Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Enter The Interview: Joe DeFranco

If there was anything YESS Training could capture and share, I would want it to be the heart and sole of training and what it could do for the individual. Maybe this video will set the tone for this interview.








Enter The Interview: Joe DeFranco of "DeFranco's Training"-



JR) Joe DeFranco,
Great to have you here. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to answer some of our readers questions including a couple of my own. It’s much appreciated.

I’m going to start off by asking you what’s new at DeFranco’s as you always have something good about to explode!?
I heard your annual Strong Man Event was a huge success and raised money for a great cause!

JOE D) Yes, our Strongman Competition gets bigger and better each year. We always try and out-do ourselves and this year was no exception. We made this years competition a charity event for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I was so proud to see how excited all of our athletes got when they heard this years event was a fundraiser for pediatric cancer; our professional athletes INSISTED on participating this year when they heard what the event was for…that really showed a ton of class on their part. The incredible enthusiasm and response that this event generated really motivated us to “step up our game” for next year. Instead of keeping it a private event – like I’ve done for the past five years – I’m thinking about opening the competition up to athletes all over the country – and world – for that matter. This would enable us to raise more money for whatever charity we decide. I would like to make next year’s competition a charity event for Multiple Sclerosis. My mom has been living with MS for over 15 years and I would love to dedicate next year’s event to her.

Besides our Strongman Competition, we are all eagerly awaiting the release of our documentary, “STRONG”. We are literally days away from the release. If you’re a coach, parent, athlete - or just someone who wants to be inspired – you HAVE to see this movie! It will be available on DVD at www.StrongMovie.com very soon – so keep checking that website!

Behind The Scenes Of "Strong"

JR) Last time we spoke, you said Stallone could pull an O.J. Simpson and I still would be his number one fan (There might be some truth to this).
We also spoke about your documentary, more importantly, Deon Anderson of the Dallas Cowboys. If I remember correctly, you said Deon was full of heart and intensity, especially when he trained. What type of influence did Deon have on your gym? Did he add to the already competitive atmosphere at DeFrancos? It had to have elevated the training experience for all the athletes in the gym.

Deon Anderson "Making His Way"

JOE D) Deon may have influenced myself, and every single athlete that trains at my gym, more than any other person that has walked through our doors…and when you think of all the great athletes and inspirational people that have come through our program, that’s saying A LOT! Although I can tell you a million great things about Deon, I will sum up Deon in 3 words – INTENSE, POSITIVE, and “GROUNDED”.

First of all, Deon is the most intense athlete I’ve ever come across. Unlike many athletes who yell and scream to draw attention to themselves, Deon isn’t trying to draw attention to himself; his intensity (which borders insanity) is mostly directed towards helping other athletes. Basically, if you’re in the gym when Deon is there, you will have the best workout of your life. Period. This is because when you see how hard he works – and how bad he wants you to succeed – you have no choice but to push your body past its limits. He has something special inside him that makes you not want to let him down. That’s a very special characteristic that not many athletes – or people – have. If I had to go to war tomorrow and I was only aloud to bring one person with me, I would bring Deon Anderson.

Although Deon is intense and he’s a badass dude, he is surprisingly the most positive person you will ever meet. I have now known Deon for two years and I have NEVER heard him complain about ANYTHING! In fact, the only time I’ve seen Deon get truly pissed in the gym is when someone said, “I can’t”, “That’s too heavy”, or “I’m too tired to finish”, etc. If you ever say anything negative in front of Deon, he will be IN YOUR FACE before you can finish your sentence!
Deon’s personality is so positive that you assume he has had everything handed to him in life and everything has come easy to him; yet, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! I can’t get into Deon’s entire life story now (you can learn more about his life in our documentary), but let’s just say that if anyone is entitled to complain, it’s Deon. Yet, instead of feeling sorry for himself and saying, “Why me” his whole life, Deon uses his struggles and hardships as motivators to work even harder! Here’s a great example of Deon’s positive personality; after becoming the starting fullback for the Dallas Cowboys last year, Deon tore his rotator cuff against the Bills and was out for the season. When I heard the news, I was devastated. It took me a day to gather myself and make the dreaded phone call to him to see how he was doing. When I called him to tell him how sorry I was, his response was “classic Deon” – he said, “Don’t feel bad for me. The good thing is that I now know I can play in this league. After shoulder surgery, my shoulder will be healthier than before and I will come back stronger and better next year. I’m already looking forward to training camp. Aight man, I gotta go hit the heavy bag with my good arm.” That story sums up Deon in a nutshell.

