I took a call from Charles Burch from EXF-Peform Better a couple of weeks ago to tell me that he’s secured three fantastic overseas speakers for the EXF-Perform Better two day summit in April in London…oh…did I forget to mention that! Yes, the turn around time on this one is pretty tight but it’s one workshop that you don’t want to miss. Check out who’s going to be there:
They’ve secured three speakers from the US. Robert dos Remedios will be back in the UK for only the second time and he’s got some terrific sessions lined up. Aaron Moser will be over representing Peform Better (the go to people for all things related to functional training and rehabilitation in the US) and Chad Skrederstu who runs Snow, Sand, Street.
Not to be outdone, the UK are represented by some serious S&C coaches including Duncan French, Neil Parsley, and yours truely! Duncan is a familiar name to regulars on the site and helped developed the P2P Olympic Movement Preparation DVD and training manualwith me. Neil works for the English Institute of Sport whipping the countries best combat athletes into shape whilst spending every other waking hour smashing clients at the Underground Training Station.
I think you’ll agree that the team at EXF have pulled together a great line up. Here’s a sneak peak of the topics that will be covered over the two days:
Robert dos Remedios – Cardio Strength Training
Personal trainers and strength & conditioning coaches alike will benefit from learning new, innovative, and extremely effective metabolic conditioning protocols. Help your clients and athletes shed fat, build muscle, improve their fitness and stoke the all important metabolic fire that serves as our fat burning furnace. Traditional steady-state cardio is not only ineffective at shedding fat and improving fitness, it can potentially compromise our valuable lean body mass. Learn efficient and effective training protocols that are backed in science and real-world results from best-selling author and award winning strength and conditioning coach Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS, SCCC. Coach dos has authored both Men’s Health Power Training and Cardio Strength Training (Rodale book) both of which were world-wide best-sellers.
Duncan French – Unlocking The Secrets of Multidimensional Speed and Agility
In this presentation Duncan will discuss how to take speed and agility to the next level. Duncan will show you how to develop athletes who can produce the right movement, at the right time, in the most efficient manner…at speed In this session you will not only find out the theory behind speed and agility development, you will have a chance to experience many of Duncan’s training concepts and drills first hand during the hands on training session.
Aaron Moser – Fitness Business Trends: Success Secrets From The US
In this session Aaron will provide and insight and offer advice on how to develop a successful PT business. In the lecture he will cover all of the new trends that you are starting to see pop up in the fitness world. Trends that have exploded in the US market due to things Like Small Group Training, Cross Fit, and the Biggest Loser. He will talk about how you can take these trends and grow your own business to the next level. For his hands on, Aaron will take the group through a 50 min group training with the 4 phases that we have to hit with that amount of time given…under control and, with purpose in mind.
Chad Skerderstu – A Global Perspective To Coaching
After spending a year, visiting 18 countries and observing over 60 fitness professionals Chad Skrederstu has found 5 similarities that great coaches around the world share in improving performance. The talk will discuss the strategies and methods the top fitness professionals around the world implement in a variety of populations ranging from Olympic athletes to average Joe’s. You’ll gain insight on coaching strategies, programme design and how to bring out the best in the people they work with.
Neil Parsley – Training The Athletic Engine In this presentation Neil will share with you the three components that he feels are the cornerstones of athletic development, balance, movement, and strength. He will show you his functional training methodologies and the essential tools that every S&C and trainer should have in their locker. Whether you’re playing sports professionally, or have a regular day-job, you need to be able to move and move well…Neil is going to show you how.
Nick Grantham – Prepare 2 Perform
The Warm-Up is possibly one of the most misunderstood and underutilised aspects of training by coaches and trainers. Sitting on a bike or jogging laps is just not acceptable. Nick takes a look at the concept of movement preparation in light of all the recent advances and will share with you how he sets about developing an effective movement preparation programme. This presentation will focus on a practical “how to” approach to things like foam rolling, stretching and mobility work, pre-activation activities with emphasis on systems that will work for personal trainers, strength coaches and sport coaches.
