FLO FITNESS

" Monitor where you get your advice from. Neve take financial advice from a homeless man." - FLO I know that quote may sound like common sense when you first read it. So lets take it away from the financial world and put it into fitness or life. Would you take life advice from someone who is a failure?  Would you take fitness advice from someone who has never worked out a day in their life?  I hope you answer NO to both of those questions. Once again these seem like common sense answers,however common sense is not always common. There are many people giving their opinions and advice online. You must monitor who the advice is coming from. I have clients all the time tell me what they read online. They tell me all different kinds of websites that they get info from. The old saying holds true; opinions are like a$$holes, everybody has one.  So where can you get solid and legit information from?  This is a loaded question because things are always changing in health.

  A trainers story. Balancing Feeling and Thinking As a fitness industry it appears that many have become way to Heady about their training and are losing touch with the real reason they started training. Passion and purpose. I think the best way to discuss this is to tell the story of what happens to most of us.   One of the main reasons I love working with new trainers is that they still have that spark in their eye about training. They are pursuing a passion and want to help others.   A feeling of wanting to do something bigger with their lives has brought them into the fitness industry.  They are all feeling and No Thinking.  They get certified and get a job at a big box gym. Time to change lives, Right? Nope. They can't sell a package and get no clients. Now its time to learn 'Sales'. Their PT Manager throws numbers in their face and teaches them about quotas. Sell, sell, sell. This is the new motto. Their passion slowly begins to die. Now instead of asking the

Here is an excerpt from The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews There are generations yet unborn whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take today.  And tomorrow.  And the next day. And the next. Every single thing you do matters. You have been created as one of a kind. On the planet Earth, there has never been one like you ...and there will never be again. Your spirit, your thoughts and feelings, your ability to reason and act all exist in no one else. The rarities that make you special are no mere accident or quirk of fate. You have been created in order that you might make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world. Know that your actions cannot be hoarded, saved for later, or used selectively. By your hand, millions—billions—of lives will be altered, caught up in a chain of events begun by you this day. The very beating of your heart has meaning and purpose. Your actions have value far greater than silve

Love never fails; Character never quits; & with patience & persistence; Dreams do come true. -Pete Maravich I had posted this quote over the summer and felt I needed to explain why it's one of my favorites. First off is the part about love never failing. I am a firm believer in people doing what they love. Learn to lead with your heart. I feel it will never lead you wrong. It may not please others but you must always be true to yourself first. Everything else will fall into place.       Character never quits! It amazes me how many people try to break the character of others. When you are an individual, people try and break your character and make you fall in line with the rest.  You must be true to your character and never quit. It's only a matter of time before others recognize what your made of.      The last part of this quote is so important to me. One thing about dreams is that they take time to come true. Every dream must be tested for authenticity. If you d

"History is being read but also being written by those with imagination." -Les Brown Create something new today. Make up a new exercise, a new program, a new way of teaching, etc.. The people who criticize today will be following tomorrow. Anyone can be ordinary, I dare you to be different.

Got the greatest compliment tonight and I decided to share it.  I was at our Girls Soccer Banquet tonight and the coach had some very kind words to say about the Family at FLO Fitness to the entire audience. It was great to know that he really appreciated our work with the team. However, after the banquet was over we spoke for about 5 minutes and he said he was sorry he forgot talk about the teams lack of injuries this season.  So he said this is the first year in his history of coaching that he has never had a SINGlE muscle pull or ligament injury the ENTIRE SEASON. I was like, WHOA! no way. So I looked at our injury reports for the season and there it was, Not a single ACL injury, MCL injury, Hamstring Pull, Quad Strain, Nothing.  I was shocked. This is by far the greatest compliment I have ever got in my life.   Coach has been the first person to let FLO Fitness control their entire lifting and warm up  programs. From off season lifting, preseason weight room session, pregame a

If there was only one way to dress, we would all look the same. If there was only one way to speak, we'd all sound the same If there was only one religion, we'd all believe the same thing If there was only one way to write music, it would all sound the same If there was only one way to build, all cities would look the same.  If there was only one way to walk, one way to stand, one way to laugh, one way to act, one way to think, one way to paint, one way to love, one way to live.  If there was only one way to train, I would not be a trainer!                              Life  = Diversity  If you're not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original  -Ken Robinson 

