How Did I Build Muscle in High School?

The short answer to that “how did I build muscle in high school?” is… I didn’t, but allow me to expand on that. As an athlete who played almost exclusively team sports, I was used to focusing most of my time working with my team. Whether it was tennis, baseball, basketball or soccer, you were constantly practicing with your teammates, and even though you can work on skills independently, there are only so many hours in the day. Before the age of social media, you had far fewer influencers in your life (for better or for worse) so you were heavily dependent on your coaches and parents.

Fortunately for me, I was lifting weights at an extremely early age with my mother. She would take me to the gym and we would perform aerobics at home, but I’d never touch anything heavy or load up barbells with plates. I wouldn’t use selectorized strength equipment either, not until my high school soccer coach brought us into the school’s modest weight room to use the leg press machine. My father, who was a very competitive athlete himself, focused more on spending time “on the court.” That could mean hundreds of lay-ups and free-throws every day, lots of batting practice and volleying on the tennis court.

Hungry on the far right

Feb012018

The Problem with Articles About Exercise

Just a few days ago, we saw this (old) article shared on social media. I’m sure we looked at it back in 2013, but I couldn’t help myself from taking another look, especially with such a bold title: “The 5 exercise machines you should never use at the gym.” Companies put more money than you’d expect into the R&D (research and development) aspect of creating fitness equipment, so it’s hard to believe there’d be a machine you should never use at the gym, right?

Yes and no.

There really aren’t many pieces of equipment that a legitimate gym would have that should be avoided by every person. Gimmick products that you see on TV such as the new “Squat Magic” would be on that list, but that was surely created in an effort to make money fast. Even with those gimmicks, if performed properly by the right person, calories are going to be burned, at the very least.

Jun012017

When to Prioritize Cardio & Strength Training to Fit Your Goals

It’s hard to know when to work out or even what to workout. Our goal is for you to be hungry and fit, and whatever we can do to take out less work and thinking for you, the better! Should you focus on cardio or strength training? How often for each? We want you to be able to dive into a plan of action without having to do too much studying up on something. This is why we are happy to share an awesome infographic with our friends from Health Perch to make it simple as possible to recognize your goals and go forth and achieve them. You can click on the actual article to find more sample workout weeks. Enjoy!

“When to Prioritize Resistance and Aerobic Training to Fit Your Goals” on Health Perch

Nov292016

How to Get Over…Overeating

If you were in America last week, you probably celebrated Thanksgiving. I don’t want to get into the politics of Thanksgiving at this time, so let’s talk about what type of eating goes down during Thanksgiving. A ridiculous type of eating…eating to the point of making yourself sick. Thanksgiving meals are usually feasts with bounties of different dishes. Alcohol doesn’t help either. Also, if you’re cooking for the event, you have more of a chance to snack while you go. All in all, that Thanksgiving day is a day to go big or go home. And most of us go too big so that we can’t move in order to go home. One of the worst things that follows this meal is…guilt. Yup, an emotion that can have a powerful negative effect on you for a long time. So let’s talk about how to get over it. These tips aren’t just for Thanksgiving overeating, they apply to every time you overeat!

Nov152016

ACTION Personal Training Certification

“I want to become a personal trainer, what should I do?”

Well… that’s a loaded question. How much time and money can you afford to allocate to that goal right now? How much knowledge do you currently have about anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, physics, kinesiology, etc? Why do you want to become a personal trainer and are you a motivated self-study course kind-of-person? And those are just the first three that pop into our head. We are asked all the time about ‘how to’ become a professional in the field of fitness and becoming a certified personal trainer is most enthusiasts’ first course of action, but what kind of weight do acronyms actually hold?

Jul152016

Tight Hamstrings? Try This

I would think it’s fairly accurate to say that many people struggle with tight hamstrings (those are the muscles on the rear side of your leg near the top). There’s a well-known secret that I can’t even touch my toes! Sure, we can blame it on genetics (that’s what I like to do) and that may indeed be part of the problem, but the other part is lack of stretching. Can you remember the last time you stretched? If so, great! Was it a good enough time devoted to stretching each part of your body? Probably not, unless you took a yoga class not based on strength.

