“Once Again, Back Is The Incredible!”

March 29, 2007

A few weeks ago I saw the all time greatest rap group and one of the best and most influential bands of any genre, ever; Public Enemy. It’s quite possible that I have seen more concerts than anyone on the planet but that was by far and away the best. If you don’t have any PE on your training mixes you are seriously missing out. Some must have, immediate downloads are:
-Lost at Birth
-You’re Gonna Get Yours
-Bring The Noise
-Night of the Living Baseheads
-Rebel Without a Pause
-Terminator X to the Edge of Panic
-Party For Your Right to Fight
-Can’t Truss It
-Fight the Power
-Brothers Gonna Work it Out
-Burn Hollywood, Burn
-Son of a Bush
-Welcome to the Terrordome

The New York Jets head strength coach, Sal Alosi, Performance Coach, Keith Scott, “Rob The Bouncer” aka “The Doorman” and I have all had thousands of great workouts to the sounds of Chuck D and Flavor Flav. I highly recommend you do the same.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Motivation, Music | Leave a Comment

Difference Makers

March 21, 2007

Originally written in 2005 for EliteFTS

070618 kazmaier Difference Makers Despite the busiest summer I ever had both professionally and socially, my training has been better than ever lately. I’m hitting PR’s on everything and the weights on all of my assistance exercises are flying up. For the past several years not much has changed about the way I train, nothing drastic at least. This summer, however, I made several major changes which I believe all played a large part in helping attain the outstanding results I have been getting recently. Following is a list of the changes I made and why I think they made such a difference.

1) Not getting too fired up all the time. This has always been a problem for me. Although I caution against it and know that it does nothing but fry your CNS, I have never been able to control the rage within me. Until recently. It took dozens of injuries, the final one being a torn rotator cuff, to finally realize that it was time to change my ways. In the past I would get fired up for literally every set I did. Not frothing at the mouth fired up, but I would get a little more intense than I needed to get. Every rep of every set would be a challenge issued to my training partners. I have since ended that nonsense, thanks in large part to Jim’s influence, and my training has been much better for it. I still train hard but never get excited, scream, spit or shake before or during any set. The only time I get remotely crazy anymore is if I am going for a new PR on a bench, squat or dead. But never for a board press, box squat, or rack pull.

2) Eliminating my DE bench day. This was done because I had no other choice. I could not bench due to by shoulder injury so I had to do other things on this day. The truth is that I was toying with the idea of eliminating this day before the injury occured. I just didn’t see myself getting much out of my speed bench days anymore. It also took time away from my workout that could have been used on hypertrophy and prehab work that I thought was more beneficial to me. Being a naturally super skinny guy, I lose size incredibly quickly. By turning this day into a bodybuilding/hypertrophy day I feel like this made it easier to maintain size which in turn made it easier to get stronger. The other benefit of dropping the DE bench was that I had now eliminated one CNS intensive day out of my four weekly training days. Speed bench presses with bands are highly demanding on the nervous system; incline dumbbell presses and chin ups are not. This is a HUGE benefit of eliminating this day and the impact on the other three training days can not be overlooked. By saving your nervous system on even just one out of four days, I think you can make greater gains across the board. This day was easy both mentally and physically and while ME days are usually accompanied by the sounds of death metal or hardcore hip hop, I could easily get by with The Stones or Zeppelin on a day like this. Even the eardrums need a break sometimes too.

3) Eliminating my DE lower body day. Now I know some people will think I’m out of my mind for saying this but I know that this made a huge difference in my ability to recover. This summer my second leg day consisted of going outside and doing strongman training. Again I eliminated yet another CNS intensive day from my weekly training schedule. This brought my CNS intensive days from four per week to two. That makes an enormous difference right there. Secondly I took the bar off my back one day a week. Whereas I used to always do DE box squats once per week and squat or pull heavy on another day, I was now only doing one heavy squat/deadlift day per week and not letting a bar touch my spine again until seven days later. I felt much better doing this and my numbers climbed rapidly each week, whereas in the past, gains were slower to come by. On my strongman days I would drag sleds, flip tires, do farmers walks, push cars, pull ropes, etc.