'You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.' I know this is a saying that has been used over and over again  but is it so true that i must say it again.  You need to take action! Chill does not pay the bills. You will never achieve anything if you do not go out and get it.   I will tell you a quick personal story that demonstrates this.  Back in 2008 I had the idea of a place called FLO Fitness. At the time I was working at Ballys and didn't like it. I wanted to freedom to be creative and not be forced to sell, sell, sell.  So I started the process of getting my business name.  Once I got the name, I had no idea with to do with it. I didnt have money, I didn't have a place, I didn't know what to do for a business. I began to research what my next step should be. I wrote a business plan and started shopping to get a loan so I could open a place. The business plan was terrible and no bank would lend me any money.  I he

 I have this special client; she is 60 has a benign heart condition and works like the rest of the population at 8am. However she shows me something that they don't; dedication to her life, without the excuse of not enough time. Working out for her is almost like medicine. My father once told me she should pay you more for getting up that early! I said why? And punish her for her amazing discipline? I should pay her!  For that reason the night before I try to go to bed at 930 so I can be eager and fresh to give her what she needs. Do as my 430 alarm; (which is a harp sound amazingly soft and not traumatizing at that hour) chimes, I force myself to immediately get up and put on the clothes I laid out the night before. Because I only have less than 30 mins to cook a nutritious breakfast brush my teeth and get out the door for her 530 appointment. Some mornings it's tough but what she doesn't know, is she actually motivates me.  Such discipline, dedication should be rewarded

If you can keep your head when all about you       Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,     But make allowance for their doubting too;   If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,     Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,     And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;       If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster     And treat those two impostors just the same;   If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken     Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,     And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings     And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings     And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force y

Stop judging younger trainers by your level of experience One issue I see to often in this industry is trainers making fun of younger trainers for not knowing as much as them.  Lord knows it took me 12 years to learn the little bit that I know about this industry. I can't imagine what it must be like for these younger trainers coming into the industry. Their heads are spinning with all the information out there. It is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong. Blogs, websites, books, dvd's, seminars, etc.... Its almost like an information overload to some of them.   So how can we help? My belief is simple, SHARE,CARE, BE THERE. If you care about the industry, you would want it the thrive. So share your information with the younger trainers. Instead of picking on them for not knowing, you can take them under your wing and teach them. This will help you better understand the information and at the same time you will be helping out the industry because this kid will o

    So we live in a society of "Go, Go, Go", but what about the slow down, rest and recover? There is only so much we can do in one day. I know I can stand by that statement because I try and cram everything in one day. I would teach spin in Livingston, have clients in Westfield, then drive into Hoboken to train more clients. Oh, not to mention the fact I also do Bikram Yoga right in the middle of all that. I would get home around 9:30/10pm, just to pretty much do the same thing over the next day. Your body will only let you do this for so long. I started to burn out. I always denied the fact that I would never, but you start to actually feel it coming on. I thought 5/6 hours a night of sleep was ideal, but the amount of stress I put on my body, being up at early hours (5am), then training, workouts, etc takes a toll on you. I needed to slow down and recover. I changed my schedule around so it was more convenient and less of a run around, I get about 7-8 hours of sleep a nigh

  What is "Proper Form"? I recently had someone comment on one of my youtube videos. He was complaining about how bad my form was for a certain exercise.  At first I was a little upset by this but then I watched the video and realized he was right. I didn't have "proper form".  This got me to thinking about exercises and how we always correct people on form. I also began to think, what is "proper from" anyway? Who are we to say that the way another person moves is right or wrong? How can we judge the mechanics of someone else? Everyone is different, so maybe what is right for one person is wrong for another.  I do believe that when someone is in pain and you see a bad movement pattern causing it, then you should try and correct it.  Also if someone does an exercise and they feel pain, then we should correct it.  I also feel that maybe what someone does could just be a variation of the workout. For example, I am sure the first person to do close

Life will meet you at your Level of Expectation. To often people set themselves up for failure. Its crazy how many people walk into FLO and before we even assess them, they are telling us what they wont be able to do. They look at the TRX, FreeForm Board and other great toys and say, "I am never going to use that.". They are so quick to argue for their limitations. In my last presentation at the N.E.T seminar I used a quote from Les Brown and it was, "When you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them. ".  Start really listening to people and you will begin to realize how many of them quit before they even start.  How can we combat this? I believe we need to start expecting more out of ourself and others. It's always funny that people tend to do what you expect from them. Ever notice that when you tell a client to do 15 reps of something, they just make it to 15. Then next set tell them to do 12 with the same weight and they can barely get to 12. An

