Tell us about the seminar!

Slizz that's great to hear. Coming from you esp. I think the intimidation factor can be a big thing holding folks back.

Even in my classes i find that helping people realize 1)Its OK to be where you're at, 2)If you stick with it you will improve and 3)The only competition is with yourself, promotes much better long term growth.

Also this means the atmosphere stays very relaxed and every feels like equals no matter where they are.

Coach- I/we truly appreciate your passion, and the amount of wisdom being given out with regards to physical culture!!

Hello GBers,

I attended all three days of the workshop. I have to say the amount of knowledge and quality was bar none the best. Coach Sommers and his team really know how to instruct and bring along a class of non-gymnasts into the world of gymnastic conditioning. I did however feel that the material was a bit mismatched at times. I would and will recomend to Coach that the next seminars be broken up a bit differently. I would focus on joint prep and basic strength on day 1, then go into the Hungarian and HS work day 2 and then rings and whatnot on day 3.

Coach is a very open and fluid person and I noticed the workshop curriculum was really just a basic outline of things to cover, but as the group's performance either met, exceeded, or fell short in certain areas, Coach was able to dial back and drill into knowledge we needed to get us up to standards before moving on. This is really beneficial as a lot of us where unaware of some basic strength progression that gymnasts take for granted. I loved the bodyline work and will be implementing that into my daily routine. I also love the shoulder prehap work and the progression that was taught for rings. All in all the workshop was great, and I will be going back in September. I just need to work out logistics. If we can start a Sept Seminar sticky maybe some of us can work out a deal with the hotel for a better price. Hope to see Josh, and Keith, Carmen, and the rest of you there... this time i will be ready to dive in.

Respectfully,

JP

BAH! This thread makes me angry at my appendix!!

All I can say is I'm GRATEFUL I got to go through at least the first day of the seminar. And glad I got to meet some of the forum members here and all the other attendees! And of course see Coach and his fantastic crew of coaches and athletes. It was awesome to meet Mr. Bower and son...and to see Jeff, Dillon, and Matt again.

I have attended (well semi-attended) two seminars and each time I get MORE and MORE out of the seminar. Like Sliz said there is just SO MUCH info that Coach wants to get to us, consider he's had a lifetime of gathering knowledge and insight and to disseminate that to multiple attendees over just 3-days is a tall order.

My advice, definitely go for all 3-days, unless something catastrophic (like surprise appendicitis) prevents you from doing so. And definitely plan on going more than once. I for one will look forward to seeing all your bright and smiley faces at the seminar in September! Maybe I'll get tonsillitis in the fall!

BTW,

I am back home in San Diego, resting and taking it easy for a few...no working out for me for a couple weeks yet...but I'm just glad I went to the hospital when I did!

No worries Aush, I'll make sure you get a copy of my notes once I get them typed out and formatted correctly. Then you won't have missed any material, at least!

I think having focused days like JPshepard says is a good idea. Getting the joint prep from one joint to the next would really be great, because for a lot of us that is one of the major things we are missing, and it is one thing that I would hate to get behind on and miss. Coach has said that to truly cover Hungarian is pretty much a whole day all by itself and that Hungarian is not anywhere near as important as covering the other information. I know he plans to get that out to us, but I can definitely see why it takes second seat to the other information he put out. I'm still looking forward to learning the Hungarian routine, but if I don't know it for another year it won't matter.

I think one of the most important parts for me was to actually go through the WODs. I don't know about the rest of the forum members, but I never actually gave the GB WODs a shot. That was a mistake. They don't look like a lot, but when you do them EXACTLY as written, rest times and all, they are really tough. It's no joke, and for anyone else who has never done the WODs under the watchful eye of Coach and his athletes is quite possibly missing out on just how good the WODs are when done correctly. I definitely think, and we talked about this and coach is thinking about trying this in September, that for the most part it will save time and really help understanding by walking through the WODs instead of actually doing all of them. I definitely think we should do some, since it really helped me, but once you get the idea it will apply to all the WODs. For me, dynamic pull and dynamic push were the best WODs to actually do a few rounds of. That's enough to get the idea across, and after that walking through the rest should be sufficient. That way we should be able to cover a lot more material without missing anything important.

I'll definitely be there, so no worries! I hope to see both new and familiar faces!

Hey Slizz,

I think you are right. There is no substitute for doing a WOD. I think we should do the days lessons, walk through 1 WOD and at the end of each day end with a WOD that we do (not walk through). That would be my suggestion to get through the material. I think of the seminars as more knowledge gathering rather than training. Maybe Dillon could hold a training workshop on a weekend where we just get our buts kicked for 2 days. that is my 2 cents anyway. lets start a Sept Seminar thread where we can share our ideas of what we would like to learn and experience. is that something we can do?

Respectfully,

JP

J, that's what this thread is all about. I was going to start one but someone started one after me (since I deleted the one I made as I did not like the way I expressed myself in it).

There is something to be said about doing all the mobility/flexibility (including stall bar series) on just one day. I think the L1 should have some basic body line that increases each day.

I'm sure there is a lot of material in the book we didn't have to cover. It's not like no one didn't know what the basic FSP were besides a Wall HS/wall runs. This saved a lot of time. I'm sure we could have spent a lot of time on the SLS as well.

