Woo Hoo!

Passed my Corrective Exercise Specialist exam last week and still feeling a bit chuffed. I've been studying the theory for over a month and got a lot of feedback from the two day hands on workshop which put into practice all the theory.

Quite excited today as I attended the first day of the two day NASM-CES course.

One issue of concern for me, initially anyways, is the depth of knowledge covered by the NASM course and the lack of knowledge imparted from my PT course (provider remaining nameless)

I've been reading on the subject; what the NASM protocols are and the methods and theories behind them. They blow everything I've done so far out of the water. I'm very happy I haven't been doing any PT recently!

I've been happily hosting websites and getting domains registered through 1&1 for the past four years.

However, recently, the quality of support and the technical service they provide has, in my opinion anyway, slipped so dramatically that anyone who wants or needs even the slightest bit of flexibility within their web hosting plans has to look elsewhere.

After a few years of barely trying, I've managed to complete my PT course and am now a fully fledged REPS Level 3 Trainer. Woo Hoo! Only thing is there's about fifty thousand other people in the fitness industry so, using some business nous, its time to set myself apart from the rest of the crowd.

I've been practicing martial arts since 1992, only recently have I worked out the difference between my left foot and right foot so progress has been slow!

The one thing I always had an ample supply of was flexibility. Dropping into side splits, front splits were simple matters. Then I turned thirty and, well let's be blunt, it all turned shite

Being stuck behind a desk really screwed up my training; my back and knee injuries came back to tease me and cause a fair amount of aggravation.

Fast forward a few years and my lack of flexibility and mobility led me to take up yoga.

One of the things about martial arts is that leg flexibility is emphasised to an incredibly high degree yet upper body flexibility and mobility is seldom performed. A bad idea for those looking to keep in peak condition.

I've always been a bit sniffy about Yoga. Sitting cross legged, chanting and meditating doesn't strike me much as training and if that's all you do; then it isn't.

However, Yoga is renowned for developing stretchy people with calm minds and we won't mention the attractive Yoga bunnies, ahem, so I put aside my prejudices and joined a few classes at the local Yoga centre.

The link between mental capacity and physical limits
One of the main concepts that Yoga has rammed home for me is that flexibility is mainly controlled by the mind. We subconsciously hold tension in the body. Sit at a computer for eight hours and you'll feel what I mean. Likewise, couple deep breathing with stretching and you'll find that you gain greater control of your body, in terms of flexibility, co-ordination and strength. It really shows the link between the body, mind and breath. After a few lessons I've got deeper control of my body and my upper body flexibility and mobility has improved considerably.

Its even assisted my kettlebell lifting; shoulder girdle flexibility has gone up which makes locking out overhead simpler.

Overall, its been an interesting and useful addition to my training so will be keeping my downward facing dogs and table poses.

I'm spending the next three days at the Chris Cardell Business Summit.

I've been a member of his Mastermind Group for six months; the jury is still out on whether its proving effective for business growth. Its hard to measure - there are great monthly calls but the Mastermind group hasn't appeared to form.

Anyhoo, back to the summit. The line up of guests is pretty spectacular.

Firstly, we have one of the UK's most famous businessmen, Duncan Bannatyne attending. He runs the UK's most successful independant gym chain so there is a lot of learning potential there!

Then we have Dan Kennedy; many people claim to be the world's greatest direct marketers - Dan Kennedy has proof he is! I've implemented a lot of his tactics and advice which has helped grow the business immensely.

Finally; its always good to spend time with fellow businesspeople and entrepreneurs. I'll be writing an article on this soon but take my word on it - the energy you get from hundreds of like minded people really ignites the imagination and drive.

I find it interesting that most members of the fitness industry fail to improve their business skills; they'll get more and more weekend certifications, add a few more letters after their names but they don't bother finding out ways to sell those skills and services to clients.

I have a theory about this - the majority of PT's I meet love their job. They love helping people, they love getting people fitter. However, they don't see this as a valuable service; they don't like selling themselves and they definitely don't like to charge a fair (or in their view, high) price. Considering that legal assistance can cost hundreds of pounds an hour and all you get is someone ticking boxes and getting you to sign bits of paper; I think we do a much more important and worthy job that deserves to be paid for! Anyway, enough ranting for the day; time for a nap.

Signing out for the week, off for a short holiday then back to building the new business!

The fitness business blog resurfaces...

After about three million reworks, I've managed to get my business blog and portal set up.

I'll be using this site for documenting business ideas, all sorts of gossip about the fitness industry and occasionally some ideas about training.

What qualifies me to write this blog?

Well, firstly, I run and co-own London Kettlebells, the UK's leading kettlebell retailers.

Secondly, I've just started up my PT business so will be applying all my experience in the fitness retail arena to the PT side of things. I've made plenty of mistakes before so subscribe to the blog as I document what I'm going to be doing as an alternative and why I think its a good idea.

Thirdly, I've worked extensively in marketing so you'll find some hard earned knowledge here!

Anyway, onwards we go...