In This Issue

– Robertson Training Systems Updates
– Testimonials
– Nutrition Tip
– Exclusive Interview:  Bill Hartman
– Upcoming Interviews
– New Articles and Blog Posts
– Schedule

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Robertson Training Systems Updates

2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD’s on sale TODAY!

It’s taken a few weeks to get the final edits completed, but the 2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD series is on sale now!

In this package, you’ll get all the information that Bill and I gave at our recent seminar series.  Here’s a brief rundown of the individual DVD’s and their topics:

DVD #1 – Introduction and 21st Century Core Training What is the difference between core strength and core stability?  And why must you absolutely be training for stability vs. strength?  Learn the biomechanics of the core and lumbar spine, and why ineffective training will leave you at increased risk of injury. DVD #2 – Creating a More Effective Assessment Identification of deficiencies precedes optimal program design.  An effective assessment then is the key to a successful program.  Formal and informal, general and specific assessment and clearing tests will be discussed and guidelines to address the needs of individuals and groups are provided in this segment. DVD #3 – Optimizing Upper Extremity Biomechanics Upper extremity training is still in the dark ages.  Learn why your old program isn’t working, and learn the three components you must include in your program for optimal results.  Finally, learn the two muscle groups that you probably aren’t even training that are integral to the health and performance of your upper extremity. DVD #4 – Building Bulletproof Knees The knee is one of the most frequently injured joints in the body.  Are you doing everything possible to keep yours (or your clients’) healthy?  This session will examine why so many knees are getting injured, along with strategies and programming you can utilize to get your knees back to 100%. DVD #5 – Selecting the Optimal Method for Effective Flexibility Training Flexibility training goes far beyond common methods of stretching.  Sources of movement impairments can be strength-related, neurological, or tissue-related.  Learn to identify the causes of mobility limitations and which methods to apply to achieve the desired outcome. DVD #6 – Program Design and Conclusion Trainers and coaches who are only selling the “6-week package” aren’t looking at the big picture.  What does this client/athlete need to succeed over the long haul?  Learn how to develop programs that are not only biomechanically correct for your client, but how to keep them on the path to success for many years to come.

We’ve also taken feedback from previous seminars and DVD’s to make sure this is really top notch.  In this case, all the questions that the attendees had will be transcribed onto the film so that you know exactly what they’re asking.  As well, instead of giving you a manual we’ve taken the PowerPoint slides and video clips and inserted them directly into the DVD’s!  We feel this will greatly enhance the learning process so that you’ll get the most out of each and every DVD.

For this week only, we’re going to sell the DVD’s at $30 off the normal retail price.  If you want the DVD’s only, the cost will be $99 plus shipping and handling.  If you need NSCA CEU’s, this product has been approved for .7 CEU’s and the total cost for both is $129.

After this week, the DVD’s will retail for $129 without CEU’s and $159 with CEU’s.  So don’t delay!  Purchase the seminar series now by following one of the links below.

Purchase the 2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Series with .7 NSCA CEU’s

Purchase the 2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement Seminar DVD Series

Go to the Indy Performance Seminars home page

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New Article up at Elite Fitness

Here’s the first installment of a three part article series I wrote for Elite Fitness.  If you’ve ever thought about competing in a powerlifting meet, this article should help you get started!

Your First Meet, Part I:  Setting a Date and Developing Goals

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Testimonials:  Inside-Out

Mike, I do appreciate you for sending an email asking for feedback regarding the Inside-Out DVD.

The Inside-Out training pack is incredible.  In the past few years for some reason I was developing shoulder problems that I never experienced before.  I went to the Dr. and he said it could be tendonitis.  I also injured my back lifting a heavy box in a part-time warehouse job I had many years ago and ever since I had experienced upper and lower back pain.

The very first moment I started to watch the video and read the manual got me excited to try the exercises. The video was well organized and had great information.  I loved the fact that you can go directly to each individual exercise or listen to each explanation which I recommend, if the user is a beginner or just wants to know the technical terms.  I started to watch the model performing the exercises in the video and I performed them with him.  I did the exercises exactly as advised and it gave me instant back and shoulder pain relief.  I couldn’t believe it, but it’s true.

