» Hagerstown personal training

4 Days…The Challenge

Chad Smith — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:51:55 +0000

It is Tuesday, December 27 2011. That means that you have just 4 days to get on the stick, and end this year right. Here is a 4 day “Finisher” program to do at the end of every workout this week. They are only 4 minutes, and will help you burn some additional calories for the week. Trust me, you’ll probably need the extra work after what you’ll likely get into Saturday night… ;P These finishers use the “Tabata” method of pushing as hard as you can for 20 seconds, then resting for 10 seconds. This is repeated 8x for 4 minutes. You’ll be alternating between two exercise for a complete, full body workout. This will be the hardest 4 minutes of your life. Ready? Let’s go!

Day one: *Dumbell Thrusters/Kettlebell swings* Use a dumbbell if no kettlebell is available

Day two: *Jump rope/Medicine Ball slams*

Day three: *Alternating Side Dumbell Lunge with Overhead Press/Single Leg Alternating Dumbell Row

Day four: High Knees/ Skaters

Add these finishers to the end of your workouts for the last 4 days of 2012, and you’ll have a great lead in to 2012!

Chad Smith is a Hagerstown personal trainer, fitness columnist, radio show host, and speaker whose “Metabolic Mayhem” fitness training program was called “One of The Best in The Country” by Emmy Award winning fitness celebrity Rocco Castellano. Find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hometeamfitness, or listen to him weekdays at 12pm est on his FTNS radio show “Jump Start With Chad and Kat” on http://www.ftns.co

5 Quick Tips For End of Year Fat Loss

Chad Smith — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:14:57 +0000

We’re 10 days away from 2012, and there is absolutely still time to finish strong here at the end of 2011. Here are 5 quick tips to make sure you finish the year with a bang, and steamroll your way into 2012!

Keep the drinking to a minimum. There are few benefits to alcohol consumption, and non to weekend binging. Keep it to less than 3 per night, and you’ll do minimal damage to your fitness efforts. And if you aren’t already, drink lots of water all day, and between drinks to stay hydrated, and to minimize the buildup of alcohol in your bloddstream.
Skip the chips. Party food is the worse! Remember your first priorities are PROTEIN and PRODUCE. Fill up on non-breaded meat and vegetable items, then eat the other stuff. Your waistline will thank you for it.
Rest up! Try to get an extra hour or 2 of sleep at night to help your body deal with the added holiday stress. Stress causes fat storage hormones to increase, and noone needs that. Sleep more, dream it all away!
Try something new. Train differently than what you normally would. Breaking up the monotany of your usual regimine will remotivate you, plus may produce better results than what you’ve seen for a while.
Invite friends to workout with you. Get someone to the gym with you, you’ll not only help start someone on the fitness path, according to research, you’ll also turbo boost your results. Buddy up, and good stuff happens.

What do you think? Got any other ideas for finishing strong in 2011? Leave your comments below!

CrossFit My Way

Chad Smith — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:41:30 +0000

A while back, I wrote a post going into detail why I hate the CrossFit craze that is sweeping the country. There really isn’t much good about the CrossFit method as it currently exists, and if you read the post, I hope you understand why. Now I want to give you an idea how the concept behind CrossFit can be done safely, sanely, and progressively. I shot this video a few years ago, when I first began experimenting with timed strength circuit protocols.

This particular video is significant to me because this is when I “got it”. I began to understand how to design a balanced, challenging, and PROGRESSIVE training system that gets results quickly and effectively. This workout you’re about to watch is a 10 minute cardio/functional strength circuit using only bodyweight, medium and heavy training tubes, and medicine balls. It is a 50/10 protocol, which means 50 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest/transition. Watch below:

Video

Now the exercises used in this workout can be modified to make it more challenging, or less challenging on the fly to accomodate the beginner up to more advanced trainees. Note, the purpose of this workout is the increases overall work capicity using an alternating system of cardio exercises and non-competing functional strength exercises. There is no Olympic lifting, no prolonged plyometrics, and the logical order of exercises provides is designed for “active recovery” for muscles worked from set to set. This workout can be used for an entire week, with the traineee trying to work a little harder each session. The workout is self scaling, meaning you can make it as challenging as is appropriate.

