Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 2/3-2/9

Another great week at The Spot Athletics!  Make sure you share with your friends, and keep checking back for more!

Friday technique video- the overhead press

Today, Spot Athletics coaches, JL and Zach explain how to properly overhead press out of the rack position.  This is a great movement for total overall body strength, and a great indicator of absolute strength.

Top 10 articles of the week 2/5/2014

Ever considered doing a powerlifting meet?  Here is why you might really want to consider one….and The Spot could help get you ready for one.
http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/powerlifting-articles/powerlifting-101-why-you-need-to-competenow/

For the ladies - Lift something heavy!
http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/hey-ladies-lift-something-heavy/

So - you wanna increase your squat?
http://bretcontreras.com/how-to-increase-your-squat/

Come on teens… Smoking… Really?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/04/271117790/wanna-smoke-it-could-cost-you-a-tooth-the-fda-warns-teens

What is the deal with procrastination?
http://zenhabits.net/read-now

Great stretches coming up.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/stretching-for-strength-5-flexibility-standards/#axzz2sMpa7XKU

6 tips to help you relax.
http://www.drfranklipman.com

How to defeat unhappiness.
http://www.dailycupofyoga.com/2014/01/15/defeating-unhappiness/

What does it mean to see “natural” on the side of food labels?
http://www.foodpolitics.com/2013/12/yes-one-more-post-on-the-meaning-of-natural/

Like Shakira would say “the hips have it”.
http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/its-all-in-the-hip-5-steps-to-fixing-movement-dysfunction

Lifting Heavy Is...Good? - An Intern's Blog

As some of you may know, I am from Houston, Texas, and as the holidays are approaching, I decided to head home for a couple of weeks to get some much needed family time. For some unexplainable reason, I thought it was a good idea to head up to my old gym after a 20 hour drive and running on minimal sleep. Now my tolerance for idiocy is already low as it is, but factoring in sleep deprivation, let's just say that this was not the ideal day to spout off broscience in my face. Sure enough, within 10 minutes of me being there, one of the guys that has been a regular at this gym for at least the last 4 years (yet you wouldn't know it) came up to me and told me that I was lifting too heavy to make any serious hypertrophy gains and that using light weight while utilizing "time-under-tension" is the best way to gain mass...WHAT?!?!

I thought I had heard it all until this. The most basic principle of any kind of weight lifting whether it be bodybuilding, powerlifting, cross fit, etc is to pick up HEAVY things! And now just because some people are lazy and don't want to load up a bar and crank out heavy sets, this fad of lifting light and "squeezing" is gaining momentum.

I'm in no way saying that "time-under-tension" methodologies should never be used in a program. I'll be the first person to admit that I've tried just about everything while trying to put muscle on including TUT, and it has it's merits as an intensity technique. It will get you sore the next day, it will give you a nice pump in the gym, and yes you can make some progress using it, but nothing, I repeat, NOTHING will ever replace good old heavy weight.

Building a physique forged by heavy deadlifts, squats, and bench press will always look more impressive than one built with lighter weight and contraction training. Some people will say heavy weight is a great way to get injured or they don't feel the muscles working properly. Well lift with proper form while taking necessary precautions and you won't get hurt. You can't feel the muscles working? I guarantee if you're squatting 500 pounds that your quads, hamstrings, and glutes are all working pretty darn hard.

There are tons and tons of techniques out there meant to be added to your programs in conjunction with heavy weight not as an alternative. If your goal is to be big and strong then throw some weight on the bar and get focused on moving it up and down rather than avoiding a little strain.

Bryce Calvin- Strength and Conditioning Intern

Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 12/9-12/15

The New Year is almost here, but our clients are already killing it!  Athletes are training hard, and champions are being built! The holidays are no excuse!

A Little Pep In Your Step- An Intern's Blog

When it comes to everything from your training to trying to control a large group of athletes, time management is crucial. Sometimes you only have a limited amount of time to complete whatever it is that you are trying to do, and being lackadaisical will not only impede on your time but also on your athletes'.

You have to move with a sense of urgency especially when training younger kids as they feed off the energy that you bring. If you show up and are visibly tired and bored, how are 12 year olds supposed to be exited to train with you? On the other hand, if you are encouraging and drive your athletes to push themselves then they will look forward to spending their time with you. If you can make training for an athlete fun (especially younger kids), then it won't feel like such a burden for them, more kids will show up every week, and you get more out of it knowing that you're doing your job.