4) Doing more work above 90%. In the past my max effort days used to consist of three lifts at or above 90%. Over the last few months I have slowly increased that number to six lifts on upper body days and five on lower body days. This has been accompanied by a reduction in volume on my assistance work. The results have been tremendous and I would highly recommend that people give this a try. I may even try to up the number even more over the next few months just to see what I can tolerate and what yields the greatest results.

5) Spreading my four workouts out over eight to ten days instead of seven. I have only started to do this over the last months but even in that short time period I have realized that this is the way to go for me and will be what I stick with long into the future. It allows me to recover better and keeps my joints and my body in general feeling better.

6) Listening to my body more. In the past I had set days of the week to do certain things. Now I have an outline of what I WANT to do, but that doesn’t always end up being what I DO do. I said that I now spread my workouts over eight to ten days and the reason for that is that some weeks it could be eight days and other weeks it could be ten, it all depends on how I feel. If I am supposed to train on a certain day and just don’t feel up to it I will push it back until tomorrow. I used to train for three weeks straight at a steady volume and then have an unloading week on the fourth week. During the three week loading period, I would always do singles on max effort days and then do rep work on week four. Over time I reduced that to two weeks at high volume with max singles followed by a one week deload and the results were even better. Nowadays I do not plan my low volume weeks. I only have low volume or sometimes no volume days, when I feel like I need one. I haven’t kept track of this but it probably will amount to the same amount of low volume days at the end of the year.

Also, I have been trying to take a day off between training sessions but tonight I trained for the second day in a row and set on new PR on the deadlift. I was feeling okay and decided that I had too much work to do tomorrow so I would just do it tonight. Now I’m assuming I will still be fried from tonights workout when my next ME upper body day rolls around in two days so I may just do some rep work on that day. This is obviously not something you can tell a beginner to do and is no excuse for being lazy, it’s just that after nearly fifteen years of training I now know how to listen to my body and get the most out of myself. All of this is collectively known as cybernetic periodization and is, in my opinion, the only way for an advanced lifter/athlete to train.

7) Not training with a partner anymore. I have always stressed the importance of good training partners and have said that training with a partner will lead to greater gains in less time. I still believe that to be the case in most situations but I discovered that this is not necessarily true for me. First of all, not having a training partner allowed me to implement changes numbers one, five and six. If I had a training partner I could not effectively turn down my intensity. That’s just the nature of the beast. When I train with some one, I have to beat them at all costs. Even though I am not a cheerleader when I train, most of my training partners tend to be or even if they are not I know they are watching me closely and the male ego/testosterone kicks in and I usually end up pushing myself too far. Secondly, I would not be able to spread my workouts out over seven to eight days if I had a training partner waiting to train with me on certain days. Lastly, I could not listen to my body and scrap the plans for a max effort lift in favor of some high rep assistance work if I had a training partner. He would be there ready to go to war and I would have to answer the call no matter how terrible I felt. This is when I get hurt and stop making progress.

I still stress the importance of the right atmosphere and surrounding yourself with the right people, it’s just that for me, regularly scheduled head to head competition and being there for some one when I don’t feel up to it isn’t the best plan anymore. While many people need to be pushed to train harder, I have to be cajoled into training “easier.”

