Because I Care

Happy Tuesday all, finally no snow over the weekend. OK no snow storm to speak of at least, we even had a small heat wave here in New England hitting the 40s, woo break out that sun block. We are still dealing with much of the aftermath from the last few weeks here in greater Boston with commuting issues, maybe you've heard about it. Today I'm going to bring up 2 conversations/comments I've had with people in recent memory here that really drive home, for me, what it's about in this line profession.

A few months back I was here at the facility in Brookline and I had a not too long, but not too short list of programs to write for clients and some friends I had offered to help with their training. A Manager asked me if I enjoyed writing programs for all those people. Why didn't I just try to book more sessions with some of these people instead of giving them something to do outside the 1 time I usually saw them?

Well let's get into that, first of all I don't make the decision on who comes to see me and how often, although I do have a little room to be a bit choosier on exactly who comes to see me now, but for the most part the clients pick the trainer, time and frequency. I'm not forcing training down anyone's throat because, quite simply, I'm not that aggressive with the salesy stuff, my work speaks for itself.

Second is YES I do like writing programs. There's definitely something twisted in my head about coming up with various ways of torture..OK kidding...sort of. Seriously I do enjoy the challenge that comes with trying to come up with a program for all the different types of people come in to see me. A symptomatic shoulder impingement here, an upper cross syndrome there, I want to get stronger, a new hip and the list goes on. The building blocks are usually standard; squat, hinge, push, pull and carry, but the little adjustments and tweaks are always the fun part.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY!

Last point on this comment, I write the programs because if someone is training with me just the once a week, chances are the once a week is all they can afford. I want them to be able to get the most out of their sessions and time with me, it makes it more worth their buck and I know (most) clients appreciate when efforts as such are made. Does every one of them follow their programs to the letter? I'd bet the farm on no, but I'm sure they give it what they got and try to get it done so they can see the results they want and feel better.

Let me just get this out there before I get too into this post. In all honesty, in this guy's opinion, if you are in this, or any field, JUST for the money, you are in it for the exact wrong reasons bub. Phew OK I feel better now. Stuff makes my blood boil sometimes.

Now then, the other thing that sparked this post, is a conversation I had with a now client about training and cost and so forth. The person had some big goals that they really wanted to hit this year, but the cash flow is really low for them. I told them I will work with them in any capacity I can to help them. I started them off with a program we had gone over together. I told them to work through it and in a few weeks come back and we can find a way to get them to where they want to be, even if it's just a once a month check in.

This is simply a case where I want to help this person, but they have limited means for it. For me, because it's not about the money and it's about the feeling of when you can help someone in life. Often times it's the people with limited means, that will work the hardest because they want to get everything out of every dollar they have dropped. I honestly believe that anyone in this field that doesn't give their best to someone, regardless of how much money is spent is (slightly) evil.

I myself truly believe I'm in this field for the right reasons, I get to help people and touch their lives with my work. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel when someone writes to me about how they've noticed the positive changes for them. Years later I still have friends and former clients able to demonstrate that they know what the heck they are doing in the gym better than the many many hammerheads in the room, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

OK that's the end of the mush ladies and gents, that's all I got for today, go out there and get after it!

Core: My Take On It

Happy Snowmageddon part II everyone. Hopefully most of you that went crazy after the Super Bowl last night woke up with a nice gift of a day off. I'm sorry I've been on a long hiatus as of late. Something I'm becoming a little too well known for recently...my bad. I have had many thoughts that I wanted to get down in some posts so I should be better now that I've gotten the first one out. Today I am addressing core, something I've yet to do on this, many other have out there, here's my piece.

My favorite method of training the core is through anti-extension and anti-rotation exercises. Planks, pallof presses and roll-outs of all kinds of sorts. Basic planks mean you should be squeezing your glutes and your lats to me. I often have clients coming to me telling me they can hold a plank for over a minute, as have many others. Cue them to squeeze their glutes and lats, if they can hold it with good form over a minute after that OK they win.

I'm not really crazy enough to believe that those exercises are enough to not get bored or address all the issues that come up with your core, not to mention it can just be plain boring. I find dead bugs, bird dogs and reverse crunches along with all their variations to be safe and effective methods for training your core. The regular old crunch...that gets tossed in the pile of no return. My reasoning is brought to you by Dr. Stuart Mcgill. Dr. Mcgill and his fantastic mustache, are found at the University of Waterloo in Canada where he has become one of the foremost, if not THE, experts on the spine. I've heard him a few times now, say that your spine has only so many flexions in it's lifespan, why use 10 more a day when there are other days? Not a direct quote, but the same time if he says it's a bad idea, I'm not challenging him with all the time he's spent looking at this stuff.

Lastly, hopefully this isn't a shocker to most of you out there. Training your core may or may not get you a 6 pack. The one place that you can earn your abs, is the kitchen. I don't have such a heavy desire for a 6 pack....I mean let's be real everyone wants one. That's not my goals for my training though. I don't want to look like the Michelin man, but my focus is on getting my lifts up and making sure I don't fall over during my sessions from exhaustion.

That's all I got today everybody, keep yourself warm and safe, and go out there and get after it...if you're not snowed in.