Practice What You Preach
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Don’t talk about it, be about it. Words to live by at my gym and with the people around me. There is a trend with coaches or people in a position of power to give orders, to ask of athletes what they have never felt, nor understand. Why should an athlete listen to a fat and out of shape strength coach who can barely do a chin up himself or sprint a 200 meter without vommiting. Same goes for a head coach who never steps on the mats. Practice what you preach. If I can give any advice it would be that. Your athletes will respect you more if you get down and dirty and suffer with them. At least make the effort, even if you can’t jump as high, lift as much, or run as fast, make the effort! You will feel great about yourself without a doubt. I was lucky, I was a wrestler before I was a strength coach and my wrestling coach, Victor Zilberman, above all taught me discipline and hard work. I may not have been the most technical but I made up for it with heart and conditioning. I am still lucky enough to wrestle with the guys, spar from time to time, but most importantly, in my own gym, I can keep pace with my guys, suffer with them, and hopefully impress them from time to time. This is important for when I ask of them something, there is no questioning me and what I feel they need. Someone who I respect the sh*t out of is Greg Jackson. Not only is he a good friend but arguably the best head coach by far in the game. He just gets it. He gets down and dirty with his guys, spars, rolls, and even conditions with them. He is a genius for many reasons and he commands respect. Most importantly, he dosen’t talk about it…..he does it. Here is a clip of us at my gym in Montreal, where he suffers with the rest of my guys. In New Mexico, he uses the same principles, which we communicate daily with, and pushes the guys there to the limit. That’s why Jacksons by far has the best winning percentage of any team, bar none. Please go out and buy inside fitness magazine this month, it was an honour being on the cover, and hopefully recognizing my efforts in not only getting my guys in shape,but trying to stay there myself.
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