YAY I'm certifiable...

oh wait, that's 'certified. ;)




I just finished up my CPR/AED/First Aid class with the Red Cross and passed.




Just one last thing standing between me an my CFT certification... me! That is, me getting the blasted test done and submitted. But that's coming... honest!




I have to say this class was a bit more educational than the ISSA seminar I went to last week - or at least it was a bit more fun. I was a bit worried about the skills part, but it was good all around. The best part is that I ended up sitting with a lady who's an ACE certified trainer so we talked a bit about that - very neat lady and hope to talk with her again.




Last weekend's class was... interesting. It was taught by John Schaeffer who did a great job in some aspects, but honestly it wasn't what I expected from the certification seminar.




What I was expecting was an expansion on the material in the book - you know, an actual class. Didn't get that. After I figured that out, and his style, I was ok with it. I did get enough of 'real world' info that it helped with concepts I was struggling with (like that whole darn ATP/CP/Glycogen/etc. conversion thingy... boggled the brain!)




The first day was all lecture, the 2nd day was the skills training and at the time I felt like I got more out of the skills part than anything. Good form is key to prevent injury and to get maximum benefits from the movements, and turns out I have decent form for my squats and lateral raises (whoo hoo!) and got to learn a few new ways to do some exercises.




I have to say, the man is amazing - he walks the walk. At age 60-something has twice the muscle I do, and still in single digit body fat% (or close to it). He's also got a phenomenal track record, both for himself and the athletes he trains.




Basically this guy knows his stuff, and has had a lot of success as a trainer for the full range of clients he's worked with... and I heard a LOT about it - his power lifting records, his martial arts/fighting titles, who he was training, etc.




Actually, I learned a LOT about the way he trains, his take on nutrition (got some good tips on supplements that I actually got to share with the supplement guy at Sunflower today. Go me! :), etc., yet found it ironic that he would say, "There's no one right way to do it," and would quickly poo-poo other ways of doing things... Basically it gave the overall impression that his was /more/ right than any other way.




To be honest, I left feeling less than confident (though talking with the gym manager was awesome!), and wondering if the workshop was really worth it (didn't help that I was hungry! hello! It's a workshop for people who understand the importance of/"prescribe" eating at regular intervals... so don't go 5 hours straight w/no break! Gah! ::breathing::)




All last week I felt like what he was telling us was really the /only/ way, so I'd better suck it up and learn his way. I mean, he has a proven track record, no?




But I didn't like or totally agree with his way... so I was conflicted.




I've had some distance (and food! LOL!) I can see that I really learned a lot. What it showed me is that he's done the background work, he's gone through the process to lay the foundation that supports his current success.




I'm guessing that what he's doing now took a lot of trial and error to get down, and it's working for him. He's confident that, if someone follows what he says nutritionally and physically, they'll get awesome results.




Thing is, you can find another trainer who will have a similar record with the athletes they train, or themselves, and they will have an entirely different approach.




This is what makes this field so confusing and wonderful at the same time! By working with people, experimenting with eating this, timing that suppliment, doing this set of exercises over that, *I* will find something that works for ME and MY clients.




I have the advantage now of glimpsing into someone elses bag of tricks, standing on the shoulders of giants in the industry, to see the mistakes they made and learn from them so I can create my /own/ bag of tricks.




Mwahahahaha...