DEAR COLLEGE BOYS, WILL YOU SHOW ME

Dear college boys,

I'm Gio and in 14 years I want to be just like you.

When you go to college....

Will you show me how to be the life of the party without drinking and smoking.

Will you show me how to get involved in service and not just sports.

Will you show me how to be true to myself and not conform to the majority. 

Will you show me how to make all kids feel welcome and not just the cool ones.

Will you show me how to work hard and take pride in learning and not just skip class because it's boring. 

Will you show me how to take advantage of opportunities and not throw them away because of stupidity. 

Will you show me how to be wise with my money and not blow it at bars. 

Will you show me how to treat women with respect even if disrespected, how to fill them with value when they don't feel that they have any, and protect and provide for them like you would expect for your sister and mother. 

Will you show me how to embrace and be proud of my faith even when tested and degraded.

Will you show me how to leave ready to make this world better then the way it was left for me. 

Please don't forget that even if you don't believe it, I'm watching and learning. 

The path can be changed if you're willing to man up and change it.

Be an example today.

It's an absolute game-changer for the next generation. 

It's not about me,
Gio (4 yrs old)

SHOULD ATHLETES CARB LOAD?

PRE-GAME PASTA NIGHTS PROBABLY AREN'T A GOOD IDEA ANYMORE.

I know it's an old-school train of thought, and we've all done it and probably still do it a little bit. But carb loading is a very misunderstood topic and we should probably not let our kids do what we did back in high school.  It's ok to eat a few extra carbs to replenish some glycogen stores, but doing it in the sense of what we typically imagine---gorging ourselves on extreme portions of spaghetti and garlic bread---probably isn't a good idea.

1. EATING A BUFFET OF PASTA THE NIGHT BEFORE COMPETITION ISN'T THE WAY TO GO.

For kids and adults, eating a boat load of carbs the night before an event really isn't going to do anything, other than make you feel heavy and uncomfortable the next morning.  Pre-game prep is more about what you do for days and weeks leading up to the event, not the day before. Listen to what the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA) says, "Good nutrition is training nutrition; it is about the food one eats day in and day out while preparing for competition day. Simply put, the adaptations that take place during training (and the food one eats during this time) are what lead to successful competition-day performance. One's only goal during a pre-competition meal is to not screw things up! (Dr. John Berardi, Foundations of Youth Conditioning)."

2. DON'T CHANGE YOUR EATING PLAN

Before a performance event, you don't want to change up your eating style. This is not the time to test out new things. The goal is actually to keep things the same so your stomach is not paying for it while competing. While intentions are good to get the "right" stuff in your body for a big day, ingesting what you're not used to may not sit well and could potentially hinder your performance.  If you think about it, most kids aren't eating properly to begin with anyways. So trying to add the good stuff in an attempt to boost performance and energy right before competition may disturb the gastrointestinal tract and cause stomach cramps and the urge to go number 2!  Athletes should stick to what they know won't cause these issues.

In summary, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

• Plan a proper eating plan for weeks leading up to an event.
• Maybe increase your carb intake a little bit during the week of, particularly before, during, and after workouts.
• Eat veggies and fruits at any meal and "other" carbs mostly after exercise.
• The pre-competition meal a few hours before should be a comfortable amount, and simply to provide energy for competition without risking discomfort or fatigue.
• Do not overeat and do not try anything new too close to competition.

It's not about me,
Coach Theo, IYCA YFS1, YSAS, YHSCS, YAAS

References: IYCA, Foundations of Youth Conditioning, Chapter 9.

HOW TO GET IN INCREDIBLE SHAPE, TRAIN SMARTER THEN HARDER

PRINCIPLE #1:THERE ARE MULTIPLE ASPECTS OF TRAINING.To master one thing may mean you sacrifice another.  For example you can be strong as heck, but not fit. (The person who can deadlift 500lbs but carries 30% body fat). You may look good but not be healthy. (The extreme bodybuilder who walks around with not enough fat). You can do a weight loss workout that detriments your performance. (Too many sets for calorie burn, leaving little to no energy to exert yourself at 100%).  *This doesn't have to happen though.