Deon "Sacrificing" With A 585Ib. Squat

Maybe THE best characteristic that Deon possesses is how “grounded” he is. Although he is a “larger than life” type of character, he treats everyone the same! Deon helps everyone out in the gym when he’s there. He always goes up to the younger, more-intimidated kids first and offers them motivation and small talk. Even when he was training for the NFL Combine, he attended some of our grade school and high school kids wrestling matches. I don’t think that Deon even realizes how much that means to kids, but it’s just who he is.

Obviously you can see whenever I start talking about Deon, I go on and on. But I truly think that there’s more to learn from hearing about a guy like him, compared to any training advice I can give you.

JR) Human beings like that are a dime a dozen. It transcends training. I think those who are reading this are starting to understand that there is more to athletic success than how "Strong" you are. Strength goes deeper than any muscle. Deon seems to be a testament of that. Here's a few questions from our readers:


1) Coach,
What are three things that an athlete needs in order to go from good to great either in the gym or in life?

Thanks Coach,
E.I.

JOE D) E.I.,
It’s always tough to sum up success in 3 words because there are so many factors involved in athletics and in life! Plus, everyone is different so I can’t speak for all people. But, I can give you 3 things that I know helped get me where I am today. (These 3 things do not include the support I’ve gotten from my parents and family. I have been truly blessed to have a very close family, but I’m aware not everyone is as lucky as I am in this department.) Anyway, three characteristics that I feel are essential in order to be successful are PASSION, PERSEVERANCE, and CONSISTENCY.

If you want to be successful at anything, you have to be passionate about it. I love what I do so it doesn’t feel like “work”. I could never put the hours that I put into my business into any other job; I would go insane! But, when your “work” is also your hobby and your passion, you will be able to spend the necessary time on it in order to become truly successful. I routinely spend over 70 hours a week on various aspects of my “business”, yet I feel like I’ve never gone to “work” a day in my life!

One of my favorite quotes is from Lou Holtz. He said, “Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.” There is so much truth to this quote. When I think of all the people in life that I look up to because of their success; they all have a “story”. Life is never easy. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that most “successful” businessmen, athletes, etc., all have an inspirational story. At some point in everyone’s life, they are going to face some kind of obstacle, adversity, etc. The “successful” people will find a way to persevere through the obstacle and move on. “Average” people complain and blame others when they are faced with obstacles and adversity. Don’t be “average”!

Finally, in order to become successful at anything, you must be consistent! Anyone can go to the gym and work hard for one day, or one week, or even one month! The same holds true for school and work. Anyone can study hard every now and then; or anyone can put in a solid “day” of work.
I have competitors in my business that have only been around for about a year, yet they have the nerve to call me “lucky” because of the success of my gym! Since their gym hasn’t developed the reputation of my gym after only one year, they call me “lucky” and make every excuse in the book for their lack of success. What these people fail to realize is that I’ve been training athletes professionally for twelve years; and during the six previous years, I did some form of research every single day in preparation for my career in this industry.
During my 18 years of research and training, many trainers have come and gone; and many gyms have opened and closed. The trainers and gyms that are still around are the ones that LOVE what they do, didn’t crumble when they were faced with adversity, and consistently worked hard YEAR-in and YEAR-out! THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES!

2) Coach,
If you were in prison and only had time to dedicate yourself to one movement/exercise, what would it be and why?

Hey, it could happen,
Mike
Ocean NJ.

JOE D) Mike,
I always pride myself on “practicing what I preach”. But, this is one time that I hopefully won’t have to experiment on myself before giving advice!
Anyway, if I had access to a heavy tractor tire at my prison, tire flips would definitely be my #1 choice! And my reasoning is simple – heavy tire flips work every single muscle in your body…and they get you in great shape too!

This Picture Was Not Taken At A Prison


Neither Was This One

If I couldn’t get my hands on a heavy tractor tire, I would make deadlifts my second choice because they work almost every muscle in your body. (Of course when no one was looking, I would have to perform some push-ups to get my pecs some work!)

