09 Nov 10th Anniversary of EXOS
10th Anniversary of EXOS 11.4, 11.5, 11.6.16
Craig Liebenson was kind enough to invite me to speak and attend an awesome weekend in PHX, AZ -celebrating the 10th anniversary of his gig at EXOS as he has merged many different concepts and ideas together, without dogma. This was the first time I’ve attended a convention or weekend that was not heavily powerlifting related or at least a major component in a long, long time. It was fun and a great learning experience for me.
The speakers were Craig Liebenson, Chris Duffin, myself, Giancarlo Russo, Dan Pfaff, Anna Hartman, Guido Van Ryssegem, Ken Crenshaw, Eric Dannenburg, and others.
First the facility – EXOS in PHX, AZ, an awesome resource that is gigantic, clean, has everything you need for your nutrition, coaching, diet and of course a very nice weight room with a full track, and more out back. The trainers, nutrionists and coaches are highly educated and intelligent and work with an array of pro athletes. I had the pleasure of interacting with many of them this weekend as they came to learn. Funny story – I ran into a Dontrelle Willis at In-and-Out burger Sunday night, late when I woke up from a nap. We talked about training a bit and the fact that he was wearing an EXOS shirt, and we had just wrapped up. Cool dude.
It was a giant melting pot –
I was fortunate enough to speak on my experience with back rehab with Dr. McGill and what we did, what we didn’t do, where I was mentally and physically and how I got through it all, as well as letting them know about the book McGill and I are working feverishly on – that will document all of this and more. I just gave a tease. I was blessed enough to be a part of many roundtable Q&A’s, lift instruction, and also had a lot of time teaching the lifts and proper warm-up and movement to anyone that wanted help even when we were out to eat or in the bar. Lots of stimulating instruction.
Many diverse backgrounds, approaches, education backgrounds and experience. I was by far the least educated person both teaching, talking or even attending. I took this and wore as a badge of honor – some of the things, most actually – are not and cannot be taught in a classroom, only via experience in the trenches and simply doing and working, winning, losing, failing, succeeding, getting hurt and then rehabbing. We had PT’s, Physios, Chiros, Professional S&C coaches of MLB teams and a whole host of highly educated people that wanted to learn from a very diverse group of teachers.
Getting to hear everyone speak, teach, coach and just feed off of each other’s experience and ideas was something that I think will really benefit me. I know it did, actually. I also had a great time coaching the Big 3 lifts with Chris Duffin and creating this video below together. We have a lot in common with approach and I learned quite a bit from him not just in his lectures but in the downtimes at dinner as a few of us got into quite a few great and stimulating conversations. That is what it’s all about. I admit some of it was over my head at times but that’s why we learn.
I’m not going to go into the merit or accolades of each speaker & coach, but more-so, I want to talk about interactions I had a with a few of them that really impacted me. Craig’s ability to merge and connect a coach or practitioner’s view with other’s methods is pretty awesome. Extrapolating and merging methods and or ideas from experience to experience is something that is necessary IMO. Im realizing this more and more. Also, this – Giancarlo’s attention to detail is something that I really want to include in my approaches – he is extremely thorough and clear. It’s an area of weakness for me, actually.
I was pretty overwhelmed by Dan Pfaff’s knowledge of chemistry, physics, engineering and practical application concerning running in particular. I had 30min or so with just him and we talked everything from secret’s the runners use, to strength training & running using RPE, to variables and all that goes into an Olympic athlete’s tool box. It’s incredible.
From listening to Ken discuss methods with the Diamond Backs, to Anna Hartman discussing the central nervous system and relaxing to Eric Dannenberg’s matter-of-fact corrective and warm-up knowledge to Guido’s parallels to strength training & the big 3 lifts needed in the college weight rooms (not just OLY lifting) which we had a TON in common with the same thought processes.
The best times, to me was after the seminar day, when it was dinner and drink time – Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. This is when the meeting of the minds took place, ideas exchanged and light bulb moments were happening on the regular. Spending time with some very savvy attendees with their own practices, we all got to learn from each other and discuss ideas, experiences and goals. Everyone had something to bring to the table and add. I mean it, everyone had something to add.
I want to thank everyone for the warm reception and kind words, for attending and participating in a great weekend. Especially being an outsider, and a meathead. Thank you Craig, very much for having me out, and giving me a chance to share some ideas and my methods. I’ll be back whenever you will have me. I hope everyone had as great of a weekend as I did. Thanks for making me feel welcome.
Hope to see you at the next one!
Brian Carroll
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