TEST IT
I had a peer who asked me a question
and then preempted my response.
“I already know what you’re going to say.
You’re just gonna say,
‘I don’t know.
Test it.’ ”
He was right.
That is my answer for damn near everything.
Test it.
You wouldn’t think that such a message would encounter so much resistance.
Almost inexplicably so.
It makes me think that perhaps the messenger
has gotten in the way of the message.
My father is a Christian minister.
One of his beliefs is that the reason Christianity spread as it did
was that the messenger was worthy of the message.
Without any humility let me tell you,
“I am NOT worthy of the message.”
I’m certain that not every part of my life is congruent with the philosophy of
“Test it.”
But I’m working on it.
I’m also certain that while I am not worthy of the message,
no messenger is.
But until
we have one messenger
that truly embodies the principles and practices of
“Results First” (which is what “Test It” is all about),
we’ll have to rely on multiple messengers
for the same message…
Because the messenger will ALWAYS get in the way of the message.
And that is why I’m writing this.
But before I can say what I want to say,
there are some things that I have to say.
This is going to be a long read.
Take your time.
No need to get it over with.
Just get it done right.
THE MOVEMENT
What is The Movement?
I don’t view The Movement as simply a fitness educational company.
If THE MOVEMENT’s prime precept is:
“test it”
then THE MOVEMENT is, at best,
just another experiment…
a social experiment.
I don’t think anyone:
any group of people, any government or any country
has constructed the perfect social order.
No one has augured the tenuous balance
between the rights of the individual with the rights of the group…
whether that be in relationship to
civil rights, economics or any context, really.
Every social order, every institution or bureaucracy has a structure
and most often that structure is hierarchical.
This is probably no accident.
We humans are social creatures that organize ourselves into tribes, into packs.
We have Alphas, Betas, Omegas and every shade in between.
This primal ordering has left us prone to follow one leader.
But this isn’t the whole story.
As we often do in THE MOVEMENT,
let’s look a little closer, a little smaller.
Physiologically, we have central controllers and local controllers
much as we have federal and local government.
It seems that which is closest,
that which has the most data,
has the best opportunity to make the right call.
Our physiology is a collection of cooperative parts
and each part has a say in its governance.
Command is dispersed.
The body doesn’t have one leader.
Nor should we.
I think most would agree that no single leader
is qualified to lead in all arenas.
And yet, how often do our institutions have one leader?
Those hierarchies fail.
There has to be a better way.
A better way that mirrors our own physiology,
both our internal and external ecologies.
THE MOVEMENT does not pattern itself after existing institutions.
It is something different.
It isn’t an inorganic hierarchy.
It is an experiment in leadership.
LEADERSHIP
The one area where you are by far the most qualified to lead is your body,
your “shit,” so to speak.
No one, but you, is qualified to run your body.
There are those who think that simply because
you are new to a task
you must be new to your body.
This is not the case.
Things go horribly wrong
when people follow things other than their body.
What we teach at THE MOVEMENT
is a simple approach to interpret the signals from your body,
or biofeedback, so that you can better run your own shit.
Through our experimentations,
we have found that when you correctly follow the signals from your body,
you can get measurably better in the gym, EVERY time.
In the fitness industry, this is a game changer.
While biofeedback, cybernetic periodization
and autoregulatory training have been experimented with for some time,
many never even considered that progress could be had
EVERY SINGLE TIME.
And if they did consider it, they did not
leave us a map.
Now there is one.
It seems that this phenomenon isn’t specific to the gym,
it appears that progress can,
in fact, be perpetual in any and all arenas.
This is good news.
Especially for someone like me.
I suffer from chronic pain.
CHRONIC PAIN
I “contracted” chronic pain because I followed something other than my body.
I ignored my body’s signals.
I have suffered for over 7 years now because of my mistake.
I hate when people pull this card
but it ain’t gonna stop me from pulling it…
“If you have not experienced chronic pain, you cannot imagine how bad it is.”
That’s no shit.
It’s so bad that I don’t think I have the words for it.
But I can tell you that I don’t think less of any person
who commits suicide because of it.
It’s evil.
So much of our morality and so much of our law is based on pain.
Pain is our compass, our touchstone…that we want to never feel.
If it causes pain, we consider it amoral, immoral or unlawful.
Not only do we consider it those things,
we call it EVIL.
PAIN = EVIL
Chronic Pain is a unknown torturer that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy….
and I can be a vindictive motherfucker.
This vindictive motherfucker
likes games of stakes.
I cannot stomach games without stakes.
There are some that would wager
that no stake is higher than the possibility of death.
I posit that there is at least one higher stake,
pain…
especially chronic pain.
In fitness, whether we practice it or instruct it,
we are playing a game of stakes.
There are things we can do
that can do the greatest good
and relieve pain…
and there are things we can do
that can do the worst evil
and create pain.
These are the stakes, people.
THE STAKES
I have paid for my game of stakes.
