1. Alberta Floods

In the past few days, there has been a number of rivers throughout Alberta that have seen massive surges, and a few have crested, leaving tens of thousands of people affected by wide spread flooding. Most notably, the cities of Banff, Canmore, Calgary, Medicine Hat, and the First Nations Siksika band have been damaged severely, in some cases irreparably.

Here’s an aerial shot of downtown Calgary before and after the flooding. The dome shaped building on the right is the Saddledome where the Flames play, and was flooded up to the 15th row with a mix of river water, silt, debris, and sewage. At the bottom of the pic is the Stampede grounds, which are set to hold the largest outdoor show on earth in less than 2 weeks.

With so many people displaced and affected directly, the miracle is how few casualties and injuries have resulted from the wide-spread carnage. The downside is that many if not all places affected won’t be covered by insurance, meaning many people have had their entire lives wiped out in a matter of hours.

The Red Cross is accepting donations to help provide food, housing, clothing, and any and all humanitarian effort needed. If you can donate even a small amount of money, it will go to helping a lot of people who need it desparately. If you regularly visit this site, I’d greatly appreciate any donation you could possibly give by clicking the Red Cross link provided here:

====> Click to Donate to Red Cross <====

Additionally, with any disaster comes the need to help those who rely on us for the most help. The Calgary Humane Society is actively trying to resuce as many pets and reunite lost pets with their owners as possible, and require as much assistance as possible. Both Lindsay and I are avid animal lovers, and if you would be willing to donate to the Humane Society to help those who love us unconditionally, it would mean a lot to both of us.

===> Click Here to Donate to Calgary Humane Society <===

Once you’ve donated to either cause, please do me one more favour and leave a comment below saying you donated. It may inspire others to do the same.

2. Training Tails: Save Your Body and a Life

Along the same lines, I’m really excited to announce the launch of a really cool new resource I was happy to be a part of. Last year when Hurricane Sandy ravaged the eastern seaboard, many peoples lived were completely changed, and their pets were also irreparably affected. While in many cases, pets are the last concern of rebuilding society, they are the children of their owners and are incredibly valuable to them.

Chris Smith, a trainer at Peak Performance in Manhattan, had a lot of his families property affected directly by the hurricane, and had a first hand view of everything that went down and how much anguish it caused. Many places are still in the process of rebuilding more than 8 months after the fact. Many rescue agencies are still actively trying to reunite pets with owners, and also care for those who were gravely injured in the storm.

As a result, he brought together a lot of big name trainers (plus some guy from Canada named Somerset. Guess Chris didn’t get the memo on him not being a big name), and put together a really great training resource with a variety of different workouts, methodologies, equipment, and pretty much everything you could want. He’s releasing it with all proceeds going towards a no-kill animal rescue organization in Long Island that has been overwhelmed with a lot of pets in need.

The product is called Training Tails: Rescue Your Body, Rescue a Life.

It features articles and workouts from guys like John Romaniello, Tony Gentilcore, Dan Trink, Dave Dellanave, Sean Hyson, Wil Fleming, Joe Dowdell, Ben Bruno, Tim Henriques, and pretty much everyone else with any kind of name recognition in the fitness industry.

Because this is a charity product, and because the info is from so many great coaches and with such a vast background, you should definitely pick up a copy to take advantage of it. Please note: I don’t get a dime from promoting this product, as all proceeds go directly to charity.

===> Get Training Tails Now and Save a Puppy <===

3. Early Bird discount ends on Sunday Evening

With somewhat less importance given the above mentioned circumstances, the early bird discount being offered for those who register in June for the Boston Seminar Tony Gentilcore and I are putting on at Cressey Performance ends on Sunday evening at Midnight. This means the price will go up from $399 to $499, so if you are on the fence about attending, you should definitely do it for the reason that it will be significantly cheaper now than if you drag your heels.

To sweeten the pot, for those who travel in from out of town on Friday and get in a little early, we’re going to have a “mystery guest speaker” who just happens to be around that day speak to the group for about an hour or so (or however long he feels like it) followed by an unstructured workout at one of the premier training facilities in North America, where we’ll have the place all to ourselves.

On top of that, those who attend get 2 days of direct contact with Tony and I, CEUs through the NSCA and ACE, free water and possibly beef jerky, draw prizes and give aways, and a LOT of coaching on how to become a better trainer, coach, or just learn more about how to make your workouts infinitely better.

You also have the option of getting in on a small group workout with Tony and I the Monday following the seminar where we’ll take you through some coaching of our own. Space is limited for the workouts, so definitely get in on that while you can.

The workshop will be at Cressey Performance all day on July 27 and 28, with the guest presenter and open workout on Friday evening and small group training on Monday morning, which means you could have an excellent long weekend without missing much work at all.

===> Click Here for More Info and to Register <===