Dutch Lowy

I had a conversation yesterday about how to come up with a training program for a group of people. My response came from something i have been thinking about for a while now and it has to do with the trainer or coaches experiences. Over time each coach or trainer will have a style. That style is heavily influenced by their experiences. For example i am a weightlifter and subsequently all of my clients do some weightlifting. If you don’t believe me, ask them… haha!

I would be ineffective as a swim coach because i swim like a rock and don’t have an extensive background in competitive swimming outside of sleeping on the lifeguard stand at 530am. The point is that it would be irresponsible as a coach not to pass someone off that was looking for something outside of my experiences.

It is important to seek new experiences as a coach so you are more versatile. I have attacked this problem from two sides and there is a clearly better and worse way to do it.
Better: Find a new category of exercise/training/sport, find a coach yourself and learn from their experiences and get some new ones yourself.
Worse: Pretend to be an expert and learn as you go guiding someone through a long and winding road to their goals.

Like i said there is clearly a better way to gain new experiences to be used in your coaching. My recommendation is to go find someone that knows very well what you want to accomplish and sit at their feet and soak up all their knowledge. Ask questions and observe how they handle certain situations and you will be a better coach for it.

I just thought i would update everyone.
Above is the new gym in College Station. Obviously its not finished but should be very soon! If you are in the area, you must go check it out.
I will get a picture of the new Fort Worth space this week.

Apologies for the pause in posting real content. I have been a bit busy to say the least. Thank you for your patience, i’ll be back soon!

Meet Kilo!

This is Kilo. He is a terror but he is our dog. Little does he know we are messing with his mind. Recently we had a meeting with a “dog trainer.” I put that in quotes cause the guy didn’t really train Kilo, he trained us. Understanding what goes on in a dogs head in any given situation will help you control that situation and end with a favorable outcome. For us the main outcome we were looking for was when we want Kilo to come, he needs to come. We have been failing miserably the last couple months and were really at his mercy.

After the first 3-4 weeks i gave up on treat training because i didn’t want kilo doing things for a treat, i wanted him doing things because we are the leader and he listens to us no matter what. I got this idea one day when i was walking around Lowes and saw a couple with a dog that walked with them through lowes and only stopped when the owners stopped and would wait patiently till the owners moved on. After stalking them for a couple isles i decided i needed to get my dog to do the same thing.

I am a huge follower of Ceasar Milan (The Dog Whisperer). I respect his ways his thought processes and reasons are spot on. Train the owner and the dog will act like a dog. Its totally natural and easy if you know how to do it. We learned it this weekend and have seen a noticeable difference since.

I have nothing really meaningful to teach here, i just wanted to invite all of you into our home and have you meet Kilo. If you ever get the chance to meet him in person please do me a favor and greet me first. Even if you didn’t come to see me.

Oh and by the way, if you are in Fort Worth, keep an eye out there will be a new gym opening soon. Ready for the first weightlifting Club in Fort Worth?!? You can come meet Kilo as well…

A couple months ago i was in the Chiropractors office complaining about “something funny” going on in my thoracic spine. I know i know its not the most technical description but he hears this all the time and as i was showing him what hurt and how i did it, he simply smiled and nodded his head.
As he got his hands on me and started to probe he asked me a seemingly strange question: “Have you had any intestinal issues lately?” My immediate answer was, “no, not that i can think of.” He poked and prodded a bit more and put me through the death stretch where it feels like he is going to rip your head off and sent me on my way with his usual cheer.

While i was getting in my car i started to think more about the last couple days of training and eating and if i had any intestinal issues… I had, and pretty severe. I won’t go into details but it was one of those days were you get out of bed, then get back in bed, and repeat a couple times till the world comes back into focus. I simply can’t handle the booze like i did in college. That day i vomited twice and was not normal till after 6pm that evening.
That was Sunday and my meeting with Dr. Dan was on Wednesday after i had hurt my back training on monday.

Ok, here is what i am trying to get at. The reasons we take care of our bodies as athletes is driven towards performance. Do i understand the link between intestinal issues and thoracic spine issues? Kinda. Its a spinal reflex from the stressed stomach but more importantly it taught me that i can’t trash one part of my body and expect the rest of it to perform at normal capacity. Simply understand that we are not many pieces functioning together (much like modern MDs treat) rather one big machine working, hopefully, in harmony.

…You make the Iron!
This is what was flopping around in my head right before i went out for a 135 kg clean and jerk in the TX state championships this past weekend. As i was standing at the chalk bucket i asked the girl at was keeping the board if she had any advice. “The Iron doesn’t make you, You make the Iron.” For someone walking onto the platform this is a great bit of advice and really helped me focus for that lift.

I have found that for me, if i am thinking of something other than the task i am about to perform, i tend to perform better. I remember singing a certain song in my head during a specific game that i played really well in but can’t remember the details of the game. So for me if i am prepared for something and can displace my apprehension about something then i tend to perform better.

Let me caution you that this is certainly an individual preference. If you perform better when you are very emotionally present in the task you are trying to perform then don’t listen to what works for me.

So, it turns out that no matter how poorly i treat you guys, you keep coming back. Its interesting to me how my traffic is still up even though activity on my end has been, well non-existent. Thank you for the support. I won’t lie to you again and promise anything like 2 posts a week but i will get back on the horse and write a bit more.