Happy Holidays

Let me echo Canada's well-wishes to everyone for a healthy holiday season! Winter has struck the Midwest as well, and I certainly am beginning to miss waking up to sunshine and 85 degrees. I even miss Nick yelling "DORSIFLEX! DORSIFLEX!"

I want to share a quick marketing tool with you: I started my version of a 'Core Performance' Class at the corporate fitness center a while back, and tweaked it with some of the API stuff to kick it up a bit. All multi-joint, full-body motions combining strength & stability...people love to hate the class! I have participant who has lost 30 pounds to date! I sent her a couple of questions about her experience, and then used her answers as a success story - and the front page of my monthly newsletter. (Don't think that that didn't get some people's attention during the holidays!) This is a great way to use your success stories - send the client some leading questions, and use the responses for marketing - here's what mine looked like:

Success Story In Progress: Sandy O. - Baxter International

What initially inspired you to hire a personal trainer?

I am one of those people who couldn't get down to the office fitness center if I didn't have an appointment or a paid class to attend. My college daughter was the one who told me I should put exercising on my calendar, so I did. (Then she convinced me to pay for her to use a personal trainer on campus!) Several of my colleagues recommended Andrew to me.

What were your goals when you started?

I wanted to be fitter so I wasn't out of breath every time I walked up a flight of stairs. I wanted to lose weight and I wanted to have more energy to get through each day. I also had back problems, so I wanted to strengthen my core muscles.

What has been the biggest change you had to make?

Two things changed: First, I had to decide I wanted to be healthier. I recognized that, if I didn't change something, I would continue to put on weight, my back would hurt and I wouldn't feel good. I had to change the way I thought about my health and well being and make it a bigger priority. Once I did, it was easier to get into the habit of exercising several times a week. Second, I started eating about every 3 hours, so I eat more often than I used to.

What have your results been so far?

With only the personal training, I was seeing some limited results in that I was fitter, but not losing weight. When I added in regular conditioning classes and a nutritional weight management program, I saw dramatically better results. I lost weight, my energy level was better, and my back felt good. There are other tangible results too. I can look at the difference in the amount of weight I can lift now or the number of push-ups I can do versus what I did when I first started working out.

Now that you've achieved these results, what are your next goals?

I haven't hit my optimal weight, so I want to continue losing a few more pounds (or at least stay level during the holidays!) and I want to be able to hold a plank for 40 seconds. I think the benefit of having a trainer was that as I got better at a particular exercise, Andrew could modify it to keep it challenging. There's always something new to try and achieve and it is very rewarding to see the progress.

I am happy to share this success story with you! Sandy O. started training with me in April of this year, with a 12-month goal of losing 25 pounds. I am happy to report that, having combined individual training, group training classes, and a supportive nutrition program, she has already achieved her goal, and she’s not done yet! Please congratulate her on her great accomplishments! -- Andrew

Choose questions that lead your client to provide information that would be relevant and motivating to others. I wanted people to know that others were referring me, that she had hit her goals, and what changes she'd needed to make in order to succeed, so I chose questions that led her to provide that information. Better still, she's become a bit of a celebrity at work, and the new attention she's getting helps her to talk about - what else? - working with me! Free marketing!

If you have any tips or ideas that have been successful at improving your business? Share them! This is our forum - keep using it!

Happy Holidays to you all -

Andrew, aka 'The Professor'

Hey All,

Just a quick note to wish everyone a great holiday season and new year. The Snow is starting to fall up here in Canada, making me wish i was still in sunny Arizona.

I Hope everyone is doing great and starting to implement some of the things we learned.

Again Happy Holidays and continuted success in the new year!

Jason Melhado aka. CANADA

Hey Guys and Girls

Back in South Africa, glad to be home. Been a long long long trip. Had fun all the way.

I have set up a link to a ftp server on my site which has all the pictures from our Athletes' Performance trip. In total is about 150 pictures. 149 of them are of me and i think the one is a group photo but i took the liberty to superimposing Mr South Arfrica in that one too. ; )


Ok on a serious note. All the pics are awesome, we have some people munching away on health food, to Ronald in his boxers, we have nick in some crazy positions, some photos our our chinese dinner out and Kevin birthday. All are Pg rated...( the other more sauce photos can be found on whoesyourdaddy.com) - just kidding.

If you dont want to download all the pics, here is quick brief.
pic 75 - 88 are our pics of ourselves and mark
pic 89 is the group photo displayed above.

Site address: www.advancedsp.co.za/AP

to get quick access click ftp://69.93.1.130/
Login: athlete
Pass: athlete
( all in lowercase)

I have to run, got a bachelors to organise for this weekend, lots to do lots to do.

Keep well guys till next week
Mr South Africa

Re: API KEVIN

Hey Jersey -

Thanks for the kudos on the blog; it was really pretty easy to put together. I'm still looking for a better forum, perhaps a chat service, which would allow us to communicate in real time. Dorsiflexion! will do for now.

As to your question; Though hyper- / hypothyroidism can certainly effect exercise intensity, at its core, it is a medical issue, which needs a medical opinion. I have had a couple of people come to me who have had thyroid issues, but have been cleared to undertake a fitness program.
Unless directed by a physician, the overall training doesn't change substantially, nor does my nutritional guidance. I generally recommend consuming a balanced meal every three hours or so, combining lean proteins, higher-fiber carbs, and a bit of healthy fat. The ultimate goal of the overall program would be to bring as much balance to their fitness and nutrition as possible to best support the hormonal system and any additional medications that have been prescribed.

I don't know if you're ware of Phil Kaplan's site, but he offers a similar, if more scientific answer which can be read here: Phil Kaplan - Thyroid Issues and Fitness

Hope that's helpful!

