A Tribute to Champions
It is with a heavy heart that I write this tribute. Sadly, Coach John Colman’s Champions Fitness in Fountain Hills Arizona has closed. John has been battling some health issues in recent years and has reached the point where it is impossible for him to continue operating this once great gym. I first met John in 1994, when I administered his SuperSlow trainer certification. At that time, Champions was housed in an adobe building on the outskirts of the small town of Fountain Hills. The gym itself was “rough”. Locally fabricated benches, racks, and assorted free weight equipment, an old-school Universal multi-station, and a line of Kaiser (pneumatic) machines. John liked to refer to himself as “Kaiser Colman”. The moment I met John, I felt like I had found a long-lost father/brother/best friend. We became very close over the years, and shared many misadventures together.
Coach Colman eventually moved his gym into a wonderful building on one of the main avenues through Fountain Hills. Although this may sound somewhat immodest, I’ve probably forgotten about more gyms and weight rooms than most will ever see. I have visited, worked, and trained in gyms in the NFL, NCAA Division I, commercial fitness facilities, hardcore bodybuilding/powerlifting gyms, and even prisons. Champions was an absolute gem!
John spared no expense in his effort to provide the finest training facility. Champions was divided into two sections. The personal training area, which was called “Focus 21″ was absolutely beautiful! The room was a clean, cool, quiet area where truly hard work was carried out. And it was carried out on a vast array of equipment which would make any HIT/BBS geek salivate. It was all there: MedX, SuperSlow systems, Nautilus, etc. Aside from my own facility, it was my favorite place in the country to train.
The “commercial” side of Champions received the same care as the personal-training facility, thanks to John’s wife Amalia (”Yaya” to her friends and family). Untold numbers of bars, racks, and benches offered enough resistance for anyone. The usual “cardio tools” (bikes, eliptical trainers, etc.) sat at one end, and many Nautilus, MedX, and other machines filled the space. The line of Kaiser equipment occupied the back wall. And, yes, the old-school Universal machine sat in the center of it all. It was magnificent.
I know that some of the participants on the BBS blog have visited or have a history with Champions. I invite you to share your stories about this iconic HIT facility. I’m sure that John would enjoy reading them. I know I would, as well.
Greg Anderson
Just wondering: why did coach Coleman close his gym? Retirement doesn’t necessarily lead to the end of a business. Plus, there are not too many HIT facilities here in Arizona (I live in Chandler); I can think of one other in addition to Coleman’s (mine is now a garage gym side business with only a few clients, although I am taking new clients by referral only). It’s hard to believe someone wouldn’t be interested in taking control of Champion’s Fitness to keep it going?
Best of luck Coach in your retirement and with your health.
John
I live in north central Phoenix and from mid-2010 until March of this year I drove the 35 miles to Fountain Hills, once a week, to work out at Champion’s Fitness. I learned of Coach Colman’s gym through Fred Hahn’s book. In addition to Fred’s recommendation, he had all the equipment needed to do a BBS workout and I could pay per visit.
$60 got me 10 visits and his wife would punch my “Frequent Flyer” card each visit. I also discovered the trap bar at his gym and ocassinally did TBDLs, which I loved. I used his Nautilus Nitro machines, the Kaiser machines and the multi-station to experiment with BBS, Super Slow, Max Pyramid and One-n-Done. Sorry to see it close down. It’s a great facility, if someone can run with it.
@Thomas - when I last talked to his wife in early March, he was scheduled for hip and knee surgery.
Hi Dave,
Sounds like a great place. I’m just surprised that it would close down at all unless in financial trouble. Seems that a trainer with a HIT background (and some financial backing) could take this on (and give coach Coleman some additional income as well).
I love John Colman.I first met him in 1996 and I liked him immediately.He is loud and funny,smart and knowledgeable,and irreverent and politically incorrect.And he’s always ready to have a good time.In 1998 Greg and Ann-Marie Anderson and I went to John’s gym to certify some of John’s trainers.There was a huge party at the gym the night before.The next day,after we were done with the certification testing,John “abused” Greg Anderson and me by having us train all of his clients that came in.We didn’t have a choice.”Doug,this is Dan.Now take him through a workout!”Later that day there was another all-night party…
I’m sure I can turn this into a story longer than any, but I’ll keep it brief.
