The "Can't" Rant!!!

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Three weeks ago, I had the good fortune of spending the weekend in Miami at the NFL Pro Bowl with three of my clients (and now close friends) - Miles Austin, Brian Cushing and David Diehl. I also got to rub elbows and talk training with many other coaches and players from the NFL's elite group. It was an experience of a lifetime! It was also an experience that would not have been possible if i listened to any of the people who told me what I "can't" do throughout my life! Read on and I'll explain...

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I hate airplanes and how much I hate to fly. But, I must say, the three-hour flight to Miami gave me a much-needed break. It's not often I get three hours free from training sessions, meetings, questions, favors, phone calls, emails and text messages! I basically had no choice but to sit back and relax. It was also the first time since I started my business that I really had a chance to reflect on all that has happened in my life since I took the entrepreneurial plunge!

I have to admit, I started to feel somewhat emotional as I sat on the plane and reflected on the "humble beginnings" of my business. After all, it wasn't long ago that I "rolled the dice" and started training athletes out of a storage closet with no money in the bank and no "Plan B"! In a blur, seven years have already passed, and I was now on my way to go watch three of my clients play in the damn Pro Bowl!

Two of the three Pro-Bowlers (David Diehl & Brian Cushing) were around during my initial "storage closet" years. (For those of you who aren't familiar with my "storage closet" references; when I first started my own business, I didn't have enough money to buy or rent a warehouse, so I rented an old storage closet that was downstairs from a health club. I basically cleaned it out, painted it and equipped it with the 'bare essentials'. So the "storage closet" I often refer to was my first "facility".)

It seems like yesterday that David Diehl walked into the storage closet as a rookie, sat down at the desk that was placed next to my belt squat machine (I called this my "office" ) with a pen & paper, and he officially "hired" me as his personal trainer. It was at this first meeting that we mapped out his training sessions and reviewed his goals - both short-term & long-term. Three of which were: Start every game. Play in a Superbowl. Make the Pro Bowl. He can now put a 'check' next to each one of those initial goals! True Story.

It was during this time that a stud high school athlete was also training with us and making incredible gains on a "modified" version of the Westside Barbell method that I was experimenting with. I was logging all of his workouts and taking notes every single day for an article I was writing entitled, "Westside for Skinny Bastards". I had a feeling that this kid was going to be really good so I wanted to document everything. The kid's name was Brian Cushing and he did turn out to be really good!

As I was reflecting on these - as well as many other stories - I had a flashback of the "advice" a former employer gave me after I told him I was going to start my own training business. Here's what he told me:

Reflecting on that conversation really made me think about how different my life would be if I actually listened to him...

Where would I be right now?

What the hell would I be doing?

Who would I be?

I can't even imagine my life without my gym. The athletes, parents, coaches and cast of characters that walk through my doors each day have become my extended family.

I now speak to individuals all over the world and also have products explaining the "business" of owning and operating your own warehouse or garage gym. People want to know the "secret" behind my gym's success...they wanna know how we increased our revenue by 43% during a friggin' recession...they wanna know what was my "back-up" plan...and they wanna know what was my initial 5-year plan, etc., etc.

The secret is... THERE IS NO SECRET! Truth be told, I had NO back-up plan and NO 5-year plan! And when I first opened the doors of my "gym", I sure as hell wasn't worrying about "profit margins" and "marketable catch phrases" like my old boss was telling me about. And maybe there wasn't any "value" in the old storage closet I converted into my gym. But the financial "value" my old boss was referring to - and the "value" I was trying to create - were two completely different things! You can't put a dollar value on passion, determination and work ethic. And maybe that's why I never had "Plan B" and "what if" never crossed my mind. I was so damn determined to have the most badass gym on the planet - and I loved training athletes so much - failure truly never crossed my mind!! I had this insane "tunnel vision" - my mind literally NEVER strayed from my ultimate goal. Some people call this "bad business" or a "lack of planning"; I call it finding your passion in life, doing what you love for a living, and refusing to settle for anything less! When you find your passion and you combine it with consistent hard work, things have a tendency to "fall into place" and good things start to happen. Trust me on this one!

