Category Archives: Fitness

Yoga for Lifters

Fitness, Life Health, Training

On Sunday July 10th, we will be introducing the first installment of Power Yoga for our members and non members here at Union Fitness. The idea for this class was a collaboration between myself and our amazing Yoga instructors Meagan Gnibus and Haley Tamilia. Over the last few months, the three of us have discussed how we have benefited from the concepts and application of different Yoga techniques. More specifically, how we have applied them to our training, and how beneficial they have been in assisting with our lifting goals.

 

At first, it started as a simple discussion regarding the types of mobility and activation work that I apply to my powerlifting training, as well as within my client’s training. Then it progressed to how further techniques could be applied to reach even more specific goals. What we found was that there was a huge similarity in our approaches between what is practiced in yoga, and what is used by many individuals who perform rigorous weightlifting techniques. Because of this, we decided to bring you all a class specifically for the people who love to throw chalk on their hands and a barbell across their backs, but may not yet realize the benefits of applying yoga within their training routine. Or, you may already practice this, but maybe would like some new ideas, or a fun group to perform it with on a beautiful summer day.

 

I took my first Yoga class in 2009. At the time I was beginning my powerlifting journey. After just my first session, I noticed the benefits through mental and physical relaxation, along with an increased muscular and central nervous system recovery, just to name a few. From there, I researched further methods and began incorporating them into my training program within my specific warmup routines, along with my rest and recovery sessions on my off days. What I found was a much higher recovery rate between sessions, along with an increased sense of well being and ability to perform at my highest level on my training days. It has been a huge contributor to my longevity and success within the sport over the past decade. If you want to continue to progress in your weightlifting and powerlifting journey, then you’re going to have to keep your body firing on all cylinders. I can promise you that picking things up and putting them down is only a part of the equation. It’s the things that you do outside of your training sessions that make the biggest difference.

 

Be sure to block off that calendar for Sunday July 10th, and keep an eye out for more details regarding this awesome event.

 

– Curtis Miller

Fitness, Fact, Fiction, & It Depends

Fitness

Too often in fitness people look for the easy answer. Rarely is it black and white. Most answers are “it depends.” Today I am going to take a look at some different beliefs and how true they are.

 

  1. Calories in vs calories out. It has often been said that this is all that matters. While clearly increasing calories tends to make you gain weight. Yet there are many other variables. The type of calories does matter. Marshmallows are not the same as an apple, also protein vs carbs make a huge difference.
  2. Knees over toes is good…or bad. Well it depends. For a time knees over toes was assumed to be bad. Then knees over toes was all the rage. As with anything it depends on the person. There is a time and place to train a vertical shin angle and there is also a time to force your knees forward.
  3. Behind the neck pulldown and presses are dangerous. This depends upon your anatomical structure. A third of the population have a very open shoulder joint and are fine with behind the back presses and pulls. Another third of the population will probably be able to get away with doing behind the neck work. The final third of the population tend to have an aggressive hook on their acromion process and should avoid these movements. How do you know which third you are? You won’t, so if these movements bother you, then don’t do them.
  4. Train your core. I personally loathe the word core. Too often this is just a catch all. I’ve too often heard, this person’s core is weak. How do we define this? Maybe their body is weak? We know there are movements that we should use to improve our strength and at times the rigidity of our midsection. Yet, saying core is unquantifiable and often unjustified.
  5. Stretching before you train. Are you tight? Then sure do some stretching. If you have hyper-mobilty, then no need to do the extra stretching before training. With all of that said it is important to move through full range of motion prior to training. So stretch, move, and exercise more.

 

This is just a short list of fitness ideas that may have some truth yet also need some explanations.  Be careful when anyone tells you the way things MUST be done as they are either selling something or full of crap.

 

Hamer

Mobility City Baby

Fitness, Life Health, Training

Within the past year, mobility has become a large part of my training. It started to become very prominent when training legs, due to tight hips, and back issues. Once I noticed the difference I felt during and after my training sessions, I started incorporating more and more mobility prior to exercising. So why should anyone care that I do mobility, and why should others start adding mobility into their workouts? The main benefits you’ll gain from increasing mobility is a decrease in joint pain, reduce risk of injury, and allow you to move easier throughout your day. 

