Acea Theroux - A Fitness Educator

Hey Fitness fans, welcome back. Eric Malzone with the Future of Fitness Podcast, and this is episode number 26. And I talked to Asa Thoreau. So Asa's been in the game for a long time, over 20 years. He's been a fitness instructor, of course. He's a presenter, an educator. He works in multiple modalities. So let's see, he's got plyo power for sports-specific training, uh, TRX, and he also talks about his Zumba story, which I thought was really interesting. It's also the way he met his wife. So listen and enjoy that. His message is very clear, and I really respect it, and I think it's something that the industry really needs to hear as well. And it's essentially train smarter, right? I mean, he loved it so much. The guy went as far as tattooing it on his chest. So show me dedication higher than that. He really talks about what he coins the watering down of education within the fitness industry and overall just the devaluing of the fitness professional, which I think is something that's really important and how we can all learn from that, and really making sure that we're constantly pursuing new education and realizing that uh you know there's there's a wealth of information out there, and we just need to go out and seek it, and it never ends, right? The search never ends. So I hope you enjoyed it. He's a great guy, and uh I really enjoyed our conversation. I learned quite a bit too. So uh before we get on to that, let's just talk about our sponsor, which is us, it's fitness marketing alliance. And if you are a modern day digital fitness professional, I have a question for you. How do you know if all of your digital marketing efforts are actually working? Pause. Well, now I can show you how. So if you go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash DIY, and I give you this promo code, which I'll give you here in a second, you can sign up for our digital dashboard and it'll show you everything from where your website is traffic is coming from, how much you're getting, uh, how your social media outlets are doing, what your competition is up to, and how you can take advantage of their activities and a wealth of information. And the number one thing is that it is an assessment. So, how do you just like fitness, how do you know if things are working if you're not assessing? So go on there, check it out. If you enter the promo code FMA DIY, you will be able to waive the $250 setup fee. So that's just for listeners in the podcast. And uh, so get to it fitnessmarkingalliance.com forward slash DIY and promo code FMA DIY and get control of it. Check it out. And if you have any questions, let me know. Eric at fitnessmarkingalliance.com. So on to the interview, Asa Thoreau. Hey everybody, this is Eric with the Future of Fitness Podcast, and today I have the extreme pleasure of sitting down with Asa Thoreau. And uh welcome, Asa. It's a pleasure to have you on.

Yeah, it's great to be here. Cool, that you're having.

Yeah, you're welcome. It's uh it's always a pleasure. So you're out in Boston, so we're about you know 3,000 miles away, and this is the beauty of technology. Um we're gonna get into some some pretty cool topics here, but if you could just, you know, uh people can find you online, I'll do an intro with with your background and all that. But just give people um you know, maybe uh a quick synopna synopsis of everything you you've done in the fitness industry and kind of where you are right now.

Uh well, I I think I made your I made the typical athlete to trainer uh transition that a lot of people do. I went to school for athletics, um, figure out I figured out I wasn't going pro and then you know hit the books. Uh you know, after that, did the trainer thing for a while, moved to New York, and probably learned the most from there. We had a team of 70 trainers, and it was just like we had it was just an amazing experience to live in Manhattan and personal training 70 people a week and stuff like that. It was like it was nuts.

Wow.

