This past weekend Union Fitness had our first ever Olympic Weightlifting seminar. I realize that most of our lifters are more accustomed to the power lifts and their variations, yet I have always been amazed by great Olympic Weightlifters. If you have any free time please watch Pyros Dimas and consider that he won 4 Olympic medals in weightlifting. Consider this as we age as lifters. Olympic lifters don’t tend to last as long as us powerlifters so his feat of strength is amazing.

We were very lucky to have a good friend of Union Fitness, Cameron Davidson come in and speak and teach the lifts to about 20 of us who were not afraid to try something new. Cam is a strength coach at The Pennsylvania State University where he works with volleyball and men’s ice hockey. Cam has also been a competitive Olympic lifter for more than a decade and coached many other weightlifters. His best lifts are 140 snatch (308 lbs) and 175 clean (about 385 lbs). Clearly, we had a good person to show us how to perform the lifts!

The first hour and a half were spent in the classroom with Cam and he went over the finer points of the snatch as well as the clean and jerk. Cam is a true technician when it comes to leaves lifts and made so many points that I didn’t even consider.

Biggest take-homes were;

Stay full foot as long as possible.

Learn to move your body around the bar.

Know when to be violent with the bar and when to be patient.

Most of us stink at these lifts.

After the hour and a half in the classroom, Cam brought us to the weight room where we went over the lifts from top to bottom. I will caution anyone who wants to try Olympic lifting- don’t do it if you are also training for powerlifting. The two styles of deadlifting are too different from one another. The weight room time really opened my eyes, and I believe others as well, on how technical these lifts really are. If you are interested in learning more about these lifts contact us and we will do more work with them. If you are not I still recommend you watch some great lifters and see the similarities as well as the difference in different lifting styles.

Dave Tate is a friend and in many ways a mentor. If you are not aware of who Dave is then visit his website www.elitefts.com. You may notice this site looks familiar as they did most of the equipment here at Union Fitness. One of his mantras is “live, learn and pass on.” I often think about these words when I do my job. We must live (practice what we preach), learn (continue to push our education) and pass on (share what we know with others). This leads me to the mindset we must have in the gym.

We all have goals when we enter the doors of any gym. Some people have the goal of increasing their strength while others may want to drop a few pounds. No matter what the goal we all must approach what we are doing with a strong mindset. Too often in the world of training people assume this mindset means you must be rude while you are training. While goals and having your program are important it is also important to keep yourself open to others and to live, learn and pass on.

I left collegiate strength and conditioning to become the GM at Union Fitness because it is truly a one of a kind gym environment. I hope you all understand that few gyms can say they have multiple 700 lbs squatters, 700 lbs dead lifters and they are training next to people who may be deadlifting for the first time. This is a cool place to be, yet what makes it better is that there is a mutual respect. Whether your goal is to bench press 600 lbs or to bench press 135 lbs- it doesn’t matter. What matters is are you helping those around you and are you improving while helping?

Due to my job I have to train at work and at times my training is interrupted by work, this is the price I pay for having such a cool job. For all of you are members I hope you know that when you come in here it is our goal to allow you to not be interrupted by work, life, and the outside stressors. So when you come to us we ask that you be prepared to live, learn and pass on so everyone can become stronger and better versions of ourselves.

Hello Union Fam,

I am pumped to announce that I am joining Union Fitness full-time. You’ll be seeing a lot more of this Bearded Bumpy Bub from morning to night!

I have been in professional and collegiate strength and conditioning for 8 years. During my time I received a Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science from Slippery Rock, trained NFL prospects from Ohio State & Youngstown State Football, worked side by side with the NL Champion Mets organization, obtained a Master Degree from Morehead State and worked with many athletes and weekend warriors of all fitness ages and levels.

Most recently I trained the men’s and women’s hockey, volleyball and rowing teams from Robert Morris. The experience and lessons I have learned from those years are going to help me continue to grow Union Fitness and assist you in your wellness adventure. We have some great ideas coming this year but I can’t give away all our secrets.

Let’s keep the good times rolling and Get Bumpy!

Cheers,

CJ

We are brining back one of most popular programs of the year. The strength project 2020 is here. Let’s start out with some FAQ about the strength project.

What is it?

It’s a fitness challenge for the new year. No matter your level of fitness this program can work for you.

What you will get from the strength project?

Two months of unlimited UF membership gets you all of our classes.

In addition you will receive a 30 minute sit down with one of our coaches to help set  your goals.

5 free prepared meals from Fit Fresh Co.

What do you do?

From Jan 13th-March 14th you must attend 28 classes. This is an average of 3.5 classes per week. You are required to attend a minimum of 4 yoga classes. The other 24 classes can be a mix of any of our powerful, bootcamp or recharge classes.

And new to the strength project this year we will end it with with a push pull competition. This is a bench press deadlifting competition and it will be run in house for our members and invited guests only. The push pull will be a fundraiser (more on this to come), we are working with one of our members to help a local children’s hospital. Once all details are set we will release the information.

