CrossFit Brighton | Michigan: Elite Fitness & Trainings: 2009/01

From D. Chapman-HYPERFITUSA in Ann Arbor...

Values…

Definition: Values, Sociology. The ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy.

How many times to people throw the term values without a clear definition of what "values" are? Politicians are really good at this; the return "traditional moral values" is batted around like it means something. Does anyone ever ask, who's tradition, who's morals or of value to whom? Terms that everyone knows, but no one can define. Values tend to be handed down from generation to generation without much thought or reason as to the value other than that someone else valued it. Values are the driving force behind many if not all decisions people make in life.

How does this relate to a fitness blog? We would like to see more people who are serious about their health, come and train and get the results they say they want. January ushers in the time of the year when people are always saying they want lose 10 pounds or firm and tone were some other fitness goal. The truth of the matter is it is not hard to reach any specific fitness goal as long as someone has the commitment to achieving that goal. Beyond achieving the goal is a desire to sustain it as a long-term and healthy life choice. Ask anyone if they know what it takes to lose 20 pounds, train for a marathon or succeed in the short triathlon – the answer is a resounding yes! The training is not some mystical secret path and it is a safe bet a large majority of people out there could write out an adequate training program to get them there. How many books are published stating and restating the same common knowledge sensible ways of achieving fitness goals? The issue is not ignorance but character and values.

We have been looking for a common thread in our clientele to help us identify people of a similar background or personality type that would fit into our facility. The business school guy looks for common social demographics, income, gender, age, profession and other. We have as diverse a group of people who train with us as anywhere. We have former professional athletes, grandmothers, senior citizens, soccer moms, hockey mom, doctors, high school students, lawyers, engineers, school teachers, students, social workers, auto, police and fire rescue worker and more. What do our people have in common? Values!

How our values measured? By observing how people spend their most valuable commodity, time. We all have 24 hours in the day. How we choose to devote our time, defines exactly what our values are. Whether we spend all of our time working, or sitting on the couch eating fried bread, it is all a reflection of what we value. Someone might choose to put their child in daycare and make a little extra money or they can choose to spend time with her child. In either case it comes down to what is valued more. Taking time from work to go to your kid's hockey game, shows you value your kid more than work or more accurately the money you would have earned and the things you could have bought with the money. There are a lot more dynamics that work into this and people with a more extensive background write volumes on this. In my opinion and experience training, at the very core and essence, we choose what we do and that choice reflects what we value. It all comes down to what you choose based on your values.

Arguably, we have the most potent and cost effective training that can be found. (Not a debate, if there is something that can be proven is more effective, we will do it. Don't accuse, show.) The common value our clients have it in order to be healthy, that take care of their bodies 3-5 session per week for an hour at a time. They spend less than 5% of their waking hours devoting themselves to keeping the only thing that will be with you from birth to death tuned up. (168 – Hours in a week – 56 hours for sleep (Who sleeps 8 hours a day?) – 112 living hours – 5/112 = 4.46%) The choice of the term living hours is the sense that those are ours to choose how we spend them. Working, reading, talking, education are all choices. Living hours are what we devote our waking time to doing.

The value of a typical gym membership: Fitness industry statistics show that the average gym goers go to the gym and average of 4.1 times per month. Let's break down price and value. Let's assume that the average gym monthly membership is $50 per month. The average young person spends about $12.20 per visit to the typical gym. So for the low, low cost of $12.20! The average person going to the gym can wander around walk on a treadmill spent little time of the elliptical, do a couple of machines and sit in the sauna for 12 bucks. Now let's consider our membership of about $200 per month, our client's average approximately 18 workouts per month which breaks down the bargain-basement price above $11.05 per workout. For lower-cost per visit our members participate in professionally led instruction and training that is designed by a full-time professional trainer. What a bargain!

Our clients value their health and well-being and sanity enough to make it a priority. Our clientele is not especially affluent. They are typically hard-working individuals and families who understand the value of personal fitness. Every person who screens to come in train with us as a goal, the goal may be superficial and the sense of body image or the goal may be extrinsic in the sense that they have to be in decent shape do their job. Everyone has the goal or expectation. If someone were to take the time and look at the programming we offer on the website, yes it's all public, a reasonable person would conclude that with reasonable scaling and devotion to mastering mechanics that just about any rational fitness goal could be achieved; So why to do so few people succeed in their fitness?

The key for success in any program is the willingness to do the work. We are getting closer to Super Bowl Sunday, every boyhood dream of playing in and winning a Super Bowl surfaces in the mind of many people. The minds of many focus on the 60 minutes of play on the field (The halftime show) and not on the countless hours and years of training, perfecting and preparing for the Super Bowl. Albeit lucky as a major factor in everyone's careers but you hadn't done the work in order to take advantage of the luck. The gentlemen that are playing in that field valued their sport more than having the security of the 9-to-5 job. The people who train with us have a similar work ethic and devotion to their goals.

Everything really comes down to values. If people value going to a restaurant for dinner and drinks four times a week but they say they cannot afford to train, then that means they value the restaurant more than they value their training. If someone is haggling over price and they really don't understand what we do. We value work. We value diligence. We value the character of people who reach for the brass ring, struggle, stumble and fall and get back up and do it again. We value people who value themselves enough to devote time and effort to reaching their goals. We value our clients so much that we screen people before they come into our community. Not everyone is willing to make the conscious choice to value the thing that they really need.

We are always looking for the "right" people to join our program. Our right people sure many of the same values we have in terms of fitness and choices around lifestyle. There is no way to advertise for the right people. There is no way to pick them out of a crowd. What we are doing with this blog and this article is simply dropping a stone in the water. The echo of our value proposition will help people like their pathway to us.

Our friends in the CrossFit community share our values and passion for helping our clients succeed. The CrossFit community at large is devoted to serious fitness and results for clientele. The community as a whole looks for, shares and endorses methods which give our clients the most bang for their buck. We share these values and they have become the definition of our community.

Small Group Off-Ice Training at STICKS Training Center

Youth hockey coaches should be commended for volunteering their time to teach youngsters how to play the game. Most coaches do this because they have previously played and have a passion for the sport. Running a practice that lasts 1 or 1 ½ hour long with 14 to 16 skaters and a goalie or 2 leaves little time to break down hockey specific skills on an individualized basis. There is great value in learning the basics of how to hold a stick, fully extend your leg while striding and shooting a puck with power.

At STICKS Training Center we have the ability to offer hockey specific skills training at our facility. We have a shooting area, stride boards, agility/plyometric tools and stick handling balls. More importantly we have professional level trainers that can break down the skills that the young players will need on the ice.

Ask an Olympic lifting coach how to perform a Deadlift and they will start by telling you where to put your feet. Ask a builder how to build a house and they will tell you to start with the foundation. Teaching hockey is no different in philosophy. Start with the basics. Youth hockey players should be taught the basic skill sets necessary to further develop their skills.

Shooting hundreds or even thousands of pucks in garages or basements can be beneficial providing the youngster is holding the stick correctly, transferring weight and creating flex on their stick. If they are not then they are practicing improper skills hundreds or thousands of times over thereby creating bad habits that will be with them for a long time.

081230 SMALL GROUP TRAINING from stickstraining on Vimeo.

Contact us for scheduling a small group training session @ info@stickstraining.com.