Building a Gymnastics Body question

Coach Sommer said:

In any event, I would be most interested in a digital version of BTGB that combined the text and photos along with definitions and video, so that cross-referencing is reduced , leveraging the strength of the new media. Making the e-book even greater than the paperback will create even more value and interest from new and repeat buyers.

This is another project currently in development and one that I am quite excited about. I had however never considered leaving the photos in place, but simply replacing them entirely with the appropriate video.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Somer

I would agree that photos are probably redundant in an e-book; however, if there is no specific commentary or marker that identifies key positions in the videos they could be useful in that respect.

I find the Gracie school tutorials interface among the best of breed in the webucation model.

Their is so many free ebooks on google, however, if you're a true belieaver of these forums and indeed coach summer, don't download any of them, I'd rather give him what he rightly deserves, as he dosen't really ask for much, so I think it's all fair. Also Coach, thanks for replying to my thread and answering my question.

Which volumes are releasing next?

i also vote for pdf or similar, but also for hard copies as well. In many ways , digital format is the rescue for nerves. Forget about piracy, there is nothing we can do for that, most of the books are pirated from hard copies, so there is no escape if someone want to share illegal. But most of us here, especially outside usa will be order digital format almost immediately when coach finished and start to sell new books. Cant wait ! Excellent Coach, this is good news.

I suggest you place it in clickbank. Tehy take care of all your transactions and they help you setup an affiliate program. The only bad or good thing is that you are required to have a 60 day guarantee.

I'm also another linux user and agree with the others. Please don't make the digital copies hard to use for the people who buy them. It's understandable to want to protect your content, but hopefully you can find a way to do it while still giving your paying customers the freedom to move their copy around as they please (putting it on multiple computers, e-readers, smartphones, etc).

My stance is, protect it as much as you can without hurting your paying customers.

Also, it would be a nice idea to either give away a digital copy of your book to anyone who purchases a hardcopy, or offer a deal where you can buy the hardcopy and get the digital at a discount price.

Whatever you choose, I'm looking forward to your upcoming work.

I would love an ePub format so I could use it on my iPad. Maybe Apple takes to big a cut on revenue to make an iBook out of it, but you can put your own epub books on your iPad, iPhone, iPod. That would be awesome. Very easy to carry with you as a good reference. Especially when I'm talking to others about it and want to show them some of the book but don't have it with me.

Or an app that included the videos as well as the text would be awesome! Thought about making my own just for personal use, but an official one would be worth the money. Especially if it incorporated a training schedule/calendar where you could add the different elements, preset training templates for beginners, automatic update with the WOD, a way to enter goals, and such. Lots of things you could do to make a nicely designed app that's easy to customize to everyone's different training schedules.

I agree with some of the comments about DRM and stopping piracy (and gun control). Those that want it bad enough and don't want to pay will pirate it anyway they can, DRM or no DRM. Everyone else who wants to support Coach and all the hard work he's put into his books will buy them, DRM or no DRM, but will have to hassle with DRM.

It would also be nice to have access to the digital version if you buy the hardback book, the way they do with movies, giving you a digital copy along with the DVD or Blu-Ray.

madknight said:

My stance is, protect it as much as you can without hurting your paying customers.

Also, it would be a nice idea to either give away a digital copy of your book to anyone who purchases a hardcopy, or offer a deal where you can buy the hardcopy and get the digital at a discount price.

Yes, for this product having both would be very useful, and easy to use is especially important when its used a reference.

I would just like to mention the fact that piracy is already a fact, even with the first book only being available in hard copy form (I have seen available on various download sites). If a book is mildly popular, it won't take long before it is scanned in and made available for free.

All DRM does is ruin the experience for people that pay. Regardless of what you might think, you're not doing anything to stop piracy by implementing it. In fact, you are often pushing people away from the paid option to the free option just so they don't have to deal with DRM. Why? Because the paid option is an inferior product.

It's similar to the idea that tight gun control has actually been shown to correlate with increased crime rates.

What I would suggest is find a way to incentivize purchase. Perhaps offer access to recorded video seminars to people who buy, or something like that. Reward the customer for buying, don't punish them by giving them an inferior product. That's the way to fight piracy - make the paid option just flat-out better.

