THE BIGGEST MISTAKE I EVER MADE...

And why it was the best thing to ever happen

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Some may know this, but for those that don't, my journey of being involved with the physical training of athletes began at the ripe age of 19. As you can imagine, I did not know much. I had a very limited depth of knowledge on the systems of physical development for the athlete and an even more limited idea on the psychology and soft skills. As hard as it was, it taught me a lot more than I could have ever hoped for. It exposed how awful I was at communicating. It exposed how difficult it was to design and optimize training sessions. It was just an all-around tough experience. But it was EXPERIENCE. The number one thing I tell people looking to get into this field is to start now. Start coaching. Start training. Start writing. Just start. Do whatever you can to figure out the worst ways to do things. Learn how to fail. Learn what works and what doesn't work. But you have to put in the work. Skin in the game. I am hard on myself with how bad I was at being a coach when I first began, maybe a little too hard. Why? Because I really didn't know any better yet. I sort of relate it to raising our kids right now. They are 2.5 and 1 years old. When they received crayons for the first time and slowly transitioned from drawing on the paper to drawing all over the walls it is kind of hard to be that mad at them when in their world everything is to be colored on. They really don't know any better yet.

Through trial and lots of error, slowly I began to get into the swing of things. Year after year. Stacking up the hours. Literally figuring out the best and worst possible ways to train not only athletes for sport but anybody in general. I found the more diverse the populations I worked with the more well-rounded I became. If you can name it I've trained it. Small groups. Big groups. Teams. Privates. Healthy. Injured. Motivated. Unmotivated. Young. Old. Physical disabilities. Thousands of people, all with unique personalities. I cannot overemphasize the importance of doing this. The more experience you accumulate the greater master of your craft you become. The point of mentioning all of this is to highlight the expansive background I have had in my past 10 years in the industry in terms of the clientele I have worked with as well as the different training styles I have utilized. Furthermore, you may be wondering what is the point of providing you with a history lesson of my last 10 years in this industry? Glad you asked. Here is why:

The first half of my career, as I mentioned, began when I was only a freshman in college. At the time the athletes that I worked with were participating in "speed and agility" classes. This is another HUGE topic I have planned for another article down the road...for now I want you to tuck this little nugget into your back pocket and save it for the next article: 99% of youth athletes I train need to focus more on strength training and building a durable, fit body versus speed and agility training. Moving on for now... These "classes" consisted of a variety of different athletes all training at the same time and executing relatively the same exercises. Adjustments were made for those who were either unable to perform certain movements because of lack of training experience or pain. For years and years this was how I trained athletes. Groups. We all start together, break together, and end together. During this same time period I would have several athletes ask to do some extra lifting as well. This strength training was completed at the end of their usual sessions. As time goes on, more and more athletes gain interest in the extra strength-based work they were doing. Slowly these groups began to grow. Just like their speed and agility sessions, everything was done together amongst the members of the group at that time. During this time period I had some crazy athletes. Workhorses. They weren't on their phones. They weren't distracted. They never missed training sessions (or breakfast). They LOVED the work, and I truly believe these athletes that I began training at the beginning of my career gave me the inspiration to continue to push the needle on my professional development, because believe me there were days I would go home and just question why am I doing this when I felt so uncomfortable in my skills to work with these athletes?! There were several times I questioned if this was the right path for me because I just could not get a feel for it. But, regardless of what I thought of myself and my skills these athletes believed in me. They were here for it and for me. A classic: I say jump and they say how high type scenario. Even though I was insecure with my skills, looking back I can make an honest objective assessment and determine that yes...my programming was not that great. But here is the craziest part about it...are you ready? Those athletes STILL GOT BETTER. Not just a little. A lot. For fun I went back deep into my archives and pulled a few training programs I wrote back in the day and I just can't imagine anybody making a substantial amount of progress off of it. But these athletes did! You may be saying to yourself "Well if they were beginners then they are experiencing newbie gains which makes sense because any form of training stimulus will make a newbie better". 100% true. But these weren't beginners by any stretch. So, this begs the question...how did they get better? Hold onto that thought...