I grew up in Fountain Hills. I knew of Champions from about the age of 9 and, after a season of Freshman basketball where the coaches though I could make varsity if I put on a little muscle, I had my mother take me to Champions. Coach preceded to put me through a set of superslow leg presses on a universal machine, which immediately got my attention, meaning I wanted nothing to do with it. He offered to train me on the spot…for free. As far as I knew coach never charged for training high school athletes as long as they followed his instructions.
Sometime after the first workout, after a little over a year under my belt, Coach started saying to me “Maybe someday we’ll make you a trainer.” I took cash for my first client at 16 years old and became Superslow Certified through Matt Hedman at the age of 17. Upon learning this news, Coach exclaimed, “I never thought you’d actually become a trainer!”
It was at Champions that I met Greg, learned of Doug Holland, read UE Bulletin 1 cover to cover, experimented, slept in the training room after heinous workouts (and was promptly busted by Coach for “scaring the clients”), trained my Mother in both her first and last HIT workouts of her life, made friends, found a home away from home where I could always walk into as family, and best of all, I could always impersonate Coach to his face, which lead to me taking calls for him from telemarketers.
The closing of Champions, and the retirement of Coach, is both sad and somewhat poetic. The end of the gym’s physical location does not infer for one second that the spirit of the gym doesn’t live on in those of us who cut our teeth learning what hard work is to a fragile human body.
I am a better person for having met Coach and been part of the Champions family. It will be missed.
Skyler,
Do you remember the time that I had John’s voice down so perfectly that I answered the phone at Champions and fooled Amalia? Problem was, she and Coach spoke to each other in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish. So, when she started jabbering away in her native tongue I only had one thought: Oh shit…
I also lampooned him pretty well at Bo Railey’s seminar in 2005. People don’t get imitated if they aren’t worth imitating.
John is one of a kind.
All,
For those of you who don’t know Coach Colman, here’s an interesting factoid…
John is credited with introducing American Football to Mexico. There is a stadium named for him in Mexico City.
Greg,
Yeah, Coach liked to tell me about how nobody in Phoenix could speak Spanish properly. All those years in Mexico City would certainly change my definition of what “proper” Spanish actually was.
Did he ever show you photos from his Cuba trip? Imagine coach being pushed out of the water by 2 bottlenose dolphins, looking about as excited/unsure as you’ve ever seen him.
WOD:
Standing barbell press
Hammer leg press
Standing barbell press
Weighted chin
Weighted dip
Trap bar shrug
Hot in the garage! But I’m getting used to it. This was a good workout and I was able to do 2 additional reps on the leg press vs. last Tuesday’s workout (11 this time), which was a surprise. I love my Hammer leg press!
@Skyler,
Let me know when you are back in the Phoenix area. I’ll pay you to put me through a workout in my gym.
WOW
Dumbbell bench press
lat pulldown
military press
barbell curl
pushdown
Since switching over to a Paleo diet, have lost 11 lbs in 3 weeks. Currently stand 6 feet 5 inches and weigh 239. Would ideally like to get down to 220 and be really leaned out. As far as fasting, what do others on this site do? On a daily basis I usually do a 12-16 hour fast and am getting quite used to it.
don’t mess with fasting too much. the paleo diet will work and you’re going to mess up your leptin levels in the meantime. three square meals and NO snacking. watch the weight melt.
Fasting isn’t going to mess with anything: not leptin, not insulin, nothing, especially not in the short daily fasts that you’re undertaking, Blain.
I fast daily to the tune of 15-18 hours. Works for me.
If anything, fasting will improve leptin and insulin sensitivity for those who use it for what it’s good for: a method for reducing overall intake. Of course, you don’t need to fast to do this, but some find it easier to limit their eating to shorter time “windows”. Intermittent fasting will backfire if one over consumes during the eating window. Then it very well may lead to insulin and leptin issues (but this is not a direct result of fasting).
Off the topic again I know, but thought people MAY be interested in reading this article:
h t t p : / /
THEN
schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/carb-back-loading-whats-old-is-new
It’s always encouraging to see somebody in mainstream fitness appreciating the benefits of a low carb diet, but part of me thinks this kind of advice is just what the masses want to hear - “train hard then gorge!”
