“You can’t be afraid to answer the tough questions.”

– Jim Rohn

This past week I’ve done a bunch of traveling, and as such have had a bunch of time for reflection and thinking.

It’s no coincidence, I’ve been asked some incredibly tough questions as well.

While this post probably isn’t going to take your lifting performance to the next level, I hope it will give you some perspective on me as a business owner, athlete, coach and human being.

And who knows? Maybe some of my thoughts and reflections will help you out as well.

Here we go!

Why haven’t you done a powerlifting meet this year? You’re only 35?

This was a question that someone from Twitter asked during my recent speaking engagement in St. Louis. It’s a great question, and one that I’m actually asked pretty frequently.

There are a couple of reasons I don’t compete more often in powerlifting:

1 – Training time,

2 – Focus on training others, and

3 –Other priorities.

Let’s look at each of these.

With regards to training time, getting ready to compete and perform at a high-level in a powerlifting meet takes a fair amount of time. Most of my training sessions would take anywhere from 90-120 minutes, as powerlifting is very nervous system intensive and you need a bit more rest in between sets.

In that same breath, I’m not a big believer in taking steps backward. If I’m going to compete I want to kick ass and set some PR’s. I’m not one of those people that can just go out and compete “for fun.” It may be fun, but I want to be successful, to.

The next issue is my schedule. As my calendar stands right now, I have two very busy times of the year: During the December/January time frame when I get my MLS and collegiate soccer players back, and then again in the summer.

So those two times are really busy with coaching, and then the rest of the year I’m trying to build IFAST, RTS, etc.

For now I’m a lot more focused and committed to the athletes I coach than to my own athletic endeavors. I’ve had a great athletic career and my body feels great, so right now I just don’t have that burning desire to compete. I’m kind of living vicariously through my athletes, and it’s incredibly rewarding to watch them grow and develop.

Last but not least, I flat out have different priorities than I did in the past. When you’re young it’s no big deal to dedicate 2-2.5 hours to training time for yourself. You don’t have a whole lot of other things going on, so this is easy.

As I’ve gotten older, time is of the essence.

I’m running two businesses in RTS and IFAST, which obviously take up quite a bit of time.

But even more importantly, I’ve got a wife, daughter, and a little man on the way. My family is the single most important thing in my life, so I always put them first.

Something I’ve thought a lot about recently is the bigger purpose of my life. It’s a deep question, no doubt.

After a lot of reflection I’ve realized that I’m happiest when I’m giving myself to others. I want and need to lead a life of service.

Whether that’s my family or my athletes, when I’m giving my time and talents to others it’s just an incredibly rewarding feeling.

To summarize, while I know I’ll compete again in the future, now just isn’t the time. I’m enjoying more general training, and my athletes and my family are the big priority.

Would you work in the NBA/ for a pro team?

When we got into San Antonio last Sunday, I got to have dinner with Roy and his fiancé. As we were chatting, Roy asked if I would ever work in the NBA (or for any professional team, for that matter).

Let’s be honest – back in the day, I would’ve jumped at the opportunity. I can’t imagine a bigger challenge than working with the best athletes in the world on a daily basis.

This was actually my dream when I got into the industry. How cool would it be to work with professional athletes on a day-to-day basis?

To help them become monsters on the field or court?

I’m a super competitive person, and I come from an athletic background. There’s nothing more exciting as a coach than to work with a team and try to take them to the next level.

But in that same vein, again it comes down to priorities and the demands of the job at hand.

I know what it’s like to be a strength coach in the MLS, MLB, NBA and NFL. I’m lucky enough to call a lot of coaches in those leagues friends, and I’m man enough to admit that I couldn’t do what they do.

And keep in mind I don’t think it’s so much a technical thing; I’d welcome the challenge of the day-to-day X’s and O’s.

Instead, it’s more about where I’m at in life.

In some of these leagues, it’s not uncommon to be gone for weeks at a time with travel. Imagine being away from your family and friends for 10-14 days several times per year.

To some of you this may not sound like a lot, but I couldn’t imagine that type of schedule. Again, for me, my family is my priority.

Where I stand right now I call my own shots, and live life by my own rules. The second I give up my freedom and autonomy, I think I’d be significantly less happy and fulfilled.

I love the blog posts on your site. Why don’t you blog more?

Okay so this is a big philosophical question, and one I’ve wanted to answer for a while now.

First off, you need to understand my viewpoint for RTS and what I want it to be.

Blogs are a dime a dozen these days. Anyone and everyone can have a blog, which is on one hand pretty cool, and on the other hand it can be overwhelming to the end-user/reader.

I have no issue with everyone having a voice. That’s not the problem. The problem is trying to decipher who actually knows what the hell they’re talking about.

Who actually trains clients?

And of those people, who actually get results?

How many people are simply hiding behind a keyboard and writing blogs and articles every single day? Versus putting their information into practice?

I’m not a professional writer, and I don’t have time to post updates every single day. I’ve got too many other irons in the fire.

But perhaps more importantly, I don’t think about writing “blogs” any more. I want every single post I put up to be thought of as an article.

I want it to be a piece of valuable content that you can share with your friends or family.

I want it to be something that’s going to make you as an athlete, trainer or coach, better.

Some people are going to post 4-5 times per week, and I’m fine with that. Eric Cressey is a guy I have tremendous respect for, and he’s always putting great content out there.

But with the amount of things on my plate, and my long-term vision for RTS, I’m ok with the fact that I can only produce one piece of high-quality content every week.

Summary

I apologize if this post was a little random, but I think sometimes posts like this help improve our connection as author and reader.

As always I appreciate your support. Have a great day!

All the best

MR