Hosting Seminars and Future Sessions

In the very near future I may be able to get Coach Ian King (March), Eric Serrano (May), TRX (TBD), GRAVITY (TBD), Kelli Calabrese(TBD), Phil Kaplan (TBD), etc... for seminars for a group and outside trainers. Does this interest you guys? It would mean paying an additional fee to attend and help putting the word out and getting others to attend. The cost for the group will be less than everyone else unless we decide to have a private session and we don't share our secrets with other trainers :) Give me some feed back on what you guys think. If you have no idea who these people are I will be brief in saying that the industry that we are in is very cut throat trainers don't want to share information because they feel your going to steal there business, other trainers bad mouth you to try and make themselves look better and so on. The names I have mention are industry leaders. They thrive by leading the way and not waiting to see what other trainers are doing. Many of the methods we use today both skills and business were developed by these guys. Enough said.

Future sessions so far I have 3 votes for covering foundations. It seems to be the leader so far. Lets get those votes in asap so we can begin planning our future :)

Flexibility Basics Workshop

Saturday January 26, 2008 we had our first practical skills workshop and we covered the topic of flexibility. Trainers were taught some basics of flexibility. This was definitely just the beginning. Most of the methods being taught for the flexibility basics course were taken from the teachings of Coach Ian King of Australia. The methods are practical and serve as a good starting point for a coach who wants to start implementing flexibility protocols into their clients training programs.

We discussed the many benefits of flexibility, the differences between flexibility and mobility. As a group we sorted through case studies of various clients such as the 48 year old female who has had 2 children doesn’t work out and wants to have the same body she had in high school.

The group as a whole took turns designing warm up protocols for older clients, clients with injuries, and groups that may train at the same time. The warm ups were compose of things as simple as raising the body temperature by riding a bike or walking on a treadmill to more complicated medicine ball and bodyweight only drills.

After the lecture portion of the workshop the group was taught stretches for the entire body with progressions to accommodate various levels flexibility for each client. After going through the practical portion of the class the group did a presentation to a small group of clients teaching them the benefits of a flexibility program. Everyone in the coaching group did a great job of teaching and answering questions from the clients before teaching all the clients various stretching techniques.

The following is some of the topics we discussed during the lecture portion of the workshop:

Flexibility Basics
Individual Stretching

3 Levels of stretching

Rehabilitation (Light) time spent stretching 5-10 minutes
Training/Competitive Preparation (Medium) time spent stretching 10-30 minutes
Injury Prevention (Heavy) time spent stretching 30-90 minutes

Keys to successful stretching

Warm up first (break a sweat before stretching)
Focus (treated w/same respect as a workout)
Relax (critical component for static stretching, don’t attempt to progress to the next stage until you are relaxed in the position or stage that you are in)
Breathing (control your breathing to assist in the relaxation process, seek to relax into the stretch during the exhale portion of your breathing)
Work at your level (don’t try achieve the same range as someone you are working with or someone you have watched stretch)
Progress in level of intensity with each repeat (1st set of a stretch should be a comfortable range, 2nd set look to move further, and again in the 3rd set attempt to go further, if there are additional sets each set follows the same additional set rules of attempting to go further. If your only completing 3 sets only the 3rd set would be pushed to a degree of discomfort, if doing 5 sets then this would hold true for the 4 & 5 set
Avoid inappropriate pain (if a stretch causes a high level of pain avoid it and look for a different stretch)
Do not compromise the correct technique (make sure your incorrect body position regardless of how it may appear)
Tighter side first (the side that you have identified as your tight side)
Ballistic stretching after static stretching (static stretching improves the length of connective tissue, ballistic or dynamic stretching is used to prep athletes for sporting movements
Good communication (is a must to avoid injury to clients)

We ended the coaching group with a discussion on future topics to be covered in the group. I look forward to seeing you guys at the MI pt 2 Workshop.

NORCAL 1st Meeting Motivational Interviewing Workshop

In our first meeting of the NORCAL Coaching group we started of learning how to become better coaches by using a behaviour change technique called Motivational Interviewing. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is defined as a client-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. In plain english as a coach/trainer we strive to find whats the real reason our clients came to us and how we can better help them after finding that motivator.

Highlights from the workshop:

After seeing how useful MI could be to the health and fitness world we began giving examples of our toughest clients to deal with such as the following:

• clients to busy to follow their programs
• clients who expect get back the body they had in high school when it was well over 10 years later
• clients that believe the informercials are telling the truth
• clients who dont want to lift weights and want to put on muscle
• clients who want to eat what ever they want and lose fat
• the list goes on etc...

After discussing our challenges we worked on solutions:

• set short and long term goals
• start with realistic programs and expectations
• menatally prepare clients
• become better listeners and understand why clients think what they think
• empower clients for success
• the list continues etc...

With that said how can we implement MI to help with our strategies.

During the interview process of a client we start using behaviour change strategies immediately:

• ask questions (open ended)
• find clients true interest/motivators
• establish a relationship/rapport with clients
• invite your clients into the relationship process by listening
• start at the begining
• enjoy the process
• open to truth (and all things difficult for that person) open to difficulities
• don't assume > communicate

4 Strategies for starting MI:

O-A-R-S

1. Ask open-ended questions
2. Listen Reflectively
3. Affirm
4. Summarize

A quick checklist on what a MI interview looks like:

1. Open the conversation
2. Ask open-ended questions
3. Negotiate the agenda
4. assess readiness to change
5. explore ambivalence
6. ask about "next step"
7. close the conversation

That's it for the first post. If you guys want to open a discussion about any of the topics we cover this is the place to do it so we can all benefit from the exchange of information.

See everyone on Jan 26,2008 for the Intro to Flexibility Workshop