First, if you are looking for the latest tips on burning fat, getting stronger, running faster or diet-of-the-week, you can close this page now.  If you are looking for a political post, this is kinda, sorta, maybe for you.  Read on to see why…

The PHIT (Physical Health Investment Today) Act has been in limbo since 2006, when it was first presented to Congress.  It was designed for the general public to save 20-30% on the costs associated with physical activity, such as exercise classes, memberships, personal training, sports dues and fees, etc. No longer would cost be (such) a prohibitive factor for individuals and families to get healthy.

The PHIT Act would make this a reality by allowing people to use existing pretax health savings accounts (HSAs are medical savings accounts available to U.S. citizens enrolled in a high-deductible health plan) and flexible savings accounts (FSAs are funds set aside for certain healthcare costs that are not taxed) for fitness and sports related expenses.  These funds are typically used for medical expenses; PHIT aims to use those funds for prevention and proactive expenses.  If passed, the bill would allow individuals
up to $1000 annually to be set aside for physical activity and fitness expenses.

It has been a slow climb in the last decade but the newly elected administration may finally be the break that is needed for its passage.  The Trump regime seek to improve the Affordable Care Act (via modifying, or repealing/replacing it), opening the door for expanded use of HSAs. Democrats generally don’t favor the use of HSAs or FLAs.  However, this bill has generally been a bipartisan topic with roughly equal members sponsoring its approval.

Stay tuned to see how this will play out.  You may not like the new President but he may directly affect how fitness and health outcomes are being paid.

It seems a lot of people are glad that 2016 is over.  The ASF Coaches felt that 2016 was one of their best years ever.  Hope you enjoy this abridged summary from each of them….

From Coach Macdonald –

• Relationships, Relationships, Relationships~

  2016 was the year that building relationships reached an apex.  This is what I value the most about my profession. Do I love being in a position to help people achieve their performance and fitness goals? Absolutely, it was my driving force to pursue this profession in the first place, but over the years, it has been the amazing relationships I’ve formed with our athletes and adults that keep my passion growing for what I do as a coach.
  

  Saying I truly appreciate all of the awesome relationships would be the understatement of the century for me. They have made me a better coach and person, giving me more motivation every day to come in and do what I love.

• Cookie cutter programs/diets simply DO NOT EXIST~

  The more I learn, the more I realize that the “one-size-fits-all” theory has no place in our world of fitness and nutrition. Everyone’s body reacts differently to certain stimuli when it comes to fitness or nutrition. For example, John and Carl may have the exact same body type when looking at them, but John may put on 15 pounds of fat when he is on a high carb diet, where Carl puts on 10 pounds of muscle when on the same diet. Their bodies absorb and process the change differently.

  The same applies to fitness. John may look and feel better while on a circuit based “bootcamp” program, while Carl sees no change when performing the same program assuming all other factors are the same such as nutrition, sleep, stress, etc.

• What selflessness really means~

  My wife and I just had our two year anniversary back in October, and I am just now truly understanding what it means to love someone. She has shown me what selfless love means which she has shown me unconditionally since we met. Selfless love, by definition, means “to love regardless of your personal needs. You love whole heartedly without loving yourself, without any personal gain. It is the opposite of selfish love. It means loving without any attachment to an expectation in return. It means whatever you do you do it from your heart.” I ask myself daily, “What did I do to deserve this incredible human being?”

  If you know me at all, you know I’m not all into this fluffy lovey-dovey talk, so this is foreign territory for me, but I love and appreciate my wife very much. My point in bringing this up is she has made me a better person and coach by showing me what it really means to be selfless. This has drastically helped me in my coaching because I realize why I coach. I expect no personal gain from it, my personal needs are set aside. I coach because I truly want the people I work with to succeed, whether that be to improve their performance on the field, reach fitness goals, or more importantly, improve their quality of life. That…..is from the heart.

