What I Learned in 2010

One of my last posts was another "What I Learned...." and it got me thinking about what I learned in the past year. A lot happened in 2010. I opened up a business. I learned some new training methods that will hopefully help me get better results with clients. I also discarded other training methods that I had been using for years. On a personal level, I lost my grandfather and celebrated having a new niece. So let's see if I can sum up all of this and put into words what I learned in 2010.

• When it comes to be being successful with whatever business you are in, you still have to be good at what you do. You can learn all the sales and marketing techniques you want, but if your product or service is not any good, no one's going to buy it.
• What's holding people back from getting down to their desired body fat percentage or weight is their lifestyle. It's not the training programs. It's not the nutritional programs. It's their lifestyles. They don't want to make the changes that are going to allow them to get a solid workout in 3-4 times a week, have their meals planned out for the following day or get a good amount of sleep each night. The lifestyle you lead will determine the results you get.
• I would much rather deadlift than squat. It used to be the other way around. But now I feel much greater satisfaction pulling something from the floor than having something rest on my shoulders.
• Vegas is the greatest city in the world, especially when it comes to a bachelor party. How come it took about 10 of my friends getting married for someone to finally say, "Hey, let's go to Vegas for the bachelor party". Yeah, I guess it can get a bit ludicrous and expensive, but I would say the experience and fun was well worth it. Or am I just trying to convince myself it was?
• People still are not doing the simple stuff stuff that is going to get them leaner, stronger or help them to avoid injury: taking a 2-3 grams of fish oil a day, foam rolling and stretching on a regular basis, replacing their "cardio" work with interval work, doing chin ups, push ups or single leg work, eating breakfast and consuming more protein. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Simple works especially when you most of us really are "beginners".
• When it comes to a service business such as personal training, a good portion of your new and future clients are going to come referrals. You can spend a good chunk of change on print advertising with a very small or even no return. Or you can work on getting results with your clients with the only amount being spent is your time. Your clients are basically walking billboards. A client gets results with you and people are going to ask them where they're training. Or if you just are going to beat up your clients without getting any results people are going to know where not to train. The same goes with any other business. Deliver a good service and people will spread the word. Deliver a poor service and the only word that is going to spread is the bad word.
• To understand the role of your core just take a look at the way the muscles of your core attach. Your rectus abdominus runs one way. Your obliques run another way. They attach the way they do for one main reason: stability. Here's another way to think about it. Your rectus abdominus is the only muscle in the body that has that "six pack" type of configuration. It's divided that way just like the columns or supports on a bridge. To give it stability. If it was really designed for flexion it would look like your hamstring, one long muscle.
• The Patriots are always to have a chance to win the Super Bowl as long as Tom Brady is their quarterback and Bill Belichek is their head coach. And when the day comes when one of those two is no longer with the Patriots it could be quite a long time between championships. We are seeing something special here, fellow New Englanders.
• We take too much for granted. We just assume that we are going to be healthy, have a job and have our family around forever. Then something happens to you or someone you know and it kind of wakes you up. Start to appreciate what you have and stop worrying about what you don't have.
• Even though I'm still not a huge fan of it, there is a place for yoga. A lot of the mobility stuff that I've used over the last year or so has actually come from different yoga moves or postures. And just from a mental perspective it might be good to enroll in a yoga class one time a week or so to clear your head from this stressed out world we live in. And guys, there might be some cute girls in there to.
• We really underestimate the importance of the foot and ankle when it comes to lower body, low back or shoulder health. Your foot is the beginning of your kinetic chain. If you have some dysfunction at your foot, it could lead to dysfunction at your shoulder. Or if you do not have appropriate ankle mobility you'll probably going to have some knee issues. If you have some knee issue you might have some hip issue. You see where I'm going here. But I see very few people addressing their foot or ankle when it comes to their training or warm up. I know they may look like they don't do a whole lot but just doing some ankle rocks or rolling out your foot with a tennis ball prior to a workout session can fix a lot of problems.
• People still count calories and people still eat low fat foods which makes me believe that people still do not understood what good nutrition is all about. Good nutrition is eating good foods more often. That's it.
• Hopefully in 2011, I will not have to explain why doing anything standing on a BOSU ball is a complete waste of your time...unless you're trying to get better at standing on a BOSU ball. That trend can not end soon enough.

Dude, what are you doing?

I'm looking forward to what 2011 will bring. I hope you are to. Happy Holidays.