"Unofficial LA Summit"

[Chris Correia]

Originally Posted by kuri

Bill just informed me that stage 2 of the summit will indeed commence at the Kingshead. Who's gonna broadcast this if I record it?

Just record it. We'll worry about putting it up later.

I can do it at my site, but I might have to charge for the exclusive access. Of course, I'll split with you guys who are actually there generating the content.

[kuri]

I'm guessing that Bill will not be posting a review of the L.A. Seminar Stage II tonight so I'll just say that one couldn't hope to hang out with three smarter guys than Bill, Alwyn, and Dos.

Content was unrated and fueled by many delicious Czech beers but I should have bought them many more.

Topics included:
- the mysteries of text messaging
- kicking someone in the throat
- quantum mechanics of front squats
- why the 10 point must system sucks (and Lytle should have won:p )
- why throwing 5,000 knees in 5 minutes may not be the best thing for your hip flexors

Damn am I glad I did not drive.

Oh, and look for Bill's debut CD to drop soon. Gonna be bigger in Japan than Hasselhoff

[Bill Hartman]

My brain remains on California time. I got home Sunday afternoon and literally crashed. I now sit here tapping away at the keyboard because my brain is functioning like it’s only 8:30 pm LA time.

For those who may be interested in the Unofficial LA Summit, here’s a wrap up.

Got in Wednesday and as I mentioned briefly before, I had dinner with the Cosgroves. Burger and bun…blah, blah, blah. Beer of choice: Bass Pale Ale.

Thursday night: Craig Rasmussen, Super-model from Inside-Out fame, drove down from Ventura. It’s like 3 miles away but it took him 3 hours to get to my hotel in downtown LA. Seems there was a wee bit of traffic (did I just way wee bit? That’s what you get for hanging with Alwyn for a few days). Craig is just starting up his fitness career in California after a stint in Indianapolis. Craig recently stopped off at Mark Rippetoe’s gym to hang out a bit and ask Mark some questions. Mark has his Oly lifters back squat with a low bar position. His reasoning is that it’s a general lift for the Oly guys because it doesn’t address the specific positioning of the clean like a front squat does. He may have something there. I will say that I disagree with his reasoning on the reason trainees knees will drop in when they squat however. See my blog this week for why.

Friday: Wrapped up my recert for ART. While I find this process tedious at times, I did get an opportunity to work on Dr. Leahy a few times which is always great feedback on technique…he did develop it afterall.

Got a message from Alwyn that we’re meeting does in Santa Monica. I’m really looking forward to this because I get to hang with the pound-for-pound world’s strongest vegan but also get to have some McEwan’s Export at Ye Olde Kingshead (see last years reference to DareDevil the movie, Colin Farel, and beer). I have to take a cab about 3.65 miles (or something like that)…45 minutes later, I get to Santa Monica. I call Alywn who gives me what are apparently directions in Scottish because I walk up and down Santa Monica Boulevard based on his directions and can’t find the bar where he and Dos are waiting.

Ah, if I can find Puzzle Zoo (not the bar but apparently a zoo where they keep all the puzzles in California. Must be where all the blondes go to see the puzzles in their natural habitat [my apologies to all three of you intelligent blondes] ). I go into Puzzle Zoo and Alwyn says "turn around…do you see us." If you haven’t been to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, there’s about 10,000 people there. How the hell will I be able to “see” a Scot and a giant Vegan? I finally get directed to a bar called Yankee Doodles where they await my arrival. BTW, there’s a big red neon sign that says Yankee Doodles…couldn’t just say we’re at Yankee Doodles…I had to go across the street to Puzzle Zoo and make an ass of myself first (that was of course after I almost got hit by a car on Santa Monica Blvd).

Waitress: Destiny (her real name? )
Beer: more Bass (I think?)
Food: Chicken nachos (I must have said “but hold the chicken” at one point ‘cause I couldn’t say that I actually saw any)

Off to Ye Olde Kingshead to meet up with Chris (AKA Kuri)

I get there and immediately ask for a McEwan’s Export. Get this…a Scottish bar that doesn’t have my favorite Scottish Beer. I’m crushed . I suffer with some English beer.

Catch up with Chis a wee bit (there it is again!). I can’t seem to get over the fascination of the fact that Chris’ scalp stubble and facial stubble are exactly the same length. That is a skill ladies and gentlemen. I could be feeling the effects of the atmosphere [beer]. As Chris mentioned, I’ve been trying to learn to text message because Dos’ can’t seem to just call me (Since when is “Z” on the damn keyboard).

We did talk a bit of fitness in regard to lower extremity progressions and exercise complexity, but we were rudely interrupted by Tiffany (age 22) and Jessica (age 27) who were pimping the finer points of Heineken Light (I have photos, but because I use my phone for a phone and not a camera, I don’t know how to post them – and please don’t try to give me instructions via PM because I really don’t care…however I do have a rather incriminating screen saver of some well known fitness professionals). They actually had $1.00 coupons so we tried it. It sucked…but strangely enough someone seemed to enjoy it.

It’s funny how really important things in the industry come up during conversation, but get mixed in with a bunch of BS, so my blur of a memory doesn’t seem to recall much. However, I can remember the Heineken girls’ names and ages. Hmmm?

Thank goodness Dos’ drove…sort of.

I have a theory…Dos’ system is either so clean from his Vegan lifestyle that his liver filters alcohol at an extreme rate allowing him to recover from what would put a typical man in a coma OR his Mom was exposed to gamma radiation while she was pregnant with him and his mutant gene allows him to recover from alcoholic intoxication after a 20 hibernation.