Um, so I really got thrown in the mix there early. Uh from there I got kind of burnt out. You know, every trainer has a burnout phase in their life, I think, in some capacity. And I hit mine after that and uh went and taught phys ed down in Florida at a private school, taught um phys ed and then go soccer and basketball, and um then I really missed fitness, and uh so I headed back up north and uh uh from there, you know, I worked in the city of Boston for for a while, uh just personal training and then going up fitness management, you know, fitness manager, group ex director, program manager, the whole nine yards. And um I started getting a taste of education, and uh I met a uh I met a lady at the Boston Athletic Club, one of our fitness icons, and if you can ever get her on the show, uh it'll be a fantastic show. Her name's Josie Gardner, and she's been in the industry. I mean, we're coming up on, she's probably coming up on plus 40, maybe 50 years in the industry. So she's one of the original Rebok master trainers. Uh, and I took over at Brubex program, and she was an instructor there, and been teaching there for like 25 years, and uh it was just an absolute like amazing wealth of knowledge, you know. And I just I saw that and I lashed onto her. And um, so she kind of took me under her wing. And uh I had a program that I was uh developing. I developed it right out of college called Plyo Power, and Plyo Power's theory in general was long story short, I I wanted to remain an athlete. Um I played athletics and I started lifting and training, and all of a sudden I felt like I lost my athleticism within a very short time because I wasn't playing athletics anymore. So I wanted to develop a program that could keep me an athlete, but I didn't have to do plyometrics, full-out plyometrics. So it started off as like endurance-type plyometrics, and then it transformed itself as I got educated into what it is now, which is uh the theory of training smarter, not harder. Um, so she really helped me with that, helped me with the study guide, and as she helped me with that, she got me a couple presenting opportunities, and I kind of entered the field that way, you know. And um again from there, I I started really liking the presenting at conferences and teaching education. And once my program got CEU approved, and uh I was kind of off and running, and uh from there I met a gentleman. I went to school with a gentleman who said, Man, you gotta check out TRX. He's like, uh, and I was in the middle of like writing my next volume for my for my um for my program, and I was like, you know what, I put them aside and I was like, What's the what better way to make your program better than to learn from people that are already approved, already you know in the industry and have their programs and they're successful. So I'm like, don't reinvent the wheel, you know. So I had gotten away from education for a while for a little while working online, and um, you know, I went and took this TRX training and I was I was blown away. You know, it was there were similar theories and and method methodologies to the way I trained, but in a totally different way, totally different modality. And like I remember I like I finished the training, I had never touched one before when I took the training. Finished the training, I ran over to the guy that taught the training and I was like, How do I do what you do? I want to teach the course, how do I do what you do? Typical over-eager fitness professional. He's like, uh, well, use it for a while. I was like, use it, that's a good idea, use it. Um, so I like basically trained with it for eight weeks, you know, threw the weights down. The something that I love picking up heavy stuff and putting it back down. So that was a difficult process for me. I just used the straps and I saw huge, huge changes in my body perception, my body changing. And if they thought I was annoying before I started, um, like emailing and calling them to try and be a presenter and educator for them. After those eight weeks, I became relentless until they invited me to uh uh an ITC and start a training course to try to become one of their instructors. And that was 2011, beginning of 2011. And uh, so I've been with TRX for a little over six years. Uh and I love, absolutely love it. I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else.

Awesome.

In the middle there, I took one little twist I think we talked about um that was a huge impact on my life and on my theories of fitness in general. I Josie Gardner was the one, she kept asking me to uh go take a Zumba class.

Oh, I love this.

And I was like, and so I fought it and fought it. Because I'm not like I'm not a dancer, I'm an athlete, I've never done anything choreography before. I pick up heavy stuff, I put it back down, let's just keep it at that. And then she got smart, inviting me to a charity event. I couldn't say no that, or that's just selfish. So from there, you know, I went to this event and I sat in the back just doing a little two-step shuffle. And uh I look around an hour and a half into this three-hour event, everybody's smiling and laughing and moving dynamically, and I was like, this is like the definition of wellness. And I was like, ah crap, I gotta get involved. Sorry, I don't know if I can say that. Um, but I was like, uh, so I went kicking and screaming to the training. I didn't want to took the training, still had no idea what I wanted to do, hidden my basement for two months, practiced those moves. Finally felt like I had a good handle on um the salsa and gumbia, merengue, and reggaetone. I went out and I looked up instructors that had a dance background because I had never taught dance, I had never done any choreography. But looked up this lady online and she had a heavy dance background, ballet, tap, jazz when she was when she was uh when she was little and she's been dancing her whole life, and I thought this is a good word. Went to her class, finished it, and I felt successful. You know, she's one of those people that actually taught and wasn't just up there dancing, cued the whole nine yards. And um, like I told you before, so I married her. And uh, you know, she it was like she she she was a wealth of knowledge, you know, when it came to dance, I was like, I got a lot to learn from this woman. So I followed her around from public club, not like a stalker or anything, but I followed her around and um she gave me some great tips and great advice, and uh within a couple months, something just clicked in my head. And I had a dancer live inside me I did not know was there. And I started getting into dance heavy, and I told a friend of mine, a colleague, that you know I was gonna uh try to become an educator for Zumba, and they gave me the pssst you know how good of a dancer you have to be to do that, and so like that's just all my mind needs. I'm an all-nothing person, so I was my mind was stacked. I was like, I'll do this, I'll give myself five years, but I will be an educator. Uh and it happened in uh two. So I was uh I ended up being a I I I tell my buddies still make fun of this, make fun of me this in high school, but you know, I I say, you know, six years ago, if somebody told me I'd be teaching dance, education courses for dance, I told you that absolutely crazy, you know. Um but that's just that experience in itself, and sitting in that extremely uncomfortable state and fear of not knowing what I was doing and feeling awkward with what I was doing was one of the most difficult challenges I've had, you know, and it's that stuff usually we shy away from or get away from because we're scared and we feel fear, and well, I don't want to feel that, you know. But you sit there and you break through it, it's the most gratifying thing you'll ever like feel in your life.