PRINCIPLE #2: YOU NEED A MIX OF EVERYTHING
There's strength, power, speed, endurance, weight strength, body weight strength, flexibility, etc. All interconnect and to be well rounded probably means to be great at many aspects rather than just specifying in one.

PRINCIPLE #3: KNOW WHY YOU'RE DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING
You need to know what your goals are and why you're training, to determine HOW YOU TRAIN. Do you want to be strong as heck? Then you probably shouldn't be doing 100 sets each wk to max reps on your curls for the girls. Do you want to increase your 5k speed? Then you probably don't want to run 7 milers 3x a week.  Do you want to lose weight? Then you probably shouldn't only power lift.  Do you want to be in ultimate shape and conditioning? Then In my opinion. you probably need a good mix of everything.

Analyzing your WHY will help you determine how you're spending your time training. That coolest new trendy DVD, or workout class, or gym down the street, may not be the right fit for you. 

It might be feel good....

It might be "hard"....

It might be what everyone else is doing....

But it may not be effective...for....you.

Be in tune to fine-tune your life.

It could be an absolute game-changer.

It's  not about me,
Coach Theo

Stephanie loses 30lbs, her game-changing transformation

Just this past December, Stephanie K. came walking through our gym doors.  She was a little nervous, somewhat uncertain as to what to expect, but totally geared up.  I could see it in her face that she was ready to go.  

Not even a few weeks later and I knew for sure she had the x-factor.  Attitude is everything and I quickly saw that she had the heart of a champion.

Here are three things that immediately stood out about Stephanie:

• She’s fun.
• She’s not afraid to try new things.
• She’s not afraid to get strong.

That’s why she’s running her first 5k this Friday at Smiles For Sophie in Avon Lake, Oh.  She set it as a goal about a month ago, pulled together a training program, and started logging in the miles.  

She’s also signed up for our upcoming HITMAN CHALLENGE on Aug. 16. Climbing monkey bars, 8ft walls, and pulling heavy sleds doesn’t seem to intimidate her a bit.  Oh yea, and she got her family to sign up too. 

This is when fitness becomes meaningful, when it becomes bigger than you.  Stephanie’s example is inspiring other people to make a change too. Her husband has lost 20lbs since he joined her journey.  She attributes her husband and kids as her main source of motivation. “My motivation is and always will be my family! I take care of me and then I can be a better wife and mom.”

We haven’t even got to the good stuff yet.  Stephanie has lost an incredible 30lbs to date. She has dropped 8 sizes.  And she’s still going!  “My newest motivation is getting stronger. I love feeling stronger! And I'm not done yet!!”

There’s no stopping this girl and I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes next.

WHAT DOES SHE SAY IS THE HARDEST PART

Stephanie agrees that the hardest part is nutrition. “Learning the good and the bad, when to eat things and when not to and trying to make the changes stick!”  

WHAT’S BEEN HER BIGGEST CHANGE

“My biggest change has to be exercise. In the past, I have exercised and enjoyed it but I always stopped when the girls were out of school for summer and I have never ever trained like we do. I have never used the equipment and have never pushed myself so hard. I've never seen changes like this before either.”

Let me point out that Steph has 4 children, ALL GIRLS by the way!!!  She finds a way to get it done.  

We love having her a part of the family. She has an amazing servant’s heart. She always willing to help with an event, she’s always welcoming and helpful to new members who walk into class for the first time, and she never hesitates to offer to hold our baby when we need help cleaning up after class or want to sit down to eat at the FMU cookout!  

She deserves to walk around with a new swag…..

And I love how she’s proud to support FMU apparel while she’s doing it.

Thanks for being you Stephanie K. You truly are an absolute game-changer.

It’s not about me,

Coach Theo

8 STEPS TO MAKE YOUR CHILD THE BEST ATHLETE

Summer Camps are here and I get to work with all kinds of kids again---all ages, all levels, general to athletic, girls and boys---it's the best time of year.  I also get to connect with many of their awesome parents too. As I spoke with some of them this past week, it reminded me it was about time to put out this blog.