Met Dos’ bulldog who apparently also has super powers as it recently recovered from some lethal illness. Bulldogs are cool.

I’m leaving the part out where we went back to my hotel to get my stuff and to head off to Alwyn’s house a day early…it was a wee distance, but took most of the night to get there.

A gracious thank you to the understanding Mrs. Cosgrove.

Saturday: Rachel Cosgrove gets up at 5 AM to run 13 miles in Santa Monica with 300 other endurance addicts, er, I mean athletes. (most would call this a race or a benefit for some worthy charity and get a free t-shirt or something…she seems to actually do it just because she enjoys it).

Everyone: Hey Bill how long does it take YOU go 13 miles?

Bill: about 13 minutes.

Everyone: How can you run 13 miles in 13 minutes?

Bill: I don’t run, I take a car like every other normal human being.

Had a shake and some pills that Alwyn gave me…said they were good for me.

I’m personally very excited about this morning. I get to train at Big John McCarthy’s new 20,000 square foot MMA training facility.

It’s quite an impressive place. A palace for thick-necked, sweaty guys (or gals) who dream of stepping into the octagon and bleeding profusely to the drunken cheers of rabid fans.

Get this. We did a …wait for it… a kettlebell class.

The instructor was a tiny, attractive female of asian heritage. She seems like a really cool chick. I find out later that she’s ranked number one in the world in BJJ in her class (must be the 56 pound class ‘cause she was tiny – but very muscular…great calves). I made friends to avoid having my ass handed to me by a girl. I could tell she dug me.

Best part of class…I tell the instructor that I’ve never done a kettlebell class (). She doesn’t know me from mud and assumes I’m a total newbie not knowing that I'm actually a plant sent by the Anti-kettlebell Commission to infiltrate their Commie HQ. At one point I bent inappropriately to test the weight of big metal ball with a handle on it (I found out later this was the kettlebell) and she rushes over to give me pointers on the appropriate method to lift a weight from the floor. I had to chuckle inside.

I must say that I had fun in the class. My whole opinion of kettlebell training has changed. In fact, I’m changing my entire training strategy to training with only kettlebells. They truly are the most effective training tools and methods available.

NOT…they’re still weights with handles.

Why would a Russian Kettlebell Instructor do a Turkish Get-up? BTW, Alwyn did Scottish Get-ups. They seemed much harder.

I did make sure to get the T-shirt as they say and got one for the lovely Mrs. Hartman. She promises to wear it when we play MMA at home.

Later we spent some time with Rachel’s uncle who’s a Hollywood stunt man. For those who’ve seen Vision Quest about high school wrestling, he was the big guy that cheered Matthew Modine when he climbed the wall. He’s 48 now and looks 35. He does mostly stunt work and told me he’s riding a Weber Grill at 50 miles an hour in an upcoming movie. A Weber Grill?

Free ART treatments for everyone! Just a side note…most endurance athletes have really lousy tissue quality throughout their legs. Rachel Cosgrove? Nope. Just a little ITB band tightness that some foam rolling will take care of. She’s must be a distant relative to Wonder Woman. She’s prepping for her first Ironman distance triathalon Lake Placid…Kona is not too far away I’m sure. She came back from her 13 mile run acting like it was nothing. After running 13 miles, I’d need chest compressions and mouth to mouth (visions of Pam Anderson running in slow motion to come rescue me).

Throughout the rest of the day, we talked business and actually did a wee bit of consulting for yours truly to set me up for the coming year. One of the best things about spending time with Alwyn is that he offers a great deal of objectivity in regard to what I do best and what direction to take my work and my business. I’d have to say that Saturday afternoon and evening was priceless. Alwyn is an untapped resource of in-the-trenches business knowledge, experience, and success. I predict something great to come in the near future in regard to that topic. If and when it happens, be there no matter the cost because it will come back to you 100 fold.

We then joined Alwyn’s number one trainer Cameron McGarr (you can now read his stuff in the magazines) for appetizers and more Bass Ale (What is wrong with a soft pretzel and spicy mustard?!!)

We then watch George St. Pierre knock Matt Hughes’ out...twice!!

Matt Hughes after the fight, “I just watched the video replay and thought I got knocked out by a punch but it was a kick” Oops!

Beers (Kronnenberg?) with Dos’, Omar (who strangely enough I met at the exact same time last year. He’s now a master marksman with the Marines and instructs on the shooting range), Cosgoves, Cameron and Melissa, and all those fine folks in their black concert T-shirts from 1985.

My thanks to Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove for allowing me to interrupt their life for a short while, Dos you are THE MAN.

Bill Hartman, soon to be the top selling artist in all of Japan!

[kuri]

Very entertaining post Bill, but after reading that Dos drove that night I couldn't concentrate on anything else. You are kidding aren't you?

If not then Dos should be leading man in the next installment of X-Men. Seriously.

Oh, and you left out the punchline about the slogan on the Big John McCarthy T-shirt
(are there people that don't watch the UFC?)

[Irishdazza]

Nice weekend Bill -Thanks for sharing.

[Bill2380]

Later we spent some time with Rachel’s uncle who’s a Hollywood stunt man. For those who’ve seen Vision Quest about high school wrestling, he was the big guy that cheered Matthew Modine when he climbed the wall

My son, the retired wrestler, and I have watched that movie about 100 times. I think the guys name was "Otto" in the movie.

[Chris Correia]

My god, this is very interesting and funny.

I might pass on JP's in the future if you guys would let me sneak in on some of this! When the big wigs split off, Chris and I can hang and talk Minnesotan.

[RedLefty]

That was awesome, Bill.

[Lisa~]

You were on a roll Bill! It sounds like it was a great time and I enjoyed the story.