In fact, quite ignorantly, I have led people to practice things
that I now know
could put them into pain.
And so, I feel it is my duty to do my penance.
To correct my mistakes.
To alleviate suffering.
To resolve pain.
More importantly, to prevent it.
I believe it to be my moral imperative.
I believe that every fitness professional should know
about the principles, practice and protocol of perpetual progress.
Not that they should do it…
but that they should know about it.
When that is accomplished
this part of my work is done.
Until that part of the work is done,
it is my job to make sure that I don’t let this messenger
get too much in the way of the message.
It would be great if I believed that
to be the extent of my moral imperative.
But it isn’t.
I believe there were those around who thought
the course of action I took that put me in pain
was the wrong way to go.
But they didn’t make themselves known to me.
I don’t know if they even tried.
Their failure cost me.
Dearly.
I hope you cannot imagine.
Every time I want to equivocate
or be a bit more politically correct
I ask myself,
“Can I live with someone else enduring my fate because
I didn’t state my case plainly enough?”
If I can save others from my fate,
I find that to be a worthy use of my time.
That which comes after
is greater
than that which came before.
–fF
That belief is precious to me.
If I can leave things a little better than I found them,
I’ve done my part.
MY PART
My part includes not only promoting what does work
but also pointing out what doesn’t.
The stakes are too high not to.
But how I do it is just as important as me doing it.
In pop Christianity, there is talk of hating the sin and loving the sinner.
If I wanted to dress that up in a nicer suit, I would say:
Address principles and practices…
don’t attack people.
The problem is that principles and practices are very personal to people.
People often mistake them for their own personalities.
So we might not want to attack principles and practices either.
I don’t know the best way to accomplish this.
But I can see results.
Some things work.
Some things don’t.
WHAT WORKS
Marketing works.
Direct response marketing works.
It’s incredibly scientific and results first oriented.
I know some of you don’t like it.
I love it.
I love what works more than what you like.
That is my challenge to you, as well.
Love results more than what you like.
Align your psychology with your ecology, both internal and external.
The people who are interested in doing this are very desirable.
Anyone else – undesirable.
CONFLICT
Pointing out what works and what doesn’t has created conflict.
Conflict is inherently uncomfortable.
And EVERYONE has an opinion on conflict whether or not they have
expertise in the matter
or a stake in the game.
Conflict is painful.
While the crux of my work is to relieve pain,
pointing out what works and what doesn’t
can cause a fair bit of ass pain.
I’m not a fan of indiscriminate pain.
Nor do I have any compunctions doling out pain.
I’ve been accused of being a social darwinist.
You know, that might be fair…
if people only understood Darwin.
Part of our original business strategy
was to attract the desirables to our organization
and repulse those undesirables.
Kinda like my strategy with women.
DESIRABLES & UNDESIRABLES
Let’s apply the pain
of pointing out what does work
and the pain of pointing out what doesn’t work
to desirables and undesirables.
I don’t wanna hurt the desirables
and I don’t mind hurting the undesirables in the process.
Not all people have made themselves equal.
And don’t think for one second
that you don’t enjoy it when your “bad guy” is in pain.
There is plenty of research that says otherwise.
To the leaders of the undesirables,
I’m talking to you now.
You are the ones who know damn well what we do works;
you know it works….
and have acted so as to suppress the information.
If you have seen our results,
why aren’t you questioning your practices?
Why aren’t you pulling your products off the shelf?
Why aren’t you learning from us?
I find those who are unwilling to do what is better to be
despicable.
I find your existence to be reprehensible.
You are useless.
I will not stop until you stop hurting people.
I am not alone.
If I go away,
two more will take my place.
We will become a Hydra.
PAIN IS PAIN
That being said,
I don’t believe in bellicosity or belligerence for its own sake.
Unnecessary conflict turns off those who could be turned onto the message.
That is unacceptable.
That is not the result I want.
I believe in the maximal effective amount of pointing out what works
and the minimal effective amount of pointing out what doesn’t.
But make no mistake, both are necessary.
In what ratio?
I don’t know.
But I have suspicions.
No…
I have metrics.
COMPLAINTS
I have fielded concerns, complaints and otherwise
both from within and without our ranks
over the amount of negativity that has come from our camp.
In some ways that is a good thing.
If someone isn’t complaining
then we’re not actually changing shit.
Controversy sells…but not all controversy sells.
I’m only interested in the controversy
that makes people better,
takes people out of pain,
puts money in your pocket
and in my pocket.
How can you know if your degree of pointing out what is wrong…
is wrong?
Simple.
Has it taken someone out of pain?
Did it put muscle on their body?
Did it take fat off of their body?
Has it put money in your or my pocket?
Does it do it every time?
If not, here’s a novel idea:
Stop it.
Do what works instead.
You don’t need me to tell you what works.
Run the experiment.
Live with the results.
Learn to love results.
Change your actions.
