Ian King

Personal Trainer Professional Development – the KSI Way  

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In 1998 I recorded a live seminar in which I released for the first time a number of my unique, original innovations in training that I had developed, tested and refined in the prior 18 years of coaching. The concepts released in that seminar have proven to be the most influential (and most imitated/copied) concepts on the planet.

The impact and value of these concepts has, in my opinion, been diluted by the extent of copying they have been subject to. Many personal trainers in the US market have been exposed to some of these concepts – however in a diluted, confused and off-intent manner. Here’s a chance for you to get it right.

Spend a day live in seminar and learn first hand, from the source, the most effective methods for how to write and how to teach training programs, aimed at personal trainers.

This one day seminar will be equally divided between ‘how to write’ and ‘how to teach’, using methods many seek to imamate, but only KSI can truly teach – because we created them! These methods are timeless – you will not need to rely on the ‘latest trend’ or the ‘latest equipment’ when you follow the path taught during this seminar.

Take my exercise innovations for example. One of them, the single leg stiff legged deadlift, was first reproduced without consent of acknowledgement in a Men’s Health magazine in the early 2000s, but a so called ‘student’ of KSI. Something went badly wrong, because the picture accompanying the short article was of a person with the non-working leg lifted back up in the air, making the exercise virtually useless. Suffice to say, this ‘variation’ has now become a main-stay of the ‘functional training movement’ – without anyone realizing how this exercise came to be!

Or take my lines of movement concept – you know the horizontal and vertical push/pull, and quad and hip dominant. For the first few years post release most acknowledged the source, however one particular ‘variation’ of this concept changed the word ‘quad’ for ‘knee’. Pity whoever did this didn’t read the original rationale behind my word selection, as clearly outlined in my 2000 ‘How to Teach’ book. And it hasn’t helped that he most prolific publisher of my concept didn’t seem keen to acknowledge the source for the first 10 years after he caused a mass walkout of my 1999 north-east USA seminar!

Or take the business advice I rolled out in my 1999 ‘So you want to become a physical preparation coach’ book. Not be confused of course with the article of the same name with the exception of the words ‘personal trainer’ inserted, published nearly a decade later.

Or take my ‘over-reaction/under-reaction’ saying and concept. In my limited exposure to marketing-dependant US personal trainer ‘education’ I recently learned that it was apparently the concept of ‘another’ persons’!

Or take my concept of ‘Capable vs. Optimal’ – reversing the words to ‘Optimal vs. Capable’ may fool the masses to thinking it is original, but for me the willingness and propensity to flip words around for self serving purposes is at the expense of the receiver of the message.

Or take my philosophies for example. When you read a paragraph that is poorly paraphrased from my book ‘The Way of the Physical Preparation Coach’, such as this one, that a certain internet magazine thought it was okay to leave posted on their site:

My original version 2005:
Resist the temptation in program design to conform to mainstream paradigms simply for the sake of conforming, no matter how dogmatically they are presented, or how much you may be ridiculed or ostracized for trusting your intuition over conformity….

‘Later version’ 2006:

When designing training programs, resist the pressure to conform to any tradition or system of beliefs, no matter how dogmatically that tradition or those beliefs are presented, or how much you get “slammed” for not conforming. This applies to training and life

…and in the same article read the ‘author’ claim the philosophies are based on their ‘own experiences’…how many times do you need to be lied to before you realize it’s not in your best interests?

Or during the last seven years you could have paid anywhere between one to two thousand dollars to attend a Californian based seminar on program design, in which you would have been taught my concepts such as family trees, progressing and regressing exercise, reversing exercise sequence in subsequent programs, using the first stage to develop and correct muscle balances and so on. You would probably have got more value by reading my ‘How to Write’ and ‘How to Teach’ books – at least you would have got the honest original source. It least you would receive honest information. And you could have used that money difference to contribute to a worthwhile charity of your choice.

And even when you read in other’s ‘works’ where they could not be bothered to paraphrase and write exactly the same things, such as this paragraph, which has appeared a number of times verbatim in the ‘works’ of the same ‘author’:

all things being equal, and independent of any specificity demands, the selection of exercises should show balance throughout the body

…I still suggest the message is lost. And then there is of course the issue that you are getting your education from thieves who compound the integrity issue by seeking to claim it as their own…

Now some suggest that they don’t care where they get their information? Let me share some insights – most of what you are being taught has not been done by the marketer teaching you it, because for the most part many of them don’t train. To add to this non-experience based training, you often get ‘athlete preparation’ tips, peppered with vague references such as the first name of a boxing medallist from an Olympic games (at a time when the ‘speaker’ was a teenager)….by ‘coaches’ that are only coaches by virtue of calling themselves a ‘coach’ (or more importantly, a performance expert), who have not accumulated enough coaching experience to warrant teaching anyone.

Now if you are happy to be bullshitted to, go ahead and keep learning from these sources. For those who would prefer to get it straight without the BS, here is your chance – learn from the source!

Personal trainer professional development – the KSI Way! Sunday 19 August 2012, Los Angeles. Register here: http://bit.ly/PkWbfK

Ian King

Please help me understand Lou  

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Lou – I have attempted a number of times to respond online to your comments about me that you posted at or about 11 January 2011 on the Amazon forum http://amzn.to/ftn9lG. For some strange reason my responses are not being received and posted.

Following my decision to expose what I describe the biggest intellectual property theft in modern physical preparation, you have chosen to make a number of statements of facts about my integrity and I have not been able to respond. So I have responded here http://bit.ly/QjW2gW.

Essentially you must have excellent evidence at hand that allows you to make these statements of fact. Can you please share them with me?  Would really appreciate being enlightened. Thanks.

