When I first got into this industry in 2008 I wanted to be a strength and conditioning coach and work with high-level athletes in the private sector. I looked up to guys like Joe Defranco and wanted to open a gym just like his. So the next logical step was to make a trip out to New Jersey and spend time with him at his gym. I spent 10 days at Defrancos and was lucky enough to get to train alongside his NFL Combine crew, at the time I was playing rugby and was somewhat athletic, it was an awesome experience and solidified my desire to open up a gym and that I was on the right path. During the 4 years of owning the gym, I was privileged enough to train some NFL guys, get some kids ready for the NFL combine and trained a lot of high school kids. It was mostly football players but I also trained other athletes as well. It was a blast and I loved the dynamics of training the different modalities and capacities that go along with being an athlete.
Fast forward 11 years and I still love learning about athletic training, I just don't do it anymore in person. This week I had the opportunity to attend a sports summit in Seattle and got to hear from coaches in soccer, hockey, throwing, PT/AT, and Professors in the field of exercise and nutrition. It was a great experience and definitely peaked my interest in training athletes but time will tell. Over the last 11 years of being in this industry, I have traveled all over and trained with the best, that was my education and way of learning that fit best with me and my personality. I didn't want to just learn from the best but I wanted to immerse myself into their culture and way of thinking. The more I learn the more I want to learn because I realize I don't know anything, so it is a constant desire for more, this year already I have gone to Tampa, Ohio, back to Tampa, California, and Seattle to learn from the best and be surrounded by the best. I don't know if that will ever amount to me being the best but that is the path I have chosen to take and it has brought some amazing experiences and introduced me to amazing people that I get to learn from consistently. The takeaway here is if you want to be really good at something, you have to go to extremes to get there. I have paid for seminars and plane tickets before I've paid my bills before, I moved cross country leaving a 6 figure gym to train and be pretty much homeless for a while just because I couldn't afford a place to live. I always chased my dreams and believed in myself but I knew I needed as much help as I could get. Every time I invested in myself it paid off and I did this with a white belt mentality because I know enough to know I don't know anything and trust me I have been to plenty of seminars where people thought they knew more than the presenter and was there more to challenge them then to learn from them. Don't let your ego stop you from learning.
The week in Seattle turned into some higher volume training bodybuilding type sessions because the hours we needed to train didn't really sit with any real powerlifting gyms up there. Trained all body parts twice and I am now battered and in need of a deload. I think I have a good grasp of how the year will play out in terms of competition and I am excited to get things rolling towards meets and some consistency with little to no travel.
