Back in 1980 when I was a mere 20 year old lad I shared an apartment with a group of guys. The few things we had in common were; 1. We had no money, 2. We liked junk food and beer, and 3 we all worked at the same restaurant. We found ourselves throwing parties weekly and consuming large quantities of grindage and booze (you can do these things when your 20). A few things happened as a result of our actions; 1. I became quickly de-conditioned, (previously a college decathlete), 2. My job became an option, while my partying became my forte, and 3. We got kicked out of our apartment for apparent reasons.
It was at this time time we decided to throw what would be our last hurrah at the apartment.
Half way into a 6 hour game of quarters one of my "best" friends decided it would be funny to try on my new jeans size 36 waist, him being some size quite a bit smaller, as he slid the pants on (over his own pants mind you) he did a little Irish Jig showing all my women friends just how thin he was and how FAT I had become. What are friends for... It was at this precise moment, drunk, underemployed, and going nowhere but up in weight that a Sports Trainer was born.
I can still remember my first one mile run in a pair of early Nike running shoes that had seen several summers come and go, I had the complexion of a tomato as I rounded the corner back to the apartment complex. I then dug out the cassette tape of the "Theme from Rocky" and started on the push-ups, sit-ups, and variety of other exercises one can do in the confines of a stinky man cave and never looked back.
By 1984, educated, fit and motivated I went out to prove to the world that people would indeed pay someone to exercise with them and that in fact It would be a REAL JOB DAD. My move to the city of Chicago would be the smartest move I made. Starting at the Lake shore Athletic Club in Lincoln Park as a fitness room baby sitter I made my first move. I proposed to the powers that be to initiate a "personal training program" at the club. The owners having never heard of this new idea agreed based on the fact that 50% of potentially nothing would cost them, well, nothing. So 60 hrs. a week per trainer and 10 trainers later its safe to say personal training had made its debut in Chicago and was there to stay! Of these 10 trainers from Lake shore Athletic Club back in 1985 you will recognize the following, Tim Grover- Micheal Jordan's trainer (amongst many other NBA greats) and now owner of Attack Athletics in Chicago, Jenny Lorbeck-Owner of ETC energy training center in Chicago, Barry Schulist-Owner Strictly Fit in Chicago, others are still successfully training clients and make six figures. After my stint with Lake Shore Athletic Club I moved my operation to a beautiful facility in Chicago for general fitness, personal training and a new venture "Performance Sports Training" that would send me out west to San Diego where I would train the best of the best in MLB. With the idea that any professional athlete could double or triple there lifetime earnings just by staying injury free was enough to send the athletes flocking to my door. As I was available for off-season conditioning only, my schedule was hectic but my passion was great.
With a combination of off-season injury rehab and sport specific core training my clients were making gains they never though were possible. Take a ball player at the end of there biological career, heal their past injuries, bring them into the Spring in better condition then they've ever been, put them in front of an arbitrator and guess who wins? The player. Now at the end of his career he is making more than what he thought was his prime.
Now coming close to my 51st year on this planet I have two beautiful daughters, a loving wife and what I call my early retirement "Body Logic Fitness Center" in downtown Lake Geneva, WI
I have awesome stories to tell of times spent with the elite, have done many things I thought not possible, and friends for life that have taught me important life lessons. Now its time for me to pass these lessons on to my friends and clients at Body Logic.
Take the time to do something you love, your not stuck, if you feel you are, then its time to make a plan to get un-stuck!
Your Friend,
Greg
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Mediocrity Has No Boundaries
After reading a news story about a teacher who started a blog regarding her high school students lack of enthusiasm and downright lack of respect I started thinking, when did all this start?