While I will never me mistaken for WWE world heavyweight champion, Batista, or out squat Jim Wendler even while wearing three squat suits while doing a reverse band squat, I still love to move heavy iron and make progress in my workouts. I always practice what I preach and try to better myself and learn something new in the gym on a daily basis. By implementing all of the changes listed above I have jump started my training and have been making better progress than I have in years. Hopefully, by sharing what worked for me, I can help some of you get your training back on the right track and get your numbers climbing again like they used to. Good luck and train smart.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning | Leave a Comment

"Can’t Truss It"

March 20, 2007

So I ran out of protein powder about two weeks ago and decided to take a quick ride to the supplement store to grab a new bottle. The choices were limited and I was in the mood for something different. In a lapse of judgement I bought a bottle from a company that I shouldn’t have. It’s not the most reputable company and the owner has a history of dabbling in illegal activities. So it’s really my own damn fault.

For the next five nights I hardly slept a wink. I found out that this was because there is something in the bottle that’s not listed on the label. I haven’t been sick in a few years but five all nighters in a row brought that streak to an end and crushed my immune system. I woke up early last week with my throat swollen shut and spent the rest of the day hacking up a lung.

Now I have been sick and getting smaller and weaker for the last seven days.

The point is this; only go with reputable companies that have been around a while and that are lab tested and that you know can be trusted.

I have been saying that for years but unfortunately didn’t take my own advice.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Nutrition | Leave a Comment

The Business

March 19, 2007

Originally written in 2006 by Alwyn Cosgrove & Jason Ferruggia for EliteFTS

business school The Business Over the past year, we have both received tons of emails and phone calls that go something like this: “I have listened to you for a while now and have purchased several products from you. I’ve watched you and your reputation grow.”

Or like this: “What was the one thing you did or the one step you made that took you from being a ‘personal trainer’ to a more accomplished fitness expert? Basically, what got the ball rolling for you and got you that first break? How did you leap frog the competition? What advice would you give someone aspiring to do the same?”

Normally, we have no problem answering these questions, and we have helped many trainers with their businesses. Recently, however, there has been an alarming trend that we’ve both noticed. People seem to think that the “in the trenches” experience is a step they can skip.

AC: Prior to anyone in the field having “heard” of me through products, websites, or magazine articles, I had been financially successful as a trainer full-time for over 10–12 years. I had opened my own fully equipped gym with four full-time staff and saw close to 300 members 2–3 times per week. While I do make money from writing articles, etc., the bulk of my income comes from my gym. The current line of thinking seems to be that training people and getting results is unimportant and not really required to become a well-known trainer. However, it’s the only thing that IS required.

JF: I didn’t leap frog any competition, and I am far from an overnight success. People see my column in Men’s Fitness or see me on the staff at EliteFTS.com, and they wonder what I did to get there and how they can do the same. The people asking me this question have usually trained three people and have been in this field for about a year.

Do you want to know how I became successful, got in the magazines, and got people to pay big money for my advice and buy my products? Do you want the simple formula for becoming a big success in this industry?

Ok, I’ll give it to you. Start training people when you are 19-years-old and going to college. Continue to do so until you’re done with school. Read a book a week for the next 13 years, go to countless seminars, and do internships. Pay anyone you can find for advice; some of it will be good and some of it will be bad. Use every possible method and system of training you can find or invent one for yourself first and your clients second. Train literally hundreds and hundreds of clients for 6–12 hours per day for ten years. Get great results in your own training and with your clients CONSISTENTLY.

When you have done that, you will have achieved your “overnight success.” That’s when you should start writing articles. Alwyn and I were both in the trenches for at least ten years before we ever wrote an article. We both believed that we had no business trying to spread our word to the masses until we had paid our dues and earned that right. For some reason, this is the only field where people don’t seem to follow that same line of thinking. How long do you think Paul Tuttle of Orange County Choppers worked on bikes until he got a TV show? A year or two? Come on now, we all know better than that. How long do you think Chris Garver was tattooing before Miami Ink debuted on TV? Chris was recently quoted as saying, “It seems like anyone can become a tattoo artist these days, but it takes a very long time to become a good one.”

