All posts by rnagy

Keeping it Real

Clean Eating, Diet, Life Health, Nutrition,

I took four whole days off of tracking my daily intake and it was my fault. I didn’t go to the grocery store like I said I would, I didn’t prioritize my nutrition around an unexpected busy schedule and I truthfully didn’t feel bad about it because it was a decision I made. As Curtis reminded me this morning, making sure you all as members know that even us, as coaches and employees at Union Fitness, have days or weeks where we fall off the wagon is important.

 

I’ve noticed there’s this obsession in the fitness world where professionals either always appear to be on their game or they aren’t transparent about their struggles, these aren’t the people I want to follow in real life or on social media. As a Nutrition Coach and someone who has chosen fitness as their day-job/career, it was my goal long before both of these titles to always remain honest with the world because it keeps me honest with myself. I cannot possibly coach people through their nutrition habits if I’m not honest with them that I ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s for dinner, 3 days in a row. True nutrition is understanding that we are human and we cannot chase perfection. 

 

Outside of my professional titles I also train/compete in the sport of CrossFit, I like to say I’m average at best but I do work very hard inside and outside of the gym. Tracking macronutrients for me is a way to make sure I’m not only fueling my body for training but also making sure it is getting enough food to get me through everyday life. Aside from tracking, I see a Physical Therapist for bi-weekly check-ups and I am constantly prioritizing my recovery and sleep. Whatever I am chasing inside the gym needs to be matched outside of the gym. But here’s the thing, no matter how well I am at keeping my priorities aligned, life will always be there and something will always happen and it’s up to me on how to move forward.

 

An unplanned four days off from tracking my food intake was a mistake on my part and this is where personal accountability comes into play. I understand that I made these decisions but that my feelings around these four days were nowhere close to being negative. I rolled with the punches, I told myself to take a break and to just do whatever my body felt it needed and that when Monday rolls around I’ll get back on my game. Truthfully I had planned for Sunday to be back at it full-swing but when Canadian Thanksgiving happens and your boyfriend shows up with a pint of Ben & Jerrys, you just can’t say no.

 

The biggest lesson I can share with you all about nutrition is that when you start to dig deep and build these long-term habits, the moment you slip up, your feelings towards that slip-up change over a period of time. You can go from feeling awful about it to making better decisions and allowing yourself the space to indulge without guilt.

 

So here I am, keeping it real with you all because sometimes you just need to cut yourself some slack and do whatever you want for no reason at all but because you want to or because you wanted to take a nap over going to the grocery store.

Enjoy the Ride Part II

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For those of you who read the UF blog often you may remember I wrote a blog about biking and getting outdoors a few months ago. Here we are again, I am getting outside and getting my mind working. So let’s take a ride together.

 

Once a year I ride my bike (with some friends) from Pittsburgh to DC. This has been a yearly event that I began doing with my father and has grown to over 25 people. If you are unfamiliar with the GAP trail or the C&O, they run from Pgh to Washington DC uninterrupted. This year I was unable to do the entire ride due to a global pandemic. Trying to make lemonade out of lemons I decided to ride two days to OhioPyle and back. So without further ado here is the story of my ride.

 

We left Nova Place at 6:15 Friday, October 9th and began our trek. The ride takes you from the Northside, into the city, along the jail trail before you cross the hot metal street bridge, and from that point on there are no turns for about 70 miles. The day started brisk, it was 41 degrees and about 3 miles in I realized that I should have worn thicker socks. It took me 34 miles to finally warm up. Lessons are always learned during this ride.

 

After grabbing some friends in West Newton, we continued to ride until arriving at OhioPyle around 4 PM. Little know fact, Curtis Miller has family near OhioPyle yet he has never actually gone into the town.

 

One of the beauties of this ride is spending time with friends and the people you meet. The first person I met was the gentlemen that, “didn’t like humans.” When I said good morning in the middle of the woods, he told me I was an expletive for interrupting nature. For the next two minutes he berated me for ruining his peace. I ended our conversation with good afternoon (he didn’t like that either). When I arrived at OhioPyle (after a rinse off), I  went to the local pub where I met some local friends, and we all swapped stories and sat by the fire. Both of these encounters kept the ride fun.

 

Saturday morning we woke up and began our trek back to Pgh. Riding back is much easier as it is a slow down hill the entire day. We made great time, and I made it back to Nova Place two hours faster than it took to get to OhioPyle the previous day.

 

As I touched on, one of the best parts of the rides is the people. This got me thinking about training and the gym. Much like with any sport we are all part of a team and it is the people that make the real difference.  With this in mind, I want to thank all of you for being part of our team and trusting us with helping you reach your goals.

