04/02/2011

I have spent the majority of my life on this planet as an athlete, coach or something in between. It has allowed me to see the world and meet a lot of people from a number of different professional backgrounds, but regardless of what we believe the vast majority of people are being misled by continuous onslaught of misinformation.  I often wondered if it was me who truly was the peddler of mistruths and distraction because at times it seemed that I was the only one speaking my language and it wasn’t until I started training with Jud Logan in Ashland, Oh that I finally started to feel like my ideas were not strength training blasphemy! Certainly I have stepped off the path for a number of different reasons and on the ventures from the path I have learned a lot about what I was doing that was not only right but also very, very wrong! These trips from the path were during times of personal exploration in to the realm of curiosity, trying to make a bigger stronger me in not only the physical sense but also the mental and spiritual sense.  However, it was the trips away that made the path that much easier to walk.  Each trip away either strengthened the abilities that I already had or provided clarity by teaching me to release or let go of belief systems or simple false truths that were walking with me making the path more difficult to navigate. 

It is  this process of letting go of old thoughts and taking on new information and ideas that may not have been previously, easy to conceive or accept that has allowed me to enjoy continuous success. It allows me to wear a number of different hats depending on the direction of my goals. I maintain this sense of direction by setting clear goals, but the road or path in which I use to get to my goals are as free or open to influence as anything in my life.  You have to understand, that all that matters is that you reach your destination! How the road takes you or for that fact. How you ‘allow’ the road or path to take you is completely open to interpretation.  Too many young coaches or trainers from all around the world have not even taken a step and begin to doubt or question whether or not they have the tools to reach the destination that they had in mind. Or worse yet they begin only to stop because they allow someone else to tell them what direction they want to go! Listen if I can give you one piece of advice, you must set your destination first and start moving. Second; seek out the people and sources that have the information that help you make your destination more attainable. If they are providing information that anticipates an alternate destination that's ok, they are moving one way and you are simply moving another. If there is one thing that I hate is motherf***ers that try to force their ideas on people with the intent to confuse or mislead because they want to be the only destination. Their destination is profit or self-gratification over all else! These people and or organizations are doing us all a great disservice, because they don’t take into consideration that there are a lot of directions and outcomes that one can experience as a traveler in this industry.  

Remember, that in the end it is your path to walk, it’s your destination to arrive at and over time the destinations will change and the information that you require will grow. Take the time to make sure that the tools you pick make your journey easier, but don't  slow you down.

Derek Woodske

Master course conductor

Poliquin Strength Institute