Message from the founder:

I am frequently asked why I have never created a product centered on a structured workout. I usually answer by saying, “Yes I have—look at my DVDs.”

But then I hear this response: “yeah, but your products are different…they aren’t specific workouts like ‘Arm Blast Workout 1000, or ‘Fat Loss Jumping’ Jacks Workout’—they are more like “lesson plans”.

This is true. Because I believe as a fitness professional, you can’t create a workout globally and accept responsibility for its results because numerous factors based on individual needs and abilities actually skew the original work. However, most people reap results initially because they are trying something new. Most people lack structure. They lack a structured exercise plan. Most workouts performed are passed down from others and are usually practiced for long periods. Thus, the body is in a ‘comforted adaptation mode’—simply maintaining its current physical attributes (and sometimes losing), and usually boredom strikes.  

Most of these workouts created by the current expert circle are easy to market because they are packaged as a “solution” or quick fix. As a society we look for the path of least resistance and are attracted to “results”.  My products are more or less, note-taking. And “lesson plans” usually mean you still have to do some work.

I love that show “Secrets of the Masked Magician”. That guy totally entertained me. Not only did he entertain me, but he empowered me. He gave me (and millions) a glance at what goes on behind the curtain in magic. Did it take away anything from the mystic of magic? Hell no! It only added to it and forced other magicians to step it up! That is why today you see more “illusionists” performing outrageous and death-defying tricks because we have learned how to solve the puzzle!  So now, the puzzle has to become more complex. Well, if you can see behind the fitness marketing curtain, you would truly be amazed at the similarities between magic tricks and marketing.  Now that 2007 has come to a close, I have become aware of more and more trends in fitness marketing. I find the same group of experts have endorsed the same products and provide you with the same link over and over. Have you ever heard the saying: “Keep telling the same lie and you too, will simply believe it?”  Well, it is true in fitness marketing too. The more people keep pointing you in the same direction, the more likely you are to believe it is the only path to your destination. Popularity supersedes integrity. So I have found some marketing trends in 2007, that I simply wanted to reveal to you. 

Workouts are always flexible for the user, so why write a book? I have read a couple of popular books this year that detail workout templates and ideologies according to the author. I have read questions on popular internet forums from readers asking tons of questions regarding tailoring workouts to their specific needs. 99.9% of the answers are “sure you can change/modify/or do what you can”. So I ask: why follow a workout written by some author, if in the end, it will need to be continuously adjusted according to your needs? Basically, this has proven to me what I always believed: most workout books, that are popular and basically marketed to be the “be all, end all” of workouts, can and will be adjusted or tailored to the readers’ needs. Even the author will acknowledge this usually within the beginning chapters or preface. So why write the book? Cha-ching…

Books written by authors who don’t train others for a living. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that owns night vision goggles in Dead Horse, Alaska. Why do we trust authors that put out books pertaining to fitness and training when they don’t even do it for a living? I don’t want my plumber looking at my car engine and I don’t want my dentist picking out my life insurance. So why do so many people popularize books written by authors that clearly have no history of training others, but feel they can provide you with information? And make a helluva living off of it? You know why? Because they are good writers. Well, see the next one…

Authors using real fitness professionals for validity. Yep…this is like “Secrets of the Masked Magician Revealed”. Guess what? If you were to remove the name of every fitness expert that is a “co-author” of every fitness book on the shelf at your local bookstore, and leave the prominent author’s name, I bet the book wouldn’t sell as well. Why the need to place a big named fitness expert as your co-author? Well, firstly it adds validity to the title and content, which ultimately, helps increase sales from the target audience. Or...ask any writer (and I have met a few) that tend to become certifed in personal training or strength coaching simply to be taken seriously. Also, ask them about "ghost writing". Ghost writing is when a true author writes the actual content, but it is marketed by a true fitness expert. Why such a sneaky collaboration? Let's face it, fitness professionals train for a living and writers write. Basically it is a trick. Again, my plumber should be talking to me about pipes and sinks…not building Chinese stick kites.

Podcasts that waste my time (and yours). Hmmmm…this one is pretty self-explanatory. Why do some people feel the need to waste an hour of time from others with senseless gibberish and futile talk? I have tried to listen to many popular podcasts and I have wasted a total of 13.25 hours of my time. I want that time back. Many young fitness enthusiasts that are not professional (meaning being paid a salary to do what you do), are putting out podcasts, that by the package look good and sound like they are going to be good, but when you click on the “download” button and listen, they are absurd conversations that sound like they belong in a college dorm-room. Word to the wise: just because you can create a podcast and can get “names” to contribute, doesn’t necessarily mean you are good at it. Do us a favor and pay attention in your communications class:  annotations should be clear and concise and keeping the listener engaged with noteworthy commentary is paramount.