 

Yours in strength,

 

Todd Hamer

3 Steps Towards Positive Motivation

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Recently, one of our members reached out to me and mentioned that they were having a difficult time gaining motivation to get to the gym. They mentioned that they were feeling discouraged about changing their body and convincing their self that they are in fact able to accomplish the goals which they initially established. They then asked me if I had any advice or if I ever experience this myself. I paused, thought for a minute, and then gave them my initial response. A week later, this question is still on my mind. So much so that I even asked a few co-workers what their thoughts were. Although this discussion could have gone on for days, we kept it short and sweet with three main points.

 

1) Know your “Why”: In other words, what is your purpose behind what you are setting out to accomplish? Maybe you are doing it for your family. Maybe you are doing it for your overall health. Or maybe you are doing it to challenge yourself with something new. Either way, you must have your “why” established and set in stone before you begin. If you don’t, then you will have a hard time staying on track throughout the journey. On the other hand, if your “why” is always clear and in sight, then you will always have direction, even when times get tough.

 

2) You must establish a certain level of belief: This belief must be strong enough that you can overcome any obstacle that is placed in front of you, or any self doubt that makes it’s way into your mind. We all battle with self doubt and negative thoughts, but your belief that you can become something better than you are must be stronger than the voice in your head saying you can’t. This belief can come in multiple forms, but the best way to gain it is simply by doing. You never know what you are capable of until you start. Once you get started and move forward with consistency, you will begin to build confidence and a belief that you can keep moving towards your goals. This goes hand in hand with our next point.

 

3) Give yourself at least three weeks of consistent work: Those first few weeks are always the hardest. Once you bust through them, the process starts to become habit. During those three weeks, stay 100% dedicated to yourself and your goals. Make it a priority to do something every single day. On the days that you work out, put your full effort towards that session and even everything that you do outside of the gym. This includes nutrition, hydration, quality sleep, etc. On your off days, go for a walk, a bike ride, or stretch, but just stay moving. You will be surprised how motivated you become when you stay in motion. Soon, the work will become second nature. Your “why” will keep you focused, your belief will keep you empowered, and your consistency will keep you moving forward towards your goals.

 

Stay strong, friends.

Bootcamp Comedy Show

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UF is beyond excited to announce our first ever bootcamp comedy show. We are going to  bring together all the good things of the world for one awesome night. Friday November 6th we are going to have a boot camp workout run by our funniest and most hype trainers, Matt Grayson and Charles Jasper.

 

Following the bootcamp style workout, 3 of our local comedians are going to take the stage. We are going to set up a stage on the turf outdoors and have seats inside and outside utilizing our new performance lab space. Each comedian will have about a 20 minute set to entertain us. We have also requested that they workout with us before hand (let’s hope they are up for it).

 

We will also be offering food and libations compliments of our newest partner, The Yard. Check out their offerings and hopefully they will bring us some of our favorite cheeses and beers.

 

In addition to all the fun we are asking anyone who registers for this class to bring some canned goods.  We will donate all the canned goods to the food pantry on Brighton Rd.

 

To register for this class, just go to MindBody and this will be listed as a class. As with any of our fundraiser events everyone is welcome, members and non-members, additionally this is a free class for everyone.

 

Let’s get bumpy, share some laughs and do more good in the world.

 

Nutrition Debunking Series

Clean Eating, Diet, Fitness, Life Health, Meal Prep, Nutrition, , , ,

TODAY’S TOPIC: BEING CONSISTENT AT HIGHER CALORIES.

 

Well guys, looks like I’m making a thing out of this for however long I can find things that need debunking in regards to nutrition (which could be for a while with the number of things that bother me endlessly about society). I’ve mentioned this before but there is an immense amount of misinformation out there, companies will profit off of this misinformation leaving consumers feeling underfed and eventually unhappy in their skin.

 

In my first “Nutrition Debunking (Part One)” I spoke about a caloric intake in which only a child should be eating, 1200 calories is not a sustainable intake for anyone above the age of 8, so why are companies profiting off of a diet that such a caloric intake is being advertised? I’ll tell you why, because everyone loves a quick fix until they realize this is a quick approach to a long-term issue.

 

When potential clients come to me underfed its truly no surprise, this problem is so common that I have come to almost expect it before the first conversation. Society has ingrained in us that we need to cut calories to lose weight, while that may be true, just jumping into a caloric deficit is not the correct path (especially if the individual is already underfed). The truth is that we need to be more consistent in our eating at a higher caloric intake, such as eating at maintenance. 

 

Maintenance is the baseline amount of calories our body needs per day to function properly.

 

Working towards eating at maintenance is a perfect starting point for people who are ready to take their nutrition to the next level. Now the process in which to get to your baseline can be a month-long process, especially if the client is underfed. Consistency takes time and it can certainly be challenging for most people but our bodies love consistency, it wants to be fed properly and be fed with nutrient-dense foods. 

