EliteFTS–Troponin Nutrition Seminar, March 7, 2009
By
Paul D’Arcy
You know what they say, “If you’ve attended one performance seminar, you’ve
attended them all.” And now, after attending my second EliteFTS seminar, I can
confidently say, “If you’ve attended one EliteFTS seminar…well, you’ve really
only attended one EliteFTS seminar. And you have no idea what you’re missing if
you don’t attend more.”
I knew I was in for something special when I signed up for the
EliteFTS–Troponin Nutrition seminar on March 7, 2009. Although I have to admit,
I really wasn’t sure what to expect. But after reading the logs and Q&As of
Justin Harris and
Shelby Starnes for as long as I have and after seeing the
results they were capable of achieving with their clients, I knew that as a
trainer, I simply could not afford to miss this presentation.
Getting down to London, Ohio, and finding the Compound III was old hat for
me. I could practically do it in my sleep, which was a good thing because with
the late start we got Friday night and with the mess I had gotten myself into, I
really needed all the help I could get.
My fiancée, Keylea, a yoga instructor and Montessori pre-school teacher, had
purchased tickets for the two of us to attend the Arnold Classic on March 7–8,
2009, and she presented those tickets to me for Christmas (is she a great girl
or what?). But because we were going to be in town anyway and I tend to be a
little too smart for my own good sometimes, I went ahead and took the liberty of
purchasing tickets to the EliteFTS–Troponin Nutrition seminar on March 7, 2009,
as well so we could catch that while we were there.
Helpful hint: Don’t “accessorize” someone’s gift to you. Accept it
gracefully, be happy, and move on. Don’t get creative. You’re really not that
clever.
But there we were. We made it, and my beautiful and forgiving future better
half was eager to see what all the fuss was about at the EliteFTS Compound III
(I told you she was great). We walked into the compound, and for a minute, I
thought I had made a huge mistake. There was no seminar here…this was training
day! There were lifters all suited up, squatting off boxes with chains, throwing
plates around, and blasting Pantera from the sound system. Sure, there were a
few people standing around here and there, but they were all just here to see
the lifters, right?
“Oh boy,” I thought to myself. “What have I gotten the two of us into now?”
I was about to begin my lengthy apology to Keylea when I saw Dave Tate
walking toward us. He saw me, and for a moment, I thought he might recognize me
from the EliteFTS Passion into Profit seminar just a few weeks earlier. As he
walked past us, he shot me a devilish grin and said, “Hey! Cool! You’re here!
This is gonna be different. We’re gonna get wild. We’re gonna get f*#in’ crazy.”
“What did he say?” Keylea asked.
“Ummm, we’re in the right place,” I said. “Let’s go see what they’re doing.”
And what they were doing was just what I thought…they were training! Dave had
Molly Edwards, Ted Toalson, and Christian Mello training with their crews so
that he could educate us on the finer points of hard core strength training
before we began the EliteFTS–Troponin Nutrition seminar.
A strength training demonstration to begin a seminar on nutrition? What? Are
you new here? Hey, this is Dave Tate’s place, and this is what Dave Tate does.
Strength training and education is what Dave Tate and EliteFTS are all about!
Just look at the top of your browser window the next time you visit the EliteFTS
site. You’ll see the words, “Superior Products and Knowledge for Lifters,
Athletes, Coaches, and Trainers.” This is more than just a catchy phrase to
drive traffic to the web site. Those words really mean something to Dave Tate
and the crew of EliteFTS. They mean it. He means it. He lives it. He stakes his
reputation on those words, and he has made those words his mission and his
life’s work. If you didn’t come here to learn strength …well, I’ll just leave
that sentence for you to finish. But know this, you are in Dave Tate’s world
now. Get ready to be educated.
We watched Molly Edwards and Ted Toalson work up to max effort on the box
squat using the safety squat bar with chains for accommodating resistance. Dave
answered questions and shouted coaching cues to the lifters as they trained.
“This really is incredible to watch,” Keylea said. “I see what you mean now
about the strength of good training partners. Did you see how she corrected
herself after Dave shouted, ‘ABS!’ What does that mean? Abs? Why did he yell
that?”
