Coach's Corner 11 Transcript

Intro

Hello and welcome to the Over 50 Health & Wellness podcast. I’m your host Kevin English – I’m a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach and my mission to help you get into the best shape of your life – regardless of your age – so that you can show up in life as the healthiest, strongest, most vital version of yourself. I want to let you know that if you enjoy this podcast, I have additional free resources over at www.silveredgefree.com. There you’ll find my mini guides on nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle. So feel free to head over there, scroll through the guides, and download anything that looks helpful to you.  Today we have another edition of the Coaches Corner – so no guest today – it’s just me, and we’ll be back next week with our regular interview format.

 

what we’re covering in today’s episode. I start out by talking about the importance of progressive overload and how to incorporate these principles in your exercise program. Then I talk about being a salesman, and what I’m selling and what you are buying, and I finish up discussing a few articles I read on technology and fitness. So without further ado, let’s get on with today’s show!

 

Progressive Overload

One of the best ways I’ve come across to describe progressive overload is to tell the story of Milo of Croton. Once upon a time there was a young man named Milo of Croton who was born in ancient Greece during the sixth century BC and he was the most revered wrestler of his time. He was a five-time Olympic champion, and his feats of strength were legendary. But how did Milo get so strong, and what can we learn from this ancient strong man?

 

The story goes that one day a calf was born near Milo, and every day for four years Milo would lift the calf on to his shoulders and carry him… until one day he was no longer carrying a calf but a four year old bull! In reflecting on this simple story, a couple of things jump out as relevant and timeless strength training principles.

 

  1. Consistency is Key– Milo carried his calf every day. Carrying the calf once a week or sporadically would not have worked nearly as well, and eventually would have led to failure. By being consistent, Milo’s strength grew as his calf grew, which brings us nicely to our second point….
  2. Apply the Principles of Progressive Overload– Milo’s load got a little heavier every day. His body was forced to adapt to these heavier loads; as the calf grew heavier over time, Milo’s body grew stronger as a result.

 

As we strive to get stronger or to improve a physical skill, we must put these two principles into practice. Consistency is often a matter of commitment and time management. When physical fitness and strength gains are a priority in our lives, we are more likely to make the time for consistent workouts.

 

Progressive overload is the other half of the equation. If we are only consistent but never increase our workload, our bodies will not get stronger. The human body is amazingly built for adaptation but will always find stasis where possible. For example, a jogger who goes for a 3-mile run at the same pace everyday may be fit, but that jogger is not making any fitness gains. Likewise, the gym-goer who hits the gym 3 days a week and repeats the same routines at the same weights every week might be strong, but he or she is not getting stronger.

 

There are several ways we can employ the principles of progressive overload, and below are three of the most common. Let’s use the example of a lifter who’s programming currently has them squatting 150 lbs for three sets of ten repetitions once a week.

 

  • Increase Load– this is the obvious one, simply add a little more weight to the bar. If your squats were three sets of ten reps at 150 lbs last week, do 155 lbs this week.
  • Increase Repetitions– instead of increasing the load this week, we might choose to increase the repetitions. So instead of three sets of ten, we’ll do three sets of eleven.
  • Decrease Rest Time– an alternate to the strategies above might be to decrease rest time between sets. If you rested 60 seconds between sets last week, rest 45 seconds this week.

 

Assumed within the principle of progressive overload is the concept of measurement. To apply these principles, we must track and measure our workouts. There are many ways to do this – from a good old-fashioned notebook and pen to highly sophisticated mobile phone apps.  Choose whatever is most comfortable for you, but if you’re not already, start tracking your progress.

 

I’m a Salesman

I’ve been in sales most of my adult life. I spent twenty plus years as a technology salesman, selling networking, datacenter, cyber security, and cloud solutions to companies. I’ve learned to pitch my offerings in the best light possible, to describe how wonderful life would be for the company once they chose our company to sell and install their new datacenter solution. I learned to compete with other companies and to boldly ask for the business after making my presentations. And I suppose I’m still doing that now. But instead of selling to corporations, I’m selling to individuals, to you really.

