Yes, this site has the word trainer in the name – but if you came here looking for info on how to do a better squat or execute a power clean, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Actually, if that is what you’re looking for, I have a great video for you:

[youtube ZJDACbKeNB8 nolink]

Now back to business …

This site is about the business of training. It’s an area that I feel trainers have been weak in for tool long, and that’s what we’re here to fix.  It’s to guide you from taking what already comes naturally to you, fitness, and capitalizing on it to create and outstanding business and lifestyle.  Think I’m kidding?  Then you need to do your homework on my story, the success stories of many of my students, and some of my closest friends in the industry.

That being said, let’s get one thing very clear.  Your product always is and will always be fitness.  Skimp on excellence in that, and long term, your career is headed nowhere.  One guy that’s mastered this balance between the business and technique of fitness is my friend Eric Cressey.

Eric is known today as one of the most outspoken advocates of the importance of trainers to really master their craft (he’s told me before that a lot of his time working with athletes is spent correcting the mess their previous trainers made with them).

But here’s what you may not know about Eric: even though he’s one of the most knowledgeable guys in the world on the technical aspects of fitness, he’s also one of the smartest on the business end as well.

• Smart enough to keep a blog where he keeps his audience and customer base fully aware of what he does to maintain his knowledge base.
  
• Smart enough to have a full time partner who manages just the business side of his gym so he doesn’t have to.
  
• Smart enough to diversify his services into information products and online coaching (plus the incredible new SHOW AND GO PROGRAM you’re about to learn about).

None of this is surprising: he’s a graduate of Babson College, probably the country’s top school in entrepreneurial education.  So before you learn anything about fitness from Eric, learn about the importance he placed on the business end of it FIRST, and that’s precisely allows him to “fund” this hobby which he’s turned into a lucrative and highly acclaimed business.

If you’re a long time follower of this blog, you’ll know he’s been on a few times and covered a wide range of subjects.  I’ve re-posted some of his best interviews and articles from the past below so you can review some of what he’s talked about.  Even if your specialty is in no way related to strength & conditioning, you’ll still want to check this out.

Before you get drowned in all of that content though, let me tell you a little bit about his new SHOW AND GO PROGRAM.

Or better yet, Eric will tell you about it.  Here’s an email he sent me a couple of days ago:

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The principle goal of the program is to show people that there are certain key principles involved in any effective strength and conditioning program – comprehensive warm-ups, compound movements, fluctuating training stress, progressive overload, exercise rotations, single-leg work, more pulling than pushing, etc, etc.

However, with a few modifications – particularly with respect to energy systems development (or lack thereof), you can make a generalized program specific to an individual. As such, at its core, this program is something that can be useful for people trying to get stronger, more athletic, more muscular, leaner, or all of the above. We have had everything from bodybuilders, to powerlifters, to rock climbers, to endurance athletes do it – and report back to us with great results.

As a brief background on the product, it’s completely online. In addition to the main manual – which features some background on the program, how it works, how to interpret the exercise recommendations, plus some frequently asked questions – we have four separate 4-week programs for a total of 16 weeks of training. Taking it a step further, we have a password protected online database (Vimeo) of over 175 exercises videoed – basically, everything in the program. This alone, in my eyes, completely justifies the cost of the program; it’s a tremendous resource in itself. So, I think this has merit for both athletes/fitness enthusiasts and fitness professionals.

The program themselves are already inserted into the exact training templates we use with our clients at Cressey Performance, so people can just print them out and record everything they do during each session. There are 4x/week and 3x/week training options – and a 2x/week training options available as one of the bonuses (ideal for in-season athletes and endurance athletes). Within each of the 3x/week and 4x/week programs, there are five different supplemental metabolic conditioning options (movement training, interval work, “mixed,” no conditioning, and “just perform your sport”) from which people can choose. Each phase has a unique full mobility warm-up.

In the main manual, there is an entire chapter (and corresponding video library) on exercise modifications for those who have limited equipment access (e.g., no squat rack or cables) and those who may have mobility issues that prevent them from performing a specific exercise (e.g., squatting deep).

Accompanying the product are the following bonuses:

1. Five Fantastic Finishers – Tony Gentilcore

2. The Top Five Glute Exercises – Bret Contreras

3. Innovative Soft Tissue Strategies for Health and Performance (videos included) – Chris Howard

4. The Show and Go Quick Exercise Reference Guide – Eric Cressey (this is a collection of links directly to every exercise in the program so that people can quickly refer to it when they’re at the gym and using an iPhone or Blackberry to get an exercise technique refresher).

5. 2x/week Show and Go Training Programs for all four phases (as I mentioned, perfect for in-season athletes and endurance athletes).

