Posts Tagged With: lack of confidence

FASST Performance Tip #22 (Optimism)

Posted on January 28, 2013 by jbrader21

optimism-1

“I am not bound to win, I am bound to be true, I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light that I have.”

 -Abraham Lincoln

 In today’s world it is tough to remain optimistic with the daily doom and gloom that is reported on the daily news.  Along with the stresses of the world are the stresses of performance.  I see this in my athletes’ everyday as they push themselves to be the absolute best.  They are consistently competing in the classroom, athletic field, and against other people looking to reach similar goals.  The demands from parents, coaches, and self expectations can be daunting.  The current economic conditions coupled with the financial demands of getting a college education add additional stressors to an already challenging existence.  However, if we take the words of Abraham Lincoln and apply them to our own expectations, they can be a guiding light to become the best we can be.

 According to a Gallup Poll survey, it was estimated that there are 22 million negative workers in the United States and it costs around $300 billion in productivity a year.  This is staggering considering one would hope that someone who is employed would be optimistic and happy they are working.  It is often stated that actions speak louder than words and it is evident with how we interact with people.  In everyday interactions, I see that people who are optimistic are problem solvers, leaders, and innovators while negative people are problem centered and tend to focus on sabotaging efforts.  When young people are exposed to pessimistic people, they tend to take on these people’s behaviors.   It is critical that they surround themselves by positive, motivated, people who have a get it done attitude.  This get it done attitude is going to be needed for their future as they move onto bigger and more challenging endeavors. 

 When people experience hopelessness, self-doubt, fear, and anxiety, it is easy for them to take this negative energy and retreat.  Conversely, when a person feels challenged, confident, energized, and focused, they are able to summon positive energy to become more productive.  I think we all have experienced both ends of the spectrum.  From my own experience, I know which I prefer to experience and how it impacts my overall emotional, professional, and social well being.  As I grow as a father, husband, leader, and coach I look for ways to manage negativity.  Negativity will always be a part of our lives and it is our choice on how we allow it to impact us.  Whenever I work with athletes, colleagues, or potential clients who are negative, I recognize that not all of them will be on “my team.”  I try to focus on the realization that these people will not be on my team and it is up to me to refocus my attention to those who are.  The only emotions, feelings, and actions we can control are our own.  This is challenging enough and when you try to control others, it becomes virtually impossible.  The next time you catch yourself trying to persuade people to join your team who aren’t quite budging, think about it.  Is it worth the energy to try and convince them or can you better utilize it on those who are already “all in?”  Cut your losses and focus on the people who really matter and be the source of optimism that allows your team to maximize their performance while enjoying the experience. 

 Best in Performance,

Coach Brader

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FASST Performance Tip #18 (Commitment)

Posted on January 2, 2013 by jbrader21

to-do-resolution-new-yearIt’s a brand new year and for many people a brand new resolution.  When I think of a resolution, I think of a firmness of purpose.  I think about setting goals and attaining them.  Often, when the old ends and we sweep in the new, there is a new found sense of purpose and commitment.  The New Year is much like a brand new gift that when you first open it, you want to get as much use out of it as possible.  This feeling eventually fades and something newer takes precedence.    

 This is especially evident in fitness, sports, and lifestyle.  In the New Year there is an increase in gym memberships, the rush to workout for sports teams, and people looking to quit bad habits.  Most of these attempts prove to be a waste of time because it takes commitment to change habits that have been ingrained over time.  At the beginning, motivation is high but as soon as a couple weeks pass, the individual finds that it isn’t as easy as they thought.  To overcome this, it is integral to set short term goals that will assist you when you move towards your long term goals.  I picture a forest full of trees and each day, I chop one down.  After several weeks I can see my progress and what lies ahead.  If the objective is unclear or if you don’t monitor your progress, success is tough to achieve.

 Begin the New Year by writing down your goals, setting up a simple plan to follow, and keep track of your progress.  Commit yourself to your goals and make your New Years resolution a daily event.  On a personal level, I like to keep my goals simple and easy to track.  I enjoy reading and commit myself to reading for 20 minutes a day.  If I can do this every day I can read approximately 15 pages a day.  Over a week’s time, this adds up to 105 pages.  Over a year, this adds up to 5,460 pages which is the equivalent to eighteen 300 page books.  Twenty minutes a day isn’t asking too much and very attainable.  This is one example and hopefully this can help you think of some ways to set and reach your own goals.  By committing to yourself, you will not only make this year outstanding, but all the years to follow as well. 

