Back at the start of this year I began advertising personal training services on Craig's List as the owner of Steadfast Fitness. If any readers here have ever tried advertising any service on Craig's List, I'm sure you know how bad the spam is. Well, in late March, I got one thing that actually caught my attention - a voicemail from a representative of GymTicket.com, a fitness leads website.
I tried it out and stuck with it for three and a half months, and I'm not really pleased. I was skeptical of the website to begin with, but it looked legit enough and the rep who called me tried very hard to answer any questions I had, so I thought I'd give it a shot. In hindsight, I was right to be skeptical. I wouldn't call it a scam, but it's not worth the money.
Here's how the site works:
1. You register with the GymTicket, provide them with your basic information and a credit card for your account, then they give you a space on their website. You can later fill in this space with details about what your gym or personal training studio has to offer.
2. Someone online finds your ad there by searching for gyms in their area on GymTicket.
3. They give you their contact information (name, email, phone, and possibly address) in exchange for some free service (a session, consultation, evaluation, etc.).
4. GymTicket charges you $6 for helping you get that potential client.
5. You call and email that potential client, and never get a response, leaving you down and out $6 and however much time you spent trying to contact that lead.
Here are the problems with it:
1. No one needs GymTicket. How did GymTicket find you? By searching Craig's List. How will your potential clients find you? By searching Craig's List. It's that simple. They don't need GymTicket to find a gym or personal trainer. Even Google (or better yet, Google Maps) does a fine job of helping people find nearby services.
2. You get passive leads. When someone submits their info to you on GymTicket, they wait for you to contact them. Right from the get-go, they're taking the back seat. If they really cared to train at your gym or studio, they would contact you, rather than wait for you to contact them. In fact, I'm not even so sure that the people submitting their info even realize that you're going to contact them. They might just be giving you their info on a whim - but that costs you $6.
3. You get useless leads. When searching for reviews of GymTicket before registering with them, most of the comments I found were people recommending that you use it to get free gym passes while you're on vacation. So, your leads might not even be from your area, in which case, they definitely aren't going to sign up for any long-term services with you. For me, that's not a problem, since I'm running a personal training studio, not a gym, but that's just me.
4. You don't get enough leads. Since I registered on March 28th, I've gotten four leads. Four. I was told to expect single digits each month for the area I'm working in (Prince George's County MD, just north of Washington DC), and yeah, I guess "0" is a single-digit number, but not quite the kind I was expecting. Let's arbitrarily say 1 in 10 of the leads GymTicket gives you is good. Then, for me, that's going to take about nine months and $60 to get someone in my gym, who might not even sign up for any paid services. Are you really going to wait nine months to maybe get a client?
5. You get sketchy leads. The first lead I got was the very first day I signed up, within six hours of my account being made, and before I ever got to put any information up aside from my company's name. That was just suspicious. What was more suspicious was how I called around half a dozen times over the next week at varying times of day, and never got anyone to answer the phone, ever. My second lead came just over a month later, once I actually had some worthwhile info up on my ad. This woman's phone number went directly to voice mail! No rings! Straight to voicemail! I typically don't leave voicemails, since I think they're a very weak way to communicate. So, I tried an email, a thorough but concise message. Didn't get a response, so I tried calling back a few days later. Once again, straight to voice mail. Leads 3&4 were a pair - two sisters, supposedly. For one of them, the phone number was a disconnected line. (That's 301-731-4963, if you'd like to waste a minute of your time. Please note, that's a disconnected line as of July 13th, 2009 - It might not be if you actually try calling it.) So, I tried calling the other sister. Aha! An answer! But she was very wishy-washy, surprised that someone actually called, and told me she'd get back to me with a time that'd work for both her and her sister. She didn't, naturally, so I called back a few days later. This time, no response, and I even left a voicemail this time. Of course, she's never going to get back to me, because she didn't ever expect me to ever even contact her in the first place.
I didn't even get to speak with most of these leads, but I had to pay for them. Phones that go straight to voicemail? Disconnected lines? What is this? That's outrageous. Don't the employees at GymTicket even bother to confirm this stuff to make sure it's real?
