Another New Member to the Strive Family

Justin

Today we welcome another new member to the ever growing Strive Training family. Justin is a 7th grade baseball, football, and basketball player (Gotta love young kids who don't specialize at an early age). Justin was referred to us by his baseball teammate and Strive member JD Vanover.

After just two days of working with Justin, it is clear he has some HUGE potential. He already has some pretty impressive lower body and core strength that puts to shame what even some high schoolers can do. Heck, today, in his first time performing planks, he held strong for an extremely impressive 1 minute and 31 seconds. To put that into perspective, with most first time clients I deal with, about 30 seconds is the max time they can perform. 

With Justin, I see a kid who will be turning some heads when he enters high school in the fall of 2012. I wouldn't be surprised to see him being one of the strongest and most powerful guys in the entire school.

No Nonsense Ability,

Kyle Bohannon, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Owner/Head Trainer

Strive Training

kyle@trainstrive.com

513-571-2950

New Members to the Strive Family!

Cole and Alex Vencill

I'd like to take the time to welcome Cole and Alex Vencill to the Strive family. The two are cousins who wrestle for Northridge High School in Dayton. These two know what it means to do what is necessary to elevate their performance. The drive for them is about an hour to come train at Strive, but that doesn't stop them. They want to be the absolute best that they can be, and nothing is going to stand in their way of achieving that. They possess THE attitude we want for anyone who comes and trains at Strive. Strive is a family and just like any other family, we want the best for every member and are dedicated to everyones success. If you come to train at Strive, we expect you to return that commitment to your trainer and other Strive family members. I know that Alex and Cole are those type of guys and I welcome them aboard. 

No Nonsense Dedication,

Kyle Bohannon, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Owner/Head Trainer

Strive Training

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

513-571-2950

Stop Wasting Your Money!

    Open any bodybuilding magazine and you will see it littered with page after page of supplement adds which claim to be on the cutting edge of giving you huge biceps and a thick chiseled chest. Heck, those adds usually out number the articles (which are absurd themselves). For many years I bought into the marketing hype. I truly believed that a certain supplement was what was holding me back from my goals. It was not uncommon for me to spend $200+ a month on supplements. This went on for about 4-5 years. For the sake of putting it into perspective, that would mean I spent somewhere around $9,600-$12,000 during that time. I'm not going to lie, when I punched the numbers in my calculator, I got sick to my stomach.  I often wonder how things would be now had I saved all of that money?

    I am here today to tell you not to buy into all of the marketing that is thrown at you everyday. Learn from my experience and save yourself the trouble and money. Most people don't even need any form of supplementation what-so-ever. Focusing on eating a lot of clean food and choosing raw whenever you can, is all you need to gain incredible amounts of strength and build an awe inspiring physique. 

    To go along with the financial side of my point-of-view is the health concern. The supplement industry is unregulated by the FDA. Here is an excerpt from the FDA website about the supplement regulation process:

"the dietary supplement manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market. Generally, manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA nor get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements.^* Manufacturers must make sure that product label information is truthful and not misleading."  http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplements/default.htm 12/16/10

    

    So all of the supplements out there are put on the market with ZERO inspection by any overseeing body. We are left at the mercy of the manufacture's goodwill and conscious. Needless to say, that is something I don't have much faith in. Are you OK with ingesting something that you are not exactly sure what exactly you are ingesting? I'm not!

    Sure I sometimes recommend supplements to some of my clients, but even then, I make sure they know that they are far from a necessity. Whole food is always the way to go. I have been training for a little over a year now with zero supplements and have had the best gains of my life. Take after me and stop wasting your money!

No Nonsense Conservatism,

Kyle Bohannon, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Owner/Head Trainer

Strive Training

kyle@trainstrive.com

513-571-2950

Denison University Strength and Conditoning Clinic

Denison University Weight Room

Yesterday, I had the chance to attend the 2011 Central Ohio Strength and Conditioning Seminar on the campus of Denison University put on by Head Strength Coach Mark Watts and his staff. Needless to say the whole event was fantastic and well done. I will definitely be attending in the coming years.  It was a full day packed with information and the chance to pick the brains of some of the presenters. I came back humbled by all that I had learned.

Presentations were given by Youngstown State's John Patrick and Willie Danzer, Joe Hashey of Synergy Athletics, Eastern Michigan's Head Strength Coach Blair Wagner, Jay Ashman of Invictus Strength and Conditioning, Tom Palumbo of Ohio State, Todd Hamer of Robert Morris, Travis Self from FITT Warehouse, Kate Rawlings of Coca Crossfit, and Mark Canella from Columbus Weightlifting. The Denison staff also gave a presentation as well as a tour of their facilities.

Youngstown State's presentation was phenomenal, showing a way to develop a program for in season football training that allows for the adjustment of an athlete's workload depending upon the amount they had played that week, and their goals.

I also really enjoyed Tom Palumbo's work delving into proper energy system development. This is a topic that I myself have been studying a lot lately, so it was a pleasure to hear his point of view. I also had the chance to talk more with him on the topic after the seminar, and appreciate him giving me his time to answer my questions.

Joe Hashey's presentation about different business tactics was of great help. I learned a great deal from him and am already working towards implementing some of his strategies into my plan.

Finally, I'd like to thank Travis Self for spending a good deal of time with me talking about youth training, the seminar, and the field of private training.

Once again, my experience at the seminar was a great one. I highly respect Mark Watts and his staff and will definitely be making the trip up there again next year

No Nonsense Continuing Education,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

Strive Training

kyle@trainstrive.com

513-571-2950

Limiting Innings for Youth Pitchers

Early specialization and overuse in youth athletes is a recipe for disaster. It will lead to injuries, ending athletic careers as well as causing burnout and peaking too soon. An example of this would be the kid who was throwing 80mph in 8th grade and was the most talented player in his area, but due to overuse and high demands, they are done with the sport by their junior/senior year of high school.

It is incredibly important for youth athletes to avoid specializing in a sport to soon. Kids 14 and under should be participating in a wide range of sports and physical activities, developing a large athletic foundation for future development. Upon entering high school, the athlete can begin to narrow their sport focus, allowing for further skill acquisition. However, they should not at this point devote all of their time to 1 sport. Continuing on with 2-3 sports should allow for sufficient time to develop the skills of those sports, while avoiding overworking the athlete to the point of physical and mental breakdown. Other physical activity is still highly encouraged.

I came across this article through a newsletter I subscribe to and I thought it was worthy of being brought to your attention. If you are a parent or coach of a youth baseball player, or a player yourself, the study cited in the article is a good source of information on the impacts of overuse. Even if baseball is not your sport, it should still teach you a very important message.

Too many pitches strike out youth athletes early, new 10 year study suggests

Kyle Bohannon, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Owner/Head Trainer

kyle@trainstrive.com

513-571-2950