Crossing the Pond(s)

I don’t really consider myself well-traveled.  As a kid I vacationed in St. Lucia, Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands.  I went on some extravagant scuba adventures, all-inclusive resorts, all sorts of great stuff at the expense of my folks.  But what I realize now is I was just too young to fully appreciate a trip like that.  I also know the only reason I went is because my folks had to lug my sister and I along; what else were they supposed to do?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m super grateful but god damn I wish I could go on a trip like that now!  While I spent 28 years in my Naperville bubble, I’ve managed to hit some standard vacation spots in recent history; Florida and California a couple times.

2012 is panning out to be something different.  Part of my new job is booking CrossFit Football Trainer’s Seminars across the globe.  That’s right folks, the GLOBE!!!  So CrossFit Football is an adaptation of an emerging online fitness “movement” called CrossFit.  Most people have heard of Crossfit but not many have heard of CrossFit Football.  It’s a similar structure in that the founder of CrossFit Football, John Welbourn, my new boss, has developed a training philosophy and publishes a vanilla version of his training protocol every day on our website www.crossfitfootball.com for free.  What sets it apart from CrossFit is

1. It’s not a one size fits all approach, there are 3 different workouts daily based on skill level
2. The goal of the training is to prepare for sport rather than prepare for workouts
3. Following the program will result in increased size, strength, power, and work capacity.  And as you progress through the program and “graduate” to the next level, the gains may taper, but are sustainable for multiple years.

How do we know?  Since CrossFit football dropped in 2008 we’ve been collecting thousands of data points and tracking results. The program is constantly evolving and strength/power gains on the “lab rats” across the world are continuing.

That being said, many gym owners across the world want to better understand the method to the madness, which is where the CrossFit Football trainer’s course comes in.  John and his team which yours truly is now a part of travel to gyms across the world where local gym owners, athletes, or inquiring minds gather to hears us brief them on how the create “The Power Athlete.”  Strict adherence to the CrossFit Football program will yield a Power Athlete; an athlete capable of dynamically expressing absolute strength in a very short period of time; over and over again.  For fitness enthusiasts, this is just a cool thing to be able to do, but for certain professional or aspiring athletes this is essential to their success on the field/court.  It’s more than just banging weights it’s really about understanding the bio-mechanics of it all; How do you intelligently expose an athlete to trauma that applies to their sport, and how do you optimize recovery from that trauma so we can sustain the training program?

People just don’t know that.  And we do; not only that but we know how to teach it.  So in 2012 I’ll be crossing the ”pond” flashing my passport in the United Kingdom in February, Ecuador in May, Brussels or Italy in September, and Australia and/or New Zealand in December.  The tour also includes a trip to Hawaii.  In addition to all these great spots, we have about 18 other stops in cities around the US and Canada.  I’ll have the opportunity to share with 20-50 folks per destination all the great stuff I have learned and continue to learn over the years, and to add quite a few feathers to the cap.