 Best in Performance,

 Coach Brader

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FASST Performance Tip #14 (Be Relentless)

Posted on November 27, 2012 by jbrader21

When I was a child, I remember my mother telling me about my grandparents and how they emigrated from Germany at the turn of the century.  Her parent’s story is much like others of their time.  A story of struggle and making the most of a newfound opportunity that was here in America.  The attitude that was represented wasn’t one of entitlement but one of work ethic.  By coming to America, they had the opportunity to pursue their dreams and create a life worth living.  They were faced with many obstacles that included language barriers, money, and little resources here in the states.  When my mom would tell me about their struggles, I would often imagine myself and what I would do if I was faced with such struggle.  Would I be resourceful and find a way to make it or would I need to turn back to my roots?  Would I be able to create a better life or would I suffer in poverty? 

 As I reflect on my talks with my mother, the word that keeps coming up is relentless.  Her family along with the countless others during that time was relentless in their pursuit to reach their dreams.  They had a stubbornness that allowed them to overcome tremendous odds and make a living as they pursued a new life.  This stubbornness enabled them to instill work ethic in their children, allow them to start business during tough economic times, and provide a better life for their family that would extend to future generations. 

 Even though the day and age has changed, the situations are similar to those of our parents and grandparents.  Life is tough and challenging.  We are faced with tremendous odds as we work to provide better lives for our families.  As I reflect on my own life, family, and children’s future, I think about what I want to leave behind as my legacy.  I think about what my training facility symbolizes to my athletes.  Each and every night when I arrive at my gym I think about the journey I took to get there and what I envision it to be in the future.  I think about all the success stories of my athletes and how they were able to achieve their dreams through a tireless work ethic and determination.  Because of our relentless work ethic and stubbornness to fail, we have been able to achieve our goals.  I know that I often asked myself if all of the work and time would be worth it.  After some time reflecting, I can say it was.  When I’m able to take my children to my gym and see them run around with the other athletes it makes me feel good about what I have accomplished.  It also reminds me of when I was young and wanted an opportunity to one day live a life that enabled me to become whatever I put my mind to.  Remember that everyone has self doubt and gets discouraged.  It is part of becoming a success.  Those who are able to relentlessly pursue their goals and push through obstacles are those who experience the fruits of their labor.  Use the daily challenge to motivate you to pursue your goals and live the life you deserve to live.

 Best in Performance,

 Coach Brader

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FASST Performance Tip #9 (Outcome and Performance Goals)

Posted on October 15, 2012 by jbrader21

It is difficult to get anywhere if you don’t have a destination.  Whether you’re going on a vacation or looking to become a better athlete, you need to think about your final destination, plan the steps needed to get there, and then act on the plan.  I know that the athletes who participate in my program are eager to work and want to improve performance but I often wonder if they truly understand the importance of goal setting so I thought I would write this post. 

There are two types of goals and I will give a brief overview of both.  The first is an outcome goal.  An example of an outcome goal is “My goal is to win a state championship.”  An outcome goal can set an athlete up for failure if they don’t attain the final result.  I know from my own experience as an athlete that every year our goal was to win a state, district, and league title.  These are great goals but in reality, only one team each year will become a champion.  When we would lose the first game, it was evident that some of the guys would become deflated and overall morale would decline.  To counter this, we would have performance goals that would work in tandem with our outcome goals.  An example of a performance goal would be, “My goal is to rush for 100+ yards.”  Normally, your performance goal will have an impact on the outcome goal.  It also empowers the individual and holds them personally accountable.  Anytime you set goals it is important to realize you cannot control what your opponent does so the performance goal empowers the team or individual to focus on what they need to do to improve the likelihood of them obtaining their outcome goal. 