Right.

Um so anyway, I that wasn't quick at all, but um, so now fast forward, um I left Zumba about two and a half years ago uh when I my wife and I had our baby, and oh, they're pulling up right now, and uh and uh so I started to um once we got a good rhythm here, uh I had a company that called me about six months ago and uh called uh React, and uh it's a European company.

How do you spell it?

Their theory is you know, train your senses uh to improve performance, um, you know, train the unpredictable. And I really liked what they had to say, and you know, I'm headed over to Italy in a couple weeks to uh do their training to become one of their magical instructors, and um yeah, that's about it as a nutshell.

Yeah, that's a that's a great story. I mean, going from I know you did physique competitions all the way to TRX to Zumba to um you know some some new technology. You've you've uh covered a lot of ground, man. You've covered a lot of ground, that's for sure.

It's maybe a more diverse trainer, you know, it's made me better in the long run. It's sure it's kept me a student for life, you know, making sure that you give every uh give every um program a shot, you know, no matter what it is.

Right. You know, it's interesting because I I would presume, you know, especially uh male trainers, right? Have a who would have a certain resistance to doing Zumba. You know, what what was what is it like what are things that people don't know about Zumba that that you think they should know? And this is a talking to fitness professionals, not the general population.

Well, Zumba, I think um one of the main things is very much it's instructor driven, you know, and it's depending upon who you have as an instructor, uh, is really uh how what how what the class is going to be like. And uh it's you know there's a wide variety of teachers. Now the unfortunate part is that you can take an eight-hour training and now you're an instructor, and you can have no fitness background, no dance background, no anything. And um, so I think in some cases uh it it can get a bad rap, you know, because um there are a lot a lot of people aren't aren't prepared enough. Uh and on the flip side of that, Zumba has other educational courses like pro skills and things like that that improves you as an instructor, and through that, they encourage you to go get trained and get certified in group X and all of the stuff, all the stuff you need, um, but they don't want to deny someone the experience of Zumba and becoming part of that world team. You know, and I so that's something I definitely do believe in. On the other end of it, it's the quality control is difficult, you know, and I think now it's gotten so big that fitness professionals are moving away from it, and that because there's so many more people who take the class that just want to be instructors now, that you're overwhelmed. And this is my experience as an educator for them as well, you're overwhelmed with people that are coming for training that have no experience whatsoever in fitness, and so you have to change your your teaching style, you know, and really just make sure that they're getting the concept and it's gonna be safe, you know, and make sure they understand they need to follow up with the educational piece. Um, but yeah, that's that's the tough part.

Yeah. Yeah, let's let's talk about education because I know it's um it's it's a very obviously it's a it's a huge deal, but I know in particular to you there's there's some certain points about it that you are passionate about. You know, how how do you see the world of education right now in the fitness industry as far as you know the average fitness professional? And what where would you like to see it go?

Well, I mean, the there's good and there's there's a lot of good, there's a there's a lot of on the kind of the bad slide as well. And um, you know, I I I try to really keep it in a positive light, you know. And when I talk about when I talk about TRX, they made a very, very bold uh step when they they uh you know they made it a very bold step when they uh took a step back about a year and a half ago, and they said instead of doing this harder, instead of doing the making this the hardest workout ever and this and that or you know getting complicated with the programming, what they did is they said we're gonna do this right instead. You know, what does right look like, what does right feel like? We're gonna train smarter. You know, and when whenever they mentioned the training smarter concept, I was just I remember looking at me being and playing at me and be like, yeah, yeah, we know you you're you're already invested before, and because I have a training smarter tattoo right across my chest that I've had for 10 years, you know, and it's that's just my theory, you know, is and that that was a bold move by them to say, you know, instead of coming up with this complex Core or all of these other new programs, let's let's just take what we do right now and what we do uh and let's let's do it better, you know. You know, how do we get better? You know, and I so that bought me into TRX even more than I already was.

