When I first heard of distance coaching or training on the internet, I thought of something more suited to an arm-chair athlete. Something along the lines of watching the babes, do the bounce and jiggle on 20-minute workout while downing a six of your favorite brew. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. One trip to Coach Charles Staley’s Coaching Group and you know they mean business. Back around the end of June, I was selected to be in Team Staley’s Summer Challenge and I was given a 3-month membership to his coaching group.
The coaching group has three different levels but the best bang for your buck is the Silver level. For a mere $45 a month you are allowed full access to his forum and to a weekly conference call as well a “bonus” package for joining.
The bonus package consists of copy of Physically Incorrect, Coach Staley?s massive 500+ page e-book, an EDT Article Compilation Report by Charles Staley and a Resistance Training Program Design Guide by Coach Staley.
The conference calls are nothing short of phenomenal. Sometime there are speakers (David Barr, Pavel Tsatsouline, Dr. John Berardi, TC and many others). It is like Prime Time but it is real-time and audio. There is always a long question and answer period where you can “drill” the speaker with your own points of interest. Other times it is the conference group, which the various members of the forum discussing almost anything at any given moment. This is where the group really shines. If you have a question or want direction about what you are doing/should be doing, it can turn into the focus of the meeting as needed. It is almost like a bodybuilding support group.
The forum is a very well developed website. It is based on PHPBB, which is an open-source bulletin board that is very user friendly and easy to navigate. Here you can post questions and have them answered by Charles and his staff of trainers as well as by other members of the group. They have forum sections on just about everything. The have a section “Guest Interviews” and here you will find MPEG recordings of every guest speaker to hit the Wednesday Call. Each of these recordings average 45 minutes and they are the full length call and not an abridged sampling. Another really cool section is “Exercise Videos & Descriptions” this is a library of How-to-Do’s with about everything you need. Some of topics have two videos, one showing the “right” way and the other showing the “wrong” way. This is both a helpful and interesting concept. Charles is always expanding this and is always open to suggestions. I asked him about putting up one on flipping tires. I have no access to a tire of this size and I have always wondered how you get that started/finished without ending up underneath it, looking like the coyote on the roadrunner cartoon. Two more great sections are the PR Zone, where people can post their latest PR and get help/comments and The Science of Goal Setting, this sections deals with goals (weightlifting related or otherwise). And if all this is not enough, you can get discounts from various vendors who support the forum and Coach Staley.
Charles has other levels of membership in his website/coaching group. The top level; (Platinum) will provide two one-on-one calls with Charles per week. But for the average person, wondering how to better his/her workout or for someone looking for top-level direction at an affordable price, the Silver membership is the way to go. $45 is less than you would pay or one session at World Gym or 24-Hour fitness for one hour with their “staff” trainer and this is real and you get a full month!
For more information, go to www. myodynamics.com or call Julianne and Staley Systems at (800) 519-2492.
It’s the best $45.00 you’ll ever spend!