When we coached Justin Gaymon, who was one of the top ranked high school hurdlers in the country, we always set lofty goals.  It was always

our intention to train Justin to win a state and national championship.  In order for him to do this, we needed to be very specific in regards to what his performances needed to be in order to move closer to these outcome goals.  His senior year of high school he needed to run a sub 51.0 second 400m hurdle to get a full scholarship to the University of Georgia.  If he was able to run this time by the end of the season, he would also be in the hunt for a national championship.  Our focus the entire season was on specific performance goals each week so that he would reach his peak when it counted the most.  As it turned out, Justin ran a 50.86 in the national championship race and earned a scholarship.  Unfortunately he came in second but because we were focused on time, we could still feel like we were able to achieve our ultimate goal.  We weren’t able to control the other athlete who also ran an outstanding time but we could do what we set out to do.  That was to run our fastest time when we needed to the most.  I feel that this is critical to elite performance.  Often I hear athletes, coaches, and parents ask if the athlete won when in actuality; the performance is the critical factor.  It is much more important to ask if you were able to perform the way you expected and then ask what the outcome was.  This way, the athlete is reinforced for obtaining their performance goal and the outcome then becomes a side effect of their performance.    

Final points when setting goals:

Justin Gaymon 2012 Olympic Trials

  • Begin at the end and plan backwards
  • Make sure the goals are measurable
  • Write them down and review everyday
  • Have both outcome and performance based goals
  • Create a score card and keep track of what you are doing everyday to achieve your goals

 

Best in Performance,

Coach Brader

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FASST Performance Tip # 8 (Loyalty)

Posted on October 9, 2012 by jbrader21

Last year I was in the locker room of one of the teams we work with during halftime.  As I looked around the room I saw a bunch of young men who left it all on the field during the first half.  By the looks of the guys, I wondered if they had enough in the tank to finish the game.  I remember when I played football and experiencing the same thing.  Unless you played, you may have never experienced the camaraderie associated with football.  It is very hard to duplicate once you are finished playing.  From personal experience, it is one of the biggest things I miss as well as one of the things I look forward to whenever I work with a team or the athletes at my gym.  All of the athletes’ off-season preparation, the coaches’ experience, and each player’s dedication to the team need to come together in order for them to win the game.  There was no time for apprehension or doubt, it would come down to what team was able to pull together and make the most plays.

Loyalty is the faithfulness or devotion to a person, group, cause, or country.  Loyalty is one of the necessary components to any successful team or organization.  When someone is loyal, they will work harder, sustain effort, and put the team or organizations needs ahead of their own.  If you are disloyal, personal agendas and selfishness will supersede the team’s agenda.  I have seen how loyalty and disloyalty have impacted team success throughout my playing and coaching careers.  Consistently, I have seen how the most loyal and team oriented athletes have experienced the most success on and off the field.  This loyalty has enabled the players to become effective leaders and earn the respect of their peers and coaches. 

The sense of loyalty is built throughout the year by working out together, attending camps, and attending team functions.  These functions are a way for the coaches and athletes to interact and build the chemistry needed for success.  Without this bonding, it would be difficult to have peak performance during high stress situations. 

As halftime was coming to a close, the head coach addressed the team before they went back out on the field for the second half.  Everyone took a knee and all eyes were on him as he gathered his thoughts.  He said the following:  “A dog is loyal to his master…A dog will love his master regardless of his looks, social status, education, or income.  A dog is loyal and will do whatever it takes to protect his master.  Regardless of the danger ahead, the dog will put his own life on the line to protect his master because he is loyal.  The dog walks the same path as his master without fear of the consequences but focused on the duty at hand.”  “As a team, we are similar to a dog and his master.  We all come from different backgrounds but are faced with the same challenges.  We are walking the same path and have the same goals that we have been working towards for the past year.  Regardless of the outcome, we are going to work together and have each others backs.  We have come this far together and now it’s time to finish the job at hand.  Let’s go out the second half and finish what we started and get the W.”

When the coach finished, everyone came together and broke as a team.  I felt like I was 17 again and the only thing that mattered at the time was coming through for my teammates.  It was awesome and for everyone who has experienced the halftime pep talk or competing in a close game, it is one of the best feelings in the world.  The loyalty that I learned as a high school and college athlete has followed me throughout my life.  From my personal perspective, I think that there is no better feeling in the world than being part of a family or team.  For many of the athletes I coached as a high school coach, the team was their family.  I know that when I was younger, the team and coaches were definitely part of mine and had my back when I needed them the most.  As you go on with your day today, think about your loyalty?  Are you loyal to those who matter the most?  What are you doing to build your loyalty?  These are just a few questions you can ask yourself as you take on the different challenges in your life.