At my doctor’s visit, he told me to do stretching exercises; he provided some on a sheet of paper for me to do at home.  Your exercises blew my doctor’s advise out of the water and they are the best I’ve ever tried.  I printed a copy of some exercises from the e-manual to a co-worker and he couldn’t believe the instant pain relief he felt from his shoulders and back. I recommended your Inside-Out training pack to my co-worker and it’s up to him to take advantage of all the exercises.  My personal opinion is, if I invested in my health so should he.

I feel like I have my own personal therapist and trainer at home that, I can have access at anytime or anyplace at my own leisured time.  I’m very happy an excited that I bought your Inside-Out package and I look forward to buying more products from you.

Be Strong!

Dan from Chicago

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Nutrition Tip

If you like this tip and want to learn more about JB and his products, check out his Precision Nutrition website.

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Exclusive Interview:  Bill Hartman

MR:  Bill, we’ve worked on several projects together over the past couple of years, but some people still don’t know much about you.  If you don’t mind, please introduce yourself.

BH:  My primary background is as a physical therapist, but I come from an extensive athletic background as well.  There was a point in time when I was preparing myself for football and track in college that I became fascinated with the training process more so than the actual competition.  Since then I’ve been searching for answers and studying anything I can get my hands on that may provide some small piece of how we can better prepare athletes and improve our clients’ health and fitness.  This includes getting your typical certifications from USA Weightlifting, NSCA, and a few others.

I currently manage two PT clinics as well as run my own fitness business and now add on to that our new gym Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training (IFAST).  IFAST will soon be THE place to train in Indy.  I also write regularly for Men’s Health Magazine.

Because of my background I do a lot of corrective exercise programming with my clients and have worked extensively with competitive golfers over the last 8 years.  My work with golfers lead to my website www.yourgolffitnesscoach.com and Your Golf Fitness Coaches Video Library, Volume 1.  Of course, we both developed the top selling, Inside-Out:  The Ultimate Upper Body Warm-up.

MR:  A little over a month ago, we had our first annual Indianapolis Performance Enhancement seminar.  Could you give the readers a little insight as to what you discussed?  (And please speak in the past tense, even though you’re doing this interview the week before!)

BH:  My topics were centered around assessment methods and flexibility, but I what I really tried to hammer home was the concept of specificity.  I think there’s been a lot of “dumming down” in regard to many concepts in the fitness and sports training industry and the concept of specificity gets ignored.

For instance, when we assess an athlete, we have to consider the environment in which he performs.  If our tests take the athlete so far out of his performance environment, they may not be valid tests and provide us with misleading information.  Muscles and connective tissues behave differently under different circumstances.  Athletes function in environments of variable forces and speeds which demands the use of feed forward processing and results in different physical responses than if they’re tested in slow, static activities that allow the use of feedback.

It’s not uncommon for an effective athlete to show some form of weakness, poor technique, or poor motor control during a test in a controlled environment because the test requires a skill that is unfamiliar to the athlete.  Does that mean we need to make some sort of correction?  Not necessarily.  In the athletic environment we may not see the same weakness, lack of technique, or poor motor control.  We need to use a battery of testing to address not only how an athlete looks or moves in one situation but in many.  The first rule of assessment is that EVERYTHING is an assessment.

Ever correct someone’s squat in the gym?  Make an adjustment in their bench press technique?  Show an athlete how to land from a jump?  Of course.  You observed something that wasn’t optimal and you made a correction.  Essentially, you assessed in the specific environment.

Flexibility training also demands that we address range of motion issues specifically.  Which is better?  30 second static stretches?  PNF stretching?  Dynamic stretching?

In most cases, it’s not that one method is better in all cases, but rather, one method will tend to have an optimal effect.  For instance, most commonly applied static stretching and PNF methods increase range of joint motion by merely increasing stretch tolerance.  In other words, you get used to the pain associated with the stretch and range of motion improves.  The old theories that depend on autogenic inhibition and reciprocal inhibition just don’t hold up with direct research.  These methods only result in temporary gains in range of motion by reducing tissue stiffness in the elastic region of tissue elongation, so they don’t actually make muscles and connective tissues longer.

If you want to make tissues longer, you have to use time dependent methods that will physically change the tissues to either add sarcomeres to the muscles or causes micro damage to the connective tissues so they remodel at a new length.  So again, it’s not that one method is better.  It’s just that one method is better in specific circumstances.

