I have to confess: I was a terrible student in high school. I was in all the lower level classes, and got average grades.

The SATS were an absolute struggle for me. I was trying to play football in college, and the minimum score to receive a scholarship was an 820; my PSAT score was a 770.

Here I was, about to able to attend college on a football scholarship and I was not even smart enough to get the minimum score to accept it.

I buckled down with math and English tutors, spending many frustrating hours preparing for the test. Nothing came easy for me, and I spent hours and hours doing things I hated.

I eventually got my scores in the mail and my score was still awful: I got a 910, but I was the happiest kid in town that day. My score had improved almost 140 points.

This score to another kid would be a recipe for disaster, but for me it was celebration.

Celebration not just because I would be able to accept a football scholarship, but that I had worked very hard improved, and by doing so had achieved my goal.
Strive for personal improvement

I did not realize it at the time, but this was an important lesson for me. I now realize that personal improvement is more important than the actual result.

We have athletes that come through our door all the time, and they all are very different. Some come in for their initial assessment and bang out 20 chin-ups, others cannot even bend their elbow to start one.

We want both to improve, and we do NOT overly praise the kid that does 20 or tell the kid that cannot do one they shouldn’t bother. Instead, we work to provide them a platform to improve.

A terrific book for anyone seeking improvementToo many kids are focused on what important to external influences (peers, coaches, parents, colleges), and they lose sight of their own personal growth and development. In school, sports, and everything else, kids should be striving to improve from where they are, no matter what level they start at.

Praise for effort and improvement, not success

I remember my parents telling me how proud they were of me for working so hard and improving my score. They were probably not proud of the actual score; if that was what they were focusing, on they should have told me I am still well below average.  Instead, they looked at how much effort I had put in, and how much growth came out of it.

We as coaches, parents and teachers have the job to praise them for their effort to improve, not to praise them for winning a game, getting that A on the report card or passing their driving test.

Praising the effort it took to accomplish a task is much more effective then to just reward an outcome. Saying, “Great game!” won’t teach them anything; instead, tell them “Wow, I am really proud of all the work you put in to prepare yourself to win that game.”

Many kids are put in a position early in life where success comes easy. This can be a recipe for disaster for some kids, as they never learn from their failures.

If everything comes easy to a kid, they might not be in the right place. Put them where they are challenged and have opportunities to fail and learn.

Treat failure as the best way to learn

Losing a match, failing a test, or making a big mistake are all opportunities to learn, grow and improve. We need to adopt the attitude that losses and mistakes are how we learn, and the key to a successful person is to treat each of these mistakes as learning not failure.

It is not easy to console a high school kid when they fail. Remember, they have lived only 14-18 years. A break up with their girlfriend or a loss in a match they should have won might seem trivial to us, but to them it seems like the end of the world.

We need to respect what they are going through and teach them that mistakes and failure are valuable lessons in life.

The Indian Talking Stick

Next time your child goes through a difficult time, simply ask them what they learned from that experience, and then give them the Indian Talking stick. When they have the stick, you are not allowed to talk, only empathetically listen.

Let them talk through it and they will come up with what they learned. When you completely understand their point of view you may take the stick back and offer any insight to help the learning process. They best way to do this is to ask a question and then give them back the stick.

No kid wants to be lectured about how they should have done this or that.  When you find they are shutting you out, you may just be talking too much. Let them work through it, our job is to ask questions and guide them.

To recap:

1. Strive for Personal Improvement not just a result
2. Praise Effort and Improvement over a result
3. Use The Indian Talking Stick and listen empathetically

The most common request we get from athletes and parents is to improve their explosiveness.

It is no secret that a faster, more explosive athlete will be more successful in their sport.

We test each of our High School Athletes in the Vertical Jump. The Vertical Jump is a measure of explosive power or how fast and high an athlete can get off the ground.

Having more of this allows athletes to score  more goals, get to more lose balls, win more games and be a better athlete to help their  team win.

So how do we get our athletes more explosive?

In order to run fast you need to start fast.

There are many ways to perform explosive lifts, but they entail moving your body weight or an implement as fast as possible.

The key word here is progression, there are many great exercises out there but if they are not done when the athlete is ready they will be ineffective.

We take our athletes through Progression that looks like this:

1. KB Swings

This is the ultimate teacher of how to use your hips. It is an incredible core and mobility  exercise and there are just too many other benefits to list. If your athlete masters this  exercise they will be stronger and more  explosive.

