Dan John - Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

THE STACK OF BOOKS, DVDs and articles people send me to review has become a never-finished pile strategically placed in the corner of my office. Years ago I simply gave up any timely review of most of these often-random works that represent everything in fitness from the rare and truly genius to the much more common worthless material that should never see the light of day or find its way to any fitness professionals bookshelf.

I first met Dan John through this pile. I was leaving for a cross-country flight and picked up an unopened package from Laree Draper that contained Dans latest book at the time, Never Let Go, threw it in my backpack and forgot about it. Finding myself wide awake on the plane and searching for something to read, I decided to give this new author a try.

Several hours later I finished the book, which was an apparent relief to those around me who found my endless laughter and obsessive note-taking somewhat of a nuisance during the five-hour flight. Dan had me at the cover, and I became so enthralled that I read the entire thing again on the return flight.

While Dan has always been sort of a rumpled rock star in the coaching world, only recently has he found his way into more mainstream fitness and is currently one of the most discussed and respected gurus in modern training. His following is ever-growing and he now enjoys a huge fan base amongst educated trainers and those working in the mainstream fitness world.

Much of this rising popularity is based upon Dans perfect timing. The training world has grown weary over the years of quick-fix, one-trick masters who preach and scream the new gospel that ultimately fails, leaving a jaded and more cynical fitness professional. The era of my way or the highway leadership is tiring, yet there is still a need for leadership and clear thinking in the fast growing world of training.

Dan has provided that leadership through his previous writing and workshops and now with his newest book, Intervention. This book places him at the top echelon of teaching and thought in our field, along with other mind-changers such as Gray Cook, Alwyn Cosgrove, Mark Verstegen, Greg Rose, Rachel Cosgrove, Todd Durkin and Mike Boyleall men and women who have helped us sort through the endless stream of nonsense to find what works, what is safe and what is necessary to train any athlete or regular client who simply wants to live a healthier and more fit life.

The current fitness world is in great turmoil. The mainstream box fitness players are failing and the next generation of training-centric businesses is rising. Much of this failing can be traced to one simple thought: Most of the accepted principles of modern fitness that were made popular by equipment companies and the false gurus selling their products and solutions just does not get sustainable results for our clients and athletes. This, coupled with a more educated consumer, has forced anyone working in fitness or coaching to reassess what works, what doesnt and where we should be going.

Dans work helps us return to foundations of training by getting us to think about a return to the principles that have worked for literally hundreds of years, while introducing his current thought as to what he has learned through his decades of coaching, teaching and participating as a world-class athlete. His books forcefully get us to rethink everything we think we know about training and replace much of the not needed with plenty of the cant live without.

As much as I like his work, his books are not what make Dan John important in our industry. Why I think he is a powerful role model for all trainers is not what he writes, which I find funny and often brilliant, but who he is and what he represents to all of us who work in this field.

The normal professional course for most trainers is to start out as a dangerous human with little practical knowledge, but with an enormous amount of theory and ideas as to how a person should be trained. Most new trainers agonize over the perfect workout, over-train virtually everyone and are the crazy purist idiots who embarrass themselves at restaurants trying to impress everyone with how clean they eat.

This is also why you should never eat dinner with trainers. It takes an hour to order the meal, as the trainer has to discuss types of oil, origin of meat, freshness of vegetables, and then humiliates the entire table as he whips out his own snack and organic mustard. We get it, you live pure; now order a big hunk of carcass, drink a good beer and just work out a little harder tomorrow. You will live and you will survive dinner out at 90% pure.

Luckily, the idiot stage only lasts a year or so and then the trainer moves into the hunger stage where he travels the world following the gurus, and spends hours with his other trainer friends discussing the latest Cosgrove post or Todd Durkin video. Every word is absorbed, every nuance copied, every book read, and he never misses a Perform Better Summit, or any other training agenda, where he can stalk his heroes and get the rare chance to ask questions and hang out with the Gods of fitness philosophy.

After that point, a few continue the quest for lifelong education, while most stagnate, trapped by their own successes. Develop a successful business, fill your life with clients and family and never again learn anything new. Over time, what you know is what you know and a new idea has as about as much of chance of getting through that dense head as a Twinkie getting eaten by the first-year purist.