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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Shedding the "Personal Trainer" Only Name

Whether you use it as a noun with an "er" or verb, it has more meaning as an action verb. Personal training and personal trainers serve as motivators, enthusiasts, psychologist (though not clinically), coaches, teachers, and more. It is more than simply physical education. Physical education, though regarded lowly by many school districts and school curricula, is needed by everyone. Physical education, like personal trainers, has received a tainted name over the years. Of course, there are magnificent trainers and physical education programs around the world; but then there are the fly-bys and the get-bys.

Personally, I prefer the following terms: Exercise Specialist. Physical Trainer. Human Movement Specialist. Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Personal Trainer is not terrible, but it sounds redundant at times. All of the above do personal training, and they feel more in depth. There are great personal trainers training. But, remember there are many terms, some more preferred than others, to describe the position. Every position and approach to the same profession is different. It is one reason why many individuals have success with certain specialists.

What do you think?

With heart,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS         www.teempt.com         TEEM Performance Training

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Plush Salad Average - No Fly Zone

How much do you spend on a whole foods salad on average with salads being $8.99/lb - spend too much?

Sure Whole Foods is known as "whole paycheck". The employees will tell you that. But, there is something more to Whole Foods. You buy what you need that is not in bulk. You also buy for the moment and not for the week or for the month. Well, most people resemble these shopping attributes. Going back to topics on purchasing salads at Whole Foods (See: Salad Bar Trickery and Spring 2013 Food Challenge), the above question is now a part of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). So, what is your average? Let me tell you why Whole Foods is my favorite place to get a salad:

I used to have a go-to salad place. But, on my last trip to this particular grocery store, I witnessed two fruit flies - small in stature but robust in movement. I saw fruit flies hovering over the salad items on recent trips, but it did not mean anything. Just two of them. On this trip, however, I happened to look under the glass that hung over the salad bar and poof!...Or, proof! There, the fruit fly family and its cousins were having a salad BBQ that day. I put my salad container down, walked out of the store, and happily with mere disgruntlement walked to Whole Foods. I knew the Whole Foods salad bar would be more expensive - I left a $4.99/lb salad bar to travel a few blocks longer to, what was then a $7.99/lb salad bar, but is now an $8.99/lb salad bar...I. Have. Never. Looked. Back. Since. The Whole Foods salad bar greeted me with pristine light sans genus musca as angel trumpets surrounded the plush greenery.

So, there you have it. My salad choice has increased by $4.00/lb. I can finally say, I do not care, but it is caring to a different level. So, in a secondary question, if you are going to a salad bar that is less than $8.99/lb, and you spend more than $7.00 to $9.00 on average on a salad...soft why? (See: The Soft Why: Part I - Appetizer Intro) View this message as assistance. Also, from the following:

1) Do not be scared off by high-priced salad bars, especially if they are at Whole Foods level.
2) Do not go overboard with low-priced salad bars - you do not have to pile everything on your salad, which makes a $4.99/lb salad bar result in purchasing a $10.00 salad.

3) Most people either lack green food items, or they dislike them. So, one trick is to put a lot of green leafy veggies in your salad. In this manner, your salad is still light; and you have room to get other juicy or light weight salad items.

4) Pay attention to what is heavy. If you do not really need the food item on your salad, then do not get it. Of course, 99% to 100% of the salad items are pure food and health-awesomeness!


With heart,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS       www.teempt.com         TEEM Performance Training

Athletes: Per Game Students

Athletes, how many hours per week on average do you spend being a student of your game?

Do you do any of the following:  

1) Follow a favorite player within your sport and view how he or she prepares for the game? 

2) Follow a player-to-coach relationship? How does the player respond to instruction?  

3) Do you follow any old time players in your sport? 

4) Have you noticed how your sport has evolved in to the game it is today?  

5) Do you notice what your favorite player(s) do in warm-ups? And, why they do it?  

6) Learn new ins and outs of your sport? What can you bring new to your sport?

It is great to become a faster runner, skater, rower, etc. It is great to work on your physical weaknesses and strengths. But, you can be a physical prodigy and still have major flaws in your on field, on ice, on court, or even on sand performance if you have no idea what is going on. For example, there have been plenty of extremely athletic NFL players who have failed in the NFL. Then, there have been players who excelled in the NFL that do not look like physical specimens. I'll name a few of them now: Darrell Green, Jerry Rice, Troy Brown, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, London Fletcher, all of the long term and successful place kickers and punters (basically), more recently, DeSean Jackson, and many more.

I am willing to bet that at some point all of these athletes can answer "yes" to the above questions. Can you as a solid athlete?

1) Watch someone like Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, LeBron James, or Joakim Noah prepare for games. All of these athletes will be starting playoff games soon.

2) Look at the way Gregg Popovich talks to Tony Parker and to Tim Duncan.

3) Old-timers like Jerry Rice had a renowned off-season workout regimen. Even fans knew about it. The hill.

4) Baseball has changed so much as a sport that guys are bigger not including the PED-talk.

5) Every team has their general warm-up. Some players do subtle things in warm-up preparation because they know they perform well. It works. Does something different work for you? Is it physical? Is it mental?

6) As an athlete, do you bring a speed component to your sport that has rarely or never been seen? For example, is your first step the best ever? Is your slapshot the best ever? Is your pump fake the best ever? Is endurance great?

With heart,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS       www.teempt.com        TEEM Performance Training