It’s going to be a great weekend, for full booking details visit
See you all on the 9th and 10th April at Southbank Uni in London…have a look at a couple of video’s from last years events. The first clip was the season finale, fantastic day in Oxford and the second clip was where it all kicked off last year in Ipswich
Well, I don’t but I thought it would be a cool title! Having said that I’ve just sat down and looked back at what I did in 2010…it’s amazing just how much you can get done in a year.
It’s at this time of year most people take a look back at what they got up to in 2010. I’m not a huge fan on dwelling on the past, but it’s nice to have a look at what you’ve done during the past 12 months., especially when you realise you’ve actually accomplished a fair bit!
January
January was pretty quiet for me. Richard “The Fitness Freak” Kennedy popped over from Ireland and spent a week picking my brains. He’s a top guy and has a nice little set up out in Ireland. At the end of January I headed north to attend the UKSCA tutor training workshop. I’m not usually a huge fan of this type of thing but it was a great 3 days and it was nice to see some old faces from my days at the English Institute of Sport (I think some of them were surprised to see that there is actually life after the EIS!).
February
In February I headed down to London with Duncan French to meet with the team for Nike to discuss a new project. SPARQ is the training division for Nike and we had both been invited down, along with another handful of coaches to see if we would like to work with them to launch SPARQ in the UK. It’s a bit of a no brainer really…Nike ”Would you like to work with one of the global leaders and help establish SPARQ Football in the UK and become one of six Performance Experts”…Nick “ermmmm, let me think for a second…YES!” We’ve had a great time working on this project and it will be interesting to see where it goes in 2011.
February was a month of epic road trips. On a dark and cold Friday night I drove Duncan French and Brendan Chaplin to Ipswich (yes I said Ipswich!!!) for the first EXF-Perform Better Learn By Doing Workshop . The team from EXF-Perform Better had found a great venue and the day went really well. Matt Lovell joined the 3 stooges and delivered a fascinating workshop on performance nutrition (his ’s cookery session was belting as well, and his recipes are a regular in the Grantham household!)
March
In March I headed down to the Wirrall to deliver the first of several workshops aimed at physiotherapists. It’s no secret that I think physio’s can pick up a lot from S&C coaches (and visa versa) and it’s been a real pleasure delivering these workshops this year. The first one took place at Arrowe Park Hospital and the rest has been history. I also had a chance to pop in and see my main man Neil Parlsey’s, gym The Underground Training Station. We had some fun, his MRT session knocked the crap out of me but the superb dinner cooked by his wife more than made up for it.
The highlight of the year also took place in March. I spent a whole day in the recording studio with Duncan French!! We were doing the voiceovers for the P2P DVD and whilst in my mind it was a bit like the Live Aid thingy the truth is we were not very rock and roll. No recreational substances, just copious cups of tea (not for Duncan, he’s a bit weird and doesn’t drink hot drinks). The poor sound engineer had his work cut out – one week he’s mixing Beverly Knight, the next it’s me and Dunc! The out takes role would be priceless!
April
At the end of April I headed down to speak at the Fitness Entrepreneurs Bootcamp. Not usually my sort of thing but I’m so glad I went, there were some superb speakers (Michael Heppel, Phil Richards, Nick Nanton). I also got a chance to catch up and hang out with Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove. Some how Alwyn managed to get a photo of him kicking the crap out of me worked into Michael Heppels Opening presentation…you may all know him as a fantastic coach, but he really is an arse! (Alwyn Cosgrove that is….not Michael!!). I had better take that back, I’m going on holiday to California for two weeks and if I’m not careful Alwyn will change the locks! They have another event planned for May 2011 – check it out.
May
May saw the start of all things SPARQ. It’s been fun getting out there and working with the clubs and players. It’s particularly interesting seeing the various fitness levels of players, from grassroots right the way through to the pro’s. Oh, and it was my birthday!!!