Maybe if you're some large gym, like a Bally's or a Gold's, you can get a good number of leads, and maybe one out of thirty will pan out well, then sign a 12-month contract for $60 a month plus $300 signing, putting you in the green, but it's not going to be any good for a personal trainer. With this whole model, you're down before you're up too. You've got to pay right away, then convince your lead to come in, then give your potential client the free time he or she agreed to by giving you the contact info through GymTicket, then you've got to get your potential client to actually become a client! You're going to be wasting a lot of time and money before you ever get a full-time client from GymTicket's service.
You can't close these leads. In sales, you've got to remember to do your ABC's - Always Be Closing. But you can't close these deadbeat leads. You can't get on a good streak with these weak leads - especially when you're not even getting two a day. But that's okay, I don't have to eat this month. I could give GymTicket $50 and 20% and I still wouldn't get any good leads. It doesn't matter who it is who writes his or her name down. The leads are deadbeats. Might as well be Ravadam Patel!
(You've got to see "Glengarry Glen Ross" - it's originally a play, but also a film with Al Pacino.)
Monday, July 13, 2009
GymTicket.com - A fitness leads service, not worth the money.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thursday, 7/9/2009 - Saturday, 7/11/2009
Thursday, 7/9/2009:
Stress: moderate
Diet: good
Sleep: 8 solid
Spacebar: 67
Right Shoulder: Fine
Turns out push-ups are what I needed for the shoulder, not even full push-ups either, just going from a plank on the hands to really pushing your from your shoulders as high as you can possibly get. This helps work on scapular protraction. It helped much more than rows or internal/external rotations. I'll keep doing a few throughout the day and see how that helps.
Did some vigorous cleaning today - I mean the house, not a barbell. The glutes specifically are very sore from yesterday's clean complex.
Friday, 7/10/2009:
Stress: moderate
Diet: good
Sleep: 3-4 + 5
Spacebar: 58 (45 minutes after the first wake-up
Right Shoulder: Fine, push-ups helped
Got up early for a client who ended up canceling. Going back to bed right now for another 3-5 hours. Had trouble falling asleep last night. First my nasal passages and throat were congested, then I was simply restless. I've noticed a great increase in nasal mucus since drinking milk again (up from none to a substantial amount) and my asthma has even kicked in a very little bit a few times I tried to go to bed, including last night. Taking my inhaler (which I have from my childhood) helps with that instantly, but this could honestly be some psychological feeling and a placebo effect. It does get very hot in my bedroom sometimes. Anyway, the milk is definitely to blame for my allergies, but right now, it's bettering my health through improved strength and weight than it is hurting it, so it stays.
And milkshakes taste too good.
Saturday, 7/11/2009:
Stress: moderate
Diet: low
Sleep: 9, lightly distrubed
Spacebar: 63 (done in the evening pre-workout)
Right Shoulder: A bit of pain, once again from sleeping funny. Push-ups throughout the day helped.
Was visiting home Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, so my diet was skimpy.
Workout:
KB Snatch Warm-up.
2" Axle Push-Press:
- 3x5: 40-50-60kg
- 4x3: 70-80-85-91kg x2+F
Backsquat:
- 60-70-80-90-100kg
- 110-115-120-125-130-135kg (F)
Barbell Complex, 1 set with 45kg:
- 5 snatch 1st pulls
- 5 snatch balances
- 5 (snatch-grip power position power shrugs + hang snatch)
- 8 snatch-grip behind the neck Sots (push) presses
Hook Grip Hold, 192.5kg: 16s
Cool-down walk.
Notes:
- No pain on the push-presses. Still dipping deep though. Missed the last rep by a smidge. Leaned back too far, then had to bend from the knees to keep the bar over my area of base. Once that happened, the bar immediately was dumped behind me.
- Backsquats were iffy. Really need to focus on those knees again. I'll try this for a while longer. If this doesn't work, two things that have helped in the past are speed squat intervals with a relatively light weight and Askem squats. So, it may be time to get back to one or both of them. Maybe.
