As I mentioned in my last post, Sorinex SummerStrong 12 was a weekend of learning, coaching, and sharing. People from all different fitness disciples, and all levels of expertise, came to compete, be inspired, and learn from each other. As a coach, I always want to keep pushing to be better. Events like SummerStrong 12 give me the opportunity to do just that. I wanted to share with you a few things I learned from the weekend:

1. KEEP LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE

Most speakers at SummerStrong 12 reminded us to keep the important aspects of life in perspective. What does this mean? As coaches, we are known for clocking long hours in high stress environments, week in and week out. We put our athletes and teams first. This might work for a while, but eventually we crash.

We put others first to our own detriment. Then we are unable to do what we were trying in the first place. Eventually, our athletes and teams suffer, and the negative cycle continues.

It doesn’t need to be this way. Work hard, but remember to keep everything in perspective. Eat dinner with your family, take time off, spend time on good nutrition, get rest.

2. RESPECT AND SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER

Strength and Conditioning/Performance professionals have a responsibility to respect and support each other openly. Many times I’ve seen people bashing each other and posturing publicly. But why? What good does this do?

This type of behavior is detrimental in helping to establish credibility and even to improve coach sustainability. Coaches won’t want to stick around, and future coaches will be turned off from the profession altogether. This does not mean we must agree with each other all the time.

Intellectual debate should be encouraged. But debate should not be done at the cost of respect and support. This is something that is true not just in the world of Strength and Conditioning/Performance, but everywhere. Let’s encourage each other, share strategies, and be better.

3. MORE POSITIVE IMPACT

My lens and scope broadened through this conference. I am working on ways to consistently provide more positive impact, whatever that might mean for each particular athlete, parent, coach, or team. One is through improving my personal infrastructure and systems to allow more availability.

A number of movements, progressions, modalities, volumes and intensities were presented at SummerStrong 12 that fired up my creative engine. I already incorporate a majority of them but a few really got me fired up. I’m currently working through some of them and plan to have a YouTube video up on my channel with some examples by mid-summer. If you don’t see them by then, remind me!

Sharing ideas and supporting each other is a great way to increase positive impact. Over the next few months, I plan on continuing to connect with other coaches, whether that be at other events, conferences or facilities. I want more than anything to listen, observe and learn, as well as help and encourage where I can. Education has always been a part of who I am and what I do. I want to be able to offer more to my athletes, their parents, and coaches every day. There are so many resources available to help us learn and grow, we just have to take the time to find them.

If you know me, you know that in my work I consider an individual’s whole life—the physical, the social, and the mental. My approach to training is to ELEVATE THE ATHLETE and help clients improve every day. My time at Sorinex SummerStrong 12 encouraged me in my work, and I look forward to returning again next year.

Were you at SummerStrong 12? What did you learn?

A Few More Notes from SummerStrong 12