I first heard about Combine360 training from Brian Nunez in November 2010, and after seeing his videos I realized that this was something I wanted to be a part of. At the time, I didn’t realized how large the community was or the impact it had already made. Now I see that the impact has been tremendous; from the Wounded Warrior Project to Professional Athletes to the everyday person and children. Combine training isn’t just for athletes, it’s for everyone—we are all athletes.
My C360 journey began Friday, February 25th as I boarded my Southwest Airlines flight to Tampa. Tampa is about an hour north of Bradenton/Sarasota, Florida where the IMG Academy is located. After hours of sitting on a plane, I still had to drive to Bradenton, but it was well worth it. Finally arriving my hotel around 12:15am E.T., I was exhausted and needed to get some rest.
In an effort to keep my regular schedule, I decided to get up early on Saturday morning to get my long run in for the week. This worked out perfectly since check-in was from Noon to 3pm and the program beginning at 3:15pm. As I walked out of the hotel, I was immediately hit in the face with heat and humidity. Neither of which I was acclimated to after having it almost snow in San Jose. The run started off great, but eventually turned into a jog/walk the last 2 miles. I finished the 11 miles and was ready to take on Combine360. I realized when I got back to the hotel how dehydrated I was and I immediately started to hydrate. I was in pretty bad shape; I couldn’t keep anything down all morning and somehow got the energy to get with the C360 movement at 3:15pm.
I arrived at the IMG Academy not feeling my best, but I had to push through it as we were welcomed by the President of Game On Nation, Steve Shenbaum and President of Combine360, Brian Griffin. It was at that this time that I realized that I was amongst of group world-class fitness professionals from Portugal to Taiwan and all over the United States.
Peter Twist began by educating myself and approximately 180 other fitness professionals on Performance Balance. I have always known how important balance is when playing sports, however after listening to Twist, it took my understanding to another level. After we received some education, we immediately got into the first challenge. I don’t think any of us were really prepared to workout, especially me. I pushed through the workout and couldn’t wait for what was on tap for the rest of the week.
Each morning began with a Challenge Workout that consisted of an energizing dynamic warm-up with Coach Trevor Anderson (TA) followed by six challenges. Each challenge was 60 seconds giving your maximum effort for the full 60 seconds. As a triathlete, I thought that this was going to be easy; little did I know that it wasn’t as easy as I made it out to be. I definitely had to find that inner strength to push especially when it started to burn. This was very similar to our Wednesday night ride when you have to dig deep when it hurts or finishing the last mile of a triathlon.
The workouts were just the start of the day before we got into the material. Most fitness professionals are athletes and learn by “doing” after being educated. This reminded me of my football playing days of sitting in meetings dog tired and then applying what we learned on the field. I know this week challenged everyone who attended, both physically and mentally.
Being at Combine360 was one of the best weeks of my life. As much as it grinded on me to be away from the ones I love and my clients, I knew that it was for a purpose. Because of it I am better educated and part of a movement that is going to change every “athlete,” one body at a time.
Our Partners
