The following are the cornerstones of effective coaching:

Communication –The ability to get your message across in a clear concise manner will determine your success as a coach. It is important to remember all dimensions of communication, sending, receiving and seeing. Talk, show and tell.

Knowledge – In many ways this is the easiest part of coaching. It knowing all aspects of what do from training to technical and tactical, it is the X’s and O’s. There is no excuse for not being on the cutting edge here.

Empathy & Feeling – This is the emotional intelligence component of coaching. It is closely tied to communication but it is so much more. It is being human, be accessible, being there.

Commitment – Coaching is a 24/7 occupation. You must be consistent and strong and unwavering in your commitment to excellence in yourself and those you work with.

Passion and Love – This is how you put an exclamation point on what you do every day!

Thank’s Coach Gambetta, Pfaff and Mcmillan

Lynwood Robinson, Didier Mascarade, D.C., and Liza Rodriguez presented a few remedies to occupational aches and pains suffered by TAG members.

At last night’s General Membership meeting,Executive Board member K.C. Johnson brought in joint and muscle soreness specialists to speak on (and also demonstrate) remedies for the occupational hazards associated with sitting for eight to twelve hours a day, bent over a keyboard or Cintiq …

All three of our panelists have worked with staff at many of the major animation facilities, helping people with neck, shoulder and wrist-elbow problems.

Lynwood Robinson stressed that it’s important for animators, when sitting most of the day, to get up every forty to fifty minutes and stretch. He recommended reaching high, opening up the back muscles, and stretching out thighs, calfs, ankles.

Didier Mascarade reviewed general work station ergonomics, pointing out that having the right seating position (with spine in the natural “S” curve),, keeping wrists and arms straight and relaxed, and making sure the computer monitor is at a comfortable eye level are all good and useful things.

Mr. Mascarade demonstrated exercises that included bending and dangling arms downward, and rotating them in a circular motion. He pointed out that nerves go from the shoulder to the neck, and that pain is often misdiagnosed.

“To prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, you want to stretch forearm muscles, to stretch the hands up from the wrists. For tendinitis, stretching and strengthening is important. Take short breaks to stretch. It’s better to stop problems from happening than have totreat problems …”

Lynwood Robinson demonstrated stretching routines with a rubber stretch band, showing how, used with arms extended, it helped to loosen and stretch tight muscles.

Liza Rodriguez, a massage therapist, demonstrated shoulder and neck massage techniques.

The Takeaways:

1) Repetitive-motion injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis, are occupational hazards in the animation industry.

2) The way to minimize injuries is to a) take stretching breaks, b) having an awareness of your neck and spine positions while working, c) jumping on a problem before it develops into a full-blown injury.

3) Don’t ignore injuries but get them treated. Injuries don’t go away when they’re ignored.

The seminar was a good reminder that stretching and short breaks can make a difference in joint and spine health. (I speak from sad experience in saying: “Pretend the problem isn’t there and you help the problem get worse.”)

This is another beautiful day in so cal, greg and I just completed 5×600m repeats.

I’ve been spending my time on Facebook and Twitter lately this is why I haven’t posted here. Well over the last 6 months a lot has happened I opened the Wf Athletics Training Center in Burbank CA. We’ve been running bootcamps and my semi private sessions there. What else I trained some of the cast of Insecurity and Entourage this year. My main man and I like to call him a mentor ,Stu Mcmillan whom is one of the Strength and Conditioning coaches for UK Track and Field,referred me to one of his clients and now one of my good friends. Two time Olympian Skeleton Athlete Katie Uhlaender who I had the privilege to coach this summer. I’ve been blessed this year and I hope to share my skills and knowledge with more of you guys and gals in the future. You inspire me . Peace… Wood !

