Original subtitles

In this presentation, we're going to take you through the EXO's training system.

Our home is our castle, and we want to expose you to the blueprints that we utilized from

our foundation all the way up to the peak of our roof.

We're going to give you that inside look.

This is our attempt to show you everything that we've done to hopefully inform you and

give you the tools that you might need to use when you start building your castle or you

start renovating that castle so that it looks the way you want it to look.

We're not just going to talk about the raw materials though.

Hopefully we have a deep understanding as to why we built this castle to begin with.

This is extremely important.

If we think about the golden circle that Simon Sinek talks about, it's not just the water

the how, ultimately it's the why.

That's where we're going to make our connection and hopefully that why we'll continue to filter

every choice that we make from beginning to end and who knows when that end comes so

we have to know why we do what we do every day.

The objectives of this presentation are going to be to identify and explain the difference

between training methods and the training system, identify and define the mission goals, pillars

and process within the EXO's training system.

And lastly, identify and describe the eight primary training components and all associated

sub components within the EXO's training system.

The very first question that we have to ask ourselves and it's a very important question

is what is the difference between a system and a method?

Right now we can say unequivocally that for the most part our field is dominated by what

methods our clients and our coaches are using.

Every day there's a litany of information that you're going to be exposed to.

Your clients are probably more educated than they've ever been before in this particular

space.

And you're going to have a greater variety of methods afforded to you in order to help

you achieve the goals and results that your clients are asking you for.

This is not necessarily just a methods presentation.

This is a systems presentation.

And it's very, very important that we make that distinction right at the onset.

So if we're going to define what a method is, a method simply is or can be simply classified

as a procedure, technique or a single way of doing something.

When you walk into your weight room, if you're a client or an athlete that's watching this,

you may not necessarily be a coach, but you just want to increase your knowledge on what's

going on in the space.

When you walk into your particular gym, if you're thinking of building a gym in your

own home, thinking about outfitting your garage that you're able to train the way that you

want to train without a coach, if you're thinking about taking a different step or a

different direction in your life, bets are you're going to rule a lot of your decisions

based on what methods or what tools you're going to be able to put in that gym or based

on what tools and methods you're going to utilize in the gym that you're currently going to.

Understanding how these methods work is going to be very, very important, but to the greater

whole, to the greater whole of you being able to achieve your results, it's better to understand

how all of these different methods work in concert with each other.

How is one thing that you're choosing affecting something else that you've chosen within the

bent of your entire program?

So when we start to talk about a system, a system can be classified as a coordinated

body of methods forming a complex or singular whole.

Understanding the nature of the interaction of all these various methods is what we're

striving to achieve here in terms of teaching you what our system is.

Methodology.

Methodology can be a tricky word.

We'll utilize the word methodology here to give us some context, but understand ultimately

we are not necessarily presenting you with a singular methodology.

We're not going to present you a singular tool and say this is how you use this tool

for X, Y and Z.

That's not our goal here.

We're not selling you a singular product.

Method there's anything wrong with the methodologies that exist, but understand that there's going

to be a fundamental difference.

If you want to be certified in utilizing a kettlebell or if you want to be certified

in utilizing TRX, in those particular cases, you will be learning a methodology for that

particular certification.

With that single tool, that certification and that methodology is going to teach you

everything that you would need to know about how to use that tool in any circumstance.

The issue that we want to avoid here is what happens if you do not have that tool at your

disposal.

We understand that many of our clients and many of our athletes don't simply stay in

one space.

Bets are if they're traveling.

If we're working with a special forces and they're deployed, anything, any environment

that you're in, we don't want you to be dictated by the tools that are around you or the method

that you have your exposure to, we want to make sure that you understand what it is

you ultimately want to achieve and then you can select the methods that you want depending

upon what you have at your disposal.

But it doesn't change your ability to achieve your results.

Defining that system is going to be very important and that's what we're going to work on

today.

Methods are sensitive to change over time and are not always robust across the diversity

of context.

So just like I said, we don't want to be hamstrung or handcuffed by the methods that we have

and we understand some things may not always lead you to achieving the results that you

want.

The system on the other hand is going to be resilient and it's designed to handle the

diversity of context while having the capacity to adapt over time.

So if we look at this particular picture here, that single bamboo rod is like a method, but

we understand that there's a lot more resilience.

We can actually build that raft.

We can actually traverse waters.

If we put all of those rods together, it is the complete design of all those rods in

a system that is going to allow it to be resilient against whatever it is we encounter.

So systems are always going to be designed with an understanding that no one component

is too small as a small influence can have a big impact.

This is very important as well.

We're going to go over a number of things over the course of this certification.

We're going to expose you to a number of different components and sub-components within this

particular presentation.

We're going to hear things like pillar preparation.

When we have strength and power, nutrition, mindset, understand that no one thing necessarily

is more important than the other.