My heart is still beating high, (just broke my record), but I can’t take a moment to cool down and stretch because of a conversation with Chris which sparked something in me. Since when did fitness become only for the monetarily elite and not a day to day necessity? When did pushing yourself migrate toward physical appearance and away from your body’s efficiency to function?  When the day was referenced by the sun, and not by the clock, man was different. Take a look around at the reality we live in. Clocks, meetings, commuting, smart phones (I know they are creepy right), health insurance, life insurance, malpractice insurance. All of these things are in place to get us to that happy, healthy place. Rewind it a few years back. Think about the stories that your parents tell you about walking 10 miles, up hill to school, in the RAIN! Yes an embellishment I’m sure, however the truth of the matter is, we become less and less self reliant and less and less active. As a race, we are no wher

My thoughts about the Documentary  "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" This was such an eye opening documentary and I highly recommend everyone in the Fitness Industry should watch it.  I must be honest and say that I never really saw steroids as such a big issue. I know people who have taken them, but I never really cared about them. I might be one of the very few people who can care less if someone does it or not. I always say , "what you eat doesn't make me sh$t".  So since it has never directly affected me I never really leaned either way on the issue.  My only issue is when kids under the age of 18 do it. I think that is the only time I am 100% against it. Kids at the high school age are still growing and I don't think it is a good idea to mess with hormones during these tender years. While on the subject of teens and drugs I  personally don't think they should take anything, this includes A.D.D meds or any other crap doctors prescribe for them. The only

I recently posted a status that got a lot of comments, so I have decided to write a blog about it to further discuss the reason for the post. The post was, "Are you driven by your outcome or are you driven by income? Provide a great product for others and success will follow."  I will like to start by using a line from Fabolous where he said, "Money can't buy happiness but its a good down payment." .  There is nothing wrong with wanting to get paid for what you do. I am not against making money. I think it helps to provide for a comfortable lifestyle. The issue comes in when the money is your only drive. The reason I say this is because eventually the money will no longer be enough. If you make 10 your going to want 20, then 30 and so on.  If the only motivator is cash, you will soon have tons of cash and have no one to share it with.  As trainers I feel we should be driven by our outcomes. We should be focused on getting the clients to achieve their goal

Real Functional Fitness Many people have a hard time finding motivation to workout. I personally enjoy it but at times I will admit that I don't want to go to the gym or come up with excuses not to workout.  Usually what keeps me going is finding a reason why I train. I can come up with many reasons but today was one of those eye opening days that I will always remember. Today was a day that all the hard work in the gym paid off. Today made all those long hours worth it. Today will keep me focused for months.  You're probably wondering what happened today. Well............................................ today I helped my cousin and his family  Move out of their house.  To the normal person this is the worst day ever. Who likes to move out of a house?  Nobody enjoys it and I must say it is not really all that fun. However it is probably the most FUNctional thing you will ever do. I must have done over 100 deadlifts, squats, rotational exercises, isometric holds, shoulde

The time is now! The time is changing! Time is not to be wasted! There is something to be said about taking your time doing something. I’m not talking about dawdling or procrastinating, but good things really do take time. Remind yourself that when you are on your smart phone looking up the weather, a definition, or ordering an electronic book . Kids these days are not of the same mindset as even young adults. Media is rewiring the way we do things. As a trainer, stand firm in your methods and take the proper steps to reign in your hot wired athletes or clients. Injury is on the rise and why? More and more athletes are expecting quicker results, doing things past their skill level. It is your responsibility as the trainer to ensure that the proper foundation is laid out. Don’t rush to bump up in weights if their form is not correct or because the athlete is getting bored with the exercise. Just because the client can do something, doesn’t mean they should. Athletes especially, are in h

If not You, then WHO? The purpose of this blog is that I meet many fitness people who want to start their own business. Its not always fitness studios, some have business ideas for products, restaurants, apparel, and other great ideas. Unfortunately I always get the same response from most of them. They always feel like someone else can do it better, they wont make money, or that they are not ready to pursue it.  I am here to say, IF NOT YOU, THEN WHO? If you don't open that training studio, then who will If you don't open that fitness food restaurant, then who will If you don't release that fitness clothing line, then who will  If you don't make that DVD, then who will If you don't create that new training program, then who will If you don't follow YOUR Dream, then who will! There will never be a perfect place, perfect time or perfect situation. The time to pursue you idea is now. You have to believe in yourself and what you can accomplish. I hate