Although giving the guy credit, he does note that it’s only applicable to heavy trainers and that there are risks of over indulging…
So what is ideally recommended? Two meals a day consisting of around 900 calories and strictly paleo?
@Blain,
The ideal is what works for you; What allows you to get adequate nutrients and feel good without overeating and without feeling deprived. Paleo as a template (check out Chris Kresser’s personal paleo code) works great for this for many. But I wouldn’t get drawn into the low carb for health thing (carbs are not inherently dangerous or fattening), although low carb has its uses too.
Again, the benefits of IF come in helping you reduce intake, as well as possibly helping change how you relate to food in general. So, if you aren’t that hungry in the morning, don’t eat (breakfast is the most important meal of the day only for those who eat a crap diet in the first place).
@Blain,
Thomas is right regarding IF; from a fat loss perspective it helps one reduce calories without feeling hungry, as each feeding allows for a bigger meal relative to your daily intake. There is also hormonal milieu that is being improved with IF that seems to help partition nutrients toward lean tissue (by positively influencing leptin and insulin, actually) but it doesn’t mean a person can gorge their face off and somehow sidestep thermodynamics.
Both 16/8 and twice weekly 24 hour fasts are fine starting places.
Hi Greg,
A great story,
Sounds like John Colman was one of those people that you meet once in a life time that he is not only a “Champion bloke but also a Champion person”. I would have liked to also have had the opportunity to meet him but it seem like that he has passed the same “champion” qualities onto you. Which means that John Colman’s legacy will continue on for many years to come.
Well, all great things have to come to an end. Good luck to coach Coleman. Wish I could tell him that to his face.
Front Grip pulldown 50 second negative
Leg press
Front Grip pulldown 2 reps 10/10 to fail
Leg Press 42 second negative
leg press - half the weight 2 reps to fail.
9:42 seconds,.
WOD:
Standing barbell press
Hammer Leg press
Standing barbell press
Pulldown
Front squat
Hammer row
Hammer calf press
Hammer Incline press
WOD:
-Nitro Adduction
-SSS Leg Curl
-Nitro Leg Press w/ Range Limiter
-Nitro Row
-Medx Chest Press
-Nitro Pullover
-Nitro Biceps
-Calves on Nitro Leg Press
-Static Ivanko Gripper
Weights moving up, good hard workout.
Hey Skyler,
I couldn’t do calves after Leg curl to Leg Press if my life depended upon it.
Joshua
creatine monohydrate works!
@ Josh
Interesting. I’ve never found my calves to deeply fatigue on a leg press; doing calves after a leg curl certainly makes it feel harder but not impossible.
This was a journal entry I made on a 21C journal I keep. I thought it would fit here as well as a comment.
“Something I’ve been meaning to post in this journal for a while (but keep forgetting to, until now), is the (high) degree to which most people performing anything similar to a “Body by Science” protocol, have control over their body and motor functions.
I know that statement sounds funny, but the statement is true (a high degree). And what’s more, I don’t think that most people in such a situation, appreciate how high their level of command over their body is. It’s truly unparalleled compared to the general population.
I’ve seen this training new people in a high intensity fashion on standard gravity based equipment. Be it machines, dumbbells, barbells, etc. Most people are quite disconnected from intentional and intense control over their body. The very concept is foreign to them.
And this is also true, surprisingly enough, for the majority of “gym goers”, of all kinds and types.
I realized this very clearly when a close friend of mine, who has been in the gym lifting heavy weights for as long as I have (close to 10 years), tried out of my ARX Fit Omni, and got his first taste of an actually intense workout. What’s more, this friend is HUGE. He’s been on the cusp of barbell benching 500 pounds for years now. (His highest 1 rep max being 485 pounds, at about 250 lbs of body weight).
He’s freakishly strong, by design. A true genetic gift if there ever was one.
And yet at his enormous muscular size, his ability to exert his muscles in an all out, yet controlled effort, is effectively “minimal”, to put it politely. It’s almost not even there. Every bit of effort he produces directly reduces his control over his body.
Given how often he lifts heavy weights, and for how long he’s been doing it, it was really shocking to witness it (twice). I assumed that even though his workouts have never been particularly intense, that his experience *and* capacity for enormous force production, would necessarily include the ability to literally control his muscles.
It doesn’t. As far as I can tell, his volitional control over his body is approximately the same as it was when she started lifting nearly 10 years ago.