As I went through college I gained more street and textbook smarts. I trained more and more people. Read more and more books. Every semester that goes by I'm trying out new training styles regardless of where or how I learned it. I just wanted to find something that was the holy grail. The "magic" training style that will turn my athletes into freaks. Funny side note: it seemed like the more I learned about the science, the biomechanics, physiology, anatomy, etc. the more confused I seemed to become with my programming. Right around the time I got accepted into PT school which was close to graduation of my undergrad I made a significant overhaul to the style of my programming. I began to give each athlete I trained their own customized training packet. Why? Continue reading.

The Meathead Dunning-Kruger effect. The more I learned in my studies I began to develop a mindset shift: maybe the "magic" secret to successful programming for my athletes was to strategically design "personalized" workouts. This way everyone has something that I felt is more for them and their needs. So, I got to work. Rapidly typing away, firing off programs left and right. Modifying every little piece of each program to make it highly specific down to every last little detail. In the moment I thought I was a genius with the modifications I was making. Looking back now, I can't help but shake my head. When I presented this new training style to the athletes I hyped it up. "This is built FOR YOU" "Now you have YOUR OWN stuff you can do at YOUR OWN PACE". I really sold the novelty of individuality hard. I obviously thought it was a good idea, but something else fueled my fire even more. Parents. Wanna talk about a major buzz word that will sell you a program to a potential client instantly? Use the word "personalized". Parents were steadfast in their pursuit of making sure their kids(s) had their own training program or that they were only worked with 1 on 1. I fed directly off of this because I ironically just made that switch with my athletes as well. (Another side note: looking back, I never asked my athletes their opinions on their programming. I think part of the reason was because they were just so invested they didn't care, but I wish would have. I was still a little out of touch with my communication skills so I don't think I was comfortable at asking and receiving their honest feedback). "You have a 13-year-old son who plays basketball and an 11-year-old daughter who plays softball, yes they will 100% be on their own individualized program" (despite the fact that neither can do 10 push-ups or properly sprint...sure, let's get them their own stuff). I was riding a major high at this moment. I thought I finally cracked the programming code I was searching for to develop monster athletes. Let's go! Except...something happened. 2016 was the year I really dived into this style of training. The athletes I had back then were mostly the ones that had begun with me years prior. They continued to train well and make progress. Life was good. But something did feel off. I didn't know what though, something just was different. By 2019 a lot of these "OG athletes" were either graduated and no longer training (IMPORTANT: REMEMBER THIS) and/or moved away to college. That year I remember really picking up traction with my popularity and I acquired a lot of new athletes. Something was a little bit different with this batch of athletes than the ones I had known for the past several years. The main things I noticed were a little more distractibility and a lot more effort for me to maintain good, purposeful training integrity. Maybe it was the continued advancement of smart phones. They do a set, take a break on their phone, not engage of talk to anyone, and several (several) minutes later do another set. As you can imagine, it's hard to keep 10 different athletes all with different programs mentally and physically on track at the same time. A lot of times I would have sessions with 10 athletes and you would imagine there being a lot of chatter amongst them, but there really was not. Everyone seemed to just be on their own little island. Previously I had mentioned that even when I was new and bad at programming for athletes they still were seeing great results. This was actually the first time I began to notice results sort of stabilizing. People weren't getting worse, but they also weren't getting overwhelming better. Then the year 2020 hit. Need I explain more? Fast forward past the pandemic, gyms reopen and training resumes. I took the down time during Covid to really dive deep into learning and reading everything about training. I was consuming everything. Coming out of Covid I felt like my programming was at an all-time high. I finally felt comfortable with the workouts I was designing and literally felt on top of the world about it. I was fully-customizing individual programs for everyone with all of my new-found knowledge. Results are about to be CRAZY GOOD. I'm going to take a slight pause to note something: during this time period I did have great results with some athletes. They were bought in, able to self-motivate, progress their weights, and be consistent. I have had people change their lives for the better not only athletically but emotionally because of their training with me. These athletes are 100% the outliers however. This is always important to remember when reviewing statistics. Remember this when I say that the average athlete I was working with was not making this type of progress. How could this be? I am at the peak of my knowledge, designing what I believed to be "fire" programs, yet the average athlete was making just some progress and not the MONSTER gains I was expecting. This actually had begun to give me some substantial depression. I just couldn't understand how this was happening? Where did I go wrong? And then...I caught up with some old athletes and the rest is history...

