Catch up on all of James FitzGerald’s best podcast appearances. Over the last year, James has made time to engage and deliver true value one podcast at a time. We thought you’d appreciate a roundup of his podcast appearances in one spot.

The big picture responsibility of the tactical athlete is to serve and protect. In fighting to defend their country this population is under stressors most people (thankfully) could never imagine. It is important to clearly separate the call to duty with current fitness marketing language around tactical training—we’re not talking general population or athletes playing a game.

Clients may be struggling to gain lean mass because they are not capable of breaking down their muscle tissue. This is because they lack the prerequisite levels of strength. In order to gain lean mass, the client needs to be capable of breaking down muscle and recovering from that breakdown.

As 2020 gets rolling I have decided to take a moment to look back and compile my thoughts about 2019. So much went on last year and it is tough to remember every detail. So instead I broke up my year in review into three different themes.

We just wrapped up the first Mixed Modal Apprenticeship in celebration of our newest course Mixed Modal. This three-day experience took place at OPEX HQ in sunny Scottsdale, AZ and was a meeting of the minds for seven top-level coaches led by James Fitzgerald. Over the three days, the apprenticeship focused on maximizing the expertise and experience of the participating coaches via, daily discussion topics, floor observation, debriefs, and AMA style sessions regarding the principles of mixed modal training. Here are what the participants had to say about the experience.

James starts this conversation by addressing the opinion that some of the events at the CrossFit Games are not always the most entertaining, specifically the Triple Three (For time: 3,000 meter row, 300 double-unders, 3 mile run). “While tests like the snatch may seem entertaining on television it does not come from the movement itself, it comes from the commentary,” says James. “The tests that actually are effective are boring . . .” When it comes to the high-level fitness testing James wants us to remember that “you have to keep in mind that the tests we see at the Games might not be the best tests [of fitness] as they are based on logistics and entertainment.”

There is a worldwide epidemic taking place as we speak, the elimination of movement from children’s daily lives. Physical Education has almost vanished entirely from the public school system here in the United States and the growing prevalence of electronic entertainment is crushing children’s desire to move every day. But, what is the solution? As coaches, we are quick to recommend a structured program. However, it has been proven that the traditional approach is not the answer. In fact, we need to look through a totally different lens.

At the time of writing this article in late March, COVID-19 is spreading throughout the United States and most of Europe. While some local governments have passed shelter in place ordinances, the full effects of this pandemic have yet to be seen. Here is how OPEX Fitness Founder, James FitzGerald, believes COVID-19 will impact society and the fitness industry.

First, FitzGerald dives into why the high-intensity model isn’t for the masses. “If a client’s goal is to truly live a healthy life, climb mountains until they are 90, have sex in the morning, and live pain-free the answer is resistance training and easy aerobic work, not high intensity,” says FitzGerald. But, instead of preaching that truth, the fitness industry sells the sexy high-intensity model.

In this weeks Ask Me Anything (AMA) sneak peek, James FitzGerald, tackles the question of how important is it to get sunshine? This weekly AMA is available exclusively to OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) Coaches as part of our never-ending mission to supply our coaches with a quality education.

Here is some exclusive coaching advice from James FitzGerald himself pulled directly from our weekly Ask Me Anything (AMA) Sessions. In these sessions, OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) Coaches ask FitzGerald their coaching questions. This week one of the questions was “What are the three best coaching habits I should cultivate?” here is FitzGerald’s answer.

This weekly Ask Me Anything (AMA) sneak peek, provides James FitzGerald’s answer to the question “What is the best way to implement deliberate practice”. OPEX AMA sessions are exclusive content available to OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) Coaches, in which FitzGerald answers three questions submitted by our coaches, weekly.

When you hear the word ‘bodybuilding’ what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it a tupperware of chicken and broccoli, or perhaps an excessive amount of bicep curls? While both of these may be defining elements of the sport of bodybuilding, there are numerous reasons why the average person should be doing exercises derived from this fitness discipline.

First, ask the client “does this pain you feel lead to a decrease in your function?”  If the answer is yes then a medical route should be pursued. But, if the pain does not decrease the client’s function than it is up to the coach to identify the cause of the pain and work around it.

I agree that striving for balance is essential if you want to avoid burnout and have a lasting and fulfilling career as a fitness coach—but do you actually know how to create balance in your day-to-day life?

Commonly found in functional fitness gyms, the AirBike is OPEX Fitness’ go-to method for testing our client’s work capacity. Based on James FitzGerald’s latest monthly Knowledge Series, an exclusive webinar for OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) Coaches, here is everything you need to know about the 10-minute max calories on the AirBike test.

The guy that paints the picture, James FitzGerald is the founder of OPEX (Formerly OPT) and The International Center for Fitness. When not coaching, he’s a full time husband, father and fitness athlete. His 20+ years of experience and service as a strength coach/technician, tireless practice on refining energy system work, nutritional and lifestyle balancing techniques and training of other coaches has made OPEX a sought after method of bringing fitness to a higher order.

It’s 2020, we have an instantaneous internet connection, can order food with the touch of a button, and we have limitless entertainment at our fingertips. So it’s no wonder that clients walk into gyms around the world every day wanting to transform their sedentary existence into athletic prowess in just a matter of weeks.

Exercise and nutrition go together like peanut butter and jelly. You cannot have a conversation about health without including the two. As coaches, it is our job to educate our clients about the relationship between the two. But more importantly, we need to understand it ourselves.