If you’ve been keeping up with my emails lately, you
know there was quite a stir of emotions when I released
my interview with controversial strength and conditioning
coach Barry Ross.

But beyond the avalanche of questions I got about Barry, I
got just as many asking my opinion on a large variety of
training topics from speed and strength development,
good and bad coaching, goal setting, sports psychology,
etc.

As I have said several times over the past week, my opinion
is what it is.

Some people are going to agree, some are going to disagree.

But it always makes for good discussion…

Recently I sat down with Athletes’ Acceleration co-founder
Patrick Beith to discuss all things under the umbrella of
speed and athletic development.

Our interview/discussion lasted well over 80 minutes and
contains a great deal of highly applicable information.

I suggest you check it out:

http://www.athletesacceleration.com/interviews.html
In speed,

Latif Thomas

In today’s game against the Washington Redskins, Brian
Westbrook scored 3 touchdowns, including a 57 yard screen
pass late in the 4th quarter that put the Eagles up for
good.

For his third touchdown, he blasted through the line and
went into the endzone untouched.

So what is the factor that allowed Brian Westbrook to
gain 100 yards rushing, 83 yards receiving and score
3 touchdowns in a critical divisional matchup?

If you saw the screen pass that put them up, you’d know…

SPEED.

Flat out Speed.

So how did Brian develop that speed?

Who taught him?

How can *your* athletes learn the same techniques?

Click here to find out:
http://tinyurl.com/2dodkh

In speed,

Latif Thomas

Since releasing my interview with Barry Ross earlier in
the week I’ve been reminded of this 1993 Nike commercial
featuring Charles Barkley.

Why?

Because I’ve gotten a few emails from both subscribers and
customers who were confused at the apparent contradiction
between my ‘philosophy’ on training speed and Barry’s
seemingly contradictory ideas on the subject.

*******************************************
If you missed that 80+ minute interview, click here:

http://tinyurl.com/23dxzl
*******************************************

The purpose, ultimately, of Athletes’ Acceleration is to
help athletes.

As a high school athlete, as well as an athletic
scholarship athlete at the collegiate level, I never felt
as though my coaches had or took the time to learn how
to maximize my potential, despite my glaring deficiencies.

And back then there was no internet or Athletes’
Acceleration to use as a resource to help myself.

So I’ve made it my mission to educate coaches and parents
by providing information and resources to ensure
that athletes are using safe, modern and effective training
techniques.

As a coach, I’ve been successful. So you should listen to
what I say. And you should emulate what I do. Because your
athletes will get faster.

That’s why we made Complete Speed Training, why it’s by far
our best selling program, why it gets the fewest returns
and the best reviews despite being one of the most
expensive programs on the market.

It’s like this:

There are a lot of coaches whose information I really like.

But none whose philosophy I use entirely. I read their
info, throw it against the wall, see what sticks and take what I like.

Does that take away from any particular coach or dilute
the value of what I spent on their program? Nope.

What you should do is use Complete Speed Training as the
foundation of your system.

http://www.CompleteSpeedTraining.com
Use what works for you. Don’t use what doesn’t work for you.

Because not everyone agrees with everything I say.

Patrick Beith doesn’t. Brian Grasso doesn’t. Lee Taft
doesn’t.  Rhadi Ferguson doesn’t. Barry Ross doesn’t.

Does that take away from my ’status’ as a coach? Does it
make them respect me less or apply my ideas less often
because sometimes they don’t agree?

Nope.

In fact, if any of those guys agreed with everthing I said,
I’d question their commitment to being a better coach.

Patrick and I argue about everything all the time. Sometimes
just for the sake of forcing the other to justify their
beliefs with facts and science. And often when we actually
agree on the point being argued.

That’s how you get better as a coach.

Do I agree with everything Barry Ross says? Not even close.

But I like his information. And I’m not so arrogant as to
dismiss it because it’s controversial or makes me
uncomfortable.

Unless I test it out - throw it against the wall and see
what sticks - I have no right to say he’s wrong.

I’m simply providing you with an alternative view point
to listen to, think about, test out and form your own
opinion.

Let me give you 2 specific example of an emails I got which
only serves to highlight all the points I’ve made so far:

___

“money money money you endorse both sides of the fence?
what should i do with complete speed training? etc. i
didn’t think you guys would sell out for the dollar!”

John K.
First, let me say this. If my goal was simply to make money,
i.e., ’sell out for the dollar’ then I wouldn’t be promoting
a $37 product. After expenses, we take in very little per
book since Barry Ross gets most of each sale.

And how many businesses would actually acknowledge they got
these emails if they were just money hungry? None.

It’s called keeping it real. And that’s what I do both
online and off.

Now, what you should do with Complete Speed Training is
continue to use it. Once you are truly comfortable with it,
you can add, modify, change and improve things based on
your individual situation by adding further information
to your knowledge base.

I never said ‘Stop everything and do everything Barry says.’

But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t provide you with
every resource and viewpoint possible to form your own
opinions.

In fact, I never even gave my opinion. I just asked Barry
questions and clarified points. The best coaches can argue
from multiple points of view.

Next complaint…
“How does promotion of this program conflict with your own
program? I spent a lot of $$ ordering your “Complete
Speed Training” DVD’s and now it seems like you are
promoting the Underground System of Barry Ross which
seems to say to throw much of your stuff out the window.
I am interested in his program and feel that if it works,
 it would be good for high school sprinters, but don’t
want to spend money again just to have it wasted because
a “new and improved” system shows up.

How do you respond to this?”

(Name Withheld)

I respond like I did previously. We live in a Universe of
balance. We can’t expect to evolve by just taking, taking,
taking and never giving.