In addition anyone who is not an unlimited member we are giving you the opportunity to do the strength project for a one time fee of 40 dollars. So if you are a fitness center member and want to try something different give it a try.

If you are interested in this program just give us a heads up before January 13th and we will get you signed up.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. This is the time of the year in which many of us are traveling. Time in the car, airport and bus depot can lead to poor diet, too much sitting and stress. Here are a few travel tips to help get you through the holiday season without losing too much strength or adding too much adipose tissue.

1. Plan ahead with your meals. Carry some healthy snacks with you at all times. You do not want to rely on airport food in a pinch.
2. Carry your water with you. Too often when traveling people become dehydrated just do to poor planning so keep a water bottle with you at all times.
3. Give yourself a 30 minute training session. Don’t concern yourself with the specifics just move your body. The key is is to burn some calories, move your body and sweat a little. Keep it at 30 minutes as it is the holidays and you should be seeing family and friends.
4. If you are driving plan stops every hour to move. Set your timer on your phone and when it goes off find the next rest stop and get out and move your body!
5. Find a new gym where you travel. Most gyms offer day passes and this is a good way to try some new classes, machines or just a different training environment.
6. Take a family walk/hike. One of the best things that you can do for your body is become bipedal. We sit too much and need to walk. So before you take a nap, take a walk with some family and friends.
7. Do the Christmas bird count. Audubon Society has a yearly bird count, they use volunteers to count bird populations and it helps them access the health of the environment. Get outside, meet some new friends and help a great organization.

Here is your holiday travel training tips. None of these tips will help you become a top level powerlifter yet they will help you stay sane and in shape over the holidays.

I’ve spent the past three years of my life being almost wholly dedicated to Union Fitness. I love this place, the communities we’ve built here and our UF staff. I love spending all day at the gym, even when that ends up being up to 16 hours! I love watching our UF members learn new things about themselves while they learn how to move their bodies. I even love teaching Cardio Lab, something I swore up and down I would never ever ever do. 

And as we enter a new year (a new freakin decade even), I’m both excited and saddened to write that I will be leaving UF at the end of this month.

I thrive on challenge, and in 2020 I’m taking on something terrifying and new – opening a new business, specializing in a service that has changed my life, in partnership with the person I trust most in the world. And that means stepping away from Union Fitness to focus on making it all happen (and taking care of myself). 

These past three years at UF have been a period of huge growth for me – from the obvious career changes to relationship changes to health changes. My time here has made me a better coach for sure, but also a better human. If you’ve read any of my blogs over the last few years, you know I love a good list, so here’s one more for good measure:

Some real life lessons I learned at UF:

• To give to the fullest extent to others, we need to fill our own cup first. I failed at this many times in the last three years. I’m making progress on fully accepting that lesson now, and it will show in how I coach and work with others in the future. 
• It’s possible to truly love your work, but even when you love it, you need time away. Burn out is very real and very possible.
• Everyone is doing the best they can. It may not seem that way on the surface.
• It takes an immense amount of strength to say “no,” and that strength can be built just like we build strength in the gym. Either you set your boundaries or others will set them for you.
• When to go above and beyond, and when to take a step back and let someone else have the chance to make those leaps.
• There is so much satisfaction in truly being the expert of your job. 
• What’s really needed to keep a business running. 
• The joy of being the person keeping things moving from the background. And the freedom that comes with letting go of the attachment to external validation (in all aspects of life).
• To trust my instincts. They’re not always right, but they’re always useful.
• Relationships change. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes it brings you closer in ways you’d never expect. I’ve learned who I want to have in my life (and who I don’t).
• Everything is temporary, including both excruciating pain and delirious happiness. These things are okay.
• I have the ability to do really difficult things, if I can only accept that the fear isn’t going away. We can act despite being afraid.
• How to be brave. 
• How to trust.
• And how to know when it’s time to move on.

One of my goals as a coach here at UF has been to inspire the people around me to find the will and strength to get out of their comfort zones. I also happen to think that the best way to lead is by example. Competing at powerlifting and running a marathon in the same weekend was incredibly difficult. Leaving my comfortable job for the uncertainty of starting a new business is on another level, and I am beyond confident that I will grow from the experience. I hope if any of you reading this have been struggling to make a similar decision, you find the strength to say yes to doing what scares you.

I am so grateful for the people I’ve met and relationships I’ve built here. I may be leaving Union Fitness, the facility, but I hope to remain in contact with the community. You can always reach out to me otherwise, via Instagram (@elpogs), email (lindsey.pogson@gmail.com), or even text (215-917-7332).  In addition, I’ve found that I actually really love writing these blogs, so I plan to get my own thing going soon. If you’re interested in following my training and the struggles of starting a business, keep an eye out.

And finally, maybe most importantly, I’ve discovered the joy of yelling over trap and EDM music while watching all of you sweat. I’ll be teaching one final Cardio Lab class on New Years Eve, my last day here. It’ll be open to everyone, so if you want to get one more in, I’ll see you there.