 

Joint pain is one of the leading work disabilities in the United States. This type of pain can be caused by an array of reasons; majority of it pertaining to inflammation of the joint, or overworking of the tendons surrounding a joint (tendinitis). So how does mobility fit into this? We’ll have to look into the definition of mobility first. Mobility can be defined as the ability to passively move your muscles and joints through their full range of motion. The fun thing about your muscles is that they can be conditioned through lengthening (stretching) and by contracting (shortening). Conditioning of these muscles and tendons surrounding your joints will drastically improve the way you move inside, and outside the gym. The best way of completing this is moving all your joints through their full range of motion. Resistance can be added as time goes on, as your mobility and flexibility increases, in order to strengthen the muscles surrounding your joints to encourage joint stability.

 

 When starting mobility, everyone should be referencing their end range of motion, or the length of your passive range of motion. To improve your passive range of motion, you can begin actively training to where your body’s specific end is. The important thing to remember is that every body is anatomically different from the next. My mobility can be completely different from everyone else in the gym due to how deep/shallow my hip or shoulder sockets are, how high of a valgus angle I have, and the amount of joint stability I have. Taking your muscles and joints through their full range of motion on a daily basis can decrease joint pain and risk of injury because it allows everything to become accustomed to this movement and that way whenever the unfortunate happens, it’s not as much of a shock to the affected muscles or joints.

 

I have listed a few mobility exercises that can be completed in the gym or at home below: 

 

Wall/ floor angles 

90/90 hip rotations

Hip airplanes

Open books to windmills 

3 way lunge 

Scapular pushups 

 

If anyone has any questions about mobility or any additional stretches/ exercises they can do to increase their mobility and strengthen their joints, feel free to ask me!

 

Miranda/ Randi/Randell/Gard

 

New Olympic Weightlifting Class

Fitness, Life Health, Training

What to Expect in the New Olympic Weightlifting Class

 

Starting the first week of June there will be the first ever Olympic weightlifting class at Union Fitness. This class will be intended for anyone who is new to the sport and looking to learn the Olympic lifts. Here you will learn the snatch, clean and jerk along with accessory lifts to these 3 competition movements. Now you may be thinking, how exactly may these classes be structured? What exactly am I getting into?

 

Each class will start with a short warm up, I do however encourage coming in a little bit early to start a warm up on your own before class begins. After a warm up, one of the 3 lifts will be discussed. Next, technique of that lift will be practiced before moving to the actual training of the session. The goal for these classes is to learn proper execution and technique of each lift. This is not something that will be accomplished in a single session; however, it will be what these classes work towards. After the technical training, each session will finish with complimentary lifts to the snatch, clean and jerk. These will be movements such as squats, dead lifts, overhead pressing and so on.

 

As mentioned earlier, the goal of these classes is to teach the Olympic lifts to athletes new to the sport of weightlifting. Rome wasn’t built in a day nor is a weightlifter, but with effort and commitment these lifts can be learned by anyone. Whether you are looking to compete or just learn something new to add into your own training, Olympic lifting is a nice compliment to add to anyone’s training toolbox.

 

Ethan

Your Reason/Motivation

Fitness, Life Health, Training

Your Reason/Motivation. – Elias (Get Better Today)

 

What is it that got you started on our fitness journey? All of us have some reason behind why we decided to sign up to join a gym, compete in an event, or start to move to push ourselves and better our health. For some of us we may have wanted to look better, feel better, prepare for an event (whether it be an athletic event or competition, or a vacation or wedding). Whatever the reason may be, we all are typically motivated by something that happened to us that got us to do what we are currently doing.

 

For myself, going back about 8 years ago, I probably started lifting and working out in high school to just get in better shape. Is there anything wrong with that reason? Absolutely not, and just like many people I wanted to look better. As time passed, my goals and motivation would change from time to time. Yes, everyone wants to look better, or be stronger but eventually I stumbled across the phrase “Get Better Today.” I came across this brand/phrase through a YouTuber/Powerlifter by the name of Russel Orhii back in 2016. To this day this has stuck with me, and personally I believe it is a great saying that can apply to everyone. To me it means that each day we all have the opportunity to find something to get better at and better ourselves.

 

Regardless of your goals (strength, speed, appearance, improving nutrition, body composition etc…) each of us can do something each day to get better and ultimately be one step closer to our goals. Therefore, my reason/motivation for why it is I do what I do day in and day out is to get better each day.

 

Think about what your reason/motivation is and remember today YOU have the opportunity to Get Better Today (I believe in you)! – Elias 🙂

Toria’s Tales

Fitness, Life Health, Training

Most of us have a natural aversion to change. Change occurs even when we don’t want it to or expect it to.