Pain, affective, emotional and somatic,
is what I am trying to relieve and prevent.
If you are causing indiscriminate emotional pain,
how the fuck are you any better
than a trainer who puts who puts his client in pain?
How are you any less the problem?
How are you not my enemy?
There are only two certainties in life
but I’m only going tell you one of them.
That one is:
Don’t do that.
Don’t be that.
Be the fucking solution, instead.
So how can you know if pointing out what is right
is enough?
Again, simple.
Is anyone complaining?
If not, consider you’re not doing your part.
I’m. fucking. serious.
I believe if you know a better way
and you don’t share it,
You are a part of the problem.
I know it sounds a little evangelical
but there who have said it before me
quite a bit better.
“Evil persists when good men do nothing.”
–adapted
I disagree.
I call bullshit.
Complete fucking bullshit.
Good men don’t do nothing.
There is no such thing.
Useless men (and women) do nothing.
Good men do good works.
Good men do good shit.
How bout this?
Evil persists when nothing is done.
Pain persists when nothing is done.
Do something.
If you have a problem with me:
Come to me.
It’s not your right.
I believe it to be your responsibility.
We are on level ground.
Make the journey.
If you have a problem with someone else in the movement,
Go to them.
Make the journey.
You can come to me if you want
but you’ll have far better results going to them.
You don’t need my permission.
There is no one who you can ask permission of.
There.is.no.single.fucking.leader.
If you’re not the most qualified to lead,
that leaves you with one action.
Find that leader
and fucking follow.
When you want something to change,
then you are saying you are qualified to lead, right?
Excellent.
If you’re the most qualified to lead,
I’ll be the first in line to follow.
No shit.
If the world is to change,
it requires better leaders.
We have some work to do.
We must lead ourselves better.
We must lead others better.
Evil persists.
Pain persists.
What the fuck are you going to do about it?
Personal Records in the gym are an auspicious start…
but it ain’t enough.
YOUR WORK
Point out what works.
Point out what doesn’t.
Stand the fuck up.
Lead when it’s yours to lead,
Follow when its not.
Cooperate if possible.
Compete if necessary.
If you must compete,
you must win.
You will not like the alternative.
Get in or get the fuck out.
Not just THE MOVEMENT.
Life.
It’ll be so much better when you do.
For everybody.
If you disagree with this document,
now is the time to act,
citizen of THE MOVEMENT.
Come to me.
Leave a comment.
If you agree,
see YOUR WORK section above.
Be better.
You were built for it.
fF
{ 61 comments }
One of your best yet. Excellent.
“We’ll let history be the judge of that.”
—George W. Bush (adapted)
Many are called, few choose to listen. Even worse, some people who “experimented” did so with the belief that the testing would not work, and thus their skewed results are nothing more than a self fulfilling prophecy based of their assumption that the premises and the conclusion would be false.
Peter, there is nothing wrong with beginning an experiment with the idea that it will not work. The scientific process is one where you attempt to disprove a theory. When you are unable to do so, you have to conclude that for now your idea is right.
I have not communicated with anyone who said they tried it and it did not work. I have communicated with a few who said they would not try it because they “knew it would not work”
very different ideas there. Even my critics of Grip and Rip could not dispute the training side, so they took stance against the food testing. that was a one minute clip out of a 3 1/2 hour training DVD. That is also known as “bringing some weak shit” to the argument.
There are simply too many people making incredible progress for the continued argument of “that doesn’t work” so now it is shifting to weaker stances.
But besides all that, if anyone has a faster way for me to get better I am all fucking ears. So far no one has called me and said “Adam you need to try this because it will work better than testing”
No one. Not one person. So I am waiting if anyone has that, because I really love results.
i love skepticism. i was skeptical. not anymore. but, to what im referring, the test subject wanted it to fail and when movements didnt test well, the system was blamed and the remote possibility that it just wasnt right for the tester to do those movements.wasnt acknowleged. skepticism is doubt with an open mind. what i was referring to came across as going through the motions haphazardly. and then attacking testing food.
Peter,
I’m picking up what you’re laying down…
you are describing a poorly designed experiment.
Great article Frankie. Gonna have to read it more than once.
I have to disagree somewhat Adam. Your thoughts and beliefs can change the outcome of testing. I heard of a couple guys try the testing, not thinking it would work if not consciously then unconsciously, and not get accurate results from it. I can show how testing can be screwed up.
Logan,
somewhat true, can results be altered?
Lets look at this from a different perceptive.
What is the greatest value of the test? Finding the best testing movements, or finding things that can/will/are harming the user?
If i harm you, your test results will demonstrate a negative response. I show this with everyone who asks that very question. I will do a radial nerve pressure point and it will reduce ROM every single time. If we are using the dino it will result in a lower crush strength. If its a blink speed test, they get slower.
Is it true the thoughts/emotions can help with how well something tests? Absolutely. Will a happy thought save a dangerous drill? I have ran this experiment many times and the answer is no every time.
