High Performance Handbook Review

HPH ManualWhile many “coaches” these days do nothing more than write blogs and training programs from their laptop, Eric Cressey has put in the work to become a world-class coach.

He’s the co-owner of Cressey Performance, which is arguably the best baseball-specific training facilities on the planet.

He’s an accomplished powerlifter and strength athlete.

And most importantly, he’s a good friend and someone I greatly respect in our industry.

So when he sent me a copy of his newly released High Performance Handbook, I immediately dug right in

If you’re interested in picking up a copy of the High Performance Handbook (HPH), here’s a start-to-finish review, so that you’ll know exactly what you’ll get with the program.

The HPH package has a ton of materials in it. Here are the big ticket items:

  • The High Performance Handbook Training Manual
  • The Quick-Reference Guide
  • Two Programs – Flexion/Extension
  • 2, 3 and 4-Day per week training templates

Let’s look at each so you can realize just how much time and effort went into building this product.

The High Performance Handbook Training Manual

Eric starts by giving you an idea of why he wrote the manual, and I couldn’t agree with him more on this:

There’s no one universal program that works for everyone.

The Assessment

As such, the cornerstone of the HPH program is determining your movement limitations, and then employing a specific program that will address them over the course of your training program.

You’ll start off by going through a brief video assessment to determine what “pattern” your posture and movement fall in to, and then you’ll be put into one of two training groups: Either flexion bias or extension bias.

Choose YOUR Program

From there, it’s kind of like a create-your-own-adventure book, because Eric has created unique training templates based on how frequently you want to train (2, 3, or 4x/week) as well as your primary focus or training goal (athletic performance, strength, or fat loss).

This alone is worth the price of admission.

Once you determine your basic postural issues and combine that with a program that’s geared towards your specific goals, you’re light-years ahead of most average gym goers.

The FAQ Section

Once you’re into the program, Eric does a fantastic job of covering all the bases with an incredibly thorough frequently asked questions section.

Across the four phases of programming, he answers over 88 questions!

This covers everything from exercise technique to programming. And I can tell you from experience this section is critical, as we call come from different backgrounds with regards to exercise knowledge.

Exercise Modifications

Another common issue when writing programs such as HPH is that you never know what people will have access to in their gym.

After all, some people are training out of their basement, some are at your typical big-box gym, and others are rocking at some place awesome like IFAST or Cressey Performance.

This section gives you alternative exercises so that you can figure out the best alternative, just in case your gym doesn’t have all the equipment you need.

MORE Program Modifications

When you consider the fact that the HPH has programs for two different types of body (flexion vs. extension bias), as well as three different training goals (strength, fat loss, and athletic performance), you realize there’s already a ton of customization.

But then it goes a bit further!

EC has further recommendations and programming modifications for the following groups:

  • Lifters over the age of 40,
  • Those who want to use the Olympic lifts in the program,
  • Overhead athletes, and
  • Those who want to follow the HPH template during their competitive season.

The bottom line is, regardless of where you’re starting from, this program can be customized and made to suit your specific needs and goals.

And while I’ve covered a ton of ground in reviewing the manual,  EC couldn’t have made it any easier:

  1. Go through a quick self-assessment to determine your training bias,
  2. Determine your primary training goals,
  3. Watch the exercise technique videos and get rolling!

Now that we’ve covered the main manual, let’s talk about one of the areas that really sets this program apart from others:

The video database.

The Video Database

One of the biggest issues with online training and/or coaching is making sure your clients are doing things correctly.

When I first started training clients online in 2006, it was almost impossible to demonstrate what good technique should look/feel like.

Sure, you could write up a lengthy written description, but that doesn’t work for most.

And while you could send them pictures at the start/finish, that doesn’t always do a lift justice.

With the explosion of online video, now you can teach anyone, anywhere what good technique should look and feel like.

In the case of the High Performance Handbook, Eric has compiled 201 exercise demonstration videos. And even more importantly, he’s actually coaching and cuing the client while they perform the exercise!

This was a big point for me when creating my Bulletproof Athlete (BPA) program. Just throwing up some videos with no video is better than nothing, but without the coaching cues and insight it’s nowhere near as valuable.

Plus, the coaching and technique cues are where you really differentiate the real coaches from the people who just write about fitness on the Internet.

