A Six Minute Workout?
Getting back on track with my previous Vision Quest themed posts… It ain’t about “going to work out.” It’s what HAPPENS when you work out.
Why all the Vision Quest references lately? You’ll have to follow me on my FB “fan page” to find out…
Motivation
What are you doing right NOW to get you closer to your goals?
…and who can you count on to push you to the top when the going gets tough? (and believe me, it will get tough)
You can do it. It doesn’t matter who you are.
The Reality of Winning
Believe it or not, many others have the same goals and challenges as you. A lot of ‘em will get hurt, get scared or just roll over and quit before they have a chance to taste victory.
Seeing others fail to overcome the same challenges (perceived or real) you expect to face might just scare the living crap out of you…
Riding Ted Williams’ Coattails
Ted "Golden Voice" Williams
Certainly by now, you’ve heard all about Ted Williams fall and rise (and fall?) from glory. Not being one to pass up a good opportunity for shameless self-promotion, I figured if the Today Show, the Cleveland Cavaliers and umpteen other businesses are willing to ride Mr. Williams’ camouflaged coat-tails into viral-video stardom, then who the hell am I to sit here and think up my own unique marketing message to promote my new Grand Rapids personal trainer website?
After all, fame sells, baby.
It’s amazing what you can create with some cardboard, a couple of permanent markers and a camera, don’t ya’ think?
(Note to Matt Lauer & Meredith Vieira… have your people call my people and we’ll try to set up a time for me to come on your show.)
Slosh Pipe Training Revisited
You may (or may not) remember my July 31st appearance on Grand Rapids Fox 17 where Morning Show host Sarah Brodhead took the slosh-pipe for a ride (or was it the other way around?)
This morning, the pipe returned with a vengeance – this time with its little cousin, the “slosh bell” (the 2′ left-over from a 10′ pipe when I made an 8 footer.) We also discussed a low cost way to help your slosh pipe survive even the coldest of Michigan winters.
Enjoy (and feel free to leave comments about your own slosh-pipe training experience).
Dip and scoop, Sarah.
Dip and scoop.
Beckwith’s Gym (Part 3)
[continued from yesterday]
…one, you can do the ‘country club’ model. Take your operating expenses and simply divide that by the number of powerlifters. I don’t know how many PL-ers are willing to pay $500 a MONTH to train here, but then again, I don’t really understand why golfers sink so much money into smacking a dimpled ball around a park.
Or two, expand your ‘menu’ to include other markets.
Obviously, I was strongly leaning toward the latter.
Out of the first 400-ish postcards I sent out, only a half dozen or so came back as undeliverable (possibly something to do with my chicken-scratch scrawl where a name and address should have gone), nearly a dozen made the plunge to the next step – going to the website and subscribing to an auto responder series. The other 300+ are still on my list of follow-up-to-do, but I’m gonna have to adjust my marketing strategy now that the ‘free gym membership + free personal training’ offer can’t be fulfilled (not at Beckwith’s anyway).
While Beckwith’s DID connect with another gym across town and arrange for their members to ‘transfer’ their memberships over, the fact is, for those living in the more southern range of their local market (towns like Jenison, Wyoming, Grandville, Byron Center or Hudsonville), the commute would now be as much as 30 minutes each way. “Official” backup plan or not, Strength Beyond Fitness (on Plainfield Ave) just wouldn’t meet the needs of every member affected by the sudden closure of Beckwiths.
Hence my promoting of Flex Fitness Center just down 196 in Holland (only half the drive time of Strength Beyond) as an alternate option. As I mentioned in the video back in Part 1, my friend and Flex owner, Shawn Miller, kindly offered to take stranded Beckwith’s members under his wing and honor the remainder of their membership – obviously with the hope they’d continue as paying members down the road – but moreso as an attempt to put a band-aid on the ‘black eye’ that is often cast when the public gets the (perceived or real) shaft from some branch of the fitness-industry-at-large.
To further expand on my video from Part 1, here’s Shawn personally extending his hand to any who may have been left without a place to pump iron…
[to be continued...?]
What Happened to Beckwith’s Gym? – Part 1
Grand Rapids area fitness and powerlifting mecca is no more
Maybe it’s just the natural cycle of life, but sometimes good gyms go out of business. It was a real shame to find out yesterday morning that the weekend rumors about Beckwith’s Gym in Grandville, Michigan were true.
As I pulled into the parking lot at 3040 28th Street SW yesterday morning to meet with one of my personal training clients, I quickly noticed the lights were off and the interior looked eerily vacant for the normally active time of 11am.