Experts visit forums to promote but don’t stick around. This is classic and quite humorous. I am almost embarrassed for them. If you frequent discussion forums, you’ve seen them. They never post or answer a question, but when they have a new product to promote, they will pop their head in to mention they have a new product. It reminds me of the high school assh*le that would show up at parties, only to take some beers and then leave within an hour. I spend my time answering questions and engaging in discussion on forums, as well as AskExperts.com. I receive about 10 e-mails a day asking me for exercise suggestions or asking me to troubleshoot a workout. And I answer every one, as well as provide feedback on relevant posts on various discussion boards. Do I promote a product? Sure I do, but it is a “give and take”. I promote lightly, as well as give away from pretty free stuff from time to time (Training Revolutions E-zine being one!) and I always stick around! Word to the wise: Respect your audience. Check your ego at the door because in this business you are never truly your own boss: the client and consumer are.

Experts who claim they don’t have time for forums because they are too busy. This has become cliché in the past couple of months. I noticed a lot of young professionals ‘seemingly and deliberately vanish’ from discussion forums. I wondered why, so I venterured onto some blogs. Wouldn’t you know? They were posting in their blogs that at present time they are too busy to be spending time on forums. They claim that they are busy training clients “in the trenches”. I figured, "wow they are really gaining alot of experience". That’s a lot of experience to pack in a measly month—especially when we are entering the quiet time of the year (November through December is considered the quiet time in the fitness industry, then it explodes into madness come January 2^nd).  I figured, once others know you are busy they will assume you are becoming such an experienced professional that your wisdom will be even more profound. Sounds good, doesn’t? Well, they must have a ton of time if they are posting on their blog often, writing newsletters, writing articles, and conducting podcasts---seemingly not really training a lot. So why the lie?

Who is this guy and what is this product?

John Izzo - Moving More Muscles

Review:
Production Quality

This DVD is a capture of a live seminar that John gives brand new “shiny’s” trainers or enthusiastic folks starting to think outside the box and wanting to educate themselves on physical fitness.

Picture quality is good displayed on a 42” 480p LCD. There are a few issues in the beginning of John standing in front of the camera during a demonstration and a short period at the very end with some stuttering (which might have been my personal DVD\player). Otherwise video quality is very adequate and not worth mentioning to either extreme. Demonstrations are clearly visible and over all quality is sound.

Sound quality is good. There’s a warning in the beginning of the DVD that mentions that audio levels would fluctuate, but I didn’t notice any. John’s voice is loud (enough) and clear the entire time.

Layout\Format

The DVD content itself is divided in to two large segments classroom and demonstration. The first is a theory portion where students are introduced to program design elements such as setting the core, importance of exercise\muscle balance, and mention on tricking clients into doing corrective exercises (and why they’re necessary) as part of their normal program. As noted above this is an entry-level course so most topics are covered fairly briefly and there’s a fair amount of assumption that a client “will” have X problems VS how to figure out if they have X problems.

The second portion of the DVD is a live run through a sample exercise routine with John going through with normal people and making corrections to form when necessary with explanation where the person is doing something wrong and the person correcting. The workout consists of a group warmup and six supersets w\ a little extra here and there for about 20 total movements. Each movement gets the oral explanation followed by the visual and when the shiny tries it you see that some of them lied…”No you didn’t get it”. This portion is especially interesting due to the sheer volume of corrections that need to be made. That's no knock on the people learning by any means but serves as a reminder for trainers and trainee's to make a special effort to do things correctly and try various explanations so everyone can "get it". Cues, comments, followed shortly by light bulb moments and now everyone is doing cable rotations with the best of them.

Does it do what it says\Final Thoughts

The DVD is fun to watch. John is interesting and enjoyable. Information is valuable and is presented in an easy to understand format. Their are two handouts that are a great addition to the product that allows you to follow right along with the seminar and take the exercise routine to the gym to try it on your own. This addition is a small but nice touch that makes the entire product a little more practical to the buyer. Going from the product description the item does exactly as it claims in that the “push\pull” logic is presented with clear demonstrations of it in your training sessions. The presentation as a strict beginner level is a mixed blessing. If you’re new to the scene and need a primer for what you’re doing and why then you’ll likely get a lot out of this. The theory portion gives you a foundation to build off of and the demonstrations are presented in a way that if you do the given exercises correctly you’ll probably be able to figure out other exercises because you know what feels “right”.

If you’re more of an intermediate level enthusiast then perhaps the DVD might not present a great deal of new information and hopefully, you’ve figured out some of the major form issues. You might appreciate the interaction from a coach\client perspective or might be able to pick up some tips on how to convey the presented theory, but the item itself wasn’t necessarily intended to present “you” with new and cutting edge super info.

Purchase recommendations would depend on your personal backgrounds and needs. $30 is a pretty fair price. If you’ve got a fair amount of bar time and a strong background then this product isn't intended for you and you might be disappointed if you're looking to get technical. If you’re a beginner looking for some training 101 and some excellent demonstrations on some exercises that you might not be familiar with then this is right up your ally.

As a final note, if you're a member of "Standapart Fitness" you'll be extended a combo offer which combines Moving More Muscles and Eye of the Trainer for $35

Another product by standAPART:http://www.lulu.com/content/244190