Day 1 in Santo Domingo.

I think it’s a third world country, but I never feel unsafe other than when I feel like I’m about to get caught in a tropical storm or when I have to duck a fucking power line lying across the sidewalk.

The view from the AirBnB is nice, except that there is a fucking rooster somewhere in the courtyard nearby that I heard this morning. I’m sure I’ll wake up before that fucker, so it’s not really annoying so much as a novel experience.

These people drive reckless around here. Everyone is all over the road — cars, scooters, and people running across the highway. It’s fucking bananas (or plantains).

The weather is nice. 80’s and sunny, with a beautiful cloudy sky. It’s not a big sky like you get in colorado, however the clouds have their unique feel for the island. And, I know everyone thinks I’m crazy when I say this, but I enjoy the humidity. Maybe it’s because I’m here in the “winter” but it feels nice.

We met up with JC Simó (an OG in the strength game) today just to say hi before he drops the hammer next week. He’s a nice guy, who you can tell is very passionate about what he does. He drove us down to Boca Chica to hang out for a little bit and in the car ride he got to talking about training. Here is my interpretation of a couple things I found interesting…

“Coaching is not a science, it’s an art.” It’s a skill that allows you to know when someone can push harder, and when someone needs to back off. There’s no perfect plan, workout, exercise, or program. There’s not always a right answer, but there’s always a wrong one and it often starts with not knowing the difference between when to follow what is written down on the program versus the ability to adapt training on the fly based on the feedback you see with your client. If the program says to go for 10x3 but the client can’t even get through 5 sets with proper execution and speed then it is best to change something. The artist can move fluidly, whereas the scientist can be too rigid in their following of procedures.

“You get paid to make decisions for your client.” It’s like buying a plane ticket. You don’t get to dictate what the pilot does, you show up when you are supposed to and do as you’re told. If you do, the majority of the time you will arrive at your goal (a.k.a. destination). In the gym, the coach is the Pilot. Listen, or don’t, but don’t expect to arrive at your desired destination.

“Do you think this is a fucking buffet? Because it isn’t. You do not get to choose what you want, you get what is served.” If a client comes in with an expectation that they can dictate the training regimen, saying “I don’t want to do legs today,” they need to be reminded that they are not in a place to make decisions, if they were they wouldn’t have sought out your experience.

“If they want to be in charge, recommend your competition.” If a client doesn’t want to listen to your expertise, how can you expect to deliver optimal results? You can’t. Most often these people simply want to be entertained for an hour at a time. They’re not invested, so why should you be? Don’t waste your time. Recommend them to your cheaper and less qualified competition, who has no results.

“Execution is everything.” It’s not about what you do, it’s about how well you do it. If you can do 2 hour workouts with ease, you’re not recruiting your muscles effectively. If you were, you wouldn’t have enough energy to move.

“Being a strength coach is like being a fisherman.” The goal is results, not knowledge. When a fisherman goes out to sea, he is expected to bring back fish (a.k.a. results). If you’ve never been in the water, and don’t know how to fish, most likely you’ll decide to go for a seminar to learn how to fish from a guy that has a flashy picture of himself in the water holding up a glorious catch. You went because you bought into the visualization of that being you holding up the fish. So you go and learn all about water temperature, fishing poles, weather patterns, and different boats without ever going out on the sea to practically apply what you learned. You’re at a loss because, while you learned all about the history and research around the variables, you can’t affectively apply anything because you weren’t taught how to put something into practice, but rather all about theory.

“Certain educators will baffle you with bullshit.” There are going to be people in the industry that are going to wow you with their knowledge, yet when you ask them their results they have none. Their entire platform is based on a ton research material without an ounce of results. They will just baffle you with bullshit and entertain the money right out of your pocket.

“Research doesn’t matter if the results are there.” People are always going to try argue with your methodologies. They’ll want research to back up your methods. However, if they work and produce the results you’re after then there is really no need.

“Anxiety is the manifestation of a need.” If your body is telling you it needs something it is trying to compensate for a deficiency you have. The goal is not to eliminate the anxiety, but to find the cause and create a solution.