Are you missing this one crucial part of your Personal Training Sessions?

Every Friday night I have the same ritual....a two mile walk home [ by choice] and on the way I stop off at my favourite Wine store pick up a bottle of good quality South American red for the two of us, usually a Malbec and head home.Glass and a half then off to bed.

This week I noticed something .....It got me thinking and inspired me to write this.. Every Friday when I walk through the door of the wine store the two twenty something girls who work there look up at me AND DO NOT EVEN SAY GOOD EVENING, HELLO , or even HI.I really don't think I look scary or menacing.I tend to be a polite guy by nature.Most importantly I'm coming in to spend money.It's not like they don't know me, I was there to buy all my wine for Christmas and New Year's,gifts for my friends etc.Why did I have to acknowledge their presence first when I was coming into their establishment? I could quite have easily gone to the much cheaper Governement liquor store two blocks away... I thought about this as one of the young ladies was ringing up my order.."Oh I forgot to give you my phone number.."[ you get points for purchases and I dutifully registered my info on a previous visit-again found out by accident, no one volunteered it] without even looking directly at me she intoned

"You need to let us know that before we ring up your order".

hmmm ok.No offer to adjust , no acknowledgement of me being a loyal customer.Zip.Not even a forced smile.Much less a simple 'Thank You'.Ok maybe they think I'm a creepy lush.Or maybe they just didn't like the fact that when I walk into a place my first instinct is to say "Hi !How are you?" Nah , it's got to be the creepy lush thing.. But then again I realized that no matter where I went in this city the art of saying "Hi' when I entered a store always fell on me-the potential customer...When I was buying pants and shirts at Zara and the salesperson didn't even look up at me once,or a quick dinner the other night along the Drive was served by a twenty something waitress who I swear looked like she had a small turd just under her nose.No 'Hello','Good Evening How Are You Tonight?','Thank You', either to me or the other patrons.It's everywhere.

As I left and continued on my walk home ,bottle of Clos De Los Siete and its pleasures stuffed in my Gym bag I started thinking about my day.I had trained eight people in a row- it was my last set of sessions with three of my clients, one had a ten pack , one had five , another was doing a set of three half hours. All three of those clients went to the front desk and registered for another ten pack, another five pack, and ten more half hour sessions.I didn't even ask them to.In fact I never even brought it up with them.True story-Hey wait a minute, you've never asked anyone to renew..ever..hmmmmmmmm.Sure I'm grateful and very lucky.Just then Irealized that I never once have ever actively solicited any business, asked people to train with me,or tried to do a sales job on anyone.And I never do.When I thought some more about it out of my roster of 16 active clients at one place, nine of them are repeat-and not just once or twice.At another venue I have four clients- three of them are long term and again repeat.And at yet another venue I train at I have four more- two of them long term multiple repeat.Now I think I'm a 'good' Trainer but I will tell you unequivocally nobody can touch me when it comes to service.No one.But as I pondered this a thunderous,not even a glass of wine down my throat epiphanay bellowed right back at me ... it wasn't that I was so good at service, it was just that too many others were awful at it.Service is the gold standard that so few care about, and that those who understand ,embrace and thrive with it

About a year ago I was asked to go work part time at another gym.I do it on an on call basis ,take clients as needed, and I noticed two things-I was busy off the bat and that none of the other Trainers would speak to me at first.Yep got the 'ol stinkeye.Eventually heard through the grapevine that they were pissed off because I was getting all the business and they weren't...I just smiled and carried on doing my thing... slowly I became friends with one of the younger Trainers who kep watching what I was doing with clients-he was was always whining about not having any money,not enough clients etc.so one day after I noticed him watching me I asked him the following questions, and I quote his actual responses.

"Do you do a follow up e mail with your clients within 24 hours to see how they feel?"[ no- who has time for that?"]

Do you remember their Birthdays?["Why would I want to do that?]

'Did you ask about their kids, Grandchildren,Spouse, how is work?'[I was told to focus on the Training]

At the end of a session have you ever asked for feedback?Have you ever said "please tell me what you liked and if there is something you didn't please share it with me, I won't take it personally all of it helps me become a better Trainer"[What is this 'The Actors Studio?]