I agree 100 percent. I’ll add that it seems like anyone can become a trainer, strength coach, or internet guru these days, but it takes a very long time to become a good one. In the shop where Chris Garver works, there is an apprentice named Yoshi. Before they will allow Yoshi to tattoo anyone, he must learn from the masters and pay his dues. This is how it should be in our industry. You shouldn’t be able to get in the magazines or on the websites if you haven’t paid your dues. It’s that simple. If you’re going to trust someone with your body, who do you want putting your tattoo on you—Chris Garver or some art school graduate who can talk a great game and even has a whole portfolio of Marvel Comics characters he drew to show you? By the same token, if you trust someone with your body in a different way (i.e. getting training advice from them), who are you going to listen to—someone who has spent the last 15 years in the gym and has amassed over 10,000 hours of working time with clients or the guy who just got into this field a year ago, has received 28 certifications in that time, and can quote everything Mel Siff ever wrote word for word?

Now don’t get us wrong. We are all for helping everyone that we can. There are plenty of up and comers in this industry who will tell you that we’re always willing to answer their questions and do whatever we can to be of assistance. We don’t blame anyone for trying to make a living, and we love to see people succeed. It’s just that if you’re going to write about training people, you actually have to TRAIN PEOPLE!! And not just for a few years. That does not make an expert. Get a successful training business up and running, put in the time and effort, and then you may be ready to speak to the masses.

The problem is that we both came up the hard way, the old-fashioned way I guess. We spent thousands of hours in the trenches and experienced many ups and downs and hard times on our way to the top. It was never easy, and we struggled to make it many times. But, we persevered and earned our spots. The thing that pisses us off sometimes is the fact that nobody wants to do that anymore. People expect to come straight out of college, get in the magazines, write a few books, charge $400 an hour, and become a superstar. It’s a little disrespectful to guys like CJ Murphy, who has busted his ass in the gym for close to 20 years working, learning, and getting unbeatable results. He is so busy that he barely has the time to even turn on the computer, never mind becoming an internet guru. Murphy will never starve because he is doing things the right way and always has. If the magazines decide not to pay him anymore for his very limited time, he’ll be fine. The guru’s who have based their whole career in this industry on writing and selling products but haven’t done time in the trenches will one day be exposed and left with no choice but to find a new career path. Like Ice Cube once said, “You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.”

So, more articles and more products do not necessarily equal more success. Just keep that in mind. Don’t confuse “publicity” with being good at what you do. There are several well-known “trainers” out there. We were making good money actually training people FIRST. THEN, magazines started asking us about training and people asked about products. The articles and products came as a result of our reputation. They didn’t help us get clients, or get good at our craft.

Good trainer first, marketing second.

AC: I mentioned this once to a “business adviser” in the fitness industry. I had commented that Trainer X literally had no clients. Not one. Yet, he was positioning himself as some sort of expert in the field, working harder to get magazine articles published and products released than he was getting clients and actually doing what he talked about.

I thought it was a valuable point, but the “business adviser” disagreed. He said, “I think it’s great. He has skipped all the bullshit and is making some money and a real name for himself.”

But it’s NOT great. It’s deceitful.

What these people really do is journalism, not training. This is fine, but they’re claiming more than just writing skills. The best journalists and magazine editors we know have never said they were trainers.

If training people and mastering your craft is “bullshit,” then I don’t know what this industry will become. There seem to be several guys out there who are excited at having “skipped all the bullshit” (their words). They are now writing articles and selling products without having spent any time “in the trenches.” Why are they proud of this? They should be ashamed of it.

How can you “skip” the “in the trenches” experience? That’s not an option.

It’s also a key indicator or CLUE of their real intentions. We all got into this for the same reasons—because we have a huge passion and want to help people get better. The best way to do this is face to face, and it’s also the best way to make a difference. If you skip this step, then what difference are you really trying to make? Why are you in the coaching business anyway?

We know guys who have little to no real world experience training people, yet pride themselves on how many articles they have had published. Are you kidding me? The guys with no experience are some of the biggest names in the field. You’d recognize their names if we published them.

