CUTTING EDGE FUNCTIONAL FITNESS March/April 2013
TRAINING THE BLUE JACKETS KEVIN COLLINS FEMALE FITNESS FEATURING MINDY FISK THOMAS AND CRYSTAL FEYH EXERCISE OF THE MONTH: TOE-TO-BAR
Fit Over 40
No longer is 40 considered over the hill. These eight industry professionals prove it. 11 AT
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FROM THE EDITOR Talking training philosophies with Blue Jackets strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins.
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Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Brian Saunders 614.599.0993 bsaunders@11athletics.com
Creative Director Jason Goggins jgoggins@11athletics.com
Editor Ellen Fishel
Start looking for a cure, not treating the symptoms. People all across the world are looking for ways to treat their symptoms. And by symptoms, I mean anything from lack of energy to depression. But the underlining factor is that people are always searching for something to improve their symptoms rather than cure their sickness. There are countless examples, but here’s one. I had a friend who had a serious bout of colitis. After reaching the point of not being able to live with the symptoms, he went to his physician. This particular physician prescribed some drugs that would treat the symptoms he was having. My friend simply asked, “will these particular drugs cure my colitis?” to which the physician responded, “no but they will give you relief from your symptoms.” Now you have to ask yourself — would you rather be cured or treated? In my friend’s case, he decided not to take the drugs and instead went for the cure. He learned about his condition and changed his diet to avoid things that caused the colitis. Now he is symptom free of colitis. He let his lifestyle heal him. He healed himself. There are many ways to cure you. In my opinion, it starts with developing a healthy lifestyle that strengthens your mind and body. A strong mind and a strong body will equal strong actions. Being that my best skill is teaching and guiding, I have a simple guide for you for you: 1)
Try to eliminate processed food. OK, I realize this is nearly impossible. But think about it this way. Every time you consume processed food you are not curing, you are treating a symptom. And in this case, it will eventually cause other, more severe symptoms. Natural foods heal or cure; processed foods treat. It’s as obvious as this choice: a jelly filled donut or an apple. Got it?
2)
Get involved with strength. The stronger you are, the easier life becomes. Strength comes from within and can evolve from all types of fitness. For example, check out our best of the best yoga instructors on page 30. These gurus preach strength and discipline. They can help treat your symptoms, but their true strength is helping you gain the strength and discipline to cure your ailments.
3) Be positive about your life. How many conversations in your day start off with something downbeat. If you surround yourself with negativity or negative thoughts, you will in turn expect bad things to happen.
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I get asked how I am or how am I doing at least 10 times every day. And 95 percent of the time I say I am great, the other 5 percent of the time I say I am good. During that 5 percent you can bet I feel like shit, but I know I will be feeling better soon, because I know the cure. The 11athlete is in you, act on it. Yours in fitness,
Brian Saunders
Contributing Photographers Kim Potterf Jeffrey Rycus
Contributors Amy Crandall Meredith L. Dotson Michael Hargrove David Ryan Lori Crock Keith Simon Joseph Jacko Cathy Tiffany Christine Hannon Holly Powell Mindy Fisk Thomas J.L. Holdsworth Lauren Updyke Mike Francois Yolanda Rooney Mark Watts Peter Le Nick Burke
Advertising Inquiries bsaunders@11athletics.com
11athletics Magazine P.O. Box 91332 Columbus, OH 43209
www.11athletics.com ©2013 by 11athletics, LLC. Reproduction of any content, in whole or in part, without written consent of publisher is strictly prohibited. “11athletics” is a registered Trademark of 11athletics, LLC and is published bi-monthly and distributed throughout Central Ohio. All rights reserved.