From Coach Platt – 

The beginning of a new year is always a great time for reflection. As I sit here and review the progress I made in 2016 I can’t help but smile and be grateful for the crazy journey it ended up becoming. The previous year was full of ups and downs but I managed to come out stronger and more prepared moving forward.

The experiences I have had at ASF continue to play a large role in shaping the evolution of who I am. The relationships I have formed not only with Brian, Tony and Becky, but with all of you who call ASF home have been instrumental in my growth.

I would like to personally thank all of you for opening your lives and allowing me to be a part of your journey. I wouldn’t be who I am today nor would my journey be nearly as exciting without all of you being a part of it.

Some of the more memorable parts of my 2016 were:

• The biggest event of 2016 for me was getting engaged to the love of my life and my best friend. Kristen has been my rock for over six years now and I can’t imagine where I would be without her.

• I had the opportunity to travel with great friends this year and share a few unforgettable experiences with them. I managed to eat my way through Boston and seeing Brittany Spears live in Vegas satisfied a lifelong dream of mine.

• My family took our annual trip to Isle of Palms, South Carolina over the summer. I absolutely love spending time with family and there is no better place to do it than there.

• The book Start With Why was a gamechanger for me, both personally and professionally. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you get a copy.

• I bought my first car this year. I was spoiled growing up when my parents bought a car and let me drive it. I’m more thankful to them for that now, especially knowing how awful car payments and insurance are. Adult-ing seriously sucks.

• From a professional standpoint, I have grown more in the past year than I ever thought possible. I owe a lot of that to you guys for being awesome. My personal and professional development over the past year makes me excited for what is to come in the next one!

From Coach Poggiali

• The biggest part of 2016 for me was how social media has changed, and taken over, the world.  Just like any new technology, it can be used for good or for bad.  The irony of it all is in the name itself – social media.  While it may be due to my age, there is nothing social about posting pictures, updates, videos, etc.  It seems to take the human element out of the equation.  Physical interaction used to be social media and now you do not have to do that to have a relationship.  Before FaceTime , there was face time.  As a business, however, it can be another positive way outside the human experience to keep communication channels flowing.  While I don’t fully embrace it as the primary means of communication, I understand it’s power and realize it is here to stay and has changed how we interact.

• Professionally, last year was a tale of two halves:  The first half was incredible, culminating with our 10th year of operation.  The second half was a whirlwind of ups and downs, with more of the latter.  However, with reflection comes clarity.  I plan on using that clarity to guide 2017 and beyond.

  

• In response to the above, I had to lean on a select group of people more than ever in my life.  I like to figure out things on my own but am also smart enough to not go it alone.  If it wasn’t for their guidance and support, things may look different right now.  Hopefully, ASF can be that support system for you also [icon name=”smile-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””].

• One of my nerd goals each year is to read more than the previous year.  Some quick mathematics added up to about 600 hours of reading.  I learned something from every piece that I read.  For me, learning something new each day is the meaning of life.

• Similar to the above, it is amazing the number of relationships that are being built inside, and outside, these four walls.  When we opened it was all about results and training.  While those are still important, it is now about culture, relationships and experience.  It has allowed me to bear witness to the power of getting like-minded people together and just see what happens, almost like a social experiment.  It also crystallized my “Why”.  In other words, I am more clear on why I am doing all of this.  If you are interested, I would love to share it with you…and maybe learn what your “Why” is at the same time!

• Finally, this year was another year to sharpen my “dad” skills and “husband” skills.  I still have a lot of work to do but feel confident that the best is yet to come with the ladies in my life.  Those two Rocks keep me grounded and provide everything I need.

2017….bring it on!

It is no longer a secret that fitness, or “being fit”, is beneficial.  Fitness centers continue to open (and close) to the point of saturating the market.  To the consumer, little separates each of these facilities and it typically comes down to “whomever is the cheapest” gets your money.  If all you want to do is to rent out equipment, many of these facilities will work.