- The snatch complex went very well. Perfect technique on pretty much everything. The hang snatches had a bit of early heel rise, but the extensions from the power position were absolutely amazing.
- My thumbs are slowly growing to tolerate the hook grip. That single hold did leave a lot of blood throbbing through them though.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday, 7/6/2009 - Wednesday, 7/8/2009
Monday, 7/6/2009:
Stress: mild
Diet: good
Sleep: 8 sort of broken
Spacebar: 67
Right Shoulder: Fine
My back is very sore today. Diet was good yesterday, but is going to be more weight-maintenance oriented, rather than weight gain.
Went for an awesome 45 minute walk today, going through some woods nearby the house. It was fun climbing some of the steep hills and such in the area and taking some odd paths. Barefoot, of course.
Tuesday, 7/7/2009:
Stress: mild
Diet: decent
Sleep: 9, broken
Spacebar: 66
Right Shoulder: Fine.
Foam rolled while listening to some video from EliteFTS. Good ideas there. I'm not going to start doing Westside, since I'm no powerlifter and I'm doing fine and dandy with my semi-linear progression, but the ideas behind it are intriguing. Dave Tate also teaches some sound principles that can be applied to any training methodology.
Wednesday, 7/8/2009:
Stress: mild
Diet: poor (to few calories, bad composition)
Sleep: 3.5 + 5 (had early morning clients to train)
Spacebar: 63 (after the 5 hour "sleep")
Right Shoulder: In some pain from the second sleep.
I'm glad today is a light day. Iced the shoulder before working out. Will do some light rehab work on it today.
Workout:
KB TGU warm-up, with 16kg Upside-Down and 32kg regular.
2" Axle Bench Press:
- 5x3: 70-80-85-90-95kg
- 1x1, 100kg (for the hell of it)
Zercher Deadlifts:
- 3x5: 70-90-92kg
Barbell Complex, 2 sets with 60kg:
- 5 clean 1st pull
- 5 clean-grip power position power shrugs
- 5 hang power cleans + ride down front squat
- 5 behind the neck split jerks
- 10 alternating lunges
Cool-down walk.
Post-workout meal.
Gymkana.
Notes:
- I'm starting to see why powerlifters say the lockout of the bench press is all triceps. Feeling good today. Hit bodyweight for an easy single and could definitely get two big plates on each side if I went to gym that actually had them. (I've got only a 255lb steel set, two 100lb steel plates, then 880lbs of bumpers.) Had a bit of trouble getting the bar out of the pins. Had to really extend to get over, made my right elbow feel funny. Need to set the spotter bars at 5 from the bottom and the pins five above that.
- Zercher Deadlifts ought to be called Life Suckers. Honestly. I'll continue to raise the third set's weight by 2kg each time... Nice and slowly so I can get used to the round-back lifting.
- I videotaped the second complex set with the barbell and was actually pleased with how it looked. The last two power cleans were getting a bit iffy with early arms, but the rest of the pulls were perfect. Relaxing the arms completely really, really, really helps with that. Got to stop those elbows from collapsing in on the front squats. Keep them up, forward, and pull the whole shoulder in. Jerks were a bit unstable. Need to bring the front first in too, not the back foot. I'm not used to that left-right balance with the feet out of line. Lunges were the same thing.
- Finished lifting around 6PM, then I remembered there was Gymkana today. Needless to say, I was not feeling too well up to it after lifting, but I went anyway. Managed to get my muscle-up back, but it was very sloppy. Had some good handstand work. I need stronger wrists - rice bucket time. Also tried some ring swings. I'm still popping the hips forward, which is a bad thing, and I'm told a result of me pushing and pulling to hard from the shoulders. I need to let the hips do the work and just have the arms follow through afterwards.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Barefooting in Nature
I'm a barefooter - I have been for about three and a half months. Most of my walking is on concrete, asphalt, grass, tile, wood, etc. I have no problems with that. Today, I tried something new. I went for a walk through some local woods, barefoot, of course.
That's an entirely different experience.