The true beauty is the fail safe.
BTW I am digging your manual.
I approach testing with an idea that this can be a dangerous movement, should I do it today?
It’s good to disagree, Logan.
But the only thing to disagree upon is experimental design.
This is just good. Too bad most people don’t even live on a results first basis.
What are you gonna do about that?
FF. That was refreshing. The greatest thing about The Movement that may be hard to grasp for some, is that there is no do this or do that protocol of what someone else says you should do, or try, but a concept, a key, a test of how to use what you already have and know to make you better. The Movement gives you ideas, it gives you feedback, it does not give you a set routine. It gives you the Big responsibility of leading yourself, of testing what you do and being in charge of your own results.
“You can’t handle the truth!” Jack Nicholson.
Being introduced to the movement was for me like looking into the arc of the covenant and seeing the truth. It was like finding a golden key to results and progress. Oh, and it just makes sense.
Glad you liked it, Ryan.
Looking forward to meeting you in person soon.
Great article Frankie and Ryan I absolutly agree with your words… when I talk to people about testing and they ask how should I do this and that the only answer I can provide is “test it”
I just feel at easy with my own training and progress knowing I only follow myself and do what I want to be better at, not what someone think´s is best for me…
This if anything is “reverse engineering”(where did I hear that?!?) what many (not all obviously)elite athletes do naturally.. learning how your own body works and adapting strategies from that knowledge….
I fucking hate that phrase. If you reverse engineer would a whole bunch of elite athletes do, at best you are left with an average of what is good for a bunch of other people. Holy shit is that a broken way to run your body.
What if a company reverse-engineered what 5-6 other successful companies were doing and that was their business plan? Would you predict success of failure?
We are FORWARD engineering what is best for US. Ask, test, results.
exactly David…. a whole lot of Sweden´s elite athletes are a broken bunch much of the time so that say´s plenty about how healthy it would be to follow them… IMO some people have it pretty natural to feel out what works for them and what breaks them without someone telling them anything(often these are the naturally athletic bunch) and other have no clue of how to move, set goals or anything and these are the ones that many times fall for ONE thing and follow that to the letter no matter what the results may be….
People need to question stuff more….
Few things.
QUESTIONS
What is the personal effect of hating something?
How does the effect change when it is expressed?
When is negativity appropriate?
When is it inappropriate?
OBSERVATIONS
I find reverse engineering to be useful as a starting point for testing
much as empirical evidence are the first tests for deriving anecdotal evidence.
Sometimes difficult to know what the “active ingredients” are in success…
but that is where testing comes into play.
I too think you can benefit by breaking down what the pro´s does and try to emulate it but it has to happen at your own pace and with the movements that test´s well for you and THAT may be a million miles away from what the guy you try to emulate did to get where he is at…
The hours I spent hitting the “still” button on the VHS going over and over MTB clips trying to figure out how they did it…. and after getting to a certain level everything just happened, progress came fast and that was when I was out playing, having fun and only doing what I felt like doing (“states before skills” wasn´t it?)… same with my training now thanks to testing things on my own…
Thank´s Frankie, Adam and everyone else in the Movement for leading the way….
Thanks, Fredrik.
Don’t listen to Grumpy Dave.
I love the term Reverse Engineering….
and Forward Engineering.
Both apropos in the process.
Epic post Frankie!
I am close to have been trying this a year now, thanks to Adam for those initial youtube videos that got me started on this path!
The deeper you go down the rabbit hole the more paths open up and better and more interesting possibilities arise. I started off with just testing my movements but slowly this has expanded to so many other areas, like my food and even questioning the use of my spare time more.
When you start to question more things you realise that there is so much room for improvement in your life, is watching TV an effective use of your time? RARELY, but sometimes yes! Is buying some gadget that you will throw in a drawer and not use after a month a good use of your money? Probably not, but maybe a new gadget for your gym will be!
I like to keep an open mind, there is no black and white, nothing is set in stone. I have tested lots of things that were supposed to be bad, and some weren’t, I have tested lots of things that were without a question good… some weren’t!
I spend a lot more time reading lately, I am open to relearning about things that time has forgot, things that have been brushed under a rug in favour of more mainstream things. I can test these things and if they work they go in my arsenal, if they don’t then I realise they got forgotten for a reason!
Question and test everything, don’t assume you know the answer before testing it. Also, always allow the possibility that what you think is perfect now is only the stepping stone to something better, always be open for change!
Thanks, Kris.
Stay test-y.
fF
Wow nice post frankie. This one you i will print out and put with the great others, to reread. The thing i love when i read your posts is that you can feel the passion in your words. It brings me back to the first cert, when you got very emotional at the end of it, thats real shit. I will always remember that.
The movement is a collection of great thinkers, that aren’t afraid to do the work. I might ask the people that people like you and adam for things to try or advice, but the difference between me and others, i am not asking for answers, just more questions to ask myself. I am very pround to be a part of the movement. Thank you for the post, frankie.