As I mentioned, when I first began my coaching journey it was all "classes" and groups. A small group of athletes that I still have close ties with to this day were a part of these groups. Earlier this year we all caught up for the first time in a while. We begin to reminisce. Training and the gym are brought up. I explain how I just feel like I am doing everything right and not seeing the results I achieved with them back in the day. Then, it happened. Epiphany. While sharing stories of our old workouts we all couldn't help but share memories in which we all experienced them TOGETHER. Alas, I found the answer to what I was searching for. The "magic" program was never a program afterall. Continue reading...

Every year I train a group called "the football group". Basically, a bunch of guys who all play football and want to improve strength, speed, and athleticism to improve their ability to play better football. This group has been around for years and has become quite notorious. The thing about this group is that they always and only train together, like a mini team. They compete, push each other, and are highly consistent. This group every year turns out some freak athletes who experience insane results. There is no individualization within this group. Granted, if someone needs a regressed version of a specific exercise or is currently harboring an injury that prevents proper execution of an exercise adjustments are made. But on a global scale, they all train together and have developed quite the brotherhood year in and year out. They are always excited to train which is crazy because their workouts can be INTENSE. But they are always chomping at the bit to get in. Why? Because they love pushing each other, getting pushed to be better, and having a second family. So, I began to put two and two together. The very first athletes I ever had back when I was a young buck trained as a group, had poor programming and got great results. The football group I train in the present trains as a group with top-tier programming and achieve INCREDIBLE results. The athletes that I train on their own individualized programs can be hit or miss with their results. This was largely dependent upon their own unique desire to push and progress themselves, which often is hard to come by. So, around late February early March I began experimenting. I would put together groups of athletes on the weekends, athletes that normally train on their own individualized programs, to engage in a group style training. Those sessions were the best ones they would have all week in terms of intensity and energy. Crazy thing is nothing really changed in terms of the actual exercises. Still did all the foundational movements. Supersets. It was all virtually the same minus all of the partner drills and games we did as a warm-up. The only main thing that changed was putting everyone together. As they say, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the solution to my quest of developing the "magic" program.

Going into this past summer I knew I had to make a change to the format of my programs. I wasn't pleased with the way things were going. So, I did. I turned our gym into a scene out of Rocky 3. Old school, back to my roots. I wiped clean the app on my phone that I used for everyone's training programs. No more phones. Busted out the whiteboard and some markers and we were good to go. Group style training was full go. And I CAN NOT WAIT to share with you the results...

WHY INDIVIDUALIZED PROGRAMMING WAS THE WORST DECISION I EVER MADE (and the best thing that happened because of it)

Field work aka the athletic proving grounds. Lots of sprinting, chasing, competing, and arguing. You may notice the looks of confusion as I explain our next drill. Typical occurrence. Some of my favorite training sessions ever have occurred these late summer nights.

Summer 2023, a summer I will never forget. An overhaul to the state of my programming long in making. Groups. ENERGY. INTENSITY. RESULTS. Absolutely incredible. For those unaware, let me paint you a picture of the state of affairs prior to the summer of 2023. Outside of the football group, all athletes were on their own individualized programs. I have time slots that are listed by the hour in which athletes are to arrive for their session. Each workout should take an hour tops. It was very common for athletes to arrive late for their scheduled time. Very common. Why? Because it didn't really matter. You're doing your own stuff anyways so what does it matter right? Hm... Athletes' programs were on their phone. Because we live in such a technologically advanced world everything is on our phones nowadays. It was easy for me because I was able to drop workouts right to their phone at any time. But this leads to one MAJOR problem. You're on your phone...a lot. Way too much. Do a set. Check phone to see what's next. Oh look snapchat notification. Sits on snapchat for 3 minutes. Gets a text. Responds to text for a few minutes. Next thing you know more than 5 minutes has gone by and you have done only one single set of one single exercise out of your entire workout. A workout that was supposed to last an hour at the most is now taking some athletes an hour and half to finish, and it's not because they were doing extra work, rather it was the lack thereof. One day I remember looking up and I had about 6 athletes training in the gym at the time and every single one was sitting down looking at their phone aimlessly scrolling. It made my stomach turn upside down. Since everyone has their own specific program that means each individual athlete is now more responsible for having to progress weights, reps, intensity, etc. for each exercise. This is the whole premise behind the proven theory of progressive overload. Continuing to progress load and intensity each week will overtime lead to positive adaptation. Lift 50lbs week one for 30 reps. Week two you make sure to lift 60lbs for 30 reps. Week three 60lbs for 40 reps. Continual progression. Most youth athletes will do only what gets them through the workout with the most minimal amount of energy required. They never really had a real incentive to push beyond what they thought their limits were, and if you have ever worked out by yourself versus with a training partner you understand this. An athlete will be doing lunges with 20lb DBs for three weeks on their own, but when I put them with a partner that is doing 30lbs suddenly they gain the strength to do 30lbs easily. Hm... To summarize, prior to summer 2023 we had lack of discipline with the amount of late arrivals and no shows with athletes, constant distractions on their phones, and people leaving a lot of potential and effort on the table because they had no true incentive to push harder on their own. Everyone was sort of disconnected from each other. Heads down. Minimal communication. No true sense of family.

