“I think growth is a really interesting topic for anybody. Again, I am a huge advocate of the growth mindset because I think as you grow, you feel momentum, you feel inspired. But I think a lot of people ask themselves the question of why they feel stagnant sometimes. They might spend a couple of years doing something, they might spend 10 years doing something. But I generally think that people feel stagnant when they’re stagnant. I don’t think that it needs to be much more complicated than that.”

I have programmed thousands and thousands of workouts and programs for athletes over the past twenty years. Despite all this experience, I have made mistakes. Sometimes I see my mistake immediately upon writing and reviewing the program, other times the mistake has taken years to discover. It was only when I became a coach of coaches rather than a coach of athletes that I finally was given a different perspective that allowed me to not only learn what caused my mistakes but how to fix them.

The ‘wall ball’ is a movement commonly done by individuals participating in fitness in a CrossFit environment. The movement has often been misinterpreted as a squatting maneuver. In reality, the movement is much more dynamic in nature.

Patrick Casey started training with Head Coach Michael Bann at 14 years old, the end of 8th grade. As an extremely hypermobile athlete, with an inability to stabilize, this lead to sub-optimal movement such as the inability to complete even an air squat or set his back for a deadlift.

This particular education piece will not discuss technique NOR pre-qualifications BUT how to ensure it is powerful training.

OPEX Owner and Coach James Fitzgerald, discusses the ways to add more weight to your backsquat. With proper and smart programming, this is achievable over time. Check out the full video below!

A program that focuses on personalized, progressive, functional work is a winner. It’s not that hard, you just have to write it down. When you experience it, it makes even more sense. AND it actually has been happening for a LONG time with success. Success means constant improvement in some ways towards the long term goals.

Intermittent fasting may sound like an alternative word to starvation, but it’s actually quite the opposite. Fasting differs from starvation in one critical way. Starvation is the involuntary absence of food while fasting is the voluntary withholding of food for spiritual, health, or other reasons. Intermittent Fasting is an incredible useful tool for fitness athletes, but you actually don’t need to change much of what you are currently doing to experience its benefits. In fact, you are likely already practising it in what you normally do in your daily routine. When you sleep, you are engaging in a type of intermittent fasting as Mike Lee explains in the video above.

At OPEX we believe in the upper pulling chain of action.  The argument around if or when humans should participate in upper pulling activities will go on forever depending on who you are speaking to.

When was the last time you scheduled an important meeting? A business project? A personal event with your loved ones? Scheduling important events is a simple act but it can make all the difference when it comes to personal and business success.

Everyone is always asking how to better their nutrition habits. What can I do to perform better, to feel better, to look better? From Keto to Paleo to IIFYM, how do we know what's best for us? Most times we forget about the little things, the simple pieces that will help make us healthier.

Don’t try and speed through the overhead squats. It could tire out your shoulders too quickly and set you up for failure in the double under portion of this workout. The best approach to take is slow and steady.

A lot of people come to me with rehab questions, and rightfully so.  I’ve sort of gained a reputation for being the “rehab” guy.  The truth though, is that I’m actually a performance enhancement coach.  I just happened to have been lucky enough to have a dozen or so mentors who were all experts in various fields, all of whom except one had at least one doctorate.  This gave me a wide variety of philosophies to draw upon in order to become a complete and total coach with a very deep understanding of how to enhance performance.  While I do love helping people move better, get out of pain and in general live more healthy functional lives, my biggest passion is building world class athletes, and that’s what I truly do best.

“In the fitness world we get really good at being entertainers without really connecting to what the client came through the door for. I feel that now when we coach our clients, we give them what’s in their best interest rather than trying to make them happy all the time.”

Rather than discuss the ‘best’ time to become a gym owner, we first need to discuss when it’s not good idea. Because, quite frankly, there are a lot of people in this industry who have no business owning a gym. No pun intended.

“I love everything about CrossFit, Its fun to lift heavy and move fast… I guess they call us the crazy ones because we love to hurt.”

Assess don’t guess; that’s the mantra we use to remind coaches of the groundwork necessary to write a solid fitness prescription. One tool used in that assessment is the Flywheel Bike. First employed by Swedish researchers a century ago to study force curves during bicep contractions, the bike is useful in assessment in that it’s safe, consistent and provides comprehensive data.

Get over the complaining of DB’s and the like – they are coming, you have been warned, its is the price we all pay for admission. If you are an owner of a gym this is a shared responsibility between the client, the organization of the testing and you – so lay judgement appropriately. (NOT on the DB’s)

Movement is something integral to human existence as well as physical performance and health. Health experts continue to remind us that adherence to the mechanics of proper movement is vital to overall health whether we are a weightlifting champion or an average joe. But what exactly is quality movement and can it be defined and understood in a clear cut manner?

Starting a second gym can be an incredibly risky venture, especially if you have no cash in your bank from which to fund it. Without cash, you will likely have to accrue debt in order to start a second business. The more debt you take on, the more risk you have. Too much debt can prevent growth and even destroy your fitness business entirely.