This weekend I had the great opportunity to attend a seminar at Peak Performance in NYC presented by Joe Dowdell and Dr. Mike Roussell. If you’ve never heard of Peak Performance, Joe or Mike I highly suggest you Google them and be prepared to learn.
First of all I had an incredible time at the seminar. The turnout was huge with over 90 fitness professionals from all different backgrounds in attendance. I had a chance to meet a ton of people including some of the best and brightest in the industry.
I headed to the seminar with an empty notebook, a couple of pens and anticipating some acute onset carpel tunnel syndrome from furiously writing notes. I didn’t want to miss anything. Joe is a true expert in program design and Dr. Mike has a true command of nutrition. I was from this (and both relieved and excited) when Joe and Mike delivered a giant binder full of all the information from the seminar to each one of the attendees.
I've had textbooks in college smaller than this.
The subject matter of the two day seminar was absolutely insane. Even sitting here now I am still processing the incredible volume and quality of information that Joe and Mike presented. Basically everything you could possibly want to know about designing strength and fitness programs was presented by one of the brightest minds in the fitness industry. On top of that Dr. Mike gave a full spectrum course on how to design nutrition plans to support the work in the gym. Here are just some of the topics that Joe and Mike covered:
- Assessing clients
- Various methods of periodization for different populations
- The 6 Pillars of Nutrition
- Supplementation: what works and what doesn’t
- Nutrition for building muscle and burning fat
- Structuring training sessions
- Energy Systems Training
and that’s not even close to all of it. I learned a ton of strategies that I plan on using not only with my clients but in my own training as well.
After the regular presentations were over (and my head sent reeling from information overload) there was a Q&A panel with a number of industry experts including Joe and Mike, Jim Smitty Smith from Diesel Crew, John Romaniello, Kevin Neeld, Tony Gentilcore and Dr. Perry Nickelston. I want to say thanks to each of them in case they ever read this, not only because of the Q&A session, but because everyone was so willing to offer their insight on any questions I may have had over the entire weekend.
All in all the Peak seminar was an incredible experience. I got to meet and speak with some amazing people, many of whose information I’ve been following for a long time and has helped me immensely in my career. Thank you to everyone who helped put on this seminar including Joe and Dr. Mike and the entire Peak Performance team and all the great health and fitness pros who I got to meet with this weekend.