While this program is geared towards the end fitness user, I know more and more people who are buying products like this and BPA to use the video databases to fast track the education of their coaches and training staff.

Smart move.

After all, if you can have an intern sit down and watch a couple hundred videos during the first week to get them up to speed on exercise technique, from there it’s all about tweaking and refining, versus starting them from scratch.

One final thing I really liked about this was that the quick-start video guide has every single exercise hyperlinked and in alphabetical order.

It doesn’t sound like much, but little things make all the difference in the world to the end-user.

The Training Programs

Based on the training program you choose to follow, there’s a template that you can simply print-out and take with you to the gym.

So those are the basics of the High-Performance Handbook. And at only $79.99 through this Friday, it’s an absolute steal.

If you trained with EC, I’d be shocked if he charges less than $200/hour.

Here, you’re getting four months of programming for only $79.99!

Breaking it down, that’s less than $5 per week. You probably spend more than that on fancy coffee and scones.

Instead, why not cut back on one of those per week and get a program from a world-class coach?

Pick up your copy of the High Performance Handbook TODAY

Now that we’ve covered the manual, I want to let you in on a secret as well.

As kick-ass as the HPH program is, when you pick up your copy you’ll also have the chance to pick up a nutrition upgrade from former CP intern Brian St. Pierre (BSP).

While he may not get the credit he deserves, this add-on is every bit as awesome as the standard manual.

The Nutrition Upgrade (Gold Package)

The BSP nutrition upgrade features the following:

  • The HPH Nutrition Guide,
  • Recommend Recipes,
  • Grocery List for Successful Nutrition,
  • A 3-Day Food Log, and
  • Numerous sample menus (including templates for men, women, getting big, getting lean, and specific programs like Paleo or Intermittent fasting).

The HPH Nutrition Manual clocks in at a whopping 165 pages. In this manual, BSP covers all the bases:

  • A basic overview on key topics. This covers grocery shopping, meal prep, supplements, and the 10 principles of successful nutrition.
  • A nutrition explanation section. This section covers fats, carbs, protein, and hot topics such as dairy, artificial sweeteners, GMO’s and more.
  • The health and lifestyle section. This final section covers sleep, managing stress, pollution, environmental toxins, etc.

I’m telling you, the nutrition guide alone is worthy of being a stand-alone product. It’s chock-full of great information, and even the most savy nutrition guru will probably learn a thing or two (or remember something they’ve forgotten along the way!).

Beyond the nutrition guide, there are tons of ancillary documents to help you make your nutrition work for you.

The Recipe Worksheet

One of the biggest issue most guys have is they may know the right types of food to eat, but they don’t know how to put them together into meals that taste great and are still healthy.

This document gives you a step-by-step breakdown of some of BSP’s favorite meals. He gives you all the ingredients you need, cooking instructions, and a nutritional breakdown so you know your macros and total calories per meal.

And there’s no stone unturned here. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, side dishes, smoothies and even snack recipes are in here to make sure your diet and nutrition are on point.

The Grocery Checklist

While it sounds simple, most people don’t walk into the grocery store prepared.

They aimlessly wander, and end up with a bunch of crap they don’t want or need.

This simple one-page checklist gives you some of the best items to purchase, to make sure you stay focused and on-track with your nutrition.

Sample Menus for Men and Women

Just like recipes are important, it helps to see a couple days laid out for you to see how everything works together.

In this case, BSP has created sample menus for both men and women. And taking that a step further, he’s customized them even further based on your training goals (maintenance, get lean, get big), as well as when you train (AM or PM).

Dietary Preferences

Last but not least, you can’t go anywhere and not here about the Paleo Diet, Intermittent fasting, etc.

While Brian covers this a bit in the main nutrition guide, he also gives sample menus that follow this nutritional guidelines.

Quite simply, the High Performance Handbook nutrition guide is the perfect adjunct to the main document, and I can’t recommend the two highly enough.

Summary

As someone that has created his fair share of fitness information products, I know how much time and energy go into these types of resources.

When you consider all the programs, all the modifications, all the video exercise demonstrations, and the incredibly low price, this product is an absolute can’t-miss.

Pick up your copy of the High Performance Handbook today. You won’t be disappointed!

Stay strong

MR

 


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