Why I’m in the Business of Fitness and Youth Sports Performance

I spent the last weekend of May 2009 in New Jersey with a bunch of fitness professionals from across the US and Canada for 2 reasons, and received a bonus as well. Here I am with one of the folks I met: The Fit Yummy Mummy herself, Holly Rigsby. (By the way, could my head be ANY larger?)

Let me tell you a little bit about WHY I went to New Jersey in the first place. I’m going to need a few sentences to set this all up, so please keep reading.

The night before I was to leave for New Jersey, I called a local taxi company and requested a cab for 5 a.m. sharp in order to get me on time to where I hold my morning boot camp classes. I was very specific with them about needing a cab at precisely 5 a.m., gave them my address (even spelled it out and had them repeat it back to me) and ended the conversation with the words, “It is imperative that the cab arrive no later than 5 a.m., is that understood?”

The person who took down my info assured me that they would be there on time. Famous last words…

I’m sure you can tell where this is all leading…and the cab got to my house at 5:16 a.m. It was not the drivers fault, the dispatcher sent her to the wrong address.

Strike 1.

When, after many flight delays, I finally arrived at the Newark airport, I called the shuttle service I was told about and, true to form, he arrived in about 15 minutes. That was great.

I was paired to ride with a man from California who was in NJ for a business conference, and he was staying at the Marriot Courtyard in Bridge-something New Jersey. Morristown, where I was staying, is about 15 minutes from the airport. We left the airport at 7:05 p.m. and, once again, I’m quite certain you can see where this is going.

I arrived at my hotel at 8:30. I saw quite a lot of New Jersey, however…all for just $40 bucks. What a steal, huh?

Strike 2.

Sunday, I departed the conference and rode back to the airport (thanks to my daughter and son-in-law) and made the 15 minutes ride in comfort. My flight was scheduled (key word) to leave at 2:35 p.m. Jersey time, so I ate a little something before arriving at the gate at around 2:10 p.m.

As I was walking up to the gate my wife called to inform me that she was locked out of the house. She’d had a friend visiting for the weekend who apparently had set a door lock we never use, one in the actual door handle. No fault to my wife’s friend, it was just one of those things. I told my wife to either break a window or call a locksmith. She opted for the locksmith.

I wish now that she’d broken a window.

What do you think it costs to have a locksmith who lives less than 5 minutes from your home open a door for you in under 3 minutes on a Sunday afternoon?

If you guessed anything less than $177.50 you’re wrong.

Strike 3.

Here’s the point I want to make with regards to all of this:

This could have just as easily been you over the course of a weekend dealing with “service” businesses throughout your week. You could have just as easily been frustrated, had your time wasted and not received value for your hard earned dollars.

I refuse to operate in that manner.

I went to New Jersey to:
A) further my education on the business of business, and to
B) hang out with my peers, the “best of the best” in the industry.

I wanted to pick their brains as to what they do to give great service, to provide value and to excel in their chosen field of endeavor. I went to learn from the top 1% of the industry.

I went there to do that for you. I want to improve for you. I want to be your “go to guy” when it comes to fitness, health, fat loss and youth sports performance.

I don’t take the honor of your having placed your trust in me to be your fitness or sports performance provider lightly. I am deeply humbled and moved by these things. I also want to constantly work harder to do more, to be better and to earn your trust every day.

From the depths of my soul, THANK YOU for the honor and trust.

While I was in New Jersey I also became a member of two organizations: The Association of Professional Personal Trainers (APPT) and the International Youth Coaches Association (IYCA). I joined these organizations to further my education as well as increase my legitimacy and credibility in the field I cherish so much.

This is also one of the reasons why I like doing business with folks who understand the fitness business, professionalism, quality service and value. It’s why I’m a Prograde Pro. To see what I mean, and why I do business with these guys, please go to their website and watch these very brief videos. These guys are more than fitness and business professionals, they’re my friends.

Please go here now to watch the videos: Prograde Behind the Scenes

Conclusion

Please do me this favor: If you can tell me any way that you think I can improve upon my level of service toward you, please write me: steve@firestormfitcamps.com

And the bonus I mentioned at the outset of this article? I got to meet my son-in-law, Randy, and my see my beautiful, very pregnant (6 months along) daughter, Stephanie, and spend some time with them. That made the entire trip spectacular.

Thanks again,

Steve

"Listen, it's just bass fishing!"

I had a conversation recently with a client about her concern over whether or not the number she read on the scale was a big deal or not. Her entire existence, it seemed, was wrapped up in "that number."

I tried, in vain I felt, to put some perspective on it...but it didn't seem to really have much impact. Then it struck me.

I said, "You're married, right?" She said, "Yes"

"Happily?", I queried. Again she said, "Yes."

"And what about your kids, are they doing well and are they healthy?" She looked at me kind of strangely, smiled and said, "Sure...they're fine. Why do you ask?"

I stepped closer to her, looked into her eyes and said, "You're a beautiful, happily married woman with healthy and happy kids. The rest is just bass fishing."

Now she looked really confused, shook her head and replied, "What on earth are you talking about?"