I also pulled my finger out and got some training information out there. It followed on from the presentations I’d been delivering at the start of the year. If you are a regular to this site you will know that everyone should train like an athlete and in May I lifted the lid on some of the strategies I use on a daily basis. Check out www.trainlikeathletesdo.com
June
In June I spent some serious time heading up and down the motorway to Scotland to work with the GB Women’s Basketball team. It was the first time I had worked with this squad and it was the start of a long summer!
The EXF-Perform Better seminar series came to an end in Oxford at the site of Roger Bannisters sub 4 minute mile. Once again, a superb workshop with some great presentations from Neil Parlsey, Charlotte Ord and Jon Le Tocq. Check out the footage from that final day in sunny June.
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Chad Skrederstu came over to the UK and spent some time with me in Newcastle. Chad is doing some great things at the moment and you really should check him out here. I’m looking forward to catching up with him in his back yard in April and seeing if he has developed a taste for Chilli’s yet.
July
Basketball – with the exception of some time off to celebrate my mums 75th Birthday, July was pretty much non-stop Basketball. We were bouncing around training camps and I even got to see the delights of Belgium (a place that I’ve not really liked since I travelled there with my Sunday League football team…it’s a long story). My experience this time round was much nicer, and I discovered the wonders of peppermint tea! I managed to squeeze some pre-season work in for some of the football and rugby players getting ready for the new season…which leads nicely to August!
August
August was the culmination of all the work with GB Basketball and the team made history when they qualified for the European Championships for the first time ever! (I have to give a big pat on the back to my partner in crime, Duncan (Mr Basketball) French, who had done all the hard work during the 4-5 years he had been with the GB teams – I was standing on the shoulders of a giant this year – cheers buddy (it was fun celebrating with you in Liverpool!).
June 2011 is going to be a very busy time!
We had some fun along the way…especially when Silky and Sam rocked up at SMART Fitness to see if they could cut it with one of GB’s training sessions. So much footage didn’t make the edit – these boys were hilarious!
I also dipped my toe into the world of professional football in August, taking on a consultancy role as the conditioning coach to one of the pro teams based in the North East.
September
When I left the Fitness Entrepreneurs Bootcamp in April I left with some notes scribbled in my pad . The notes related to developing a mentorship programme. Less than six months later I was stood with Duncan French in front of out first intake. Three intense days of learning followed and I’m so glad I grew a set of nuts in April and went for it!
At the end of the month I headed to London to take part in the Rat Race. I completed a similar event in Edinburgh the year before and I have to say the trip to Scotland was much better! Probably something to do with my complete lack of training! Oh well, good job I’ve not entered the Nokia Coast to Coast challenge in September 2011 then!
(Start of Day 2 – Officially hanging out my arse. There’s a reason why I always wear glasses – you can’t see the pain in my eyes!)
October
In October I started working with Northumbria University again on their intern programme. This is the third year that I’ve delivered this internship and it’s something I always enjoy doing. Taking students with book smarts and giving them some practical intelligence! It’s especially pleasing when you see interns that you’ve worked with go on to secure jobs working in performance sport.
November
The UKSEM Conference in London was a great event and I got a chance to share the stage with, Vern Gambetta, Frans Bosch and Kelvin Giles. Talk about pressure! It looks like I’ll be involved in 2011 and it will be great to spread the word of S&C among the doctors, surgeons and physiotherapists.
All good things come to an end and in November I decided to stop writing for Sports Injury Bulletin. I’ve been a regular for 10 years with my own column for the past 5 years and I figured it was time to let someone else have a crack. Although I’m no longer a regular in Sports Injury Bulletin I’ve got a couple of articles that will be going in there this year.
In December we finally launched the P2P Olympic Movement Preparation DVD and Manual. Six months later than we had hoped, but all good things are worth waiting for. We’ve been getting some great feedback and its great to see coaches from America, Australia and Europe using the resource.
Just as the year closed I agreed to be a regular for two magazines. Four Four Two are launching a new Performance section of the magazine (as well as a fantastic website with a ton of football related training information on it) and have asked me to contribute to the magazine and website. Fighting Fit is another great magazine for anyone involved in combat sports. What I like about this publication is that they are trying to lift the lid on sport science and strength and conditioning and show combat athletes how they really should be training (not just doing what historically has been accepted as the norm).
