I just got back to San Diego (I say that like I live here! maybe that’s a sign) after 3 amazing days in Long Beach, attending the Perform Better summit. Wow is all I can say. I mean that about the overall experience. The summit itself did not wow me as much as the last 2 that I attended in Providence did. But maybe that’s because I know a bit more now, and because I’ve already experienced how awesome they are, so my perspective is different. Don’t get me wrong – I saw some amazing presentations. And I learned a lot. And I got inspired. I think my favourite presentations were those by Brett Jones on the push press and squat, Charles Staley on Olympic lifting for regular folks, Diane Vives on functional training for female athletes, and Rachel Cosgrove on training women. But as I write that, I realize that I want to include Mark Verstegen coaching a barefoot training dynamimc warmup, Dan John coaching (and then taking the time to engage me about lifting norms for women athletes outside of class), Todd Durkin showing me how to be a phenomenally impressive speaker and how to motivate people, Sue Falsone about the head and neck, and John Berardi on coaching to help your clients meet their nutrition goals. In other words – it was all pretty amazing. Seriously – how lucky am I that I got to see all of that in one conference? And by the way – that meant skipping presentations by Martin Rooney, Michael Boyle, Gray Cook, Lee Burton, Alwyn Cosgrove, Todd Wright, Dr. Ed Thomas (so curious about club swings) and more. Seriously – what a conference.

But that’s not what was so cool. What is so cool is that I now have this incredible network of friends in the strength and conditioning field who live all over the world. Some of them I had never met in person until this event; others I had met at previous Perform Better summits in Providence. All of them, I met because a great guy named Michael Boyle started an incredible site called strengthcoach.com, where we all hang out everyday and talk shop about training. And because we are all over the world, we really only get to see each other at these conferences, so not only is it an amazing learning event, it becomes a social event that we all look forward to. And because Mike is so amazing, he’s ensured that strengthcoach is only for polite conversation – jerks are asked to leave. And so no surprise that all of these people are incredibly nice people. And did I mention they are all smart and passionate about fitness? Which means that in addition to formal learning and a great time, I learned a tonne through informal conversations with my sc.com friends. I haven’t taken the time to really digest what I learned this weekend, but I’ll hopefully put together my top 10 lessons from the event while on the plane tomorrow. I suspect that half of them will be nuggets I picked up in informal conversations.

To all the great people I had the pleasure of spending time with this weekend: a huge thank you. You inspired me. So much so, that my cup runneth over. I suspect my clients over the next few months should thank you too, because they will be better athletes and better, healthier people because of the great conversations you shared with me.