1. I got an interesting surprise the other day when I all of a sudden noticed that Cressey Performance had pictures like this posted all over the place:
It turns out that CP athlete and boxer Danny O'Connor had posted pictures of world title belts all over the facility as motivation. You've got to love a guy who makes sure that the goal is never out of sight!
2. On a semi-related note, the only thing more dangerous than a professional boxer might be a West Virginia Ninja (as promised, Ryan and Evelyne):
3. For those who missed it, I contributed on a pretty cool new compilation over at T-Nation. Check out In the Trenches: Volume 1.
4. I came to a bit of a shocking realization the other day about just how many so-called experts in the field - those writing books, giving seminars, and making television show appearances - actually train few (if any) actual clients. As I thought about it, this would never work for me (regardless of how many years of experience I'd have accumulated by that point) simply because I view interaction with athletes as one of my primary means of continuing my education. Simply coaching athletes, getting their feedback on things, and watching the adaptation process take place is a great way to enhance one's perspective.
Right now, I'm out there coaching about 35 hours per week, and it'll pick up a bit more as our pro baseball training group fills up in the next few weeks - and that will last through the third Monday in March. Interestingly, this kicks off the time of year when my writing is always the most creative and prolific. In other words, as I digest those 5-6 months of training, it's very easy to put a lot of new ideas on paper.
Had I just been sitting at a computer that entire time, there's no way I'd have that perspective. Just some food for thought: the next time you are about to buy a book, DVD, or attend a seminar, ask yourself whether the "expert" in question actually interacts with athletes/clients/patients on a weekly basis.
5. After Wednesday's blog post about shoulder health drills, I got several questions from folks asking what I thought the best few shoulder education resources were. Here are my top three (the first two are for the more geeky of you out there, and the third is more readily usable drills):
Just a quick blog tonight before the meat and potatoes come along the rest of the week:
1. A huge congratulations goes out to Cressey Performance athlete Dede Griesbauer, who finished in the top 10 (9th) at the Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii for the third consecutive year. Great job, Dede!
2. If you are interested in a pretty sweet live event entirely geared toward physique transformation, keep January 16-18 free, as you'll definitely want to check out the event in Tampa, FL that Joel Marion is organizing. In all, 14 speakers (myself included) have been confirmed for the event, and it should be an awesome group that brings a wide variety of perspectives to the table.
Tickets go on sale next week, but I just wanted to give you a heads-up so that those of you who are interested can mark it on the calendar. Keep an eye on my blog for more information.
Alwyn Cosgrove has been a great friend and mentor to me for almost five years now. I can directly attribute a lot of the success I've had to the fantastic advice he's given me on the business side of things. Since Alwyn just released a DVD (of a seminar I had the privilege of attending), I thought it'd be the perfect time to chat with him about the new product and some other thoughts he has on the state of the fitness industry. If you make a living training clients, this is must-view material.
EC: In your experience, what are the biggest mistakes aspiring fitness professionals make?AC: Here are my top four:
1) They don't understand that they are running a business!!!!
Most fitness professionals are running a hobby and trying to make money at it. That will never work long-term.
Being a great trainer is imperative in today's market. You aren't going to succeed unless your skill-set is of a high enough level.
However, it's not just training skills - that's only part of the big picture - the "client fulfillment "portion.
It's also business skills. Michael Gerber - the author of The E-myth - calls this the seven essential skills: Leadership, Marketing, Money, Management, Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Client Fulfillment.
You have to understand how to lead and motivate your team: leadership.
You have to understand marketing, which results in lead generation.
You have to have good sales skills - which converts leads to customers.
And you have to be able to understand cash flow and operating expenses before you can create a profit.
You need to have mindset AND skill-set before you can be successful. But skill-set consists of seven areas. Make sure you are studying each area (not just training) equally.
2) They don't understand the client mindset.
Ask yourself these questions if you're a trainer:
Do you think a good fitness professional is a valuable investment?
Do you think a good fitness professional can get someone to their goals faster than they can get there on their own?
Are you personally in the greatest physical condition of your life right now?
Are you ecstatic with your own strength levels and conditioning?
I bet that 80-90% of those who answered will say - yes, yes, no, no.
So - extrapolating from that - what is YOUR trainers name? Why did you hire him or her?
I bet most trainers don't even have training partners - never mind a coach to help them with programming and getting to the next level.
