Recap of Perform Better Seattle

Recently Alexandra and I drove down to Seattle with Jordy and Megan for a one day clinic put on by Perform Better. At this particular event we were lucky to catch the following four presenters:  Rachel Cosgrove

Charlie Weingroff

Gray Cook

Alwyn Cosgrove

Mike Boyle was scheduled to present but I can imagine his new position with the Red Sox probably limits his time and availability to participate in these events. So Gray Cook filled in for him.

Are you familiar with Gray Cook?

If not it's like saying Crosby is not available for the shootout but Ovechkin can fill in for him.

Kudos to Perform Better for providing a fill-in such as Gray. And lucky for all of us in attendance.

But let's get to what they all talked about.

1. Rachel Cosgrove -  Designing Fat Loss Programs For Your Female Clients

The big take aways from Rachel's presentation was the level of system development that exists at Results Fitness which she owns with her husband Alwyn. Better systems allows for better results.

She went into detail showing the breakdown of what an hour session looks like at her gym and provided a number of examples of factors that are unique to training women.

For example there should be consideration of prone exercises, jumping exercises, time of month (menstruation) and time of their life (menopause) when training women.

2. Charlie Weingroff  - Understanding Joint Centration

If you've seen Charlie speak before you'll know what a treat it is to learn from him. And while he's great online and on podcasts etc he's such an energetic personality you really do need to see him in person.

Click at the end of this sentence to see Charlie in Kelowna this summer www.strengthconference.com What is joint centration? Well I hope I'm doing Charlie justice by describing it as equal co-contraction of agonists and antagonists about a joint. Further if joint centration is lacking then there exists tension which needs needs to be overcome.

Charlie has invested much time studying DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization) which has roots to Janda and more recently Pavel Kolar and sees this is as something that will be very big for those that work, train and rehab clients.

3. Gray Cook - Mobility, Motor Control, Movement

I believe it was one of the Cosgrove's that said Gray has 8 letters in his names and 14 letters after them. When he speaks at the major events he is the guy the other presenters try and make a point to see.

Gray opened by stating that the FMS, Functional Movement Screen, is not an assessment because it does not provide a diagnosis. It simply flags movement as dysfunctional or not. Dysfunctional movement has to do with movement competency i.e. touch your toes, whereas deficient movement has to do with movement capacity i.e how many reps.

He added that the screen is not performance-based it is stability & mobility based. Hence the description of dysfunctional rather than deficient movement.

4. Alwyn Cosgrove -Cutting Edge Fitness Business Principles

Alwyn is a great speaker. Maybe it's his Scottish accent? I don't know? But he can command a room and get a point across.

He did a great job of conveying the point that the fitness industry needs to remove the risk. If you were able to remove the risk for a potential client what would stand in their way of working with you?

I also thought it was interesting how he dispelled a few business myths including:

dream big - Sure it's important to have big goals but often people stop at the part where they dream and do nothing else.

do what you love and the $ will follow - Alwyn loves watching Engligh Premier League football and drinking beer yet he is still waiting for  his first pay cheque for doing this.

work hard - Not if you're applying your efforts in the wrong direction. Better to work smart.

Overall this was a great event. Jordy, Megan and I all learned a ton and look forward to updating on our other summer learning experiences.

Chris