GET FUNCTIONAL 6 7 What is AcroYoga
8 Foam Rolling: Really Beneficial 9 D.A.D.D.S. Sports League 10 Fitness Unraveling The Truth About Running Stitches
Simple Steps For Those Who Think They Don’t Need a Trainer Moving Naturally
13 Exercise of the Month
Toe-To-Bar
15 Nutrition Quality Vs. Quantity (Paleo vs. Zone) 16 The Gift
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18 Testerone: Why It Is Important
20 Athletic and 40
Fit, Forty and Fatigued
22 Women’s Fitness Commentary Goals Must Change Over Time
24 Back in Black 26 Female Athlete of the Month
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Fit Mom
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Chelsea McAlexander
28 Finding Fitness Max Out Gym Downtown YMCA 30 Special Section Best Yogis in Columbus
FEATURE 34
34 Fit Over 40 No longer is 40 considered over the hill. These eight industry professionals prove it. ATHLETE ADVICE 38
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39 Warm-Up and Cool-Down for Athletic Success 40 Training the Blue Jackets 42 44 46 49
Sprint to the Finish The Power of Inner Resolve How Loose is Your Caboose Offseason Training for Football Part 1: Injury Prevention
52 5 GRIP Exercises Your Trainer Can’t Do 54 To WOD or Not to WOD
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55 Need a Change in Your Routine Run or walk the Capital City Half or Quarter Marathon on May 4! 56 The Scorcher
Raise Your Metabolic Activity to Maximize Your Fat Loss
58 Arnold Sports Festival 2013 Recap 11 AT
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GET FUNCTIONAL BIOMECHANICS
Foam Rolling: Really Beneficial? 11 ATHLETIC 11 athletics
Chances are anyone who has been in any gym in the past few years has noticed a crop of foam rollers creeping into one of the corners. These inexpensive, yet highly effective, pieces have been a staple in college weight rooms and sports medicine and physical therapy clinics for more than a decade. Foam rollers come in various densities, colors and lengths. Some even have fancy patterns molded on the foam to provide different pressures to tissue. Health and fitness experts have long known the benefits of foam rolling for physical therapy patients and elite athletes. But what about those new to exercise and fitness, weekend warriors and seasoned gym veterans? The truth is, foam rolling can be beneficial for everyone!
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Let’s take a look at the fundamentals of this technique. Foam rolling — or self myofascial release (SMR), as it’s known in the health care world — essentially has an effect on trigger points. Trigger points are a hypersensitive, hyperactive area in a muscle and come about from repetitive stress to the area. Think about all those upright rows
or shrugs, all those miles logged preparing for that half marathon or even just hovering over a keyboard at work everyday. These can all lead to trigger points. Although trigger points are a protective mechanism the body has to shield itself from cumulative injury, they can be quite painful at times and can limit available range of motion. One way to effectively deal with trigger points, aside from avoiding stress (which is nearly impossible these days), is to apply focused and intense direct pressure to the area. A manual therapist may be able to use his or her hands to create enough pressure to release tension, but most people don’t have a manual therapist they carry to the gym with them. Enter the foam roller. Using one’s own body weight, it’s possible to recreate that same kind of pressure to release tension. Eliminating trigger points and adhesions within the muscle allows for increased flexibility, in turn allowing for increased range of motion. Increased available motion at a joint equals higher quality movements during exercise, making the movement more effective. Allowing a greater range of pain-free motion also goes a long way in helping to prevent injury to an area, especially when dealing about moving weight. Essentially, a greater pain-free range of motion will allow better technique and form throughout the entire move, ensuring a safer workout. Many people wonder when the best time is to incorporate foam rolling into a warmup. While little concrete evidence exists for the ideal time to perform SMR, most professionals and clinicians include it as part of their warm-up prior to static stretching. Why is this? Through the application of sustained, direct pressure to a trigger point, the activity of that point can be lessened. While SMR does not lengthen muscles like static stretching does, it does help to decrease those hyperactive areas, which allows static stretching to be
more effective. In this case, think of your muscles kind of like pizza dough. Before the dough can be tossed to stretch it, it must be thinned out first. Generally 30 seconds of rolling is a sufficient time to sustain pressure. Anyone new to this may notice a sort of “hurts so good” feeling. For some this may become too intense. If so, start with 10 to 15 seconds and work up from there. Keeping with the dough analogy from above, the object is to literally roll the length of the target area. Here’s an example: One of the most common body parts to “roll” is the IT band. Anatomically speaking, the IT band runs from the upper lateral hip all the way to the lateral aspect of the knee. Keeping this in mind, don’t simply roll the middle part of this structure but rather the entire length, moving back and forth between both points. The same would hold true
After reviewing national and local data, it is has become apparent that obesity has become an epidemic among males, specifically those married who are or unmarried with parental responsibilities. Increased obesity levels have led to higher instances of diabetes, coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, stroke, hypertension and some forms of cancer (colorectal and kidney), which are also among the leading cause of death among men. Because fathers have such a profound effect on, and in most cases drive, the overall health of their families, D.A.D.D.S., Inc. and D.A.D.D.S. United, Inc. (a nonprofit corporation) are partnering to introduce the D.A.D.D.S. Sports League (DSL). The DSL is a health, wellness and fitness initiative whose goals are to: • Reduce overall obesity levels of dads and their children. • Substantially increase the health, wellness and fitness of dads and families in our communities. As a collective, we are waging war on fatherlessness caused by premature death from preventable diseases, adult and childhood obesity!
