Last Saturday
I attended a Perform Better seminar in Seattle. It featured four presenters.
Each talked for an hour in the morning and had a 30 minute hands on section in
the afternoon. There were over 200 people in attendance. I try to go to at
least two seminars every year, and always come back with new ideas and renewed motivation.
This was the
order of presenters, the topics from the Perform Better website, and my
comments:
Charlie
Weingroff, DPT, ATC, CSCS - I Left Heavy Things & Put Them Down
There is often agreement that developing strength is a brilliant strategy to
meet goals in both fitness and athletic development. There are many ways
that strength can be developed, ranging from neurological "tricks" to
basic technical proficiency of compound lifts with dumbells, kettlebells, and
barbells. Principles of the nervous system and basic mechanics will
always apply to different implements based against ultimately the laws of
gravity. Charlie will address the different perspectives in how we move
and address specific adaptations to imposed demands in the effort of getting
"strong."
Weingroff is a physical therapist and strength coach that has
a powerlifting background. Having seen him speak before, I was excited that he
was presenting because the perspective that his background brings.
He talked about general physical preparedness (GPP) vs
specific physical preparedness (SPP) and how understanding where a trainee should
be placed will help with exercise selection. The difference being that most
personal training clients will never need SPP because the goal of being in
shape does not necessitate specialty exercises to produce specific adaptations
as an athlete training for a competition would need.
The other point that I took was considerations for loading an
exercise. Essentially when a given training result can be produced by various
means, choosing the option that has lower absolute loading (total weight used) will
reduce the incidence of injuries.
Lee
Burton, PhD, ATC, CSCS - Functional Exercise Progressions: Mobility, Motor
Control and Strength
Every exercise professional should create a holistic exercise program that
improves performance while creating more durability. In order to do this
effectively functional exercise should be utilized as a fundamental component
of the program design. We must design a program that uses proper exercise
progressions, which are designed to focus on the weaknesses while maintaining
and progressing the strength and power. We must ultimately work towards overall
gains in strength, power and endurance, which are laid on top of a solid
foundation of mobility and motor control. The focus of the session will
be describing the importance of functional exercise and demonstrating how to
implement and effectively progress functional exercise.
Burton is the co-creator of the Functional Movement Screen.
He talked about the history and philosophy of the FMS. It did give me a better
understanding of the FMS. One of the purposes of the screen is to determine
what movements can be trained and what movements need to be developed with
corrective exercises.
He also talked about what corrective exercise are and how
they can be misapplied. Corrective exercises can be used to increase range of
motion of a joint or to increase coordination, but only by incorporating those
gains into bigger exercises in a training program can the correctives
be productive.
Alwyn Cosgrove, CSCS - The Next Fitness Blueprint: New Programming
and Operation Strategies
The only guarantee in the fitness business is that everything changes!
This seminar will
cover the latest changes and developments in programming and business practices.
From new fat loss studies and practices, to the latest in metabolic
training and business delivery options (including semi-private 2.0), no stone
will be left unturned.
He and his wife own a training gym in California that
inspired much of how I setup Cascade Peak Performance. I have seen him speak
twice before. He talks about the structure of gyms and the evolution of
personal training. He and his team are constantly working to improve the model
of a training gym, and it is always interesting to see the changes that they
make each year.
Many people seek a trainer when the need to lose weight and
feel better, but after a year or two of training that have enough success that
they then reach “well now what?” Cosgrove terms this as the “Executive Athlete.”
These are people that are now in shape and need something else to train
for. Finding races or powerlifting
competitions to give them a goal to aim at becomes a big part of maintaining
the lifestyle.
Martin
Rooney, MHS, PT, CSCS, NASM - The Art and Science of Small Group Training
In this thought-provoking lecture, world renowned trainer and presenter Martin
Rooney will examine the growing fitness trends of “microgyms” and small group
training sessions. His presentation will cover important and commonly
overlooked training concepts like coaching, leadership and session architecture
while teaching you how to increase client consistency, community, retention and
most importantly, results. The motivational hands-on will show you how to
combine the three important E’s for delivering a legendary session: Energy,
Education and Equipment. This promises to be an “Experience” you will not
forget. If you are a coach, trainer, or fitness enthusiast looking for
new training direction or simply for ideas to better your small group classes,
this is for you.
Rooney might be the most enthusiastic person alive. He
started by asking how many of us eat broccoli every day. This obviously was a
strange question to ask a group of personal trainers and strength coaches, but
his line of questioning was purposeful to get those in attendance to think
about how effective they are at getting people to make positive changes in the
way they live. He also talked about how many clients come to us not because
they don’t know to move more and eat less, but that they come to a trainer
to be inspired to do it.
Rooney touched on how to create raving fans and to build an
atmosphere that anyone looking in will want to be part of. His is a big
advocate of high fives. Focusing on these points will not only increase client compliance
but make you a more successful coach because people will be drawn to the
experience.
Thanks for
taking the time to read this. I’m sure a few of you will notice the changes
that these lessons will bring to the gym.