 

2. Hang Clean Pulls

Now that we have learned the hip hinge and developed explosive and flexible hips it now time to load the pattern. Using a barbell allows the athlete to use much more weight and in turn develops more explosiveness. The athlete already knows the position we want them to be in to perform the lift safely, now it time to go to work.

 

3. Hang Snatch

Now it is time to get athletic. When you see an athlete perform this lift, you can see it is beneficial just by watching it. This is a technical lift and is only performed once they show tremendous  proficiency in the first 2 progressions.

In our experience, Performing this progression can improve a vertical jump from 3-8 inches depending on where the athlete started, their dedication to weight training and nutrition.

Getting more explosive takes hard work and  dedication. It also takes a well thought out approach and the right series of exercises.

Proper form and body position in the explosive  lifts are key to prevent injury and ensure good results.

Our athletes are not allowed to move on to the  next exercise until they have mastered the one before.

The next opportunity for you athlete to get more explosive is March 12th.

by Michelle McCabe

As we get rolling with 2012, we should all reflect on the past year and more importantly create goals for the year ahead. Mostly, it’s a great time to start fresh!

You may have resolutions in mind – you may have even started on them already. Maybe you’re feeling pressured to have some type of New Year’s resolution (even if you haven’t come up with one so far). There is one resolution, however, that we should ALL reach for this year: to become BETTER!

Being a fitness fanatic, most of my yearly goals tend to revolve around fitness and health. I’m sure you would agree that being healthy and fit is a part of being a better person. But what makes someone successful in becoming healthier?

As you look back on the past year, did you achieve all that you wanted to achieve? Did you become faster, stronger, leaner? Did you get the RESULTS you were striving to achieve last year?

These are important questions to ask ourselves as we set new goals this year – or start fresh on the ones we didn’t quite achieve in 2011.

I recently heard a well known strength coach, Rachel Cosgrove, present a seminar on success. As she spoke about her most successful clients, she compared their success in health to a 3 legged stool. She explained that in order to achieve lasting results we need to have 3 components in check:

• Exercise - You know you need to make it a priority! Get to the gym 2-3 times a week, every week. The team at GFP is here to make sure what you are doing is effective for the goals you are trying to achieve. Whether your goal is gaining strength and muscle, losing fat, or feeling better in general, exercising regularly will get you on the road to success. All you have to do is be here.

• Nutrition - Fuel your body. Eat clean – leans meats, veggies, fruit, and plenty of water! If you need help, we are here for you – we can look over food journals, make recommendations, and give you ideas.

• If you really want to get serious and understand the nitty gritty details of your diet, our in-house nutrition expert Tom Langton would be glad to sit down and work with you.

• Mindset - Here’s the trickiest but most important component in my opinion. Your mindset is the biggest obstacle keeping you from achieving everything you’ve ever wanted in life. Think about it – your attitude towards going to the gym or how you think about food can affect every effort that you make to become a fitter person.

• Not only that, the way you think about YOURSELF can affect how successful you are at becoming better. I can’t tell you how many times we hear negative thoughts: “I can’t pinch my glutes!” or “That weight is way too heavy!” or “I’m so tired”. Guess what!? You’ll never get the results you’re looking for with a mindset like that!

• The first step to a positive mindset is to start noticing how you talk to yourself. Many of us would never let another person speak to us the way we speak to ourselves. Once you’ve noticed how you talk to yourself, change those negative thoughts into positive ones. For every negative thought you have, follow it up with a positive response.

• If you’re thinking “I am such an idiot for eating that garbage yesterday,” follow it up with, “So today is a great day to get to the gym and focus on working hard!” Get your head on straight!

Each one of these components is a leg on your stool to fitness success. When all of them are addressed evenly, the stool is sturdy. The problem is when one of these legs comes up shorter than the others, the stool becomes unstable. In order for us to stand on the stool and make progress, we have to have all three of these “legs” in place, without ignoring the others.

There is no better time to start becoming a better YOU than today. All you need is for your three legs to be balanced. Go out and get what you need to change your diet, start a new exercise plan and stick to it, and most importantly; start talking positively to yourself! The 3 legs of your stool are all you need to make that breakthrough change in your life.

Remember that 2012 is not about what you are going to do, but about what you are going to become.

Starting January 30, we will be having our 4th GFP Biggest FAT Loser contest, with a chance to win $3000 in prize money! Click for details.