All posts by rnagy

Falling in Love with Training

Fitness, Life Health, Training

This past week I had a good conversation with a very close friend of mine regarding some struggles that he had been facing with his training. More specifically, we discussed how some of life’s challenges have had a direct impact on the overall success of his training sessions, as well as his mindset towards training itself. After a few minutes of discussion and throwing around some ideas to help him going forward, he said “ I think one of my biggest issues is that I need to fall in love with training again”. 

 

This took me back for a second, as I was recently in the same exact situation as he. Before my injury, I found myself going through the motions, with training feeling more like a job than anything else. I was so caught up in the end result that I lost sight of filling each box of daily gratitude and appreciating the fact that I had the opportunity to do something that I love dearly. After my surgery, I took the time to reflect on everything in my life up to that point. I found myself thinking about my life with training in it, as well as my life before I found my love of training. Before I was able to return to training, I often found myself looking through old pictures, videos, and thinking about how and why I first got into lifting. Throughout that process, I was able to come back into training with a clear mind; focusing on making the most of each day and opportunity to train, instead of just looking towards the end goal.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, when you have very specific goals that involve being the absolute best version of yourself possible, you are going to have very tough days. Not every time you walk into the gym is going to be pure joy, sunshine, and rainbows. The higher the goal that you set, the more challenge and responsibility comes along with it. Everything from your nutrition, sleep, stress management, and even relationships have to be managed precisely in order to fit your goals. Over time, if we do not approach these things with a complete understanding, focus, and care, it can become very easy to lose sight of what attracted us to this journey in the first place, and why we are doing what we are. When we lose sight of this, we may find ourselves doing it for the wrong reasons.

 

My advice for anyone reading this, from my own personal experience, is to remember to be grateful for each and every opportunity that is placed in front of you. Be grateful for the struggle and every challenge. Be appreciative of the less-than-stelar days, and even more so of the good days. Sit down from time to time and reflect on why you’re doing what you’re doing, and why you began in the first place. Think of how your life would be different without that thing in it. Remember that at the end of the day, you are healthy and strong enough to have the opportunity to do something that many people are unable to do. That is a gift in itself. Finally, please don’t ever let the thought of the end goal distort the joy that comes with the ride.

 

– Curtis Miller

The Cowboy Rides Off

State of the Union

Unioners,

 

We learn, we get stronger, we grow, and we move on. That is the SparkNote story of our faithful amigo Josh Elsas.

 

Josh is one of our good friends and lifters and king of all podcast producers. He graduated from Robert Morris University (RMU) with a degree in television and video production. Josh won two Telly awards from RMU and dominated the Dean’s list for six semesters. After college, Josh worked with WPXI, Mind Over Media, Penn State Hockey, USF Football, Rutgers Football, and USA Hockey and made a few music videos along the way. He is also the creator, producer, and ruthless talent of Thoughts from the Bench, By the Slice, A Great Depression, Two Beers Deep and more timeless podcasts. Josh is an outdoor adventuring, deadhead loving, pizza demolishing, beer cracking, gem of a human.

 

We all want to wish him the best and offer our congratulations as he moves on to The University of Wyoming to be their Director of Creative Video for Athletics. We thank you for being you, bud.

 

Three Cheers to Josh and long live the emo king!

 

P.S. Go watch or listen to his podcasts and follow his adventures as he dominates the video world.

 

See you later homie,

 

CeJ

 

Note from Hamer: In English, this means Josh we wish you well and we are grateful for all you have done for us here at UF. Godspeed our friend. 

Meditation, Training, & Health

Life Health

People who train love to talk about the anabolic window. This is the magical window of time that you have to eat a metric ton of protein after you train, or you will lose all that you trained for. As you probably noticed I am joking (a little). The point is that if you name anything people will be able to tag it, and then make it more important than it may actually be. Just to be clear, I do know it is important to feed the body after we stress the body, but too often we worry about the wrong things. Today, I will hopefully let you spend a few moments considering how important mental recovery is to your progress.

 

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

 

This is basically the functions that occur without us doing much. The ANS is comprised of two yin and yang systems, the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. Easy was to remember these is sympathetic is fight or fight, while the parasympathetic is rest and digest. Think about it this way: you train hard and your body moves into sympathetic (supplements affect is as well), then when you finish your training session you want your body to move back to a more parasympathetic state. By doing this you will increase blood flow to the gut (to help with the magical anabolic window), as well as reducing heart rate, and allowing the body to begin recovering.

 

Meditation and Breathing for a Greater Parasympathetic Response.

 

After your next training session sit in a quiet dark room for 5-10 minutes and practice meditation and nasal breathing. If you do not know how to start then here is your quick introduction. Get comfortable, begin breathing deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try to breath in as much air as you can filling your entire body with air. Then slowly breath out through your mouth. One easy way to control this is count, 1 is in and 2 is out, then 3 and 4, repeat this until you reach ten then start over. By doing this you will begin to return your body to a more parasympathetic state.