The best coaches are willing to spend some money to learn
more. You can’t just expect experienced coaches to give
you their best information because you want it and then
get mad because you have to pay. Because that’s not a
balanced transaction. It’s not an equal exchange of value.

In the beginning you can just regurgitate what a reputable
coach says and does. But if you’re getting better, you’re
going to form your own opinions. And that requires, at
some point, obtaining information across a wider spectrum
of opinions.

So yes, Barry’s stuff goes against much of what I say.

And I still do what I do like I always do it, just a little better each year.

But what would you have me do?

Blow smoke up your ass?

Maybe if I was all about the money I would. Because
common sense would say to only promote my $197 program
and not a bunch of $40 programs.

But I’m trying to make you a better coach by giving you
access to a wide array of information so you can form your
own opinion and go from there.

Even if it doesn’t make me the most money.

At the end of the day people will still base their system
on Complete Speed Training because it’s the best way to
train athletes and make them faster.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to other
peoples’ theories and opinions and form your own opinion.

Athletes’ Acceleration gives away more free information
in the form of articles, interviews and newsletters than
any other athletic development site I’ve ever seen.

It’s to help you help your athletes. And you should listen
to what I say and do what I do because it works.

But at the end of the day you have to form your own
opinions because…

I Am Not a Role Model

In speed,

Latif Thomas

P.S. What do you think? Respond below.

It’s here…

Ever since we started Athletes’ Acceleration we’ve received
a steady stream of questions from people interested in
learning how to run their own speed clinics and personalized
coaching programs.

After all, according to the Wall Street Journal, the speed
clinic and personalized coaching niche has become a $4
Billion per year industry.

Wow!

But if you think about it, it makes sense.

More and more young athletes (and their parents, of course)
are seeking a competitive edge at an early age.

And that requires individualized programs and attention.

But just being a knowledgeable and experienced coach or
trainer doesn’t mean that athletes are going to magically
start lining up at your door.

While this would be nice in a perfect world, it’s just not
going to happen.

But I think you’ve figured that out by now.

If you really want to take control of your situation and
start attracting large numbers of athletes to your programs,
it’s going to require learning a system designed specifically
for this very purpose.

Those who seek information from people who have ‘made it’
are likely to succeed.

Those who try to ‘wing it’ or expect things to fall in
their lap…

They’ll get eaten up by their more aggressive colleagues.

Let me give you an example:

Two years ago Patrick, Lee Taft and I ran a 6 week
telecoaching program on the topic of building a profitable
speed clinic business that was very successful.

In fact, we only offered 25 spots and people had to fill
out a comprehensive application just to be considered.

Going out to a list of less than 15,000 people, we sold
out all 25 slots in just 10 days.

And we turned several people away who didn’t ‘fit’.

We didn’t run the program again, but we kept getting requests
to be put on the ‘waiting list.’

So we decided to take another look to see how much interest
there was in the topic.

We sent a quick survey out to just a part of our mailing
list.

The response, again, was more than we anticipated.

94.1% of the people who took part in the survey said they
were interested in such a program.

And we got over *350* questions about the ins and outs of
the business.

We took *all* of those questions, sorted them into categories,
and created an in depth curriculum that covered absolutely
everything from insurance needs, start up costs, securing
a facility, addressing staffing needs, marketing and
advertising, clinic structure, sales copy, drills and
exercises, putting up a quality website, online marketing…

The list goes on and on. But suffice to say we covered
everything you could *possibly* want to know.

The truth is, it puts our last (sold out) program to
shame…

Because it covers much, much more information. And we
have learned an awful lot over the past 2 years.

Once we understonnd what you wanted to know, we
needed to put a highly qualified staff in place.

Well that was easy enough!

We just followed the same system for recruiting staff to
fill out our teaching clinic as we use when running
traditional camps and clinics for athletes.

At the end of the day, we’ve created a program teaching
you how to run a profitable speed clinic, sports camp and
specialized coaching business that has never been done or
attempted in our industry.

Of course you’ve got Patrick and I on board to show you
the ropes.

But we’ve really upped the ante with the rest of your
program instructors.

They’re the cream of the crop, but you’ll have to click
through to the website to get the full details.

Quick bios here wouldn’t do them justice.

–> http://www.speedclinicempire.com
There is one catch however.

We’re only opening this program to a limited number of
coaches/entrepreneurs.

Let me put it like this:

Earlier in this email I told you we sold out a program
for 25 people in just 10 days.

And that program was promoted to only 15,000 people.

Well we’ve grown and learned alot in the past two years.

And this program is being promoted to 10x the
number of people this time around.

And once we reach our limit, that’s it.

We won’t be taking on any more people.

Even if we sell out our slots at the end of the day
today.

So if you’ve ever thought about leveraging your coaching
knowledge into running paid programs for athletes, this
is your Once-in-a-Lifetime opportunity.

If you want to improve the way you currently run your
paid programs, again, don’t pass up this chance.

Because we’re not planning on running this program again.

So you can’t say ‘Maybe next time’.

There is no next time.

And you can’t say ‘The time isn’t right’.

Well timing is never perfect for any major life event
or action.

Successful people don’t passively wait around for
everything to be perfect…

They see an opportunity and make it happen.

And that’s what you need to do.

What’s more, there’s no travel, no flights, no hotel
arrangements to be made.

We’re bringing the coaches directly to you…

Will you take your share of this $4 Billion per year
industry?

–> http://www.speedclinicempire.com
In speed,

Latif Thomas
Patrick Beith

P.S. We’re giving away 100+ minutes of audio interviews
with the Speed Clinic Empire Mentorship Staff.

They’re full of tips, strategies and ideas you can start
using to run and improve your own programs right away.

Click here to claim your audio files and learn more about
how to build your own Speed Clinic Empire:

http://www.speedclinicempire.com