I just reviewed a PDF copy of BtGB on both my kindle and iPad. The many photos made viewing on the kindle problematic as the text size could not be sufficiently increased without affecting the size of the photos as well. I am awaiting a copy of BtGB specially formatted for the kindle to see if that remedies the issue.

However viewing BtGB on the iPad was excellent. 8)

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Good morning Coach,

I am doing this very thing as we speak. After much research over the last 18 months, we have decided on the following suite of technologies for all my books; we are starting with the "User's guide to Overcome back pain", a subset of the larger book.

We have decided to use three technologies together: Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite—together with Lightning Source Publishing on Demand. Video for the book will be hosted by Vimeo plus. Here are the reasons:

Adobe hosts the source text and images, and provides a buy-in gateway, either by iTunes or by the Android equivalent. Adobe's software is platform independent and secure. I did not have time to read all the other posts, but the key to stopping people ripping off your work is to make it so cheap that it's not worth the trouble. You will sell huge numbers more, and the information will get out there—good for everyone. Your workshops will explode.

Adobe's platform is secure, I think everyone knows this. As well, not only do they host the images from the books, the images are available as a slide show on the devices, too. Videos are hyperlinked from the text, and hosted on Vimeo; more on this below.

The User's parts will be exercises, images, videos and how-to for the stretching techniques only; no theory or diagnosis. This division may not make sense for your book; I mention it only to illustrate the flexibility of the final App.

Regards pricing: even though my book Overcome neck & back pain is $69 with its 90 minute DVD Update currently, we will make each of the User's Apps that will be extracted from this title (three in all) available via this new technology for $2.99 each. Why bother to try to crack the security at that price?

All revised parts of the book will be put together to make the Pro version of Overcome neck & back pain, and this is what will be available for print on demand. The Pro App will be $14.99, and be the electronic version of the full book; with all the theory, reading list, diagnosis techniques, etc. We have not decided on the POD price yet; but imagine it will be around $24.95, plus postage.

Vimeo allows a password protected, hidden from the world, hosting for videos; these will be downloaded on demand to the App once the user clicks the link. They will display full screen (the other reason we are using Vimeo) as all of our recent video are 720p HD—these look sensational on an iPad.

The last step is Lightning Source: they have "total fulfilment" distribution centres in the U S, Europe, and now Australia. This means that anyone who wants the book orders from the site, and LS prints, binds, and ships to the buyer. This gets over the very high shipping costs from Australia to the U S and Europe, and I do not need to be involved.

We have looked at the alternatives; we believe this is the way to go.

Very happy to expand when we meet (I will be in Scottsdale on the 6th, from memory).

Digital is THE way to go.

Regards, Kit

kit laughlin said:

...We have decided to use three technologies together: Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite...

Adobe does not support linux, and makes no DRM-compliant viewing software for linux.

The hoops I had to jump through to view the Adobe Digital Edition DRM'd I purchased soured me on DRM something fierce. Worse, transferring the work I purchased to from my laptop to my Android-based cel phone involves...well... Read it yourself:

http://www.lybrary.com/view-drmpdf-drme ... -a-15.html

That is a HORRIBLE thing to subject a customer to.

It's a big reason why a simple search for "linux support DRM" on google gives you mostly links on how to remove the DRM from a file...

@ David,

It looks like you have provided a perfectly workable solution for Linux users—albeit time-consuming.

We are going with Adobe only because it will allow the best visual interactive experience for the majority of users: iPad and Android-based devices, including phones.

It's all about volume sales, and simple-to-use buying and distribution interfaces. The Adobe platform does this the best as far as we can see, and the print on demand (POD) option does the rest of what's needed. I would prefer if Adobe supported Linux—but we have to go with the biggest user base, and that's Apple and Android.

@ Coach, the platform I am recommending allows photos to be view as a slideshow; and videos will be linked in the text. The reason you need to keep the photos in is if the buyer decides that they want POD as well. Many will. The POD version does not have the video hyperlinks; it has all the photos and text only. We assume that we will be PODing Black/White images only, too—another reason we think most buyers will end up getting both the digital and hard copy versions, perhaps not at the same time.

I bought everything, the book, the DVDs, the rings, and will buy instantly anything that is made available. Actually I have been anxiously waiting for the next volumes for years and if making them first digitally available would speed the process that would be great, though I'd prefer a paper copy. Another option (though it doesn't have the easiness of downloading) is to make a CD-ROM, with text, pics and videos, or simply the book recorded in a file in the CD, to avoid the costs and low speed of publishing and printing a book.

kit laughlin said:

@ David,

It looks like you have provided a perfectly workable solution for Linux users—albeit time-consuming.