In other words - if you tell me right now that you DON'T have a trainer - despite not being in the best shape of your life, not being ecstatic at your own fitness, and believing that a good trainer can get you there faster than you can alone, and is valuable --- then deep down - you don't believe that a trainer IS valuable.
What I'm getting at - is WHY, despite all the knowledge and beliefs and goals, most trainers haven't hired (or used) another trainer to help them?
It's the same reason prospects aren't hiring you -- they aren't in great shape, and maybe don't know (as we do) how much a trainer can help?
Lawyers hire other lawyers. Barbers hire other barbers. Doctors see other doctors.
So list the reasons why you didn't hire a trainer personally. That's why people don't hire you. And that's the WHY we need to figure out for your next career move: the client mindset.
"If you can see John Smith through John Smith's eyes, you can sell John Smith what John Smith buys."
3) They Don't Create TOMA.
Have you ever had a client tell you that "I'm definitely going to hire you as my trainer, but I am going to lose ten pounds first!"
I'm sure you have. But while we think it's crazy, it's a sign that you don't have weight loss TOMA in your area.
TOMA is Top Of Mind Awareness. Are you the first person or business that jumps into a client's mind when they think "weight loss?" Or "sports conditioning?"
Quick, name a soft drink company. I bet it was either Coca-Cola or Pepsi.
What is the number one sneaker brand? I bet you came up with one of three names: Nike, Adidas, or Reebok.
Your goal with all of your marketing is to position yourself, in your area, for your target market as the "top of mind awareness" obvious choice for that particular topic.
A lot of fitness businesses get hurt here by dividing their efforts and marketing to different demographics - and that's ok - but two demographics should mean two different campaigns - not two "half" campaigns.
What do you want to be known for?
This is something that you've actually done very well, Eric (probably before you actually had your business systems in place). Think baseball conditioning in Boston and Cressey Performance springs to mind.
4. They don't find mentors and coaches for the business side, and they don't mastermind with like-minded successful individuals.
Okay, this is really two for one!
Mentoring: "All successful individuals have coaches" - James Malinchak.
Think about this: boxing and MMA are probably the ultimate "one-on-one" sports. Two guys, with no equipment (or even shirts!) face one another.
But when you look back to the corner - there are usually three or more guys helping him. They include a coach (known as the "chief second") and several other teammates.
To me, a mentor is nothing more than someone who is climbing or has climbed the mountain before you, and has reached back and is helping you up, way faster and easier than you can climb yourself.
One of the fastest ways to success in any field is to find a mentor who will help you, and a "mastermind" group of likeminded people with whom to network. The key phrase there is "likeminded;" we've all had the situation of asking a family member or friend for feedback on a project and being shut down when they don't realize or understand the big picture. You need to be around people who are thinking the same way as you.
Your mind is like a garden. Be careful what you plant in there.
EC: That's fantastic stuff - and #4 certainly hits home for me, as you've been my primary mentor in getting my facility off the ground. To that end, while all my education came via email exchanges between the two of us, you've now made it easier for folks to learn what's made you successful by introducing some products.Most recently, there is "The Evolution of Personal Training" DVD, and just a few months ago, you released "55 Fitness Business Tips for Success" book. I've checked out each of them, and in my eyes, people should buy both! However, can you go into a bit of detail on the difference between the two?
AC: The DVD is a live shoot of a presentation I did for Perform Better this year where I really go into detail about how to evolve your business in today's economy. The old methods of one-on-one training, weight-training-only workouts, and charging people for a "ten-pack" of sessions are just inadequate or outdated practices. I cover a few things in more detail - like transitioning into a semi-private model, repositioning yourself as a consultant as opposed to a "rep counter," and understanding the client or prospect mindset. If you don't understand that, you're dead in the water as a business owner.
The book "55 Fitness Business Tips for Success" should have been titled "55 things that we did wrong when we opened our facility and somehow managed to survive, but make sure you don't repeat these!" It's kind of like a "pocket guide" to basic business tips for fitness professionals. And when I say "basic," I mean stuff everyone NEEDS to know and practice but usually don't! I tell my business coaching group to keep that book in their office and read a couple of pages every day to make sure you don't ignore anything crucial.
EC: Thanks for the time, Alwyn.