MR:  We’re also in the process of opening a gym together – needless to say, I’m quite excited about it!  Why do you feel this gym will be different from what many currently see in the Indianapolis market

BH:  You mean other than the fact that while many gyms promise results, we actually deliver? J

I think there’s probably 3 primary things that will put Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training at the forefront of fitness in Indianapolis:

1) Our backgrounds are very complementary.  I don’t think there are any holes in any of our procedures or programming.  We each have our own strengths within our knowledge bases but there’s also enough crossover in our personal experiences, whether it be in training or rehab, that there’s no confusion or loss of information during communication.  This creates a powerful and effective application of training method.

2) We’ve created a real team atmosphere among the members.  While we assess and program every single member of the gym individually, the training environment is unique in that each member supports the other and pushes them toward their goals.  This is not your typical situation in a personal training facility where there might be a trainer socializing with client while they exercise or a gym where you sign a contract and you’re on your own.  This is a training facility.  Anyone who’s ever trained with a group of motivated individuals knows how you may be having a bad day but as soon as you get the vibe from the rest of the group, you kick it into high gear and the intensity goes through the roof.  If you’re not serious about making progress and achieving goals, you better join another gym.

3) The thing that’s going to have the greatest impact of all is our try before you buy concept.  I can’t see anyone turning this down.  We won’t need to do much in the way of sales because we’re going to treat people like full members from day one by letting them try us for free.  I think this achieves two very important outcomes.  First, just like any other major purchase in life, you’re going to get to “take us for a test drive”.  We won’t need to sell because the services and the results will do it for us.  People will experience the difference in attitude and productivity from day one and they’ll never want to train anywhere else.  Second, it provides a method of natural selection for our clientele.  We’re literally creating a community of top of the line service and success to allow our clients to truly reach their potential.

MR:  Damn, that sums it up pretty well – and like I said before I can’t wait to open!

Changing topics completely, you recently competed in your first powerlifting meet.  How did it go overall?  Did you learn anything from it?

BH:  Overall, I’d have to say that I was pleased since I exceeded my goal on two of the three lifts and my total.  I was a little disappointed because I really underestimated weight selections.  I’d never used a squat suit nor have I lifted with wraps or a belt in many years.  I probably left a good 100 to 125 pounds on the platform.

Having used the suit, wraps, and belt, I’m not sure I get it.  The contribution from the equipment is rather significant.  I didn’t use a bench shirt, but I’m certain I would have been surprised as to how much it impacted the result.  It’s kind of an ego stroke to say, that I squatted or deadlifted whatever weight, but in the back of my mind the impact of the equipment takes away a bit of the credit.  I think that if I do it again, I’ll hop on the raw lifting bandwagon and give it a go without the extra help.

MR:  A few months ago you shed a significant amount of weight following Mike Roussell’s and Alwyn Cosgrove’s “Warp Speed Fat Loss” protocol.  Can you explain the program to everyone?  I know there’s been a lot of questions about it.

BH:  Yeah, this is very cool concept, but it’s not for the rank beginner in most cases.  That’s not to say that the foundational principles don’t apply.  I just don’t think they can tolerate the programming.

Most fat loss programs ramp up the volume and intensity and the dietary discipline to allow for someone to accommodate to the progression.  In most cases, anyone can achieve their desired result.  AC’s Afterburn is a great example of such a program.

The Warp Speed Fat Loss protocol takes into consideration that you’ve got some training under your belt and then takes all the concepts that impact fat loss to the greatest extent and applies them simultaneously over a much shorter period of time.  It’s pretty intensive but the results were nothing short of phenomenal.  17 pounds of fat lost in about 4 weeks.  I took a couple weeks off and then hit it again for another 11 pounds of fat.  I haven’t been this light in about 20 years which allowed me to hit the powerlifting meet and lift respectfully.

MR:  Every time we get together, it’s hard staying “on course” because we always want to talk training.  Have you had any new or insightful thoughts about training lately?  Things we’re doing right, wrong, or a topic you just want to rant about?

BH:  Let me free flow a bit here…

*  We need a better system of mentorship in the industry.  The educational system in the fitness field is inherently weak because of the lack of foundational education required to enter the industry.  Trainers take people’s health in their hands without any experience in some cases after just taking a certification test.  A mentorship program provides the trainer with essential experience in safer atmosphere under the direct guidance of a qualified fitness professional.