 

Speaking of change, for those of you who may not know me, here’s a quick background on how I ended up where I am today: I had started working part time at UF back in June 2020 up until around April 2021. I then decided to make the move across the country to Denver, Colorado to pursue a career in clinical research. After about only 3 months of living in Colorado, I began to feel very sick and very unlike my usual self. Several months later, and several hospital visits later, I had finally met a team of Physicians and Cardiologists who recognized that I have a heart condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia, more specifically Atrial Tachycardia, which is the least common of its form. This is a condition where my heart will randomly beat abnormally and rapidly for no particular reason at all, which causes me to feel very tired, confused, and a little bit scared.

 

When I had first found out what was going on, the news hit me hard. I had been about 3 years into a successful and consistent fitness/training journey, and all of that came to a halt because I was afraid of having “episodes” while exercising. This was all new to me, and I didn’t want to push myself and see what my limits might be without knowing the possible outcome of the situation. I even worked at a local gym in Denver for a while and didn’t train there even once.

 

I ended up taking way too much time away from exercising, and I basically became a couch potato. As I mentioned before, I was scared, and so I didn’t really want to change my lazy habits. I then made the move back to the Burgh in late December 2021 and had started a full-time position here at UF in January. I became surrounded by colleagues and gym members who all come in to UF every day with the same goal in mind: to be better. Whether that be a better lifter, or even just a better person, it still involves being a better you. This helped me to overcome my personal resistance to change and begin adding lifting and training to my weekly routine again. I want to give a special shoutout to Curtis who allowed me to jump in on his training sessions back in January when I had first started up again. Also, a special shoutout to Todd who allows me to jump in on his training sessions and some of his weekly bike rides around the city to keep me accountable for adding some cardio into my lifestyle. And finally, shoutout to CeJ, Miranda, and Fawn who have all trained with me along the way and have helped me stay accountable (also a big S/O to the rest of the Team at UF for being an awesome crew to come in and work with everyday). I’m happy to say I have hit some personal PR’s within the past month, signed up for my first meet, and I feel great about it. I’m excited to continue to build those numbers up in the future.

 

From this experience, I have learned to cultivate a mindset that embraces the changes within ourselves, acquire a positive attitude towards change, and adopt a personal growth mindset.

 

 

Toria

Schedule Changes

Fitness, Life Health, State of the Union, Training

It’s a strange time right now in Pittsburgh. The sun is shinning, the birds are chirping, and the Pirates have been winning some Baseball games. Here at Union Fitness, we are making some seasonal changes as well in order to better suit our members and to bring them some new additions. Beginning on May 31st for the month of June, we will be adding a new class to our line-up, along with some adjusted hours and locations for our current classes.

 

Beginning on May 31st, we will be temporarily removing our 7am Powerful class from the schedule and replacing it with an Olympic Weightlifting class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This class will be coached by none other than our resident Olympic Weightlifter, Ethan Raese. If you’ve been in the gym while Ethan is training, then you know how much he enjoys Olympic lifting, and how dedicated he is to the craft. As with all of our classes, there are always modifications and progressions for each movement and exercise. So even if you have never tried Olympic lifting, you will have no problem getting into the swing of things even after one session. Be sure to sign up online or stop by the front desk to reserve a spot. 

 

Also beginning in June, our evening Cardio Lab class will be moving from 5:30pm up to 5pm to ensure that all of you have more time to enjoy these beautiful spring and summer evenings. In addition to this, our evening Yoga classes will be moving to the Cardio Lab area immediately after Cardio Lab class is finished at 6pm. On the weekends, our Saturday and Sunday our 10:30am Yoga class will be taking over the indoor and outdoor space over at our Performance Lab location. By doing this, you will have a chance to enjoy the refreshing outdoor space provided by that section of our gym.

 

As always, your first class in on the house. We would love for anyone interested to try out our classes to see how you like them. For more information on any of our classes, please check out our website. For all information regarding times, locations, and instructors, check our schedule on our website or on the Union Fitness App. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there!

 

Curtis

It’s Concert and Cycling Season

Fitness, Life Health

Pittsburgh is well known as one of the rainiest cities in America. We all know that the winters can be long, and not very vibrant. Now is the time to get outside, enjoy the sunshine, and the free Vitamin D that it offers.

 

Vitamin D.

 

Vitamin D has been written about often and I will not bore you with more details on this micro-nutrient. What I will say is you must remember that your body needs sunlight, your body needs Vitamin D, and Vitamin D needs sunlight. Most Americans are Vitamin D deficient due to lack of exposure to sunlight.

 

Concerts and Cycling.

 

One of the best things you can do for your health is get outside. As many of you already know I love mountain biking. I love it for a multitude of reasons, not the least being that I get to be out in nature. When I do solo rides it is not unusual for me to stop and just sit in the woods. The Japanese call this shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. This can also be translated to absorbing the forest atmosphere. The point is to get out in nature, get some free sun, and some exercise with minimal added stress.