There will never be a lack of questions to ask Frank. Sometimes I get stumped too, I find that usually I have to take a few steps back and think about something like a child would or someone that had never done something before.
I find sometimes you have done something so much or been told this is how you do this, that you can forget to even question blatantly obvious things. That’s not to say that people haven’t given you good advice in the past and that everything you know is wrong, just that there is always a better way, eventually the perfect way FOR YOU.
I don’t believe there is ever an end to better, better every day is always possible with something, perpetual progress is the key, constantly striving for the best and most efficient way to become the best you possibly can be at everything you care about. Whether its lifting a heavy weight off the ground, becoming a grand master at chess, or making love to your partner… better every day I say!
Thanks, Frank.
I am passionate, bro.
No doubt.
We do have some great thinkers but
what I pride myself in
is being in a collective of great doers.
Count yourself among them, Coach.
Keep asking those better questions, brother.
I know a call to action when I read one. There is more to be done by all of us.
Yes, ma’am.
About a month ago I was sitting in front of some neurologists, feeling pretty nervous. We were talking about the conclusion on a 10 year Tourette’s study that I began in 2000. It ended with everyone else in the study worsening over the decade, except for myself and two others. I was the only one they would call a “true remitter,” meaning tic-free.
Still, I was nervous. I’d say something about biofeedback or something about how I view stress in the body based on what I’ve studied from Frankie, and they’d say, “Oh, so you’re talking about cyber-bio-whatsit-acity?”
Was I? I had no idea. But I realized that, as unnerving as it was, there was nothing to be worried about. Results first. I had tics before, now I don’t. I used to be weak, now I’m strong. I’m used to move horribly, now I was moving far better than anyone in the room. All I had to do was show up and nobody could dispute that what I was doing was working. Did I convince them all? Probably not. Not yet.
But standing up works. I find I’m much more effective in person so that is where I do the majority of my GM work, locally. In the past two weeks I have been invited to give a guest lecture up at the University of Utah where I’m going to get raked over the coals by a bunch of PhDs. I’m very excited because I have nothing to lose and it’s a great opportunity. On August 9 I’ll be out in Minneapolis speaking at a big symposium for children with mental health issues. Can’t wait for that one. It pays well, too.
This has worked because as I do things that are beneficial, the process speeds up. More PRS in the gym with testing, more money and opportunities with more publicity, more of everything with more action. But I talked to someone recently who said, “Well I can’t talk like Adam and Frankie so I guess I can’t do this.”
Well, I can’t talk like them either, and I wouldn’t want to. I don’t try. I want to talk like me. If I say anyone’s words but my own, or I try to act like anyone else but myself, it rings false. Meeting someone where they’re at in the gym, with their belief systems about raining, is no different than meeting someone where they’re at in the way they are most accustomed to as far as verbal interaction.
If I walked into the University of Utah neurology clinnic, snarling and scowling like Adam, I’d look silly and nobody would listen to me because that’s not me, it’s him, and it works for him. If I included words like “cybernetic periodization” in casual conversation like Frankie, I would sympathize with everyone that scratched their heads or rolled their eyes, because that’s not me, it’s him, and it works for him.
When I’m me, I get results when I take action. Because I care and people can tell that I care. All that any of us have to do is say what we know, in our own way, and become tangible proof that it works. There is stepping outside your comfort zone and there is setting yourself up to fail. If you try to parrot someone Else’s words or style without your own conviction behind it, people will smell it and you’ll deserve the lack of results. If you have a checklist of quotes from Frankie or Adam that you expect to convince people, that’s setting yourself up to fail.
But if you say what you know (and what he knows), in your own words, based on your own experiences, and you are obviously doing what you say, that person may be more attentive, particularly if you meet them where they are at in terms of how they expect to be communicated with. There is a very gentle, subtle way to get in someone’s face/head and encourage them to start asking questions.
As far as “if nobody’s complaining….” Last night we had dinner guests. One of them kept mentioning how badly her toe hurt. I opened my mouth and started yakking about movement. The other guests quickly got bored because they were not in pain and didn’t care.
When she left her toe was fine. It had hurt for a year.
What you do for the toe? Anything specific for the toe or just tested movement?
Excellent writing.
Excellent content.
Everyone reread
and apply.
Josh,
it might surprise you that I talk vastly differently with different people.
I have been called a monster
and the most christ-like person
in the same day.
Josh,
you are colorful
but I am the motherfucking rainbow.
fF
Frankie, it doesn’t surprise me at all. Just reaching a bit to make a point. All great communicators can switch dialects on the fly. DAvid foster Wallace wrote a great essasy about playground justice. He tells a story about striking out in a T ball game and getting beat up after yelling “how incalculably dreadful!”. He only spoke one dialect, which he leArned at home. He had no idea how to switch according to the group he was in.
Good stuff Josh. I hope I can hear about those speaking engagements – they sound like fun.
