A "New Trainer's" Great Reads

So last week I was in Toronto at the national canfitpro conference and did a presentation on building medical referral relationships to get more clients. This is something I’ve done for a few years, and have a pretty solid relationship with about 2 dozen allied health professionals who routinely send me their clients, plus I played a major role in establishing our medical advisory board where we have close to 90 physios, chiropractors, massage therapists and cardiac care physicians sending us patients for follow-up care.

No big deal.

So as I was standing in line waiting to get some grub from the deli counter, a couple of people in front of me were chatting, and apparently they had just come from my seminar. One guy was really excited and hopeful that the stuff I was talking about would help him out to get some new clients. His buddy said he’d read some of my T-Nation articles, and I sounded like an exciting new trainer.

Repeat: NEW TRAINER.

I guess your actual chronological age is being determined by when you register a domain name these days. Truth be told, I can see where they were coming from, I mean I haven’t been reaching out to the international community for very long and putting myself out there until last year, so unless they came looking for me, they wouldn’t have any idea who I was. To be honest, I don’t write this blog for fame or glory or big-name recognition. I write it to give myself a voice, hold myself accountable to others to continue learning, and hopefully share something useful to others who may benefit from it (plus the fart joke or rip on stupid people to make me smile). I think one concept about being a trainer that a lot of people forget is that our job is literally to teach others how to do something, so I try to do that in as many ways as possible. Hopefully it helps out.

As a guy who likes to get his learn on and can appreciate something that makes you go “Hmmm,” I put together a short list of my favorite reads of the past week or six for you to checkity check out and get your learn on.

1. The Death of Personal Training – Alwyn Cosgrove

When the dude talks, you should listen. He lists out why you should change your game plan if you’re a trainer, and gives you a roadmap on your way out of hell.

2. Deadlift – Mike Robertson

Don’t let the title fool you. This one’s about deadlifts! And clocking in around 6,000 words, you may never have to read another piece on deadlifts again.

3. Hip Pain in Athletes’ The Origin of Femoral Acetabular Impingement – Eric Cressey

Think that pain in the front of your hip is just a tight hip flexor? Maybe not.

4. Guess What? You’re Not an Elite Athlete!! – Tony Gentilcore

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had people try an elite athlete’s program they found in a muscle mag and found it to be kinda easy. Guess what, genius? That’s their recovery workout, censored for the magazine. They do that after lunch in order to speed digestion before their real workout. Tony brings the reality hammer.

5. Poliquin’s Top 10 Carb Intake Rules for Optimal Body Composition – Charles Poliquin

Love him or hate him, listen to him. This one is nutritionally science-deep, practical-based, and coated in a super-fine layer of “Gad-damn!!!”

Top it off with the fact that you can pick up your very own shiny brand-spankin new copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed: Upper Body, which is currently sweeping the strength and conditioning world by storm, for $70 off the regular price, and you have the reading list of the year right here, baby!!! Click HERE to get your grubby mitts on one today!!

Enjoy your day, folks.