So why am I preaching about the importance of moving quickly? Probably because I am one of the slowest people in the world.

And it is not because I am lazy; it's just how I am. I have just gotten into bad habits over the years of taking my time to walk places or making sure I get my mandatory 5 minute breather in between sets, and now it has become muscle memory which I am trying to reverse under the watchful eye of JL. If you're like me and like to take your time, try to condense what should be a 2+ hour workout into 60 minutes. You'll get an appreciation for time management real fast.

In general, to get to where you want to be today, you have to keep up with pace. Some people naturally move like their life depends on it, but for us other folk we have to "train" our urgency. The more we train it in the gym, with athletes, or in everyday life, the more it gets instilled in our brain as habit.

Bryce Calvin-Strength and Conditioning Intern

Simple ways to reach your goals pt. 1

There are a few basic rules you need to follow if you want to be successful in the gym. No matter your goals, the same basic rules apply. If you follow them, you will be successful. If you don’t, you won’t. Simple as that.

 

1) Be consistent! If you have a killer routine but do it a few times a month, you won’t get anywhere. If you have a solid routine and do it 3+ times a week, you will get results. Period. Getting stronger, faster, leaner, and more badass means that you’re giving your body a stimulus to respond to and it adapts to that stimulus. If you don’t consistently give your body that stimulus, you won’t get any better. On another note, stop doing random stuff all the time. It might be exciting to do whatever workout you read in every new Muscle & Fitness but if you keep doing random things, don’t be surprised if you never get stronger or more jacked.  Be consistent not only means hitting the gym consistently but sticking with something for enough time to see it yield results.

2)   Keep it simple! Especially if you’re new to training, it can be easy to follow a routine that looks cool in a magazine or website only to find it hard to stick to and not have it yield results. There’s a reason why people have been squatting, deadlifting, and pushing weights around for a long time. It works. If you get better at deadlifting and squatting you will definitely see better results than making sure you isolate your triceps every time on the triple overhead extension assault of death exercise that I can guarantee some asshole made up to fill up space in magazine. If you can consistently progress on the most basic exercises, you will see results. It’s as simple as that.

3)   Make it a priority. One of the hardest parts of starting to workout is making it a habit in your life. Just like everything else you do on a regular basis, working out needs to be one of them too.  In order to make it a priority, have a goal (see #5).  Find a way to make what you want in the long run (your goals) more important than what you want right now (beer and nachos and netflix). Setting goals, having a trainer, and training buddies will ensure that you stay accountable.

4)   Recovery. This is an important one. Don’t let your training go to waste.  Proper nutrition, sleep, mobility, and soft tissue work will make sure you get the optimal results and keep you healthy and injury free. Don’t overlook the things that happen outside of lifting as it could completely derail your efforts.

5) Have a goal. It doesn’t matter whether you want to lose weight, get strong like a bull, compete, or just workout on a consistent basis. Find your goal and use it to motivate you. In the end, no one can motivate you except yourself. No amount of inspirational pictures on Facebook or quotes you wrote on a post-it can get you to do what you need to do.

 

-Coach Lily

Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 11/10-11/17

Check out this week's video training recap!  Another great week at The Spot Athletics.  Keep up the good work!

Great trainers vs. Mediocre trainers

As someone who has spent years at different gyms interacting with different trainers, it’s easy for me to spot a talented, educated trainer from a run-of-the-mill bro science... bro. Or just a less educated trainer. But what about for those of you who are just starting on your fitness journey? Well here are some tips to help you differentiate between the mediocre and those who you can trust to get you results. 

 

Has your trainer put you through a thorough assessment?

If the answer is “no” or “kind of”, run away. The point of personal training is to tailor something to your specific goals, needs, and problems. Hence the word ‘personal’. You may have poor hip mobility, trouble activating your glutes, and a weak core. If the trainer fails to identify your problem areas, how are they going to build a program specific to you?  We put our clients through a very thorough assessment to gauge their abilities and find any mobility, strength, patterning, and conditioning issues in order to put together the best program for each individual.

 

Do they take a one size fits all approach?