We got to benefit in seeing sneak previews of a lot of material that would be in the future volumes. All that mobility, the Hungarian series, some advanced ring strength, etc.

I agree since the seminars are only twice a year, that a focus on knowledge gathering is important; especially if we were going to miss going through some of the material in lieu of. This is important for me in the sense that going through all the mobility series was crucial for me as a coach. I have some really stiff kids besides myself that need a lot of work. While I compete, it's mostly for recreation (and babes) but did give me a focus for training.

Hey Guys

Any chance someone can email me their seminar notes? That's if they're user friendly I'm definitely thinking of going to the next seminar.

cheers

Seconded the above request! Saving up money hard now for the next one! (long trip from holland xD)

Seminar notes go to seminar attendees only. The enthusiasm is quite exciting, and that's what we want here, but what you get at the seminars is literally a lifetime of experience from Coach and consists of materials from the future volumes that are currently being edited.

Seminar notes are not simply quotes from coach. They are entire routines, from liquid steel™ joint prep to a proper warm up to daily prehab and more. It is both wrong and disrespectful to give out for free information that was given to us in good faith, and that we paid for with time and money. To give these out to non-attendees would be to give the finger to both Coach and all the attendees.

I do not know if you all feel offended by that, and I am sorry if you do, but we are here to help with your problems and give freely of our time, knowledge and experience. If you are really excited about what we share, come to the seminars! They offer much, much more than what we post here.

You're absolutely right about that Slizz!

I agree Sliz. I sure was tempted to ask for the notes, but I told myself, "No, they payed well over $1000 dollars for those notes after travel and hotel costs. I don't deserve it for free."

At least the hotels out there are super awesome! I stayed at the Hampton Inn Suites for 55 a night and it was one of the cleanest and nicest hotel's I've ever stayed at, AND it was only 1.something miles from Coach's gym.

Edit: they have a shuttle service that'll take you anywhere in a 5 mile radius for free too! AND pick you up!

This sounds interesting, when is the next seminar?

How often are they?

The next seminar is in september. Twice a year so far, I think. Mainly because this is probably when Coach Sommer has something of a break from coaching and being in-season.

I'm going to the November seminar, along my coach. It's a long way form Mexico City but I'm more than sure that it's worth it.

Are you coming to this one Blairbob or Lizzardman? Who else is going??

I am planning on it!

Jeez, this sounds like a really great experience. Hopefully by next year at this time I'll be able to go...sadly, school is a monetary black hole, so I don't have the time or funds to make the trip down.

Still, if it means learning things that will help keeping my joints from exploding (along with other things), it'd probably be worth it.

It is amazing Erik!

Hi guys! I'll be there too on the 4th! I've been doing the BtGB for a little over a year now and I feel the seminar is really going to help me put everything together. I really can't wait!

I'm from Montreal, in Quebec, Canada so it's quite a long way from home, but after reading all your comments, I'm sure it's worth the travel! And I'm glad you found a cheap motel near the gym Slizzard! I could sure use it! Do you still have the contact info? Do I need a reservation?

The only thing that bugs me is that I planned on going only at the 1st part of the seminar, seeing the bill would go up to almost 2000$ if I stayed the whole week-end. But dang, after reading this thread, I just don't know anymore!!! I just might stay longer...! :shock:

Stay the whole time if you can, it really makes a huge difference to be there for the whole 3 days. Seriously.

I don't know what the current rates are, but I would definitely get your room ahead of time. Rates always go up as you get close to the actual dates you are staying at a hotel. http://www.hotels-rates.com/hotels_reservations/property/19919/#top Says it is 74 bucks a night! THey have FREE grills, free wireless internet and eachroom has a fridge AND a microwave, so you can microwave veggies and grill meat at any hour of the day or night! It's about 1 mile from the gym, so you COULD jog there and they have a van that takes you AND picks you up anywhere within a 5 mile radius, 24 hours a day I believe. You are also walking distance from shopping, many restaurants and all kinds of other stuff. It's a good spot for a great price.

If price is your ultimate objective you can find best western for like 38 bucks a night. I don't know what it's like. The Hampton inn Suites, which is what I linked you too, is like luxury living.

Best Westerns are doable but nothing fancy but typically not ghetto.

One of the points to making all 3 seminar days is the expense of travel cost. So in the long run it's cheaper to do it in one trip than in 2 or 3.

Thanks for th quick reply guys! I'll check these hotels today.

Do you know how many people are going to attend?

I was also wondering, if I took only one day of seminar now, can I stay for the whole week-end if I change my mind during the week-end and just pay the difference in person?

One last thing, if something happens and I can't make it after I paid, is it refundable?

Thanks again!

I do not know about the refund option but at least one or more people at the last seminar payed while there.

Yea, Coach doesnt turn people away lol! He's also not going to keep your money if something happens to you before or during the seminar. He's a good man.

I would honestly say that if you can at all swing the whole weekend to do it. I ended up with work obligations on the exact weekend of every seminar and hugely regretted not being able to go until this upcoming one. Once you've seen what an athlete who has seriously trained with Coach can do, it's really a no-brainer for the temporary budget inconvenience.