I'd strongly encourage those readers of mine in the fitness industry to check out these resources, as Alwyn's stuff is fantastic. You can find out more and order at Alwyn's site.
Earlier this year, I introduced you to the "before" videos of our summer interns. Needless to say, they weren't pretty.
The good news is that they've gotten a lot better over the past three months, and to prove my point, we'll be featuring each of them individually over the next few days. First up, we've got the guy who went from Alex "Nash and Burn" to Alex "Straight Nash, Homey." Over the summer, Alex added 12 pounds to his frame, and some serious poundages to all his lifts (don't have the numbers in front of me, but let's just say that we were all stunned to see him front squatting 300+ pounds the other day). He got 3/4 of the way through the Maximum Strength program.
Below, we've first featured his original video, and then the subsequent video from just a few days ago. First, I should mention that we put the cage/net back up in our facility, which effectively shortened the sled distance - so we just added some sledgehammer and kettlebell swings at the end. Second, you'll notice that the weights on the sled are on the front, and not the back; this subtle change in positioning makes the exercise exponentially harder (especially on the floor and not the turf). Third, you'll notice that his push-ups look a heck of a lot better, particularly with a ton of fatigue. Fourth, he doesn't look like a newborn horse when doing the overhead lunge walk with the keg. Fifth, he doesn't stop at all to rest; he just crushes it. Sixth, and most importantly, chicks want him, and dudes want to be him.
The Before: Alex "Nash and Burn"
The After: Alex "Straight Nash, Homey"
Alex has already moved back to Minnesota to start a new job; we're really proud of all he accomplished and wish him well. Give our boy some love in the comments section.
Tonight, the rest of the interns have their "final exams"...
I'm sure a lot of you took economics back in the day - either in college or high school (or both). I don't know about you, but one concept that stuck in my mind - besides the fact that one of my professors was a ridiculously annoying Yankees fan - was that of opportunity cost. Rather than define it myself and risk missing an important component, I'll defer to Wikipedia:
"Opportunity cost or economic opportunity loss is the value of the next best alternative forgone as the result of making a decision. Opportunity cost analysis is an important part of a company's decision-making processes but is not treated as an actual cost in any financial statement. The next best thing that a person can engage in is referred to as the opportunity cost of doing the best thing and ignoring the next best thing to be done.
"Opportunity cost is a key concept in economic because it implies the choice between desirable, yet mutually exclusive results. It is a calculating factor used in mixed markets which favour social change in favour of purely individualistic economics. It has been described as expressing 'the basic relationship between scarcity and choice.' The notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that scarce resources are used efficiently. Thus, opportunity costs are not restricted to monetary or financial costs: the real cost of output forgone, lost time, swag, pleasure or any other benefit that provides utility should also be considered opportunity costs."
I see opportunity cost all the time in the world of training - both in clients/athletes and their trainers/coaches.
On the fitness side of things, we know there are certainly exercise modalities that yield more effective results than others in the least amount of time. In fact, this was the entire premise behind Alwyn Cosgrove's Hierarchy of Fat Loss article.
If you want to get stronger, bigger, and more athletic, you're better off doing squats than you are leg extensions.
If you only have an hour to exercise and your goal is to get stronger, drop body fat, and improve your overall fitness, then you're probably better off skipping the Hip-Hop class and instead going to the gym to do:
5 minutes foam rolling
All of these modalities can be individualized, whereas a group exercise class is more one-size-fits-all. So, if you have imbalances or injury concerns, the individualization is a major benefit.
Plus, the added benefit is that you're much less likely to get tortured on by your friends if you lift heavy stuff and push the sled than you are with Hip-Hop class. Just throwing it out there. That's just a purely hypothetical example, though...
You'll see a lot of really business-savvy trainers who are always reading personal development books, but never actually pick up a book or attend a seminar to learn how to train people. They are really just good salespeople in revealing and/or tight workout clothes. In fact, if you search Google Images for "personal trainer," photos like this are just about all that you get!
The opportunity cost of their time is that they could have spent time becoming better trainers instead of just prioritizing something at which they're already effective. Or, perhaps they're better off hiring a good trainer to take that duty over so that they can best leverage their selling.
