I spent this weekend at yet another conference-the Perform Better 3-day Functional Training Summit. This is an event I've wanted to go to the past few years, but I never had the ability to because of work. My boss asked me a few months back if I would want to go with her, and of course I said yes! So we spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday soaking up so much information and we had a great (but exhausting) time! We went to a combination of 5 lectures and hands-on seminars each day (except Sunday, there were only 3 that day).
One of the speakers I was most excited for was Gray Cook. Cook's methods have always had a big impact on my personal personal training, as well as how I train clients. I've read a lot of the stuff he's published, and I am a big fan of the Functional Movement Screen. On Friday, he was giving a lecture and a hands-on session called "The Best Functional Exercises in the World". We attended both. It was so awesome finally getting to hear him speak and coach us through his favorite functional exercises. I already do most of them, but it was great to hear how he cues and explains everything. He was one of my favorites of the weekend, and that was only the first day! Friday we also attended Stu McGill's hands -on and lecture about back pain. We learned some great rehab techniques in the hands-on portion. The other lecture we attended that day was Thomas Meyers' "Training Fascia" ... it was a little hard to sit through, but he gave us some good information. Friday night was a complimentary social. We only stayed for a short time because we were so tired, but I talked to Stu McGill a little, which was cool. I wanted to introduce myself to Gray Cook, but he was surrounded by people, of course, so I never got a chance! :(
Saturday morning, we thought we were going into a hands-on that was going to be about small group training, but we ended up in the wrong room and got stuck in one called "Extraordinary Self" which ended up being an intense boot-camp style workout.....which we were NOT prepared for at 8am! It was led by Todd Durkin, and I have to say, his energy was absolutely insane. It definitely woke us up! The workout wasn't anything revolutionary-circuit style with TRX, med-ball, body-weight, kettlebell, swiss ball, and speed stations. He had us partner up so that we each had a personal motivator. What we took away from it was how to motivate clients and how to coach, which I think was what he was trying to get across. Needless to say, it was an exciting start to the day! After that we attended a lecture by Alwyn Cosgrove that was about the next fitness blueprint and how to move forward in the future. We got a lot of great information there, and he was one of my favorites of the day! After that we did Eric Cressey's hands on about scapular control, a lecture by Martin Rooney about small group training and motivation techniques, and a hands-on called "I Lift Heavy Things and I Put Them Down", which was not what I thought it would be, but still got some good info from it.
I think Sunday was my favorite day. There were only three sessions, but I felt like this is the day I learned the most. Our first session was a hands-on about optimizing the pre-lifting routine. It was all foam rolling, stretching, and soft tissue techniques, most of which I already do, but it was cool to get coached on it and hear how to do that. Plus it was great to spend the first session loosening up, because I was pretty sore from that bootcamp session from Saturday! Also we got to use Vibra Rolls-which is a vibrating foam roller and yes it changed my life. I wish they weren't so expensive because I want one so bad! After that we did the lecture and hands-on for Todd Wright's "3-Dimesional Functional Core Training". We got SO much great info at these. He taught us core training techniques that I had never seen before, and that I certainly would not have thought up myself. It was GREAT.
Moving forward, Alyssa and I are very excited to implement what we learned at LifeStart. We're planning on running a bunch of new classes and we're ready to take our gym to the next level. On a more personal note, this summit really opened my eyes up to how much I still have to learn. I've only been in this field for around 3 years, and I read a lot, but I would like to go to more things like this. Summits and conferences are expensive, but the amount I learned makes it invaluable to me. It's so important to invest in knowledge in this field-especially because things are always changing and there's always new information! Plus it's great to hear from people who are considered elite in the field of fitness. Like I said, just seeing Gray Cook speak twice was definitely worth what I paid for! I think what I want to do next is get certified in the Functional Movement Screen. There's a course in September, so I'll need to start saving up for that now!
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