for a muscle group such as the hamstrings. Don’t just roll over the muscle belly. For maximum benefit, roll from the sit bones all the way to the posterior knee. Once foam rolling is completed, follow with a static stretch. Ideally, the warm-up would be rounded out with a few dynamic movements to prepare the body for more complex moves during a workout. As always, anyone who experiences chronic pain or is currently under a physician’s care should always check with their doctor first. Can foam rolling be beneficial? The answer is pretty simple: Foam rolling can help just about every active body. It offers benefits static stretching alone simply can’t touch. Contributed by Meredith L. Dotson, MEd, ATC, CES
The DSL was launched during the 2013 Arnold Fitness Expo with an informational booth and the introduction of the MVP (Most Valuable Parent) D.A.D.D.S. Sports League. During the expo, the DSL provided information to prospective participants and pre-registered men and children for the program. Basic health-related information was collected for each participant, such as current state of health and goals they hope to accomplish while participating in league play. We look forward to gaining support from the Central Ohio health community and spreading our league motto, “PROMOTING HEALTH, WELLNESS & FAMILY UNITY!” to D.A.D.D.S. and their families.
Contributed by Michael Hargrove, CEO of D.A.D.D.S. Sports League www.daddssportsleague.com
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exercise of the month Aging and Protein
Toe-To-Bar
Toe-to-bar is an exercise that requires an athlete to hang from a bar and lift his or her legs up so that the toes come to contact with the bar. There should be minimal swing involved. Optimally, legs should remain straight with no bend at the knee.
Hanging Wipers
Demonstrating the Toe-to-Bar is Jessica Clay from Crossfit Polaris.
A kipping method is also taught so athletes can perform more reps at a faster pace. But with strict form, the exercise is great for developing strength handstand walk in the quadriceps and hip flexors. Secondary movers include the abdominals and shoulders. The toe-tobar is also helpful for developing grip strength and static strength in the muscles of the upper back.
Physical performance deteriorates as people age, but protein supplements may combat such decline, a study from February’s issue of Diabetes Forecast found. Researchers enlisted 65 frail older people to consume either a beverage containing 15 grams of protein twice daily or a placebo drink without protein. By the end of the study, proteinpacked participants had faster walking speeds, better balance and a greater capacity to rise from a chair unassisted than those who consumed the zero-protein beverages. The scientists observed that muscle mass didn’t increase with the extra protein; they suspect the protein supplements may improve muscle quality, not size. 11athletics emphasizes that protein has many benefits in the body, and correct training protocols and dietary supplementation are important to meet specific goals.
Yoga for Pregnancy? The Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (February) placed 92 prenatally depressed pregnant women in randomly assigned groups. One group was assigned to a tai chi/yoga and another to a waitlist control group at an average of 22 weeks gestation. The tai chi/yoga group participated in a 20-minute group session per week for 12 weeks. At the end of the treatment period, the tai chi/yoga group had lower summary depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance scores. 11athletics emphasizes the importance of health and fitness, not only on the physical, but also the mental aspect of a healthy life.