 

To put it into perspective for you, the average American is probably eating well Monday – Thursday but when the weekend rolls around our nutrition takes a backseat and we find ourselves ordering takeout Friday – Saturday, enjoying a few drinks then spending Sunday recovering and probably consuming less than 1,000 calories or well above what we need to curb that hangover. We could also find that some people are under-eating one week, and the next week they hit their caloric intake perfect, then overeat the following week. Our body absolutely cannot figure out what we are doing and this is when we see process full-on stop.

 

So, before you decide to “slim-down” or hop on a brand new diet, why not see what happens if you become more consistent at eating more food. Make it a 2-week goal, if the 2 weeks felt good then make it to a whole month. A lot of body composition progress can be seen with eating a higher amount of calories for 6 months or more if the individual was well underfed previously and was able to be consistent in their eating habits. Consistency also doesn’t mean we have to be perfect, in my experience following the 80% rule is a great starting point. The 80% rule means hitting your daily intake 80% of the time while also letting yourself be flexible and not feeling stressed out because nutrition should never cause you stress.

 

The mentality of going from being underfed to eating more food can we hard, it can be a huge change for some. We attach a lot of our feelings to food and with that being said, sometimes these feelings can damage the relationship we have with ourselves. Once we start to understand that food is fuel not only will you have a better relationship with yourself but you will find that your mentality is shifting, building that trust between food and the relationship you have with yourself.

Time Your Rest for Greater Success

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It’s no secret that all of us have the same general goal in mind each time we step foot into the gym, and that is to get better. Regardless of our specific goals, we all devote a great deal of hours each week over the course of years to better ourselves and to hopefully achieve the things that we set out to accomplish. One of the most overlooked and under rated aspects of training that can help us get there more quickly is how efficient our training sessions are. More importantly, how long we are taking to complete our workouts, and how much time we are taking in between sets and exercises. 

 

Now, I understand that for many of us, the gym is an outlet. A place where we can go to hang out with our friends, escape the stressors of daily life, and do something that we enjoy. This is absolutely a great thing in it’s own. Although if you have specific goals that you want to accomplish, you’re going to want to step it up a notch and stay focused during the entirety of your training session. 

 

There have been thousands of studies done over the years regarding the best training rest periods depending on what aspect you’re focusing on. Although many of them may have different findings, the consensus is still mostly the same.

 

Strength & Power training (1-6 reps) = 3-5 minutes of rest.

 

Hypertrophy & muscle building (6-12 reps) = 1-2 minutes of rest.

 

Endurance & Conditioning (12+ reps) = 45 seconds-2 minutes of rest.

 

Now that we understand this, we can better prioritize our rest periods to suit our goals. Although this is a very small aspect of our programming routine, it has the ability to play a huge role in the outcome of our success. If you are training solo, then grab a stop watch and see the results for yourself. If you are fortunate enough to have one or more training partners, then the best stopwatch is the pace that each of you set and your drive to keep up with each other. Remember, the main purpose behind training (either by yourself or with someone else) is to challenge and push yourself. If you are sitting around in between sets wasting time, you are doing the exact opposite. So, close your Instagram and Facebook accounts, leave your phones in the car, grab a watch, and time those rest periods. You will be surprised at how much progress you can make once you decide to push yourself a little harder.

 

Stay strong, friends!

Ten Reason to Join us for Squatober

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , , , ,
  1. Squatting everyday will make you stronger and cooler.
  2. Completing any challenge is a good thing.
  3. A cool T Shirt.
  4. A free massage.
  5. If you are a fitness center member you get a free upgrade to strength lab for one month.
  6. It is for a good cause (outfits an underprivileged school with a weight room).
  7. Meet some new friends who also like to squat.
  8. Everyone can pick on CeJ.
  9. PR Party at the end of the month.
  10. For every person who does this I will personally donate 5 dollars to a charity of your choice (when in doubt bribe them).

 

These are my reasons why you should join us for our first Squatober here at UF.

 

Todd Hamer

Thank You

Fitness, Life Health, State of the Union, , , , ,

As many of you probably already know this weekend we hosted “Bike Ride for Black Lives.” This was a fundraiser and the brainchild of Jessie Theisen (one of our awesome members). We were able to raise close to 4,000 dollars that will be donated to the Urban League of Greater Pgh.

 

This was our first bike ride fundraiser and I was not sure how we would do. We did better than I thought we could have. 50 people got on their bikes and rode one of three options 50, 30 or 10 miles using our extensive trail system we have here in Pittsburgh.

 

This blog is more of a thank you to each and every one of you than anything else. I would be remiss if I did not add some special thank you’s to this list though. My family came through big time! I had aunts, uncles, my father, my wife, and son and a few cousins come out to either ride or volunteer. In addition, we had some members and employees who stepped up big time! Curtis and his lovely wife Liz did a great job with the rest station. CJ actually didn’t wreck this time. Sara Rusner, this couldn’t have happened without her. Matt Grayson (who is my consummate backup man) once again had my back. Matt got us shirts when our first order fell through, he took care of picking up food, coffee, etc and I am indebted to him for his help. Others involved here were Cayt, Katlyn, Cody, Dave, Racheal and the rest of our awesome staff.

