Archive for home team fitness
Hagerstown Personal Trainer Talks Fatherhood
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- Fun times with Dad…
I was raised by a single mother who did the best she could to raise me to be a man of good moral character, and respected social standing. My dad and her were never an item, so I spent most of my life without a regular male figure in my life as she wasn’t in a hurry to replace him. Throughout my life, I had a few “father figures” like older male relatives, friends fathers, coaches, etc that I gained bits and pieces of information on how a man should move in this world. Often these bits of information weren’t the best, but it was really all I had.
In Memory Of…
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Thank you to the men and women of our armed forces who gave their lives for these colors...
No matter your political persuasion, I hope you will stop for a minute today, and remember the men and women who have given their lives in an effort to protect the peoples of this and other countries. If you don’t respect the wars they’ve fought in , respect the bravery and courage they displayed to put themselves in harms way so you and I wouldn’t have to. Every soldier that goes to war realizes that he or she may not make it back alive, yet they go, and they carry the hopes and prayers of their friends and family with them. If you know a war vet of any age, give ‘em a big hug today and tell them thank you for their loyal service to this great country that we live in.
We can never repay that debt, but the least we can do is take time from the cook outs and pool parties to remember those that have fought and died in our stead.
I personally want to say a big thank you to all our vets that sacrificed their lives in service of our nation, and my heartfelt condolences to their framilies who have to live with the loss. And I want to take this oppotunity to do a small part today to remember those we’ve lost. If you have a friend or family member that has lost their lives in battle, post their name here, along with your fondest memory of them. God bless America…
Hagerstown Fitness Expert and Powerlifter Chad Goes to Group Exercise Class…
Posted by: | CommentsSo Kat challenges me to take her Body Step class over the weekend. I’ve been looking to put a little more variety into my training, and I got it. A whole hours worth. Watch this…
Hagerstown Fitness Expert Reveals Secret To Success
Posted by: | CommentsI had the distinct pleasure of conducting a strength training session with the North Hagerstown High School wrestling team today, and I gotta say, color me impressed. From beginning to end, the boys were focused, motivated, and willing to crank it like I wanted them to. I divided them into teamsof three, with at least one wrestler with a year or more of strength training on the team as my co-coach to help the more inexperienced wrestlers. We then did a simple strength circuit which consisted of deadlift, weighted pushups, and “commando” pullups.
Everyone kept busy, and worked hard, so I rewarded the best lifter with one of my “Train Hard(er)” t-shirts with one of the greatest quotes fro Coach Vince Lombard on the backi:
“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”
I wanted these kids to understand what will take them from good to great in the world of wrestling, and also in life. Working hard makes you good, working harder makes you a champion. Being willing to “pay the price” is paramount to set the stage for success. What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals? Are you willing to do one more rep? Do one more drill? Watch one more instructional video? Give up weekend partying during the season?
This has to be understood if you want to be great. Commit to pitching a tent about a mile outside your comfort zone and get to WORK. That’s the key to success on the mat and off.
Just my opinion though…
-c
Hagerstown Fitness Expert Shares 3 Tips For a More Figure-Friendly Halloween
Posted by: | CommentsAs Halloween season is ominously looming around the corner, the time is now for a big-time reality check: pumpkin season is REALLY when the holiday weight gain starts! While the month of December is typically blamed for holiday weight gain, the fact remains that the pounds actually start to get packed on in late October. The amount of eats and treats that people consume is alarming. One of the main problems is the smaller “snack sizes” that the candy manufacturers have made available. Eating several “mini” chocolate bars is something people see as “ok“ because of their smaller size. In other words, it becomes a lot easier to convince yourself to indulge in these gut-swelling goodies and then you end up eating even more than before!
Well my rant aside, let’s focus on what we can control. Use the following three figure-saving tips that we have used with great success with our own clients for keeping the pounds off while still allowing for the occasional indulgence this trick or treat season:
1) Workout with Pumpkins:
Engage in some amazingly fun and effective seasonal fat loss workouts involving only your body weight and you guessed it… a pumpkin! This orange fruit can be used just like a medicine ball except for the smashing or throwing aspect, unless that’s your goal! Make your very own four-minute total body pumpkin fat loss workout, using the provided template below (the options are endless):
Exercise#1- Double-Leg Lower Body: Pumpkin Squats @ 20 s max reps, 10 s rest and transition
Exercise#2- Upper Body Push: Pumpkin Push-ups @ 20 s max reps, 10 s rest and transition
Exercise#3- Single-Leg Lower Body: Pumpkin Lunges @ 20 s max reps, 10 s rest and transition
Exercise#4- Upper Body Push: Pumpkin Bent-Over Rows @ 20 s max reps, 10 s rest and transition
- Perform this 2-minute circuit 2x for 4 total minutes
These high-intensity, metabolism-boosting circuit interval training workouts only take four minutes to complete and will have you burning tons of calories during the workouts AND even more calories while you’re resting… or having those naughty Halloween treats!
2) Make Healthier Halloween Recipes:
Think outside of the box when it comes to preparing Halloween snacks. One great strategy is to use fruit as a main component in your baked goods. The most popular fruit of the fall, the Pumpkin, is a health food in disguise. Loaded with beta-carotene and packing 7 grams of fiber in just one cup, adding this to any treat immediately improves it’s health profile. For example, culinary queen Naomi Nazario makes a fall-time classic, Pumpkin Pie, into a much more figure-friendly option. In her “Guilt-Free Pumpkin Pie” Nazario substitutes the loads of sugar with splenda and replaces high-fat condensed milk with only half the amount of low-fat or fat free condensed milk. Simple changes like this eliminate the high-sugar, high-fat combination that is responsible for the major weight gain around the holidays.
3) Use Common Sense:
- Only buy enough candy so that you expect to run out before the evening is over. It’s crucial to weight loss success to not have “trigger” foods lying around – the temptation is often too great.
- Allow yourself just one piece of candy in the morning and then one at night. Skip any desserts
that you would normally eat after dinner. Also, be sure to increase your exercise activity by thirty minutes on every day that you eat your two pieces of candy. This will counteract the increase in calories that you are consuming.
- Furthermore, if you indulge a bit too much it’s important to forgive yourself and move on. Dwelling on the past will not help your success.
We must break out of the frustrating emotional eating patterns that sabotage our fat loss efforts during the holidays. Our brains are wired to crave the sugar-laded treats that typify the Halloween season. So, instead of using Halloween as a reason to justify eating a bunch of junk food we spin the seasonal event to spice up our boot camp workouts by using pumpkin exercises and making healthy pumpkin pecan shakes. Halloween thus becomes a fat loss tool for us, an approach that is key to adopting a healthy lifestyle for long-term weight loss success.
FYI: 2nd Annual “Freaky Fat Loss” Boot Camp Benefit for The United Way of Washington County is October 31st. You gotta be there, last year was bannanas! Call for details: 240.217.5713
-c