Before I could answer Keylea, Dave turned to the seminar participants and
explained what had happened. Molly was losing her air and collapsing under the
bar as she was attempting the concentric portion of her squat. After Dave had
given her the cue “abs,” Molly held her abdomen full of air on her next rep and
completed that rep stronger than her first.
“That’s what makes Molly such a strong lifter,” Dave continued. “She keeps
her head and listens to the cues. She gets stronger as the weights get heavier.
She hasn’t even begun to tap the strength potential that she has. We see big,
big things in Molly’s future.”
Listening to an experienced, knowledgeable coach digging deeper and getting
stronger as the “weights” or challenges get heavier…anyone else see a pattern
here?
After watching the lifters work up to their max efforts and learning a bit
about Dave’s strength programming philosophy as they trained, Dave gathered the
seminar participants and directed them to one end of the facility. It was there
that we would begin the nutrition segment of the seminar. But not before Dave
had a few more words with us.
Dave spent the rest of his allotted time with us explaining how to program
our own strength training or that of our clients. Dave also called on us to
explain ourselves and name our goals, training philosophies, and how we intended
to get to where we wanted to go. You weren’t going to be a wallflower in this
crowd. Dave was on to you. He was going to cue you, coach you, and push you past
your limits.
This is where Dave really belongs. This is what he does best. Sure, he’s a
strength athlete, a retired powerlifter, and a businessman in the field of
strength and conditioning. But you knew that. What I’d bet you didn’t know was
that Dave Tate is really a teacher.
After seeing Dave in action these past few weeks and communicating with him a
bit, I feel I know a little more about him. And with Keylea’s experience in
education and in the classroom, I knew I was on to something. She saw it in him,
too. Dave Tate is a teacher. “To Live–To Learn–To Pass On”—that is his primary
aim, as he has said many times. He lives for this and it shows.
If you get nothing else out of an EliteFTS seminar, you will learn what
you’re made of, where you are weak, and where you need to improve. And that
alone is worth the price of admission. But, of course, there was more.
Justin Harris—EliteFTS contributor, owner of Troponin Nutrition, super
heavyweight bodybuilder, and accomplished powerlifter—started his portion of the
seminar with an in-depth overview of the biological basics of nutrition. If
you’ve never seen Justin present or speak about nutrition, you’ve really missed
brilliance in action. Justin’s knowledge is nothing short of amazing. It’s like
listening to a human ‘See n’ Say’ of physiology.
Remember those toys we had as kids? The ‘See n’ Say, where you point to
something and pull the string? That’s Justin. Just ask him a question, point him
at what you want to know, and be prepared to watch, listen, and learn. All this
knowledge just comes spilling out of him with a child like exuberance. It was
very cool and just amazing to be a part of!
But Justin isn’t one of those presenters who rambles on just to hear his own
voice. You can actually understand what Justin is saying. He takes great pains
to present his material in easy to understand language, and he is really
passionate about his work. Justin loves to field questions from the audience and
even rewards the “good questions” with products such as Troponin Nutrition
books, T-shirts, and DVDs all pulled from his magic bag of seminar goodies. Of
course, there’s no such thing as a “bad question,” so I’m pretty sure everyone
walked away with a little something just for attending, something above and
beyond the information Justin had to share.
After Justin explained the physiological aspects of nutrition, improving
leverages, dieting, and building muscle tissue, it was time for lunch. Now, you
might expect that a world-class nutrition seminar being hosted by a world-class
organization like EliteFTS and moderated by world-class athletes and performance
experts like Dave Tate, Justin Harris, and Shelby Starnes would provide a
world-class, nutritionally sound, and perfectly balanced luncheon for its
participants, right? Oh c’mon now. Really. Remember what I said earlier? Yep,
that’s right. You’re in Dave Tate’s world now. And guess what? Dave’s not
dieting, and you know what else? Dave’s not going to start dieting until Monday
morning, so you know what that means? We’re having pizza, Pepsi, and Mountain
Dew. That’s what it means. So how do you like that?
Well, okay. Not everyone had pizza, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew. Some folks were
dieting and were mindful of their nutrition. And when I say “some folks” what I
really mean to say is one folk—Shelby Starnes.