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Best Yogis in Columbus 11 ATHLETIC
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Photos Š Kimberly Potterf Photography
Have you noticed that, one by one, people are catching the yoga bug? As I was driving down High Street in the Short North the other day, I had to smile as I noticed three people walking with Yoga mats. How many people have you met recently who are making time for this ancient discipline? Yoga is becoming an important part of people’s lives. Why, you may ask — isn’t it just stretching, a way to be fit or possibly get a sweat on? Yoga can be much more than just stretching and a physical workout. Just ask any avid yogi why he or she does it and he or she will tell you it makes them feel amazing inside and out. Yoga, when practiced with awareness of breath and correct body alignment – can connect the mind, body and soul. In fact, the word yoga means union or “to yoke.” I like to say it means relationship. As one practices yoga, there is a focus and observation on the relationship of the physical self in the present moment. In today’s high-tech society, there is a great need for this connection.
In the midst of city life, where can you find peace? Chanelle Redman, co-owner of replenish: the spa co-op, a yoga spa inspiring the Columbus community to live beautifully, consciously and locally, believes in order to create peace in a busy life you need to create space for a great release. This release is through breath, sweat and sound — an experience she delivers in her vinyasa styled classes that empower her students to choose their perfect balance between powerful movement and stillness. With an integrated training from Center for Mind-Body Medicine and Down Dog Yoga of Washington, D.C., and exhale’s Center for Sacred Movement of Los Angeles. Chanelle can create your personalized group to begin, deepen and transform your yoga practice to living a modern day yogic life. With online booking options and personalized classes for groups living with similar challenges (i.e. cancer, depression, busy moms, athletes), you get the class you need when you need it.
Chanelle Redman replenish: the spa co-op 382 E. Town Street 614.429.3165
Yoga allows the time and space to be with oneself with little distraction, to be on the mat for an hour or more just for you. When we take this pause to take care of ourselves, it allows us greater clarity, compassion and self-acceptance. Oh yes, and the physical benefits are awesome too! Personally, I have chosen to make yoga my life’s work. However, I don’t just do it by teaching on our daily schedule or in our teacher training program. I make yoga my life’s work by creating a sanctuary for local yoga teachers and students to teach and practice. With more than 30 teachers at Yoga on High, we work at raising awareness about the benefits of yoga in the community on all levels. We emphasize that yoga is for everyone. A few of the benefits to yoga include fitness, wellbeing, stress-reduction, self-awareness and acceptance, discipline, community and a good dose of fun! Not to mention, yoga is an excellent complement to all other physical activities. It seems to balance out running, CrossFit, weights and competitive game sports. In fact, it is an important part of many elite athletes’ conditioning strategies. There is no doubt there is something special about yoga. The Columbus yoga community supports this message with some great local studios and teachers. It is my pleasure to introduce some of the best of Columbus. Thanks for carrying on the tradition and helping people feel good inside and out!
Jasmine Astra-elle Grace is a dedicated yogi, CEO and one of the owners of Yoga on High. 31 11 AT
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The word “yoga” in Sanskrit means union. It’s just that simple and profound. My goal as a yoga teacher is to unite a community in a positive and mindful way. As you develop your practice, you will learn the importance of balancing challenge with submission. I encourage everyone to hold poses and take a challenge when we may have otherwise backed off. At the same time, I am there to make sure everyone knows they can take a break when they need one. I remind you that your practice reflects the way you are in life, and just like when you want to run away from a difficult situation, you can instead take a deep breath and persevere. The incorporation of music adds depth and a fresh approach to the ancient practice. The beat guides the breath, while you guide your movement. Once you develop your practice, not only will your physical strength, balance and focus improve, you will learn that yoga is a lifestyle, and the asana (physical practice) is just the icing on the cake.
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Josie Schweitzer, Thank Yoga 29 E. Fifth Ave., Ste 100, Columbus, Ohio 43201 614-551-8903
Yoga thrills me. It permeates all thoughts, actions and words. When I’m teaching, I feel my most creative, inspired and observant self. When I go into a class thinking I want or will get something specific, sometimes it turns out to be entirely different. That’s an opportunity to check attachments and expectations. It’s an opportunity to be free, something I value more than anything. Yoga is like dancing. There’s choreography, rhythm, flow and connectedness. It’s a relationship, and every time I come to my mat either as a teacher or a student, I wind up being both. My hope is to guide, not dictate. One of my favorite quotes is “Comparison is the thief of joy.” When I’m able to practice this, and encourage others to do the same, I’m really living yoga.