Man-made surfaces, including things like lawns, are all perfectly flat. The forest floor is not. Walking across roots and natural gravel (not the smooth, rounded stuff you buy at Home Depot) is completely different, and mildly painful. I'm sure I'll get used to it if I do it a few more times, but I was really surprised at how unprepared my feet were for walking on natural terrain. The way the pressure was dispersed was entirely different.
Even without shoes, my feet are pampered.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Friday, 7/3/2009 - Sunday, 7/5/2009
Friday, 7/3/2009:
Stress: low
Diet: good
Sleep: 9, sort of floaty, but not that bad
Spacebar: 68 (minutes after waking)
Went for a nice hour long walk. Doing some stretching in a little bit. During the walk, I noticed some real nice logs in the park, some of which would make a good lifting log... Maybe once my old, cheap barbell (that I use for one-arm overhead lifts) breaks I'll be "recycling" the sleeves and some of the knurled part of the shaft... It's funny how I see a log and immediately think "Hey, something to lift!"
I think I'm going to start adding strap-grip (tuck front lever?) pull-ups to all of my workouts now, as some additional grip and back work. That might help with the right shoulder.
Today, after finishing my food for the day, I weighed in at 229.4lbs. Hell yeah. Of course, that's after eating, so most of that will be gone by tomorrow at 5PM when I start tomorrow's feeding window (I'm still following intermittent fasting out of habit). However, I think it may be time for some slight changes in the way I go about gaining weight, which I'm detailing in another post. (While having three days per post makes it easier to count back to reference the workouts, it also does make the posts very long.)
Saturday, 7/4/2009:
Stress: low
Diet: good
Sleep: 8, with a semi-conscious early waking + 0.75hr nap in the evening
Spacebar: 64 (minutes after getting out of bed)
Not much to say. Happy Forth of July.
Sunday, 7/5/2009:
Stress: low
Diet: decent
Sleep: 8 broken + 2 nap pre-workout
Spacebar: 62 upon waking, 75 half an hour post workout
Right Shoulder: recovering
Workout:
Bent Press warm-up, 32kg KB
Press:
- 2x3: 50-60kg
- 5x1: 65-70-73-75kg
Deadlift:
- 1x3, 120kg
- 1x2, 140kg
- 1x1, 155kg
- 5x1, 170kg
Barbell Complex, 2 sets with 40kg:
- 5 snatch 1st pulls
- 5 snatch-grip power position power shrugs
- 5 snatch balances
- 5 tall snatches
- 5 snatch-grip behind the neck Sots (push) presses
OA Bench Suppported Rows:
- 3x5, 16+24kg KB's (popcorn style; 40kg total)
Cool-down walk.
Notes:
- Despite the length of the workout when written down, it only lasted 85 minutes. Pretty good. Left me feeling refreshed.
- Pressing was great today. Just popped that bar up. Stuck with the presses again since I don't want to aggravate the right shoulder.
- Deadlifts were all cake. Singles #2 and #3 had some back rounding, but I cleaned up for the last ones. Held single #5 for about 10 seconds after the rep to help deaden those damn nerves in the thumbs. Nerves. Who needs 'em? The hook grip wasn't anywhere close to failing.
- The complex was pretty challenging. I'm glad I started with just 40kg. Technique overall felt nice, aside from the tall snatches. They just can't go that heavy. The Sots presses were done with a little bit of hip heave from the bottom squat position to help me get through a mildly painful point at the start of the press, and because my arms were just getting tired.
- The KB rows were done "full-body" style and felt really nice. Over the past few days, I've begun to realize that I'm getting rounded-forward shoulders from a lack of concentric back work (as opposed to isometrics in the deadlift, Zercher, etc.). The popcorn style KB hold wasn't a challenge for my grip at all, surprisingly. Also, the KB work in the warm-up was great.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Prep for 8/22/2009 Weightlifting Meet
It seems that the only local weightlifting meet for the rest of the year is on 8/22 (in Frederick MD, I think). I was hoping there would be another meet in York PA in mid-September like there was last year, but apparently it's just a master's competition this year. That means my next meet is in seven weeks, so I've got to make some training changes.
Lately, I've been working out every third day (a 9-day cycle), with something like this:
Very brief, generic warm-up.