At that point I didn't even consider asking him if he gave clients his card and e mail and tell them that if they have any questions e mail and you'll do your best to answer them.Or 'Have you ever done a quick five minute demo' for someone who asked you a question?'To quote from Alec Baldwin in one of the greatest speeches of all time from 'Glengarry Glen Ross' "I'd wish you 'Good Luck' but you wouldn't know what to do with it if you had it'

Companies all over the world spend millions if not billions of dollars on ways to get people to spend more of their hard earned dollars.Canadian retailers are screaming that they are losing money to cross border shopping,yet I have NEVER seen a single one of these Canadian retailers emphasize that the one missing link in all of their endless whining and hand wringing would be to spend money on actually improving service.Not once.Is it a dirty little secret?I maintain people will spend more money if they feel valued as consumers.It inevitably comes down to service.I don't care if your selling Real Estate,Hamburgers or Personal Training ,If you worry about service, everything else will take care of itself.What drives me nuts about this whole thing is the complete and utter inability of those front line staff in almost any industry to say 'Hi''Good Evening' or 'How are you?' when someone walks into their place of business, whether it's a restaurant,Hardware store, or Gym Floor.Saying Hello and acknowledging a customer or potential client is for my money one of the most important things you can do-and its an increasing rarity today especially among the young.I notice now that when I walk through the Gym and say 'Hi' a lot of the twenty year olds stare straight ahead and ignore you.Guess what -I say 'Hi' anyway.Acknowledging someone with a simple 'Hello' goes miles.It shows the fact someone you don't know has been given the appropriate respect and appreciation for walking through your door will maybe hire you,when they could have walked through anyone else's and hired someone else.That and saying Goodbye' and Thank You whether they have purchased anything or not is so simple-and so effective.Why are so many in the service industry afraid of doing it?.

I tell my students when I teach that there would be any number of people out there who can train, this city and many others are full of them.Someone will always be better educated,know more etc.I've seen it.But there are very few who actually like dealing with the public...and that will be your greatest advantage.Of course I stress professionalism, constant learning but I owe it to them to be honest as well...'If you don't have personality or offer good service , it doesn't matter what you learn , your sunk." Someone accused me[not the only one I'm sure] of being full of myself.Goddamn right I am,I work hard learn everything I can and always keep in the forefront of my mind the value and respect I have for the people who have paid me very good money that enables me at the age of almost fifty to have a great standard of living and a job I love.. and how no matter how I feel on any given day to get out there and make everyone think that I am having the best day ever.If I don't believe that how in hell can I possibly ensure someone will reach their fitness Goals if I'm being half assed about it?Think about it. I want to see every single Canadian retailer do two things..make it mandatory for their staff to say 'Hello' or 'Good Evening' to every single person who walks through the door.That's it. It might just be a good start.

In which Mr. Delaney confronts 'The Creatures'

Ok before I go into full on rant mode, I want you to realize that I pretty much only worry about what I do-I strive to be the best that I can be by always learning etc. at the end of the day I am only responsible for myself. But lately I have been noticing more and more a particular creature I come across...it happens again and again and I shouldn't let it irk me...but it does. The creature I'm referring to is generally of the female gender either in their late fourties or early fifties and the natural habitat is any number of community centres.They can usually be found teaching Group Fitness classes utilising what I call the ancient religion and sacred rituals of choreographed routines from 1983.Inevitably they will bring out at some point the 'Holiest Of Holies' the ritual object the divine blue half orb and encourage the worshippers to 'engage the fetish object with their feet' STAND ON THE ORB STAND ON THE ORB' they intone to which the Faithful follow..

Ok so I'm being sarcastic.And for the record I know a lot of amazing female Trainers and instructors who live their lives with a passion for knowledge and self improvement.Yet I also wouldn't be writing this if I didn't have this experience happening again and again...

In one of the places I work at, where I was ASKED to go and work had the interesting effect of ensuring none of the other trainers spoke to me and when they did look my way, all I got was a hairy eyeball.Why?I started getting all the business.I was told by my supervisor that she had never before had people ask for a Trainer by name before.I didn't take any business from anyone else..

One day against my better judgement one of my snide remarks got out vis a vis a client who was talking about how a previous Trainer had them standing on a Bosu ball and touching their nose.To which yours truly replied-"It's training not a circus act , if you ever get a Trainer who asks you to do that fire them they're an idiot." This remark got back to one of the creatures who worshipped her 'precious' The creature than made the mistake of confronting me about it. I stood my ground-my nice stable ground and supported why I don't use 'the Precious' in my training backed it up with facts on studies that measured forms of unstable surface training , the possible bad effects in women with greater q angles, effects on any number of the 56 joint actions of the foot , risks of injury and how various studies have shown NO MEASURABLE EFFECT in proprioception.I even offered to send it the links."No Thank You" she hissed. I thought the creatures head would explode.Instead it just looked at me with a vacant ugly stare and slithered away back into their subterrenean cave to watch Cathy Smith Dvds....no wait make that VHS tapes...and probably on betamax. later I found out that it had last gone to a seminar in 1998 because 'she didn't need to' and cross my heart that last statement is true as I heard it with my own ears.