Best in Performance,

Coach Brader

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FASST Performance Tip #7 (Autosuggestion)

Posted on October 1, 2012 by jbrader21

What’s on your mind today?  On average, an adult will process 60,000 thoughts per a day and out of these thoughts, 90% will be processed at the subconscious level.  I’m sure that you can recall a time when you drove your car to work and didn’t even remember much of the drive because you were on autopilot.  I know that I have and many of my daily routines are done without much thought.  This is because the actions are so engrained into our subconscious mind that we can focus on other pressing issues that we need to address immediately.  Could you imagine what life would be like if we had to think about every breath, our heart rate, or digestion?  It would be virtually impossible. 

During the day, our conscious mind sends information to our subconscious mind.  This information can be good or bad and will definitely impact our performance.  I’m sure you can recall a time when you had a big test and became anxious.  When the teacher passed out the test the palms of your hands became sweaty and your heart rate increased.  This is probably the period when you either told yourself, “Oh no, here it goes again” or “I’m going to nail this test!!!”  Either way, your subconscious mind was either positively or negatively influencing your behavior. 

A simple technique called autosuggestion can help you improve your life and overall performance.  The technique is simple and can be practiced daily.  Research has indicated that an untrained mind steers 90% of it’s thoughts towards negativity and this will cause performance to decline.  By practicing autosuggestions, you can influence your energy levels, emotional well being, and overall performance.   Autosuggestions are similar to self-affirmations but calls on the person to state the positive phrase in the first person always using the phrase, “I am.”  A few examples would be:

  • I am successful
  • I am dynamic
  • I am positive
  • I am a good friend
  • I am a good athlete
  • I am intelligent
  • I am a winner

 It is important that when you practice these phrases, you match up the phrase with the correct emotion.  Even though negative feelings are inevitable in everyone’s life, you will be able to quickly shift from negative imagery into a more positive frame of mind by stating your autosuggestion.  It is suggested that you stick to using one at a time and to say them out loud.  Your subconscious mind can’t differentiate between fantasy and reality or yes or no.  With this in mind, write your phrase exactly as you want it to be imprinted on your mind and gain the positive effects of autosuggestion.  It will take time and practice but the results will be well worth it.

Best in Performance,

Coach Brader

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Building a Confident Athlete

Posted on August 9, 2012 by jbrader21

I encounter hundreds of athletes and parents in any given week and the most asked question is, “Can you help improve my child’s confidence?”  Confidence is something that is developed daily and if you want to improve it, you must first define it.  Confidence is defined as the belief in one’s self or powers and abilities.  Just because you are confident in one area of your life doesn’t necessarily mean you’re confident in others.  With this in mind, what are you doing to improve your confidence in your specific performance domain.

I have identified a few areas that we work on to improve confidence while working out at FASST Performance.  These tips can be applied to anything you do.

1.  Progress not perfection- Too often I see people looking for perfection and they are hyper critical of their mistakes.  This can impact confidence and limit people from taking calculated risk.  If you focus on progress instead of being the best in the group, doing things exactly right, or always coming in first, you will set yourself up for success.  By steadily improving your skills at each training session or class, you will be excited to see how much progress you have made.

2.  Accept deficits as strengths- I often hear athletes criticize themselves for being too small, slow, or weak.  I also hear parents describe their children this way.  I know that if I tell myself that I’m small and weak, that doesn’t get me confident to go out and get into a boxing ring.  Instead of focusing on these areas of deficit and beat yourself up over them, use them to your advantage.  I know that many parents get concerned that their children are too small to play football or that their size limits them.  I played with many of undersized athletes who were able to capitalize on their other strengths.  Focus on your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.  The word extraordinary is for those who are extra ordinary.  If you always had the prototypical speed, strength, and size it wouldn’t be fun because you would have nothing to work toward.

3.  Practice mental toughness- Many times people become frustrated, fold the tent, and go home.  If you feel you are about to give in and resort to your old ways of self-doubt and discouragement, reverse the situation by embracing the challenge.  I know that I become frustrated often and when I do, I need to put the brakes on and redirect myself.  I tell myself that this is a situation that I can improve myself and concentrate on what I need to do to get through the experience.  By doing this, I strengthen my mind and build confidence when I’m faced with a difficult situation.

4.  Focus on action- There are rules everywhere….Don’t run at the pool, don’t talk with your mouth full, don’t cut in line.  We have rules from the day we step foot on this earth.  I feel limited with rules so I like to focus on expectations and actions.  When I work my teams out I like to have a standard set and the expectation level high.  Next time you catch yourself saying, don’t eat junk food, switch the self talk to, I’m going to eat a healthy piece of fruit.  This way you are taking positive action and fueling yourself for success.