The overall importance is how we get all those things to work together.

Every one of them has an equal weight.

No one thing is greater than the other piece.

It's how they function together that is going to allow us to help us achieve our results.

19th century SES than poet Ralph Walorma said, asked the methods there may be a million and

then some, but principles are few.

The men who grasp principles can successfully select his own methods.

The men who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.

No sure words have been spoken.

Your principles should guide your method selection.

If we're thinking about being in focus, thinking about a camera, if all we did was

focus on being zoomed in all the time, we'd miss everything on the outside.

Essentially that's what it's like living in a highly focused world when we only think

about methods.

This blinds us to the environment around us.

When we think about principles first, being in that wide angle lens, taking in as much

information as possible, then we have a better understanding of what things we want to choose

to focus on.

Essentially we want to build our principles first as our main guide.

Training systems defined.

So now we're going to define our training system.

When we start thinking about defining our training system, the very first thing that

we want to approach is developing our mission.

Your mission statement, whether you work for a company or if you work for yourself, is

going to be supremely important as this will guide all of the decisions that you make.

As you grow and as companies grow, as they have more opportunities afforded to them,

as they are exposed to a more diverse clientele base that's going to ask for different things,

is always your mission statement that is going to keep you on course.

There are a lot of times where you'll try to do separate things, incorporate different

ideas, different methods, different philosophies.

This mission statement is going to be that filter and for us, our mission statement is

simply this.

To provide the finest performance systems, specialists, and facilities seamlessly integrated to

efficiently and ethically enhance our athletes performance.

This is the mantra and the code that we live by.

Anytime we meet someone, anytime we're proposed with a new piece of equipment that should

exist on our floors that will purportedly help our athletes achieve their finest performance,

it has to go through this filter.

Can we seamlessly integrate this particular product, this particular method, this particular

thought process into the system that exists?

If the answer is no, then we know unequivocally that it does not exist in our space.

If the answer is yes, then we know we can start to assimilate that.

So when we think about key components to this particular mission statement, for us, seamless

integration is going to be the first thing.

We understand that everything is interconnected.

Just like we said, it's all about a system.

No one thing is more important than the other.

The next key point to this mission statement, efficiently and ethically enhancing our athletes'

performance.

We believe in utilizing not just science, but the discipline and the passion of our performance

specialists as our guides and as our beacons to helping enhance our athletes' performance.

The accountability not just of our performance specialists, but the accountability that we

place on our athletes and on our clients, understanding that together we are a team and

we can't just be accountable, but they have to be accountable as well.

Those are the tenets that we're going to stick to in order to enhance our athletes'

performance, which means no pharmaceutical enhancement.

This is something that we are not shy about saying.

We believe in being disciplined.

We believe in trying to do everything that we can to stay on the cutting edge.

We believe in science.

And we believe that by building a relationship with our clients, we won't need pharmaceutical

help.

This way, we have our mission designed, set up and established as a filter to make sure

that everything that comes within our doors, product, client or otherwise, will be seamlessly

integrated into a system that we know will work.

The next piece, our goals.

The mission statement is going to allow us to define what it is we want to achieve, but

then we have to know how to get there.

Our goals are simply going to be to improve performance.

This goes without saying.

We understand that you give us the responsibility of helping you achieve and improve your performance.

Nine times out of ten, we understand without question and without having to ask questions

that this is why you're here.

You have a goal in mind, our responsibility is to help you achieve it.

And so that becomes our goal as well.

However, we understand that injury and the focus and the impact that injuries have on

improving performance can't be understated.

So we also have an equal responsibility to doing what we need to do to decrease injury

and reduce injury potential.

It is a goal that exists all the time for us.

We have to weigh out this balance and there's going to be a bit of a counterbalance here.

There's going to be a return on investment and a risk of injury.

We always talk about ROI.

What we invest has to have that risk of injury element attached to it.

So decreasing injury potential will always be another one of our goals.

Motivation through education.

If you're watching this, you get this.

If you're watching this, you understand something and already we are on the right path to having

a relationship where there's a commonality between us.

We believe without equivocation, no matter who comes in our doors, that they get to

be educated on everything that we do.

We don't simply want to tell people to do what to do because we said it.

We want to make sure that they completely understand because we know that that education is ultimately

going to empower them.

We don't expect them to stay with us forever.

And what I mean by that is we understand that by either working with clients or athletes,

there's going to be a time when they leave us and they should have the power to be able

to execute the systems and the principles that we're helping to provide.

Lastly, there have to be results.

Our goal is always to make sure that we're doing everything in our power to help you

achieve your results.

At the end of the day, it's about you.

At the end of the day, it's about your clients.

And our goal is to make sure that we do whatever we can to help you get there.

Once we've gotten past that, we're digging a little bit deeper.

The last two pieces are extremely important.

They're the whys we do what we do, but they're not necessarily the what's.