2011
2011 – I’m sure it’s going to be another exciting year. Smart Fitness continues to keep me busy and I’m fortunate to have some great coaches working for me (cheers Joe and Suzi!), making sure it’s still runs smoothly when I’m away coaching or delivering workshops (check out my speaking engagements and see if I’m coming to a venue near you!).
It will be interesting to see how the teams that I work with get on this year, it’s a big year for both teams, all be it for slightly different reasons!
Duncan and I are looking forward to the Spring Performance Training Mentorship Programme, We really enjoyed working with the coaches in September and I’m sure we are going to have another great group to work with at the end of March.
So, 2010 was a great year and I’m really excited for what 2011 brings.
I spent this weeked in Nottingham at the Fitness Entrepreneur Bootcamp, the brainchild of Paul Mort and Jon Le Tocq. This isn’t the typical event that I attend and I have to be honest I was wondering what to expect. Would it be high on razzamataz and low on content or would I run out of pages in my notepad?
The opening presentation was from Michael Heppell – The UK’s Leading Motivational Speaker. I admit I was squirming in my seat! Described as the cure for an average life and as one of the top three professional speakers in the world, Michael had is work cut out to convince me! 5 minutes later Michael had me joining in with the other 100 delegates as we battled it out to be the best at the Hair Bear Bunch dance…yes I know…I was in! The presentation was absolutely fantastic, and one of the key messages that I took from the session was to ensure that I developed ‘Ritz Carlton moments’.
Next up was Phil Richards. Phil and I share a background in pro level sport and our paths have crossed on a number of occasions (although we had never actually met). I was intrigued to hear what Phil had to discuss as many of the messages he had are not those that you would associate with a coach that spent 20 years developing as he describes them ‘angry men’ in the world of professional rugby. Phil is an incredibly well read nutritionist and conditioning coach and boy does he have some passion. He did a fantastic job of showing why much of our current nutrition beliefs could actually be making us ill and it certainly gave everyone food for thought, as we broke for lunch on the first day.
Paul Mort stepped up to the plate after lunch. He just needs a little help with his confidence! He is like a Geordie Energizer Bunny and spent 45 minutes sharing the secrets behind his system for developing successful fitness camps. Paul described how he has made a highly successful business from fitness training camps in the Northeast. He gave away many of his secrets to success and I’m sure that everyone who signed up to his masterminding group will have a very successful 2010.
I was next up and presented on why I felt that everyone should train like an athlete (the next time you can see me present this will be at one of the EXF-Perform Better workshops. The underlying message from my presentation was that the all too common default mode of placing clients on cardiovascular equipment and resistance machines falls well short of what clients deserve, and more importantly need if they are to get fantastic results from their training. I don’t think that I left anyone in doubt that everyone should train like Ken (one of my 65-year-old clients who out performs many of my younger clients in the gym).
With my presentation out the way I was able to sit back and relax and listen to my long time friend and colleague Alwyn Cosgrove deliver an excellent presentation on the 21st century fitness business model. What I found interesting was that at the heart of Alwyns model is what he calls semi-private training (poor guy couldn’t work out if he was Scottish or American and kept switching the way he pronounced it – 15 years living in the US will do that to you!). Working in small groups of between three and five clients at any one time. Having worked in high performance sport, this is something that I’ve always been used to. One-to-one training doesn’t happen very often in pro sports. However, you could hear the cogs grinding with many of the trainer in the audience as they tried to ditch their long held belief that personal training meant you had to work with one client at a time. At the end of his talk the penny dropped for many of the trainers in the room. Speaking from personal experience, the system works, why would you want to work with one person at a time when with a bit of effort and planning on your part you can increase the amount of people that your training impact on.
Bryan Kavanagh, one of Irelands up and coming coaches stepped up after Alwyn and took the audience through his ABS training system and showed how he gets great results with his clients. It was weird to think that all three of us had competed in Taekwon-do (Bryan has even fought some fighters that used to be juniors when myself and Alwyn were on the circuit – yes we are that old!) – it’s a small world.