I run into the same thing with my students[who are ALL amazing] they tell me"So and so says we don't need mentors'.'So and so has never heard of X or Y or Z' I guess whats really gnawing away at me is the refusal to learn from so many and I suppose I notice it most among the creatures I describe.The 'this is the way we have always done it'. Some of the Trainers at the place I described above have begun to talk to me.In conversation it comes up that I'm going off to a seminar with the NSCA or taking a workshop with ACSM or reading new research,every single time,and I mean EVERY single time they say "I've never heard of that'.. It brings me back to my original screed-I guess I can only worry about what I do and strive to always improve my skills and knowledge..I can try to educate my students and give them the message of always keeping open minded and always learning.Hopefully together we can begin to vanquish the forces of darkness, and make the'Creatures' obsolete..and replace them with proud confident knowledgeable women of a certain age who keep up to date, and welcome change and opportunities to learn.Until that day I will remain in a heightened state of awareness around 'The Creatures'..

Athletes Performance Phase 2!! A review

Well...that was an incredibly intense four days..Athletes Performance Phase 2 rolled into the Richmond Olympic Oval and yours truly was chomping at the bit to get right into it. I also didn't take any time off of work either so I was with AP during the day then working at night.Like I always say I would have sucked as a cop, but would have been awesome in the army...up at 5 am after 3 hours sleep-NO PROBLEM!

AP's expert coaches this time around were Brent Callaway who was a five-time ACC Champion pole vaulter in track and field and a seven-time All-ACC Athlete during his time at the University of North Carolina .This guy knows his stuff- he was joined by Nicole Rodriguez Performance Specialist. she had been previously with Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning...All of it was overseen by Dan Zieky Business director for AP. Day One started with 'The Art of Coaching' and went into the various elements of cueing and above all else the art of communication.I found this fascinating as I do coach groups of 8 to 10 and although you would think a lot is basic common sense, it amazes me when I see a lot of Trainers and Coaches clearly uncomfortable in front of their clients.Hey it happens.

Following that we went rather extensively over the FMS[Functional Movement Screen]-This was good getting practice on the Functional Movement Screen it's always invaluable, I just did a few lengthy sessions on this back in April at the TSAC conference and of course all of our clients at the Oval are screened using it.I did pick up a few things, and that's what I love about being a Trainer and Coach.From that we moved on to Vertical Jump testing..oh yeah Daddy and his 48 year old ass had to hit it..no surprises there , I don't think the NBA will be calling on me anytime soon..still it was fascinating to see how that data is analyzed and show where your strength,endurance,and power can be tracked.

The day ended with a group workout and reinforced the program design philosphies of AP-again nothing new , but once you start applying it, it all gets a bit easier;a horizontal push balanced with a pull, rotation and anti rotation etc.

Day 2 was all about energy system development but the big and super intense days were 3 and 4- we were out on the track doing speed drills, multi directional speed, warm ups and getting the basic protocols of the best athletic training in the world down pat-

Brent Callaway demonstarting four point starts and various other starts....then we had to do it!!! we were out on the track for three hours, marching,skipping,lateral shuffling hooked into bungees and shot across the track...and again all of our movements analyzed critiqued,and corrected.It was a very hardcore day , that is until...... DAY FOUR HOLY CRAP!!!!! ....coaching evaluations.We split into two groups and led a portion of all of the applied sessions so one by one we again spent eight hours going over everything then followed by group feedback sessions on what can be improved.Eight hours of marching skipping, running, jumping, over and over again... What I noticed was how uncomfortable some people were in front of a group.To me if you can get over that, the rest is easy.That's also something that can never be taught.I see it all the time with my students. I did very very well on my coaching demo.Extremely well.Highest score overall actually. It all wrapped up with a Q& A session and as it came to a close I had a chance to process everything, I realized that these guys really are the best athletic education money can buy.Going over my notes,educational materials etc. showed me that these people are serious... Let's just say I pity next week's Athletic Conditioning class at Eastside Fitness-you have been warned!

Back from TSAC-takeaways!!

With from L to R Ed a Corrections Officer from Omaha, Taco Visser Exercise Physiologist for the Royal Netherlands Army and yours truly at TSAC Las Vegas

well I got back last night from the 'Tactical Strength and Conditioning Conference' done by the National Strength and Conditioning Conference in beautiful Las Vegas.

I went last year also and for those who Train Law Enforcement, Military or Firefighters its indispensable.For me the best part is to connect with people from all over the world, share experiences discuss what works for them, challenges they face and solutions to issues that come up.
My good friend Rebecca Swan the Fitness Coordinator for the Vancouver Police Department was there for the first time and she found it great as well...I met an exceptionally nice Exercise Physiologist for the Netherlands Royal Army,a Hilarious Female Firefighter from Colorado, assorted prison guards, a gregarious Motorcycle cop from Austin Texas, and a Police Officer from Santa Cruz California, who trains Academy recruits.
There was a greater presence of Firefighters this year and that was great, the conference has doubled in size from Last year.....

So here in point form are some highlights and takeaway 'knowledge bombs' from my three days at the conference...