All this reflecting really made me think about how many athletes out there have been told they "CAN'T" do something:

You can't because you're too short...

You can't because you're too slow...

You can't because you're not good enough...

You can't because you don't have enough money...

You can't because you don't have enough time...

Are you going to listen to "them", or are you going to prove "them" wrong?!

Are you going to let someone else dictate your life?! YOU BETTER NOT!!!

I fuc*ing THRIVE on people telling me I can't do something... and you should too!!

Tell me I can't do something! I dare ya...

-Joe D.

*Please leave your comments below and let me know your thoughts on this rant!

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Look out MTV Cribs, here comes MEATHEAD CRIBS!

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Inspired by the wildly popular MTV show, Cribs, Zach Even-Esh decided to take a trip up the NJ Turnpike and take a tour of this meatheads new crib. The following four "episodes" give you an inside look at how Zach and I run our businesses, our training inspirations and motivation...and just some random, funny sh#t!

Who knows, maybe the folks over at MTV will take note of this new show idea HA!!

MEATHEAD CRIBS

at my expense

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Joe D. talks about leadership, Home Remedies and Great NFL Performances!

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Q: Joe,

I just turned 21 and i play division iii football in pa. I grew up in philly and have been partyin with my friends there since i was 13. Problem now is, I take my training and health very seriously. But all my friends want to do on the weekend is go out and get drunk or high, then stumble into a diner at 4AM and eat crap. Alcohol and drugs really mess with my training and the late nights on the weekends throw off my sleep cycle. What should i do boss? I don't wanna be a social outcast but at the same time i'm inhibiting my progress by going out like that. any response, even if its not on the site would be helpful. thank you

dave

A: Dave,

After reading your question, there was no way in hell I WASN'T going to post it on this site!

I'm going to give you a wake-up call brotha - YOU'RE A BULLSHITTER! That's right, I'M CALLING YOU OUT, SON! Do you really expect me to believe that you're "taking your training and your health very seriously" when you're telling me that you're drinking and getting high??? Now I'm not going to turn this into a "Don't Do Drugs" lecture because I'm sure you heard it all before. But, what I will tell you is that anyone worth a shit to me is NOT a follower. Call me cocky, but I was raised to be a LEADER, not a follower. I won't associate with followers or haters anymore - I only surround myself with other leaders and self-motivated people. And guess what? NONE of the people I associate with are losers, nerds or "social outcasts" (as you say)!

Here's a quick story for you...

I have a client that I've been training since high school. He's always been his "own person" and he's always been in the "cool" crowd - even though he doesn't drink and party a lot. You see, this kid never wanted to be "ordinary"...he always wanted to be "EXTRA-ORDINARY". Now don't get me wrong, he still goes out and he's very social, but unlike YOU, he doesn't abuse his body because he really "takes his training and his health" seriously. In fact, before this kid left town a couple months ago, I went to dinner with him and his girlfriend. After dinner, we hung out at the bar for 2 hours. While everyone else was drinking, he drank water. About an hour into the drinking he even excused himself, went out to his car, drank a protein shake, then came back in the bar and continued to have a great time with the rest of us. Not one person busted his balls because everyone knows this kid has a desire to be the BEST. He doesn't give a shit what YOU (or anyone else) thinks...and he doesn't give a shit if he doesn't "blend" with the crowd, either. Instead of following in other people's footsteps, he blazes his own trail. In fact, the morning after the night I'm referring to, he blazed his own trail to Houston, Texas.

Yes, the individual that I'm referring to is Brian Cushing. I'm going to assume that you and your friends think Brian Cushing is pretty cool. But guess what? He wouldn't be half as cool if he "blended" with your crowd. Because if he did blend with your crowd, he wouldn't be "Brian Cushing". He would be "just one of the guys"...and he sure as hell wouldn't be where he is today!

Now I'm not trying to say that if you stop drinking, you're going to make it to the NFL. But my point is that every person that I know that is successful in their field has been a LEADER. Leaders (regardless of their age or their profession) don't give a shit what other people say about them. In fact, when people start talking shit about you - that's when you know you've made it!