To piggyback on the previous paragraph, how individualized are your trainer’s programs? Is everyone doing close to the same program? Do athletes of different sports have different programs? Are programs tailored to each person’s strengths and weaknesses? Does your program change as your body and goals change? Be cautious of trainers who say that one specific way is the right way to do something. In reality, the best coaches know that different techniques, exercises, and programs work for different people.

 

Has your trainer ever competed in anything in their lives?

Does your trainer walk the walk or just talk the talk? Have they just read everything in a textbook or have they applied it to their own lives? I’m not saying they have to be a world class athlete (not all great athletes make great coaches) but a good part of their knowledge should come from practical experience. Whether they’re an athlete, powerlifter, or marathon runner, they should be able to apply their own knowledge of executing lifts and programming workouts. At The Spot, all of our coaches train to compete in a number of different areas. Not only do we walk the walk, but we do so with jacked quads and hamstrings.

 

Continuing education?

What is your coach or trainer doing to get better at their job? Have they not opened a textbook since college? Or are they constantly reading, going to seminars, and exchanging ideas with their peers? New information and research is constantly being done in this field and it’s imperative that trainers who want to stay at the top of their game stay on top of new developments and ideas. Our trainers are always reading, attending seminars, and discussing new ideas in order to provide our clients with the most knowledgeable service we can provide.

 

-Coach Lily

Dear Women: Unfortunately, Strength Training Will Not Make You Huge

 

As a female trainer, one of the most common concerns I hear from other women (and some men) is that lifting weights will make them “huge”, “bulky” or something equally as false along those lines.

 

You know what makes you huge? Food and body fat.

You know what will make you look lean and hot? Muscle.

 

Women don’t have nearly the same level of hormones men have that lead to muscle growth (namely, testosterone). Without artificially enhancing those levels of hormones, your body is not capable of producing the amount of muscle mass required to make you look “huge”. Unless you are genetically gifted in the swole department (which you would have figured out already), it will be very difficult for you to achieve that “bulky” look.

When you lift heavy weights (read: not kickbacks with 5 lbs but squats that are difficult), your body will adapt by producing muscle. Muscles are great because they increase fat loss and burn calories all day long. And give you a ‘toned’ look. I’m still not sure what “toned, lean muscles” means but chances are you want to look like someone with nicely defined arms, legs, and a perky butt. You know what those things are made out of? Muscle. Not floppy skin (ugh skinny fat) and not excess fat. In a nutshell, weightlifting= more lean body mass, a higher metabolic rate, and less unwanted body fat (that’s what we’re going for, right?)

Furthermore, those people who you deem to be “bulky” have made a life out of sculpting their bodies to look like that. Strict diets, hours toiling in the gym, and superior genetics have all contributed to their physiques. If you’re worried about lifting more than a few pounds, chances are you’re not looking to change your lifestyle this very moment. Different types of workouts produce different results so unless your workout, diet, and lifestyle are tailored to making a drastic change in your body composition (aka competing in figure, physique, etc), it won’t just happen “by accident”.

Here’s a real life example. I am a competitive powerlifter. That means my training revolves around lifting heavy weights. I’m 5’4 and depending on how many bacon donuts I eat, I compete in the 114 or 123 lb weight classes and nothing about me looks jacked (except my sweet biceps when I flex) . Believe me, I would love to be “bulky” but it’s just not happening (for the aforementioned reasons).

Aside from the aesthetic benefits, weight training for females leads to greater bone strength, helps prevent injuries, and makes you more functional in your every day activities.

So, women folk, you have nothing to be concerned about except looking great. Go and get your swole on.

 

-Coach Lily

 

Why I chose strength and conditioning: an intern's perspective

As the newest intern at The Spot for the fall, it's a pleasure to say I am lucky enough to be in this position. My name is Bryce, and I am just finishing my second week of shadowing, learning, and best of all cleaning. My path to being here has been full of uncertainty about my future. In less than two years, I will be graduating from The Ohio State University with a degree in exercise science and about a million choices to make. Most students in my major will go the physical therapy route. After all, there is good money in it and the profession is on the rise. What's not to love? Well in theory it sounds great; working with injured athletes to recover and get back to training for their sport. Then you realize it's 90% old people complaining the whole time because honestly they don't care if they get better or not.