Likewise, you'll see some trainers who are great at assessment, programming, coaching, and getting results, but clueless on the business side of things. These people need to be reading more business books and attending seminars on how to run a business effectively. And, as with the previous case, they should consider collaborating with someone who has good business know-how so that they can leverage their strengths. I actually do a lot of this myself at Cressey Performance; while I'm about 80/20 training/business, having Pete as our full-time business guy allows me to spend more time specializing in various contexts to expand our market segment.
Just some food for thought. I'd encourage you to look at what you do on a daily basis, and consider the concept of opportunity cost as it relates to your fitness and professional development. I know I do it all the time.
New Blog ContentThings I Learned from Smart People: Installment 1Random Friday ThoughtsThings I Learned from Smart People: Installment 2
Have a great week!
EC
1. I work about 315 days per year at Cressey Performance, so when I can get a weekday off, it's pretty darn special - and that's the case today. I got in a great squatting session last night, so I don't feel quite so bad about staying home today to sit on my duff and catch up on writing, programming, reading, and planning Tony's Sweet 16 Party (he's 32, so we're going to have double the fun with both Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers as themes; isn't he lucky?). Actually, it won't be that exciting; the goal is to get all of the following done before noon (and I'm writing this at 7:13am):
a. this blog
b. the first two blogs for next week
c. one tag-along manual for our new products
d. five programs
e. some emails
f. reading with any time that's left over
I'm hoping that by mentioning all of this to you that it will make me more accountable to going into tunnel-vision-mode to get it all done. We shall see...
2. Congratulations to Chad Jenkins of Kennesaw St. - and now the Toronto Blue Jays, who signed a good ol' $1.359 million contract on Wednesday after being drafted in the first round back in June. Chad's been an incredibly hard worker on my programs and deserves all the success that comes his way. Nice work, buddy!
3. Here's a pretty good articleabout why eggs are actually GOOD for you. I say "pretty good" not because I think it's new information to those of us in the know, but because it comes from a registered dietitian in a mainstream publication, who are normally brainwashed to adhere to stupid guidelines. Kudos to Yahoo on this one, but I'm sorry to say that Dr. John Berardi and others have been preaching this for over a decade.
4. Here is a landmark study on how athletes have gotten taller, heavier, and faster during the past century. You can tell that the study was done by an engineer, because any strength coach could have easily told him that this was the case because resistance training and better nutrition habits were implemented over the course of that time.
5. Right now, in addition to a more geeky textbook, I'm reading Blunder, by Zachary Shore, on Gray Cook's recommendation. So far, so good, although I haven't gotten too far into it (hopefully will this weekend).
Here's this week's list of resources to check out:
Risk-Reward in Training Athletes - This old newsletter of mine highlights indivividual physical and situational differences among athletes, and spotlights the work of one Cressey Performance athlete who made tremendous progress with these individual factors playing a key role in how that training was approached. If you play or coach baseball, this is a must-read.
Are Tennis Elbow Straps Effective? - This blog post from Mike Reinold provides a great overview of these commonly used rehabilitation adjuncts.
In the Trenches: Michael Boyle - Mike Robertson's newsletter last week featured this audio interview with Coach Boyle.
Looking at some relatively recent research, you'll find that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that 34% of small business start-ups are no longer in existence two years after their inception. So, the logical assumption is that we're automatically more awesome than at least 1/3 of the small business world (we stole their lunch money and gave them wedgies, in fact).
Kidding aside, you don't just start a business so that you can "not fail." You do it so that you can thrive - and CP has done just that. I owe a huge thanks to our clients and staff for all their dedication to helping making CP what it is today: a place where....
...an Olympic boxer can share a stability ball with Pete in the office while getting awkwardly close to another man's meatloaf lunch
...it's considered perfectly acceptable to foam roll in catcher's gear.
...ladies and 68-year-old men alike bang out pull-ups like nobody's business.
...the average lifespan of a medicine ball is about seven minutes.
...it isn't uncommon for old clients to come back, handcuff Tony, and leave him for dead (out of love, for the record).
Interestingly, we haven't spent a penny on advertising over the two years; the business has grown purely by word of mouth. Is it any wonder when you can see stuff like this almost every time you enter the facility?
Thanks again to everyone involved for making my job so fun and for sharing my vision.
Check out this article on Cressey Performance athlete Danny O'Connor in today's Boston Globe. Danny ran his professional boxing record to 7-0 this past weekend, and the story talks a bit about our work with him.
Punching his Ticket in the Pros