My 1st day with CPrime Let me start by saying I live my life by the following quote, "I can only speak for the things that I've been thru.'.  I hate when people try and sell me anything. It drives me crazy. I believe if you have never lived it, done it or been thru it,  you can't talk about it.  I pride myself in keeping it real and being a straight shooter, especially in business. My clients know this and so do my co-workers. This is the reason it took 6 different reps to speak to me before I decided to give CPrime a fair try.  Here is my story of my first day using the band. So today the rep from CPrime came to FLO and talked to me about the company. The guys energy was great and he was honest with me about what to expect from the product. He put me thru some of the test to show me how the band worked. He also had scientific studies and testimonials about the product. This was my 6th time hearing about it and I thought to myself, "this is a bunch of B.S.&

Site vs Vision At the N.E.T. Seminar on saturday I did a speech on goal setting. Part of my speech was talking about site vs vision. I got so much feedback from that part of the speech that I decided to write about it for those that could not attend.     One of the quotes I used to talk about this topic is from Myles Monroe. He said, "Your eyes show you what is, your vision shows you what could be".  The reason I always use this quote is because to often we let our present circumstances determine our future outcomes. The example I used in the speech was that I drive a Honda Fit right now, however in my mind it is a Bently. My eyes see the Honda everyday but my vision shows me more.  Some people call vision their "Minds Eye", I think this is a great name for our vision. It is what keeps us going when we have nothing. I remember not that long ago I walked into an empty store front that use to be an eye glass store. When I walked in my eyes saw and pink rug and s

"When you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them."  - Les Brown      When I first heard the quote above it really made me say, "DAMN!, That's Deep.".  It is so true and to the point.  People you talk to always say what they can't do. They talk about how hard it is to achieve anything they want.  It appears that most people have given up before the race has even started. They have set their own limitations.       This made me wonder where all of this has come from. Think about when you were a kid, if anyone asked you to do something you would try it no matter what.  If you ask a 6 year old to lift up a car, they will most likely try it to see if they can. But somewhere along the line we lost this ability to be limitless. I believe to often we let others impose limitations on us. We believe someone when they say we can't do something.  We believe that we are not good enough and that certain levels of success are meant for other people. This i

Is fitness your Lifestyle or your Right Now?    I hate when I come back to my hometown and people ask me stupid questions like, "Do you still lift? Are you still training people? Do you still go to the gym?".  I am a peaceful person so I just smile and say yes, but my internal voice is saying, " Are you fu&$king kidding me!!!!?".  This is what I do! It's like me asking them, "Do you still eat food? Do you still sleep with your eyes closed?".      When I use to work at corporate gyms I remember people getting in shape for certain events. I remember guys who would train like animals for a few months just to look good for the summer. I also remember women who would get in amazing shape just for a wedding. There is no problem with wanting to look good for a moment in time, but there is a problem when you forget about working out after that moment. We get one body in life. I read a quote today that said something like, treat your body like the most e

   People know the truth when they hear it. Its always funny to me when someone lies to you and after you find out it was a lie you say to yourself, " I knew something wasn't right".  Your probably wondering what made me think about this. Well I just got back from a meeting with the FLO Family, and as I was driving home I thought to myself, what would make people want to meet at 8pm. I remember when I worked for a gym I would be pissed when we had meetings. So what's so different about meetings with FLO?    I thought for awhile about a this topic and could only really come to one conclusion,  people know bullshit when they hear it.  When you keep things real with people they want to listen. It is really that simple. People can see thru your BS. They know when your selling them or trying to push something that doesn't benefit them. Real recognize real! One of my favorite DMX lines is , "I say what's in my heart and you call it a style." . They know I

Setbacks are inevitable on the road to Mastery    In the book DRIVE by Daniel H. Pink he talks about the three Laws of Mastery, we will touch upon them but I strongly recommend that you read the book.         I believe I should first tell a definition of mastery before getting into this blog. Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something that matters. It is important to note that mastery is also an Asymptote. Meaning you can approach it, get close and maybe even touch it but you will never reach it. So why even bother trying to reach for something you can never get ? Because the joy is in the pursuit more than the realization.     I believe that being a trainer really matter. I believe we have the power to change lives and help people. This is why most people get into any business, those who do it for money or other extrinsic reasons will never be happy.       To often I hear the term Master Trainer and I want to vomit. What the heck does that mean? True mastery o