5.  Go for it- If you want it, go get it!!!  Do something that you love and make it happen.  Nothing is more inspiring that having a goal, making a plan, and going after it.  The happiest and most confident people are those who are taking action and building a great life.  I’m a firm believer that no one is destined for success from birth.  That would mean that we had no control over what we do with our lives.  If that were the case, we could just shut down schools, close down gyms, and watch the people who were destined for success storm through life.  However, I do believe that we are born with some innate talents that need to be developed.  Take some chances on some things you may enjoy and learn the skills necessary to get better.  Nothing makes you more confident that learning a new skill and going home and showing someone you love.

Hope you can use these five tips to improve your confidence.  No one is born with skill.   So it is a good feeling knowing that if you aren’t confident, you can work on it.  Improve yourself daily by learning new skills, pushing yourself towards your goals, and focusing on what you can do rather on what you can’t.  If you are interested in participating in any of our programs or learning more about FASST Performance, go to the following link.

Have a great finish to your week!!!

Coach Brader

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Effort

Posted on July 8, 2012 by jbrader21

This summer I have had the opportunity to see many of the Lehigh Valley’s top coaches in action.  We travel daily to many of the top programs and push the athletes to maximize their speed, agility, and overall conditioning.  But much more than just taking the athletes through drills, we push the athletes to be the best that they can be.  One of our coaches made a comment during one of our sessions.  He said to his players, “It’s all about effort.”  When he said this simple statement, I thought back to my days as an athlete.  I heard this many times from the first time I put the pads on and the last play of my career.  It has resonated with me throughout my life and has helped me build the life I currently live.  Success is all about effort, regardless of what you pursue.

FASST has a record of building champions.  This is what I had envisioned when I first began our training program in the early 2000′s.  I took the same effort I took to condition myself as an athlete to build the skill set, create programs, save money, and mentality to push my athletes to become the best in their sport.  Along with my vision of building champions in sport, I wanted to build a climate of excellence in life.  Life is tough and like most people, I have experienced my ups and downs.  Without a strong work ethic, commitment, and belief in my abilities, I would be nowhere close to where I am today.

Back in 2009 I was fortunate to have the birth of my third child, good job, growing business, and had recently invented the reaction trainer that we were actively marketing.  This was a high point of my life that would soon turn into one of my lowest.  Five days after my wife gave birth to our third child, I found out that my teaching position was being eliminated.  To say that I was scared is an understatement.  I was terrified.  Even though I had my training facility to fall back on, my wife had recently switched jobs and I had invested a large amount into the development of the reaction trainer and the patent.  I thought to myself that this was the worst time for me to have lost my job, spend to invest in my idea, and for my wife to switch jobs.  This was one of the moments in my life that I experienced a tremendous amount of self doubt and uncertainty.  I wasn’t sure if I had what it took to move forward and pursue my dreams, build a stable family that I had envisioned, and live the life I dreamt of living.  This was a moment that I had to embrace, hold firm, and begin to utilize the same strength I needed when I lost my parents to cancer and get back on track.  From this experience I utilized the following strategies to not only get back on track but to thrive in the face of adversity.

1.  Believe- All of us have had our back to the walls and had to overcome adversity.  Instead of beating yourself up on what you lost or what you thought you would have, begin to write down what you have accomplished.  Believe in the talents that have gotten you to this point in your life and rest assure that these same talents and work ethic will help you get back on track.  Dwelling on what you can’t control will only push you further back and away from your goals.

2.  There’s no place I’d rather be than right here, right now- If you have ever watched the movie Cinderella man, James J. Braddock is asked during one of his fights, “Is there any place you’d rather be than here” and his response was no.  This is one of those scenes that inspired me to ask myself when times were tough if there is any place I’d rather be than in this current situation.  When I asked myself this question each day, I was able to inspire myself to get up and out of bed and move toward pursuing my goals.  Instead of sulking and asking myself, “why me,” this little saying helped me get up and get moving.

3.  Effort, effort, and more effort- after working with tons of athletes over the years, I find that the one’s who succeed are the ones who give consistent and steady effort.  The easy response during difficult times is to give in and ease up.  I see this when athletes get tired, the exercises become more demanding or the weather outside isn’t ideal.  It is easy to pull back than to push through.  If you are able to recognize these instances and develop the breakthrough mindset and give outstanding, consistent effort, you will be able to achieve regardless of the situation.  Persistence is key when facing challenge and when you consistently breakthrough, your confidence level will increase in the process.

