"HAMBURGUESA"

Compare to 01/22/09

5 Pull-ups

10 Push-ups

20 Squats

200M Run

21 KB Swings (53/35)

12 Pull-ups

400M Run

75 Wall Ball (20/16)

400M Run

12 Pull-ups

21 KB Swings

200M Run

20 Squats

10 Push-ups

5 Pull-ups

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INFLUENCE

by Paul Flores

As some of you may or may not know, I have had two mentors I consider to have had a profound effect in my career as a trainer/coach. I worked with these two trainers early on in my career and they have been very influential in my approach to training myself as well as my clients and athletes. They both have had a wealth of information to share because they are very passionate about what it is that they do. I consider them both to be friends, and try to stay in touch with them as much as possible. One runs a very successful training facility in the North County and has a very high profile clientele which includes several MVP's in various professional sports.

The other is Neil Rampe.  I met him when he was 23 years old, pretty young for a forty-something year old to have as a mentor, but we hit it off because of a shared passion for training.  I last spoke to Neil around 2 years ago. At that time he was the Head Strength and Conditioning coach at the University of Arizona. The other day as I was doing research for some future class workouts I was planning, I came upon an issue of a web based magazine called Performance Menu.  This issue was from two months ago and I saw that there was an interview with Neil Rampe.  I was surprised only by the fact that it was a CrossFit web magazine, not by the fact that one of the smartest and most dedicated trainers I've ever known was being interviewed.  Naturally, I downloaded the interview, read and absorbed every detail Neil had to impart about his experience with the body and human performance.  He discussed how most people go about training with very little pre-planning and when an injury occurs they cannot understand why.  Two phrases Neil said made quite an impact on me and now will forever be a part of my coaching arsenal. The first is "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."  This is the most common sense approach to describing what happens when you only practice or train what you are good at and pay little or no attention to what you know will take a lot of hard work and focus. The second phrase that delivered equal potency was "with every rep, swing of the bat, toss of the ball, step of the run, the incidence of an injury increases because the deficiencies in your body's pattern of movement become more and more apparent until they reach a breaking point."

Neil will be turning 30 this year and he has definitely reached a pinnacle in his profession. Neil now works for the Arizona Diamondbacks professional baseball team. I am glad to have met him and can still call him a friend.

Justin before…

 Justin after…  "Pull your chest through your shoulders."