Ian King

You’re up to date? Then I’m scared for the athlete  

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Among the many emails I receive was one recently from a sports coach seeking advice on their warm up strategy. In the email was the comment that they made every effort ‘to keep up to date’. Upon reviewing the warm up I noted conformity to trends, including predominantly ‘dynamic warm up drills’.

Here are abbreviated version of some of the points I responded with:

1. My general rule of thumb for a young athlete to have any chance of avoiding developing injuries is to ensure that at least x% of their total training time is dedicated to tension reducing activities such as stretching, massage, and other recovery methods…

2. There is no such thing as a dynamic stretch in my opinion. There is a dynamic movement and we can discuss the role of this in the warm up in a separate discussion if you wish. I understand that the dominant paradigm is that there is such a thing as a dynamic stretch. Problem is if you continue doing what most believe and do, any coach and athlete will receive what most get – injuries earlier, more frequent and more severe than necessary…..

3. Cool downs are over-rated and in the scheme of the limited time most athletes/coaches get in their specific sports training, redundant.

4. Static stretching at end of training. I am fully aware again of the power and prevalence of this paradigm. I am also aware of the theory of the benefits of this toward recovery. However I state quite simply that compared to the value of stretching before training, and compared to the training impact of stretching earlier in the training session when the energy and focus is higher – there is no comparison….

The full response is available to Level 1 and above KSI coaches at the http://coachking.net/amember/ site.

I was at a game of sport at the weekend, as I am multiple times most weekends, and I noted a group of young athletes being warmed up by their coaches. When I say them doing walking lunges, dynamic external rotations of the hips and walking partial range lateral lunge squats – it struck me – this coach is ‘up to date’!

Whenever I see coaches provided the dominant paradigms of the day (which change decade to decade) I know that whilst their coaches feel good in ‘being up to date’, I cringe for the athlete. I don’t want coaches to be ‘up to date’, which for me is a euphemism for being trend compliant – I want them to be analytical and critical thinkers. Or at worst use their common sense. Forget about being ‘up to date’. You might get a warm feeling, but the athletes are getting wrecked.

Ian King

International expansion of our supplement distribution division  

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Some of you may be aware that 12 years ago I set up a supplement distribution division in partnership with a US company. We do it quietly, we do it with integrity, we do it with the best interests of our customers and sales team, and we do it in a way that is compliant with the rules and regulations of the countries we do business in. This alone rules out most supplement operations!

I train athletes because I have as gift and am passionate about helping athletes succeed in sport. I teach my coaches to do the same – fulfil their gifts and passion for training athletes.

However I concluded a long time ago that excellence-based service does not provide the financial freedom that is possible. So I developed a product distribution arm in partnership with a US company listed on the US stock exchanges. I selected this company after two years of trials with athletes at elite level.

Quite simply product sales provide leverage that selling your service doesn’t. And the compensation plan involved provides potential for passive or residual income, something that few in business ever achieve. I concluded by mid-1990s that at the rate I was going, after 25 years coaching, I had no leverage or financial security irrespective of being one of the truly highest paid coaches in the world at the time. You can learn more about this in my ‘Paycheck to Passive’ book and or workbook.

I spent the next half decade developing my financial intelligence. However I had no desire to create a ‘McDonalds’ like approach to physical preparation – by hiring cheap and low competence trainers and selling their services to clients. This is not my approach. I do not support this approach to training. I don’t make a habit of eating at McDonalds and I don’t believe athletes should receive services where the primary aim is to make a profit.

From my studies into financial and business education I selected a business model and company and established a division which would allow and support physical preparation coaches who loved what they did but realized they needed more to create the financial security for themselves and their families.
During the last 12 years we have created structures and systems in training and teamwork that have supported this goal, as evidenced by physical preparation coaches around the world who have created leveraged income.

During the last few weeks we have expanded also our supplement distribution division into the Singapore and China markets. What many of you may not be aware because it is rare, our products are:

• Labelling compliant in all countries we are approved to distribute into

• Component compliant in all countries we are approved to distribute into

• The products have are World Anti-Doping Agency compliant, so we know athletes will not test positive in drug testing at any WADA compliant testing

• Produced by choice at pharmaceutical grade standards

• In-house production facilities (not out-sourced production)

• Our manufacturing facilities are inspected and approved all countries we are approved to distribute in

• The potency of every pill in every bottle is guaranteed to be what is on the label

• Backed by a team of focused and supportive scientists who answer our questions when we need them to

Our supplement division is not for everyone. We don’t buy into mainstream trends and beliefs. We don’t believe in get rich quick schemes. We accept it takes years to build something great. We believe in putting the needs of others first. We don’t support lying, cheating and stealing. If its not excellence based, we don’t get involved.

We recognize that most average people won’t do what others are not prepared to do so they can receive what others will never receive. Most people are drawn to promises of fast results and other instant gratification themes.

I can tell you most of you will take years to develop entrepreneurial skills required to successfully develop truly leveraged income. The greatest challenge is learning the mindset of the entrepuer – moving from the left to the right of Kiyosaki’s cash flow quadrant. This will take years for most. In fact, most will never meet a person who has mastered this and is willing to teach it. Most will pay to attend seminars with people who talk a great story but have not actually achieved the financial position they infer they have.

Some will recognize they need leveraged income to get ahead, and be ready to work and change to achieve it. Some realize that the cost of living is rising faster than their income and the economy is changing so fast that intuitively know they need to develop new business models. If you are one these people, you can talk to any of the top KSI coaches to learn more.

We are expanding into new markets and existing markets, and constantly assess individuals for their potential to contribute. In essence we look for good people, people with integrity, who are committed to taking long term action to secure the financial future for themselves and their families. We will be able to tell fairly quickly whether you have what it takes at this stage to succeed with us in this business or not.

Ian King