When we start getting to the what's, we start talking about the actual elements that we're

going to utilize to help you achieve those results.

We call these our pillars.

When we talked about building that house and showing you the blueprint, these are the

things that are going to hold up the structure, not just the foundation, but the actual pillars

that are going to make sure that every floor that we scale is going to be sound and solid.

And our pillars are mindset, nutrition, movement, and recovery.

So while we've been saying that no one thing is particularly more important than another,

we do want to think of these in a hierarchy.

Mindset comes first.

Mindset is about dedicating oneself towards a goal with a full understanding of what it

requires to accomplish that goal.

This is extremely important.

Of all the pillars, I would have to say that this is the one we're trying to make the

most strides scientifically, but for the most part, we have people that understand this intuitively.

We have people that understand this.

Nutrition provides the foundational support to fuel the mind and body and maximize performance.

Again, if we're thinking about keywords, one keyword that we're looking at here is fuel,

and the second key phrase is maximizing performance.

The field of nutrition is very robust.

It's research dominated.

We understand that things that come out today may be disputed tomorrow.

At the end of the day, we look at nutrition from the prospect of how we're fueling ourselves

for maximizing performance.

We understand that we're trying to set out and accomplish a goal, so we have a fuel mindset

when we think about how we utilize food to help us achieve our goals.

Thirdly, movement.

Movement is essential for improving performance, and it's about moving your body better.

There's a reason why we choose the word movement and not exercise.

Exercise connotes a specific time that you're doing something.

I'm going to go exercise for an hour, for a half an hour, maybe for two hours.

This is not about having a specific time frame.

This is about how we move all the time, improving our movement skills.

So it's not just what you're doing at the gym.

It's about how you walk, how you run, how you pick your kids up or carry groceries, how

you climb up or down the stairs.

Movement is going to have a huge impact on everything that you do, and we want to make

sure that not just within the hour that you're at the gym, but all the time that you're

experiencing while you're on your feet, on your knees, on your back, whatever position

that you may be in, you're moving optimally.

Lastly, recovery.

And again, these are not in an order of importance.

They're all equally important, so it's not that recovery comes last that we should think

about this last.

When we get into the recovery presentation, we're going to really hammer this point

home, but recovery has to become part of the mindset.

It is also a training mindset.

For defining recovery, recovery allows the mind and the body to re-energize and prepare

for the next day's activity.

But it can't go unemphasized that recovery is supremely important.

And again, we're going to do everything in our power to empower you with everything

that you need to make sure that you're recovering optimally.

The process.

We understand that at the end of the day, we want to be able to live and respect our process.

When we think about taking these pieces, diving deeper, when we talk about our system process,

we talk about evaluating, isolating, innovating, and integrating.

It can be a mouthful.

First thing, we understand that when people walk through our doors, client or athlete,

we have to figure out all of the pertinent information about them.

We want to know who they are, what their goals are.

We want to know what physical conditions they are in right now, both biomechanically and

physiologically.

So our evaluation process is going to drive the prioritization of the training system

relative to that individual.

Again, we're not trying to create a box.

And this system is not a box.

It's a collection of tools that allows you to design the box that your clients and athletes

ask you to help them build.

We're building their framework, and it has to start evaluating them.

This is going to allow you to build intelligent, specific, individualized programs.

The system is going to allow you to do this efficiently and ethically, and it's also going

to make it effective.

Starting with evaluating is going to be very important.

Next, isolating.

Most people don't want to admit it, but there are going to be weak links.

We essentially want to make sure that we're able to identify what those weak links are,

work on those weak links, while also fortifying the strong links.

We want to really refine the entire system.

So by isolating, what we're going to do is we're going to isolate the individual dysfunctions

and correct them using focused methods and strategies.

There are a number of different ways that you can achieve this, and we're going to go

into these in a bit more detail.

Interveting.

Once we start to progress past evaluation and isolating these particular dysfunctions,

we now have to start innovating them or reincorporating them into some of these greater movements.

So when we talk about innovation, we talk about innovating specific patterns to practice

and refine upcoming movement skills.

We want to make sure that, again, we're advancing these things, but not going too far ahead.

Lastly, we'll integrate.

When we integrate, we're going to take those specific patterns at the speed, force, and

direction relevant to either sport or life.

That's when you're out running.

That's how we're going to take each person through this particular process to help them

achieve their goals within our system.

Check for learning.

Write down three to five sentences describing your personal mission or core values that

would be a part of your mission.

Again, this is going to be the filter.

This is going to exist forever.

Hopefully your core value is while we understand that you're going to take on some new things,

you'll be solid enough so that 10 years from now, you can say, I understand why I made

these decisions.

This is supremely important.

Take your time in writing this down, but it's very important that you are able to identify

what your core values are and that they exist in everything that you do.

Secondly, write down three to five lines describing the importance of the system and the difference

between a method-based versus a system-based approach.