Good morning…
Grab your coffee and pull up a stool.
At the foundation of No Finish Line Fitness are 4 pillars. These pillars are at the core of our training methodology and ultimately direct our goals. Our unique and successful training is made possible by the combined strength of each pillar and our unwavering dedication to them. I thought it would be good to spend the next few coffee & chats talking a little bit about each pillar and why they are important to us, our clients, and even non-clients.
The first pillar is Science
Over 10 years ago…
When we started working with primarily runners, we quickly learned most training plans used were based on tradition and had no science supported foundation. With running becoming considerably popular the science community started providing physiological data and study results, which contradicted commonly used training methods. Around this same time, my (physical therapist) son in-law just happened to get an issue of the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT), that was dedicated fully to studies and findings on running. Being the good son in-law, he gave it to me, and it was pure gold! I read it cover to cover multiple times and dissected every detail. Much of what I understood about training runners through books, popular magazines and even formal training was found to be scientifically incorrect. This began our development of our Science Pillar.
4 Years ago…
Feeling strongly that I needed to be better educated beyond reading studies and findings; so off to college I went. Sandhills Community College (Pinehurst North Carolina), has a great Health and Fitness Science program headed up by the most amazing professor. Conveniently, the curriculum utilized material from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) which coincidentally, I had just enrolled in the Personal Training certification course through. I was most definitely challenged by anatomy, physiology and even spelling, but Sandhills taught me how the human body worked. I even became better at spelling!
1 year ago…
NFLF team member and friend, Doug Mackinnon and I were out running and talking technology. I was telling him how I felt strongly about the value of using real time heart rate feedback to better train. We talked about the various devices people can use, but all of them required the client to give us information. I wanted technology that we could see while the client ran or worked out and could utilize before, during and after a workout. Not long after our run, we discovered MYZONE! The perfect tool to maximize a workout!
Today…
I enjoy reading fitness magazines and other materials that trainers put out, but ultimately, we develop training for all aspects of our clients based on proven science and our own successful findings. Building muscle just to build muscle, is not necessarily the best for an individual’s fitness. Mobility and stability are foundational to functional fitness, movement, and performance. Perceived effort is helpful but having visibility of actual effort (heart rate), provides a valuable training tool as well as motivational. Our understanding the science behind our training ensures each individual client is getting the most of our there training.
Pillar 1: Science
Traditional methodology may make you sweat and even feel sore, but is it making a difference fitness wise? Might it be actually hurting you?
Science provides us with tools which help us to ensure our clients are getting the best and safest training possible. In the gym and on the road.
Next week I will chat about Pillar 2: Functional
Happenings at NFLF
Thanks for having coffee with me this morning. Have a great Sunday and an even more amazing week!
God Bless
Mike
#faithoverfear
