I presented on Real World Fat Loss at the 2007 Perform Better event in Rhode Island and the 2008 NSCA conference. As part of my presentation I talked about my “story” – why I became fascinated with fat loss and effective fat loss training — and the need to destroy the myths that surround the topic — and why it keeps me up at night scouring journals for new information.
I believe that behind every person who is trying to change something — or present something new — there is a passion – an overwhelming why – that drives them to find the answers. It’s become something that I look for before really listening to coaches or trainers. The why. The Raison d’être.
When I was in Rhode Island I called my long time friend Jason Ferruggia (Jay and I first met about eleven years ago)to invite him to the seminar. Jay couldn’t make it, as he was busy putting the finishing touches on his muscle building course. I was surprised that he hadn’t mentioned it to me before as it was a big project.
But then when I thought about it a bit more I wasn’t surprised at all. you see Jason looks at building muscle in the same way as I look at fat loss — he’s always looking at research, reading training logs, testing methods and refining his ideas.
That’s his passion.
And that’s why guys like myself, and a bunch of other trainers are always asking his input on how to gain muscle. I flew him out to California to conduct a staff training for my team because he’s not only one of the best there is – he’s constantly improving his methodology.
I mean – we’re talking about a guy who took himself drug-free from 147 to 231lbs.
We’re talking about a guy who has tried every training method under the sun and confesses to spending $60,000 on worthless supplements to try to gain size.
This is a guy who would email me in the middle of the night when I was going through my chemotherapy treatments with ideas on halting muscle breakdown and using different nutrients to enhance my immune system. His desire to find the solution to muscle growth problems drove him.
And it continues to drive him today.
Some of you may be aware that I used to have a column in Mens Fitness magazine called Hardgainer. I was a skinny kid who gained muscle (fought my first mens black belt event at 136lbs) and the editors felt that a regular column would be a great idea.
I did it for a year before I gave it up and handed the reins to Jay. You see – his passion for the topic, and to be brutally honest, his knowledge on how to gain muscle was ahead of mine. I pride myself, and have always done so – on honesty and integrity – and felt that he would make a great resource for the magazine.
Jason’s Muscle Growth course is available here. I spent last night re-reading it. Even reading the information you can almost feel the passion behind the words — and you’ll see why Jay is one of the best in the field at this.
I think the overall message when you’re looking for information in any field is to find the most passionate individuals – those with a Raison d’être and an incessant desire to find out why… and a primary question of “how to make it better”…
Maybe one day I’ll know all the answers. Until then I’ll keep studying :)
—
Alwyn Cosgrove
PS – If you want to read Jay’s story – get over to Muscle Gaining Secrets from Jason Ferruggia
