An educational weekend

I drove to LA on Friday. Saturday was the Perform Better 1-day Seminar. There were speakers giving lectures and hands on presentations. The first presenter was Todd Durkin who spoke about "Going for Greatness". To me, this subject is just as important as the nuts and bolts of strength and conditioning. IT was all about taking your game to the next level. Todd was a great motivator and speaker. I got alot of valuable information from his presentation. A great quote that will stay with me from Todd's presentation is "Attitude determines Altitude." You can go as high as you want if you have the right positive mental attitude.

The next presenter was Alwyn Cosgrove, who always gets the audience laughing and thinking. He puts things into simple sense. If we listen to his ideas and then immediately implement them, you will make more money, run a more efficient business, and will be able to grow your business into whatever you want.

Next was Gray Cook. This guy is so intellectual. He knows the body from the inside out. I always learn so much information on how the body is meant to function from Gray. His main topics that were covered were improving mobility before stability. We need to create mobility first before we start working on stability. The joint needs movement capabilities before we can start stabilizing. Once the individual is able to move properly, then we can stabilize and once that same person can now stabilize, then it is time for strength development. If we mix up the order we will be creating more of a dysfunctional body.

Last on the docket was Mike Boyle. Mike stepped out of the box for him this seminar and talked about training the obese client and client with low back pain. IT was very interesting to hear some of the ideas from Mike. With obese clients, just get them moving. He talked about the things he does not do with obese clients and that is: foam roll, stretch, and core work. Why put a 300+ man on a foam roll. It will be very hard for him to do it the correct way. Strethcing and core work on the ground is very awkard for an obese individual. These individuals need to dramatically change their diet and get moving. You do not need to spend 20 minutes on soft tissue and flexibility. Drop 80 pounds first and then we can start improving muscle quality.

The hands on sessions were good. Todd's was very energetic and was actually a tough workout. We did some metabolic work for the entire 25 minutes. We did not stop. It was challenging.

I came away with some great knowledge from this seminar. I will be able to come back to my facility and implement ideas ASAP. California Fitness Academy will be a better place.

On a side note: watch out for those bars that say "Protein Energy Bars". You think they are good for you. Read the ingredients closely and be careful. This bar from Detour is horrible. Loaded with processed sugars, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and all this other crap. Make sure to read labels and understand what you are eating before you decide to "think it is healthy for you."


Other Ingredients: Designer Whey Protein Blend [(Whey Protein Concentrate, PDUF Whey Protein Isolate, Hydrolyzed Whey Protein), Soy Protein Isolate], Glycerlean [99.7% USP Glycerine, Taurine, L-Leucine, CLA], Milk Chocolate Flavored Coating (Maltitol, Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Non-Fat Dry Milk, Cocoa Powder (Processed with Alkali), Soy Lecithin, Salt, Vanilla), Sugar Free Caramel (Maltitol, Non-Fat Dry Milk, Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Cream, Butter, Natural Flavors, Salt, Disodium Phosphate, Lecithin), Water, Gelatin, Calcium Caseinate, Peanut Flour, Cocoa Butter, Rice Flour, Natural and Artificial Peanut Flavor, Mono and Di-glycerides, Natural Vanilla Flavor, Potassium Sorbate (as a Preservative), Natural Vitamin E (as Mixed Tocopherols), Sucralose, Neotame.