If you just won the lottery and needed to invest your money, would you go to a kid that is green in the business with zero money of his own? Or would you more likely trust the guy with a few million in the bank who has been helping clients for years? If you knew this, would your decision be based on experience or publicity? What if the new guy had all kinds of nice looking ads in the paper with a daily column? Would this influence your decision? Or would you go with your gut and seek the guy with the money and experience?

It’s almost as nuts as a guy who has never trained any tennis players or no more than a few high school kids EVER writing an article about training tennis players. Crazy, huh? Oh wait…

Honestly, we have more respect for some of the personal trainers who are working long hours at 24-hour fitness facilities and are actually getting people in shape. They are putting food on the table for their families based on their ability to get results, not just their marketing.

Now, we want to be clear that we don’t think “paying your dues” means taking a shit job, or making shit money. But recently it seems that guys think putting your time in, actually getting good, and spending time on developing your skills in the real world is a step that can be missed.

Unfortunately, becoming a high profile trainer has recently been marketed as if it were a separate issue from just being really good.

It’s the equivalent of starting karate and saying, “I need to skip all the bullshit between yellow and blue belt and just tell people that I’m a black belt. If I skip all that, write some articles, and make some products, I’ll be making black belt money!”

The problem is that you can buy the black belt, make a certificate, and “act as if” all you want. But when push comes to shove—and eventually it will—you’re going to be exposed as a white belt. In other words, you’re a liar.

Before you even focus on trying to expand your business, or your profile, make sure that you’re technically really good at what you do. Everyone thinks that they need business development, and this is true, but most of the trainers I’ve met need to get better at training first! You can’t skip this step. Being really skilled at what you do is the only guaranteed way to improve your business. Marketing and business practices are very important but will only take you so far. Great marketing and a great image will be exposed if you can’t back it up by producing real results with real people.

If you’re just a good personal trainer, start educating yourself rapidly. The more you learn, the more you can earn. It’s that simple. And it’s important to understand your limitations. We all have limitations when it comes to experience. For example, we’re not powerlifters. We don’t train powerlifters, and as a result, you will never see us posting in the Q&A on EliteFTS.com in any areas we do not feel comfortable. We’re not the strength experts. That’s why we ended up seeking out Louie Simmons and Dave Tate and their educational material. It’s ok to find someone to help you. We’re not the diet, supplement, or drug experts either. We might not even know as much as you do. But, we definitely know someone who knows more than you, and all we have to do is call him.

We DO have years of experiencing training athletes and regular people. This is what we do, and what we love to do. This is what we know.

If this step is something that people are looking to skip, then they are in the wrong field. So what do you do? Up until now, this has been little more than a rant. Well, that’s not us. Here is our plan of attack to take your career up a notch.

1. Set benchmarks of success that you want to hit. If you work in a club, maybe you want to become the head trainer or the busiest trainer? Perhaps you just want to have a full client load or charge more money?

Maybe you want to go out on your own or open your own place? (Keep in mind that although it seems like a goal, opening your own place or even working for yourself is maybe not the way you want to go. There are some GREAT trainers who have made a name for themselves working for someone else. Martin Rooney and Stephen Holt come to mind.)

If you’re just starting out, seek out a mentor to help you. Offer to assist them for free or even pay them for their time. It will put your experience and education on the fast track to a level far beyond any financial investment you may make.

2. Establish a level of excellence in everything that you do. How’s your exercise technique? How’s your client’s exercise technique? What if you’re not there?

Your client’s exercise form, without your supervision, is a window into your abilities. If you took a vacation and Dave Tate was supervising your AVERAGE clients’ squat workout (not your star client!), would you be proud of their form, or would you have the excuses lined up?