Andrew

Andrew Eaton, CSCS

Phone: 847 877 6673
Email: drew@asaptraining.net
Web: www.asaptraining.net
Blog: www.asaptraining.blogspot.com

kevinwagner@optonline.net wrote:

First I want to say congratulations to you the ultimate Red Sox fan I could not be happier for you. Next I would like to say how impressed I am with DORSIFLEXION and how professional it is and glad to see people are contributing. I am still amazed at the group of quality people that assembled and we called a class at API and wish we could still be close enough to see each other. I guess what you have done with DORSIFLEXION is the next best thing and I definitely will be
looking forward to contributing as much as I can to keep in touch with each and every one of you.

Andrew, I was on your ASAP site and read your article about why diets are making all of us fat all of which I agree with but the question I have for you is about women with a thyroid condition. How much experience have you had with this frustrating condition and maybe you can give me a little insight to the training and diet you have given your clients and why it was or
was not successful for them. Thanks for any help you or anybody from the class can give me on this matter. I'll be in touch.

Still Learning
Kevin

From South Africa

Had to share Sean's email with you all!

"Hey Dorsiflexion hahaahaha

I just finished Lee Taft Speed Academy in Albany new york and i took a drive to new york city. I leave on monday back home. yah! I will have the photos up on a ftp server on my site later that week. Thanks for the kind comments (about my website.) i put a lot of work and got the right people to convey my image but its still not complete yet. more to come early jan.
Hahaha i agree, meeting some crazy South Africa was far better. At least i provided a bit of entertainment for all. New York is quite hectic. so much to do and so little time. found this little hawaiian bar where all the girls dress up in bikinis. Get lost hooters, common Hawaii ; )
Booked a table for tomorrows halloween party. Cant wait. think i will goes as the crazy scary south african ; )

i will be contributing more to the blog when i get back. Got so many questions i want to post and get peoples views. Cant do it now in new york because i just sold my kidney to afford to use the internet. lol

Anyway mate, take care and i will chat soon!

Cheeers
Crazy South Africa"!

Mark's business advice

Hey Team Dorsiflexion!

Just a quick review of a few business-building tips that Mark gave us.

1) Reduce overhead. As soon as you open your own facility, you're married to it and all the issues that come with it. If possible, create and leverage relationships with related businesses for space to run your program. It's less costly to pay a small rental fee to an established facility, particularly if that facility is also able to refer business to you.

2) Develop a system. The thing that struck me most about API was the ability to move each athlete into and through an established system without it feeling impersonal. They pay great attention to the small details of each athlete's needs, then build those needs into the AP framework. The other major benefit to a reliable, service-driven system is that the process becomes easy to duplicate. It's hard to build a business if you're the only one who knows how to run all the parts. Create the system, hire people with great attitudes, and teach them to do what you do.

3) Focus on delivering results. At the end of the day, this is what it's all about. The success of our efforts is not about the facility we work in, how cool the gear is, or how high-profile the clients are. Clients, athletes and otherwise, come for results. As Mark said, "Under-promise, then over-deliver."

Stay strong!

Andrew

P.S

Here is the link to my velocity location...

www.velocitysp.com/halton

Jason Melhado - Canada

Hey All,

It was fantastic to meet all of you and hear your stories about what you are doing in your respective facilities and organizations. I learned so much not only about the system that has made AP so successfull but also what has made everyone else successfull.

Sean - get those pictures up and congrats on the big win! (south africa won the rugby final).

Again I had a amazing time and I hope this blog can help us continue to learn from each other and us the week at API as a starting point for future endeavors.

Jason Melhado - Canada

Mr South Africa

Dorsi flexion, Dorsi flexion Dorsi flexion, thats like tae-bo right?

Hey Guys and Gals. It was an absolute pleasure doing the AIP course with YaAll. It was fun, intellectually stimulation and my bum still hurts. Still have not managed to find some cute hunny to rub it ; )

Thanks for the blog Andrew, you are on the ball all the time! Brilliant idea

Till my next important mail, have a fine evening YaAll
South Africa

Nickname rundown

Had to be sure to make note of all the nicknames; I think we owe most all of them to Jason Good, with the possible exception of his own, which I happily provided him. Once Jason has been released from prison in Mexico, we can properly thank him. In the meantime, here's what we've got:

Darnell Clark, aka 'D-Train'
James Duigan, aka 'London'
Jason Good, aka 'Man Loaf'
Cameron Hervol, aka 'Captain America'
Paul Lammeri, aka 'Netherlands'
Jason Melhado, aka 'Canada'
Sean van Staden, aka 'South Africa'

Let me know if I missed anyone! Also, I added websites today for Jason, Siew Gaik, and Paul. If anyone else has personal sites to include, let me know and I'll post them!

A

AP Mentorship

Hi all! Welcome to our Blog! Just wanted to tell you all how much I enjoyed meeting and working with everyone; in the 16 years I've been participating in continuing-education courses, I have never had a better time with a better group of people.

The concept for Dorsiflexion, other than to make the name easy for Sean to remember, is to provide us a forum to keep in contact and share ideas and successes. I am looking into a way to add chat to the system, so we can communicate in real time instead of only posting or emailing. For the record, Google mail has more of an all-in-one email client, in which we can not only exchange mail, but could also chat to whomever is online, and it provides the option to save the chat so that the ideas and threads of discussion are not lost. The only catch, I believe, is that everyone would need to have a Gmail account, which is free, but I don't know how everyone feels about needing a different account.

So, it's a work in progress. I'll handle the administrating as best I can. In the interim, if you have ideas or things you'd like to add, post whatever you like!

I had a great time with you all at API, and look forward to keeping in touch!

Dorsiflex!

-- Andrew