The choice is yours, Dave. If you truly want to start "taking your health and training seriously", you already know what you have to do. Drinking, doing drugs and staying up until 4AM obviously isn't going to help you accomplish your training and health goals. This doesn't mean that you can't hang with your boys or you're never alloud to have a drink. But if drinking and doing drugs continues to be a regular occurance for you, I will continue to call you a bullshitter.

Are you a follower...or are you a LEADER?

The choice is yours, Dave...

-Joe D.

Q: For Joe Defranco - this is a really random question but you seem to always have the answer so i'll give it a shot. every year during this time i get a nagging sore throat that feels like a knife is stuck in my throat. im not really sick but it affects my training because when i start breathing heavy my throat F'in KILLS!! I suck on cough drops all day but they don't seem to help. do you have any remedies or supplements that you or your athletes have used? sorry for this boring question but i thought maybe its something you deal with during this time of year.

PS - whens the release date of the ebook??? -frank

A: Frank,

Your question is actually an extremely common problem during this time of year - so don't worry about it being "boring". Hey, anything that affects our reader's training in a negative way needs to be addressed and rectified!

The old "knife in the throat" is something that can stick around for many days (or weeks) if you don't treat it properly. Now, I'm sure there are hundreds of remedies that people swear by, but all I can do is give you advice based on my personal experience. I learned this little gem from my dad during this time last year when I had the worst sore throat of my life. It affected my training and my sleep and basically drove me crazy. But then I used the magic "one-two punch" of apple cider vinegar and organic honey and my sore throat disappeared!

Before going to bed, take a nice swig of apple cider vinegar, tilt your head back and gargle for a good 30 seconds to a minute. Really gargle...don't half-ass it! After a good gargle, spit out the apple cider vinegar, but don't rinse your mouth out. Immediately take a tablespoon of organic honey and swallow it. (It will wash down some of the apple cidar vinegar, while getting the acidic taste out of your mouth.) Goto bed. FYI, your sore throat won't go away immediately. But when you wake up, it's almost like magic how much better your throat will feel! Give it a try!

Regarding our "BUILT LIKE A BADASS" ebook...

The ebook was completed this week! I will be editting it and putting some final touches on the Intro and FAQ section this weekend...then it's off to our web designer next week to be formatted, etc. I hate giving specific "release dates", but I can comfortably say it will be on this site and ready for sale before November is over!

One of our BADASS "test subjects" in action!

I'm really pumped for this ebook to hit the market! It will be THE training blueprint for meatheads that are looking to build muscular, athletic physiques...trust me!

The program is friggin'...well... BAD ASS!!

-Joe D.

I couldn't end this blog post without mentioning the incredible performances of Miles Austin & Brian Cushing during the past couple weeks of the NFL season!

Four short years ago, I conducted an entire lecture in Syracuse, NY, entitled, "The Miles Austin Project". My lecture revealed the training, nutrition, supplementation and psychological training that we were putting Miles through in preparation of his NFL workouts/interviews.

At this time, not many people had heard of this "longshot" from  little Monmouth College in New Jersey. Now, I hate to say "I told you so", but... I TOLD YOU SO! Everyone at my gym has been impatiently waiting for the Cowboys to give Miles a legit shot at wide receiver. We knew if he was given an opportunity, he would make the most of it. Well, two weeks ago, Miles got his first official start at wide receiver when Roy Williams was sidelined with an injury. All Miles did with his opportunity was break the ALL-TIME Cowboys single game record for receiving yards!

Miles caught 10 passes for 250 yards and 2 TD's! His 2nd TD was the game-winner in overtime to give the Cowboys a much-needed victory over the Kansas City Chiefs! I think it's safe to say that you'll be seeing a lot more of Miles this year!

Another performance that couldn't go without mention was Brian Cushing's performance last week against the Cincinnati Bengals. Cush recorded 9 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 2 pass break-ups and an incredibly athletic, game-sealing interception in the 4th quarter. That performance earned Cush the honor of AFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK! He is the first rookie to receive that honor this year! He was also nominated for "Rookie of the Week" for the second time this season!

After 6 games, Cush is also leading the Texans in tackles with 48!

Nothing cooler than seeing these two great kids "make it"...

-Joe D.

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