Where as most of you reading this, who have not exercised as long, or as consistently, and have far less muscle mass, have vastly superior control over your bodies under duress.
And I don’t think most people in that situation (myself included), appreciate how large that gap is. It’s not a difference in degree. It’s completely opposite ends of the spectrum.”
@Anthony
Great commentary. It’s also important to note that, in training in this fashion by whatever name, you’re changing the act of strength training from an open loop skill to a closed loop skill. An open loop skill is like throwing a ball: you call up the motor program for the action desired, fire, and only after everything is complete do you know how you did. A closed loop skill is more like a handstand: once you start, you have a variety of feedback mechanisms to let you know where you are in space and how to keep yourself in said handstand.
Thus you change lifting from an event to a process, which is hugely demanding on voluntary muscle control and thus the CNS.
Skyler,
That’s pretty much how I explain motor skills. In a “closed skill” you initiate and terminate the action (golf swing); in an “open skill” you react to an external stimulus (hitting a curve ball). Event vs. process needs to be explored…
Dr. McGuff, Sometime ago at your suggestion I purchased the book, Congruent Exercise, by Bill DeSimone. I have been doing the split squat with one dumbell every three weeks and am very sore in the quads and glutes for three to four days after. Would I be less sore if I did this exercise more often? The split squat is such a fantastic lower body stimulant I feel I do not need to do a leg press and leg extention on the alternate weeks.
I mix and match the split squat & weighted wall sit & BDS’s dumbbell deadlift. I’ve not yet come up with a mix that leaves the legs feeling just right. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.
I’m in the UK being staggered by our Olympic Games.
Got hooked on watching the Olympic lifters. The forces on their bodies are unbelievable, e.g Way over 500lbs clean and jerk by the over 104kg lifters
BBC aired a program last night re benefits of fasting and its impact on, among other things Insulin like growth hormone which I understand is a hormone we try to promote. The presenter visited researchers in the US who have identified higher levels of IGF as a negative which promotes many kinds of age related disease. The researchers were recommending various fasting protocols and reduced protein consumption as a successful way of reducing negative markers. This was demonstrated by the presenter Dr Michael Mosley who opted for two day a week partial fast, calories limited to 600 calories on “fast” days, wasn’t clear what he ate the other 5 days but at trial end (Ithink it was 4 weeks) he had dropped 14lbs and his biological markers including cholesterol and IGF were significantly reduced.
@Jay
Yes, you will feel less soreness if you train more often. One reason I don’t want to train 1x per week is that I have crippling soreness.
If you don’t wish to strength train more than once per week, you could do some sort of interval conditioning such as sprints on another day.
I have found (N=1) that split squats really work my glutes in a way that other exercises don’t. Also, my legs are actually more muscular with split squats w/db than with barbell squats. With barbell squats, my lower back was the weak link.
WOD:
-Shin Raise
-Glutiator
-Nitro Leg Press
-Nitro Pulldown
-Med-X Dip
-Nitro Rear Deltoid
-Nitro Pec Dec
-Triceps on Nitro Pulldown
-Wrist Flexion with Forearm Bar
@Skyler
Thanks for the discussion. Makes perfect sense, just never thought of it in those terms before.
They say a true master is always able to explain his craft simply and in a way most people can understand … which I think you just did ;).
@all
I just posted pictures from (inside) my knee surgery on my blog. You can see the 2cm long chunk of bone they took out by clicking my name.
Ouch!
I have a question for those of you more educated about IF than I am. Would a cup of Bulletproof Coffee (coconut oil and butter) completely blow the IF out of the water? Does it have to be zero calories or will almost zero calories suffice?
Thanks,
David
David,
Almost zero calories suffice, especially if you’re not going crazy with the butter/coconut oil. The ketones generated from the coconut oil make the fast less stressful through a lower glucose requirement. 2/3 tbsp of coconut oil should be plenty.
This post is about coconut oil.
A few months back I started putting on weight and my arthritis came back. My BP also started to go back up.I decided to really go ketogenic about 8 weeks ago. Gained 3lbs.
Desperate, I put weight gain in the search box at MDA. I found a post where three other women complained that coconut oil made them fat.
Coconut oil? Wasn’t that supposed to promote weight loss? Geek that I am, I bought a blood glucose meter. Sure enough, in my system CO acts like white bread.