Next up was Nick Nanton, CEO of the Celebrity Branding Agency. Nick has had a pretty amazing life. He has written best selling songs, been a producer, lawyer, branding and marketing consultant, best selling author and raving fan of Newcastle Brown Ale! His first talk explored how to develop your own personal brand to make sure that clients and the media sit up and take notice of you. It was an interesting talk – if only for the fact that I’ve never heard anyone speak so quickly!
At the end of the first day we headed out for some dinner before an impromptu 1.5 hour Q&A session with delegates that were just so eager to learn. We finally got to the bar for some more informal Q&A’s!
The second day was packed full of talks. Jon Le Tocq kicked proceedings off and shared his top tips for delivering exceptional customer service. Jon presented the 10 Commandments for Fitness Entrepreneurs and showed you can and WILL achieve anything you want once you’ve got your mind in the right place.
Tim Goodwin (MyFitGeek.com) showed the audience how to build a professional looking website at low cost, with zero coding, no geek speak, just easy to build good looking sites.
I missed out on seeing the final few speakers as I had to run Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove back to the airport but fortunately I won’t miss a thing as I ordered an advance copy of the Bootcamp DVD which has all of the presentations from the weekend on it!
Brilliant.
So now I will be able to watch Phil Richards share his training and programme design tips, Martin Perry discuss confidence and Lucy Johnson show everyone how she turns regular Fit Pros Into 7 Figure Income Fitness ROCKSTARS! Should be interesting.
I can safely say that if I wouldn’t have attended this sort of event 3 years ago…more fool me. I filled my pad with notes and it was a pleasure to be a part of the weekend. Thanks to everyone for their kind words about my presentation, I’m glad you all liked it and found it useful. Well done to Jon Le Tocq and Paul Mort for pulling off a great event (not bad for your first attempt fellas).
Well, I’m all set to head down to Nottingham this weekend for what I know will be an interesting two days. I’m speaking at the inaugural Fitness Entrepreneur Bootcamp and it will be a new audience for me.
The organisers have been working really hard to get the event up and running and even a few last minute travel problems with the international speakers hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm (the starter motor breaking on my car this weekend, causing me to rethink my travel arrangements seemed pretty trivial in comparison – I decided not to tell the organisers, I figured they had more improtant things to worry about!). There’s an incredible line up of speakers on pretty much everything you need!
- Advanced nutrition for unbelievable results.
- How to create ultra-effective marketing campaigns for next to nothing.
- How to build and optimize your website without breaking the bank or waiting for weeks
- How you can get in the minds of your clients and prospects for guaranteed sales….
I’m going to be presenting on Performance Based Conditioning – Everyone Should Train Like An Athlete which will explain why current training recommendations often fall short of the mark when it comes to getting results! I going to introduce my world of performance based training and explain why athletic based training programmes are superior to all other training.
I’m looking forward to share with the delegates how I’ve successfully transferred my detailed knowledge of training elite and recreational athletes into the public arena for rapid results. There will be no gimmicks, shortcuts or fancy stuff in this presentation, just solid, “real world” advice.
I’ve even added some additional information on "INVISIBLE TRAINING" – a bonus to what I think is already a decent presentation!
I bet you are wondering what an earth this post is all about….well all will become clear.
Bootcamps have become a very popular ‘class’ and if you are out and about early in the morning I can gaurantee that no matter where you live you will find men and women running, jumping and exercising in the local park, car park, beach or open space.
For many people in the fitness industry bootcamps are a bit like marmite – you either love them or hate them. I have to admit that at the moment people seem to love them! Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on it’s worth taking some time to read this guest post from Dax Moy. He makes some great points…enjoy.
Over to Dax…
I’m closing my studios down.
I’m quitting personal training for good.
I’m going to stop running courses for personal trainers with immediate effect.
Not!
But perhaps I should. Especially if I go by what many fitness marketing gurus are telling me.
They’re saying that personal training is dead. That the public neither want nor can they afford PT and that it’s the bootcamp that holds all the promise for the fitness professionals of tomorrow.
