Week 1 Reflection

My first week was an incredible learning experience from training, nutritional, and business perspectives. I had the opportunity to view Compete from the perspective of an athlete, as well as a member of the staff. From an athlete's perspective, I could not speak more highly of Joe and all of his staff and how much they put into making sure their athletes are getting better. Seeing someone go into their next season a little bit stronger, faster, and more confident is of the utmost importance to them. When I began training with them in 2013, I immediately realized a difference in not only my overall ability as a hockey player, but in my confidence that they had instilled in me. Our group has no more than 7-10 people in the gym at a time, and with 2-3 trainers working, you always have someone making sure you are training properly. Even as one of the more experienced guys in the gym this Spring, my overall knowledge of what I am doing continues to grow. For example, I mentioned in an earlier blog that I learned how effective three second negatives were, I also learned more about my form, such as keeping your knees bent the entire time you do T-bar presses so you are not using your legs to make it easier (it is a shoulder exercise). Also, I learned a few tips to make my nutrition plan even better and more effective.

While working at Compete, I realized how much really goes in to running a gym. It can be simple things, like seeing a shelf where you put your drinks, and realizing that small thing required a run to Home Depot, consistent cleaning, and the time to assemble it. Or it can be bigger things, like realizing there are groups from 6:30 am- 8pm in the Summer and Joe and Dean are in the gym for a large portion, if not all of those groups. That is an absolute grind and I can't see anyone wanting to do that unless they really love it. That being said, if I ever wanted to do something like this one day, I would have to be all in.

Everything happened pretty much as I expected this week, which was a mixture of working out, training others, and odd jobs. However, as mentioned, I did not realize how many small jobs were needed, which does make sense because the sports complex is brand new and there is certainly a lot to be done to set it up. I think I benefited from this weeks activities by becoming better as an athlete by training, learning the ins and outs of running a successful business and learning important life skills by working with other people both as an athlete and an intern. Week 2 coming in spicy hot. Stay tuned.