Cool.

Um the back end of the backslide on what I see in the educational world sometimes right now is the toughest part is you and we talked about this before. You you you see people come to a suspension training course, a TRX suspension training course, they're a manager of a facility, they're an owner of a facility, they then take that back to their club, and they then take what we taught them and what we spend hours and I mean days and days and days of um getting drilled on how to teach this the correct way by our top educators. You know, they take what we taught them and then they teach it to their staff, you know, which is then again like a watered-bound version of what we gave them. And then the trainers go and then or instructors and go teach classes and participants and train clients with what they learn from somebody who took the course from somebody else who's somebody, you know what I mean? And it's so the product and what's getting out there right now, sometimes I think a lot is getting lost in translation. And I think this is this is something in the industry that's happening too often now. And I don't know how we you know. I I the one thing about Zoomba uh not one thing, but one of the things about Zoomba I do really like is that you don't mess with their trademark. You do not teach unless you're licensed. And if you do, the legal team will find you. They have websites that's like partycrashers.com, this and that, and they stay true to somebody who took the program, they will be teaching, you know, and not taught to teach someone else, and then they're just gonna teach it. If that's happening, they're gonna find out. You know, not all companies have the resources to do that, yeah. Uh but you know, so I I see that as a as a major problem right now in our industry.

Yeah. Well, it's interesting, you know, me coming from I owning a uh a CrossFit affiliate, they have a legal team that is notorious, right? Um, but they're you know, they're surf they're more focused on the trademark. That's what they want. Like they don't they want they don't want you using it um you know properly on a website or you you know, domain names, things like that. I've I've run into them a couple times. Um needless to say I I did not win that battle. Um but um I don't on the training side they they're not as sticklers, you know. You can you can literally as long as someone in the building has that certification, you're right. Uh you know, it's curious because I I want to bring up a point because maybe it's more uh even one layer deeper systemically in the in the fact of how we value uh society, we value trainers. You know, we uh as a whole, as an industry, we tend to undervalue ourselves quite a bit, right? We don't charge enough, um, we're not seen um as really the first step in preventative health care like we should be within the whole system, right? So trainers don't get paid as much, they can't afford the good certifications. Um, maybe they're making $18 an hour, so the gym owner has to go out and you know, he's the only one or she's the only one who can afford the certification, and then they have to come back and teach it, and therefore you get the whole you know telephone effect that you're talking about, right? With the paper cups. And every time the message comes through on somebody else, it's different and it's you know it's watered down, which is a great way to put it. Uh so it's an interesting conversation, it's like the whole thing needs to be stepped up.

Right?

Yeah, I mean, there's there's so much working against us in terms of the fitness industry. I mean, you have you know a franchise like Planet Fitness, which you know, in general, uh, you know, I tell my hat to them, they are helping some people, absolutely, the found the market. Um, but then they go with a tagline that says their their personal come here and you know and train for free. Train for free? Like that devalues all personal trainers in general, right? And all fitness in general, saying it's a free service whenever somebody else trying, oh, I can go there, I can get a free. You know, but what they're getting is I don't know what you don't know what they're getting, yeah, uh, in terms of a service. So that's I mean, you know, that working against you too.

Yeah.

If it's tough.

If you could develop the perfect training system for coaches, um have you ever have you ever thought about this? Have you ever thought about what it what it would look like and what the education pieces would look like? If and and A, how what would that look like and how long would it be? Right? And uh what are the you know if there's prerequisites?

Perfect education piece?

Yeah, yeah. It was up to you, Asa. If it was what what would it be? Yeah, what would that look like?

That would I would need unlimited funds to do that. Yeah, and a lot of offers.

Sorry.