Lara Falberg, E-RYT lara.falberg@gmail.com
A dedicated student of Ashtanga, Bikram and Vinyasa techniques, Julie Verhoff Pipes developed a flowing and athletic form of yoga. Her unique and energetic approach has made her one of the most sought-after instructors. She challenges students to find their personal edge in a warm and welcoming environment. Julie teaches at V Power Yoga along with eight of her closest friends. V Power Yoga, located in downtown Columbus near Ballet Met, specializes in Vinyasa, or power, yoga. This athletic system incorporates sun salutations, lunges, arm balances and twists to challenge the body and mind. Julie’s newest creation, Namastrong, is a blend of yoga flow and weights. Designed to sculpt the body while challenging cardiovascular fitness, Namastrong is the perfect complement to a power yoga practice. In addition to teaching Namastrong classes at V Power Yoga, Julie is releasing a DVD box set soon.
Julie Verhoff Pipes, BA Director/Founder, V Power Yoga
I believe this yoga is for everyone. Although Ashtanga is a set series of poses, it can be tailored to fit each individual’s needs. I encourage others to find a practice they can commit to and make a part of their daily routine. Yoga is for transformation, it’s not just about the physical postures. It’s about acceptance and learning how to focus the mind. With dedication, change begins to occur - physically, mentally and spiritually. It’s important to find a teacher who inspires you. Each day, I show up to my mat and don’t hold anything back. I am amazed how my practice continues to teach me so much about life. I feel empowered and have come to realize that nothing is impossible. As my body became less rigid, so did my mind. I learned to stay present, not take myself so seriously and to just enjoy life. I found that happiness comes from within and is a choice I make every day.
Chan’s approach to each of her yoga classes is a practice of coming home and reuniting with the one infinite source: love. Her intention of each class is to guide students toward personal transformation. Through breathing technique, her students learn to find calmness in their minds, to strengthen the body-mind-soul connection and to experience a new sense of being and completeness. Chan encourages everyone to begin their yoga practice wherever they are. She believes flexibility is a side effect of yoga — advanced postures are what happen when you are busy transforming yourself. She reminds her students, it is not about getting into the pose, but who you are when you get there. Are you still angry, unkind or unloving to others? Is there anyone in your life you have not forgiven? She believes if you think yoga will change your life or wish to change your life, start by changing what’s inside. If you want to attract love or joy in your life, be one.
Chan Hemintranot Owner, PAI Yoga and Fitness
Taylor Hunt, Yoga on High Mid/West Fresh Foods (614)915-7386
“I teach people how to transform their energy, not just do yoga. I created L-Yoga Flow to help people to feel good any time, any place by shifting their perception from what they are feeling to what they want to feel. For instance, breathing in confidence, or breathing in peace if that’s what you need most in that moment. These words, or any words, contain vibrations, and if you focus on them enough that’s what you will feel. It’s about connecting people to their own inner power. It’s a simple but powerful tool to use. It’s like your own secret, knowing you have the power to give yourself what you need rather than looking for it in a person or a thing or a vice. I couldn’t imagine life without yoga. Yoga is the breath and it gives you the grace to handle the stresses of life that we all have.”
