What a weekend. I spent it hanging out in Boston with my good friend Tony Gentilcore, his girlfriend Lisa, and about 20 other personal trainers, chiropractors, and general fitness enthusiasts at Cressey Performance for Tony and I’s workshop. It was without a doubt one of the best, most switched on groups I’ve ever had the chance to speak in front of, and everyone was really engaged, quick to volunteer, laugh, get their hands dirty, and make it a great experience for everyone.

 

We started off with my talk discussing the big rocks of assessments, what to look for in general, and how your specific goals should decide what kind of assessment you do. Additional to this, I talked about how to do the basics of a passive assessment versus an active assessment and what the benefits of each were when done together. At the end of the day, having more information to make a decision is always better than less, so using multiple tests with a degree of redundancy is always better than relying solely on a single test.

Tony picked up after that and talked about what would go into the Cressey Performance assessment with their baseball guys, and how it would compare to someone who sat at a computer all day. He did a bang up job and I was able to walk away with some great new info, so I’m sure everyone else in there got something out of it too.

That afternoon Tony and I lead the group through some active assessments to get them moving and grooving. They were all engaged and getting deep into the meat and potatoes of what we were talking about, which was fantastic, and somewhat rare.

That night we went out to dinner in downtown Boston. I figured I would put on some nice clothes to make a good impression, and wound up wearing some nice blue pants (not to be confused with blue jeans) and a good clean shirt. Apparently no one else decided to do the same, and there I was with a bunch of trainers wearing sweat pants and t-shirts, looking like the odd man out. I was literally Mister Fancy Pants.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRrRx4UkK8Y’]

We were eating literally a block away from the Boston Marathon finish line, so I had to go and see what had been the site of one of the most publicized domestic terror events of my lifetime.

The next day started off in the facility with Tony discussing and showcasing how to get a training response with people, even if they have some corrective systems to go through for various things like congenital laxity, specific injuries, or instability considerations. It was a great talk and we managed to blend seamlessly from lecture to hands-on application.

My talk came up at the end, all about how reactive core training can improve flexibility without taking joints through a range of motion (aptly titled “Voodoo”). We discussed the importance of breathing for upper body and lower body limitations, and went through how to get reactive stabilization from breathing drills and specific core training directives to help improve specific limitations.

We followed that up with an expert panel featuring Tony and myself, James “Smitty Diesel” Smith, Ben Bruno, and Mark Fisher of Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. If you don’t know who Mark is, he’s developing a massive following of dancers and performers in the Broadway scene and will probably wind up training half of Hollywood one day.

The next day we took a small group of attendees who wanted to train with Tony and I through a small group workout, and it was a huge success. Three people hit deadlift PRs, everyone had a great time, and no one puked.

For those who can’t see, I’m wearing one of the best t-shirts in the history of ever, which got a lot of really great reactions over the course of the weekend.

If you still can’t see it in all it’s glory, here’s the image:

Eric liked it so much he even had to get a shot with it.

Following that I had the chance to hang out and see what one of the best training facilities in North America does to set itself apart. It was really cool to see so many people getting after it with their own individual programs, and to see a group of coaches circulating and helping people as needed, not where one coach worked with specific people only. It was a neat concept and I can see how effective it would be from not only the clients perspective, but also the coaches perspective to be able to work with so many individuals at one time without burning out.

That evening Tony and I went to Harvard so I could have a Social Network flashback and pick up a t-shirt or two for Lindsay and I. I’m a huge history buff so seeing a centre that has been in operation for nearly 400 years, with some buildings and features that were easily 300 years old was really cool. I can’t wait to see Europe in a few weeks.

One thing you would probably assume about when fitness professionals get together is that we eat like the cleanest and healthiest people on the face of the earth. This is not the case. 4 nights of eating out has definitely had an impact and I’m feeling nice and sluggish getting back on the plane today. Also, I discovered that Ben Bruno can absolutely crush ice cream like no ones business. It’s kind of mesmerizing and scary at the same time, like staring into a lava lamp.

It was a great time, I got to meet a lot of people I had previously only met online, hang out at one of the best facilities in North America like it was my own gym, and dropped some serious knowledge bombs.

The people there seemed to get a kick out of it too, which is always priority number one when it comes to hosting events. Hopefully we’ll be able to do this a lot more in the future, and get more and more people out to them to have continuous great times.