Dutch Lowy

Everyone Needs a coach.
Having a coach that can watch you train and manage your workload is crucial to progressing yourself as an athlete. I have a couple that i consult with both in person and online on a weekly basis. It is very helpful to be under an experienced trainers watchful eye. It is also very important for to be kept accountable to your goals. How many times have you said “I want a muscle up by …” and look here you are still wondering why you don’t have one. Would having a coach present change your work ethic? Yes!

I made the offer a couple months ago to coach people. A couple have taken me up on it and have seen some incredible gains. I understand that coaching from the internet is not ideal but for some it is better than what is available to them currently. It keeps them accountable and allows them to focus on their day to day training without being bogged down by the complications of programming. All they have to do is train hard and be honest with me. The results speak for themselves.

Services Included:

• Weekly program Development
• Daily consulting
• Nutrition Counseling (cause we all need help)
• Video Analysis of Lifts/workouts
• Flexible Work/Rest Schedule (you can work around your schedule)
• Any additional questions you have about various topics

Price: $75/ week.
If you are interested please email me and i will get you all the info you need to get started. Dutch@crossfitatm.com

So i decided to post a video rather than try to explain everything i do for warm up. It is great to have a routine before training just like having a ritual before your golf swing or as a baseball player at bat. It does more than get your body ready to move. The mental part of training is at least 50% of your performance so make sure you can visualize yourself performing at the top of your game.

The biggest one yet! Thank you to everyone that came out on saturday. It was a great showing at Crossfit Austin. Don’t worry TX we are working on getting something setup in Dallas this Fall. Stay Tuned.

I also had the pleasure to work with the Coaches at Crossfit Central. We spent nearly 4 hours learning finer points of the olympic lifts. They are an awesome crew and full of energy. They are also on the right track with their fitness. Keep lifting, it gets better.

We talk alot about training systems here but rarely if ever touch on why we do it. I am interested to hear why people like ya’ll are doing all this crazy stuff. I can’t think of any other reason besides it simply being fun for me. I enjoy the process of training (usually) and competition is just like icing on the cake.
Are you training for something?

Another topic i would like discussed is how do you motivate your clients? Do you try to convince them that what you are doing is right? Do you yell, or quietly push? What’s your style? I don’t think either is right or wrong, but i think you have to know your style and embrace it.

There is only one way to find out…  Another great quote from Daily Om

It brings me to an interesting point. How do you know your potential without actually testing it. I am talking about athletic potential here so bear with me. In my seminar i talk about how maximizing one of 4 or 5 athletic traits will inevitably make one or all the others suffer. My question is how do you know if you are maxed out on one of the traits? If you have never dedicated yourself to the given task then you will never know your potential.

There is a simple way to determine what your potential is without basing our assumptions on you personally. We need to look at the actual performance of people like you (size, age etc…) and see what their performance is at the top of their sport. For a little example i will use myself and look at the olympic lifts. Why? Cause they are badass!

I will be competing soon and will hopefully be a 69kg lifter. Thats less than 152lbs. The world records for these lifts are Snatch: 165kg Clean and Jerk: 197 Total: 357.5kg (thats 786.5 lbs!!)
My lifts look like this, Snatch: 97 Clean and Jerk 122 Total 217 (477.4 lbs)
So have i reached my potential??
I say hell no!

Because the olympic lifts are so technical i may always be behind someone that has been lifting their entire life such as i’m sure the world record holders have. That means i have some serious work ahead of me both technical and strength related.
(This brings up a side point about development as an athlete. I hear all the time that people want to win the Crossfit Games next year but only just started doing CF 3 months ago. In any other sport if you want to be in the top in the world you have some serious athletic development ahead of you. You rarely hear of people picking up baseball after college and going pro. The same will apply to Crossfit if it has not already happened. I saw this years games as my last chance to win. The future will bring some bad mama jammas out. So to this i say get started and don’t be discouraged if next year is not your year.)

I will inevitably lose capacity in a couple things but in my opinion the athletic development i will gain can only make me a better athlete. If you look at your development with a broader view rather than desiring instant gratification you will be more relaxed in your training and actually be able to address your weaknesses and do something about it.

So here is to reaching genetic potential…

A couple good friends of mine (Robb Wolf and John Welbourn) along with Loren Cordain will be featured in a Paleo Nutrition Seminar in September. I highly recommend you attend. Sign up here

Giving people what they need is not always the easiest thing to do especially in the fitness industry. In my opinion 90% if not more need strength. How are you going to give your clients strength without running them off and turning your gym into a power lifting gym? You have to trick them… haha!

I have talked about the hybrid training programs out there and i totally think that they are the path to fitness. I know for a fact that others agree as per the responses on the website and the popularity of CFSB, MEBB and Catalyst Athletics. So why not give your clients something like that? Its what they need and will give them better gains in all catagories from weight loss to performance.

So here is your last warning… Make people strong!