Having been around the fit-biz block a few times, I immediately realized that Beckwith’s Gym’s time has come (and mysteriously gone sometime over the weekend).
I only discovered the gym a few months earlier. Always on the lookout for resources that I can direct clients, readers, friends and fans to, I heard talk of this dinosaur-style gym since moving to Grand Rapids a year earlier.
Yet every time I set out in search of the mythical Beckwith’s, I always wound up at their previous location (with an entrance in the back of a retired bowling alley) that always had a “closed” sign on the door. I just assumed it was because it was such an exclusive, powerlifting-niche club, they only had a handful of dedicated members who’d meet there at specific times. I wanted to know the secret handshake to get in – so I checked back every couple of months.
It was finally mid-summer before I thought to track ‘em down via the internet (this may come as a surprise to some of you younguns, but even though I consider myself a bit of a tech-geek, we old-timers sometimes take a bit longer to remember that google knows EVERYTHING).
I emailed one of their trainers who quickly replied that they moved about 3 miles west earlier in the year and they have typical operating hours. Finally – all I had to do was make the 20 minute drive to Grandville and I’d see what all the talk was about.
When I walked in I was greeted by “Pops” – the 73 year old majority owner and one heck of a deadlifter, too! We got to talking and I quickly understood that they were finding their new location (and the low-ball priced area competitors) to be forces they weren’t quite equipped to handle.
Membership at gyms like Beckwith’s are usually in the $40/month range but they found themselves competing against the franchised outfits with healthy marketing budgets and the ability to undercut the “real” gyms with membership as low as $12/month.
“Pops” knee-jerk response in order to stay competitive was to offer an annual membership for just $180 – with NO ‘initiation fee’ and no contractual obligation to renew.
So I asked him what he would offer when the franchises went down to $10/month… Or $5.
Being the lowest price option is rarely the best way to be profitable, but he needed to get people in the door to even have a chance to sell ‘em on the Beckwith’s ideal of training.
Because he was so set on competing strictly on PRICE, I suggested he take the low-ball approach to the max and give membership away for FREE. He looked at me like I just escaped the loonie-bin.
It was at this point I explained what I do. Not wanting him to be the only one ‘risking’ anything by giving away membership to his gym, I even offered to throw in my personal training services for free.
“But how do we make any MONEY?” he understandably asked.
[to be continued...]
Have you purchased a Beckwith’s Gym membership and have nowhere to train? Be sure to watch the following short video…
More From The West Michigan Bodybuilding Scene…
My friend Shawn Miller has a gym…make that THE gym in Holland, Michigan. FLEX Fitness Center is known locally as the place to work out when you’re serious about change. A couple of his gym members put their efforts on display at the 2009 NPC Western Michigan Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure & Bikini Championships this past weekend – and I was there capturing video of their evening posing routines…
Dave Kaletka
Greg Castro
…and of course, I somehow happened to record some random bikini competitors (none from FLEX that I’m aware of, but I told you yesterday some bikini comp footage was on its way):
BTW, I’ve been working on a couple ‘top secret’ projects with Shawn/FLEX – the kinds of things that are only being announced through the gym and on their Facebook Fan Page. If you want to find out what we have up our heavily muscles sleeves, you need to become a “fan”.
Mr. Olympia 2009 Jay Cutler
Something about the overwhelming scent of Pro Tan (not to mention the equally overwhelming sight of big guys in small posing trunks) usually prevents me from going out of my way to check out a bodybuilding show, but this weekend, the 2009 Western Michigan Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure & Bikini Championships rolled through town so I figr’d what the heck…
I’ll be posting some (bikini contest) vids at my YouTube channel (you DO subscribe, don’t you?), but for now, you’ll have to settle for this footage of 2009 Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, guest posing just 3 weeks after reclaiming his title. He really knows how to work the crowd – be sure to watch what he does at about the 3 minute mark…
Golfers, Listen Up!
Last week, I met with my friend and PGA golf instructor, Scott Seifferlein, who gave me a brief overview of an awesome tool he uses in his business: the K-vest.
Comprised of military-grade gyroscopes and hi-tech software, the K-vest transmits wirelessly to a nearby laptop where Scott (and his clients) can get immediate and measurable feedback on all aspects of the golf swing. (I do loves me some tech-gadgets!)
Here’s a short video “tour” of the K-vest in action at the Highlands Golf Academy in NW Grand Rapids.
(Don’t forget to visit Scott’s site, GrandRapidsGolfLesson.com, to claim over $300 worth of golf-goodies absolutely free!)