 

Thanks to each and every one of you and let’s keep doing good work. One of our goals is to do something for society at least once a month, so bring me ideas.

 

Final thought, we even had a John Fetterman sighting on the trail. Next time Big John needs to be on his bike with us!

 

Thank you

 

Todd Hamer

Welcome to the Spooky Season; Squatober

Fitness, Life Health, , , , ,

Tis the season for squats. 

 

Every October our friends at Sorinex celebrate October by asking friends to squat 4-5 times a week with them for the month. Squatober culminates in a PR party. I have made a quick FAQ about Squatober and how we are going to be involved and what cause we will be helping through squatting.

 

How do I particpate?

 

The training sessions are posted daily on Instagram and we will repost these daily. We can also print the workout for anyone who may be interested.

 

What do I get for participating?

 

One you will get stronger and have some fun. The other thing is we will give you a t shirt and one free massage. Also, any of our fitness center members who wish to participate we will upgrade you to strength lab for October, at no charge to you.

 

 Is it free and what cause are they supporting?

 

It is free yet if you wish to donate Sorinex will be raising money to equip a needy school with a new weight room.

 

What are the workouts like?

 

Previous years workouts can be found on the squatober instagram page. The workouts are posted daily yet this will give you an idea of what to expect.

 

Why are we doing this?

 

We are doing this a multitude of reason. First, it is fun and we like fun. Second, it is for a good cause. Finally, we want to build a stronger and better community and in the age of social distancing we see this as a great way to help any and all of our members who want to try this out.

 

Finally thoughts.

 

Squatober is something I have done in the past and it was challenging and fun. If you are preparing for a meet this is probably not for you. If you are looking for a new challenge and some fun then this may be for you. If you wish to do this and currently take one of our lifting classes you can do your squatober workout during class time. Just warm up with the group then we will set you up on your own rack and be there to support you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Control Your Deadlifts for Better Progress.

Fitness, Training, , , ,

Out of all of the major compound lifts, the deadlift is the only one that does not require an eccentric (lowering) phase to initiate the movement. Because of this, the concentric (lifting) portion is hands down the most important aspect to be trained. But, what if I told you that focusing on how you return the bar to the floor could greatly help you increase the quality and strength of your pull?

 

We’ve all seen it, someone sets up for a set of deadlifts, lifts it with great form and control, only to be followed by an uncontrolled limp-body descent. If you watch closely, there’s a good chance that you’ll notice each of the following reps become less sound and less technical than the one before. Whether you’re a powerlifter training for a competition, or someone simply looking to improve strength, the goal should always be to make every repetition an exact representation of the one before.

 

Now, I completely understand that holding a bar in your hands loaded with heavy weight for any period of time can be uncomfortable. The last thing that anyone wants is to feel the knurling of a bar trying to pull the skin off of their hands. But if you’re going to take the time to perform a lift every single week for months and years on end, why not take the time to get the most out of it possible, right?

 

So, if the deadlift is a concentric only lift, then what’s the point of worrying about how we lower it? Well, let’s look at the squat and the bench press. As you lower the bar, you’re gaining feedback from your body on what muscles are firing and how to keep them tense and engaged. This then allows you to be in a stronger position for the concentric portion. So even if the squat and bench press started from the bottom up, by practicing this technique we would sill get stronger. The more practice we have doing this and the better that we get, the more efficient we can be. Over time, this adds up into many technically sound lifts, which allows us to also get stronger.

 

So how do we apply this to the deadlift? The easiest way is to try to make your pull and your return look like a mirror image. If you were to watch the entire lift on film, it should look the exact same when played forward or backwards. While you’re doing this, be sure to start light and take your time. Understand that at first this may affect how much you can lift overall, but it will drastically improve your strength over time. Start with around 60-70% of your max and try to take around 3 seconds to return the bar to the floor. During that time, focus on recognizing which muscles are working, and what needs to be done in order to keep them engaged. Do not lose that tension once the bar returns to the floor. Even in between reps, keep tension, stay engaged, and in the exact position that you want to perform the next rep. This will then help you know exactly what to do when you begin your first pull, even without being able to perform the eccentric phase. Over time, as you learn how to build and keep tension throughout your body, you can start applying this to heavier weights, and you will begin to see your strength and technique improve tremendously.

 

If you see me in the gym, don’t hesitate to grab me and ask for help. If you follow me on Instagram, don’t hesitate to send me your videos. I’m glad to help any way I can. Stay strong, my friends!

 

Curtis