Remember that tough times will come.  So will success and failure.  If you are able to have a consistent approach on how you handle both the good and bad times, you will be better prepared to achieve your goals regardless of the circumstances.  Good luck in this trek we call life and be the best you can be.

Coach Brader

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5 Seconds of Pain

Posted on June 21, 2012 by jbrader21

We challenge our athletes everyday to move closer to their goals.  When it comes to most things in life, the more difficult the challenge, the greater the motivation needed to achieve success.  Unfortunately, it’s easy to fall short with some long term goals because we want instant gratification and results.  This is often the case when training for athletics.  During the off-season, the average football player will spend approximately 32 weeks preparing.  When looking at the preparation conservatively, if they spend 5 hours a week training, they put in a total of 160 hours or the equivalent of 6.6 days for only 8 hours of game action (10 game regular season).  This is an awful lot of work for such little game action.  If we were to break it down further, most of the athletes will only play a small percentage of these contests.  So the questions is, how do you maintain motivation during this 32 week period?

We like to break the training into small bursts and remind the athletes why we are working in the grueling heat, spending hours doing sprints, weight training, and pushing our bodies to the limit.  The game comes down to inches and small bursts of electric plays.  If you can’t suck it up for 5 seconds, you will be unable to reap the benefits of stardom on Friday nights.  Below are some techniques we use to reinforce your athletes during this long stretch and have them coming back to every workout ready to rip it up.

  • Eye on the prize- make sure the athletes know why they are getting up early during their summer vacations and give them weekly incentives for attendance/effort.  I like to have teams of 5 that allow seniors to take a leadership role.  The senior is responsible for the other athletes on their team and making sure they are documenting the workout data, keeping attendance, and holding their teammates accountable.
  • Compete, Compete, Compete- Have weekly competitions that the athletes look forward to.  Keep them novel and keep score.  At the conclusion of summer, give out a prize the athletes can use that will get them out together.  Something like passes to a waterpark, local restaurants, or shirts they can wear that indicates they are hard workers who get results.
  • Keep it positive- People tend to like to be around those that are tough but encouraging.  It’s easy to get ornery when you are working with the same people, are battling the heat, and dealing with the stress of building a championship team.  I like to begin the session by framing what I expect with powerful terms.  As we move through stretch I might say, “it’s a great day today and there is no place else I’d rather be than coaching the league champion “Your Team Name Here” football team.  Last workout was outstanding and I’m ready to see you guys raise it to another level.    I have seen it first hand how the athletes give just a little more and you get better results out of the session.  A great positive attitude is something you never want to keep at home.
  • Expect the best- Expect the best and the most out of the athletes.  Keep the practices precise and maximize the athletes/coaches time.  No one wants to do things just to do them.  If you have purpose in each practice, expect the athletes to go hard, and have smooth flowing drills, the athletes and coaches know that if they go hard, they will be able to get out and enjoy their lives outside of their sport.

These are just a few things I have used over the years to keep my athletes motivated throughout the long stretch we call the off-season.  We are quite aware of the effort all of our football coaches put into preparing their teams.  It isn’t easy and if you are unable to push yourself in a practice session for 5 seconds, you will be unable to make that crushing block, bone jarring hit, or spectacular catch to lead your team to victory.  Everyone has the ability to push 5 seconds through the pain to look back and relish the memories you create on the field.

Enjoy the Heat!!!

Coach Brader

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Who We Aren’t

Posted on June 15, 2012 by jbrader21

I am often asked what we do at FASST Performance.  Often, we are asked how we compare to the competition, what type of workouts we do, and how we can help improve an athletes performance.  I think that the best way to answer who we are, is by answering who we aren’t.  The following list will enable you to learn more about who we aren’t in an attempt to help you understand what we are all about.