Natalie Kristine, Creator of L-Yoga Flow 927 E. Johnstown Rd. 614.915.7684 www.lyogaflow.com 33 33 11 A
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ATHLETE ADVICE
Training the Blue Jackets 11 ATHLETIC 11 athletics
An injury in college changed Kevin Collins’ life. During the rehab of his injury as a hockey player at SUNY Brockport, he realized the huge role that strength and conditioning played on his health. At this point, the business major decided to switch paths and study exercise physiology. As luck would have it, the head strength and conditioning coach from the Buffalo Sabres called Kevin’s advisor at Brockport and asked if he had any exercise physiology majors who were interested in hockey. It was a perfect fit that led Kevin to where he is now, the head strength and conditioning coach for our Columbus Blue Jackets. 11athletics is proud to have Kevin’s thoughts on strength and conditioning. 11athletics: Why is training for hockey different than preparing athletes for other sports? Kevin Collins: The first thing with hockey is that you have to be able to skate. It is a different movement than traditional running or sprinting. In comparison to sprinting, the leg movement or pattern with hockey is more open or out to the side. If you break the movement down you can see that skating is a lot of single-leg, independent movement and cutting. In this case, a number of training protocols or basic strength exercises apply, but there is a more focused emphasis on managing the groin and hip flexors than traditional sports. 11: Talk about common injuries in hockey and how you work to prevent those injuries. KC: The main injuries we see in relation to the upper body are shoulder injuries. With the lower body we primarily see hip flexor and groin injuries. These soft tissue type injuries are my primary responsibility to prevent or reduce the likelihood and/or severity. The biggest thing I try to focus on is improving tissue quality. Every practice day we do foam
rolling, mixed in at times with a softball to reach certain areas that a foam roller cannot. After soft tissue work, we do what I consider active stretching. I would not call it dynamic because I like my athletes to stay in the same area and focus on one specific muscle group rather than a combination. Next we will add in PNF stretching with bands. To finish we do some light bounding like side-to-side hops or jumping jacks. Another big factor in injury prevention is hydration. If a muscle is saturated with water, there is a less likelihood for it to become strained. So therefore, we weigh in and weigh out every day. It is important to keep track of these number,s especially with the condensed season. If I notice a significant change on one of the players, I know it is time to step in and supplement or hydrate. 11: Talk about how offseason training increases the effectiveness of your athletes on the ice. KC: Any time you get a chance to make an athlete more athletic you are going to improve
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Kevin works with injured players every day in a variety of ways. Here he puts John Moore through some soft tissue exercises, and he skates with (left) Cam Atkinson and Adrian Aucoin during an active recovery skate.
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performance. What I mean by that is helping athletes gain better body control or awareness through improved strength, flexibility and balance. With professional athletes it really depends on where they are in their career. For example, some athletes you are aiding at maintaining their strength and power output, while with younger athletes you can increase their power output and strength. So there are obviously different scenarios, but if you look at the premium hockey stars, guys like Stamkos and Crosby, you know that they are beasts in the weight room, and it shows on the ice. There is certainly a premium now on offseason training. 11: Is there any type of cross training you recommend for your athletes? KC: Absolutely. I might be a little bit more biased to running over biking because of the fact that it opens up the hip flexors more. With running, compared to biking, the gait is more similar to a hockey stride as well, so the opportunity is there for more hip extension. At the same time, I do use some conditioning and warm-up protocols with the bike because of the lower impact on the joints. 11: Is there any type of strength methodology you prescribe to? KC: I do not follow one certain method. I do borrow from a lot of methods that I feel make sense for our hockey players. My offseason program goes in four-week blocks or phases. One week is lower intensity, lower volume and from there the intensity and volume increases. We have weeks where we deload. The application depends on the progression, so if you looked at it on paper the intensity and volume throughout the weeks would be similar to a wave. 11: Do you train certain positions specifically, or is it based more on the categories of players? KC: Most skaters I keep with the same training format. That can obviously change with limitations or injuries. Goalies would be different. I believe that goalies need strength, but they are actually more aerobic than skaters. If you put a heart rate monitor on a goalie, you would note that their heart rate stays elevated at a more aerobic pace than general skaters. So we focus more on the volume of conditioning than the volume of strength with the goalies. 11: What do you think are the most important lifts for developing the power output athletes need? KC: I do use some Olympic lifts to increase production. But I use them on a limited basis. For instance, I use them twice a week, but never more than one on a particular day. I am not training Olympic athletes, so I believe that their value stops there. They are great for power
enhancement, but I prefer to use other lifts to develop strength and use other methods to increase power. For instance, I like complex training (an example would be a squat to a box jump). With complex training, I like single-leg movements the best, so therefore I would put my athletes into a heavy split squat and then add in lunge jumps. 11: What is the core goal of the conditioning program? KC: The primary goal is to increase anaerobic capacity. Basically, making them perform at the highest level or intensity they can for a certain amount of time, rest and then repeat again at that same level. We do a lot of high-intensity interval training to prepare for this type of gameplay. It is a tricky system, because the anaerobic system needs the aerobic system to recover properly. So I combine the two training protocols and also focus on training them independently. I use a lot of different lifts and exercises in these mini circuits. 11: What do you consider the most integral part of training: strength, balance or speed? KC: I would say strength. Without strength, you cannot develop the other two factors correctly or optimally. As you develop strength you are naturally going to develop balance, and as you develop strength you are going to be able to produce more force so you can then move faster. So the basis is strength first and then everything else follows suit. 11: Talk about how you train the core with your athletes. KC: We don’t do crunches or any type of crunch type movement. We do a lot of core stabilization exercises. I do not prescribe by a lot of the commercial core training you see on TV. It is exercises that resist rotation, flexion or extension. 11: Talk about the importance of diet with your athletes. KC: I monitor body composition monthly. If one of my athletes has too much fat composition or too little I will make adjustments to his diet. I am also in charge of putting together lunches after practice; I also work with our flight attendants on post games meals. Basically all the food, snacks, whatever that comes into our locker room or our planes I am responsible for. We also have breakfast here on game days that I am in charge of planning. Most of the meals plans are specific to the particular athlete’s body composition or body weight measurements. If a particular athlete is having issues with weight or composition, then I have them keep a food log to examine the diet more specifically.