Have we become a nation of whiners? Kids (with the exception of a small percentage) have no respect for adults because we don't demand it. This could be due to the fact that we have painted ourselves into a corner by giving them the rights of adults, we also treat them like adults or perhaps we just act like children its probably a combination of both. I remember when I was young it was "yes sir", "no sir", "yes maam" well you get my point. Now its "shut up you can't tell me what to do" and if you try I'll call the police and report you to child services, all this while they're texting their friend. To me this all started when kids became responsible for their actions at to young an age, if you're a kid and you get caught with beer, pot, causing trouble, curfew and the likes you are ARRESTED, not the old proverbial slap in the hand and wait till your mother finds out. This has lead to kids not giving a damn if their parents find out because what are you parents gonna do about it, probably nothing. We now feel guilt when we chastise our kids so the outcome is usually let them do what they want so we don't have to listen to them whine about the terms of their punishment. While I don't hit my kids I do ground them from devices and friends. I try to get them to communicate with adults rather than just stare blindly into space with nothing to say. If parents stop trying to be friends with their kids and teach them respect, then and only then will kids act with respect outside the home. This may lead kids to hold other kids accountable for their actions in schools.
Our society has given kids and mediocrity the upper hand thereby lowering the expectations of achievement based learning and thus creating the entitlement era that seems to span from kids to (I hate to post this) 40 year olds (Not all 40 year olds mind you) but they're out there. You can be conservative, moderate or liberal and still teach your kids respect with out crossing boundaries of politics. Giving respect leads to having respect for yourself as well, to often kids grow up wondering why after they're out in the real world they can't succeed. All of a sudden they find out what its like to NOT get it now even though they want it NOW. They've been raised with no expectations and therefore they can't make it in the outside world. In my business I first give respect, if I don't get it back then I can't help you achieve your goals. If parents and schools would adopt this train of thinking that would be a start. In other words if your a loser than guess what, ITS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT. OK that was harsh, but sometimes being a loser at something is just what we need to give ourselves a kick in the butt to do better. By losing we put ourselves in a position to work harder, we can only move upward, in order to move upward we need help from others, we will only receive that help if we show respect to those helping us better ourselves, do you see where this is headed? Stop rewarding mediocrity and passing kids to the next level, your not doing them any good. I take this approach with fitness training, helping my clients to understand what levels they can achieve if shown the different levels of work, not just the passing grade but levels they thought they couldn't reach.
Please respond to this blog and give me your input!
Have we become a nation of whiners? Kids (with the exception of a small percentage) have no respect for adults because we don't demand it. This could be due to the fact that we have painted ourselves into a corner by giving them the rights of adults, we also treat them like adults or perhaps we just act like children its probably a combination of both. I remember when I was young it was "yes sir", "no sir", "yes maam" well you get my point. Now its "shut up you can't tell me what to do" and if you try I'll call the police and report you to child services, all this while they're texting their friend. To me this all started when kids became responsible for their actions at to young an age, if you're a kid and you get caught with beer, pot, causing trouble, curfew and the likes you are ARRESTED, not the old proverbial slap in the hand and wait till your mother finds out. This has lead to kids not giving a damn if their parents find out because what are you parents gonna do about it, probably nothing. We now feel guilt when we chastise our kids so the outcome is usually let them do what they want so we don't have to listen to them whine about the terms of their punishment. While I don't hit my kids I do ground them from devices and friends. I try to get them to communicate with adults rather than just stare blindly into space with nothing to say. If parents stop trying to be friends with their kids and teach them respect, then and only then will kids act with respect outside the home. This may lead kids to hold other kids accountable for their actions in schools.