People, if they don’t ignore stretching completely, will only stretch for a short period of time. Maybe a quick swing of the arms or a grasp towards the toes. People think it’s a waste of time and that if they’re working out, they should focus on calorie-burning or strength-building, none of this stretching nonsense. Well, guess what–it’s absolutely not a waste of time. Stretching, becoming limber, and flexible will help you in any sport, any exercise, any movement. Also, stretching shouldn’t be easy (you’ll see Hungry’s pained face below). Let’s start off with a deep hamstring stretch–all you need is a wall:

Jan212016

LA Fit Expo 2016: What to Expect

As the LA Fit Expo is in just a few days and the Evolution Fitness Conference comes with it, tens of thousands of fitness enthusiasts and hundreds of fitness professionals will be walking through the doors of the convention center. The energy as high as everyone aims to meet their favorite social media celebrities, grab a picture to post online, and pick up some free shirt and supplement samples. It’s like a feeding frenzy but the positivity in the room is outstanding.

Organizations including POUND and many others take the stage to demo their newest and most challenging group training formats while vendors show off their most advanced products to date. It isn’t quite the same as IDEA, IHRSA, SCW Mania, or Perform Better, but the EFC still gives professionals the opportunity to learn from their peers and even gain some continuing education units in the process. All of this comes at reasonable rates if you can find parking.

Jan182016

Are Health and Fitness Magazines Worth Your Money?

We get asked every single day if this will work or that is the answer to all of their questions. People wanting to lose weight, build muscle and get stronger say that this person told me that and that person told me this but I’m not sure who to believe. Just the other night, I spent ten minutes answering some guy’s questions in a hot tub and most of that was damage control. I had to let him know that most of what he heard were nothing more than myths and misinformation.

Any teacher or instructor can tell you that it can be far more challenging and time-consuming to teach the right way to do something to someone who only knows how to do something the wrong way. To be clearer, it’s easier to make french fries from a potato instead of mashed potatoes. When I first started really taking my fitness (outside of sports and martial arts) seriously, I bought every magazine at the grocery store. If it had fitness, health, or muscle in the title, I was reading it front to back. My dream was to one day be on the cover of Men’s Health, but it isn’t anymore.

Nov032015

Are You Working Out Hard Enough?

There are a few ways to measure whether you’re working hard or not. Well, there are a lot more than a few ways, but there are only so many that are relatively accurate. When it comes to exercise, the best way to measure progress is over time. We can watch our strength and conditioning grow as we can do more pull-ups or as we can see more abs in the mirror. As our mile time decreases and our lean muscle mass increases, we receive positive feedback from our body and it feels good. But what about during that painful workout? What can keep you going during the hard times?

Let’s go back to the first statement made in this post and reconsider the two most popular options. The first one is called perceived exertion, which basically makes you subjectively rate how hard you’re working on a scale of 1-10, or 1-20. It usually takes me a few minutes to explain it enough to your average fitness enthusiast before they get the general idea. It could take them weeks, months, or years at that point to fully understand it and apply it. It’s not reliable enough for most people. It’s too qualitative and not quantitative enough because of its subjectivity. So what is the second option?

Nov012015

What NASM’s Acquisition of AFAA Means Right Now

Yes, this is old news to most fitness professionals, but it came up in the office the other day and I realized that I never shared this with you! If you click on this link you will see that NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) and AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) are both listed on the same screen, on AFAA’s website nonetheless. Don’t be confused, AFAA has not acquired NASM; it’s actually the other way around. On this particular page, AFAA is offering a NASM Group Personal Training Online Workshop for $129, granting 7 AFAA CEUs. Essentially, you read a bit, watch some videos, and take a quiz that you need to pass in three attempts.