A look at recent trends supports a positive trend (as published in the IHRSA Health Club Consumer Report):

• The number of Americans who belong to clubs increased by 24% since 2009.  The number of ACTIVE users climbed 23% in that same period.
• Nearly 50% used their gym 100 days each year.
• The number of VISITS jumped 25% since 2009, indicating that visiting their gym is a part of their lifestyle.
• The greatest growth happened in the under 18 category; their membership numbers grew by 78.7%!  That is great news for our kids [icon name=”smile-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
• Other age groups indicate a positive trend as well, with the only decrease in the 18-24 year old age group.

What always resides in my brain however, are two somewhat ironic ideas:

1. The fitness industry keeps opening more and more facilities ignoring the fact that exercise is not a biologically necessary part of our existence, nor do we particularly like to expend calories with no immediate gain (versus, say, chasing down an animal in which we get to eat it after we kill it).
2. Also, if we accept the above as part of the equation – that people don’t inherently like to expend calories (exercise), then it also goes against conventional wisdom that we ask them to pay for said exercise.

While the above is certainly great from a numbers standpoint, what may be more important are other metrics, some of which are harder to define.  Here are just a few to consider~

• How many people get the results they are looking for in the first place?
• How many people are okay with not achieving their results, but like going to their respective facility for other intangible reasons (friends, fun, cleanliness, location, etc)?
• Shouldn’t we be measuring more than just the number of facilities, number of members and profits?
• Can facilities sustain their existence if members change their health and fitness but not necessarily their bodies?  In other words, if a person’s blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels improve but little change in body composition occurs, is this a sustainable approach?
• At some point, is it fair to accept that our evolutionary tendencies will hinder our desire for a “great bod”?  Can/will someone still spend their hard-earned money with the intention of getting/staying healthy and accept the premise of

#progressnotperfection?

I don’t know.

It is always good to see the light bulb go off for individuals who have come to terms with their body and love it no matter what but still bust it every time knowing that activity is good for so many other things besides just looking good naked.

Our approach has always been to meet people somewhere in the middle; not promising too much or too little, and then delivering a great experience.  In fact, many conversations we have don’t even talk about exercise and nutrition.  If you have improved since last week, last month or last year, isn’t that really what is the most important?  Where that improvement comes from is up to you but that is a fitness trend that needs to be at the top!

June of 2016 marks our ten year anniversary.  It is mind-blowing, at least to me, that ASF has been open for that long.  It seems fitting to wax poetic what has happened over that time.

While it may put you to sleep, here is the genesis of ASF, starting circa 1985…

Sports are, and were, a big part of my life.  I played everything I could and turned out to be a pretty good athlete during my developing years.   I was very thin and the “springy” kid in the neighborhood games who could out-run most.  Running away from the bigger kids was my introduction to “speed training”.  However, because I played so much and ate so little, I was usually the lightest kid around.  Fast forward to my junior year in high school and everything changed:  I was introduced to the high school weight room via a gym class.  I was instantly hooked.  I subscribed to every muscle magazine around; it was, after all, the early version of the internet.  All of my  early training knowledge came from those glossy articles and photos.  I swallowed pills, pre-workout-100-grams-of-carbs drinks, ate super clean foods and trained every day for hours. If I wasn’t at the high school weight room, it was in my basement throwing around sand-filled weights, while my mother would tell me to turn down hair metal blaring from my ghetto blaster!  I would literally hit the speed bag until my knuckles bled.

It was at this time that I decided to stop playing organized sports during my senior year and go into powerlifting exclusively.  I now had a purpose:  Get on the team and compete.  However, the guys in front of me in the 125 pound weight class were stronger and I never received a chance.  I decided to still train for a solid year and ended up with a bench of twice bodyweight, and a squat and deadlift around 3x bodyweight, while still 125 pounds soaking wet.  That experience started to give me the tools that would later transform into business.  I captured some of those tools a few years back.