 

But there are some big differences. When I sold to corporations, the transaction was purely business. Emotion rarely entered into the equation. The person handing over the money – usually a CIO or CFO – wasn’t giving me their own personal money, rather they were entrusting me with a portion of their allotted IT budget.

 

But now things are different – much different – both in what I’m selling and what you – the potential client – is buying. Let’s start with what I’m selling. I suppose you could say that I’m selling coaching services – you know things like exercise programming, check-in sessions, nutrition guides, meal plans, basically the nuts and bolts of coaching. And that’s certainly a large part of what I’m selling, but those are table stakes. And I don’t think that’s really what you want to buy. I mean you could find all of those things for free on the internet.  What I’m really trying to sell is the possibility of a lifelong health transformation, of pain free movement, of creating a roadmap and a strategic plan from where you are now to where you want to be. In my mind that’s what you want to buy – the nutrition plans and exercise programming are just tools that we’ll use to get you there.

 

Going back to my corporate customers, they really didn’t want to buy more servers or routers or software – that’s just more crap for them to manage. What they wanted to buy was a solution that would allow them to deliver their solutions to their customers faster than their competitors so they could gain market share and increase revenue. They didn’t want to buy widgets, they wanted to buy solutions – the widgets were just the tools that help get them where they wanted to go. And I think the same holds true with coach/client selling. You’re probably less interested in my programming methodology, and more interested in how I can help you get into the best shape of your life, to help you feel strong, vital, and confident. And this is an emotional investment. Your hopes and desires, maybe even insecurities and fears, are on the line. Chances are you’ve invested in your health in the past – and maybe you’ve been burned.

 

So, speaking of investment, let’s move from what I’m selling (and what you’re buying) to what you’re paying. I’ll start with this – my coaching services aren’t inexpensive. My current offer is an individualized one-on-one coaching service, and all these services are specifically designed for you. My plan in the future is to have online courses that will be available on-demand at a reasonable price, but for now I’m asking you to make a not insignificant investment. And I honor the fact that you are entrusting me with your hard earned money.

 

But here’s the thing that’s often lost. The financial investment is usually insignificant to what I’m really asking you to pay. I’m asking you to permanently shift your mindset and perspective, to alter the way you perceive yourself and the world around you. I’m asking you to make healthy choices that honor your body and spirit – not just for a month or six months or even a year – but for the rest of your life. I’m asking you to reconsider your relationship to food and exercise, to reconsider your relationship to your body, and ultimately to change your behaviors – for the rest of your life. I’m asking you to make difficult choices – for the rest of your life. This is way different than you giving me $250 and I help you lose 20 pounds in two months – and then we each go our own ways. In that transaction I helped you reach a temporary goal, but then what? If you haven’t fundamentally changed in the ways I just described, the chances are good that you’ll gain your weight back. In fact, statistically speaking, you’ll gain that weight back and a little extra to boot.

 

And I don’t want to be that kind of salesman. There’s no shortage of those kinds of salesmen and saleswomen – and I don’t mean to bad mouth them… I just don’t want to be them. In my corporate sales career, I had customers stay with me for 15 years. And I can promise you it wasn’t because my widgets were better than my competitors or because I was the cheapest – they stuck around because I understood the value proposition of our relationship – they paid me to help them transform, to get where they were to where they wanted to go. And that’s the kind of relationship I want with my clients now.

 

So, if you’re shopping for a personal trainer or nutrition coach, ask your self what is it that you really want to buy? And ask yourself if you’re willing to pay the price?