Our society has given kids and mediocrity the upper hand thereby lowering the expectations of achievement based learning and thus creating the entitlement era that seems to span from kids to (I hate to post this) 40 year olds (Not all 40 year olds mind you) but they're out there. You can be conservative, moderate or liberal and still teach your kids respect with out crossing boundaries of politics. Giving respect leads to having respect for yourself as well, to often kids grow up wondering why after they're out in the real world they can't succeed. All of a sudden they find out what its like to NOT get it now even though they want it NOW. They've been raised with no expectations and therefore they can't make it in the outside world. In my business I first give respect, if I don't get it back then I can't help you achieve your goals. If parents and schools would adopt this train of thinking that would be a start. In other words if your a loser than guess what, ITS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT. OK that was harsh, but sometimes being a loser at something is just what we need to give ourselves a kick in the butt to do better. By losing we put ourselves in a position to work harder, we can only move upward, in order to move upward we need help from others, we will only receive that help if we show respect to those helping us better ourselves, do you see where this is headed? Stop rewarding mediocrity and passing kids to the next level, your not doing them any good. I take this approach with fitness training, helping my clients to understand what levels they can achieve if shown the different levels of work, not just the passing grade but levels they thought they couldn't reach.
Please respond to this blog and give me your input!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Winter Cycling makes me NOT S.A.D.
Avoid seasonal affective disorder.
Wow what a difference this 2010-2011 winter has been for me. Mentally I feel much better than last year at this time. Summer 2010 brought me my first competetive season of moutain biking while bringing me back to my youth in a way I didn't believe could happen. After MTB season ended in Sept. 2010 I was a bit bummed, so at the encouragement of our local bike store mechanic Don from RRB Cycle I decided to embark on yet another cycling sport "Cyclo Cross". For those of you unfamiliar with cyclo cross it involes a combination of road and off-road biking. It is intense to say the least, the races typically occur on a golf course or park setting, lots of turns, twists, hurdles, sand and run ups while carrying your bike. These races are timed 30-45 minutes depending on your category. I will tell you this, my heart and lungs have never worked as hard with NO REST. I entered into the "Chicago Cyclo Cross Cup" series which ended with the state championship Dec. 5th 2011 in downtown Chicago, the temp was a cold 16 degrees with a 20mph wind and 3 inches of fresh snow! Whats happened here is I was actually doing something I had never done before, I was training outside in inclement weather to say the least, soaking up D-3 from the sun and having fun doing it. This turn around in behavior has saved me from a winter of seasonal affective disorder and kept me in awesome shape for the upcoming mountain biking season this spring. Since the end of cyclo-cross season I have continued my outdoor cycling at least 3 times per week with the addition of snow shoeing and trail running. On top of this I teach and participate in 3 PHA Bootcamps per week at our Body Logic Fitness Center in Lake Geneva, WI. For more info on PHA Bootcamp go to www.bodylogicinc.net . Thats all for now, more later. Get off your duff and DO IT!
Wow what a difference this 2010-2011 winter has been for me. Mentally I feel much better than last year at this time. Summer 2010 brought me my first competetive season of moutain biking while bringing me back to my youth in a way I didn't believe could happen. After MTB season ended in Sept. 2010 I was a bit bummed, so at the encouragement of our local bike store mechanic Don from RRB Cycle I decided to embark on yet another cycling sport "Cyclo Cross". For those of you unfamiliar with cyclo cross it involes a combination of road and off-road biking. It is intense to say the least, the races typically occur on a golf course or park setting, lots of turns, twists, hurdles, sand and run ups while carrying your bike. These races are timed 30-45 minutes depending on your category. I will tell you this, my heart and lungs have never worked as hard with NO REST. I entered into the "Chicago Cyclo Cross Cup" series which ended with the state championship Dec. 5th 2011 in downtown Chicago, the temp was a cold 16 degrees with a 20mph wind and 3 inches of fresh snow! Whats happened here is I was actually doing something I had never done before, I was training outside in inclement weather to say the least, soaking up D-3 from the sun and having fun doing it. This turn around in behavior has saved me from a winter of seasonal affective disorder and kept me in awesome shape for the upcoming mountain biking season this spring. Since the end of cyclo-cross season I have continued my outdoor cycling at least 3 times per week with the addition of snow shoeing and trail running. On top of this I teach and participate in 3 PHA Bootcamps per week at our Body Logic Fitness Center in Lake Geneva, WI. For more info on PHA Bootcamp go to www.bodylogicinc.net . Thats all for now, more later. Get off your duff and DO IT!
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