Time-consuming...That's really all DRM is. Time consuming...It's much faster and easier for me to find a bootleg copy online, or frankly, install the python scripts and strip the DRM myself. DRM is a pain for legitimate customers, and no one else. It does not prevent theft.

I still have not copied the book I purchased over to my new android phone, and I doubt I will. That process linked above is just too iffy for me to bother with (did I mention I was a unix senior sysadmin/neteng and security specialist for the stock brokerage industry for almost a decade? I suspect it would be easier for me to root the company's webserver than to copy my pdf over...sigh.)

I do feel it would be better to just skip the DRM all together, and instead put some effort into promotions, and re-editing (A little more explanation would work for the casual set) to hit a larger market. Coach's work is absolute gold, and better than anything that has hit the fitness market before. I mean, it has actual content, and not just self-promotion, unlike all the dragon door crap. Actually, with a second edition coming out, it might not be a bad idea to release the first edition free online. There is no reason a cleaned-up second edition couldn't be on the bestseller list, electronic or otherwise.

@ David,

We don't even like Adobe, frankly, but this platform, even though made by Adobe, looks as if it will do everything we need, plus it interfaces with the POD requirement and the video aspect.

I feel for you as a Linux user, but as a tiny two-person company, we only have very limited resources—hence the decision to cater to Apple and Android devices.

I do feel it would be better to just skip the DRM all together, and instead put some effort into promotions, and re-editing (A little more explanation would work for the casual set) to hit a larger market. Coach's work is absolute gold, and better than anything that has hit the fitness market before. I mean, it has actual content, and not just self-promotion, unlike all the dragon door crap. Actually, with a second edition coming out, it might not be a bad idea to release the first edition free online. There is no reason a cleaned-up second edition couldn't be on the bestseller list, electronic or otherwise.

I could not agree more. I would not bother to edit/clean up the original, nor would I make that available though (someone posted above that ripped copies are out in the wild already). I urge Coach to follow our lead in one respect, at least: make the book less expensive in the digital version, and add all the wonderful videos he already has—This will make for a rich learning experience and a must have item.

The most flexible format for reading on all devices is epub. PDF is excellent for computers and for at least 10 inch tablets, pdf on 7 inch is good but some moving with fingers is necessary. Epub will stretch no matter size of a screen, with lots of settings for text.

Hmm... Does this all mean, that books are finished, and ready to go ? Come on Coach, we all working hard I promise, give us some info ... :wink:

Here I was thinking I would have to get together all my links of anti-Copyright/DRM/Piracy and make this long, in depth argument for freedom...Well since that has already been done, I will sit back and enjoy the prospect of getting the next segments of Coach's books that much faster. Thanks to Coach and all the help/information he and the forum members have given out freely, no strings attached, over the years. Information being distributed freely will never die; add serious passion and ambition to said information and you will have a product of much value. Once you have that, piracy and the like are moot points in the long term.

as coach read this topic I want to say that I downloaded the pdf in first place, I liked it, I got in a gymnastic class and only then felt that I had to give my contribution to his project buying both the dvds and printed book from europe, which, as bulky and costly as it was, with added shipping and import duties, really became expensive. I felt that publishing 5 dvds for a merely 600MB of total contents were only to make more cash, the pics in the book are mostly screenshots of the vids, The vids should have been an enclosed cd with the book, just like publishers do with computer books. Honestly this thing put me down along with the fact that he seems to reveal just part of his knowledge because he has to save something for seminars or future realeses (handstands as an example...). To have a comprehensive sommer's library will mean to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars once all his books and dvds will be out. And then I'll still find myself in the position of missing his seminar material. Not sure if I agree with his marketing views. I don't believe this will ever make me an happy or loyal customer, copy protection or not.

A yearly gymnastic subscription cost me about 200 usd, which meant that I got to train along few swiss former junior champions 3 times a week in a top end facility with some former gymnasts as coaches. Not sure if his pricing model is worthed at this point.

I would like to respond to several of swarovski's points:

- None of the BtGB photos are screen shots from video. The photos and videos were however shot concurrently for logistical reasons.

