Perform Better Summit - A Life Changing Experience

The three days of August 6-8 could definitely place in the top five weekends of my life. Yes, the Perform Better team over delivered. I have been to the previous 4 summits and they were good but this one was a "GAME CHANGER". I first want to give a huge shout out to the Perform Better crew and especially Chris Porier for putting this all together. The presenters were world class, literally. I was fortunate enough to bring two of my young coaches with me and to see their eyes light up when learning from and meeting the likes of Mike Boyle, Robert dos Remedios, Todd Durkin, Alwyn Cosgrove and Thomas Plummer was priceless. Their energy was BIG throughout the entire weekend.

I want to give a breakdown of the presenters that I watched but also give strategies of implementation of the tools and advice that was given. This information and academia means nothing if we do not follow up and "DO WORK". You will also see many key phrases that we heard all weekend long.

Friday morning started with a must see with Martin Rooney. His energy and motivation was a great way to get the engine going for the rest of the weekend. Martin lives what he preaches and is an "in the trenches" coach and mentor. I have three quotes highlighted from his presentation. #1: "Coaches that believe they have clients that can succeed will have clients that believe they can succeed." We must cut the "well Bob won't lose weight" attitude. We need to continue driving and inspiring our clients to accomplishing BIG THINGS. Sit them down, fire them up, BELIEVE in them so they can believe in themselves and motivate with Enthusiasm! Not all fitness coaches need to jump around and scream during a session. If that is not your style then fine but the training session must have some energy and spark for your clients. Without it the session gets stagnate and dull and you might lose that client. #2: "Establish your core values and personal mission” Martin asked us if we had this written down and kept it with us at all times. Nobody raised their hands. This is huge in having a philosophy and a path to follow. And keeping it with you at all times will remind you to stay focused and motivated to achieve your objectives. #3: "You can do anything you want to!" In realistic terms of course but having this mindset, to me, is what life is about. Do not sell yourself and your clients short. Expect big things, create a positive atmosphere and self awareness and continue the climb to the top. Do not let yourself fail! Thank you Martin for a great start to the weekend.

Mike Boyle discussed warm-up strategies. If you have watched Mike's new DVD (which is a must in the library) then he went over most of the same education. But as I was listening to Mike, I realized how much the industry is influenced by his work. This guy is a legend and guru in our world. And if you are not following and learning from Coach Boyle, you are insane. His work is cutting edge, scientific and top notch coaching. He also is a very fun person to drink some beers with. Thank you Coach Boyle for your influence and mentorship to my program and our industry. Keep showing us the way.

Dr. Stuart McGill was next on the list. This was actually my first time listening to McGill and I enjoyed and respected the intellect. McGill discussed his work and research with low back injuries. As I was listening to him speak about the various back ailments and issues, I was thinking to myself "it's no wonder people are always suffering from chronic lower back trauma". The biggest thing I got out of this lecture is we need to create an atmosphere to enhance back hygiene. Giving a quick email or text to our client to remind them to sit up straight and focus on good posture could really be significant to improving low back pain. Along with reminders, we also prescribe proper exercise protocol, the client reduces and better yet eliminates their long term issue, and we have a client for life. Thank you to Dr. McGill for spreading the research to the fitness world to make us better.

Mark Verstegen is another presenter that has revolutionized the fitness industry. He is the creator of so much of what we do. Mark has a superb system that gets some of the top professional athletes ready to compete at high levels. This presentation went over training for the endurance athletes. This is right up my alley. It was good to be reminded of this information so we set our clients and ourselves up for success. Working with endurance athletes is tough because you never know how they will walk into your facility. You have to be an artful coach and set up a training program that will allow the endurance athlete to succeed. These athletes put in so much training volume that as a coach you have to be on the lookout for overtraining symptoms and guide them down the path to proper and smart training protocols. Definitely props go out to Mark for being an innovator and a legend to us in the fitness industry.

We ended Friday night with Thomas Plummer. A kick in the ass type of presentation. After hearing Thom, I wanted to drive home immediately and implement some ideas to improve my business. If you run a business Thomas Plummer is the man you need to be following. Go get on his blog and read everything on there.