 

News Flash

I’ve seen a few news stories this week relating to technology and resistance training. It seems the pandemic has spawned a new class workout equipment commonly referred to as Smart Home Gyms. Home gyms are certainly nothing new, but until recently they may have contained some weights, and maybe a lonely treadmill or bike. But today there is a host of workout-from-home technologies, led primarily by Peloton. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Peloton is a company that specializes in at home spin classes. They make high end spin bikes - they start at $1,500 and go up from there – but their magic is in their online community. After you buy the bike, you’ll shell out another $39 per month subscription fee – that’s $468 a year – in order to join the online Peloton community.  Here you can select what type of class you want – short and intense or long and restorative and everything in between – and join your virtual friends in an online class experience. And the genius in this business model is the online community. Exercise bikes are nothing new, you can find them in many homes, usually relegated to furniture handy for hanging your laundry.

 

It seems like the smart home gym space is exploding right now, with many new players stepping into the market, and even players like NordicTrack are offering internet connected at home workout solutions. NordicTrack’s offering is called the Fusion CST, Lululemon is in the market with their offering called The Mirror, and the Amazon-backed company Tonal is touting itself as a “revolutionary magnetic weight system paired with a bevy of world-class trainers.”

 

And now Peloton is stepping outside the cardio realm and attacking the at home resistance training market with their newest release The Guide.

 

The headline for the article I read states, “Peloton launches Guide, a camera system for strength training.”  The article goes on to say that all you need is a TV to use their small AI-enabled device in order to use their guided strength programs from home.  These devices will be available in early 2022, and the article says the device will start at $495, and the subscription to their content library will cost $13 a month. The Guide is meant to give users a “virtual personal strength-training experience that’s suitable for a range of experience levels.”  Peloton says the Guide is compatible with any weights, but of course they sell their own – but a quick check on their website shows that their dumbbells only go up to 30 pounds. I’ll drop the link to this article as well as the others I’m getting ready to mention in the show notes, which you can find at www.silveredgefitness.com/episode88.

https://www.nbcnews.com/select/shopping/peloton-guide-camera-ncna1283603

 

And Peloton isn’t the only smart home gym news story I saw in the last week. I read an article titled “Omorpho wants to make resistance training easier with its weighted workout clothing.”

Omorpho is a new company started by a group of ex-Nike employees, and the basic gist of their offering is that traditional weight belts and vests are bulky and limit an athlete’s full range of motion. So they’ve launched their new line of Gravity Sportswear – including shorts, leggings, vests, and shirts – to offer greater resistance during workouts, but not at the expense of movement. The clothing line is not inexpensive – the shorts retail for $200 and the short sleeve t-shirt goes for $175. The clothing uses what the company calls MicroLoad Spheres, which are dotted across the garments, not too dissimilar to Michael B Jordan’s torso in The Black Panther.

https://www.engadget.com/omorpho-micro-weight-exercise-clothes-140059294.html

 

Another interesting article in this same vein I read this week is titled, “Ladder Closes $6.5M in Seed Funding to Deliver Complete Strength Training Programs for Busy Millennial Professionals.” Ladder is a fitness app that claims that they are, “built for people who are motivated to maintain a consistent training routine but don't have the time or the expertise to plan their own workouts each day.” That’s a lot of investor money into a fitness app, but with serious fitness influencers like ben Greenfield on-board, it will be interesting to see how far this fitness app space can go.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211110005388/en/

 

I’d love to know what you think about this movement towards virtual home gym workouts. As an over 50 crowd, what do you think about all this technology? The pandemic has changed many things, and it’s certainly left its mark on the traditional gyms, and many folks who left their gym (or saw their gym shut down) are not returning, but rather choosing to workout at home. Is this a temporary fad? Or is it the new reality? Leave your thoughts and comments at www.silveredgefitness.com/epsode88.

 

Outro

OK, that’s our show for today folks – I’ll put links to everything we talked about in the show notes and you can find that over at www.silveredgefitness.com/episode88, and don’t forget to check out www.silveredgefree.com for more great free resources on how to live you healthiest, strongest life after 50.  In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you.  You can always leave a comment on this episode page, or feel free to email me with any comments or questions from today’s show.  Send emails to coach@silveredgefitness.com.  I want to thank you so much for spending your time with me today.  I’ll be back next week with my regular interview format.  That’s it for today, so until next time, stay strong!