disgraceful nutrition). As a means of getting back on track, sprinting would be a great place to start. Humans are designed to sprint – not run long distances (which is why we have a gluteus maximus and Achilles tendon on each leg). When we sprint, our brain releases chemicals that make us stronger and live longer (and make us smile). When we run long distances, the chemicals released act as natural tranquilisers that prepare us for immediate death – there is no way that we would be running for that long if we weren’t running away from something that was about to eat us.
Lesson 1 – The 100m finals are one of the most exciting events in the Olympics. Not true for the marathon. Although we respect sprinting, most people don’t do it, some people fear it and as a result – kids aren’t taught it.
Lesson 2 – One of the first things we sacrifice when times get tough is sleep. When a baby is asleep, everyone goes to great effort to let the baby sleep. When did it become ok to not respect the need for sleep?
Lesson 3 – Babies hate fizzy drinks – they wretch when you try feeding it to them. Liking it is just getting used to it. When did that become ok?
Lesson 4 – When we lose 15 minutes of sleep – our IQ drops by 5%
Thomas Plummer – Evolve or die
The keynote speaker - Thomas Plummer told us how now is the best time for us to be successful as personal trainers – but we need to change in order for that to happen. Out of chaos comes an opportunity, which if we can catch early – we can make a great career out of the industry.
Thomas Plummer was an extremely funny guy who had the respect of every presenter as at some point, he had most probably consulted with them on how to improve their business.
Lesson 1 – Treat all clients like athletes
Lesson 2 – Design your ideal career and then do everything to make sure it happens
Day 1 was then rounded up with a social, which included as much free beer as you could handle. I then took it upon myself to follow this with an extremely dodgey burrito at a Mexican restaurant.
Not so smart.
Day 2 was to be followed by more great speakers such as Rachel Cosgrove, John Beradi and Alwyn Cosgrove.
However, before I write about that, I need to fly 3000 miles back (via Texas) to the East coast.....
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