My power lifting phase was short lived as I was finally putting on some muscle and liked that style of training even more than pure strength training.  I never planned to compete in bodybuilding until someone at the Miami University weight room asked me to compete in their annual show.  From 1990 to 2005, I competed in 17 shows and did very well.  I had also been training people at World Gym during that same time.  It was more than a hobby, it was my career and my passion.  At some point, I was training several kids of the parents  I was helping and even helped a start-up that focused on Sports Performance.  Everything had come full-circle:  The skinny athlete was now training…skinny athletes!  It was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The last phase before ASF was born included the demise of the aforementioned start-up facility which lead me to a search for local real estate and/or buildings.  I just happened to be driving by Liberty Court and noticed what would become ASF.  It was literally just being excavated and I took a chance.  Was it luck?  Maybe.  It seemed my whole life had lead to this one opportunity.  It took a while but I was building something from the ground up, not just a facility, not just a business, but a community; I was also in for a big surprise, some of which  I will elaborate on below.

• PASSIONATE.  ALTRUISTIC.  SELFLESS.  Those are just three descriptions of what makes a great coach.  I came into the business world with a training background, with little prior business acumen.  Looking back, I was an average trainer.  When I started training people in 1989, there was so little information available that you had to figure it out on your own.  It took several years to realize how much I DIDN’T KNOW, let alone accrue what  I did know.  This profession is so new that if you are not constantly learning and re-inventing your knowledge base and training methods, you get left behind.  On a side note, the word passion get used often; it means different things to different people.  My take on it is that Passion is the marriage of love and anger.  I use each emotion often, but combining them creates another energy source entirely.

• Feeding off number one, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT is a tool that I have used more than ever.  Just the desire to get better is almost as important as what you do to get better.  A Japanese concept, kaizen, perfectly embodies the grind of growth.  In the book Legacy, the New Zealand All Blacks rugby club changed their whole culture to be one of the most dominant sports teams in history by adopting this model of behavior.  I have used the phrase When your good enough isn’t good enough for years to motivate our coaches to keep getting better; that includes myself. It can just be a percent difference from last week, month or even last year.  I made a quick video in a hotel room a few months ago and Neil wrote a blog on it.  Think about how much better you could be by improving several things just 1%?!

• When I was just starting out in the 1990’s and even in the first few years of ASF, I mistakenly believed that the more knowledge I accrued, the better our business would become.  While I still have a thirst for training and science information, I now know that this is a relationship business more than anything.  I cannot believe how many close relationships have been forged within these four walls.When my mindset shifted to that idea, ASF really took off.  There was also a shift in our culture that was directly related to that notion, although I am not sure which came first.  Being an avid reader, only about 20% of my reading list comprises training/science specific material, with the other 80% devoted to business, philosophy and leadership.

  

   

• When I married my wonderful wife, I thought that journey was tough; when our daughter came into our lives, I thought that was tougher; but when I went into business, THAT was tough.  I have made so many mistakes, I lost count. But…those mistakes have been invaluable in shaping the short and long term future that you see now.

• While my business acumen and our margins have improved over the years, my true currency is the effect that I have on others.  Living a purpose-driven life has opened up my eyes that each day is a chance to help as many people as possible in as many ways as possible as often as possible.  In other words, leaving a legacy.  More on that later.

• Most successful people that I know have had help along the way.  It is the same process why you may hire a trainer/coach to help you reach your fitness and/or performance goals.  If it was easy, everyone would do it on their own and see results.  ASF opened in 2006 and was on a great trajectory until the recession took that momentum away.  There were lean times and I contemplated whether to stay open.  It was around that time that I became more involved with a group of business coaches out of Louisville called the Fitness Consulting Group and even became a licensee of one of their businesses, Fitness Revolution.  Now I have peers who share victories and struggles, instead of feeling like a solo act on an island.  On a similar note, the coaches that have been, and are, at ASF are able to experience personal and professional growth, fulfilling the cycle of coaches helping coaches.

