Anyone can have a blog....(and a peek at my day)

When you want find any type of fitness information on the Internet all you have to do is google it, and let your search engine take over.  Bouncing around from website to website and blog to blog you will find a variety of answers and opinions that are written by credible and non-credible authors. So who should you believe? What advice or suggestions should you put into practice?

Those questions are kinda hard to answer.  Anyone can start a blog.  In computer land I can be Dr. Damon Brobst CSCS*D, PhD, USAW, NASM CES, ACE CPT, and whole bunch of other letters and acronyms that don't mean a whole lot when dealing with an actual person in a "real life" fitness setting.  I could also be labeled as a Master Trainer by my gym, which means even less when you look at what it takes to achieve that status at some health clubs.  I could also have a 500lb bench, 600lb, squat and 752lb. deadlift, all raw and of course, before I injured my hamstring and rotator cuff. 

Don't get me wrong, education is extremely important to be successful in the strength and conditioning industry.  How physically strong you are and what type of physical condition you are in is important as well, especially if you are new to the profession and looking for clients in a health club setting.

When working in a "real life" setting you should look like a person who practices what they preach.  You should also have the education to explain why you are doing an exercise and how to assess clients with inadequate movement patterns.  As well as be knowledgeable of nutrition and supplements. In computer land you can claim to know everything, and claim everyone else is a complete idiot.

So what am I trying to get across?  A lot of what you will read on the Internet is total BS marketing babble.  There are tons of keyboard commandos writing their little stupid blogs about how they are the best trainer on the planet, and then trolling around the Internet looking to bash other articles and blogs written by people who actually train/coach others and get damn good results.

There are people who sit on Pubmed all day and  love to pull up research to show someone else that they are incorrect, and feel satisfied for proving someone else wrong.  Meanwhile, they haven't gotten any results with their clients because all they do is sit in front of a damn computer. I'm all for research but get out and work with a client, get feedback from a real person. Bret Contreras does EMG testing out of his garage gym, on his clients.

Here is a look into my average day so you can see I put my work in physically rather then behind a keyboard.  It's a little choppy, but I wanted to give a brief overview and explain details in other blog posts. Then again, in computer land this could all be made up........

3:45 wake up,  make breakfast, pack food for the day, get ready for work
4:40 leave the house, drive to work
500 train first client (30 min session) - 50 year old male
530am train second client (60 min session) 45 year old female
630am train third client (60 min session) 45 year old male
730am leave gym drive to school
745 eat second meal
805 grade level meeting
830- open gym for 6th/7th grade students, home room, around 600 or so kids
900- first hour planning (enter grades, write blog, read articles/book, answer e-mail,etc)
1000 second period class, 45 students, today will be form running, sprinting, body weight circuit
1100 Lunch- eat 3rd meal
1145 3rd period, today we'll be outside, after a warm up I will be playing QB in a flag football game (fun)
1245 4th period (same as third)
140 5th period (73 students) we will be working out, same as second period
230 Eat my 4th meal
235 6th period, I will be outside same as 3rd and 4th
330 leave school
350 arrive at gym, workout gym- not work gym
400-5ish workout( kick my own ass)
520pm arrive at my work gym- drink shake
530 train 4th client of the day (15 year old lacrosse player, hopes to play in college)
640 leave gym
700 arrive home
715 eat dinner
745 pack for the next day
8ish spend time with my hot fiance, recite poetry to each other........
930ish pass out!

If you made it through that craziness you can see my life is far from a person who doesn't work "hands on".  I put my time in, and I love what I do.  I write a blog to help get some information across to people who want to take a few minutes and read something written by someone who WORKS in the field of fitness and exercise.  I work with adults, teens, and kids, promoting a physically active lifestyle and a healthy diet.  I am a total TYPE A personality so I need to be extremely organized and as you can tell, I am a routine based individual.

Over the years I have began to pay really close attention to some extremely smart people in the field of strength and conditioning and I can't thank them enough to expanding my passion in the fitness field.  I read their blogs on a regular basis and the information I come across usually helps me become more knowledgeable in my profession, and thanks to Tony Gentilecore- a little humor is brought to my day as well.  Check out Ben Bruno's Good Reads for a couple links I go to on a daily basis, or check out my blogroll to the right.  Happy reading......