So maybe I and every other personal trainer on the planet that still works one on one with clients should quit and open up bootcamps in the very same parks as all these other guys and their bootcamps?
Maybe we should have 20-30 bootcamps to choose from in each and every park, beach and greenspace in every city to cope with this overwhelming demand for bootcamps that we keep hearing about.
Or maybe not.
Maybe this bootcamp craze that we’re going through is part of the process that my good buddy Alwyn Cosgrove is always talking about; over reacting in the short term and under reacting in the long term.
You see it all the time in fitness.
Swiss balls. Resistance Tubes. Bosu’s. Weight vests. Plyo’s. Functional Training and, dare I say it, kettlebells.
They’re all examples of the same short term over-reaction that I believe we’re currently experiencing with bootcamps; Fitness professionals getting carried away by the latest version of ISAIWI.
It’s Shiny And I Want It.
ISAIWI happens whenever something’s new and suddenly everyone has seen the light and believes they’ve stumbled upon the definitive answer to all their prayers. They’re so hypnotised by the new, shiny thing in front of them that they never stop to ask whether or not it actually does the job better than whatever came before. In fact, they don’t care, they just like the new.
I don’t blame them. I like new too.
New’s fun.
New’s stimulating.
New’s fresh.
But new isn’t always better, it’s not always right and, well, it’s rarely truly new.
Bootcamps are a bit like that when you really think about it.
Can they be fun? Absolutely!
Are they stimulating? They certainly can be.
Are they better?
Well, there’s a question…
To answer it you need a definition for ‘better’ in the first place, right?
In this instance we could say that bootcamp training makes fitness more affordable than PT. We could say that in most communities it will get more participants involved in exercise than PT which is no bad thing. And yes, it can create a fairly decent per hour income for the instructor that, in many cases, exceeds the income generated for that same hour by personal trainers.
So far so good for bootcamps.
But here’s where it gets… ‘hazy’ for me.
See, few of the truly great fitness professionals I’ve ever met, worked with or even heard of believe that lasting change in either fitness, fatloss or health in general is the result of attending organised exercise classes. None of the ‘field’ experts nor none of the researchers or scientist for one second believe that classes in and of themselves contribute to the lasting change that most clients seek and that most fitness professionals claim they want to provide.
Anyone who knows anything about long term adherence to health strategies knows that it’s a very cerebral process. One that requires coaching, reinforcement and, ultimately, paradigm shifting on the part of the client. I know of only a handful of bootcamp instructors who come anywhere near to offering anything near that approach and, clearly, with just 2-3 sessions of 30-40 minutes a week shared by 20-40 other bootcampers, even as good as they are, they aren’t going to be very effective at doing any ‘mind work’ with their class participants.
And let’s be honest here. It IS just a class.
Other than a few people out there who are delivering military style bootcamp ‘beastings’ (which is a subject for another post) most ‘bootcamp instructors’ are simply delivering fitness circuits outdoors. No problem with that at all. I was a soldier myself, I went through bootcamp training for real and I love outdoor training but calling it ‘bootcamp’ doesn’t suddenly elevate it to another realm of fitness provision. It’s still a circuit training class, right?
Yet you don’t hear the guru’s calling for personal trainers to give up PT to become circuit training instructors do you?
Why?
Because the industry would see it for what it is. A market that would soon become over-populated and over marketed just like aerobics, pilates, step and all those other church-hall fitness businesses leaving some with busy, thriving classes and others struggling to find available space that they can afford as well as trying to find people to their classes.
But name it ‘bootcamp’ and people don’t see it anymore.
Funny that.
So look, here’s how I see it. Outdoor circuits are here to stay. Just like aerobics, step, tae bo, spinning and all of those other group classes you’ve heard about over the years. And just like these classes, outdoor circuits will go through a massive surge in popularity, a slow dropoff and, eventually, they’ll be run by the relatively small percentage of instructors who can make them profitably work in their local parks and greenspaces (even now, local authorities around the globe are catching on to the bootcamp craze and looking for ways to charge you to a licence to use their parks, forests and beaches).
