Presenter Bio: Jay Ashman

Jay Ashman is the owner of Invictus Strength and Conditioning in North Ridgeville, OH.

He has trained athletes of all types and skill levels since 2003, starting his career off at Gold's Gym in Reading PA, moving to NY to work at Bally's and Equinox and then being named Director of Special Programs at Big Al's in Amityville, NY.  He moved to Ohio in 2010 to work with the area's athletes as Ohio has an excellent tradition of high school and college sports excellence.

In his own career he has played most major sports and many minor ones.  His notable achievements are having a professional football workout in 1998 for the now defunct RFL, playing rugby for ten years, most notably as a starter at tighthead prop for the national qualifier Long Island Rugby Football Club.  He also competed in many strongman contests recently finishing 3rd as a heavyweight at the Steel Valley Strongman Classic, a NAS event.  He also has recently started to compete as a powerlifter, finishing 2nd in his class at the ICG push/pull meet.

He has a two year degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant and learned his craft from years of being in the gyms, talking with those in this industry and constant learning.  He believes that education in this field doesn't start and end with a college degree, it is something you hone, craft and you are always learning.

Currently he works with area athletes to help them prepare for their sports season(s).

Jay's articles at EliteFTS.

Jay's recent article in Ohio Sports & Fitness magazine.

Presenter Bio: Dan John

For all things Dan John related, go to his site at www.DanJohn.net!

The official introduction Vita sounds like this:

“Dan John picked up a barbell for the first time in about 1966 when his brothers bought a set from a local department store. It was the first time the world made sense to him and he has been lifting and throwing things since that day. And he thought he knew it all until he ventured out to the RKC training in San Jose. Newly humbled, he has begun a new journey of learning and lifting. Recently, Pavel Tsatsouline promoted Dan to the rank of Senior RKC Instructor.”

If you need his official “bio,” he usually sends this out:

Dan John has been teaching and coaching for well over thirty years. He is the former Strength Coach and Head Track and Field Coach at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, Utah He remains a full-time on-line religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri and contributing writer to Men’s Health. Originally from South San Francisco, Dan came to Utah to throw the discus for Utah State University and recently returned “home” after 35 years away. He currently lives in Burlingame, California.

Dan has Masters degrees in history and in religious education, as well as intensive work at the American University in Cairo, University of Haifa, and Cornell. Dan has written articles for Catechetical Update and Utah Historical Quarterly, as well as being a columnist for the Intermountain Catholic. Dan was also a Fulbright Scholar in 1985.

In addition, Dan writes articles for a variety of strength magazines and publishes a little newsletter called Get Up, which registers up to a quarter of a million hits a month. You can also read his work at dragondoor.com and tmuscle.com, and magazines like Men’s Health and Outside and his busy forum at davedraper.com . If you sneak over the border into Utah and want to work out, give him a shout.

At home, he is humbled by his lovely wife, Tiffini, whose middle name is not “long suffering” no matter how often it is repeated, and his two daughters, Kelly and Lindsay.

In his athletic career, among many other championships and records,  Dan has won the Master Pleasanton Highland Games twice, American Masters Discus Championships several times, the National Masters Weightlifitng Championship once and holds the American Record in the Weight Pentathlon.

Personal Bests in Competition:
Snatch 314
Dead lift 628
Clean and Jerk 385
Clean 402
Discus 190′ 6″

Multiple State Champion (California and Utah) Discus, Hammer, Shot, Highland Games and Olympic Lifting

Coached Multiple State Discus Champions (Utah) without a discus ring or throwing field

Coach at John Powell Discus Camp since 1994

Videos (at the Putting It All Together Seminar #1, aka PIAT #1):
Dan John on Joint Mobility
Dan John on Hypertrophy
Dan John on Quadrants & Athletic Qualities part 1
Dan John on Quadrants & Athletic Qualities part 2
Dan John on the Role of the Strength Coach

Dan John vs. the Pleasanton Challenge Caber

Presenter Bio: Jack Reape

Jack Reape is a career Naval Aviator and Currently Commanding Officer of the Navy Operational Support Center in Fort Worth Texas and contributing writer to Dragon Door, T-nation, and several other online sites. He has no formal education in Exercise Physiology, Nutrition, Kinesiology, or Detective Fiction, but has spent uncounted hours scouring the works of Siff, Roman, Zatsiorsky, Simmons, and John D. MacDonald, and experimenting endlessly on himself and his training partners.

Jack is a graduate with Merit of the US Naval Academy with a B.S. in Operational Analysis. He has competed in Powerlifting since the late 70s in everything from Drug tested to Open Pro Meets and has Won at every level from USPF NJ Teenage State Champion to USAPL Military National Champion to AAU World Bench Press Champion. His best USAPL
Open Men's National finish is fourth.

At home, he is a husband and father to three teenage enigmas.

Personal Bests and Single Ply Competition Lifts (note pictures may not correspond with PRs listed):

Squat 728

BP 585

Deadlift 623

A collection of Jack's articles on TMuscle.com can be found here.

Jack's articles for EliteFTS.com can be found here.

Presenter Bio: Gant Grimes

Gant Grimes is a coach with the Texoma Judo & Ju Jitsu Club, where he is assistant judo coach, head jujitsu instructor, and strength and conditioning advisor. He has won severalstate and regional titles in masters and open competition. Prior to judo, he was active in full contact fighting, rugby, and mountain biking. He currently competes in judo and Highland Games.

Gant draws on his long competitive history in numerous sports to design simple, effective programs. As a practicing trial attorney, he is able to reduce complex ideas to terms and concepts that are easily understood and applied. Gant will discuss his approach to programming for single and multi-sport athletes, as well as GPP enthusiasts.

More on Gant at the following links:

The original "Gant's Hybrid programs" thread at Performance Menu.

Gant speaking on overtraining at the first PIAT seminar (PIAT #1).
Gant on programming for athletes (PIAT #1).

Gant on determining an athlete's needs (PIAT #1).

Gant on programming for an individual (PIAT #1).

Gant on intervals part 1 (PIAT #1).

Gant on intervals part 2 (PIAT #1).

YouTube video of Gant Grimes' judo wins.

Wichita Falls Rowing Tutorial (humor), by Gant Grimes

The SECOND PIAT seminar is on in Texas!

The second "Putting It All Together" (aka PIAT) seminar has been set!!! Watch this blog for further developments, along with payment options.

WHEN: April 30th - May 1st.

WHERE: Full Throttle Fitness, 15222 King Rd, Suite 803, Frisco TX 75034

WHO: Presenters (with plenty of hands-on coaching, this is NOT just sit-on-your-ass lectures!) will be Dan John, Jack Reape, Jay Ashman, and Gant Grimes!

HOW MUCH?: $399 early bird registration (until March 30th), $459 from April 1st until day of seminar. A link to an online means of credit card payment will be posted soon.

Keep your eyes peeled for updates to this blog for more info!