One of the following pairs, for 3-6 sets (including heavy warm-ups) of 1-3 reps:
A: 2" Axle Bench Press, Zercher Squats/Zercher Deadlifts
B: 2" Axle Push-presses, Backsquats
C: 2" Axle Push-presses, Deadlifts
Any rehab work.
Some grip, conditioning, or overhead support work.
However, some things are very new here. For example, I only just recently started rotating the Zercher deadlifts in there (since the Zercher squats are extremely draining) and I only just brought backsquats back after doing several weeks of light feed-forward tension style Askem squats (which really helped, I think). The 9-day schedule is also new, since I was previously working on a 7-day. But, all these changes happened simultaneously in response to getting overworked by Zerchers and deadlifts every week, and the response has been good so far.
All in all, I want to stick with this template still and ride it a bit farther, since I've been making pretty steady progress and having fun since mid-April when I started working something vaguely similar to this. However, I do have to make some changes with the meet in mind.
My goal was to hit a 225lb push-press, 315lb backsquat, and 405lb deadlift before reincorporating the Olympic lifts, but that was assuming a meet in mid/late September. I'm pretty close now, with 3x85kg (2" axle), 1x130kg (close to 140kg), and 1x170kg on a bad day, respectively. Yes, each of those has an "excuse" next to it saying I haven't hit my goals, but it's not really an excuse if I'm acknowledging that I didn't make it, is it? I'm close though, and I think I'll hit them as I begin to incorporate the Olympic lifts again.
As I described on Sunday 8/28/2009, my diet has been pretty massive lately. Not dirty, just massive. Well, I don't want to end up at 105.1kg when I weigh-in at the meet in a few weeks. So, I've got to make some mild cut-backs, just to make sure I don't overshoot my limit yet. After I pass the competition date, I can once again exceed 105kg until the next competition comes along. As long as I can't safely dash full-speed-ahead, I might as well strive for some mild bodycomp changes, rather than sheer poundage.
To meet that end, my diet (still intermittent fasting) is going to change to something more similar to the following:
- post-workout: 4 scoops of whey & a high-GI carb
- continual: 2 quarts milk (1200 cals)
- dinner 1: 6-8oz of some meat, fruit
- dinner 2: 6-8oz of some meat, veggies/low-GI fruit, 2 shots olive oil (1000 cals)
- dinner 3: 10 eggs w/ 1 shot of olive oil (1500 cals), veggies
- grand finale: 1 cup Costco vanilla ice cream (500 cals)
So, I'm totaling around 5000 calories, or a bit more, if I go with that. Previously, I was always getting at least 4k, typically surpassing 5k, often beating 6k, sometimes exceeding 7k, and occasionally breaking a Phelpsian 8k (without the weed to help give me the munchies). With only three workouts on a 9-day cycle, I may still very well gain with this, just not so rapidly as to exceed my limit, and not without some good bodycomposition changes. (Note the drop of Nutella! The ice cream was the better half of the combination anyway.)
As for the end-workout conditioning, I can now utilize barbell complexes to two ends. Firstly, they're good for beating lifting technique back into your head, provided that you focus on it. Secondly, they're good for body composition. So, most of my conditioning will be oriented toward that end. Simply alternating between snatch and C&J complexes. While I intend to keep the weights sub-maximal, I won't be keeping them "light." As I get the technique back in the groove and approach the competition, I'll take a few workouts for testing maxes and then deloading. If the complexes don't prove to be enough, then I'll try adding some light (eg. 40kg) technique work on the first off day after each workout too.
I might do some off-day non-exercise physical activity to help with recovery and bodycomp, but I can't count on doing that, since I might just feel lazy.
I miss all the bent pressing and such as a warm-up (it made my shoulders feel good), so it's coming back, but I'm limiting myself to a 32kg KB, so I don't overdo it again. Also, since I historically have had troubles with the receiving position of the clean (and once again, want to make sure I'm not overdoing it again), I'll be alternating front squats (not Askem) with backsquats.
So, with all that rambling, I end up with:
Very brief OA OH 32kg KB Warm-up.
