Training success takes sacrifice

Another great re-post from gregtrainer.com


If you’re serious about reaching and surpassing your goals, it should be your number one priority. If it’s not a priority then you’re not as dedicated as you might think. With that said it will take commitment, and more importantly sacrifice, to take you to the highest level of success. Whether you’re a competitive athlete or an average gym you must have the attitude to do whatever it takes to get you where you want to go. Here are three tips to put you in that direction:


1. Invest in the proper training environment


When choosing a training environment your thought process shouldn’t be the mileage it takes from your house or office. The distance should be the last thing on your mind. Think about it this way, if you’re investing in the supplement industry and expect that by simply taking some powder will magically take your training to the next level, you’re wasting your money. What you should be doing is investing in a training environment that has experienced athletes, coaches, and the proper equipment. It shouldn’t matter if that gym is down the street or 60 miles in another state. This investment will be worth its weight in gold. At Total Performance Sports we have a day called “training day”, which is one Saturday out of the month. This training session is dedicated to one movement, for example, recently it was the bench press. The great thing about our training day is that anyone can participate. We have coaches that can help if you’re a competitive power lifter, professional athlete, or your average gym rat. The total cost for our training day is $20, how much would you pay for a supplement that guaranteed you would set a personal record on the first day of taking it?


2. Leave your ego at the door


Investing your time and money is only part of the equation. You also need to leave your ego at the door. The only way to do extraordinary things is to surround yourself with individuals who are extraordinary. How will you separate yourself from others? You need to swallow your pride, and this might require taking 1 step backwards to take multiple steps forward. You need to be able to accept criticism on technique, program design, and your mentality towards training. Place yourself in an environment with successful coaches and athletes and absorb anything and everything you can.


3. Program Management


The last piece to this puzzle is often neglected and that’s program management. You can surround yourself with the most experienced coaches and follow all of the proven methods but what your lifestyle may not allow you to positively respond to this type of training. Management is how you handle day-to-day stressors. This includes getting proper sleep, eating healthy, managing relationship situations, and/ or handling work-related stress levels. All of these factors need to play a role in how you manage your program on a daily basis. This is where sacrifice will come in to play. If you just completed a tough squat training session and then that night go out to the bars and get smashed until 3 a.m., this will stress your system even more. Now your body has to recover from both the training session and the inexcusable boozing extravaganza. This will limit what you can do for your next training session. Furthermore, if this is a common occurrence over-time all of the fatigue will accumulate and will have a negative impact.


If you adhere to these three guidelines you will set yourself up for future success. Please remember it’s a total package and you need all three to reach the highest level possible for yourself. If you make this a priority then this will be a formula for success.


by Jamie Smith  of TPS 2012

22 things personal trainers should do.

re-posted from gregtrainer.com
by Greg Robins of TPS

Yesterday I read a blog post about things personal trainers should never do. I agreed with some of them, but I mostly found the concept stupid. I have seen plenty of trainers that don’t do any of the things listed and still greatly under deliver. There were some things on there that really don’t matter. I guess I just didn’t like it. Rather than just criticize, I’m going to do a more positive spin on the idea, and give you some things that you should do.

Here are 22 things every personal trainer should do:

1. Follow Through: If you say you are going to do something, do it. If you don’t have the time, then don’t commit to something you can’t deliver on.

2. Educate: Your job is not to just facilitate, it’s to teach as well. Send your clients articles, write blog posts that answer questions your clients have, and take a few minutes to explain something you feel they should know more about.

3. Challenge: You’re not a cheer leader. Sometimes you need to challenge your clients. Don’t belittle them, or discourage them, but a healthy challenge is positive. Think about the best school teachers or professors you had. I bet they challenged you.

4. Forgive: Give your clients a clean slate when they are less than compliant. It’s about them, not you. Always give them the opportunity to impress you, don’t continually scold them for being less than perfect.

5. Give their clients ownership: You shouldn’t make every decision. Have your clients start to make decisions. I can’t stand hearing a trainer tell me that if they do this or that then the client won’t need them anymore. You should be training them to be self-sufficient.

6. Be yourself: I wouldn’t want to spend an hour 3x a week with a robot. Be yourself. You don’t need to share personal information, but you can give honest opinions, be a little goofy and so forth. There is a very human element to what you do, be human.

7. Be professional: Basically, show up on time, be prepared, act like an adult, make ethical decisions, and treat what you do like a career, not a hobby. If it is a hobby, go find a real job.

8. Educate yourself: This gets me fired up. With the access we have to information now there is no excuse to be behind the curve. Read something, spend money on seminars not a new BMW.

9. Admit when you make a mistake: I make mistakes. They’re not giant mistakes, but maybe I got a little aggressive, or made the wrong call on something. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Sometimes you do the wrong thing for the right reason. I’d rather just say I screwed up than have someone thinking it was entirely their fault.