Well, you know what? Unfortunately, one of the reasons that my my program, Firepower, didn't really take off. I had I've had investors uh over this was like eight, ten years ago, who were interested. They they liked the concept, they saw me at the trade shows, they saw me at conferences, you know, and uh I turned down pretty big offers um to buy the program or at least get the program up and running. Um I mean, talking six figure turndows, because every one of them wanted me to get rid of the testing protocol. And I said, I can't have, I can't. But I mentally I can't sleep, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night because my program's based on athletic movements. So you're not doing polymetrics, you're actually doing just athletic movements for longer periods of time with shorter rest periods. And you're doing um, you know, leg movements followed by agility movements, it's difficult because you're focusing on form, but you're cutting the rest time, increasing the actual uh performance time of what you're doing the movement. So if you do that at high intensity, that is the definition, and just uh that's a math problem for an injury. And if I get rid of the testing protocol, like how do I sleep at night? I can't. Right. You know, so I mean I I think it's got to be broken down to you need a full weekend with someone, and you know, you need the day before them getting all the materials, have them read it up the day of, you know, you start testing them on what they've learned and practice things, you have them go home at night and then come back the next day and they perform things again and test things out. And whoever has a good handle on it, you know, you could have a testing protocol and test them out that day, but maybe you haven't you have them go go home and and practice with it for a while and really have that quality control, and then you know, they have three months to really get this work done, turn your video in, and you know, if they can't make a trip back out, say they flew in for something, and then you know if they if they know the stuff or not, you know. But I mean it the quality control out there, and again, you know, one of the great things I kept, I know I keep going back to TRX, but they're because of what was going on with what we saw in a lot of trainings, and the uh they made a certification. Certifications are not easy, they're they cost a ton of money. Say this is a certification, not a license, and not a qualification, but they made a two-day certification that where they test people out now. And uh again, so I mean, yeah, it's a little bit more expensive because I don't think people understand what it costs to call something a certification on like a yearly basis, too. It's crazy. I mean, those are all of our credited agencies right there that not only approve that, but there's so much more that go goes into it, they just think it's a really high price and they're trying to overcharge it, you know.

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. And and uh, you know, I got a good portion of my training education through OPT, which is now OPEX. And um, you know, they have and they're also a client in full disclosure, but they um they have five modules, which are each uh two days, I believe two to three days for each one for each one. And at the end of it, uh you have to do a case study, which could take up two months to finish. And then you get uh you get the the license for the level one. And it's I'm like, wow, that is it's intensive, and you have to work for it, you have to want it because uh, you know, and it's great, it's great to see that. I just haven't seen it in two minutes. It sounds like TRX is really stepping up their game. And uh is there any other players out there in in the education, the fitness education field that you think people should be paying attention to and looking at?

Um, well, I mean, when it comes to personal training, I mean, again, I'm I would say I'm biased because I've been with NASM for I mean, I I changed programs uh for through NASM. I mean, this this was a funny story. I was about 45 pounds heavier than I am now. I had severe lower back pain. This was um how many years ago was it now? It was probably 13, 14 years ago. Um that's how long I've been with uh NASM. And uh I would you know I either had to double my cardio or I had to get really stripped of the eating and uh for me to actually take off any weight. And I'm like, this is ridiculous. I've been in the industry for eight so years. Why is this hard for me to do? And um, so I reached out to uh a friend of mine and uh you know uh which was hard, you know, and actually that was right at the time I just like one best of Boston, so my ego was like, you know, this so who wants to ask for help when you're in the industry and you just you know, but I was in pain, you know, and I um so I asked a friend for help, they um uh recommended somebody else, they weren't available, and so I sit down with this kid, fresh out of school. He had been training the like six weeks, and he schooled me in personal training in like 30 minutes, and I sat there with a dumbfounded look on my face, brought me through a movement assessment which made me feel like a caveman standing up for the first time. I was so tight everywhere, and you know, started talking about strong muscles and weak muscles and tight muscles in the whole nine yards, and I you know, I uh he gave me like two stretching drills and two foam rolling drills that progressed too, and you know, I within six weeks my clients are approaching me going, What have you been doing? And it wasn't that I my body was changing. Oh smiling, I was not pain.

Yeah.