  1. We aren’t going to promise you increased 40 yard dash times, higher vertical jumps, 400+ pound bench press, or make any claims of how our methods will make you win a state championship.  I have been working with athletes for far too long and have assisted numerous athletes in reaching their goals.  By promising increased times, distances, and weights, it lends to a far less sophisticated approach to training and limits what the athlete can or can’t do.  We have one goal, and one goal only.  That goal is to help our athletes reach the highest level of participation in whatever sport they play.  Our system has helped our clients earn professional contracts to the NFL, MLB, Olympic Trials, and college scholarships.
  2. We aren’t going to videotape people doing what they should be doing.  That is working hard, pushing themselves to the limit, and dominating the gym.  Although we do have some video of of our athletes making some monster jumps or hammering some heavy weights, we like to limit the amount of time we are holding cameras.  The more time someone is filming, the less time the coach is coaching.  We have had some of the Lehigh Valley’s premier athletes pass through our gym and they didn’t become elite by having themselves filmed after every set.  In today’s society, anyone can put their image on Youtube.  Instead of inflating athletes egos by putting them on film, we like the response we get when our athletes are signing their letter of intent and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial aid.
  3. We aren’t’ going to lie about our backgrounds to impress our clients.  Being an insider in the strength and conditioning field, I recognize that most of our clients don’t have the knowledge that we have in the strength and conditioning field.  Because of this, we do our best to educate our potential clients.  We have seen first hand coaches putting false information on websites, videos, and other marketing materials that can fool a potential client.  You can google anyone of our coaches and see first hand what credentials they bring.  We pride ourselves on being former elite athletes as well as top level coaches.  I began as a coach and run my facility as a coach.  We have no need to falsify what we have done to impress others.  Most people are impressed by the work they see our athletes putting in at the gym and that is enough validation for our success.
  4. We aren’t going to recruit you on Facebook.  With all the recruiting services, Facebook stalkers, sports page investigators, and other people who are able to gather information at the speed of thought, we will not go after potential clients using these methods.  Our business is based off of referrals and word of mouth.  We work with many of the Lehigh Valley’s top coaches and look for a specific client.  We want our facility to be the place to be and want people who not only endorse our training system, but believe in assisting everyone in the environment improve.  I believe if you market to the masses and follow the masses, you never become the best you.  By working with people who are motivated, hard working, talented, and express a no excuse attitude, these attributes will spread to everyone around them.  It becomes contagious and outstanding results will follow.  We don’t want people who are looking for quick fixes, gimmicks, or to be part of a hangout.  We are too busy getting it done to be trolling social media, pestering high school students who need to be given a sales pitch to improve themselves.
  5. We aren’t feeling excuses.  Growing up I heard people making excuses everyday about how they were getting the short end of the stick.  They had low paying jobs, no money for education, were getting screwed over by the coach or their boss.  I found out at an early age that making excuses not only was for losers but wasted a bunch of my valuable time.  After losing my parents to cancer within 10 months, I had the opportunity to make up every excuse in the book and go down hill.  Instead I wanted to make the right choices and use adversity as a tool to make a better life.  It wastes my time hearing others excuses and it wastes mine making my own.  We have people who drive hours to workout at my place.  Not because of specialized equipment, our glamorous workout environment, or a computer program.  They come because of the people involved and the results our clients get.  If you are traveling to our facility from outside the area, our address will remain the same.  The distance you travel will not change, the cost of training has remained relatively the same, and the workouts will continue to be intense.  My wife and I have three children of our own and realize that with anything worthwhile, there will be sacrifice.  It has never made sense to me when someone tells me that a 20 minute drive is too far.  In our world, there really isn’t a difference between 10, 20, or 30 minutes if you know what you want to get out of the trip.  I know from the moment the athlete steps foot in the gym, with or without a parent, who will become part of our exclusive team.  It will be the person who isn’t looking for excuses for why they can’t but looking for reasons they can succeed.  Results aren’t cheap and they shouldn’t be.  We aren’t going to provide discounts for elite athletes or for younger children.  We will though offer you a no excuse environment that will help you be the best you!!!!!  It has been this no excuse, no nonsense approach that has enabled me to be the first person in my family to become a college graduate, earn a spot in my college hall of fame, and build a successful business with the help of all of our motivated and committed athletes.  We take our hats off to all of you and if you’re reading this, you are probably one of our no excuse making clients who have been crushing the opponents.

I think that by learning who we aren’t you will now have a clearer picture of who we are.  We thank you for taking the time to read this and appreciate all of your business.  Next time you are thinking about who you are, take a little time and figure out who you aren’t.  This may be a great approach in helping you become the person you want to be!!!

Have a great weekend,

Coach Brader

Categories: Mental Edge, Training Tips | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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