Seminar Summary & Review : OPEX Movement Assessment for Coaches
What’s up Aries!
I got a special blog post this time. It’s one of the rare occasions when we get to meet an OPEX Head Coach, Michael Bann! I’m excited to have learned many useful concepts and wanted to share a simplified version with all of you. Let’s get to it!
Leaving DMK AirportEnjoying Chinese Malay FoodArriving PushMore Fitness
But hold on a sec. Before we start with the actual seminar, let’s begin with where this course was, and who was travelling with me! Our seminar was hosted at PushMore Fitness in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And I have with me my dear wife, plus two of our youngest brightest apprentice coaches who are in our Professional Coach Development Program here at Ari School of Fitness. And of course Malaysia is known for FOOD! So eating is a MUST!
Day 1 – Lecture & Theory
Michael Bann – OPEX Head CoachLearning with Top Coaches from All Over Asia
Michael went through his background and various techniques of analysing and improving movement patterns.
We went through:
Anatomy
Muscle Systems
Physiology
Energy Systems
Hormonal Systems
GI System (Digestive System)
Biomechanics & Paradigms
DNS, RNT, FMS, PRI, SFMA
Sorry for all the technical terms. There really aren’t a simpler way to explain that. Anyways. It was eye-opening! Our dear coaches and I were able to learn the commonalities ofvarious paradigms. And the big thing is the effects on Physiology with regards to muscle pain. We rarely thought about that. As the usual school of thoughts are focused heavily on just anatomy. Breathing and chewing food can fix pain? It’s hard to believe, but evidences and success stories don’t lie!
Day 2 – Hands On
Michael assessing the ShoulderMichael assessing Single Leg Strength
We went deep into each paradigms like DNS, RNT, FMS, PRI, & SFMA and did practical work! This is where we saw the magic happen. One of the attendees was able to fix shoulder pain that’s been nagging him for 3 months within 15 minutes
Using Bands to Fix Shoulders & SquatsUsing Breathing Exercises to Improve MovementsGroup Photo
We also went into various assessments, coaching techniques, and corrective exercises. Some of the biggest things we learned were the use of bands in correcting exercises, as well as several breathing techniques!
Before we left, we learned to putting it all together – from assessment to the program design process. And that concludes our seminar! Our coaches and I had a great time learning and meeting other knowledgable passionate coaches!
The event we’ve all been preparing for, the Spartan Race – Sept.9th. If you haven’t signed up, there’s still time!
Our Coaches Sundae, Momo, and San, will be sharpening their craft at Coaches’s Intensive Movement Seminar with OPEX Head Coach Michael Bann. They will be travelling to Kuala Lumpur for 3 days, Sept 15th-17th.
More news. The weather is getting nicer & nicer as the wet season is ending. Be prepared for Outdoors & Park events! We’ll keep you updated on that!
We’re also expecting a few new toys at the gym!! Stay tuned!!
September Birthdays: Namo, Sundae, Dear, Vee, Felipe, Gloria, Nat Chutarat, Marine, Peachy, Adam
August Recap
Shout Out to : Nat Chutarat, Rung Sansanee, and Oak Vikanda for helping in organising the Spartan Race Prep, booking the hotels, and creating our limited edition Ari SF Headband (Buff Style). Get yours now before they run out!
Shout Out to : Ploy Kotrakul & Mac Nattanoot for having the highest attendance to our Fit For Life group classes in August. We have a long list of runner ups too!
Shout Out to : Peachy Asavakul for breaking her fear and releasing the dragon, squatting 150# (8 weeks ago it was 87#)!!
Shout Out to : Reebok Thailand for being our official sponsors. More announcements of our collaborations are coming!
Shout Out to : All the participants in the Siam Invitational. Proud of all of you!!
Here are some awesome things that happened last month:
Our coaches workshop with FixMe Physio Clinic
Awesome PoolWOD by Coach Ranjith
Ari SF celebrates the 3rd Birthday! Yay!
7.30 PM class is a success, attendance is up from 7PM class by 30%!
August is going to be another awesome month!
Rope Climb Workshop by Coach San – If you’ve signed up for the Spartan Race and haven’t got a rope climb, this one is for you! This one is Free!
Dates : To be announced
StrongFit Workshop by Coach San – Learn about Internal Torque vs External Torque, Energy Systems, and get a kick ass workout with Pushing, Pulling, and Carrying heavy stuff (Strongman Style).
We had great fun at Bounce, Spartan Race Prep, and Meal Prep Course #1!
June is going to be an awesome month!
First of all, happy birth month to our awesome members : Enzo, Oak, Pitcha, Aim, and Wit! Do say Happy Birth Month to them at the gym, or outside! Other than that, we’re also hosting these great events!
Whale Watching Trip – Sat 3rd, 2017
We’re going on a field trip! Yay! If you want to see whales in Thailand, make sure to contact San. There’s 1 or 2 spots left in this awesome trip.
Meal Prep #2 – Tue 6th, 13th, & 20th
We know that quality food is hard to find and can also be very expensive. But you can do it yourself too without spending too much time! Below is just some of the examples of what our students cooked.
Please let Jessica know if you want to join us. Course starts next Tuesday and yes, its still not to late to get on board! Rumors say if you miss this, you’ll have to wait at least 2 months before we open again.
Outside the Box Challenge – July 1st
San had a meeting with 4 other gyms in Bangkok and guess what, we’ll be hosting an awesome event together in Lumpini Park on Saturday July 1st. Details will be announced soon!
Our 3rd Anniversary – July 22nd
Yes, this is not June news, but we can’t hold our excitement. We are going to have our first In-House competition, and our 3rd celebration! Be there Aries!
The 2017 CrossFit regionals competition do not use any barbell in the workouts.
Our thoughts? We absolutely LOVE it! Barbell is a lot of fun to train with. We want to master movements like front squats, clean and jerk, and snatches. But it’s also important to balance it with other things.
In the past 5 years, barbell has taken a dominant role in the fitness world. When a big organisation like CrossFit tames it down a notch, we absolutely agree!
Talking from a functional fitness standpoint, barbell also does not look much like anything we find in our life. Objects like sandbags, sleds, kettlebells, and dumbbells are more like real life objects.
Final Thoughts : For the magic to happen, train for heavier loads, longer distance, and taking less rest. It doesn’t always have to be barbells.
Ari 3.0 is a new chapter of our commitment to improvements. We are focused on improving Ari School of Fitness to thrive on 3 pillars.
Over the next few months, we will be focusing on improving these 3 pillars. Some of the examples are:
Balanced Training:
Our daily workouts have always tried to hit you in every muscles with as much variety in time domain. However, will be adding more odd objects like sandbags, sleds pushes, and sled pulls in our repertoire.
We will also be much more focused on the core and how to activate your obliques properly for movements.
Coaching
We are upgrading our filing system for coaches to promote higher level of coaching. Coaches will have fast access to all the critical information before coaching you in both group classes and Personal Training.
This will however mean that booking classes is very important. Our coaches will need at least 10 minutes before class start to be ready for you. So please make reservations 15 minutes prior.
Relationship
We are grateful of the friendships and brotherhood that have developed here. Our wall of appreciation is on the way along with the appreciation rewards.
And we’re sure you want to bring more awesome friends to meet us as well. We are making services more accessible with our newest referral awards. Please contact your coaches for more details. We do want you to #TellYourFriends. It helps us. It helps you. And it helps your friends!
Final Thoughts
That’s the introduction of Ari 3.0! You’ll hear and see more of it in action in June & July 2017. We strive to be better all the time and we definitely won’t stop at 3.0. In the meantime, #StayAwesome.