Get it?

This is how I would begin redo the CrossFit methodology.

Create”workout of the week” protocols rather than the current “workout of the day” protocol that is currently being used. This allows for instant progression, and greater mastery of prescribed exercises.

Use a logical exercise order to allow for fatigue management

Encourage trainees to work at a managable pace, and progress as they can every session in the training week.

What do you think? Try this workout 3x over the course of the next week, and let me know how you do!

Stay strong and live well,

-chad

PS – Until Christmas for every 3 month purchase of personal training or coaching, I am giving an extra month on the house, and three $100 gift certificates for friends and family . Call for more details! 240.217.2891

Physical (Mis)Education

Chad Smith — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:39:48 +0000

Is he the guys to teach health and fitness to kids?

Why does it seem like I see so many Physical Education teachers,
and coaches who don’t look the part? Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel like
every PE teacher and coach needs to lok like an NFL reciever, or a top ranked
MMA fighter. I do, however, feel that if we are going to employ someone to
teach health/physical fitness to our kids, they should AT LEAST look as if they
practice what they preach.

Seriously!

One thing as a trainer I don’t do is ask my clients to do anything
I can’t physically demonstrate. I can’t recall how many times I’ve walked into
an elementary school gym and witnessed an overweight PE teacher sitting giving
instructions. I’ve also seen waaay too many PE teachers eating at fast food
joints waaay to frequently. Getting 2-3 helpings in the lunchline at school
isn’t too uncommon either.

Let’s look at it another way.

Would you trust an obese personal trainer who eats fast food everyday, and never exercised to help you lose weight? How about a doctor who smoked to give you advice how to stop smoking? Or an attorney who is friends with the person you are sueing.

I think schools need to hold their PE teachers to a certain standard of physical condition to keep their jobs. Same goes for coaches.

C’mon, get yourselves in shape!

Am I off base here? Give me your thoughts below and let me know!

Hey, have you heard about my coaching program? Read more about it here. I’ll assume control of your fitness life and let you focus on other things like updating your social media, lol.

Chad Smith is a fitness expert, columnist, radio show personality who loves praise, and attention. Read this blog often, or you will severely damage his already fragile ego. You can listen his show, “Jumpstart with Chad and Kat”, co-hosted with his wife, Kat weekdays at 12pm est on http://www.ftns.co.

Hagerstown Personal Trainer Says No Pesticides

Chad Smith — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:31:47 +0000

It kills the small stuff, but it's fine for us! Right?

Agricultural pesticide use has been on the rise, and in light of what the function is, I can’t help to think that if pesticides kill little organisms quickly, what do pesticides do do big organisms long term? It may be negligible in small amounts, but with the steady increases in use since the 90′s due to Genetically Engineered crops, we have to question what effect these chemicals are having on our physiologies.

Some reports suggest that regular exposure to pesticides may cause a long list of health concerns from endocrine system disorders all the way up to certain cancers. Some people in the pesticide business say these claims aren’t proven, I say I’d rather err on the side of caution and reduce, if not eliminate all exposure if possible.

Buying certified organic drastically reduces your exposure to potentially harmful chemical pesticides. Buying all of your produce organic however, is cost prohibitive to many American families. Some particular items of produce have more pesticide exposure than others, so to help you choose wisely, we put together 2 lists to take with you the next time you go shopping to reduce your exposure to pesticides, and shop healthier for your family.

The “Dirty Dozen (highest pesticide exposure, buy organic everytime):

Apples
Celery
Strawberries
Peaches
Spinach
Nectarines
Grapes
Sweet Bell Peppers
Potatoes
Blueberries
Lettuce
Kale/Collard Greens

The “Clean Fifteen” (lowest pesticide exposure – organic optional):

Onions
Sweet Corn
Pineapples
Avocado
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Mangoes
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Kiwi
Cabbage
Watermelon
Sweet Potatoes
Grapefruit
Mushrooms

Take this simple list with you next time you go shopping, and take a huge step towards better health.

What organic foods do YOU buy most often? Leave you comments below!

Chad Smith is a Hagerstown personal trainer, columnist, and speaker. Find him on Facebook: http//www.facebook.com/hometeamfitness