3. Create a replicable system of program design. There has been a backlash against formal program design recently. The attitude has been “I don’t know what I’m doing exactly until I get to the gym.” This is acceptable when it comes from an experienced trainee, but in business, systems are everything. We should be able to write a program exactly as you do, without your input, by merely following your directions. This is the first step into hiring staff or increasing your business.

4. What are the results of your TYPICAL client? We all have the superstars that we can hold up and say “this is our work!” Well, guess what. ALL your clients are your work, even the “athletically challenged.” It’s easy to show us a picture of a pro athlete who you work with or a Men’s Health cover model and take all the credit (even though these guys were pro athletes or models before they even met you). Your reputation is built on improving the average client, getting Johnny off the bench and into the game, getting 30 lbs of fat off of Suzy. Raise the standards of your results across the board.

5. Think about the type of clients you want. You may want to train baseball players exclusively but right now only 10 percent of your clients come from that niche. How can you target more in that market? Maybe it means offering your services to some local kids for free to build your reputation?

And what kind of clients do you have? If you were to classify them as A, B, C, or D, with A being a highly motivated client in your target market, who trains hard, never cancels, is a great ad for your business, and refers other clients, and D being “you need the work to pay your bills,” how would you classify them? (You can use any system of classification that you want but hopefully you get the picture.) Every three months, you should be able to “trim the & fat” and get rid of the bottom tier of clients. If this isn’t the case, then it’s doubtful that your skills are where they need to be.

6. Start studying the ancillaries of your profession. For example, if strength is your forte, then make sure you have a basic understanding of nutrition, mobility, energy system work, flexibility, and injury prevention/rehabilitation. The goal is NOT to become an expert in all of these areas, but to build a basic level of competence so that you can communicate on the topic and establish who the experts are in these areas. You want to look for THE expert and also the LOCAL expert. This helps build a network for you to consult. It has basically been the impetus behind the Elite Fitness advisory team. To be quite honest, until you are good at what you do, no one cares about your ability to write about it or wants to view your new DVD on it!

7. Now it’s time to study business. Magazine writing and product development all hinge on your abilities as a trainer. Getting good is not a step you should want to skip. If you want to get away from training and coaching, then maybe this field is not for you. Coaching is why we all do this. Don’t be in a hurry to get past that stage.

8. If you want to write, STUDY writing. Some of the top journalists in this field, such as Sean Hyson, Adam Campbell, and Lou Schuler, have spoken to more top trainers than anyone else. These guys know a great deal but NEVER pass themselves off as trainers. Don’t be disrespectful to these guys and think you know how to write. Learn your craft.

9. Business book number one has to be The E Myth by Michael Gerber. Your goal should be to read this book ASAP. A good goal is to read a business book a week, alongside studying training.
The second book to read is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It has about 15 chapters. Keep reading this book. Read a chapter a day every day so that you basically read it twice a month.

10. While we’re on the subject of reading, a competent trainer should be reading Entrepreneur magazine, Fortune Small Business, Inc, Fast Company, etc. You should also be reading all the fitness magazines and websites. You can make fun of the fitness magazines all you want, but it’s what your clients are reading and you should know what’s out there. And face it, there’s not a single trainer out there who wouldn’t love to have a column or article in a national magazine. Read the magazines.
(I once read some criticism on an internet forum that said, “Do you think Alwyn Cosgrove will hurt his reputation with his recent book deal and Men’s Fitness column?” Yeah, right. Every trainer on the planet would hate a mainstream book deal and a column in a national magazine because it might hurt their reputation on a forum.)

11. Attend any and all seminars in your area. You’re not that good that you can afford not to attend. We’ve never got dumber from attending any educational event. In fact, the networking alone is worth more than the seminar fee. And don’t limit yourself to only training events. You want your butt in all the business seminars in your area also.

So overall, getting to the next level takes time. There aren’t any steps you can skip or moves you can make to leapfrog the competition. You just need to have a methodical plan to improve your skills and therefore your business, and do everything in your power to execute that plan.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Business | 3 Comments

Age is No Excuse

March 15, 2007

I would like to start by thanking everyone for all the positive responses to the last post on using age as an excuse.

