I remember when I was interning with Charles Poliquin, he would always get so angry and frustrated with the so-called strength coaches or armchair article-writing pseudo coaches who troll the internet all day and write cool-sounding “authoritative” “expert” articles but have actually never really accomplished ANYTHING in the REAL WORLD of strength coaching!

Who have you made strong?

Who have you taken to the world championships at the junior or senior level in any sport?

Who have you taken from scratch, broken down, and rebuilt to the level of a Norris Trophy winner and Olympic gold medallist? Pam Am Gold medallist?

Who have you built that was able to DOMINATE at the combine?

Anyone?

How many athletes do you have that can say they are the strongest on their team? Who broke team testing records? How many athletes have you helped get full rides in soccer and baseball? How many pro athletes have actually increased their value after training with you, in the sense of obtaining a richer contract?

You have all these slick talking, glute activating, core-stabilizing, granola-eating, yoga mat-toting gurus who have never ever made any one really strong, and never prepared anyone to deal with the real world of competitive sport!

As a young coach coming up, I promised myself I would never write authoritative articles or claim to be an expert before I had achieved a track record of success! Never!

I am a Level 5 Master strength coach who STILL takes a pilgrimage every year to learn and pay homage to my mentor, Pierre Roy, to whom I was introduced by Charles Poliquin. I am still learning all the time. As a matter of fact, from the time I received my Level 5 and travelled to two World Championships my knowledge has increased tenfold! Yes, tenfold!

My point is that before buying in to someone’s system or taking their advice as gospel, you really need to take a look at who that person has trained and what they have actually achieved in the real world!

As powerlifting and strength training legend Louie Simmons says “If you run with the lame you develop a limp.” Let me tell you right now, my Athlete Activation System gets results! And although a lot of thought and experience has gone into the design of the system itself, one of the keys to the success of those I train is HARD WORK.

My athletes work hard. Anyone who does not work hard is asked to leave the gym, eliminated, CULLED. No one will give my training crew a limp. Usually I do not even have to say anything – my athletes understand the importance of a committed, hard-working group and will get rid of anyone who is not interested in the required level of effort!

I train people using these simple principles: Train Heavy, Train Hard, and Train Frequently. Those who are not interested in committing to these principles are shown the door. Those who miss training sessions for no good reason are told not to bother returning at all! It does not matter who they are either.

You are either a committed member of the group or you are a distraction and a negative influence and I cannot tolerate such people in my group. Period.

The bottom line is, before you choose your coach or gym, or a certification, ask yourself, who have these people trained and developed? What have they actually accomplished themselves?

If all they can point to are a bunch of online articles, or a bunch of high-school kids who never played at an advanced level, you might want to look elsewhere if you are serious about maximizing your chances of success.