- Keynote address from Stew Smith former Navy Seal and Trainer of future ones- his keynote was called 'The Need For Physical Training among Tactical Populations'..Stew is an excellent speaker and the thrust was the necessity for testing and also [and this is jaw dropping] the absolutely horrifying increase in obesity in new recruits for any Military,Police, or Firefighting professions.. its getting worse even for those already serving and as much as I hate to say it, the women's stats are worse than the men.
-Fave quote from Stew's speech? 'Obesity is a bigger issue than Terrorism ever will be'
-I went to another presentaion by Stew Smith called Training With No Equipment again just excellent.He also by popular demand went again into the 'Traumatic Exercise release' protocol that was such a hit last year.Great deal of respect for Stew and what he is trying to do
-CPT Tony Soika gave a Hands on session of 'Development of Explosive Power:Plyometrics.Speed ,and Agility..an amazing speaker and he took a whole bunch of people through an entire workout and also pointed out that this would be the same training program for collegiate athletes-none of what he did was new to me but he did it so well-in other words he didn't just get people to go through the motions he 'coached' and made stuff that seemed so familiar look professional organized well thought out and very serious.One of my favourite sessions because of his exceptional coaching skills and attention to proper bio mechanics
-Olympic Lifting technique 'The Snatch' by John Carlock- again nothing new except for how he broke down how to teach in stages..any of my Trainer friends would have loved to have seen how he broke it down..using a dowel,Romanian Deadlifts, then all kinds of excellent cues.well done.
-Pre Screening Injury Prevention Strategies-Patrick Conway- by the book, nothing new, but always good to have things reinforced.The FMS portion was not that good.
-Alternative Training Methods-Dave Sandler and Jason Dudley- another circuit, by the end of the conference I didn't want to see another agility ladder,Kettlebell, or TRX..again this was nothing new, and nothing special about it ,but again for someone who might be new I bet they got a lot out of it.
-A Proven Approach Of Identifying And Reducing Injuries In The Tactical Athlete[Firefighters to be specific] this was presented by Michael Contreras,and of course was all about the FMS [Functional Movement Screen] I'm certified in FMS but it was great to see his approach in applying it.I still say that the FMS is highly subjective and not perfect but with the adoption of it in the Tuscon Fire Department they reduced time loss due to injury by 62%,Total number of injuries by 42%.I do like the FMS but it does take a lot of practice to know what to look for...we use it exclusively at the Oval, and Mike Contreras was a great speaker very much to the point...he stressed to us 'don't overthink it'.I also spoke to him after and he was more than sold on the value of FMS screening and also hilarious as he recounted stories on today's recruits and their lack of fitness, nice guy and totally to the point.

so there you have it-I did a lot of other sessions involving RCMp Training protocols, Kettlebell training and more, a great deal of it reallly isn't anything new to me as a lot of the things are what I do already....but it's always great to have a lot reinforcedHopefully I'll go next year although I heard a rumour it may be held in Norfolk Virginia not Vegas..thats a shame 'cause it's too far away..

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A very busy but EXTREMELY Excellent week

Wow.What a week! a good week but busy.Running between Kerrisdale,Eastside Fitness and the Richmond Olympic Oval keeps me happy..I'm still processing the week before when I went out to the Justice Institute of B.C. and ran the POPAT[Police Officer Physical Abilities Test] as a guest of the amazing Rebecca Swan Fitness Coordinator for the VPD.I got 4:54 and a couple of re-do's but considering my age and the fact I didn't do any specific training for it, not bad.I WILL do it again, but man it was tough.
Training Police and law enforcement is a cause very close to my heart-those of you who know me well know why.
This week was really good as well thanks to my fantastic client Mr. Marshall at Kerrisdale..78 years old stroke, limited use of his left side, this guy blows my mind..He is always fifteen minutes early and his dedication could put someone half his age and in better physical shape to shame.
Then there were the two inspiring women at Eastside Fitness, Victoria has Parkinsons diseas but she is in great shape and there was nothing she wouldn't do.
Its people like that that make my job worthwhile.No amount of money can ever compare to the feeling you get when you come across people like that.
Had a few clients at the Oval too, where I am heading right now..
Next week is TSAC in Las Vegas..will post before I go

Athletes Performance Part 2 coming up!!!

best training in the world-I am doing my phase 2 performance mentorship in May- easily the best money I have ever spent....

Eastside Fitness!!

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Been training/teaching at a local Gym up on Fraser Street in the heart of Vancouver's East side[Obviously!!!]
This is a fantastic littlke Gym that offers classes for all fitness levels and abilities...I teach an Athletic conditioning class there Monday nights at 6:15 pm..the owners are really proactive at engaging the community in this area, the care and effort that they are putting into this Gym is truly inspiring. If your in East Van please check it out