Business Lesson: "Free has no Value."

A couple months back I had a young man approach me with questions about training. He wants to play varsity baseball after a several year layoff from the game. This is nothing new. I get approached all the time. We will call this one Joe. I have seen Joe in the gym often, he practically lives there. He is your typical gym rat stuck on a bodybuilding routine and a diet of protein shakes, chicken and stuff from the restaurant across the street in an effort to get “big” and “strong”. Very little, if any, of the work he does currently is going to translate to being competitive on the field (lots of machine/isolation movements combined with slow heavy poundage work with improper form.)
Joe appears too sincere and I tell him I can train him and this is my rate. Of course Joe balks and says he is broke, that he is only a student and can’t afford such a rate. Before you think me evil, I know for a fact his parents are well off and they more than just give him a small allowance for making his bed in the morning, but I play along and let him coerce me into training alongside instead of working up an individual training and nutritional program and all that jazz just for him.
“How bout Tuesday? You can workout with me, do what I do and figure it out from there.” Joe enthusiastically agrees but I still have that wait and see attitude. I have made similar offers to different people probably a 100+ times over, and it is usually ends the same every time. If he shows and up and has the right attitude and work ethic then I will of course do everything in my power to see he makes the team. I love mentoring young athletes, and I am quite good at it.
Well guess what, Tuesday’s Gone (how bout that Skynyrd reference?) and no Joe. Sure glad I did not wait before starting my workout. “Free has no Value!”

Before I became a Renegade Trainer, I owned and operated a Landscape business. During the five years of operation one lesson above all others seemed to keep recurring; “Free has no value.” Now that I have switched businesses one lesson above others seems to be recurring, now more than ever, “Free has no value.”
Never mind that I have been trained by the best.
Never mind that I have access to the knowledge base of the best.
Never mind that I have the backing of the WORLDS best trainers, Renegade Trainers.
If it is free, somehow it seems to be without value to the general public.
Perhaps I need to pose this riddle to Frank Gorshin?
I am sure Adam West could figure it out easily.
Aren’t the best things in life free?

More on Joe in my next blog, stay tuned.

The Impossible Sit Up

I love the New Year as it instills fresh blood into the gym, albeit short term, but still some of what you see is quite entertaining. Yesterday I was treated to “The Impossible Sit-Up.” And for the record I did not fall for it, almost though. I did laugh my butt off.
Here is what you need to do:
Find your resident gym-guru, you know the guy who knows it all, and issue a challenge for the Impossible Sit-Up. Be sure to build up the mystique, tell him so and so could not do it, and neither could you. Tell him it is just plain impossible, the laws of physics and human equilibrium will not allow it and such….
When he is ripe for the picking, have him close his eyes while still standing and then tell him to spin clockwise ten times. Really build it up, tell him he needs to do it fast while you are counting. When he reaches ten, with his eyes still closed, have him drop to the ground and perform a sit up with his eyes still closed (very important). As he is getting into position, straddle his chest and position your butt so when he performs a perfect sit up it crashes right into your hind side. If he does not crash into the first time tell him he is not getting enough height on the sit-ups and is failing. He is sure to put in the extra effort.

Yeah, I know childish and immature, and I really do not know why I made a blog out of it except to remind everyone that while training should be intense and productive it should also be fun.
Ps
Make sure you can run faster than the sucker you just pulled the Tom-Foolery on.

The Cousin Ralph

While attending a private training session for Renegade only trainers over the weekend in Nyack, New York I stumbled upon several great experiences worthy of putting to pen. Yes, a few of them involve actual training. And yes I will write about them later in the week, but for those familiar with Renegade know it is not at all about the weight room but about style. Now style can be construed as what you wear, how you walk, how you talk, but also in how you eat. You will be hard pressed to find an out of shape, obese, Renegade practitioner, but unlike most “in shape” members of the gym we do not exist on “Engineered Protein Shakes” or cans of tuna, we know how to eat and that is where The Cousin Ralph comes in.

Setting; Main Street Nyack, New York.
Old School Italian Deli (the kind that has been purged from my neck of the woods by Subway, and only broken English is spoken)

The Sandwich aka The Cousin Ralph: Prosciutto Ham, Broccoli Rabe, Eggplant, Provolone, on Ciabatta, heated.

The Desert: Giant chocolate chip cookie with a hint of cinnamon.

Now that is eating folks!
Does your training/trainer have style? Maybe he or she should. Close to Delaware? Need training? I got style

Sport or Spoiled?

So there I am watching Sunday Night Football in the presence of all females. Blessing or Curse, I ask? I would not necessarily say either. I would, however, say it was a test of patience, my patience, which is now exhausted. Throughout the night I was inundated with questions. Why this, why that. Rules and plays I just take for granted were constantly questioned. Now these women have all watched football before, most have even been to games, but without the presence of other men it was open season.
Keep in mind this the Giants vs. the Eagles so you know it is going to be a crazy game and the observations of the female looked to be equally as crazy. Aside from the typical questions such as; if time runs out while the runner is running down the field and he scores what happens with the extra point? Why would they wear white while playing on grass? there were some very fascinating points.
Here we go with some highlights…..
The camera zooms in on the quarterback. He is wearing these enormous glove/mittens.
“What are they for?” Try explaining that when the temperature is 50 degrees.
The camera zooms in on a defensive lineman. He has two sets of gloves and enough athletic tape to stock any sporting goods store for a year. Just imagine the comments on that one.
It gets really good when the camera shows the quarterback warming up, and he has a trainer next to him catching the ball. “He has someone catch the ball for him? Why?” They ask.
A timeout is called and the cameral shows the crew running out and then the players cleaning their cleats with a cleat cleaner. Now I am starting to laugh along too.
A camera shot showing the water boy making his rounds. “You mean they have someone bringing the Gatorade? Can’t they get it themselves? He is right next to the table.”
“You mean even the bench they are sitting on is heated?”
“They have headsets in their helmets? Who are they talking too? Why?”
“He makes how much? For this?”
This list goes on, and one. I do not think any of the women were overly impressed and I heard the word spoiled mentioned far too often. It kind of makes you wonder, even drugs and criminal activities aside; is your sport still sporting?