Shelby seemed to be the only person concerned with his diet Saturday and it
showed. Shelby is looking “jacked” right about now and is heading into his next
show heavier than he’s ever been before. How’s that for credibility? If you need
more proof, take a look at Shelby’s logs and many client showcases. Or perhaps
you’ve heard of a fellow by the name of Marc Bartley? You might check out his
little transformation for some big inspiration.
Shelby was packing his own vittles and doing it quite stylishly too,
according to my fiancée, Keylea. Shelby has that “pulled together” look we all
go for with a Gucci bag, designer jeans, brown leather slip-on shoes, and…
Oh who am I kidding? Shelby was a little too “pulled together” if you ask me.
He’s all tanned and “jacked” and has perfect teeth and he “accessorizes,” too.
Remember Justin’s bag of goodies? The one he was reaching into and rewarding
good questions from? Yeah, it was a plastic shopping bag from Meijer. Shelby’s
bag? Shelby was sporting a leather “clutch” or some shit. I don’t even know what
the hell it was. I couldn’t even tell you what color it was. It was like a pale
mustard color, I guess. It freaked me out a little bit to be honest. But Keylea
said it was stylish so whatever. Go ahead, Shelby. Be all jacked and stylish
with your perfect teeth, your damn bag, and…ahem. Right, okay sorry about that.
Anyway, Shelby’s presentation focused on the practical application of carb
cycling that has made Troponin Nutrition synonymous with success for literally
hundreds of clients. Shelby took the participants through the basics of carb
cycling nutrition and laid out the essentials of how to put together a plan that
works—a plan that not only helps you shed fat but a plan that has the potential
to add muscle mass while you get leaner. Now how can you argue with that?
Shelby fielded questions from the audience as well and had plenty of goodies
to hand out too (if you didn’t mind the bag they came from). Shelby’s practical
knowledge and extensive experience with clients of all types was helpful to
those of us who had never tried carb cycling. Shelby was able to identify with
members of the audience on many levels. As a once pudgy kid with no real
athletic background, Shelby’s story is inspiring. If carb cycling can put over
30 pounds of lean, muscular mass on a non-athlete over a period of four to five
years, it just has to work for your situation and for your physique. I know that
Shelby’s presentation changed my mind completely. I had thought that carb
cycling was strictly for competitive bodybuilders and figure athletes. Now I
understand it in a completely different way and see greater potential than I had
expected.
Using Dave as his subject, Justin Harris came back to construct a
personalized carb cycling plan to show the participants how to lay out a simple
plan from start to finish, although it quickly became obvious that there is no
such thing as a simple or “cookie cutter” carb cycling plan that will work for
everyone. I think for many, the big take away from this seminar is the fact that
in order to optimize one’s diet, progressive changes are an absolute necessity.
And there’s no substitute for experience here. These guys from Troponin
Nutrition are the pros.
The nutrition component of the seminar ended with an open Q&A, as EliteFTS
seminars often do. Participants were free to ask training, nutrition, and
business advice from Dave, Justin, and Shelby. This is always a great experience
for me. Learning from those who are successful at what it is you strive to
become is priceless.
After the open Q&A, Dave went right back to teaching. This time he was taking
any and all willing participants through the three main power lifts and
explaining the proper way to perform them. By this time, the seminar had run
well past the 3:00 pm advertised deadline. In fact, I believe the seminar ran
well past 4:30 pm, but Dave didn’t care.
“I’ll stay here until midnight,” Dave said with a smile. I knew from prior
experience that Dave was sincere, but I just couldn’t stay. I had a promise to
keep to my wonderful and willing fiancée, Keylea. And that was one promise I
intended to honor. She had been good enough to put up with me, stick with me,
and support my education today. The least I could do was treat her to a nice
dinner in downtown Columbus.
And no, I didn’t ask Shelby to join us. Maybe next time though. What do you
say, Shelby?
Paul D’Arcy and Keylea Mocnik own Sport Fitness & Physique and Sport Fit
Fun Club for Children in Adrian, Minnesota. Sport Fitness & Physique serves
busy, professional women in their pursuit of health and happiness through
superior nutrition and fitness. Sport Fitness & Physique can be found on the web
at www.SportFitNow.com. To contact Paul
directly, email him at
paul@SportFitNow.com or call (517) 673-5286.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