So I remember asking the guy and going, you know, who are you certified to? Because the stuff he was saying, it wasn't that I didn't understand what he was saying, I just hadn't heard that approach before. You know, it wasn't the mainstream, you know. Right. And so he's like National Academy of Sports Medicine. And back then, my couple of buddies and myself, we used to call them the Nazi Association of Stretching Maniacs. True story, and now I live and breathe it. But it really was, it was a lot of stretching and then rolling on this thing, and everybody's like, What are they doing? You know, but you know, so I after my body I got out of pain and I and I started feeling better. I went and I started studying, I got certified through them. And then I mean my body's just like you know, I stretched the tight muscles, I activated the weak ones, and my body just started getting leaner and leaner and leaner, and I called my metabolism like that fire that you throw dry wood on, you know, it just started working together, you know. So NASM, the reason I I really like them and I promote them is that when you leave, when you take the training, when you take this the certification, you know, they they prepare you. It's like they give you a blueprint. You can train anybody, right? It's like when you finish with them, literally, you can train a senior, you can train a uh a kid, you can train an athlete, you can train anybody. And you know, a lot of times when you finish these trainings and stuff, you you kind of like, I have all this knowledge, what do I do with it now? Yeah, so I love their movement assessment, I like theirs. I took a com I do a combination of theirs um and um FMS as well. So I do a kind of a combination of both, I think they both have great points um on both of them. So I do a little and I'm so I'm waiting for somebody to come out with the version that kind of I do, and I just don't have time to do it right now, but come up with a version that kind of blends those two together. Um but um I love yeah, NESM is is fantastic. I mean anything I talk about movement assessments a lot in my trainings, and I I ask, you know, I always ask for a show of hands, you know, who's done who does movement assessments, you know, and there are times I'll get half the class, there are times I'll get one, and I'm like, yeah, uh, how do we train someone when we don't know how they move? How do we train someone who don't know what's going on with their body? You know, we just give them a program because of what their goals are. Like, I mean, because of what happened to me and how to go in through NESM, it's changed my outlook and my process of how I how I train my clients and I train myself. So I mean, to me now, it seems nuts to train someone without without a plan like that, really knowing that movement dysfunction and postural disorders just are that's our normal now, which is sad. Yeah, you know, that's reactionary for us, unfortunately, is moving with dysfunction. That's reactionary. You need to figure out a way to change that.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And it's um it's all this is such a great conversation and and really important for just the overall uh profess professionalization, if that's even a word, of the fitness industry, right? You know, how if if you really want to make a living for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years as as a trainer or or uh training trainers, you have to really get the systems in place. This conversation needs to be had because it's uh you know it's systemic. So um I I apologize for bringing it up and I I I hope you continue to, and I'm sure you will push push the topic, you know, when when the opportunities arise. Um Asa, thank you. What how do people find you? If people want to talk to you or or get your guidance and and or just just chat, where where do they find you?

Um I you know, I I think social media is just taking over everything. I don't use my website at hardly at all anymore. So it's like uh they can find me on Facebook um under my name, so Asa Tiro, and then it has Health Educator next to it. Um my Instagram is um training smarter. Okay. So, but um, yeah, I mean I always encourage people to if they're a trainer in the fitness industry, and I tell people this when I finish my trainings all the time. I'm like, friend me on Facebook through my professional name. This is the best way we can stay together, we can learn you know new ideas, new concepts, we can share these things. I can't tell you how many people that have messaged me after uh a training, and you know, you become Facebook friends, but then at the same time, I'll have colleagues of mine that you know anybody in this area, I'm looking for a trainer, and you hook them up. People don't realize how fast they could you make a connection like that. This isn't just hey, be my Facebook friend. This isn't, you know, this is a power, so such a powerful tool that we need to be able to share our ideas back and forth. Yeah you know, and use it.

Yeah, I use it all the time, especially you know, being a digital marketer. It's uh it's my bread and butter, baby. So um, thank you, Asa. It's been a pleasure, man. I know you and I will be talking, and hopefully I can get you back on uh for a future episode because I feel like we have a lot of different topics we could we could.

Oh, yeah, I could talk all day.

Awesome. Thanks, brother. Enjoy uh enjoy the fall in in Boston and we'll uh we'll touch base soon. All right, thanks a lot. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Future of Fitness podcast and webinar series. Uh, we're working really hard here to keep great content coming out, and we'd like to press our guide to by offering you a free seven-day marketing of if you go to fitnessmarketing alliance.com forward slash free gift at R and you are the firmware.