Blog
MENTAL HEALTH vs. PHYSICAL HEALTH
Mental health is so important. However, the fitness industry often overlooks it and only speaks about physical health. Unless I had a serious physical health problem, I find I personally struggle with mental health much more than physical health on the day to day. I always have, I just assume most people do, but we do not talk about it as openly. Fitness and health has always come very easy to me. I do it every day, done, no questions. Mental health I work on every day, most times by the hour and it is more of a struggle to find a groove with it like I can physical health. It makes Continue reading
Dear Running,
I am breaking up with you. It took some time to get there but I now know it is time. Like many other bad relationships you have made me feel as though I need you where in fact after being without you for well over 2 years I have come to find I am much better without you.
For years you have made me believe that if I was not with you I was missing out on some aspect of health. You made me feel as though I needed you to keep in shape, to be healthier and to stay lean where in fact you stunt growth and development in all of those areas. Being with you gave me overuse injuries quicker than a hiccup, you never push my most important muscle, my heart Continue reading
Gluten, Dairy, Grains Meat Free Oh My
I have eaten my way to the end of the earth and back, I am here to tell you it is not what it is cracked up to be. I am not a certified dietitian or nutritionist. Like most of you I read what is trending. I buy into very little if any of what main stream fitness puts out, however I have made it my business to try some of the more reasonable and popular dietary restricted trends over the course of the past 3 years. I am here to tell you how they stack up in practical use vs what the industry has suggested to be a healthy way to live.
I CAN STILL BE 20 YEARS OLD IF I WANTED TO…RIGHT?
It seems as though no matter what, I cannot stop comparing myself to my younger years. I find that so many people do this and it makes complete sense. Chances are when we were in our 20’s life was a bit less demanding, our bodies took less work to look twice as good, we could eat a ton and we could sleep more. We were reading self-help or motivational books and trying to find a higher purpose to our adult lives so we could be better people in this world. I see it with a lot of my younger employees; it is crazy how life just repeats itself at specific age ranges. I am sure many Continue reading
BEGIN LIKE YOU END
The point of this is not to brag, I hardly did anything amazing. I just felt that if I could highlight that even though I have always been an athlete, a gym rat, educated on the finer points of this field, dedicated to the process, getting better does not come without hard work, consistency and failures. I am proud that I am 37 and still getting stronger than I was at a younger age. I have no reason to believe that this would change unless I otherwise decide to allow it to. Continue reading
Dynamic Warmup vs. Static Strethcing : What’s the difference you may ask. Dynamic warmup gets your muscles and joints loose for your workout. Static stretching elongates the muscle, pushing it past the point it wants to go. But let us take a more in depth look at each and fully answer this question.
Static Stretching
When you hold a stretch for an extended period, then you are performing a static stretch. That sounds pretty easy right? At the core of it, that is what you are doing. A little more science behind it, static stretching should be held for at least 1 minute. The idea of static stretching is to elongate the muscle, so pushing it past the point at which is wants to go is the key (let’s not be crazy and hurt ourselves. Little increases will do)
How Many Pounds Per Week Should I Lose
I have such a personal hang up with this topic. I have been in this industry for 15 years now and I have been playing around with personal weight gain and loss since High School. I know High School sounds like a bit much, however in hindsight I had a very unhealthy relationship with working and accepting myself at a younger age. I was a healthy kid, but I was addicted to training at a young age. Appearance meant way too much to me, to the point I would stay inside and miss doing things with my friends because I did not like the way I looked, felt, what the scale read or how I Continue reading
Social Media And The Fitness Industry
“I feel like if I am not doing backflips and handstands, I am not in shape.”
I have said this a million times these past few years. The fitness industry has been on a hard upward trend. It will bottom out eventually, and only a few gyms will be left. Generally, I feel the gyms that keep it simple and rely on good foundations of strength and fitness are the ones that will remain. I want to be clear, it’s not that I think the gimmicky places are offering a bad service, I just look at trends and history, and I think this will be the way things play out.
There are a handful of different terms we use in the industry to identify injuries. I feel like all of terms become intertwined, so I will define the differences between the terms
DEFINING YOUR CONDITION
Injury: You are hurt, a muscle is torn, strained, a bone is broken or a ligament is torn. You cannot workout.
Restriction: You have a physical restriction which limits you from certain activity or movements. An example would be if you had rotator cuff surgery 3 years ago and now that surgery restricts you from being able to do certain things and doing soft tissue work will not be a corrective.
Limitation: Limitations can be worked on and pushed through. We make short term and long term goals to work on limitations and to better ourselves. For example, you have tight hamstrings and that limits you from touching your toes and doing squats. We can work on flexibility and strength.
The Pros and Cons of Group Training
Some people feel as though group classes are a trend and you have to go. I do not find that to be true. I personally like to work out on my own. These days, I also participate in group classes and find them enjoyable, but I personally now do both. I take group classes for martial arts and every once in a blue moon for general fitness. When it comes to my own fitness I work alone or with one other person who has the same goals and intensity I do in the gym. For me, group fitness is not everything I need at this point of life. I consider myself advance, I have specific goals and want to be able to do the lifts and movements I need to do in order to hit my goals. But that is just me, that is only one side of it. There are so many positives to group classes no matter who you are. The motivation alone is a huge plus side. I see the huge shift in the industry for group classes , and this is just a moment for us to go over the Pro’s and Con’s of group fitness and individual training.