I realized quickly that whatever career I choose, I am going to have to look forward to getting out of bed everyday and going to work. I can't do cubicles or sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life. Luckily for me, the one thing I truly love to do is to train and be in the gym. So it occurred to me, why not combine something that can be an obligation (work) with something that I love (the gym)? Now there is all sorts of things you can do to be involved in a gym setting from personal training to supervising the facility to being a janitor. However, the only one that sounded appealing to me was training, but I have always told myself that I never want to end up as a personal trainer. You know, the old and out of shape guy at most gyms that always seems to spout nonsense like he knows everything because he has a certification. In all honesty, that has been the extent of my experience with personal trainers since I had always trained at commercial gyms and rec centers. I truly just needed more.

Strength and Conditioning seemed like the perfect middle ground for me. I would get to train athletes and program their training, but it would give me more than your typical gym employee. I feel that being an intern at The Spot is one of the best opportunities that I could ever have to prepare myself to be a strength and conditioning coach. The chance to learn under some of the best coaches around is one that not too many people get, so I'm going to definitely make the most of it. I have no doubts in my mind that after my internship here I will be well on my way to succeeding as a coach wherever it may take me.

Hardest workout ever!

It seems lately that people want to equate a really hard workout with a good workout.  If this were true then the best workout ever was the Bataan Death March.  I mean, a workout so hard that thousands die - Awesome!  Obviously that is not awesome and neither is working out so hard that you feel like you are going to die.  But for whatever reason this seems to be the new trend in training at a lot of places.  Since The Spot Athletics is a leader in the industry and not a follower, we do not need to join in on this senseless type of training.  We train to get results and to do this you must have a long term, properly periodized program that is aimed at the goals of the person.  Simply working out until exhaustion every time takes no planning, no knowledge and no experience.  I would hope that a lazy, uneducated and inexperienced trainer is not what people are looking for but it seems that in today's "if it's hard, it's good" type of mentality, that is what people are looking for.

If you sat there and wrote down everything hard you can do in a workout and then put some random high reps by it I bet you would come up with a really hard workout.  Does this make you a trainer?  I certainly hope you do not think so, but why is it that people listen to "trainers" who just do that exact same thing.  Well in our society of instant gratification I think that people feel a sense of accomplishment when they finish a hard workout.  The problem is that just like instant gratification, there is no long term benefits.  At The Spot Athletics we design our programs so that you can become stronger, healthier and look better all while training in a manner that will be sustainable for a long period of time.  For some reason people never think about the future and only want a hard workout today.  While some of our workouts are extremely tough, they aren't just random in their appearance.  They are part of a long term plan that will yield maximal results over time.  We are not interested in killing someone in one workout, any idiot can do that,  we are interested in creating clients that can get better and better as time goes on.   You cannot do this if you are injured or burnt out from always killing yourself every workout.

So how do you determine if a workout is good?  The best answer is if the workout achieves the goal for that training day then it was a good workout.  If you ask your trainer what the goal for the day is and they say "I don't know, what do you want to do", then maybe it's time you find a better trainer.  We hold ourselves to a much higher standard at The Spot Athletics and are amazed that more people don't want great training and instead just want a Bataan Death March workout.

5 tips for endurance athletes

by Matt Barnauskus

Top 5 ways to stay healthy as an an endurance athlete.

 

The chronic repetitive motion of endurance sports lead to many debilitating overuse injuries such as runners knee, plantar fasciitis, and IT band syndrome; These injuries are written off as just part of the sport and aren’t appropriately addressed until its too late, causing the athlete to stop training. Here are some tips to keep you healthy and moving.

 

1. Stay Adequately Hydrated - You have heard this a million times but it is worth repeating. Drinking enough water is crucial to sport performance. Water is used to eliminate toxins from the body and even helps lubricate your joints. The average person is 1 - 2% dehydrated. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. To avoid this aim to drink 1 gallon of water throughout the day.

2. Getting enough fat in your diet - Every cell in your body is made up of fat. Suffice it to say it is important that you are getting enough from the foods you eat. If you have achy joints try taking a fatty acid supplement.

3. Learn Proper Form for your sport - If you are going to continually pound your joints  for miles on end it would be beneficial for you to learn how to actually use good technique. Not only is this detrimental to your joints and soft tissues but you are also limiting how well you will be able to perform in your sport. Have someone video tape you running, swimming, or biking so you can see where your form is lacking.