• The highs are HIGH and the lows are LOW.  Business is a mirror of life in general.  If you celebrate the good times too much, or lose your mind during the low times, you will go insane.  The struggles that I have experienced as a business owner supersede everything else combined.  Luckily, I can lean on the ASF coaches that grind it out everyday to my peers all over the country to my family.  The two biggest allies that keep me grounded are the books that I read and the fellow owners that I can use as a sounding board. All of us have taken several rides on this emotional rollercoaster and lived to tell about it.

• Mindset determines everything.  Feeding off number seven, if negative thoughts creep into my head, which they do, I have to be aware of them before they manifest into a permanent way of thinking.  I have this flow chart on my desk that I look at daily:

LIFE —> MINDSET —> THOUGHTS —> BEHAVIORS —> HABITS —> PERFORMANCE —> LIFE

      Every seed planted in the mind can determine the events that follow.  It is amazing when life gets heavy, just thinking a certain way can change your perspective.  It seems  simple, but it is not easy.    I also have this quote next to me right now that makes me realize that there is always another sunrise to get another chance…

• I really feel that Coaching is one of the best jobs in the world.  The impact that we can have, especially for young kids, is the primary driver that gets us out of bed each day.   In a way, we have a lot in common with academic teaching:  Kids go through the system of kindergarten through high school/college, gaining knowledge and improvements along the way.  While our classroom may be more on a field, court, diamond, track or pool, the process is exactly the same.  I mentioned this before, but our currency is the ability to change someone, to impact someone, and in some cases, to save someone.  I have had three people in the last two years say, “You saved my life.”  That is not to brag but to illustrate the power that we potentially have.

• At the end of the day, people will not remember what you said, or even how you said it, but they will remember how you made them feel.  When a true connection happens with someone, on a deep level, that is a catalyst for change, a direction on their compass they did not know existed or did not know how to navigate.   If it a smile from a shy 10 year old, a belly laugh from an awkward teenager, an intense conversation with an 18 year old or a heart to heart with a 40 year old having a rough time, we have a duty as a coach to be there for them, even if just to listen.  The answer may be on the surface, or we may need to peel back some layers, but it is in our DNA to help people.  It is part of our Core Values.  Giving of ourselves also gives us back something:  “Service for others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth” (Muhammad Ali).  Our legacy as coaches is not how much money we make, not how many initials/credentials that we have after our name, not how many wins we accrue; it is the magnitude and culmination of the effect that we have on people.   We are the liaisons for where they are, and where they want to be, either in sports, business or life.

At times, it feels like coaching chose me, versus me choosing it.  I can’t imagine what I would be doing if this opportunity had not presented itself decades ago.  It has given me a purpose for existing.

Thank you for reading.

Hopefully the title got your attention.  The folks at GoodSports.org put together an infographic to explain what may be happening…

My experience at Adrenaline Sports & Fitness was everything I could have asked for and more. I’m a Health Promotion & Education major with a focus in exercise & fitness at the University of Cincinnati and interning at Adrenaline was part of my education. I wasn’t sure what to expect because gyms can be intimidating to newbies but I could quickly tell this was not like any other gym. From the beginning, Tony and the coaches took me under their wing and showed me everything from how to be a good coach to setting up strength protocols. Everyday, I observed athletes improving their strength and athletic ability while having fun. I participated in the M2 classes where the workouts pushed me to my limits and by doing that, I have more energy, stamina and I’m healthier overall. In the short amount of time that I spent at Adrenaline, I became a better person thanks to Tony and the coaches. Anyone who trains at Adrenaline knows how lucky they are to have a great atmosphere and caring coaches to push them to be their best!