We all know that some youth sports are starting to become absurd.  A lot is demanded of schedules, much is required of commitments, and striving to be the best is heightening the pressure on our kids. Are we doing more harm than good?

The best stance I can always take is the one I will take with my own children. Knowing what I know about training and the mindset and overall social development, there are certain boundaries and parameters I will put on their involvement with sports and other activities as they get older. I learned a lot of things the hard way, I see a lot of mistakes being made with my younger kids, and I hear a lot of horror stories from my older ones.  Burnout and injuries don't have to happen. Quitting doesn't have to either. Enjoyability and positive learning experiences can ALWAYS be a part of youth sports, and they SHOULD. That's when sports are intentional and meaningful and have a greater impact. When we teach our kids about things like hard work, team work, how to handle losses, and even better, how to bounce back from them and play better the next time, then we're creating true champions. When we focus too much on winning and trying to make them professional athletes at only 12 yrs old, and then make them feel terrible about themselves when they're not, then we're making a huge mistake and quite frankly, should be ashamed of ourselves.

HERE ARE 8 WAYS I PLAN TO MAKE MY CHILD(REN) AN AWESOME ATHLETE
(yes you're right, they may not even want to do sports, and that's ok.):

1. DO MULTIPLE SPORTS.
I want my kids to learn how to move well in multiple ways and movement patterns.  All around athleticism will come from participating in a range of activities, not just the same sport, all year, every year. Even if Gio wrestles like I did, I want him to learn how to jump properly like basketball players and enhance his foot and agility skills like soccer players. That's why we program the way we do at FMU. We have our kids do target practice even if they're a swimmer. We have them run through climbing obstacles even if they're a baseball player. Exposing them to other stimuli enhances coordination, connects the mind to the body, and helps learn better control over their limbs.

My plan is to get Gio into gymnastics to learn unreal body weight strength, flexibility, and control, then hopefully get him involved with wrestling and let him dabble into other sports of his choice. At the end of the day, I want him to be able to throw, kick, run, crawl, climb, sprint, swim, skip, you name it, before he even thinks about specializing into one sport. Let's wait until maybe college for that.


2. GET AWAY FROM THE GAME.
A big mistake I see is kids playing the same sport all year round.  I don't think I'll allow my kids to do that.  You all know what it's like when you retreat for a few days from the office---you come back better---more refreshed, more focused, with a better, more objective point of view of yourself and your performance.  There seems to be this fear that we're going to lose something if we pull our kids away for a few weeks from competition.  But in my opinion, when done right, getting away will only lead to gains.  We know we can't perform at 100% all the time.  It's good to walk away from the sport and focus on some good ole fashioned general strength and conditioning. One of the best things my athletes can do is take a few weeks to spend at FMU for the summer. They get to play, do obstacle courses, work on fundamental movement patterns and speed and agility skills and most importantly, HAVE FUN with no stress.

When I ran the Men's Health Urbanathlon last year, the winner absolutely crushed the competition.  I was 24th place and he smoked me by 15 minutes. After the race he talked with my friend who was the host of the event.  My friend asked what he did for training to become so fast and the guy said one of the best things he did was TAKE A BREAK.  He said he ran track and cross country through college and finally got burned out.  I believe he said he took YEARS off and when he finally came back to it, he was fresh, strong, injury free, and had a different perspective.

I'm not saying this happens all the time, but it's just a solid example that getting away can be good. It may just be a few weeks out of the year. Maybe it's a few months. It will look different for everyone. You'll have to test it out and find what works best for your kids.

3. PLAY.
However we can do it, we have to mix it in.  Free time. During practice. Inside. Outside. We can't neglect the power of old school games like tag, kickball, dodgeball, tug-of-war, capture the flag, the creative game that you made up with your friends with a stick and some rolled up tape. Sometimes during our youth workouts we just stand back and let the kids create.  Watching what they come up with is incredible. This is when they own it and stir up motivation inside that they may have not known existed.  My good friend D Jack says "you have to force kids to do fitness, you have to stop them from playing."  #boomshakalaka

4. REST.
Rest is where training becomes results. It's during the recovery phase that one recoups, re-energizes and rebuilds.  So that 70-day stint where we never took a day off from practice or meets probably wasn't a good idea.   Kids need rest. I know they have tons of energy and sometimes seem like they'll never stop moving, but they need to be encouraged to do so. For this, I always fall back on the fact that God commands it (#4: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.")  I'm guessing he knows what's good for us.

5. FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS.  
The message I will drill home to my kids is that "Sports are a part of your life, not your life."  So I have to set the tone as the parent around what I allow and don't allow each week, so they understand what this looks like as they grow up. For example, other than special circumstances, we can't do things every day of the week. We will need to pick at least one day where we do absolutely no sports or activities. Right now for us, our family days are Fridays and Sundays. Nothing can interfere. We just signed Gio up for T-Ball on Friday nights and had to really think hard if we should. We considered it a "special circumstance" because it's only a few weeks long.  So we went for it. But this is where many coaches and parents will get mad at me when Gio has to miss a game or practice.  Some things just have to take precedence though. Church and family are some of them.

6. CREATE EXPERIENCES, NOT JUST CHAMPIONSHIPS.
This goes back to really enjoying the process more than the outcome. You won today, awesome.  You lost today, awesome.  What are you going to learn from it? Either way it's going to build you up to be a better person.  Most of you would agree, we probably learn more from our defeats then we do our victories. So let's not miss the opportunities we can gain from reflecting on some powerful takeaways from the experience itself.

And no matter what, "I LOVE WATCHING YOU WHEN YOU...."  This is a phrase I stole from a research study that looked at what motivated kids to perform well. When they heard their parents say this, it positively reinforced a winning mindset.  I love watching you when you play, when you try, when you gave it your all, and most importantly when you had fun.  Make this a staple phrase in your language and it assures your child that you love them no matter what. Tell me that doesn't relieve some pressure.

7. EXPOSE THEM TO ALL LEVELS.
I think it's great to get your child around athletes of all levels. Not so much to train with, but just to be around and learn how they train, act, and carry themselves. It's good to see that even the best are just humans and face the same struggles and trials. When I was in high school I was so afraid of the big-whig wrestling schools. I thought their kids were robots or something. Then when I went to Cleveland State and wrestled with some of the best in the state and nation, I realized they put their pants on the same way I did.

I'll get Gio to watch college and professional athletes train and compete at a young age. I'll find some good role models that he can "follow."  I'll expose him to what it takes to get to the top, and let him decide if he even wants to.

8. ENGAGE THEM IN SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES.
You may not think this has anything to do with performance, but performance is all about the mindset. Getting kids involved in service opportunities is a great way for them to see the bigger picture and change their perspective.  And when you change their perspective, you change their game.  When you see another part of the world with hurting people, starving people, vulnerable people, you realize that "big game" is really not that big of a deal. In the grand scheme of things, even if you do become a professional athlete, there's a bigger mission for you to fulfill. So when the time comes to step up to the line, you get ready to fulfill your role, but because it's no longer your identity, you know you're not leaving defined by whether you win or lose. (does that even make sense?)  Talk about more pressure being relieved though. And from there, performance continues to sky-rocket.



Coaches have an amazing opportunity at their hands to craft and develop strong, wise, and wholesome human beings. To miss that point would be a great disservice to everyone in their care.

I just want to take this time to encourage parents to be careful about who your kids play for.  If the coach is one of those coaches that just misses the point, this could create a very negative experience for your child. Some can shake it off, some can't.  I have high school and collegiate athletes who's confidence was completely destroyed from negative coaches, and they left the sport(s) because of it.

I know it's hard, but just remember, just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean it's right. Just because our kids can do it doesn't mean they should.  If there's a better way, we need to find it.

You know I'm here to take a stand with you.

As always, this is all just my opinion. I'm not saying I'm right and I'm not saying I won't change my mind on some things.  I will continue the search to look out for what's best for my kids, and all kids that come under my guidance.

Because the bottom line is.....

It's not about me.

Never can be.  Never will be.

Coach Theo