Insert summer 2023. Someone actually made the comment after the first week "this place is almost unrecognizable now". I believe what he meant was we had a complete face lift. I made it a point that if you sign up for a time you are to arrive on time. If you are late you are going to miss part of your session. What happened? Suddenly everyone is on time. Discipline. Hm... No phones. When we break its a drink of water and then we are back to it. If you are putzing around on your phone you will be holding up everyone else in the group. Suddenly everyone is more conditioned. Hm... The moment I knew I made the right decision was one very particular moment I will never forget. I had a group of 5 girls for my last session of the night. The last exercise was a seated cable row with 100lbs for one set of max reps. Now, all of these girls have done this exercise before in their own individualized programs and they actually all would do this same exact weight, 100lbs, for sets that called for 15-20 reps. That night I had not a single girl for that weight row for less than 75 reps straight. The second to last girl got 100 reps and the last girl somewhere around 110 (which prompted her to scream a NSFW word that I caught on video that I rewatch and crack up at). 15-20 reps on individualized programming to 110+ reps with a group

of your peers pushing you, cheering for you, and competing against you. Amazing what happens when you give these kids an incentive and reason to train hard. Hm... Our workouts this summer were the best I have ever programmed and had athletes execute in my life. High energy. People so excited to train they were adding on extra days. "I love this shit" - a direct quote from someone who had been on individualized programming with me for years and trained in our now enhanced training program done in a group style for one week. Results speak for themselves. These results are what people come for. Invest money, time, and resources for. And the results were plentiful this summer to those who committed themselves to a training schedule and nutrition/recovery plan. This summer I had the most positive feedback from athletes and parents not only on their performance in sport but in their everyday lives. They felt better, looked better, and had more energy for everything in their day. There was a strong sense of community and family amongst us all. This style of training brought everyone closer to each other and forced you to have meaningful conversations. Having great training partners that push you, care about you, and are positive are like a steroid. I truly believe no one will reach their full potential by training alone. And this reminds me of a very important conversation I just recently had with one of my athletes who is in my football group. Up above I said to remember when I wrote out how some athletes I trained that had graduated or finished playing sports just stopped training in general. I wanted you to remember this for this very reason I am now going to tell you. While talking to this athlete he made mention that he would still like to continue to train with me and the group after his season is over (he is a senior) because he loves it. Him, not knowing that I am now training everyone else in the gym like his football group, made the comment "The individual programs are good but I come here to compete and push myself and everyone else. I can always just do programs on my own. I want to get pushed to the limit". Again, him not knowing the major change I just made, was probably confused when I just laughed and gave him a little side hug and just said "Absolutely". Finally, I had some kids catch me by complete surprise this summer. These athletes were ones that unfortunately did fall victim to the flaws of a complete individualized program approach. Lacking discipline. On their phones a lot. So so progress. But they completely flipped the switch this summer. Disciplined. On time. Progressing movements. No phones. Completely different people. Which again proves the point that people will work hard for you if you give them an incentive to and put them in the right environment.