The weight gain started when I received my first shipment from tropical traditions and started adding it to my coffee in the morning.
Four days after eliminating it, I have lost 3.8 pounds, my BP is down and my arthritis pain is nearly gone.
I have Danish genes and it appears I just cannot tolerate this tropical oil. I’m sticking with animal fats.
If you have any clients that seem to be going backward, please consider this.
rose
Was the coconut oil virgin and unrefined?
I had some refined coconut oil for the first time in years today, in my Bullet Proof Coffee … yuck.
Big difference in taste and color alone.
Not that anybody cares but yes my youngest son is in Ironman magazine this month.
He has 2 pictures in the article about XForce equipment.
Thank you very much !!
@anthony
yes, tropical traditions finest.
@dennis
That’s fabulous. I’ll check it out.
W.O.W:
nautilus 2st legpress
nautilus next gen. seated legcurl
nautilus 2st neck
OME calves
abdominal
Workout was after 2 weeks of rest because of holidays.In the week up to the holidays I trained ,as a test,3 times in 8 days,knowing that an extended recovery came up.I felt that after 9 days I was recovered enough(looked fuller,felt good). Now I will workout every 5 days instead of 7 on the 3 way split.Every 6 workouts I will switch to a 3 way fullbody workout every 7 days .Want to see if I can track recovery be feel ,looks and performance.Nutrition stays the same.Started to drink coffee during my holidays(esspresso)after 2 years of only tea and water.Limit it to 3 cups a day with a little bit of full cream.Speaking of nutrition , I have seen my share on the beach in Spain(worse then last year).Don’t think that only the U.S has a BIG problem regarding nutrition and health decline.Fortunately I could eat low carb very well in the hotel or the restaurants but what others put on their plate was rightout garbage.Judging from their postures it is not only during the holidays that they eat like that , as many of them will claim.Anyway,the health crisis tsunami started , that is for sure.
So I think we on this board and the way we live and eat sets us apart from 90% or so from the rest.We can dub about perfecting the workout ,gain a pound muscle here or there or not, but staying lean and strong as much as our genes allow and eating as our genes expect is the best we can do to get as many(Active) years as possible. I will turn 48 within 4 weeks and I can say that I saw not one person about my age that looked healthy and fit.I could easily measure with the younger generations I hope to live up to a very old age but never ever want to look at such age like many of 20+ years I saw.I guess that that situation will be the same around the globe and many of you feel the same.
The positive for me was that I just could see the difference and that there is no need for measuring blood values etc.
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@ Brian F,
You wrote “..its impact on, among other things Insulin like growth hormone which I understand is a hormone we try to promote. The presenter visited researchers in the US who have identified higher levels of IGF as a negative which promotes many kinds of age related disease.”
I believe we (HIT circle) promote a variant of IGF-1 .It’s called mechano-growth factor 1 responsible for muscle growth.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
Hey ad ligtvoet,couldn’t agree more.I bet those poor buggers were looking at you like you were a freak of some sort. I guess that since they won’t take advice we can only lead by example.
@ Bobby,
I got indeed some looks.Not that I’m huge or the sort of.But at 174 cm in height and a body weight of 75 kg with a waistline of 78 cm I show some muscle when I’m moving.I don’t care if someone looks at me or not but it is a obvious fact one can see with the naked eye that a certain lifestyle has a certain effect,in both directions.Funny thing was that I was reading the One Diet on the beach while actually I shouldn’t but almost all the others should.regarding getting attention I can tell you that I got the most when it was breakfast or dinner time.Imagine,4 eggs 3 pieces of 45% cheese some bacon and chirozo and one tomato for breakfast.I could see some thinking : he is killing himself with all that fat.Leading by example is the best we can do and after that we should leave it as it is.We know that many are trapped in internal starvation and they are forced to eat the way they do( addiction as opposed to mentallity).But I think that there is also the fact that many lack responsibility regarding freedom .Plain hedonism and not caring about the consequences.That is a fenomenon on many fronts and also nutrition.
ad
Aw, man! Went over today to sign up for the superslow training after reading the book. I live 2 miles away from Champions and now it’s gone. Anyone know anywhere else on the Eastside? I think there’s a place near Scottsdale Airpark.