4. Maintenance is key - #1 and 2 go along with this point. With all of the miles you are putting in it is wise to take time to take care of your body. Along with proper hydration and nutrition taking time to take care of your soft tissues will go along way to keeping you healthy. Take 10-15 minutes a day to foam roll and do some stretching/mobility work and you will be surprised how much better you will feel.

5. Strength Training - This ties in with #3 and it is the biggest thing lacking in endurance training. If you aren’t strength training as an endurance athlete you are missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Perhaps your form is terrible and no matter what you do you can’t correct it. Chances are you have muscle weaknesses/imbalances that are preventing you from getting into proper positions. The force of impact when you run is up to 4 - 5x your own body weight. Now compound this with the repetitive nature of endurance sports and you can begin to see why it is important to be strong enough to withstand this impact. When I say strength training I don’t mean doing db curls for 1000 reps, I mean actually picking heavy things up. With proper periodized training not only will you get stronger and feel better but believe it or not you will also get in better cardiovascular shape.

 

Try adding these five things into your lifestyle and you will start to notice the everyday aches and pains of endurance training will begin to diminish.

 

Comments and questions are welcomed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Training to prepare children for sports - What skills should they be learning

Personal training, or more specifically strength & conditioning, for children is not about keeping them busy.  It's about teaching critical skills that improve performance and more importantly, prevent injury.

Every program should have:

1. Great coaching 2. provide a good assessment before the program begins.

Skills every program should teach are:

3.Pelvic Tilt

4.Hip Hinge

5.Deceleration/Landing

6.Posterior Chain training/awareness

7.Jumping/Running form

8.Jumping rope/hopping

9.Crawling/Tumbling

As parents, it's almost impossible to know what your child should be doing in their training to improve performance and prevent injury.  Most parents are happy when their child's training has met two qualifications: 1. They worked hard and/or are tired  2. they had fun.  Although I agree that a child should enjoy their training, I think that being tired is an awful judge of what kind of workout your child is getting.  Some of the most important skills that we teach involve drills that do not make the children tired at all.  I love analogies and examples and the example I always use for this is:  If you offered a bum on the street $50 to make your child tired, I guarantee he would run your kid around and get them exhausted to earn that $50.  The question you have to ask is:  do you want a bum training your kid?  Of coarse not, no one would, but if you judge your child's training based on your child being tired then any bum can meet that qualification.  It takes experience, vast knowledge, research and a great strength coach to be able to actually make your child improve their performance and prevent injury.  Above I gave the list of skills your child should be learning/doing if you want them to improve performance and reduce injury and below I will elaborate on these skills.  I don't care if your child trains with us or somewhere else, but what I do care about is that your child is learning these skills so that they are not wasting their time and opening themselves up to injury.  Most kids from other facilities, or kids that aren't training, start training at The Spot and cannot perform these basic athletic movements and/or come to us with needless injuries.   The purpose of this blog is to educate parents so this stops.   If the training your child is receiving does not include all of the below elements then please take them to another facility or you will regret it later on.  If your child is not training then take them somewhere that ensures they learn all of the below skills.  Do I think that our strength & conditioning program is the best, yes, but as long as the below skills are being met then you are taking your child to a quality facility and they will be better for it.  This is not an all-inclusive list but it is somewhere to start so that you know if your child is receiving quality training.  The first two are requirement for any quality program but the last 7 are skills that must be taught in that program.

1. Learning, not babysitting - The most important thing on this list is: IS YOUR CHILD BEING TAUGHT PROPER PATTERNS?  We coach every rep our athletes do.  On top of that, we make our athletes coach each other, every rep, so that they are learning as they are teaching..  If your child is just running through drills or cones, over and over again, or doing exercises with little to no supervision, then they are not learning.  Simply throwing some cones and ladders out and having kids run around is just babysitting, not learning.  If the athletes aren't being taught proper patterns then they are learning bad patterns and these patterns lead to injury.  So even if they include drills/exercises to work the below skills, if they aren't coaching the kids up properly, then it doesn't matter.

2.  Assessment -  If you take your child somewhere and they just throw them in with a bunch of other kids, without first doing an assessment, then you are wasting your money and your child's time.  The assessment sets the base for the whole training program and it gives you a measurable way to track progress.  With our semi-private athletes we do an extensive assessment that gives a very tailored program for the athlete.  Even with our large team training we still do a more basic assessment so we can direct training for the team as a whole.