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So there you go. I think there’s some sort of mistake, because if I’m not mistaken, he’s priced the program somewhere around $77.  Whatever the price, this is definitely something trainers and athletes need to jump on, so be sure to sign up here for updates:

http://showandgotraining.com/

And here are Eric’s previous features on Super-Trainer:

CLEARING THE AIR WITH ERIC CRESSEY: Talking To Eric About The Big Issues In Fitness (Listen to the info-packed audio)!!!

April 19, 2009

When it comes to telling it like it is in the world of training and fitness, there’s one guy you can always depend on: Eric Cressey.

And he has the right to talk – Eric’s one of the guy’s setting the standard from both the business and training side of the fitness industry for the new age of trainers and coaches.

And through his blog, Eric’s never afraid to share his thoughts or get involved with controversial subjects. I’m a very loyal reader of his blog for all of the excellent training info, industry commentary, and the fact that it’s also funny as hell sometimes.

I wanted to get Eric on the my blog to talk about some of these industry issues and to shed some light on a few of the topics that have come up on his blog and mine. What resulted was an excellent conversation that brought up many of these areas. A few of the issues we got into were:

• Is their a need for accreditation in Personal Training?
  
• How to train groups and still keep everyone’s goals in mind.
  
• How to grow a training business that still has training as the main focus.

Here’s the audio of our conversation:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/s-t/Eric-Cressey.mp3]

Eric-Cressey.mp3

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Eric’s also one of the shrewdest business people in this game too. In his business, he has a partner in charge of the business responsibilities – that’s what allows him to pursue his passions without being bothered by the figures. 

And of course, check out Eric’s blog about Strength And Conditioning For Athletes HERE.

ERIC CRESSEY: THE GOLDEN BOY OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING – Eric Reveals The Foundations Behind His Meteoric Rise To The Top (listen to the dyanmite audio clips)

May 20, 2008

It looks to me like everyone getting started in the fitness industry today, especially young guys, wants to get in the field of Strength and Conditioning.

It must be the high-powered world of competitive athletics that makes it so appealing.

Well if that’s the case the leader and role-model in this area is definitely Eric Cressey.

Eric’s the version 2.0 of the sports and conditioning expert and entrepreneur. He has tremendous credentials, has published a book, trains high-level athletes, and has now opened his own major training facility. He’s really living the dream and setting the standard of what seems to be everyone’s ideal career path in fitness these days.

Eric’s the owner of Cressey Performance in Boston Massachusetts, a no-nonsense, high performance training facility catering to athletes and people interested in training like athletes. With the recent expansion of his facility and his growing exposure in this field, it looks like it’s working.

He’s also the author of Maximum Strength, a back to basics, gimmicks free book on how to improve your physique and performance. He’s as good a person as there is to talk about something like this, because he’s always trained on a competitive level towards speed and power himself.

Doing what you know best is in fact how I chose my specialty as well, and how I recommend every other trainer should do it too.

What’s more amazing about Eric’s story is the young age at which he’s been able to accomplish all of this. Eric just just turned 27 this month. To have accomplished so much at his age is amazing, but goes to show what you can do when you apply yourself to something you’re passionate about.

In Eric’s case he’s obviously found the segment of the fitness field he loves, and he’s hitting it as hard as one of his athletes would hit a bad pitch. Although strength and conditioning for sports performance is far different from Personal Training, I still wanted to make sure I got Eric on Super-Trainer for some of the inside scoop on what it’s about.

As Eric told me in the interview, Personal Training is the farthest thing from what he does; he actually works with all of his athletes in a small group setting. Since small group training is also the major trend in the fitness industry, that’s another major thing Eric sheds light on in our conversation. With a few

One thing I wanted to point out that Eric mentions is the work of spine expert Dr. Stuart McGill. You can find out more about him here: www.backfitpro.com. Eric blasts anyone that isn’t familiar with his work as he says that it’ll affect about 80% of your clients at some point. I’ve got to admit that I wasn’t familiar Dr. McGill’s work, but I’ve now ordered his DVD and am taking care of that. I always love to get my hands on good info that’s new to me so good looking out on that Eric!

Here’s part 1 of our interview – in it Eric talks about his start in the industry, about his business, his schedule, and how his facility is set-up:

[youtube zArV4ohkS0I nolink]

And here’s part 2 – here he talks about how his sessions are run, how he feels about having his name on the door, how his own athletic background translates into his work, and his start and feelings about the information marketing industry:

[youtube DJxoqDRdDcc nolink]

For more info on Eric and the things he’s involved in visit his site, ericcressey.com –

All in all, this resulted in a really informative interview. If you’re a trainer that’s really passionate about sports and conditioning, Eric’s example should show you that it won’t lead to the “fame and fortune” you’re looking for in a short period of time. It’ll take some work and knowledge, but if you love this field already that’ll probably be the easy part.