Day 1 ended with a few beers at the social. A great first day.

Day 2 started with a bang just like day 1. Bill Parisi is a role model to any business person. His systems and strategies are very simple and easy to implement. It just takes discipline, hard and consistent work and laser like focus. It's doing these things EVERYDAY. If you want a successful and profitable business then go do it. If you want more clients, then go do it. If you want more campers in your boot camp, go do it. The person that will most likely stop yourself is YOU. "Be comfortable being uncomfortable" is a quote I will remember for the rest of my life. It's uncomfortable going to local business trying to get new clients, it's uncomfortable waking up at 4 am daily to be at the gym at 5. But if you learn to tap into your potential you will maximize your performance so you can maximize your life. Thank you Bill for everything you do. I would not be training youth athletes if it wasn't for this guy. He also, is an innovator.

Robert dos Remedios was my next lecture. This guy might be the most down to earth coach you will ever meet. He is a real life, in the trenches strength coach who tells no bull shit. He likes to say "bull shit" but that is beside the point. He tells it like it is. And that is something to be respected. Working with junior college athletes can be a very demanding and tough task. He overdelivers and takes his job to a high standard. If you notice reading this, every coach that presented is an "over deliverer" (if that is a word). Take one thing out of the weekend and this write-up...OVERDELIVER to yourself and your clients. Props to Dos for keeping his presentation entertaining and packed with valuable, realife information.

I cruised around some of the hands on sessions on Saturday. I now use the hands on sessions to watch the coaches’ coach. The training sessions that influenced me was Todd Durkin's and Dos's. These coaches brought some energy to their training. I like that. Totally different coaches, totally different training philosophies and styles but they both brought enthusiasm. You can know all the science in the world but if you do not deliver your clients and athletes enthusiasm and passion, you will not be in the industry very long. Todd's session was crazy. So much going on and his interns brought energy and motivation and he was able to get 200+ trainers in the zone! It was pretty cool to watch. Dos just straight up kicked everyone’s ass with his "cardio strength training" methods.

My last lecture of the weekend was my favorite. Sue Falsone ripped her presentation and delivered life changing information. The way she knows the body is kind of crazy. Someone that says, "I love the diaphragm musculature" must have a passion for anatomy and corrective movement. But her passion was echoed throughout the crowd as she taught a full room of fitness coaches and physical therapists about the anatomy and function of the thoracic spine. This information was cutting edge and I was zoned out during this presentation. Getting to the source of many faulty patterns can directly come from poor function at the thoracic spine. So many people are pretty screwed up because of bad life movements and posture. And correcting the t-spine's dysfunction can reduce many problems. We need to use our tool box to create a system to assist our clients down the right path. Even strength and fitness coaches need to splice in this corrective work to enhance the program. It doesn't need to be 30 minutes of thoracic mobilization work but splicing it into the warm-up can tremendously help people move better in their life. So if you haven't read up on Sue Falsone, go do that immediately.

A few more thanks yous:
Thank you to Rob Milani for always hooking it up with equipment. Rob is the man when it comes to facility design and equipment inventory. He cares and it's hard to find that now a days. And me being 5'6", it's good having a 6'5" 300 pound guy on your side.

Thank you to Alwyn Cosgrove for making the fitness industry a respected business. He has taught me that the business of fitness needs to be high level and worked on daily. Just like the training aspects you need business strength as well. His semi-private model is systematic and efficient and as influenced my program in a very positive way.

Thank you to Albert Park who was an attendee. Albert works with Luka Hocevar in Washington. I got to know this young energetic man on Saturday. He taught me that no matter who you train and what level, you must love what you do, have passion and excitement to move forward and never let up. This is something that can be lost in translation as the business grows and builds wealth. But you must always remember what got you where you are today and that is "I love training clients".

Thank you to Jesse and Mike, my coaches who represented my facility. They sat upfront every lecture, they came in with an open mind, they learned, they got better! Talk about life changing. I think I can say that Jesse's and Mike's life were changed for the better in Long Beach. Keep doin work!

Lastly thank you to my wife Stephanie for accepting my passion as I sit here now on my computer (after being gone all weekend) doin work.

Time to get after it......