3) Joe,
Do you believe it is possible to come out of college and start your own business right away or is it better to work for somebody first? Could you please elaborate on your early working experiences, and tell me a little about why you decided to go into your own business?

Thanks,
Garrett
New Jersey

JOE D) Garrett,
ANYTHING is possible, but I think getting some experience and working for someone else is a smarter, safer plan. Again, I can only speak from my own experiences, and that’s what worked for me.

Before graduating college, I was required to complete a “field experience” and an internship. Basically, it was an entire year of an unpaid internship at a training facility. During the first half of the year, I cleaned equipment, vacuumed, and I was a floor trainer. (I HATED every aspect of this because I knew I was capable of training people and doing more, but I knew I had to start at the bottom and work my way up…nothing was going to be handed to me.) During the second half of the year, I started training the “general population” and young kids (mostly in the 7-9 year-old-old range). After my internship was completed, I was hired by the facility and I started training some high school athletes. Throughout this time, I was bouncing at various bars and “gentlemen’s clubs” to earn some extra money so I could continue educating myself. I spent every penny I earned from bouncing to buy books, DVD’s, attend seminars, etc. I was literally obsessed with learning more about improving athletic performance. After about three years of training athletes at this facility, I was promoted and became the Director of Training for Athletes. I ended up working at this facility for about five years before I decided to start my own business. I decided to start my own business because I really began developing my own style of training and coaching and I wanted to do things “my way”.
Because I wasn’t a “businessman”, I wanted to start really small so I wasn’t overwhelmed with “business stuff”. I didn’t want my training program and results to suffer because I had a huge facility and tons of headaches. This is when I found a health club with an empty storage closet in the back of the gym. It was about 500 sq. ft. and it was a mess! The guy who owned the health club thought I was nuts, but he was happy to collect some rent for that shitty little room! LOL! The rest, as they say, is history! The atmosphere and results that were created in that little room became legendary. After three years of training athletes in a friggin’ storage closet, I was able to save up enough money to open my own warehouse gym. I have now been training athletes out of that gym for three years. A couple of months ago, my gym was featured in Men’s Health Magazine as one of ‘America’s Top 30 Gyms’. I am now in the process of upgrading and moving into a larger facility.
The best “business” advice I can give you is to be patient, grow slowly and stick to your roots! (Even as my gym has grown, I have never deviated from the hardcore, intense atmosphere that earned us the reputation that we have today.)

Luck Or A Result Driven, Hardcore, Intense Atmosphere?

JR) I want to end this off by making a public realization that not everyone has the luxury to afford $50-$100.00 training sessions. There are some really good athletes who have fallen on hard times or may have been dealt a shitty hand. Whatever the case may be, I believe an athlete should let nothing stop him/her from being great.

With that being said, what advice (training or otherwise) do you have for an athlete who may not be as fortunate to have access to a good strength coach?

JOE D) I realize that not all athletes can have their own personal trainer, fancy equipment, etc. But, there is always a way to get the job done! Athletes shouldn’t be discouraged that their friends have a personal trainer and they don’t; this is not an excuse! Remember what I said earlier in this interview…Successful people will always find a way to overcome adversity and get the job done.
As far as training is concerned, there is so much FREE information on the internet that is now available. As an athlete, YOU must take action and research what’s out there. Here are some great FREE resources:

http://www.defrancostraining.com/
http://yesstraining.blogspot.com/
www.elitefts.com
www.zacheven-esh.com
http://www.jasonferruggia.com/
http://www.alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/
http://www.dieselcrew.com/
http://www.rosstraining.com/

After researching the above websites, you will learn that there are so many different ways to get stronger and faster. And the good news is that some of the best exercises out there only require your own bodyweight! You can’t blame anyone for not doing push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, sprints, etc.
I could go on and on, but the moral of the story is…
Don’t wait for things to happen to you; go make things happen!

The Record Board Of Those Who Made It Happen


A Side Note:

I would like to thank Joe DeFranco for taking the time to do this interview. What he has shared is truly inspirational. I wish him continued success with all that he does.

Another Side Note:

Continue to check back with us every month for new updates with our YESS Training Blog, YouTube, and soon to be WebSite. We have a lot more to share so stay tuned!