10. Say I don’t know: You don’t need to know everything. Sometimes you just forget something, can’t make a connection, and flat-out just don’t know. The ARMY has taught me many great lessons, one of which is to say I don’t know, but I will get the answer for you (sir).

11. Start saying no: Value your time. If it doesn’t work, say no. If you can’t follow through, say no. If you always say yes you are bound to burn out, half – ass something, or forget. Say yes when you KNOW you can do something, and if you can’t, say NO.

12. Ask Yes or No questions: People love to argue, reason, and make excuses. For example, if you’re talking about compliance, or whether they want to attempt a higher lift, accept only Yes or No answers. Don’t leave any room for quibbling. If they don’t say yes or no, the answers no.

13. Separate Nutrition and Training: Don’t talk nutrition during training, set up a time to do a consult. After that, give your client the opportunity to put the plan into action. You don’t need to micro manage them or do a nutrition consult between sets. They are there to train, focus on training, and work hard.

14. Change their philosophy: If you keep educating yourself, you will probably change how you are doing things from time to time. Remember, what you were doing before isn’t wrong, you’re just making things better.

15. Fire clients: One year I took anybody, at any time, no matter what. I made pretty good money doing that. I also had terrible training sessions myself, was unable to deliver 100% to all my clients, and generally hated life and training. Sometimes you have to fire clients. You can only do so much, always remember what your job is: to facilitate a sound training program. If a client is draining you, do yourself and them a favor, cut it off. It’s not because you suck, or they suck. The dynamic sucks, and neither of you are benefiting. It happens.

16. Go the extra mile: Some of my clients probably think I’m crazy. I think about their training all the time. I write emails to them about what I’m thinking, to pick them up, get them thinking etc. I might be a chronic over sharer, I’m definitely a thinker, but it’s how I do things, and it’s worked well. However you go about it, show them you care.

17. Develop relationships with their clients: No, not that kind of relationship (see: being professional – making ethical decisions). I’m talking about remembering that their son has a big game Saturday, going to their games, taking part in something they like to do kind of relationships.

18. Foster a community atmosphere: I teach a few classes, and I make it a point to introduce everyone if it’s their first time. I also introduce my clients to each other. Other ideas include having a group dinner, or doing an occasional group outing. Some clients won’t be interested, that’s fine. For the most part it’s a huge hit. It’s nice to meet like-minded people and feel like you are part of something larger.

19. Get under the bar: I don’t care if your skinny, fat, ripped or something in between. If you train consistently and purposefully then you’re good to go. I know the most important things I have learned have come through my own training. I couldn’t imagine taking advice from someone who didn’t value their own training as highly as their career as a trainer.

20. Get quantifiable results: There are a lot of non-quantifiable results that can be achieved through training. I also think they are important. I write about them all the time. You will be more successful, and so will your clients, if you have some numbers to work with. After all, you are a business, and I don’t think many businesses survive without producing more than they started with. Take pictures, get measurements, keep track of the numbers, they don’t lie. You can argue the means all you want, I’ll take the results every time.

21. Build a network: You should have network of colleagues, PT’s, nutritionists and so on. If you develop these relationships you will have healthy clients, you won’t step outside your scope of practice, and you will have a nice flow of referrals.

22. Have fun: If you don’t like what you do, I firmly believe you shouldn’t be doing it. At the very least you should be putting things in order to make a feasible change ASAP. If you train people because it’s a job you are doing everyone a disservice.

Too busy, really?

January has come and gone. How are you doing with your fitness goals? I hope you are achieving them. If you are not, it is never too late to start over again and with more resolve.


In the gym business, we usually see a flood of people come in the gym during the first few weeks of January and never see them again. Most gyms love this because they have them signed up on a contract. TPS is different. WE want you in here. If you are a newsletter reader far away, we want you in YOUR gym. We want to see you make progress. Are you doing that?


The point of this essay is not to guilt you into going to the gym, but to motivate you and to get you to self- reflect as to why you are not doing it.


If you are not hitting the gym at least twice a week, why? Do you think you don’t have the time? Do you stay away because you don’t know what to do, or didn’t get immediate results? Are you intimidated in the gym because there are people fitter or stronger than you? Do you not FEAR the consequences of not exercising?


I’ll touch on each of these, but first, I’ll talk about the consequences of not exercising. Inactivity leads to many problems, obesity (which leads to even more problems), lack of energy, difficulty sleeping, risk of injury (especially if you have a physical job-or worse, if you don’t) and many more issues.


Dr. Fred Hatfield used to tell this story at seminars to give the attendees a good analogy to give to their clients. He would ask us all if we brushed out teeth daily (some of you may have heard this before). Everyone answered yes. He then asked them why they did this. No one gave the answer he was looking for, although they gave excellent answers.