Just like PT, bootcamps will become the province of those professionals who know how to get a good mix of marketing, results and experience shared around their communities and the rest will either be discouraged by low attendances, low profits or high overheads as the parks ask for their share of the wealth.
One thing’s for sure though. There will always be a need for those people who are able to offer a highly personalised, highly professional and highly niched, specialised blend of lifestyle, exercise and nutrition especially among those for whom exercise class participation is inappropriate, inadvisable or simply ineffective.
So let the guru’s talk about the death of the Personal Trainer all they want. It ain’t happening anytime soon, and nor should it.
Personal training may need to change and become even more specialised than it currently is but it ain’t dying. It’ll still be here when bootcamps have gone out of vogue and the next instalment of ISAIWI shows up and some people will still be making a fortune at it and some will still struggle, just like in any industry or profession.
Cream rises to the top. Always. Regardless of whether you’re a PT, bootcamp instructor or anything else, choose to be the cream and your success is assured.
Dax Moy
P.S – I’ll get this out of the way so that you’re clear before any outdoor circuits instructors post me hate mail : )
1. I have nothing against class instructors of any kind. They perform a vital role in our communities and make fitness fun and affordable to a large number of people.
2. I have myself run outdoor circuits very successfully and helped numerous students to do so.
3. I have been in a real bootcamp both as a recruit and as an instructor so feel more qualified than most to comment on what is or is not a bootcamp.
4. I have issue with any class that randomly throws exercises, loads and reps together in a ’screw it let’s do it’ fashion.
5. I believe that ‘beasting’ type of training has no value for the public, limited value for soldiers and athletes and even then in limited doses.
6. I believe that if your idea of long term exercise prescription is a deck of cards then you’re doing yourself and your clients disservice.
7. I don’t believe that a class of 20, 30 or 40 people can ever get enough attention from 1 instructor to ensure that the workouts are truly safe and effective.
I really enjoyed reading this article when Dax first published it and I’m really grateful that he has allowed me to publish here. Thank you Dax.
Anyone that reads the articles on this site regularly will know that I’m big on coaching and developing your underlying principles that support the training methodologies/tools that you use to get the job done. Personally I think ‘outdoor classes’ and ‘group training’ sessions have their place when they are being delivered by a great coach with specific purpose in mind.
We run some short term ‘group training classes’ at Smart Fitness from time to time (and our members love them…but they don’t do it 52 weeks of the year!). My good friends and colleagues, Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove run group training sessions at their Results Fitness facility but that is not all they do!. Carmen Bott, who we recently interviewed for this site also has her own take on group training (L.I.F.T. Camps) where the emphasis is on coaching and education…not beasting!
What I know about these coaches is that their group training sessions are just a small part of their overall operations. They are not the ‘bootcamp’ guys…they are coaches that may choose to use group training when it helps their clients achieve their overall aim and when it is appropriate to do so.
I think individual and semi-private COACHING will be here long after the majority of mass participation bootcamps have come and gone (from discussions with colleagues in America there is already a movement away from this type of training). The few bootcamps that survive will all have a good COACH running them!
Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove were in the UK on vacation and we spent some time with each other over the bank holiday weekend. I was a bit cheeky and asked if Alwyn would spend ten minutes running through some of his business and training tips. In the first of a series of interviews Alwyn reveals some of the key strategies that you can use to take your business to the next level.
I’ve read from cover to cover my copy of Alwyn’s business book that he launched back in January 2009 "55 Fitness Business Strategies for Success" and I know that the simple and effective advice outlined in the book has really helped me develop my business this year.
Listen to what Alwyn has to say about his Business Mentorship Programme and his top 3 tips that will help you to stop counting reps and start counting revenue!
EXCLUSIVE: UK BUSINESS SEMINAR
If you would like to listen to Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove live in the UK let me know. We are looking at hosting an exclusive 2 day event in which they will deliver their highly successful Business Mentorship Programme. We are looking at London based venues and hope to be able to get this up and running for a weekend in October.
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