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Week 5: It's Not How Much You Know, It's How Much You Care!

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Week 5: Show You Care and Never Stop! 11/12/17 This was a featured post I did on Facebook earlier in the week but I feel this is a big topic when it comes to how successful a person can be in the fitness industry world. I've have only been a certified personal trainer/fitness coach for five years now so I still have so much to learn and grow but one tip I have picked up over the years has helped me get to where I am today. Every trainer wants to have a full book with a number of clients. The more clients, the more sessions. The more sessions, the more money. The more money, the better lifestyle. But how does a trainer get so many clients? Trust me, I've been there before. A new trainer starting off is usually thrown to the wolves by a gym and they tell him/her "ok kid, go get your clients." That usually leads to a nervous breakdown and after so many rejections of people not wanting to spend their hard earned money on a rookie trainer, that person usually dec

Week 4: Farmer's Carries and Alcohol

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Week 4: Farmer's Carries and Alcohol 11/5/17 Farmer's Carries These loaded carries are one of the best ways to improve your strength, stamina, and endurance. Farmer's carries is an exercise that replicates past and future farmers whom carry buckets of water and animal food around all day for a living. This exercise involves walking a set distance for a certain amount of time while carrying weight. It is fairly simple to do as anyone can mimic it in some way; however it is important to perform it properly to prevent injury and maximize results. How to do a Farmer's Carry: 1) Stand between a set of dumbbells, kettlebells, or barbells and place your hands in the middle of the weights to prevent them from moving back and forth. 2) Brace your core and tighten your glutes. Keep your chest forward and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Do not let the weights touch the sides of your legs 3) Take small, controlled steps and carry for an allotted time. Put the we

Week 3 Stimulus Sunday: Adversity

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Adversity: It's How You Overcome It 10/15/17 It is something that we have all faced at one point in time in our lives. Whether it be when you got sick, when an injury has happened, when a relationship has ended, when a close one has passed away, these are all signs of adversity in some form. These are all tragic events that can change your life in some way and it does take time to recover from them. But, that is the important part: how do you overcome the adversity! Don't be the person who let's the adversity take over their life and effect what they do and how they react. What are you going to about it is what you should ask yourself every time a road block like this comes in your way. Learning how to overcome adversity is what builds character and resilience. Being able to handle these challenges and difficulties in our lives is what will strengthen our will and confidence so we are able to tackle future obstacles. The qualities of strength, courage, character, an

Week 3 Savory Saturday: Italian Turkey Meatloaf

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Italian Turkey Meatloaf: A Healthier Version to Your Mom's  10/14/17 Being raised in a Pennsylvania Dutch family, I had a lot of meat and potatoes meals. My favorite meal was my mom's meatloaf! I mean who doesn't love meatloaf?! I use to eat almost half of the loaf by myself and then go sit on the couch for an hour afterwards always with a satisfied feeling in my stomach while watching SportsCenter highlights. But then I grew up and now a lot of red meat at once really gets the digestive system acting up. I can still have red meat once in a while, but I usually will save that for a steak. So today I was like, "Let's find a recipe to bring back the memories of mom's meatloaf, just not the after effects." Italian Turkey Meatloaf. This recipe   is another alternative for people who do not enjoy eating red meat or suffer stomach problems from too much of it. Beef does have more vitamins and minerals compared to turkey, but I find ground turkey digests e

Week 3 Fun Friday: The JC Gauntlet

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The JC Gauntlet: Brutal Cardio and Leg Finisher 10/13/17 Looking for a metabolic finisher that will test both your conditioning and your legs as well? Enter the JC Gauntlet! The JC stands for Juan Carlos named after Juan Carlos Santana who is the owner of the Institute of Human Performance and is referred as the "country's leading practitioner in functional fitness." I recently viewed a webinar that Coach Santana did a presentation on "Metabolic Training for Fat Loss: HIT Millennium Style." Metabolic Training is a training style that is repetitive in nature, that is done at high speeds with sustained contractions, that is greater than 30 secs in time, and that will not only challenge the body but the mind as well. The JC Gauntlet consists of four exercises: Speed Squats, Burpees, Jump Squats, and Squat Thrusts to Jumps. You can do anywhere from 10-20 reps of each exercise. Even if you just choose to do 10 reps of each exercise your heart rate should shoot

Week 3 Tip of the Day Thursday: Dark Chocolate

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Dark Chocolate: Can I Eat it Everyday?! 10/12/17 Everyone loves chocolate! But are you eating the right chocolate? Yes, there is such thing as right chocolate. The one I'm referring to is actually considered a "superfood." Everyone always wonders how much can I eat or how much is considered good for me or what kind should I eat? Well you are about to get your lesson on chocolate right now! Dark chocolate has become an acceptable snack for wannabe health eaters. However, you really need to know which kind of chocolate is good for your health and which one is good for giving you diabetes. When choosing which dark chocolate to snack on, the number you need to look for is at least 70% cocoa on the label. The higher the cocoa percentage the lower the sugar content will be and the higher the fat content will be. However, the higher the cocoa percentage means the chocolate will have a more bitter taste to it. When you get the right dark chocolate, you are setting yours

Week 3 Workout Wednesday: Tabata with Battle Ropes

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Tabata with Battle Ropes: HIIT at its Finest 10/11/17 Tabata workouts are a great way to finish off a workout or to help you get in a quick one if you are strapped for time. Tabata is a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout that lasts four minutes. Tabata training was discovered by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata and a group of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sport in Tokyo. They conducted research studies on two groups of athletes testing for improvement in aerobic and anaerobic systems. One did moderate intensity exercise, one group did Tabata style (HIIT) training. In the athlete group that did Tabata style training, they saw a greater increase in both aerobic and anaerobic systems than the group that did moderate intensity training. So if you want to improve both cardiovascular systems, Tabata should be included in your training. You can change up the time lengths depending on the skill level of your clients. For example, you could do 20 s