Fred would listen to all the answers and then yell loudly, WRONG! You brush your teeth because you FEAR the consequences of not brushing your teeth. This was brilliant. No one looked at it like this. He then went into an angry oratory of not fearing the consequences a lack of exercise and he listed many of the reasons I did above.


Without laying guilt on you, this should be your primary reason to exercise. If you don’t, your life will not be as healthy. Health is our greatest gift, just ask someone who doesn’t have it.


Having the simple ability to go through life feeling good, having normal blood pressure, being able to carry in the groceries without pain, being able to play with your kids or grandchildren are all taken for granted by many. Not exercising WILL catch up to you and it will not be fun.


Let’s look at some of the other reasons. You don’t have the time. Really? I bet you have the time to surf the web, go on Facebook for an hour, or watch too much TV.

Clearly too busy to get off the couch. They are in shape though.

We all have the time; we just need to prioritize it. We have just added a bunch of FREE new 30 minute classes for those of you who “don’t have the time”. Taking 2 -30 minute classes a week is not the best fitness plan, but it is much better than doing nothing.



What about those of you that don’t know what to do? TPS offers FREE New Member Orientations designed just for you. It’s FREE. Many other gyms also offer something like this. IF you don’t train here, find out if your gym offers something like this. Also if you don’t train here, why not, you should.


What about those that didn’t get immediate results? Our society has gravitated towards one where instant gratification is of primary importance. Sorry everyone, fitness does not happen overnight. You need to work at it. Make a point to give it 2 months of consistent exercise. You will make progress. What if you don’t make the progress that you wanted? Well, you need to analyze what you are doing. Where did you get your training plan from? Did you make it up yourself? Did you see it on TV? Are you doing nothing but cardio?


If you answered yes to any of these, I highly suggest you go to the Article  page and read the 5 Things That Don’t Work for Your Fitness Plan series. It answers all of these and more.


Are you intimidated in the gym because there are others there that are stronger, in better shape or you just don’t know what to do? Well, I have news for you. The people that are in better shape are like that for a reason. They work out, consistently as part of their lifestyle. Read our reviews on Yelp  if you have not been upstairs in the weight room. They consistently say there are no attitudes here. We welcome everyone who wants to make a positive change in their fitness program, and we are helpful. Not just the staff, but the members. Don’t be afraid to try something new, at least not here at TPS.

WE are committed to your health and fitness and we know that you all have to start somewhere. Take the boxing or Muay Thai intro classes and see if it is for you. Try the Group X classes, sign up for the New Member Orientation. All of these programs are offered with the beginner in mind. We will TEACH you what to do. We want you to succeed.



Good luck, and get in here and start today!

Murph doing cardio?

So yesterday's training looked like this:
Close Grip Incline Bench-up to 115 for 12. This felt pretty good on the arm, but I felt some weird burning at the bicep insertion so I stopped at about 6 sets.
Next was on to dumbell overhead presses. I used the Fatgripz for this so I could hold the dumbell without squuezing them, thus activating my biceps and forearms much less.

Pulldowns were next for 5 sets of 15 with up to 120. This also felt pretty good and was an improvement in pain (less) and weight.
I moved on to shrugs and did 5 sets of 12 with 135.
Tate Presses after that also with the Fatgripz. I went up to 30's for 12 reps.
Now comes the funny part.
One of my morning clients is training for the indoor Concept 2 championships and the Head of the Charles, so we got to discussing where she placed last year and so forth. I decided to look up the record for the indoor race for my age and weight. It was around 7 minutes and change. The race is 2000 meters. I have been doing the Concept 2 for a warmup and cool down for 500 meters for about a week, so I blurted out" 7 minutes? I'll beat that today".

She looks so much better than I do on one.

I then realized that there was no way I was going 2000 meters without an iced coffee and a dip.
She called me out and said no way. I thought, how hard can this be? Skinny pukes who are not 1/2 as strong as me, even with 1 working arm, not to mention the knee issues are doing it in 7 and change, right.
I opened my mouth and now had to back it up. I figured the skinny weaklings were not pulling as hard, thus not getting as many meters per stroke, so if I just gooned through it, I'd be in the clear.
At the end of the workout I floundered onto the Concept 2 and started rowing. A few minutes goes by and I check my progress, 4 minutes in and almost 900 meters. I'm not sweating, breathing heavy or in any pain. What does Mr. Jackass do? He starts to sprint with HARD strokes to make up some distance.

At exactly 4:14 (that's 14 seconds later for the math majors) and 906 meters, I locked up tight like a drum. Legs frozen, chest heaving, felt like dying. I rolled onto the floor and just stayed there, sweating, cramping and feeling like poo.
Now, I am going to beat the time.
I have a plan to do it, and it will be good bicep rehab, and just good for me.
I will keep you posted on the progress.
I still am on the quest for the 1000 pound squat, but while the bicep has me sidetracked, I might as well have a goal. Even if it is to be better than a skinny puke.