Here is just a small sample of what you guys had to say…

“Good rant; problem many have is that the medical /allied health community sets the bar way too low. Unless there are serious orthopedic issues or other serious medical issues then most people underestimate their physical capabilities. Our job is to enlighten them and show them the way. Many of those medical conditions are diseases of misuse/ disuse, anyway. Use it or lose it, baby.”
Bruce Kelly,M.S. CSCS,NSCA-CPT
******************************

“As they say in the Bronx…not for nothin’…but I was almost a pro baseball player ( Pirates’ minor league system 1967 ), was D-III ECAC offensive player of the year 1966, ran 6 marathons b4 I turned 35…and I believe that over the last 5 years I have been in the best shape of my life! Used to bench 350 lbs @age 22…now I can do 225 lbs 27 reps ( I don’t even care about 1rm’s any more…never did body fat measurements in my youth ( did anybody? )…but last year I had a body fat of 9%…and I even did pretty well 2yrs ago in avoiding being robbed by 2 young guys in a Citi Bank – I walked out…they did not…

Jason, as you may remember, I am 58 years old…and I am Sly’s biggest fan…you are so right that you are not limited my age so much as attitude and commitment…

Love to hear stories about people who refuse to be bound by stigma or pre-conceived notions of others…or my their own laziness.”
Jan Rovelli
***********************

“Great write up. I too have a client who uses age as a way of bailing out of goals he sets for himself. I do understand that as we age we must restructure our training a little, but for me who will turning 40 this year, I look forward to taking off my shirt and showing other 40 year old men that with smart training and nutrition and dedication you too can look like your 35 instead of your age.
Thanks for the motivation Jason.
Keep up the good work coach,
Richard Bell
************************

“Jason, glad you brought this point up! I hear people say all the time “I’m old” or “I’m getting too old to do this!” We are only as old as we let ourselves become, strive to be your best at whatever age you are. It is my hope that more people will come to realize they are never “too old” to try to be their best.”
Aaron Pickens
South Carolina
************************

“You probably won’t get to read this but i wanted to comment on your last email…
This email was incredible. I can’t agree with you more. I absolutely can’t stand the age / time excuse.
You can MAKE TIME and the body can BE TRAINED at any age.

Here is one to ad for you.. My grandfather ( Robert Shellenberger, of Columbia, Pennsylvania) was still WALKING ON HIS HANDS at 70 years of age. SEVENTY AND WALKING ON HIS HANDS. not just handstands, actual walking around on his hands. He turned 93 this past January and STILL rides his bike to breakfast 3 x a week.
Joe Defranco’s dad is another example; he’s probably still stronger at 60 than most 22 year old college seniors!!
incredible!!!
Keep up the awesome work!!!”
Jake
************************

“Fuck did I need to hear this today. I’m 36 and an ex JR/Semi-Pro hockey
player who has let the corporate life get the better of me, I’m soft.
Started training Jan 8 this year and have dropped BF by 6% and weight by
15lbs so far but was beginning to feel a bit sorry for myself cause I got my
ass kicked last game in my beer league… playing a group of younger guys…
maybe I am too old… I’ve lost too many steps to compete at this level…
boo fucking hoo… I’m out of shape and I deserved what I got. I’m more
motivated than ever to come back next year and take these young shits to
school… in shape they can’t hold my jock.

Thanks for the kick in the ass.”
Trevor
*********************

“I’m no Superman but at 54 I still play squash, play baseball (not softball!), run in Masters track meets, and can ski any black diamond ski slope in New England. Certainly the fact that I’ve been active my entire life plays a huge role in that. Obviously, I’ve been working out pretty hard for all of these years to maintain my ability to do these things.
Keep up the good work.”

