Big, Hard and Round Brains!

“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” - Thomas Carruthers

I know you’re probably tired of me gushing about the members of the TR. I’m always going on about how hard they work, how easily they do difficult things, and how they have fun doing it.
You’re tired of me telling you about my client with no previous endurance training or competition background finishing in the top 5% in his 1st “Tough Mudder” competition.

Apparently 2 times per week at the TR gets you in better shape than what 95% of people who do endurance training do to get in shape.

I know you’re tired of me telling you about women in their 30’s and 40’s who have kids or jobs or both in many cases, swinging kettlebells between 60 and 80 lbs.

So today I’m going to tell you a new thing about my clients I love: their brains.

For example: these are topics of conversation that have been overheard at the TR amongst its members:

· Spinal kyphosis and lordosis.
· Scapular retraction, depression and downward rotation.
· The malleolus and tibial tuberosity.
· Undulating periodization.
· Negative work to rest ratios.

Seriously.

Over the last 20 years I’ve probably spent time in about 15 – 20 exercise facilities either as a member or a trainer. And I’m having trouble remembering a conversation about the above topics between TWO TRAINERS. Never mind members talking about this stuff: I’ve never heard FITNESS PROFESSIONALS (ahem, cough, cough…) discussing this stuff unless I was one of the trainers in the conversation.

And this is what I’m proud of: At The Training Rim we don’t discuss this stuff because we want to impress people with big words. We do it because we want to empower our members. Their empowerment through their knowledge increases their chances of getting leaner, stronger, healthier, and better looking.

If you understand the “why” behind our interval training, you’re less likely to waste time doing silly shit like long duration cardio on your own.

If you understand the “why” behind our core training, you’ll be less likely to waste your time “doing abs” like the other learning impaired individuals at Globo Gym.

Bottom line: the more you know, the more likely you are to get results. The more you train at a facility that considers it an obligation to educate you, the more likely you are to get results.

Which brings me back to the quote at the top of the page. We consider educating our members part of our job here at The Training Rim. We don’ think beating the holy hell out of them until they puke is our job. Nor do we feel coddling them and telling them it’s OK to exert minimal effort in your “workout” and call it exercise. It’s our job to get them to improve. (Which is why “Always Improve” is Training Rim tenet #1 and on the wall at our facility). Knowledge helps get you there. And although I hope I never become completely unnecessary, I do take pride in telling my clients they have rendered me “superfluous” when they’re in the middle of destroying yet another circuit, in part because of thier knowledge. It means we’re all doing our jobs and getting stuff done.

(*On a side note, admittedly the conversation about the malleolous only came up because someone accidentally slammed theirs into a kettlebell – which kinda’ hurt.)

I think if this guy used a HeadBlade, this is how my clinets view me.