WHAT DOES OUR GROUP STYLE TRAINING LOOK LIKE

What we work on: building the complete athlete and human.

-Building strength and muscle

-Conditioning

-Speed, sprints, jumps

-Discipline

-Mental and physical toughness

-Movement, games, challenges

-Building a lifelong love and respect for training and maintaining good physical condition/health

A staple exercise of our warm-up: combat. NOTICE the enjoyment...ever seen your whole team smile and having fun doing butt kicks and high knees?

Our sessions will begin with a warm-up in which everyone always does together. My warm-ups are known for being a bit off the wall but they are what people enjoy the most. Lots of movement in the warm-up to challenge these athletes. We frequently throw in different games to get athletes some free play and to get some quick dopamine/energy hits in the brain to get everyone's mind ready for the intense training session that is to follow. After our warm-up we will either all stay together again or divide up into subgroups, it is just dependent upon what the athletes in the group need. If half the group needs lower body and the other half upper we split. This is where the individualization comes into play still. If someone came Monday and did upper body, missed the Tuesday lower body, and came back Wednesay to another upper body day that said person would complete the lower body session with anyone else there that day in need of lower body. While we may split into subgroups we are still maintaining a high level of intensity that includes monitoring rest times between sets to ensure the pace and energy stay high. It is not very likely to ever find yourself completing your workout for that day alone. If the plan calls for barbell front squats but an athlete has never squatted before then he/she will do a regressed version like a dumbbell squat. Again, there is a way to still individualize without compromising the integrity of the session. It's not uncommon for there to be a group of athletes with vastly different skill sets that are all able to train exceptionally hard and effective together due to my unique ability to scale and modify sessions for everyone. This ability is the byproduct of 10 years of tinkering and experimentation with athlete's programs. This is why I made sure to mention several times already and now once more the importance of gathering as much experience training as many different athletes in as many different settings as possible.

My training program is at an all-time peak in terms of its execution, effectiveness, and results. By simply adjusting the format from complete individualization to a more group style training has turned our little gym into a factory that is producing strong, healthy, durable, and motivated athletes. There a few reasons as to why I wrote out this article. One, is to highlight the system of training that I have built which I believe when done by athletes on a consistent, routine basis with maximum effort will undoubtedly yield incredible results and buy-in to train hard for life. I have a very meticulous way of building out these sessions to be engaging/enjoyable while also being difficult and challenging. In order to truly understand and get a grasp of what our training is like it is one of those situations in which you have to use the "if you know you know" phrase. Being a part of the experience is the only way to understand the magnitude of it all. The other main reason I wrote this was to put out a long, detailed explanation onto the internet that is available for all to read, specifically for the parents that reach out to me and ask about "individualized training" or "one-on-one training". Typically I have to explain everything that I just spent several, several hours typing above but in a reduced format, whereas now I have took the time to do a deep dive into my thoughts on the subject. This is also my chance to end the discussion once and for all for when I say "No, we don't do one-on-one training, or complete individual programs, here is why..." It's not effective, and I know this because I spent 10 years in the trenches working with athletes in every possible manner you can imagine to develop the skills to build out the best possible program. I've done it all. And I'm confident in saying the way we do it now is helping to build a next generation of DISCIPLINED, HEALTHY, and STRONG humans better than anything else, something our world so desperately needs right now.

Ceremonial National Anthem to start the training session

This particular group consisted of several high school and middle school athletes. Boys. Girls. Soccer Players. Football Players. Basketball Players. I remember this session and it was a BANGER.

Thank you to all who put their trust in me to share my passion with you. I wear this badge with honor and pride that I may be of service to you in your own personal journey of health, fitness, and sport. If you are an athlete or parent of an athlete who currently trains with me (or has recently in the past) and are proud of yourself or your son/daughter with the dedication they have shown towards their intense training with me. If you are proud of the effort which has yielded you or your children most favorable results. Please feel free to share this life-changing experience with someone who you feel would benefit from such a program. The health of our youth in this country is declining. Both physical and mental. Exercise is not being prioritized. Effort is not rewarded. Mental health trending downward. And I won't stand idly by while it all happens. I will continue to do my best to help change course and give our youth the health to dominate life.