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Motivation | Leave a Comment

"Not Bad For An Old Man"

March 4, 2007

Last night, UFC legend Randy Couture came out of retirement and won the world heavyweight title at 43 years old.

And your excuse for why you are not stronger or biggeer or leaner or a better athlete is because you are… too old? How sad and pathetic you must be.

Last night was like watching a real life version of Rocky Balboa and the only way not to be motivated by it was if you slept through the fight.

Sylvia was the odds on favorite against the older Couture yet he was completely dominated from start to finish. Randy trained his ass off in preparation for this fight and entered the octagon in the best shape of his life.

Sure, we all don’t have the luxury of being able to do nothing but train, eat and sleep like many pro athletes do but to use that as an excuse is unacceptable. To use age as an excuse is beyond unnaceptable.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the age excuse used. And every time I hear it, it makes me sick. I once had a client who came to my gym to train at the same time as a particular group of high school kids. The kids were significantly stronger than him on every exercise they did. He used to look on in awe and tell me, “there’s no way I can compete with these high school guys, I’m way too old for that.”

He was 34, and I was completely nauseated by his statement. Being the politically incorrect straight shooter that I am, I immediately snapped at him, “You have got to be kidding me, right? You’re using age as an excuse at 34?! ? You should be ashamed of yourself. They should be saying there is no way they can compete with you because you should be dominating them. ”

I couldn’t look at him for the rest of that workout without wanting to throw up.

I had another client around the same time who displayed the exact opposite attitude and proved what’s possible when you don’t set limits or make excuses. Mark Crook hired me to train him shortly after his 41st birthday. He had barely touched a weight in his life up until that point but was determined to get in shape and give it his all. Once he got a taste of the intense training atmosphere in my gym he was hooked and wanted nothing more than to dominate everyone in his path. He set his sights on some of the young bucks who were significantly stronger than him and vowed to outlift all of them within a year.

With determinatinon, laser sharp focus and ample amounts of hard work Mark went from barely being able to bench press 135 to easily handling 275 in his first year at my gym. In the process he left many of the younger guys who were benching 50-100 pounds more than him when he started, in the dust. Mark went on to become a very good friend of mine and still trains hard to this day. Not once in the entire time that I have known him did I ever hear Mark mention his age and use it as any kind of excuse.

I have another good friend from Arkansas named David Larkan who is one of the most inspiring people you will ever meet. Dave is close to 50 years old and still plays in a wide variety of semi professional sports leagues and trains as hard as anyone I know. I received a phone call from him recently and he told me that despite the numerous injuries he has accumulated over the years he had decided to go back to playing semi pro FOOTBALL for one last season and wanted to know if I could help him get in shape for his last hurah.

In case you missed it, Dave is nearly 50. What’s your excuse again?

Why do some people think that the day you graduate college your ability to do anything physical is automatically rendered useless? It is assumed by a large portion of the population that after college you have to get serious about life and grow up. This usually means giving up sports, sitting in front of a computer all day, getting in terrbible shape, taking up golf and basically turning into a complete pussy. Intense physical activity and competition is beneath them apparently.

Get over it and start living.

I recently saw some friends from high school and they confessed that they have not done much physical activity since we graduated fifteen years ago. It showed.

On the other hand, I am a far better athlete today, at 32 then I was back then at age 17 and I am only getting better. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I refuse to stop.

But I’m still young so some of the older guys will use that as an excuse. “You’re still in your thirties, wait til you get to be forty, then you’ll see.”

Well then what about Brett Favre, still playing at close to 40?

Ric Flair is still wrestling a full time schedule and taking bumps off the top rope and steel chair shots in his mid 50’s.

Louie Simmons is still powerlifting with the best of them in his 60’s.

And Randy Couture just competed in the most physically demanding sport on earth last night and won the world heavyweight championship at age 43.

Now tell me one more time, what’s your excuse?

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Motivation | Leave a Comment

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