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ATHLETE ADVICE
The Power of Inner Resolve 11 ATHLETIC 11 athletics
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I’ll tell you right off the bat, if I put stock in the numerous individuals who doubted my chances of having any success in the sport of bodybuilding, I may have given up in the very beginning. There were those who said, “he’ll never win a local show.” I did. “Well, OK, but he’ll never win Mr. Ohio.” I did. “Yeah, he won the Ohio, but he has no chance at the national level.” I won the National Championships. “Alright, he may have turned pro, but there is no way he can compete with the other pros.” I won my first four professional shows. I say all of this neither to be egotistical nor to gain your praise. I merely want to stress the importance of believing in yourself and not letting others — especially strangers — define who you are or set the limits on your accomplishments. What really matters is your desire to be the best you can be and to have the inner resolve to make it happen. What exactly is inner resolve? The definition can be very different for all of us. To me, it means dedication, self-reliance and an unrelenting desire to achieve my goals. It means doing that one extra rep and not
taking shortcuts. It means sacrifice. I believe that we truly don’t know our own limits until we have pushed ourselves to our personal breaking point. Having self-doubt or listening to your naysayers will not help you reach your goals, but will only create obstacles. Don’t get caught up in what others are saying. Bodybuilding, after all, is one of the ultimate individual sports. Yes, you need a good support system, and I was blessed with a great one. But in the end, you are the one in the gym training, you are the one on the treadmill at 6 a.m. and you are the one counting calories all day, every day. With all these daily sacrifices, you truly have no other option but to believe in yourself, right? Lastly, I want to share with you a story from early on in my bodybuilding career. Shortly after I won the Mr. Ohio in 1990, I was in the guest hotel at the Arnold Classic in Columbus. At this point I could only dream of one day competing in the Arnold Classic. I was there
with a friend and we ran into two other guys, one who I recognized as a national-level competitor who had appeared on several magazine covers and supplement ads. My friend introduced me to him by saying, “this is Mike Francois, he just won the Mr. Ohio.” At that point this guy turned to his friend and said, “The Ohio …. wasn’t I supposed to make a guest appearance there?” Throughout our brief conversation, it was apparent to all those present that his goal was to “big league” me, as they say — to remind me he was a pro, and I wasn’t.. That was fine. I just smiled, said it was nice meeting him and moved on — with a strengthened inner resolve. We all have certain things that motivate us, things that will make us train harder, train smarter and stay focused. I chose to take negative or critical comments and turn them into positive energy. I never let the doubters affect me. If you do that, then they truly have control of you. Their naysaying will be reflected in your efforts. In 1993, I was blessed to win the National Championship, and a small part of me owes my success to that bodybuilder I met in 1990. In hindsight, I guess I should have thanked him that day — he was in my weight class when I was announced the national champion! As a famous 12th century monk once said, “It’s the heart that matters.” This couldn’t be more true — whether in the context of sports or life. Contributed by Mike Francois
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11athletics was all over the 2013 Arnold Sports Festival. We saw some incredible competitions, fantastic athletes, and met some great people. We even crowned a few 11athletes along the way!
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