3. Pelvic Tilt -  If an athlete does not possess pelvic tilt control then their control over their body will be very limited.  On top of that they will lose out on precious speed and jumping ability.

4. Hip Hinge - The most basic of all athletic movements is the hip hinge.  From the golf swing to tackling in football, if you can't hip hinge, then you can't play at a high level.  If your child can't touch their toes, 99% of the time it's not a flexibility issue, it's that they don't know how to properly hip hinge.

5. Deceleration/Landing - Most injuries in sport happen during deceleration.  This is usually expressed as a torn ACL in landing jumps or in slowing down to change direction.  If proper body positions are not taught for these activities then you are playing with fire and asking for an injury, especially for female athletes.

6. Posterior Chain training/awareness - The muscles of the back of the body are what makes an athlete good.  Strong hamstrings, glutes, and lower backs are what professional athletes have that make them special.  Ignoring this area is asking for less performance and more injuries.  I put this before jumping/running form because although form is very important and will make big changes in the novice or poor athlete, it will only take you so far.  An athlete must strength train to get faster and jump higher and that strength training must be focused on the posterior chain.  Many facilities don't do strength training with young athletes and just have them repetitively jump or run, calling it "speed" or "jump" training.  Some even add bands to make it seem like they are doing something.  Bands alone are not strength training and without the strength training component the program is doing something - wasting your athlete's time.  If just running and jumping made athletes faster or jump higher then all they would ever have to do is play their perspective sports and they would keep getting better.  We all know this isn't true,  yet parents keep taking athletes to these "speed" and "jumping" places that provide no real strength training component.

7. Jumping/Running form - Speed ladders do not make you faster!  No sport moves your feet in tiny little patterns.  Coaching jumping/running form and doing form jump/running drills should not just be an afterthought of an athletes program but a cornerstone of the young athletes program.  If jumping/running drills are not taught and coached then your child will not be able to maximize their potential speed or vertical.  Simply telling athlete to do a drill is like giving a kid a math book and not teaching them anything.  Having information is different then learning information and thats where a good strength coach comes in.

8. Jumping rope/hopping - Speed ladders don't give athletes better footwork but jumping rope does.  Jumping rope is a lost art, but not at The Spot.  It is a critical part of any of our young athletes programs.  Jumping rope involves hopping(two feet jump,two feet land,which is a basic skill that must be mastered) hand eye coordination, timing, body awareness, joint durability and conditioning(once they can do it without messing up).

9. Crawling/Tumbling - Body awareness or proprioception(if you like big words) is one of the biggest things being lost with the specialization at such young ages with athletes.  When I was a kid I might play 3 different sports in one day but now kids are only doing one sport year round. This gives them very limited motor pattern exposure and limits their overall athleticism and body awareness.  Crawling/Tumbling are two of the best ways to fix this problem.  My 2yr old daughter can do a better front roll then a few of the Division I athletes I've worked with for the first time.  These athletes also, not surprisingly, have had an issue with injuries due to poor body awareness.  We incorporate special crawling/tumbling exercises, that we coach well, to illicit great body awareness changes in our young athletes.

An athletes window to play college or professional sports is very small.  If they waste their time training at a facility that is not teaching them these skills, that are essential for athletic success, then they are risking injury, not getting a scholarship or potentially being cut from a professional team.  We want to see every athlete reach their fullest potential and that is why we view our young athletes as the most important part of The Spot Athletics.  We know that we have the chance to effect what happens the rest of their life and this is not a responsibility we take lightly.

Gold Medal for The Spot Athletics Athlete

Vinicius Tavares Marinho won gold at the No Gi Pan Am games this past weekend.  Vinicius is part of GFTeam(Grappling Fight Team), one of the best Jiu Jitsu teams in the world.  Vinicius lives in Brazil but has been training at The Spot Atheltics for his strength and conditioning while in the US.  He made great strides in both strength and conditioning in his time here and will be missed as he is heading back to Brazil this week.  We will post up an interview with him about his training at The Spot soon.  Our motto is "Sweat Hard, See Results" and Vini sweated a whole lot while he was here and at the Pan Am games he saw the results.  Good luck to Vini as he heads back to Brazil and keep training hard.