Good to see you popping in, Boris.
Thanks for sharing guys. Great post… that will be re-read.
and hopefully
re-act.
fF
Amazing post Frankie! Excellent thoughts!!
It is time to save the fitness world from the dark ages. People are being taught that their body is lying to them and not giving them accurate information. Utter crap. They are just asking the wrong questions.
Even at the current highest level of coaching, the program gets altered from day to day, minute to minute. Why are we to believe that what was written on a magical piece of paper 4 months ago is going to be valid today? It is not.
It is a true honor to be working for the Movement and with everyone there.
Like Adam, Frankie and the other Movement coaches here, I have seen this work time and time again like clockwork. I have NOT seen anything else work as well (and if I find it, I will be doing that then).
Nothing makes my day more than getting an email from a client stating that they are out of pain now, broke a huge PR, feel better, have more strength, more muscle, less fat in such a short period of time. They alway add “I thought this was crazy, but it worked” They took a risk and DID something. Kudos to them vs others that will argue with you for hours about something that can be tested in seconds.
The future is bright, but as you stated it will depend upon us to continue to do work. Many days I get pissed off that I am not doing enough because everywhere I look I see stupid crap for training. I can’t wait for the day that this IS the accepted way of training and anything else is just looked at as retarded. Getting results will be common place and not rare. People will look at you dumbfounded that in the past people went to the gym, worked hard and did NOT get results. That is the definition of insanity. Until then, much work is needed and I am up for the task. Who else is in?
Josh–watch out for those crazy PhDs—haahha. Try being an academic trying to explain it—many times you are instantly an outcast.
For those that are new to all of this and want to now how to test your exercises, it is very simple and just sign up below (shameless promotion I know, but we NEED to spread the good word) and I will send you a video explaining it.
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com/home.php
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Instantly an outcast, eh? I’m getting used to it. It’s not the worst thing in the world.
Mike,
You’re doin’ ur part.
You are an indispensable part of us.
Keep leading from the front, Doc.
fF
Thanks Frankie and much appreciated. Once I get the PhD monkey off my back for good, output is going to go through the roof. Whooo ha.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com/home.php
frankie
YOU BE WICKED SMART , holy shit that was awsome. Here ‘s my solution to anyone that does not think gym movement works get a pen a notebook a pair of balls, some street credit and watch the latest planet fitness commercial were so called fitness expert is given this big ass monster a guide through the gym showing him all the useless shit in the gym and the dude keeps saying “i pick stuff up and put it down” “i pick stuff up and put it down” and the fitness expert shows him the exit tells him its a room to stretch in. The fitness expert is built like a dandelion the other dude built like king kong , i say i test a movement pick stuff up move it fast when speed slows i put it down , you do not have to go to college to figure that out and all i get is results and no injuries, if you cannot find a movement that does not test well call me i will send you some of my ADHD so you can get some creativity , or better yet learn what frankies talking about do it for 6 months then try to go back to your old set rep % and movements and see if you can finish a workout it without getting hurt. right or wrong i do not care i just keeping killing shit thanks frankie
Mike,
Don’t tell anybody
but you’re my favorite.
I’ll be in contact soon.
Hope to see you in March, brother.
fF
Mike S,
Just wanted to send a shout out to you for the AMAZING changes you have made since I first met you. Truly insane in ALL areas. You are a man of action and will continue to be rewarded for your efforts.
Keep up the great work
rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com/home.php
Your best post so far IMHO, Frankie.
If a man believes in something for 100% without yielding or doubt, there’s no way to change his mind with. Some are beyond reason. I say screw them.
We can find answers on our own. Sometimes they’re right under our noses. A few months ago I was told to ask myself better questions regarding chronic pain. It applies to all problems in life!
Cheers, I will share this post.
-Tomas
Thanks, Tomas!
Frankie,
I haven’t posted on this blog for a while.
You’ve reminded me that I need to come back.
In fact, you’ve pointed out that it’s time to do something. Maybe there is something cowardly about KNOWING what works and not SHARING it.
HERE IS MY PROBLEM WITH THE MOVEMENT:
It’s still about money. You’ve got something to lose, Frankie, Adam. Fuck it, I’ve got something to lose. For christ’s sake, we could lose our JOBS!
Our livelihood. Better not tell anybody, at least not without making some money.
This is why the word is not out. This is why we have ‘enemies’. Because we’re still playing the money game. The movement looks like a big fucking marketing ploy. A product fan club. But here’s the thing, guys, I hate to break it to you, but: THERE IS NO PRODUCT.
The movement. Do you want it to be a bunch of people following the instructions you sold them?
I have a policy: if I can’t learn it for free, I’M NOT LEARNING IT.
Frankie, Adam, listen to me when I say: THE MONEY IS NOT WORTH IT.
If you really care about results, if you truly believe that we have something valuable here, something that works (and I do believe those things), GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE.
You really want to change something?