*  Functionality requires context.  What their really talking about is specificity so what is functional in one situation may not be functional in another situation.  You can’t just decide that something is specific unless you take the forces of the activity into consideration.  For instance, a single leg exercise like a single leg squat would appear to be specific for sports which require single leg activities such as change of direction or cutting.  Actually a double leg squat is more specific based on the forces involved.  That doesn’t negate the value of single leg training, but it may have a different purpose depending on your reasoning for using it.

*  Fatigue may be one of the most important factors in understanding injury mechanisms.  Fatigue slows reaction time, alters balance, reduces stability, and alters proprioception.  Think you can predict injury potential from a few simple static tests?  Dream on.  When was the last time you analyzed an athlete’s performance in a fatigued state?  Pay attention during training, practice, and game situations for undesired changes in posture, technique, compensations, and a general decline in performance.  Rest is a training modality.

*  Train your athletes to improve their performance and the injury prevention component of training takes care of itself…they’re the same thing.

MR:  Any new projects or things in the works we should know about?

BH:  I did a seminar called “The Shoulder from the Inside Out” last year that was recorded.  This will be released as a DVD with a manual that should be of interest to a lot of people.  I also have another shoulder related project in the preliminary stages that’ll be much bigger, but I can’t really go into details at this point.  I’ll be sure you let you know when it’s available.

I’ve also teamed up with Mike Roussell of Your Naked Nutrition Guide and Jon Fass from AcceleratedStrength.com to put together a top notch internet community at www.fasterfatlosszone.com.  Membership is limited right now, but we should be opening that up very soon as well.  This is a website that we initially started for our private clients, but it’s taken on a life of its own.  We’ve already got so much information on there in the form of articles, audio interviews, and videos, it’d take weeks to get through it all.

I guess the biggest project right now is getting the gym filled to capacity which won’t be long.  Anyone in Indy or just coming through town that wants to train in the best atmosphere in the city needs to stop by.

MR:  Ok Bill, time for the final question, and you know I ask everyone this!

You’ve been in this field for quite some time now – what mistakes have you made in the past, and what have you since done to correct that mistake?

BH:  I’ve recently taken on a PT student, and I haven’t been a clinical instructor in about 10 years.  One of the things you have to do as a CI is to provide a logical reason for everything that you do as a clinician.  If you don’t have a reason to do something, you better not be doing it.  Otherwise, you’re ineffective in preparing the student to become an independent clinician.

Years ago when I was starting out in the rehab and fitness fields, I sort of went with the flow and followed the “flavor of the month” and did a lot of things just because it was popular or a big name in the field said it was the way to go.  I didn’t ask enough questions and I didn’t ask “Why?” nearly enough.  I certainly didn’t take it upon myself to answer many questions.  Looking back I don’t think I was a true professional.

I think that if you’re a true professional, you have a responsibility to constantly investigate, research, and experiment with the methods that you apply.  This allows you to develop an effective filtering system for new information.  To separate the good information from the BS.  It also keeps you in what the martial arts would consider the beginner’s mindset.

Eighteen years into my career, I study more, learn more, and I know I’m more effective as a PT and fitness professional.  I also know that there’s no way I can learn everything, so it’s important to have a core group of professionals that you communicate with frequently to fill in the gaps and keep challenging yourself to be a better professional.

MR:  Thanks a ton for your time – where can my readers find more about you?

BH:  The best place would be www.billhartman.net/blog.  Thanks Mike.

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Upcoming Interviews

July 14th – Julia Ladewski, assistant strength coach at Buffalo University, powerlifter, and member of Elite Fitness training staff

July  21st – Shawn Windle, Indiana Pacers head strength and conditioning coach

July 28th – Robb Rogers, Director of St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis, Indiana

August 4th – Pavel Tsatsouline, author of several books and kettlebell instructor (www.dragondoor.com)

If you would like to submit a question for one of our upcoming interviewees:

1) Please send an e-mail to [email protected]
2) In the subject heading, please list the person your question is directed towards (i.e. Mike Boyle)
3) In the body of the text, list one or two questions you’d like to have answered.

We can’t promise that our interviewees can answer all questions, but we’ll do our best to get a nice mix of questions. Thanks for your support!