 

Now for the concerts side of this coin. I have performed music my entire life and I love many types of music. Most Americans stop learning new music by the age of 30. This is just as scary to me as when I read most Americans don’t read books. One cannot separate the arts from movement. Humans need both to grow mentally and physically. This takes us back to Vitamin D, I know this Saturday Tenzing and I will be sitting in the sun listening to the amazing Adia Victoria.

 

Find what moves and motivates you. Find ways to get sunlight, discover new things, and find growth. Get Vitamin D, cycle, walk, and jam to some new tunes. Reduce your stress and collect the free Vitamin D.

 

Hamer

Ham’s Breakdown of Classes

Fitness, Life Health, , ,

One of the coolest things about UF is the diversity inside our gym. We have diversity of clients, classes, and employees. I never know what I am going to get from one day to the next. This week I want to break down our classes, (in a light hearted way) and the diversity of the classes. So I hope we can all laugh at ourselves.

  1. Blitz- I am going to start with my class. This class was founded back in 2020 for the busy office worker (clearly I am terrible at predicting the future). It is a class perfect for people like me (want to train, but come on let’s not work too hard). Seriously, though the class is meant to be short, fun, and a little bit of everything. So no need to sweat so hard, just come and get a little lunch sweat.
  2. CardioLab (the classic)- These classes are OG’s of UF. They have been around forever and I tell everyone here the goal is to burn 500 calories, as painlessly as possible. Warning, burning 500 Kcal is never painless. Make sure you take Steph’s class for extra pain.
  3. Powerful- Powerful is by far our most popular class. Imagine training for a sport that scores of people throughout the US train for, this is powerful. Yet, somehow the crew makes powerlifting look cool in this class.
  4. Ryde- Ryde is our indoor cycling class. Similar to CardioLab classes, Ryde will burn some serious calories. The Ryde instructors are also great DJ’s as they all have their playlists set far in advance. This is the newest group here at UF, and they have brought their own flair to the gym,
  5. Yoga- Haley and her devoted yogi instructors do a great job, on a rare occasion you may even find me twisting my body up with this crew. Plus, they do cool events like heavy metal and whiskey yoga.

 

There it is our classes in a nutshell. Now go take a class or two and have some fun.

 

Hamer

Tips to Make Exercise a Habit

Fitness, Life Health

It can be hard to find the motivation to make it into the gym or to try to get our bodies moving somedays. We’ve all had those days where we just don’t feel like exercising or even moving off our couches. Even though we may not feel like doing anything, it is important to remember how beneficial it is to exercise and to make that a part of our weekly routines and daily lives. It takes about 30(ish) days to form a habit and about 90(ish) days to make it a permanent lifestyle change. Here are some tips that may help you to make exercise a true habit in your lives:

 

  1. Set both short-term and long-term goals to help motivate you to stay on track during your fitness journey. For example, it may be difficult for you to find motivation go out on a long run just for fun. By setting a goal such as signing up for a half-marathon or a 10k a few months from now, you are more likely to hold yourself accountable and stick to a routine which will help to enforce the habit. The same thing goes for those who are looking to get into Powerlifting. If you sign up for a Powerlifting meet in the upcoming future, it will more than likely motivate you to work hard and stick to it.
  1. Find a great gym to train at. I know a great gym in Pittsburgh that you all may or may not have heard of ;-). With that being said, Union Fitness is the place to be. We are known to have a very welcoming and friendly atmosphere that may help you find that you actually want to come into the gym more often and make it a habit to be there.
  1. Find a training partner or a group that you enjoy working with. This may help you with accountability, encouragement, and added motivation to your training sessions.
  1. Have a gym bag packed and ready the night before your planned trip to the gym. When everything is already laid out for you and ready to go, you may find it more difficult to say no to making a training session happen that day. 
  1. Start small and go up from there. If you’re not used to doing 60 minutes of exercise, don’t try to start there just because someone told you to. This could lead to burnout and a lack of motivation to commit to exercise. Start small by doing something along the lines of 20-30 minutes of movement at first and then continue to progress from there.
  1. Make exercising a convenient and flexible thing for you so that it doesn’t feel too much like a chore. Life happens, but don’t let it get in your way of being active. Find some nearby walking trails or maybe even choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator every day.

 

These are only my top 6 tips. There are so many other ways out there that may help to make exercise a habit for you, so don’t just stop here! 

 

Stay healthy my friends.

Toria Crispin (Tordawg)