Don’t just talk different, BE DIFFERENT.
People will listen.
-Brad Johnson
I can point to three sources–not including ATG’s blog, anything written directly by fF, or Dave Dellanave–that could get you on the path to good results via your biofeedback. It’s about you looking.
Correct, and based on how many people are applying the info the current score is zero for the freemium approach. I seem to recall a series of youtube videos by a bald tattooed guy in 2009…oh wait that was me. Low conversation because people do not value anything you give away.
exactly. i tested my movements before i paid for phone calls. shit got real when i paid. professors get paid to teach academics. i get paid to teach music. adam gets paid to show you a better way. the bottom line is that tje best teachers get paid because theyvare giving info in the most concise way possible. hopefully at least. i feel good about learning how i can wreck shit in the gym. i learned this and my payment keeps adam alive to reach out to more people
See my email for details.
My comment was imperfectly thought out and imperfectly written.
It sounds much harsher than I intended and contains some very obvious misconceptions.
It should have instead pointed out my view that the ultimate value of gym movement precludes the idea of purchasing it. It involves asking and answering our own questions.
Adam, see my email response.
Brad,
I look forward to communicating with you directly.
Thanks for the comments and speaking your mind Brad.
I can second Adam’s comments that in exchange for your email address, I will give you a video for FREE that shows you exactly how to do testing for more muscle and strength at
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com/home.php
Unfortunately, I can tell that only a handful of people will ever do it. Those that do are action takers and I will give them virtual high fives.
If I put a price tag on it of $200 (which is easy to justify when you consider it can answer virtually ANY question regarding movement, heck I think it should be even higher), I can guarantee you that many more people would do it.
I am just as guilty of this as anyone else since I have quite a few books that I’ve purchased and not read yet (working on it).
The goal is to help as many people as possible and you still need to put results first.
Money is just a form of exchange. When I put out a product, I am taking YEARS of data and synthesizing it down to the few things that you need to focus on to start. Not to mention time, efforts and a crap ton of cash out of my own pocket to get the information (16+ years of college is not cheap).
Same for Frankie, Adam and others. I gladly pay for Adam’s grip products and his info since it saves me a huge amount of time by giving me a much better starting point to test from.
Hope that helps!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
I just love all the conversation this post has generated. Much needed conversation indeed. It has fired all of us up a bit and helped us re-evaluate our own viewpoints. Thanks for asking the questions that keep us all moving toward better.
Glad to have your contribution, Amy.
Mr. Faires, awesome read. I have read it last week, reviewed the comments, and re-read it this week before I’d comment myself.
It just occurred to me this morning, how much I JUDGE everything everybody else is doing in the gym. How they’re moving, the crap or not-crap they’re saying, .
Don’t get me wrong, I do focus on my own shit, but I’ve always been observant by nature and I can’t help but notice everything.
I think it occurred to me this clearly now, because there were two guys following a certain online coach’s workout videos, whom I think I recognized because I’ve followed them before (just for the sake of gossip, his name starts w/ V).
OK enough bullcrap, my point here is, frack, I’d like so much to tell them all how wrong they are. Even with my friends, it’s still a sensible subject. Actually not sensible, but people don’t take me seriously.
… OK I realize I need to dig that particular subject further in, and it should be a post in itself. I’ll get on to that.
Anyway, what my re-reading of this DOES make me realize is that I should stop freezing in my own steps and do more to get the word out. I’ve been postponing many of the steps I had in mind, for way too long.
Many of my friends or acquaintances come to me, proud look in the face, saying how they’ve completely blasted their quads or have back pains because they deadlifted. More and more I’m trying to spread the seeds with comments such as, “Try stopping before it hurts” or “Try variations and see what feels best for you”, but it’s obviously not enough.
I’ll share more as I think this through.
Again, awesome read.
Mat
Hi there Mat!
Thanks for posting the comments! Some days when I go to a more commercial gym (which is only about once per week since I normally train in my garage), it is hard to not think “wow, they could be doing so much better.”
Heck, I can apply the same thing to my own training looking back. I slap my forehead like Home Simpson and yell “Duhhhhhh!” “What was I thinking?”
“Was I even thinking?” So I am far from immune to it.
I used to try to explain to people from second one when they talked to me about their training about how wrong I thought all of it was.
In hindsight, I don’t think it was effective. If I am results based, how much was I actually helping them? Not much as they were in the gym doing the exact same thing. If I am truly committed to “results first” I had to admit to myself that I was not seeing any results from my method.
My entire goal now is to just get them to be a bit better (thanks Frankie and Adam).
If someone has never gone to the gym, better is just getting them to the gym; even if they do extremely crazy, stupid stuff there. Now that they go to the gym, maybe I can get them to stay off the darn BOSU ball for a one exercise. Perhaps I can get them to eventually test one exercise.
I always struggle and feel like I need to get them to something better faster, but I really just need them to be a bit better, day in and day out. Even if that includes doing other things that may not be best. Overall they are moving in the right direction, and that matters most. Results first.
