Canadian
Kettlebell Coach Profile - Mario Mavrides
Mario
Mavrides is one of the first Agatsu Kettlebell Coaches
in the Toronto area. Mario has an extensive wealth of training
knowledge and is the fitness director of a gym in Newmarket.
Tell me about your background and how you came to
be interested in personal training and fitness
My background is rather typical I suppose. Involved in competitive
athletics up to and including varsity sports in University,
and always looked towards the gym to help provide the ‘edge’
to excel on the field or on the mat (my sports were soccer,
wrestling and a little rugby for good measure). My efforts in
the gym were haphazard at best with little consistency, but
my experience there served to set the tone for things to come.
After University (where I studied political science and communications)
during my first stint of graduate studies (in digital communications)
I got back into the gym, only this time I opted to enlist the
services of a personal trainer. Under his extremely knowledgeable
tutelage over the next three or four years I managed to transform
my physique to the point where I was able to compete successfully
in bodybuilding competitions. Finally realizing that my current
career as a marketing executive was not fulfilling my need to
make a positive difference in people’s lives I made the
change to fitness. Fortunately my initial foray into the wonderful
world of the fitness was positively facilitated by some very
good mentors and guides. As a result of this tremendous support
I was able to quickly assimilate to the various ins and outs
of our industry more as a career/ business rather than just
a job.
How long have you been training people and what types
of certifications
do you hold? To be perfectly honest, I truly only worked as
an actual trainer with clients for 13 days at the very beginning
of my career some 5 or 6 years ago! Because of my business background,
education and client skills I was recognized by higher ups as
having more potential value to the sales/management side of
the business. Irrespective I enjoy training others and have
spent most of my time in the fitness world working with trainers
on bettering their client interaction/retention thereby positively
impacting their overall business. As for certifications; I’ve
held most of the popular accreditations at one time or another
(CPTN, Can-Fit Pro, ACE, NESTA) as well as currently completing
graduate studies in Neuro and Bio Mechanics. That said, I’m
not a firm believer in most certifications. Without a truly
comprehensive set of performance standards for the training
and development of personal trainers or even group exercise
leaders I find it difficult to take these ‘titles’
seriously. We as an industry have very little by ways of discriminating
criteria between the almost 100 ‘certifying organizations’
extant. It seems almost anyone can claim to be ‘certified’
in something or another, yet really have no useful knowledge
to apply to a client. Without a universal standard applied to
all ‘certifications’ we as an industry suffer from
a real lack of credibility with the insurance industry, academia,
allied health professionals and even existing and potential
clients. However I think the principle value of these various
certifying organizations is the potential for the exchange of
information and ideas, particularly during conferences and trade
shows.
What is your position at Persechini Fitness?
I am the Health Centre manager of a bustling and thriving department
of 21 trainers, fitness and nutritional consultants.
Who are your typical clients? What are they looking
for?
My personal clientele base is rather limited at the moment
as it isn’t really my job to train ‘end user’
clientele at Persechinis. I do however; work informally with
quite a few competitive physique athletes mostly during the
final few weeks of contest preparations. As a result, most of
my ‘clients’ don’t require my specific guidance
through every workout. Rather I’ll meet with them anywhere
from 2 to 4 times a month to assess and review their condition
and diet/workout plans.
My true clientele are my trainers and consultants. I spend
hours a day with as many of my staff as possible to make certain
that we address any concerns they may have about specific client’s
issues or concerns or even on general fitness topics and exercise
techniques. Together we often review the latest literature,
debate the merits of recent findings and discuss how we can
successfully apply what we’ve learned to better our skills
and business practices.
What is your approach to fitness? How do you define
a fit person? My approach to fitness is very simple.
‘No nonsense!” Simply put, if you can’t prove
the merits of a theory or hypothesis about an exercise/movement
or nutritional stratagem I won’t waste too much time on
it. Of course I’m willing to look at almost any new idea
to consider its veracity, but not if it’s based solely
on mere conjecture or opinion (of which there are many!) Frankly,
I like to examine and perhaps even slaughter many of the ‘sacred
cows’ of fitness. Not simply for the sake of being controversial,
but rather in an effort to re-examine the so called ‘facts’
of fitness that might be in desperate need of re-evaluation
and perhaps re-interpretation and of course because one must
dedicate the time to learn every single day.
As for defining a fit person, what is fit for me may not be
fit for someone else. This is such a subjective definition that
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer as one
must consider many factors. Without sounding like I’m
making too much of a cop-out, I’d like to believe a fit
person is someone who can perform their respective A.D.L.’s
with ease whilst maintaining good health free of debilitating
conditions or disease.
What drew you to Kettlebell training, both for your
own training and as a coach?
I was first exposed to kettlebell training almost two years
ago, where I initially dismissed it as a fad. “This too
shall pass” I thought, another in a long line of ‘gimmicks’
to plague the industry. At some point I actually picked up a
bell started to swing one around with some instruction of course.
Almost instantly I became a believer and endeavoured to learn
as much as possible about the principles behind kettlebell training.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of kettlebell training ties
into my belief (with supporting evidence of course!) that traditional
‘cardio’ training (hamster workouts on treadmill
for example) is an inefficient and inferior form of exercise
as related to general health and conditioning. I believe that
resistance training (particularly with progressive increase)
is key to improving just about every aspect of overall health
and conditioning, therein lies the tremendous value provided
by kettlebells.
What motivated you to host a Kettlebell Certification
at Persechini fitness and what was your impression of the course?
Simply, I recognized the opportunity to present a new and exciting
form of exercise to the membership of Persechinis. As I understand
it we are currently the only fitness facility in York Region
to offer kettlebell training. As with anything when you’re
first to market you enjoy a tremendous advantage, and so far
the response has been phenomenal with this very finicky and
traditionally recalcitrant membership base.
The course was well conceived and effectively delivered. The
physical components of the weekend were strenuous without being
overly so, and Shawn displayed a practiced ease and comfort
with the material that made learning enjoyable. All in all one
of the more satisfying certifications I’ve attended and
I recommend it to anyone.
What impact have Kettlebells had on helping you reach
your fitness goals
and the goals of your clients?
I’ve never enjoyed traditional cardio, so the opportunity
to get similar benefit in a fraction of the time with kettlebells
has been exciting. I swing the ‘bells’ at least
once sometimes twice a day and usually draw a crowd when doing
so (this has been the single most effective marketing tool around
the gym). I still perform my traditional ‘bodybuilding’
workouts; I just add the k-bells for conditioning and to aid
in fat loss. For most of my athletes I’ve recommended
they use the kettlebells in an effort to maintain muscle mass
while attempting to lose fat (a feat which has proven extremely
difficult with multiple hour long treadmill workouts). For all
concerned this approach seems to be coming along quite well
as the results have been fantastic so far.
What do you think is the most essential quality a person
must have if they are to attain their goals? Perseverance,
open mindedness to new ideas and the ability to focus on the
goals set for oneself.
What qualities do you think a great personal trainer
should possess?
A regular trainer tells
A good trainer demonstrates
A great trainer listens and educates
For more info contact Mario at Persechini
Fitness