-Claire Neiswander

From my time at Adrenaline Sports and Fitness, I have learned a lot about training athletes of different levels, ages, sports, etc. When working with these athletes you may have to slightly alter exercises, drills, and interactions to best suit each individual athlete. Building a relationship with an athlete is one of the things you cannot learn from a textbook, yet having this skill is key to this career. Highlighting strengths and addressing differences in the athletes are key to building a relationship and effectively instructing. Some athletes may be overwhelmed when first starting to train, so finding one or two things to work on at each session is more beneficial than having five or six things. In addition to learning about interacting and coaching athletes, I learned a lot of exercises and drills for various purposes (speed, power, agility, etc.). The training was more ideal for athletes, mimicking movements that would happen in the sport rather than performing movements that are not realistic. I believe that gaining this experience from ASF will benefit me in the future because I got to observe, participate and learn things I would not necessarily learn in a classroom or textbook.

“Passion is a huge prerequisite to winning. It makes you willing to jump through hoops, go through all the ups and downs and everything in between to reach your goal.” – Kerri Walsh, beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist

Professional sports… supposed to be glamorous, high rolling paychecks, highlight reels making SportsCenter, and agents going above and beyond for their athletes and contract negotiations. This is the case for the majority of pro athletes, especially those in the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, WNBA, and for the most part, any Olympic Athlete.
However, what is the reality for all those other professional athletes? The ones who aren’t on ESPN every week or making the headlines of various magazines and social media sites? Are they even considered professional athletes; you’ve got to be making the big money to be considered a Pro right?

This was one of the prominent questions that ran through my mind for the last 3 years and even still today. Questioning if the sweat, extra work, sacrifice of social life and financial stability was worth it. I was never going to be on major sports channels with my games being broadcast live, I was not going to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, let alone an annual salary. I was not going to have the option of playing near my hometown in front of family and friends, or to even make weekend trips to friends’ weddings or family events. So why? Why did I continually work my body, mind, and heart to continue playing soccer? Doesn’t seem worth it for all the things I had to give up or miss out on. Fortunately enough, the love and passion for the game continually motivated me and forced my mind out of a progressive pessimistic tornado. There is a choice just about any athlete has to make: Is the sacrifice, the pain, the sweat, the tears, the ups and downs… worth the satisfaction of reaching a goal? Is it worth the grind in hopes of holding up that trophy, getting a contract renewal, seeing the young girls attending every game absolutely idolizing every move you make, or the simple knowledge that you made a difference in a teammate or coaches life because of a simple encouraging statement?

The answer… ABSOLUTELY!

The journey to play professionally in the states and overseas in Sweden was not easy. It had many peaks and valleys, hardships and setbacks, times of doubt and times of pure grinding motivation to prove everyone wrong. But it was it worth every second! There’s no easy way to explain the full scope of the experience. New countries explored, new friendships and relationships created, the chance to only focus on preparing your mind and body for the game each week, the new cultures experienced and values learned. The immense appreciation of the place you come from and the people who helped make your dreams a reality. This is just a mere glimpse of the full snapshot. Growth is the word I would choose to sum up my journey and the years playing overseas, as a young adult, a soccer player, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a coach, a teammate. When you’re will is tested, when you miss family and friends, when you question if it’s all worth it… you find out what the depths of your heart and soul will hold.
I realized how deeply rooted my passion of the game was within me. I realized how much I was not alone even when it felt like it at times. I had family, friends, an ASF team, my faith and hope that kept me going when I simply wanted to give up.
To any young girl dreaming of playing at the next level, whether that’s high school, college or professionally, I encourage you to take on the challenge full force. Ask for help when you need it, put in the work and extra hours of practice. Understand the sacrifice is worth it in the end because the amount of lasting friendships created, life lessons and values learned from the growing process, is priceless. My chapter of playing professionally is complete, even though Sweden and my team will always have a piece of my heart and life. But now I have the blessing and opportunity of coaching and supporting young athletes in the pursuit of life journeys. I consider myself lucky to have the chance to coach at Adrenaline and to return to my alma mater of Lakota West to pay it back into the lives of those high school girls. I thank everyone who played a part in my success and my journey, who pushed and challenged me to reach past limits, pick me back up when I thought I was done, and support me in my very geographically sporadic path.