Do you suffer from "Functional Fixedness" ?     One thing I have noticed more and more is trainers suffering from Functional Fixedness.  What this means is that you look a something and only see one function for it.  For example you see a preacher curl bench and only think it can be used for curls, but if you use you imagination you realize that the pad is perfect for pushing. You can load a bar on the preacher curl bench and push the bench like a prowler sled.  (FYI, doing this exercise is one of the reason I got fired from a corporate gym)     Thinking outside the box is something that many people talk about but not many people do.  As trainers we tend to go to workshops and learn a few exercises on a piece of equipment. Then we never learn any new exercises with it, so we get bored and move on to the next cool toy. For example most trainers only use kettle bells for swings and Turkish get ups, however there are countless exercises you can use them for if you would just

Are you a light bulb, mirror or candle     I know what you are thinking, "Chris must be crazy!" , but I this idea just popped in my head and I had to share it. I feel there are 3 types of people, Light Bulbs, Mirrors, and Candles. Some can fall into different categories at different times but most times are dominated by one category.    So what do these 3 things mean?    Most people now and days are Light Bulbs, these are people who suck the life out of everyone around them so they can shine brighter.  These are the ones who take credit for the work of others, the kind of person who doesn't care what it takes as long as You get the job done. They give very little but expect a lot. The problem is that they shine so bright that we tend to overlook the destructive path that they leave. Look at most of the famous celebs, they have innocent kids and people all mixed in Their scandals.  My mom always said that everything that glitters is not gold.  This is so true in the

This blog was written by our students that assist in the training room. I think it is very helpful for all high school athletes to read. It is direct and to the point.      Preseason Survival Tips With the start of fall sports upon us, bad habits are resurfacing. These behaviors, however, are easily avoidable. The athletic training staff at the high school has compiled a list to prevent said bad habits . 1.                 Hydrate-Drinking 5 bottles of soda before practice is NOT hydrating. At a minimum, athletes should be drinking 4 water bottles a day. Drinking a giant bottle of Gatorade doesn’t count. You can have it, but it doesn’t count towards your water intake.                2.                 Stretching- Stretching doesn’t count as one, two, three done. It’s important to properly warm up before practice and stretch after practice. You can even watch Jersey Shore and stretch, it’s that easy!    3.                 Nutrition- Do you really think eating a Big Mac before runni

5 Levels of FLO The purpose of this article is to introduce everyone to the 5 Levels of FLO. This is a system that we have developed to train our Athlete’s both physically and mentally. Obviously we have not placed our exercise library on here due to the fact that it would be entirely too long.  So instead we placed our level system for the Athletes below.               For each new level the Athlete gets a new exercise library to chose from, a new color band and a book to read (this is the mental part of training). The goal is for the Athlete to reach the highest level of training as you would a black belt in martial arts.  The exercises progressively get harder and more intense with each new level.   So where is there room for the Fun training at FLO?             Many clients come to FLO because the amount of fun they have during each session. We still include our wacky FLObata’s and 5 min of Fun into our training sessions. Our goal was to find a way to be efficient and f

Dynamic & Crazy Then Back To Basics So as well all know, we don't take workouts lightly here at Flo Fitness or any other fitness facility we visit and workout at. We use fun and interesting equipment, performing functional movements in our training. We have a purpose when we train, not to just work on our triceps so our fist pump looks better when we hit the clubs. (Which we don't.. lol) We work out as a family here at Flo and mastermind different ideas to come up with movements and exercises to keep challenging our bodies. For example, TRX plyo push ups, TRX pistol squat jumps, FreeForm single leg curl, etc. and then we also have the crazy sandbag and kettle bell exercises, including our new addition, The Arc. After training this way, your body learns to adapt to that type of stressor, even though it is a very tough workout, but eventually the muscle responds the same way. This morning I went back to the oldies, doing push ups, dips, barbell rows, bicep curls, just to

“One Size Fits ALL Fits No One!” (thank you Frank Putcher for the quote)    Some may believe that All men and women are created equally, this may hold true in the court of law but in the world of fitness this is very far from the truth. No one person is the same, no one day is the same and therefore no one program should be the same.    Before I get into this and explain what I am talking about, let me first address some exceptions. If you are a strength coach that deals with hundreds of athletes a day or a group trainer obviously it will be impossible to make programs for each person in a group. So therefore most of what follows will not apply to you. There are always exceptions to rules. This blog is geared to the trainers who make up one program and make EVERYONE they train do the same EXACT thing.     If we are truly “Personal” trainers then we must learn how to train each person. At FLO we mostly deal with High School Athletes. Our main focus is injury prevention and designing in

