(Another) New Beginning

The internet is overflowing with information.

The incredible accessibility of it has led to a strange world of reactionary behavior and celebrity-grabbing.

A point is made, a person gains attention and followers, and, inevitably, antagonists. The counterpoints may be as valid – or even more valid – than the original point, but the debate overshadows all. Any argument can be countered and invalidated, and in the flame pit that is the internet, they are.

For the most part this is a positive thing, and accelerates progress in many fields, but it becomes negative and defeating when the debaters become stubborn, pedantic and pick fights for the sole purpose of fame.

The fitness world is bad for this. Perhaps it’s the anecdotal nature of most training methodologies, or the vastly different needs of various strength/endurance sports, or maybe it’s the wasteland of marketing and pseudo-science that makes up the bulk of the fitness industry. Whatever the reason, the internet is hyper-saturated with fitness/exercise/health/nutrition/ strength/etc ideas.

The landscape of the fitness training world is tremendously different from when I embarked upon my journey to become a “fitness professional” a well over a decade ago.

Lucky, I’m not so old that I did not have the internet as a resource, but the information available was much more sparse than today: a few forums here and there, the major personal training associations, this new thing called “CrossFit” that was blowing up in California, some websites that sold new pressings of old physical culture books, and a couple other odds and ends. These are what I found when I dug around the internet.

I had to mail order the book and DVD series (I think it was actually an “Enhanced CD-ROM”) for my first personal training certification. It took me years of attending weird seminars (some good, some bad), and trying out different methods before I began to develop my own training “philosophy.” I had to assemble my training knowledge over years and years, making many missteps over that time. I couldn’t google “Olympic Weightlifting” and have the collected knowledge of every major coach throughout history available to me instantly.

I realize what this sounds like.

I know I sound like a sad, old man who is bitter towards the trainers of today who have every opportunity to learn from the best in the world right from the start of their careers.

And you know what? I’ll own that.

I regularly look at young people putting up big numbers in the gym, or young trainers who’ve trained with incredible coaches within the first two years of their training careers and say,

“You have no idea how lucky you are.”

Because they don’t know.

I wasted so much time doing ten different varieties of bicep curls, training with weird bands, balls and inflatable things.

I’m not too proud to admit it.

These experiments, mistakes and sometimes hilarious missteps are what have made me the trainer I am today.

It’s also taught me that there is no 100% perfect answer when it comes to fitness. There are many approaches, and since most training programs are (as mentioned before), largely anecdotal, training is as much style as it is science.

I actually stopped writing for a long time, because I was tired of being just another voice that was for or against the newest hot button fitness issue. I’m not doing this for fame or notoriety. I could care less how many hits this gets. This is about the conversation between me and you.

However you found this blog, this is for you. If you disagree with me, no problem.

Email me, or just navigate your browsing ship to some other website. I can recommend some killer ones. This is not the first, nor the last word on fitness. Just my words - really, it’s our words.

Let’s dialogue. Let’s build a real community that’s built on diversity – of person, of ideas, of goals.

What you can expect to find here is the ideas and methods that I’ve cultivated throughout my career. I steal heavily from a number of sources, but am quick to reveal them. There’s no secrets or proprietary mysteries here, just some decent thoughts and a lot of hard work.

Sometimes we’ll talk about the philosophical side of training, and sometimes the practical. I rarely take things seriously, so if something sounds like sarcasm, it probably is (Apparently that doesn’t carry well over the internet).

So, there it is.

Welcome to the journey that is this new iteration of whatever I’m doing.

I hope you enjoy it. Now go lift something heavy.