Q: What do you think is the biggest thing a trainer can do to improve his or her career and success?
A: It's been said so many times that it has become a cliche - but there truly is no substitute for experience. I've been training others since 1989 - 1986 if you count teaching Taekwon-Do.
I've owned a gym since 2000. There really isn't a book that you can read that can replace all that you learn working with real people and seeing firsthand what works and what doesn't. Your philosophies will develop a whole lot faster based on your own experience than anything else.
When I first started training people, I forced myself to keep a record not only of their workouts and body composition etc -- but I'd also write a 100 word summary of every workout. Even if you train only 20 sessions per week - in 3 years you've got the details of the results of 3000 workouts and 300,000 words.
If you don't have experience - get some. Start training a few extra hours per week. Work for a more experienced trainer in your area and get an education at the same time. Intern under experienced coaches. Volunteer.
You can't learn to swim without getting in the water - and you can't learn this business until you start working with people. Sometimes the difference between a good trainer and a great trainer is just another 1000 training sessions. You'll learn more in the gym with real people than you'll ever learn anywhere else.
However, that said - the second most valuable factor is education. You need to actively try to get better by every avenue possible. That includes reading, listening to educational material, watching educational DVD's, taking courses, attending seminars or less "formal" education such as watching or asking questions of more experienced coaches. There is no substitute for personal experience - but studying the experiences of more accomplished real world practitioners has to be second. Learn from others, and benefit from their experience.
Studying one hour per day every single day for one year means you'll have spent over nine full 40-hour weeks educating yourself. That's only 1/24th of a day. It's a small commitment that will pay dividends.
Experience plus education really is the one-two punch here.
Q: Alwyn, I know a lot of people are still skeptical about metabolic resistance training, arguing that it's silly to combine strength work with metabolic work. How would you respond to these people?A: Honestly - I don't care who's skeptical. My job is to get people in shape. My job is not to convince skeptics of anything. That's a waste of time. Plus I don't know who these skeptics are arguing with :)
So how would I respond? I don't.
But I sense your sincerity (and confusion) so I will answer your question.
Saying that it is "silly" to combine strength training and metabolic training is a completely "silly" statement.
Doesn't everyone do strength training and cardio? And sometimes in the same workout. So everyone combines them. Every athlete does strength training and metabolic conditioning right?
So I guess the criticism is that they think I'm trying to do both with the same exercise.
That's NOT what I do.
I am not using circuit training or metabolic resistance training (not the same thing btw) to stimulate strength and endurance simultaneously.
So that's an irrelevant point.
(from wikipedia- Studies at Baylor University and the Cooper Institute show that circuit training is the most time efficient way to enhance cardiovascular fitness and muscle endurance.
And research from Morgan and Anderson showed:
"Perhaps a most profound finding of this study, from a health perspective, is that this investigation clearly shows that performance of this circuit of exercises, at this level of intensity elicited oxygen consumption values (39% to 51.5% of VO2max) that meet established guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) for the recommended intensity (40% to 85% of VO2maxR) of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory fitness (Pollock et al, 1998). Thus, this circuit not only provides a suitable muscular fitness stimulus but also helps to meet ACSM cardiovascular guidelines and the newly published Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 for physical activity" )
Metabolic Resistance Training is
NOT an attempt to combine strength training and endurance training.
So that's a pointless criticism also.
For the record
metabolic resistance training is not strength training (although it's fair to say, based upon my experience, that doing even submaximal sets of these exercise could result in an increase in strength levels - although that's not the goal)
What metabolic resistance training actually is -- is using a traditional 'strength' or resistance exercise as opposed to a traditional 'cardio' exercise to create a metabolic effect. We're not actually trying to get anyone stronger with this type of training - obviously we're using submaximal loads - in actuality my primary goal was to create a fat loss program.
For example - pushing the prowler, sled dragging, hitting a tire, punching and kicking a heavy bag or doing a barbell complex purely for it's metabolic contribution as opposed to running or riding a bike.
Do ten sets of ten squats alternated with ten push ups. Did your heart rate go up? Thats' a cardiovascular response to a resistance exercise.
We aren't looking to do two things at once. I've never said that was the goal -- so the "skeptics" (or cynics to be more accurate) obviously haven't read or heard me present anything on this topic.
So it's for metabolic purposes. But where do strength exercises end and become metabolic exercises?
Where does a step up for strength end, and a step up for cardiovascular work begin? How many reps? How much load?
Doing sets of 6-10 step ups would be on the strength end of the scale, but doing the stepmill for 15 minutes would be on the endurance end right?
So what about sets of 15? Or sets of about 60s?
That's where metabolic resistance training lies.
It's like running and hill sprints. At what angle (or resistance) does hill sprints become strength work and cease to be purely cardio anymore?
Similarly -when does rapid response plyometric training end and it just becomes jumping rope for cardio?
But why would I use these activities:
Let's define metabolic training:
An easy definition is: activities that will enhance or improve the power or capacity of a specific energy system.
I don't think that anyone will have too much of a problem with that definition, loose as it may be.
Another definition would be "training to improve the body's work capacity"
"Work Capacity refers to the general ability of the body to produce work of different intensity and duration using the appropriate energy system of the body" - Mel Siff (2003)
So - is jogging metabolic work? Of course. Jogging will improve the capacity of the aerobic energy system.
But jogging a mile is 1500 plyometric reps of more than bodyweight loads.
Let's say our beginner does a ten minute mile. That's about 1500 reps with forces typically up to 1.5 -2x bodyweight through the ankle, knee and hip joints in ten minutes.
Could alternating periods of jogging harder with periods of walking (interval training) provide a similar effect? Of course. We'd still have the joint stress though.
Could running uphill for the work interval still be beneficial? Again - obviously so.
So - one step further -- Could doing alternating submaximal sets of 10 rep bodyweight squats and 10 rep push ups for the same ten minute frame result in at least a similar cardiovascular or metabolic response to jogging but with less joint stress?
Maybe you'd do 12 sets of each. That's ten minutes of high intensity cardiovascular work but this time we only have 120 reps of less than bodyweight on the joints.
So there's the continuum.
All we're doing is using different exercises to create a metabolic demand. Because despite us having only one true cardio system - metabolic conditioning is very muscularly specific.
All we are doing with metabolic resistance training is targeting the metabolic system using non-traditional "cardio" exercises. We are NOT combining strength work with endurance work.
Hope that helps clarify it a wee bit.
The Metabolic Acceleration DVD is available
HERE--
AC
www.alwyncosgrove.com