Peak Seminar. A day with Joe and Dos    If I had to sum up today in one word it would be, AWESOME!     It started out with the FLO family going crazy in the FLOmobile. Jannel was in a super gitty mood, OZ was starving and stood outside of whole foods until they opened and Allison was complaining about her SCM hurting. So it was a crazy mourning to say the least.    Once we got to Peak it was like a home coming. Over the course of a year or so our family has grown close to many of the peak trainers. It's like Cheers, everyone knows your name.  They have a great staff that we really relate to.  There was also a host of other close friends that were taking the class so I knew it was going to be FUN!    Dos got things started with his presentation. He is one of the realist presenters I have ever seen. It was a no BS, straight to the point and funny as hell speech. He gave us the ins and outs of how he trains and why it works.  You could tell he had great passion for what he does

What Kind of Trainer Are You?    I was listening to an interview and one of the trainers made a great point in the interview. She commented on what kind of a trainer do you want to be. I never really gave that much thought but it is very key in our industry. There are many different types of trainers and depending on what you want to achieve will depend on what kind of trainer you want to become. It will also dictate where you want to locate yourself.    Here are some of the types of trainers that I see and think are out there. This is no scientific study, this is just my opinion. I’m sure I have left some out but here is my list. These are the areas people “specialize” in. Sports Performance  Movement Patterns Flexibility Speed and Agility Power Lifting  Weight Loss (10-60lbs) Weight Loss (60-up) Elderly  High School Athlete  Celebrity  Pro Athlete  Wellness Rehab This was just a quick list. The point is, there are so many people out there doing different things. We need to stop judgi

Do athletic trainers train athletes? Heck yes! Is that all they do? Heck no! Although my teachers would frown on this statement, here goes; basically we are a combo of an EMT, PT, and personal trainer in one.  To become an athletic trainer (ATC), you must have either four years of your bachelors in athletic training, or four years in a health science and then generally two years of your masters. You also need a certain amount of clinical hours (a lot); both with a team (on field) and in a rehabilitation setting.  Once that is complete you must take the board of certification exam to become a certified and licensed athletic trainer in your state. Our job description is: from the Bureau of Labor;  "Athletic trainers help prevent and treat injuries for people of all ages. Their patients and clients include everyone from professional athletes to industrial workers. Recognized by the American Medical Association as allied health professionals, athletic trainers specialize in the pr

So today we filmed our first DVD with Rich Mejias from Leverage Training. At the start of the day I had a mix of emotions, mostly being a little nervous but also feeling great that after 13 years of training and complaining about weak DVD's I finally was ready to put out some quality stuff. Once we got to leverage to film the feeling of knowing that something special was going to happen began to creep in. I can't explain it but something just felt right. OZ showed up pumped and ready to go. Then Allison came with Terrel and they were fired up. Alex came with his camera and started shooting photos. Kevin showed up looking like a scruffy director/camera man. Last but not least Mr. Energia (Marc) walked in and it was go time! At first we stumbled over words and had to get some jitters out. Once things got going it just flowed (no pun intended). It's like Jay-Z once said, "You put the right artist with the right track, and let God in the room". As I sat back

One big problem that I have noticed is that trainers seem to go from one extreme to the other. They either know nothing and do not cue during a session or they suffer from OCD (over cueing disease). I know people are happy when they learn new techniques or ways to train but keep the cueing to a minimum. No client wants to hear you yap for the whole session about how to do the exercise. They just want to do it. My theory is talk for no more then a minute on how to do the exercise and then cue a few points during it. You might not be able to fix everything in one session. The key is to fix what they are majorly doing wrong and fix the finer details later on. The next issue I want to address is along the same line of the OCD trainers; it is talking over the clients head. I believe every trainer should study anatomy and physiology but most clients do not know the name of every muscle, origin, insertion, nerve innervation, fascial line, ligament, tendon, aponurosis, process, foramen, et

"Most people are living a "Treadmill Life". They increase the speed/difficulties and inclines/challenges they face, but yet get nowhere fast". -FLO It appears that recently I have been viewed as a "Life Coach" by some people. I think they trust my judgement and feel comfortable telling me things. I have been blessed with this gift that people trust the advice I give them. It is something that runs in my family. I remember my grandfather always having people at his house asking for advice and also my father always being the go to guy for help and guidance. I truly do love helping others, but I have come across one big problem, and that is the "Treadmill Life" The "Treadmill Life" is the lifestyle that so many people are living now and days. People are busy doing a million things, yet nothing they do is actually helping them achieve their goals in life. Clients say they are too busy to do this or that, and they are honestly busy b