 

A fun test is to leave your smart watch on and watch your heart rate. You should see a drop in your heart rate as you practice this breathing. As stated earlier 5-10 minutes of this should be plenty to start. Even if you are interrupted just keep breathing. The entire point is to give you control over your mind, and your breathing. After you do this stand up stretch and notice how much lighter and better you feel.

 

Give me any feedback and I hope this helps.

Intern Spotlight, Mikaela

State of the Union

Hello! My name is Mikaela, and I am one of the interns at Union Fitness this semester. I am technically in my junior year at Chatham University. I will be going onto graduate school for Occupational Therapy hopefully after this year. I am currently in my undergrad for Exercise Science, and I enjoy it very much. I love learning about different components of exercise and how to exercise properly to see the best results. Besides building strength, I find it very important to also have a healthy cardiovascular system and living a life with autonomy. Keeping a healthy body and mind can help take you places you may not be able to go otherwise. 

 

Besides learning, my interests include painting and cooking. I won first place in my states culinary competition and went on to place 16th in the nation when competing at nationals in DC. I competed representing Virginia, the state where I send all my important mail to and lived before coming to Pennsylvania for college. I lived in Ohio until 6th grade and then the rest of my time was spent in Virginia just outside of Richmond. Living in the south technically has taught me that I do not enjoy the heat and all the unnecessary sweat that comes with it. That was one of the main drives to going to school up north. That and I was recruited for Lacrosse at Chatham. I played lacrosse for all high school and then 2 years at Chatham. I retired due to academic taking over but I still love being active. 

 

My future goals, besides becoming an occupational therapist, consists of being a dog mom and starting a community outreach program. I currently am a loving fish mom of three. Boba is a bubble eyed goldfish, Blaine, like the Glee character, is a blue beta, and lastly the fish with no name, but is referred to as Baby by my roommates, is a mystery baby fish, I got as an accidental bonus with some aquarium plants I got. 

 

My community program that its totally copywrited, that is if you can copywrite something that benefits the community, is my take on a dollar store thrift store. My hobby, or addiction as my roommates and friends say, is going to the Goodwill outlet where items are pay by the pound. You can get some really nice things for almost no money at all. I love the search for prizes amongst basically trash and while most people will flip these items to make a profit, I want to find the good stuff, clean it up, and give it to the less fortunate for a dollar to 50 cents, because you know I must have some money to continue my addiction. I have found North face coats originally priced at $110 and getting it there would be probably like $3. With goodwill prices increasing due to the popularity of thrifting, it is hard for low-income families to get clothes and items they could get at goodwill for the cheap price’s goodwill used to promote. 

 

This may all seem silly and nothing to really do with my future career, but I want to thank the Union Fitness Staff for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow towards whatever my future holds. 

 

Thank you for reading about me and excited to see you at the gym during my exciting time at Union Fitness. 

CeJ and His Strongman Ways

Training

Union,

 

About 12 weeks ago, I decided to train for something that I have never done but always thought looked cool. Fast forward a few weeks and wham bam, first Strongman competition is in the books.

 

Most of us at Union know how powerlifting meets go and the general rules and procedures of them, if not go back and check out Todd and Curts’ blogs about what to expect at a powerlifting meet. Strongman is a little different in regards to the events. Where powerlifting always has the squat, bench and deadlift, Strongman has various events that never seem to be the same from competition to completion. This competition had 5 total events; Log Clean & Press for 60 seconds, Deadlift for 60 seconds, Heavy Sandbag and Frame Carry Medley, Sandbag/Keg Toss over Bar and Hand over Hand Rope Pull. As in powerlifting there are weight classes so you are competing against people of similar weight. The events are scored by points, whoever finishes first gets the most points and by the end of the day, the competitor with the most points wins the day.

 

Skylyn and I both competed in the Novice class since it was our first meet. She competed at lightweight and I did the  heavyweight class.

 

Here were are results.

  • Log Press: Sky 6 reps at 95lbs.
  • Me 4 reps at 220 10 reps at 180.
  • Deadlift: Sky CRUSHED 22 reps at 225.
  • Me 12 reps at 475.
  • Sandbag & Frame Medley: Sky 100lbs Sandbags and 300 Frame in 42seconds.
  • Me 200 & 220lbs Sandbag and 450 Frame in 33 seconds.
  • Sandbag/Keg Toss: Sky 3 20lbs sandbags over 10ft in 12 seconds.
  • Me 25lbs 35lbs 40lbs 45lbs Kegs in 8 seconds.
  • Hand over Hand Pull: Sky pulled 145lbs plus the Incline Frame in 15 seconds.
  • Me 200lbs plus the Incline Frame in 12 seconds.