I told her a story I had heard about several years ago.

It was a news story about a professional angler who had appeared on TV regularly and won a lot of big time tournaments. He had apparently been enjoying a large degree of success when something happened that changed, and more specifically, ruined his life.

It appeared that right before one of the major tournaments he was accused of using illegal bait. I never found out whether or not this guy was guilty or innocent, and it doesn't really matter as that is an ancillary portion of the story.

What I do know is that the guy became so intoxicated with worry, anger and stress about the accusation that he ended up becoming depressed, taking medication, splitting from his wife and even losing his home.

I remember reading this story and thinking, "Dude, it's just bass fishing. It ain't cancer, it's not the war in Iraq or starving children in Darfur... it's just bass fishing.'

This guy had become so enamored with his sport that, what probably begun as a fun and relaxing hobby, had in turn become his entire universe; it had consumed him and become everything. It was more important to him than his wife, his family and his home. It was also apparently more important that his health and his sanity.

What I really wanted this young lady to recognize was that her energy wasted by focusing on this "number" was nothing more than bad information or opinions of others akin to bass fishing.

It was an opinion. And in my own opinion, it was a very bad one at that.

Here's the way I see it: the scale has a purpose - it's to measure meat and produce. That's it.

If you're really concerned whether or not your fat loss efforts are taking shape, do these 4 things:

1. Grab a tape measure. Measure your arms at the biceps, your waist around your belly button, your hips around your butt and your thighs, about three inches above the kneecap. Check each of those locations once weekly and keep track of them for 30 days. See what happens.
2. How do you look in the mirror naked? That's where you will see subtle changes in your physique. Bumps going away and new lumps of muscle appearing.
3. How do your clothes fit? When they start getting baggy, celebrate. If they're not, tighten your diet and increase your training intensity.
4. How do you feel overall? How is your eye color, the look of your skin, your hair. These things are indicators of overall health and if you're going to look good you might as well be lean AND healthy.

I once had a good friend who's uncle was a Battan Death March survivor. He told his Uncle about a "problem" he was having, to which his Uncle replied, "Is someone going to kill you?"

My friend said, "No."

"Then you don't really have a problem," was all his Uncle said.

Sometimes it's just bass fishing.

Steve
Your Prograde Professional

Resistance exercise reverses aging in human skeletal muscle.

Human aging is associated with muscle decrease and a decrease in daily function, also known as sarcopenia.

Recent research shows that this can be reversed in as little as six months!

Yes...6 months!

Multiple lines of research suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction (one of the little, yet REALLY important parts of every cell in your body) is a major contributor to sarcopenia, which is to say a loss of function.

However, following exercise training the cellular signature of aging was markedly reversed back to that of younger levels for most genes that were affected by both age and exercise.

Read that again: Reversed, not just stopped or even slowed.

Reversed!

A brand new study of more than 150,000 women has rocked the medical community!

Recent research shows that women who gain as little as seven pounds in between pregnancies increase their risk of serious complications in their second pregnancy...

• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• toxemia
• caesarean birth
• stillbirth

What's even more surprising is that this increased risk applies to women who are not necessarily overweight. It applies to all women who gain an additional seven pounds (or more) between the time they got pregnant the first time to the time they get pregnant again.

This new study says a woman's risk of getting diabetes or high blood pressure during her second pregnancy increases by about 30%.

Double the weight gain and the risk of getting diabetes or high blood pressure may increase by 100%

Doctors are calling the finding from this study "staggering" and "thought-provoking."

It's in the best interest of your child for you to take care of your own health. That way, you'll have the positive energy you need to take care of them as well. And if you decide to have another child, it's extremely important.

"What do they want us to be--anorexic?"

And the answer to that is a great big NO!

As a matter of fact, this study did not entail examining whether or not the woman's beginning weight was ideal. It was only examining the effect of weight gain between pregnancies. The conclusion was that you should not gain weight in between pregnancies. The conclusion had nothing to do with being dangerously thin!

Two take home points before you worry too much:

• Large, longitudinal studies such as this one do not take SO many other factors into context. They drew a conclusion from one correlation. Other negative factors could be involved as well, rather than just weight.
• If you gain 7+ pounds that certainly doesn't mean that something negative WILL happen, it just increases the risk, that is all. It is just like driving fast in your car, you might be alright, but you increase the risk.

Just understand that it is always healthier to be in good shape. Just like it's safer to drive more slowly in your car.

Now you think about that...

Steve
Your Prograde Professional

What are you missing?

In the winter of his ninth year, Frank Lloyd Wright was walking across a snow covered field with his reserved, no-nonsense uncle. As they reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed to his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow, and then to young Frank's own tracks, which crisscrossed and meandered all over the field.

"Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle stated with a scowl. "And see how my own tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."

Years later, the famous architect relayed how that single experience had so affected his outlook on life. "I determined right then," he said, "not to miss most things in life...as my uncle had."

Where is your focus?

What are you missing out on?

Is your narrow vision of life keeping you from experiencing the world around you?

"The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Now you think about that...

Steve
Your Prograde Professional