The Solution To Childhood Obesity: Shame?
Ya’ know, the answer seems so obvious after watching this ‘news’ from The Onion.
Michelle Obama: Fox-y lady?
In case you missed yesterday’s preview video, this morning I made another appearance on Grand Rapids’s Fox 17 Morning Show to take Sarah Brodhead through 3 exercises that’ll help you develop arms even Michelle Obama would be proud of.
Anyway, here’s a link to the segment as you’d see it on TV (nothing but Hi-Def news broadcasts at Fox… Brian, you know what I’m talking about ;-) ).
[7.13.09 UPDATE: the link above is no longer accurate as wxmi.com is now fox17online.com. Will post new link if/when it becomes available]
And because you know how hard I work to keep my legion of adoring fans (all 5 of you) entertained, here’s some behind the scenes footage I put together with my Flip Cam. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it…
“I had a very unattractive transvestite throw softballs at me for half an hour…”
-Tracy “barefoot’n” Forner
“I’ll flash west Michigan” – Sarah “the animal cracker” Brodhead
Behind The Scenes at Fox17 (Grand Rapids, MI)
Tune in to the Fox17 Morning Show tomorrow – June 19th – and watch me take host Sarah Brodhead through a “Michelle Obama Arms” workout.
If you can’t stop in, honk as you go by (or watch it online at WXMI.com)
This Blog Post Doesn’t Suck
Thought ya’ll get a kick outta this li’l video I put together yesterday for one of my ongoing projects…
Tsunami In The Water
Now that these Michigan lakes are finally starting to thaw, I might just have to try this…
Before I Was Famous…
Many years before I lived in Grand Rapids, MI – or Delaware – or even England…
A lifetime before I began blogging at “the cup”
Before I laid the groundwork for This Workout Doesn’t Suck
Before writing the Ultimate Home Gym Guide
Before I was a member of the advisory board for Men’s Fitness magazine
Before I became a contributing author to “The Power of Champions”
Before I was “the official fitness trainer for Miss Delaware USA” (2003-04)
Long before anyone ever uttered the words “fitness expert” before my name…
I was a powerlifter
…and life was good
(even if I did finish second)
Powerlifting: Finally an Olympic Sport?
One of the obstacles preventing powerlifting from ever becoming an Olympic sport is the way some federations promote allow the abuse use of assitive supportive gear such as knee wraps, squat suits & bench shirts.
Lifters typically argue their safety/protective qualities while opponents are against the additional, near superhuman weight that such specialized gear allows one to lift over their “raw” poundages. (I once saw a shirt press 350lbs while nobody was wearing it)
I’ve trained and competed with and without supportive gear, so I’m not here to debate whether the use of it is good, bad or ugly, but I do believe that if PL is ever to be taken seriously by outsiders (and for their respective “world records” to have any meaning), the powers-that-be need to agree on a single standard of supportive/protective gear which will be allowed in competition.
If it’s up to me, triple-ply kevlar supersuits will become a thing of the past. I’m casting my vote for the latest technology from Honda (just don’t expect to see me driving one of their toy cars anytime soon)…
Okay, so maybe it looks like the bottom half of CP30, but before you criticize it on style alone, you need to watch the video of this machine in action.
I can’t wait for ‘em to release the top half so maybe I can finally have a respectable bench.
Maybe I Was Wrong About Yoga?
I’m known for taking a strong stance against yoga and other ‘outdated’ flexibility techniques in favor of Muscle Activation, StopStretching, etc. but when I stumbled across this video, I found myself questioning my long-standing professional philosophy and personal opinions for a moment.
Just as I was dialing the the local yoga studio to reserve my space in the next class, I found this short clip to snap my senses right back to reality.
I don’t care how you package it, yoga IS still evil.
Is There A Doctor In The House?
Regular readers of The Cup already know I’m an 80′s metal fan/headbanger at heart, but once in awhile I like to mix up my training tunes. I was thinking of adding this “classy” version of everyone’s favorite Dr. Dre tune to my workout playlist.
[NOTE: THIS IS NOT A WORK-FRIENDLY VIDEO (unless you have headphones). Tipper Gore, Al Sharpton and others of that ilk who may be easily offended by words should avoid viewing the video (and probably this blog, too) at all costs. Don Imus, if you are a Cup reader - enjoy!]
I just have enough time to hit the squat rack and take a shower before I need to get back to work. As I always say, leg training ain’t sh*t :-)
"Mighty" Joe Stankowski