I think I have a new blog post too! ha!
Thoughts?
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com/home.php
Hey Mike,
Thanks a bunch for your input, I see I’m not alone
Very true regarding looking back to our own training. But hey, it’s just a sign that we progressed and evolved!
As I read from you guys I get more and more hints on how to introduce people into getting better. So far the one person I’ve gotten the farthest into using the protocol is my girlfriend. I have yet to find a way to make her keep track of her stuff! At least she does write it down when I bring her a sheet
I’ll keep it in mind. Focus on results, so see that they at least get a bit better, one step at a time.
Cheers,
Mat
I may be striking when the iron has been cold for a while, but I’ll put in my piece here too, as my internet presence has been diminished lately by simply getting shit done. Which is good, because to me it seems like “getting shit done” is simply what The Movement is all about. Just getting it done better.
Frankie, your words are always inspiring. The great part is that, even when I can’t remember your phrasing, I see the spirit of your approach being used and integrated with my own actions and consequently my results multiply.
I agree that attacking people doesn’t work, the difficult part is finding the division between principles and practices and where the person defines their own ability to choose and plant yourself in between. I have an awesome testing ground for this, with a massively bro-science workout-pain-loving oriented workplace and people that are willing to listen to me talk my shit.
The whole thing is a giant experiment for me in what makes people listen and it’s a constant source of valueable feedback. Sometimes words will do it, sometimes deeds, but the fact is that spreading information is easy, making people listen can be the hard part. For instance, 99% of what I do, I feel like I got it from “Gym Movement Vol.1″. I personally feel like Grip And Rip 2.1. ended up being a bit of a waste of money for me. But the results of GNR’s release are undeniable: more people are testing; more people are acting; more people are getting results.
(Side note for Brad: even though GNR was the more expensive product, hmmmm… Lots of people believe that “anything free is probably worth what you paid for it”. Doesn’t make it true, just something to be taken into account when approaching people. I would happily train family members for free, but instead I take a nominal fee and we both walk away happier and more productive. Result.)
So far, strike rate for “100% conversion” to GM-style (un-authorised/certified) methods, for me, is very low. But even those that question my actions are starting to ask questions from “But how can you have got better from that?” to “Can you explain why you record your workout like that?” and “How do you mean ‘perfect form for me’?”
Someones first question is telling. People don’t want the answers to questions that they don’t want to ask. If you walk up to me in the street and tell me who won France’s federal election in 1962 I promise I’ll ignore you, so why wouldn’t our targets?
I am thinking about communication. I am thinking about better. I am thinking and I don’t think thought can exist without progression. The interesting point about meeting our clients where they are is how it relates to what Gary B. said “Start where you are”. (Gary, this simple phrase has helped me a lot since I read your mention of it, so, thank you, if you read this.) You can’t easily assess their mindset when you’re unaware of your own.
It amuses me how willing people are to follow, rather than lead themselves. I worried in the beginning that “if I taught GM principles well, to a client, they could just leave my training within weeks! That’s not a very good business model!” In all reality, that’s a minor issue, as most will never truly accept their own leadership so easily. True leaders will never be short on unquestioning followers, even if they desired it. I am sure many would still do whatever ATG told them to do, despite his speech to the contrary.
This isn’t my blog, just a comment, so I’d better can it before this gets too far. Better go act on something.
Thanks for the reality checks, Frankie and commenters.
Piers,
I like that. It makes sense that you can’t just push someone to improve if they’re not even asking questions themselves. I “already knew it”, but sometimes we want to share something so hard that we forget it. The best you can do is show how what you’re doing works right. Maybe someday the spark will come. Or they’ll keep thinking you’re one of a kind (which seems to be part of my situation).
Leaders vs followers: I know, right? And yet I wasn’t a natural leader at all, it’s something I learned and developed, one step at a time (and still learning). However it’s still something you can’t change in a matter of days.
To Better, always
Mat
Good stuff guys! I know I have talked with the Movement guys about this, but my goal is to make people better.
Unfortunately, for some, that is a better program to follow. As long as they KEEP moving towards better.
Frankie talks about velocity and vector.
In my experience, it appears to be easier to alter velocity than vector. But I am getting better at altering vector.
rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Mat and Piers,
Thanks for your comments.
Keep going.
fF
The things I’ve learned have changed my life. I’m still learning. I’ll never stop. Others have noticed how I’ve changed. They ask me questions. I do my very best to answer them. Not all of them are interested. Among those who are, a few stick around. It is very much like my job. (I work with people who struggle with substance abuse.) I don’t know why some persist and some don’t. I would very much like to know the answer to this question. In the meantime, I keep doing what I can. I’m quiet about it. Being loud didn’t work. Being quiet seems to work better, but still not great. I’m working on it. I’m trying things. It’s my life’s honor to help people. I love what we do, folks!