We know I am a little picky when it comes to professionals and recommendations. Over the course of my online writing gig I have recommended maybe 10 products all total and given 5 or 6 testimonials for another professional. I do this to help with the confusion out there for all my readers. How can they know what is right or what is wrong if every week they are getting told something new is going to solve their problems? If you will note my recommendations have been very consistent and fall in line with my beliefs and research.
I bring this up because I will be recommending Mike Robertson’s Assess and Correct program that Mike, Eric, and Bill were kind enough to send me a free copy of to look over. I love the work these guys do and think it is relevant to helping with strength and mobility improvement of the general population. They don’t claim cures or pretend to something they are not. The offer practical and logical solution which can help you feel and perform better. I urge you to take more seriously your conditioning and agility. In my opinion it is mobility, not wrinkles, that affects our look of youth and our expiration date.
Leigh Peele: Why do you do what you do? What is it that really drives you about your job?
Mike Robertson: I love this question, Leigh, although the answer is extremely simple.
I love people. I love helping people get out of pain. I love helping them lose weight. I love seeing them excel on the sporting field, or lifting a PR on the platform.
Quite simply, I love helping people achieve things that, at some point in time, they considered to be impossible or really hard to do. You just can’t reproduce the feeling you get when someone achieves his or her goals, and you played a small part in that.
Leigh Peele: Recently you have been on the other side interviewing people with your podcast “In the Trenches” (which I listen to weekly). What is the goal of your podcast and do you plan on keeping it going for a while?
Mike Robertson: The goal of the podcast is to talk to people who actually work in their segment of the fitness industry, and see what they’re doing that makes them successful.
I think many would be shocked at how many people claim to be working in the industry, yet their primary source of income lies elsewhere. This is typically due to the fact that they aren’t good enough to get by on their own means, so they’re forced to supply their income in other ways. This are the same people who constantly feel the need to attack others, while providing very little tangible information of their own.
Now this isn’t to mean that you need to be making six or seven figures to be deemed successful; quite the contrary. However, there’s something to be said for someone who can make a successful living running a gym, providing dietary advice, or writing about fitness. It’s more than just talking the talk; it’s walking the walk. Those are the kinds of people I want to interview, to see exactly what it is they’re doing, and to let others know about it.
To answer the second question, yes, I’m absolutely going to keep it up! The biggest issue is making time to complete the interviews. Most of the people I interview are very busy, and many live across the globe so getting together can be a challenge. However, this is something I’m very passionate about and will continue to pursue in the coming months.
Leigh Peele: You train people to be strong and great at what they do. You also put a special focus on mobility work and helping people function better in their movements. Can you break down for my readers why focusing on these types of things is important and an example at how focusing on these things can help in areas you might not think?
Mike Robertson: Absolutely!
I think there are two primary things I should address here:
1 – Nobody thinks about the long-term.
2 – Every wants results in the short-term.
With regards to point number one, most trainees and trainers alike don’t think about the long-term. When I start working with any new client, I assume they are going to train with me for the next 20 years.
Think about that for a second: If you were to work with a client for 20 years versus 3 months, or 10 sessions, how would that change your outlook on them and their programming?
I make it a goal to re-build the movement foundation that many of us have lost. One constituent of that is mobility work, sure, but it can also include stability training for specific areas, activation, or a host of other buzzwords that people will make fun of me for using. I’ve been labeled as a mobility guy, but again, it’s just one small part of the equation. The goal is to re-build their foundation.
With regards to the second point, most trainees come to us and want to see amazing results in a short time frame. We’ve been reduced to 6-minute abs, 4-minute workouts, and all sorts of other non-sense.
You know why? Unless you as a trainer/coach have the right mindset, the right trainees, and hopefully a little bit of both, it’s damn hard to sell people on the long-haul!
It’s hard to sell someone on moving and feeling better if they aren’t in debilitating pain. Bill and I have been lucky in the fact that we’ve carved out a niche for ourselves, and people understand that we sacrifice some of those short-term gains for long-terms ones. It’s just like you talk about with diet – we have to stop thinking diet, and start thinking lifestyle. It’s all encompassing, and definitely multi-faceted.
Training is no different.
Leigh Peele: I don’t want to beat around the bush, I want to get to the heart of something I am looking to really talk about here.
Why is it you think people will miss out on something like your new program “Assess and Correct“ and even simple stretching but buy diet program after diet program, supplements, gadgets and equipment galore?
Mike Robertson: It’s really simple, Leigh – lack of education.
They don’t know why they should buy it, and they don’t know the inherent values of such a product, so it’s obviously less attractive than something “visual” like a 6-pack or 18-inch guns.
We discussed my approach to training clients/athletes above – I always envision their long-term success.
Where are YOU going to be in 5, 10, or even 20 years?
And don’t just think about the big muscles, the flat abs, or the 600-pound squat. How are you going to feel?
Those little nagging aches and pains don’t simply go away. They are there for a reason – it’s a warning sign. I can’t tell you how many come to me with the thought that, “My knee has bugged me for years. It’s always going to bug me.”
They’ve learned to live with it. Psychologists would call it “learned helplessness.”
I call it not knowing any better.
If nothing else, just think about all your goals, but envision your body is too beat-up to train appropriately. The mind is ready, but the body is not.
Programs like this can help keep you training healthy not just now, in the short-term, but for the long haul as well. I’d love to still be moving decent weights when I’m 50 and 60, rather than simply reminiscing about the “gold old day.”
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To learn more about Mike Robertson you can head over to his about me page at his website here. You can also grab a copy of Assess and Correct here.
*A portion of the sale for Assess and Correct will go to the LeighPeele.com website*
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Awesome Mike, keep up the good work.
Can’t wait for part 2. Thanks!
Mobility/movement quality dovetails perfectly with fat-loss, because if you can’t move well and be active at a consistent and progressively harder level, then maintaining a healthy body composition just got exponentially more difficult.
This seems to be another one of those things people pay no mind to until they find themselves on the shelf and noticing that the fat suddenly is much harder to keep at bay.
And as you and Mike rightly note, this is a lifestyle and long-haul type of endeavor, so seeking transient goals as fast as possible almost invariably leeds to futility and siappointment over many years and decades.
Good interview, looking forward to part 2! On Thanksgiving, I observed my 69 year old uncle play football (running and jumping) in the midst of teenagers. That was the inspiration I needed to start working on my flexibility.
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