 

After all the chalk dust settled we both had come in 1st place in our respective and competitive weight classes. The day was very long from 8:45am to 6:30pm, so we were both the walking dead by the end. That day we learned a lot about the Strongman world and most importantly we had a total blast competing together. I would like to thank Vaughn for organizing and running the event, his staff was top notch and provided a great first experience. 

 

Will there be more strongman events in my future….only time will tell. Reminder, if you’ve wanted to try something and you’re not sure, just look it up and go give it hell. Only one way to find out.

 

CeJ

The Adventures of Dave

Fitness, Life Health

Here at UF we have a diverse, sometimes strong, and interesting staff. I am very proud that we have been able to pull so many interesting people together to make us what we are today. In this blog I want to give you a better understanding of Dave Jackson. Also, you will have the opportunity to take on a new challenge with Dave.

 

Dave started working here back in 2020. Taking on a new job with face to face clients during a pandemic has to be a challenge, and Dave has risen to the occasion. You can see him teaching most morning powerful classes, training clients, as well as working with some of our teams. What some of you may not know is that Dave has spent time with some big time college football programs. Yes I am biased, yet I have seen that once one has spent time training in the college environment they are generally prepared for most challenges in training.

 

This summer Dave decided to do the Racheal Carson trail challenge. I have done this event over ten times and it is not for the faint of heart. He not only did it, he did it in a top 40 time (most people that finish that fast do nothing other than hike and jog). He then decided to do the Kabuki Open here at UF. He hit his goals there. Now he’s training to run the EQT PGH Ten Miler. This is a ten mile race in the city. So we now are going to help him training, and hopefully have some fun doing it.

 

Starting this Friday Dave is hosting our newest class. It is a running class. 7 AM every Friday lace up your shoes and join Dave as he leads the group on a run. As with all of our classes just sign up through our website.

 

Until next time let’s all tell Dave good job on reaching his goals  and please someone outrun  him this Friday so we can all go back to talking trash.

 

Kabuki Open Recap

Uncategorized

This past weekend we hosted the 2nd annual USPA Kabuki Open powerlifting meet held at your very own Union Fitness. I have been around the sport for over a decade, and this was hands down one of the best meets that I have ever been a part of. The weather was absolutely perfect, the crowd was full, and the lifters were putting on an amazing show. This was actually the first meet that I’ve been to where there were two platforms going on simultaneously. This made for a very cool event with non stop action. 

 

One of the best parts of the day was seeing our members and staff up on the platform competing. Union Fitness’ very own Dave Jackson and Gillian Kane competed in their first meets and did an amazing job, walking away with some very solid PRs. Our members Eric Price, Brian Steinmiller, and Isabella Musante also competed in their first meets and all had an amazing day and expressed how much fun they had. I’m looking forward to seeing them back on the platform again in the near future. Two of our other members, Diana Jordan and Caroline Harpel competed in their 2nd and 3rd powerlifting meets and also did an amazing job. Congratulations to Caroline for walking away as the best raw female lifter of the meet. We are very blessed to have such amazing members and staff here at Union Fitness. They make everything we do easy and worth every second. Without them, Union Fitness could not be what it is today.

 

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank those who made this event possible. First and foremost thank you to Doug, Candi, and the rest of the Alpha Fitness/ USPA officiating crew for putting on such an amazing event. Their professionalism and support are second to none. Next, the Pitt Powerlifting team who stayed on top of the spotting and loading, keeping every single lifter safe and injury free. Thank you to all of the vendors who came out to support their businesses, as well as to support Union Fitness and our awesome strength community. Thank you to all of the fans, friends, and family members who came out to show love to all of the lifters. That support means more than you will ever know. Finally, thank you to our GM Todd Hamer and the rest of the staff here at Union Fitness for organizing and hosting such a spectacular event.

 

The more time I spend around this sport, the more I realize how amazing it is and how much it can bring a community together. For those few hours of competition, there are no problems, worries, or differences amongst any of us. For that period of time, there is only a community of people supporting and bringing out the best in one another. That is the power of powerlifting.

 

– Curtis Miller

Intern Spotlight, Olivia

Life Health

Hi everyone, my name is Liv, I am an intern with Union Fitness this semester! Currently, I am in my senior year of undergrad at Chatham University in the Shadyside / Squirrel area, majoring in exercise science with a minor in psychology. Next year I will go to graduate school to pursue a degree in occupational therapy. This career has always interested me because of the overlap between the physical and the mental, and how we can use that to help people obtain or regain their freedom. As of right now, I am particularly interested in the pediatric side of occupational therapy. I have had quite a bit of experience with kids in leading youth groups, being a long-term sitter for 2 foster children, and working in my mom’s special education classroom with the occupational therapist.