- The Companion DVDs are expressly described as being video representations of the exercises contained within BtGB. Nothing more, nothing less. They are designed to visually clarify FSP and FBE execution issues for those without an extensive gymnastics background or access to qualified coaches.

- I have spent over 35 years and literally tens of thousands of hours in the gym training high level champion athletes. I have chosen to share that knowledge which was so backbreakingly accrued and am dispensing that accumulated knowledge in a manner which I find reasonable. If you can find another gymnastics strength forum with a fraction of the high quality information freely provided here, please share it with the rest of us.

- My personal athletes pay $400/month to train with a high level elite coach. Spending a few hundred dollars to access that level of expertise seems to me to be quite the bargain. You are however free to attempt to gain the same level of knowledge from lesser sources.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I can personally vouch for Coach Sommer's integrity.

The profit motive has nothing to do with why he made the DVDs separately or why there is more than one book or why he wants people to attend the seminars.

It is a shame that international shipping is so expensive, which is precisely why Coach put the question out there.

I find really weird that somebody that has already 290 posts in this forum and should already know the value of Coach's work has come with this kind of acid comments. If Monsieur Ingratovski can find a better resource and has access to "high quality" training as he mentioned I don't know why he spent so much time posting in a forum he finds irrelevant. This is a lot of ingratitude and disrespect, to say the least. As for me, I find the price of the book and DVDs extremely accessible and a bargain for the wealth of information they provide. They are gold and I had always wanted something like that to be published and I can't wait for "Liquid Steel™" and "The Handstand Chronicles" to be available (to Coach - hint, hint :wink: -> hope they become available before the Mayan prophecy )

My only complaint comes from my "greed" for more and more and I'd appreciate if the next volumes could come faster and still, I know Coach should be quite busy and not to blame about it.

Please Coach keep your good work of sharing this precious information, YOU ARE LOVED (at the background sound of Josh Groban )

kit laughlin said:

@ David,

We don't even like Adobe, frankly, but this platform, even though made by Adobe, looks as if it will do everything we need, plus it interfaces with the POD requirement and the video aspect.

I feel for you as a Linux user, but as a tiny two-person company, we only have very limited resources—hence the decision to cater to Apple and Android devices.

I can't argue with that! Hopefully someday Adobe will realize the growing numbers of linux users are a market as well. I do love my idealized mythical world...sigh.

If Coach Sommers material was free, it would just be a tad more free fitness information on the internet. The internet has A LOT of useless information, I mean if I stumbled upon FSP's on a random half ass website I would think it were a load of bollocks. However having a very well done website and paying for Coach Sommers material assures me the content is legit, and legit it is.

If it weren't for Coach Sommer I would have never have looked at progressing to a harder version of an exercise instead of just "adding reps". I also would have never thought about exercising in "planes of motion", this is the information that I am really glad Coach Sommer shared and is hard to find through all the useless info on the net.

On a side note I went to the governments website for fitness (forget the website just google if you care) and it is really generalized, for example it is good to walk and strength train. I believe the United States Governments fitness page should give a wealth of information to people really looking into fitness.

One suggestion I would make is to hurry up and release Liquid Steel™.

On a very last note some things really aren't privelidged information, pull ups aren't exactly top secret.

Swarovski, I can objectively assure you that Coach Sommer does not hand pick and train only promising kids. Nor is GB a general physical preparedness model with no high gymnastics aspirations. I have seen his athletes train on different occasions, and based on the kids I have seen who are inflexible, small, chubby, thin or otherwise not Olympically promising, I would conclude the opposite. Coach Sommer trains a number of kids who other gymnastics coaches would reject. And yet they turn into better athletes than what I see coming from other gymnasiums. His programs had a reputation for success long before GB existed. Both for male and females. And for the record, his athletes do do the WoD either as a group or according to an individual schedule. I've walked in and each time immediately recognized the workout being performed.

Individuals may approach the GB for various reasons and goals, but the GB aim is to get us to high level ring strength and dynamic strength. In May, Coach stated to the lowest performing rings group that an Iron Cross was a reasonable and expected progression for all of them. IC is hardly a joke. Dillon achieved a maltese in four years under Coach. Each seminar has seen huge leaps in physical progression for attendees and the content has continually improved. I think future volumes will only get better and more helpful to us all.