The only way to really become healthy inside and out, Is to stop the madness and what I mean by this is, if you go on a body cleanse to lose weight. Only to eat like crap the next day is Mad. Do not lie to yourself we all know by now what we should and shouldn’t eat. Does any of this sound familiar? Roscoe’s for breakfast, skip lunch, IN and Out late in the afternoon because we skipped lunch. Salad for dinner because we ate badly all day. Then the next day we have a great breakfast and lunch because we have two-birthday party’s to attend this weekend. We drink but no cake at the first party, Hot wings, chips and salsa and maybe a little cheese and a small piece of cake at the second party. Sunday rolls around we skip breakfast because we are still full from the night before. Have lunch around 1:30 maybe some Thai food because we think it has brown rice so it must be great for us. Now it 6:00 pm and we have yogurt and some green tea for dinner. Because Men’s or Women’s Health said it’s a great snack and you are not that hungry anyway. Now it’s Monday and we look at the scale and we are up 2-3 pounds and we say to ourselves I didn’t eat that bad this weekend I only had 1 piece of cake… Or how about this, you train hard for 4 weeks in order to be ready for a high school reunion or wedding. Then blow the rest of the year off using work, school or the kids as an excuse for not finding time to better your life. You get the point; Stop the Madness and Start Being consistent with everything you do. And you will see a change in apperance, attitude and how people respond to you. This is how to Live Your Life with Style!

Well It’s that time again,two years ago I competed at the world masters outdoor championships in Italy. For the amount of training I put in I did well. As of last week I signed up to run the 200m and the 60m. Most of you know I have a very busy schedule with all of my athletes,so my training is limited. But I have 6 weeks to get into sprinting shape,so if any of you see me slacking call me on it. If you want to compete in anything in life make a plan,set a goal and work as hard as you can to accomplish that goal. A winner is someone who puts 100% effort into what they are doing.

It was a beautiful day to ride a little hot 79, I completed 13 miles in 44.13 min at the Rose Bowl. The first 2 laps I climbed the small hill at 11MPH it felt pretty good. The 3rd lap climbed the big hill at 7 MPH now that was challenging I felt a little spent at the top. I was glad to see the nice flat and fast 1.5 mile finish back down into the Rose Bowl top speed 34 mph.

It was Wednesday Feb 25th 12:00 Pm after taking 8 weeks off from riding. I had the great idea to go on a lunch time ride with one of my clients Michael MC. Now to tell you a little about Michael he is a client that I have been working with for 16 months off and on. He is a 50 year old avid mountain and road cyclist who has type 1 diabetes and still kicks butt in 12 and 24 hour races. I don’t want to put all his business out on the street; However when you have diabetes your energy levels are constantly messing with your performance and you really have to stay on top of your insulin levels if you are too high it not good and you’ll come crashing down. If you are to low, you must regulate how much food goes into your body or you’ll start to spike to high. You need to have balance and this is the point I’m trying to make. My cycling training went from 4 months of 45-80 miles a week to 8 weeks off and 3 miles a week. In order to perform optimally you need to have the proper mix of nutrition, training, flexibility, and recovery if you do not balance your program you will only fail to get great results. Every training session should build on the previous days work.

I’m writing this because Michael has taught me a great lesson. While I spend 6 days a week coaching my clients on proper nutrition and training sometimes you forget about yourself. I broke a very important rule that must be shared, when you have a lapse in your training you must ease back into your routine. Now I did not totally slack off but when it came to cycling fitness I did get served a plate of humble pie. Great Job!!!  Michael 

One last thing my other client Stu tried to kill me with one of his 35 mile rides which was a piece of cake. Until at the last minute we extended it to 50 miles which I did finish. And yes he did kick my butt.

So anyone who reads this blog and is not one of my clients, should become one. This proves I know what I’m doing my clients get stronger and I get to learn new lessons everyday.

Psycho Michael!!!

I found this great article on my friend Arno’s website so I thought I should share this info for my Tri-team athletes so enjoy.

Last Sunday a group of us went on 30 mile bike ride from Downey to Seal Beach. The weather was beautiful and came to the conclusion that when you train with friends the experience is much more rewarding. So when you feel like not working out or you need that extra push enlist some friends!

Great Job!  Stu,Vicki and Carol