One of the following pairs, for 3-6 sets (including heavy warm-ups) of 1-3 reps:
A: 2" Axle Push-presses, Backsquats/Front Squats
B: 2" Axle Push-presses, Deadlifts
C: 2" Axle Bench Press, Zercher Squats/Zercher Deadlifts
Complexes for either the snatch or C&J.
Any rehab/prehab work. Then hook grip pain tolerance work.
This'll give me two different 9-day cycles, and with the leg movements, they go "big-big-big-small-big-small." Yes, I see the backsquat, deadlift, Zercher squat part as potentially harsh. That's why the next part isn't as bad. It's actually the same workout order as I had before, I'm simply throwing in another "small" alternation and then relabeling the A, B, and C names of the workouts. I'll be starting with a "B" this Sunday, 7/5/2009.
Anyway, that was a lot of blather. The sum of it is I'm going to eat less and work harder. Big surprise. This will hopefully carry me well for the next five weeks. Six will be testing my Olympic total, seven will be deloading, and then I compete!
Happy Independence Day - Review of 2009 Goals
Just like I did last year, I'd like to take a moment today, as yesterday was the year's midpoint, to review my goals for this year and see how I'm progressing.
1. Improve my Olympic total - a 1.0xBW snatch 1.25x C&J. I haven't actually been working on this since early in the year, since I've been taking time off in order to improve my general strength, but I'm actually getting back on track with this right now! I'd love to hit a 100kg snatch and 125kg C&J at the competition on 8/22/2009, which would be my goal numbers (assuming my bodyweight doesn't change), but I don't think that's too likely with just 5-7 weeks to practice the lifts. 95+115kg is a bit more reasonable, I think. That, too, would be beast.
2. Get a 4.5x bodyweight combination of the squat, press, and deadlift.
I started at around a 3.5x bodyweight, I think. Now I'm closer to a 3.75x. So, my rate of gain isn't as fast as I'd like. Maybe if I trim a few pounds of fat I'll get closer to the mark. Gains certainly have been steady with the deadlift, practicing that about once a week (a bit less). The squat got messed up some, but is getting back on track now. Spending a several weeks doing frequent push-presses seems to also have made my press pretty good. This has been basic work sort of included in my "mini-goal" of a 225lb push-press, 315 squat, and 405lb deadlift, prior to getting back to Olympic lifting.
3. Back Lever. I got this one! I've only hit it once nicely, at the final Gymkana show of the 2008-2009 season, but I got it! I've tested it recently and I have backslid, but I've also gained 20lbs. Once again, some better body composition will help there.
4. Obtain a handstand press. Haven't done any work on this. Will need to get back to this with Gymkana this season. In somewhat related news, my freestanding handstand has improved decently with the grip and one-arm overhead support work I've been doing.
5. Improve active flexibility for the straddle front lever and V-sit. Once again, haven't worked it yet.
6. Bodyweight changes - drop down to about 8-9% bodyfat within the 94kg weightlifting class and stay there during the Gymkana performing season. After that ends in April, work my way up to about 110kg, which will probably take the remainder of the year. I did the first part fine and dandy. The second part went a bit faster than planned, which is fine by me. It just means I'll have to take some more time transforming my body composition rather than simply eating until my gut bursts. Whole milk really did the trick.
7. Perform both p-bars and rings routines for Gymkana, however simple they are. I did the rings. Going to amp that up again for the 2009-2010 season and hopefully get a p-bars routine completed before the December 2009 Mock Show, which opens the performing season.
8. 135lb 1RM chin-up and dip. No work towards this one yet.
9. Barbell bent press 165lbs. Was working on this, but began pushing it too hard. I was using the lifts as a "warm-up," but would sometimes spend twenty minutes on them working at near-max loads. Not exactly a warm-up. Going to get back on track with them now, but keep them light and hope that by greasing the groove of the movement that I'll be able to improve my strength in it.
10. Barbell Turkish get-up 165lbs.
In all, I'm doing pretty well. My goals were much fewer in number and much more reasonable than last year, and my training methodology has helped me progress a lot better too! Six more months to knock some of these out!
