Beware of the fitness Ostridge Part 1-

Beware of the fitness Ostridge 

Chris Shah

Terra Nova Fitness, Owner

Head strength and conditioning coach

In part 1- of the series I will tackle the dinner table philosophical side of hiding your head in the sand. Part 2- we will venture into the gym and tackle the practical or procedural practices of having your head in the sand.

Does your fitness professional, personal trainer or instructor have his or her professional head in the sand?  Here are some clues to find out if you are in the presence of a fitness ostridge in Pacifica fitness gyms or across the world.

Here are some big rock questions you should ask your strength and conditioning coach and/or Personal trainer. A high-level intellectually interested trainer who has your best interest at heart should have rapid fire answers. I know some of the best coaches and trainers in the country and they all agree on this common thread.  

1. What were the last 5 strength and conditioning/rehab books you have read?

Many fighters and athletes who come to me for advice often say “I can’t ask him that he would get offended” If you asked a fan/student of horror movies what were the last five horror movies he watched would he get offended? Or would he wax poetically about them? If your fitness professional gets offended by such a question you are being trained by an ostridge content with having his head in the sand. RUN for your life!

The best trainers in the world spend more money on books than TV and movies.

2. How many seminars, workshops and conferences have you attended this year? There are giant masters of fitness and physical rehab who are kind enough to allow us to stand on their shoulders. Check out the view you will be amazed and enriched along with your clients and athletes.

 I recently had another Pacifica gym owner and trainer walk into my gym for reconnaissance. I was genuinely interested in talking shop. It went a little like this after pleasantries were exchanged.

 Me: “so will I see you at perform better seminar this weekend is San Francisco?

 Visiting Pacifica trainer: “What’s that? (This is forgivable because 5 years ago I didn’t know)

Me:” It’s were the content leaders, innovators and pioneers of both fitness and rehab come to lecture and give hands on training”

 Visiting Pacifica trainer: “that’s not my thing”

Me: with my mental jaw on the floor. WHAT!? 

After the initial shock and awe wore off it was too late for me to articulate a response as she bolted out.  Learning and becoming better is not your thing? Gray Cook, Lee Burton and Rachelle, Awlyn Cosgrove is not your thing. The Mount Rushmore figures of rehab and fitness is not your thing? 

Imagine the same thought process in another field to hammer in the intellectual laziness and obscurity of such a statement.  You’re an amateur director and find out Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood are holding a seminar and hands on directoring in your home town and your response as a director is that’s not my thing? You just missed out on an opportunity to become a better practitioner but you don’t care because your head is in the sand. Shame on you!

3. How many trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, physical therapists and chiropractors have you visited this year? I have spent time with some of the best in the business and each time learned and grown from the experience. The most successful people in all industries mastermind with like-minded and higher-level individuals and teams.  

I recently spent time at Stanford with Strength coach Stephen DiLustro. We talked shop for hours and I saw first hand what they are doing with some of the best woman athletes in the country.

 I immediately made a few adjustments to my training and learned a few things that I’m now implementing on a daily basis. Fitness ostridges won’t visit other coaches because they are stuck in “this is how I do it mode” or worse afraid to ask a question that exposes their ignorance. An ostridge would rather protect their ego with their head in the sand than go the extra mile to become a better trainer for their clients.

I proudly say have your head held high, look around, and ask questions that expose your ignorance. You will evolve and become more valuable to your clients and athletes.

4. What were the last five mistakes you have made in your training?

The scientific method is designed for mistakes. – Gordon Forward President, Chaparral steel.

With my Mentor Mike Boyle (Boston Red Socks)

Mike is famous for writing about his mistakes and learning from them and saving the rest of us allot of trial and error.  Bottom line if you have not made mistakes you are either not coaching anyone, have an ego first improve second mentality, don’t keep detailed performance records of your athletes/clients or never objectively looked at your programming. Great judgment comes from allot of bad judgment.

Great practitioners like Warren Buffet, Jerry Rice, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill all proclaimed mistakes were valuable teachers and without them their success would have been impeded.

Like wise great trainers love to laugh about their mistakes and get a sparkle in their eye about what they learned from them. The unexamined trainer is not worth paying for ;)

5. What and when was your last paradigm shift?

If they don’t have an answer you have another reason to believe you are in the company of an fitness ostridge .If they applied the same logic they do to their training to technology they should still be watching movies on VHS. We know there is more efficient technology and we must update accordingly. The same applies with strength and conditioning, what we thought was safe and effective 2 years ago may no longer be. 

Demand the highest of standards from your coach or trainer. You DESERVE it. See you inside the gym for part 2 of the series.