EXOS and ACSM recently hosted an industry-presented QnA webinar with Performance Specialist Tristan Rice.

View the full webinar here

Several questions were asked by attendees during the webinar and the answers are below.

Q: Are the free CEC courses valid in Canada?

Absolutely!

We're working on finding a host site to deliver our courses live in Canada, but the XPS (online equivalent to our phase 1 performance mentorship) offers 24 CEU hours through the ACSM. There are several webinars on the ACSM website that provide free CECs/CEUs to ACSM certified and members; these include, but not limited to, movement preparation, the behavior upgrade model, multidirectional speed, and integrating nutrition into training.

View the free CECcourses at ACSM ceOnline 

Q: How do you motivate a client that starts out with enthusiasm but within a month or so loses their motivation?

Every person has a reason for coming in the door on day one.  The point of the initial evaluation is to figure out what that is.  "Hi my name's Tristan, I'll be your coach.  How can I help?"  Day 1 week 1 you're likely to get a pretty thin answer "coach I want to lose weight" and that's fine!  Day 1 week 1 that's all you need, because (as you noted) that'll get you about two weeks or so.

So, in that time, you have another conversation "why do you want to lose weight?" and they may respond "Well, I've gained a couple of pounds since college, and I really just want to get back down there."  Cool!  You just bought yourself another two weeks (or so).  Then, "why do you want to get back down to your college weight?" "Well, I used to play (sport) and play pickup on the weekends, and just don't feel like I can do the things that I used to be able to."  Cool, two(ish) more weeks.

"Why do you want to be able to do the things you did in college?" "Well, that's when I met my wife, and she just doesn't look at me like she used to."  Now you're getting somewhere.  Of course, that's all hypothetical, but also based on my experience with that conversation working with general population for five years.  People come to us for some deeper reason than "I want to lose weight."  That may have gotten them through the door, but that's definitely not what it's about for them.

Coaching ultimately is about helping people figure out what that reason is, because most of the time, they don't even know (even though it's driven them to sign up with you in the first place).  Motivation is the reason or reasons that anyone has for doing anything, and exists on a continuum of extrinsic (something external to the person "coach I want to lose weight") to intrinsic (something internal to the person "I workout because it's part of my self-identity").  Coaching is about moving someone along the continuum from extrinsic, to intrinsic motivation.  If you're interested more in specific ways to do this, research the "Self-Determination Theory" by Deci and Ryan. 

Q: What made you want to work at EXOS?

When I did my internship, something that I realized right away was that EXOS was a company that was founded on humility.  It wasn't just another "Body by..." cult of personality places.  One thing that stood out to me right away was that it wasn't just Mark (Verstegen) sitting at the top writing all the programming and the coaches just delivering it, but rather it was Mark and a team of like-minded coaches who had this idea back in the mid-90s that became the EXOS training system.  It's like they drew the lines, and the coaches were there to color it in however they saw fit.

It wasn't just a place where one person, or a small crew of people were solving all of the issues, but a system which was based on the principle that what became the training system was founded on the idea that those coaches were capable of taking it to its full potential.  That there would need to be a team of like-minded coaches who would be able to seamlessly integrate to really stretch, and test the boundaries of the system. 

Q: As a recent college grad, what are some options for us in relation to clinical/S&C opportunities?

Depends on what you mean by college.  Internships are always available, and if you're looking to get into the strength and conditioning world, they're all-but mandatory.  If you've just finished your undergrad and are looking to go into a masters program, seeking out schools with a GA program as well where you'll be able to work in performance with the school's athletes to gain real-world experience. 

Q: Hello. I have 2 questions: I am a CPT and going to school to be a dietitian in LA, are there internship opportunities for nutrition with your facility?

Second question is, how did you find yourself in EXOS?

1. Yes absolutely.  Go to this page for more information

2. By accident really.  I was working as a personal trainer at a YMCA in Los Angeles, and wanted to get into the performance world.  So, I did some searching online for internships with the professional sports teams in LA and found EXOS (Athletes' Performance back then) and applied.

That was the summer before my last year at school, so I was lucky enough to work part-time for the next year and a half as I finished at university (and a bit beyond).  From there I moved to Chicago to work at a temporary facility that we had there for a year before moving to Phoenix, AZ in 2011.  I was a full-time coach 2008-2015 and have been full-time in education ever since.

Q: I'm a Physical Activity in Public Health Specialist & I'm wondering what specific communal & systematic benefits I can learn from the EXOS online courses.

So, our courses are based on the fundamental premise that while "coach I want to improve my fitness" is an incredibly easy request to make, it's an incredibly difficult request to fulfill.  For example, are you a football player that needs to be quicker, and more agile?  Are you general population, and need to drop some body fat, or reduce your cholesterol?  Context ends up being incredibly important.  But, for arguments sake, let's say you wanted to get stronger.  Cool, let's program some push-ups.  But how many different versions of push-ups are there?  Feet elevated (to make them harder) hands elevated (to make them easier) knees/shins/ankles on a foam roll to progressively add body weight/load to someone as they gain strength.  Hands on kettlebells, or medicine balls to work on wrist/shoulder stability, how about a band from hand to hand around your back to add resistance, and any and all combinations?

The fact of personal training/strength and conditioning is that we've got a lot of options.  Our education programs are an attempt to show the logic and organization to how we organize the tools in our toolbox so that we're best able to meet our clients where they are, and work on their individual definition of fitness. 

Q: What type of students are you looking for when looking at internship applications?

US based students who are near the end of their curricula and are looking for a capstone type experience to give practical application to the theoretical content that's covered in most university programs.  You need to receive university credit for your time, and also be able to provide your own housing.  Apart from that, it's like I borrowed from Mike Boyle, “I can teach you to be smart, I can't teach you to be nice.”

Above all, we're looking for students who are willing to learn, who are willing to work, who are looking to take advantage of the opportunity to work with professional athletes, general population, and youth athletes all in the same shift.