I am originally from a small town in Ohio called Sugarcreek, it is actually the “Little Switzerland of Ohio.” We have the world’s largest cuckoo clock and have an annual swiss cheese festival. I went to a small high school and was very close with my science teacher. She is the person I thank for helping me find my love for science and anatomy. Mrs. Z always encouraged me to push myself and picked me up when I was down. I am so grateful for all she did for me and that it has gotten me to the place I am today.

Some fun facts about me are I have five dogs and one cat. My cat is named Jessie Saint James (Saint for short) and lives with me at school. He is named after one of my favorite TV show characters. My favorite food is bread and I very much prefer Coke over Pepsi. I have a slight addiction to watching TV series and have a running list of each show with a detailed review of each, so far there are a total of 104 recorded shows.

Besides working at Union, I am an RA and also work at the bed and breakfast on campus. I have a light load of classes this semester, so I decided a few weeks ago to get an ASL certification online. I have always been interested in sign language because my mom took me to a few classes when I was younger when she had to learn it for her classroom. ASL is something that will be very useful in my future career working with children with disabilities and it is a skill that I think everyone should have at least a slight understanding of. Working to make the world a more inclusive place should be something we all continually strive for.

So far, my time at Union Fitness has been great. I have already learned so much in the little time I have been here. Something that has really stuck with me is the idea that if people don’t think you care, they don’t care how much you know. This means that in order to really get the best out of people you are working with you need to connect with them on a personal level, and not just treat them like someone you see for an hour at a time just to make a little money. When people know that you care about them as a person, they are much more likely to listen to the things you have to say and try their hardest. This is something that I think Union Fitness does really well and I hope to do that same both here and in everything I do in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to get to know a bit about me. Hope to see you around the gym sometime!

Thank You

State of the Union, Uncategorized, ,

We were able to host the USPA Kabuki Open here at Union Fitness over the weekend. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this event (and many of our events) such a success.

 

Doug, Candi, and their USPA crew. This event wouldn’t happen without them.

 

Pitt Powerlifting. These guys and gals are amazing and do all the spotting and loading.

 

Valkyrie Donuts. Check these guys out for the best vegan donuts out there.

 

Knock About Coffee. Thanks for brining the coolest coffee shop in town to our event.

 

Federal Galley. As always our neighbors are there for us and there for you.

 

Slider Vibes. The offical food sponsor of our event. If you have’t visited this gem yet, then you should check them out in market square.

 

Curtis Miller. For those of you who don’t know, Curtis does most of the work to set this event up.

 

Mr John. Yes we even have a bathroom sponsor. If you have ever run any event you know how important this detail is to success. Thank you Mr John for helping us out and being the only bathroom sponsor we will ever need.

 

Union Fitness Staff. These people are amazing and step up to challenges everyday and for that I thank each and everyone of you.

 

In addition I would like thank everyone who attended, competed, volunteered, or were involved. Finally, thank you to our wonderful landlord, Faros Properties for allowing us to  make a big mess and loud noises.

 

 

 

 

 

Kabuki Open

Uncategorized

It’s that time again! Tomorrow morning we will be hosting the 2nd annual Kabuki Open powerlifting meet, right here at your very own Union Fitness. This will be the 8th sanctioned meet that has been held at Union Fitness since opening in November of 2016. If you have never been to a powerlifting meet, I highly recommend that you check one out! Especially our meets here at Union. I may be bias, but we are fortunate to have an amazing facility and support that allows us to hold some of the best meets that I’ve ever been a part of. Regardless of if you’re a competitor, or a spectator, there is something for you. This year we will have meals on hand from FitFresh Kitchen, Protein bars from Fortifx, apparel from Live Large and At War Athletics, and services from the Athlete Recovery Lounge, just to name a few. On top of that, 25% of the admission will be donated to Veteran’s Place here in Pittsburgh.

 

One of the most gratifying things is seeing some of our members and staff sign up and train to compete in their first official powerlifting meet. After our most recent push/pull meet that we held this past year, I had multiple members tell me that they would like to compete in a full powerlifting meet, without even knowing what to fully expect. By setting their own goals, doing their own research, and with the help of our staff here at UF, they are now prepared to step on the platform and compete in their first official event. This sport is for absolutely anyone. Regardless of age or training experience, powerlifting has something wonderful to offer.

 

If you would like to stop by, lifting will begin at 9am right outside of the main entrance. Admission is $10 for adults and free for children. If you are planning to use the gym while you’re here, the fitness center will be open, although the Strength Lab will be closed for competitors to use for warming up. We look forward to seeing all of you here, and maybe we will even see you on the platform at our next event next June.

 

– Curtis Miller