If you didn't go, you missed a particularly excellent one, folks. The schedule below doesn't do justice to the amount of material presented.
First, the night before, Lawrence Neal of the High Intensity Business podcast interviewed Tim Dettmann from Keiser Australia with a live audience, i.e. everyone who came in Friday for the weekend. A few hellos and catch ups, the bar opened, the interview started, with an impressively respectful crowd. Even with the open bar. As part of Luke's introduction, he mentioned, "Bill DeSimone is here and he's probably going to disagree with everything that gets said here tonight."
My reputation precedes me. And yes. Which was discussed at one of the bars later that night.
The interview, which I believe will be on Lawrence's podcast, covered the physical therapy to Medx exercise program used in the Keiser Australia sites. The later discussion, which was very civil, at one of the bar/restaurants went like this:
Q: Bill, what is your problem with the Medx Lumbar Extension?
Me: It's not MY problem, but what it asks of the body contradicts every conventional spine safety guideline put out by institutions and orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists.
Q: There are so many research studies proving the superiority of training on the M. L. E.
Me: There's a handful of studies that show training on the Medx Lumbar Extension leads to better test results on the Medx Lumbar Extension. They were relatively short term and didn't look at spine health, only performance. And the conventional wisdom on spine safety wasn't made up, it came from studies too.
Q: Doctors and physical therapists aren't current with the science.
Me: Wait. They study orthopedics in school, have to pass their boards, get licensed, take continuing ed to maintain the license, get vetted by hospitals and insurance companies, and can have complaints filed against them with a state board, none of which applies to personal trainers or studio owners, who can pick whatever guru or equipment company they want to follow. And the MDs and PTs aren't current with the science, but people who bought/use Medx are?
And I wonder why I don't get invited to nice places;) No, actually, it was all very civil in person, far more than the usual internet/social media skirmishes. Moving on.
I passed this year on the early morning workout on the Imagine Strength equipment with the Discover Strength staff, mainly because they offered a 6:15 AM slot. To quote Fred Hahn: "ha." My joints don't start to move until 10. I did manage to try out a few of the pieces.
On the Imagine Strength chest press. I also tried the Leg Extension, Row, Overhead Press, and watched the Pullover, and Leg Press.
They had two of most of their line there.
Pic by Gennaro Scampone. I made a point of wearing his studio shirt, Studio Athletics in Utica, on Friday, even if he should change the name to Studio Athletica in Utica.
First speaker: Charlie McMillan, PhD, on Machine Resistance Curves. I hung with him through the first part in which he spoke about the Zander equipment and exercise environment of his time, and when he started to explain moment arms and torque, because Zander and moment arms are kind of my thing, and it's good to know I got it right 20 years ago without the PhD. But, when he explained the formulas for calculating changes in resistance torque, ta ta. Now I remember why I stopped trying to explain/understand past free weights and simple machines in Moment Arm Exercise. One point I missed as he explained how he manipulated the resistance torque on various stations: why? to what end? In Moment Arm Exercise, I left it at "exercises without a sticking point or lock out are more efficient/congruent." He took it further, but I'm not sure where and I didn't have a chance to follow up.
One of the "exercises" was to use manual resistance to alter the resistance pattern. I'm here with Dr. Sean Preuss, who later told me he worked for Fred Hahn in 2006 where he originally heard my name and Moment Arm Exercise book. He also gave a Table Topic presentation later in the day.
After that, Nick Lambe and Dr. Bryan Williams spoke on sleep and motivational tips, which I confess I missed most of, as I had to find an open drugstore chain to get eye drops and aspirin. My body does not like being flown. Luke Carlson did an interesting presentation, working a slide show of relevant studies into his training Taylor from Discover Strength on Imagine equipment and "Bill DeSimone Curls." Kudos, well played. James Fisher did his first of the day, study results on the importance of supervision. Then "Former Speaker Lunch."
I'm in the back next to MC Kim Wood, who made sure everyone knew who each other was, and who he was. Roger Schwab is at the opposite end, the left in the picture, a seating arrangement that just happened, but appropriate, as these two are the "elder statesmen" of strength coaching and strength training.
Which ran late so I missed Dr. Vickie Wong, with whom I spoke later at the dinner and wished I saw present.
The Table Topics segment was packed. Ten speakers at ten tables, twice, so attendees picked two talks to attend back to back. I was busy or I would have gone to a couple myself.
Mark Asanovich gave sort of his overview of training in general, the 5 P's, and James Fisher wrapped up with questions that had been submitted as part of the registration process. One of which involved me, so I put my hand up for a question only to be told we're not taking questions on this part of the program. Hmph. This guy.
I kid! I'm from New Jersey, where breaking chops is an art form. The best part about it being done in person is you get to respond, and it leads to an actual discussion, unlike social media which is fragments of ideas and degenerates quickly. So this was great.
The Awards dinner had Ted Lambrinides, who I've crossed paths with here and there, and Kim Wood, who I spent a lot of time with at this event, receive awards. Kim handed me a pile of bucks and his card and said, send me your books, which I did, so I'm now part of the Kim Wood Memorabilia Collection.
A big part of the appeal of this event are the impromptu discussions that come up over dinner, over breakfast, over drinks, and meeting in person many people you know only through reputation or social media. At this point in my "career," more people know me than I know them, which is really flattering, and due in large part to Luke, James Fisher, Fred Hahn, Roger Schwab and others keeping my name in front of the people they hire. Of course, the books help.
I was also a "Writer Table Sponsor" at this event, a suggestion of mine Hannah and Luke accepted, so I had a table with my three print books, QR codes for the Amazon links, a pile of old muscle magazines to break the ice, and Kim Wood for some extensive behind-the-scenes-of-the-last-50- years commentary. Much of which I had suspected, some of which was new but not shocking, most of which shall remain unrepeated, at least until I'm the 75 year old guy at these events. See me in ten years.
As I started saying, this was a particularly excellent event, really ideal for trainers on the lighter end of experience. As an established guy, with a body of work available, I get to meet and talk with people who know me from that body of work, or know of the work and need the prompt to buy. Giving a small talk also helps get me out of my head and keeps me sharp. While it's not a formal association yet (the Resistance Exercise Coalition?) this group is far closer to my sensibility than the big industry events or the boot camp/obstacle course/etc. fanatics.
One word of advice to anyone considering going, especially if you are on the lighter side of experience: keep an eye out for the "save the date" and "early registration" announcements from REC, and start tracking the price of your flights as early as possible. Prices can drop as low as 50% of the maximum price, months or even weeks prior to the flight, but then they go back up again. Some years the lowest price for me was 4 weeks prior, some like this one, 2 months prior. With a little forethought, and asking for two single beds in the room and splitting the cost, you can make the cost of attending much more manageable.
Bill DeSimone
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