If you love health, fitness, and working out then you’ve probably considered a career as a health and fitness coach. But what does a health and fitness coach actually do? 

Considering my formal education was in the arts—a bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in journalism—I have sort of learned as I go from other coaches I work with who are more qualified than me, and by taking the odd weekend course here and there. Needless to say, the biggest thing I was excited for in taking the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) was learning more about exercise science and anatomy, as well as learning how to physically assess clients and design more effective programs.

In order to ‘cycle’ or move loads and barbells quickly, clients need to learn how to make complex contractions ‘aerobic’ in nature. This requires an understanding of how to design programs that mix aerobic work with strength speed work.

Developing a client’s absolute strength is critical to their long-term physical development in relation to their overall goals. This is regardless of whether that goal lies in competition or general health and wellness. Absolute strength training establishes the foundation for the entire Strength Continuum. It enables competitive athletes to efficiently switch between different aspects of the Strength Continuum (strength speed, speed strength, absolute speed). For general fitness clients, it helps them live better and healthier lives by increasing longevity and helping build muscle which can protect them from normal wear and tear in daily life. So what is absolute strength training and how can we define it in a way that can aid functional fitness coaches?

Absolute strength imbalances are common for all types of clients. These imbalances can hamper a client’s ability to reach their fitness goals and increases the risk of injury. Therefore it’s critical that functional fitness coaches understand what absolute strength imbalances are and learn some simple program design methods to correct them.

When one thinks about athletic competition, they usually think about it’s physical elements rather than the mental and emotional component. While strength, speed, and power are important to success in competitive endeavours, one must not forget how vital mindset training is to the competitive process.

la, each of whom pays $75 Euros a month for a training program and monthly lifestyle consults with Costa. Though Costa says he has room to take on a few more clients, he’s now in the process of looking to hire a coach to help him handle the volume.

Matt is a husband and and father, looking to make consistent progress and increase his standings in the OPEN each year.

In this weeks 10 Minutes of Fitness James FitzGerald and Micheal Pilhofer discuss James’ newest course, Mixed Modal. You can watch the full episode for yourself here.

Planning is something that we at OPEX pride ourselves on. It is what creates the pathway to success for anyone to reach there full potential and fitness goals.

Robin Lyons breakdown from consult, assessment to prescription when starting a new client….

While the ‘open gym’ model technically does exist through globo gym models, such as a Gold’s Gym, 24-Hour Fitness, or YMCA, there is undoubtedly a difference in the style of training and equipment available at these mega-gyms versus your raw, box setting or functional fitness style gym (think rubber mats, pull-up rigs, squat racks, bumper plates, boxes, air-dynes, rowing machines, rings, kettlebells, wallballs, Oly lifting bars, etc.).

Pacing the floor, back and forth, to ensure safety, remind Enrique to catch the bar with ‘fast elbows’, remind Alyssa to squat “all the way down”, and assist Barbara with donning her foot into the big thick green pull-up band on the pull-up bar, but all in all, the chaos ensues to say the least.

What struck me once again is how many coaches there are out there who want to learn and grow so they can best serve their clients.  They come to our courses and hear a lot of new thoughts, ideas, and principles.  They engaged in coaching practices, communication and brainstorming sessions in order to expand their perspectives and learn from one another.  And what they tell me at the end of the course is that they are fundamentally changed, their eyes have been opened to the nuances of people and the differences that exist between us all.  Their coaching bandwidth has been expanded because their capacity to coach a variety of people has been stretched.

Routine is a part of life—particularly if your fitness and exercise regime is important to you.

Madi Glass is a high school Onsite Coaching Client here in Scottsdale.  She is coached by Head Coach Michael Bann.  Her priorities are a linear progression in basic barbell lifts with unilateral work for accessory training

Miko’s training initial training focus has been on addressing some underlying structural issues that led to a minor back injury earlier in the year. As these continue to improve we’re starting to incorporate more barbell work and technique focus into his training.

“At this time of year, athletes only really need to focus on refining skills in relation to the competition they are going into. Too many athletes tend to overcomplicate their training in the hopes of improving. The reality is that athletes don’t get tremendously better between the Open and the Regional Competition.”

Tennil will be tackling 18.3 in her morning session at OPEX North Scottsdale.

Whether you are an athlete, a business owner, or somebody looking for health and fulfillment there becomes a time when you must go through discomfort.  That discomfort can come in many forms: