Category Archives: Fitness

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar, and HFCS

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

The good old American diet, quick and assessable greasy fat or sugary foods. YUM, am I right? In America, there is heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and an obesity epidemic. There is room to point fingers at a lot of reasons but in this, we’ll focus on added sugars like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  

 

HFCS was invented in 1965 and in the 70s it was being marketed. Over the years, this has been used more often for food and drink products. Which is found in most of the foods and drinks we consume (e.g. bread, soda, juice, canned fruit, cereal, & coffee creamers, etc). This has become a common ingredient because it is cheap and easy to manufacture. 

 

High-fructose corn syrup is an artificial sugar made from corn syrup. HFCS needs to be broken down into glucose, glycogen, or fat by the liver before being used as fuel. In America, the increased sugar consumption per person per year has greatly increased. This increase consumption can cause serious health issues mentioned in the beginning. Glucose will stimulate the area of your brain that controls appetite, whereas, fructose does not, which means you could eat more than planned. Are you wondering what overeating can lead to? Well, have you heard of visceral fat? It is the most harmful type of body fat. HFCS will promote visceral fat build-up on your major organs such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, and heart. This can increase your risk for heart disease, stroke, artery disease, diabetes, and some cancers.

 

I’m not saying avoid HFCS or sugars at all costs. These sugars are everywhere and can be hard to avoid, especially in our more sedentary, grab-and-go society. Just try to be mindful of what you are putting into your body. 

Tis’ the Season for Outdoor Bootcamps

Fitness, Life Health

Good people of Union, the sun is shining and so are we!

 

We are excited to announce that our Summer Weekend Pop-Up Boot-camp classes will be popping up at locations near you very soon. We are looking forward to joining forces with local businesses in the Northside and Pittsburgh community to give you a little fun in the sun, explore Pittsburgh and support our local small businesses. These boot-camps will be open to members and nonmembers of all fitness levels. Our Bumpiest Coaches will be there to make sure you have fun, stay safe, get sweaty and make some new friends. We plan to make every boot-camp have some charitable donation to give back to the community that has given us Pittsburghers so much. Have no fear, we will give you enough of a heads up to come and crush these weekend (Saturday) bootcamps with us and who knows, there might even be a few prizes or drinks at the end.

 

We have a few places in mind but if you know of a local business that you want to support or a cool place you would like to have a pop-up at, please let us know and we can work to make that happen! Let’s get excited, shout this news from atop of the Mount Washington Inclines, get your friends and get Bumpy with our Summer Boot-camp series.

 

The very first bootcamp will be May 1st with our friends Allegheny City Brewing. ACB has been a good friend of UF for years now and we are excited to kick off our outdoor season with them.

 

Cheers,

 

CeJ

The Little Things Matter

Fitness, Life Health

Why am I not getting stronger?  Why am I not losing weight? Why am I not feeling recovered?  Why am I so tired? Have you caught yourself asking similar questions, maybe even as a slight whine or complaint?

 

I hear these thoughts from others and I catch myself thinking it from time to time. While there is a possibility that the answer is more complicated, that is not my point with this blog.  More often than not the answer is so simple – so simple that we don’t even want to be reminded that the change needed is completely in our control.

 

When these thoughts start to pop up, it can be easy to combat that with the thought of quitting altogether. Sometimes that even sounds sensible in the moment. However, I know we are all logical enough to know that lashing out will not lead to anything productive.

 

There are two things that I have found to help bring back logic to my thoughts, refocus my plan of daily actions, and provide grace in the other areas of my life.  Before even mentioning the two tips, I must preface with something cliche.  You MUST know what you want and why you want it so badly.  Without a clear destination it will be challenging to determine the steps needed and the motivation to complete those steps on the difficult days.  Once you do know what you would like, it becomes easier to dial in on the little things.  So here are two things to think about:

 

  1. If you are following a program and beginning to experience a plateau, stick to the plan. There will come a time when it is appropriate and necessary to adjust, but if it has only been a short amount of time since the initial start or a recent adjustment, continue to follow the plan.
  2. This second part is a little bit harder. Be completely honest with yourself – writing it down or saying it out loud to someone helps me to think WHOOPS, yeah I am definitely not doing everything I can.
  • If it is about weight loss/weight gain, there is more than likely a minor adjustment that will be so apparent once you write it out. Are you eating five times the serving of nuts instead of one? Aside from your training session in the gym are you living more of a sedentary lifestyle than usual?
  • If you are not recovering, are you doing your recovery work or saying “ehh I’ll do it tomorrow”…everyday?
  • If you are feeling tired, what does your bedtime routine look like? Are you watching a few extra shows or maybe drinking caffeine a little too late?

 

As stated in the beginning, troubleshooting generally leads to these little things but there may be a time that you really are doing everything in your power.  If you find that is the case, I like to follow up with analyzing how I am prioritizing my time and effort.  Expecting yourself to succeed in every area of life at the same time is too much for anyone.

 

Once you know where your focus is at the time (your physical health, mental health, a project at work, a new season of life) these can be good ways to narrow down what needs to change and help provide peace of mind. That season will eventually change and life will hand you a new component to prioritize (or you will choose something else), which is perfectly fine.  New phases will certainly come again and you will soon have the chance to switch roles of effort and practice grace for the others. 

 

Cayt

Know the Difference; BMI & Bodyfat

Fitness, Life Health,

Let’s talk about BMI & Body Fat %. Both are useful tools to determine overall body fat and certain weight related health risks.

 

BMI stands for Body Mass Index, which can be calculated by taking your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters, or just use any BMI calculator online. BMI is a quick screening tool that can determine your body fat and risk of certain weight related health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, increased blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other health risks. BMI is not perfect though and should really only be taken as a surface layer scan. BMI does not directly assess body fat. Muscle and bone are denser than fat so BMI can overestimate body fat in athletes or more active populations or underestimate body fat and bone density in older or more sedentary populations. Remember BMI does not consider, activity, health history, diet, if you smoke or drink, age, race, gender and more. You are more than a number, and this is just a surface level screening tool.

 

Body Fat % research has greatly improved over the years and is a better overall picture of weight related disease by distinguishing body fat from muscle. Body fat % tests are not as quick as BMI screenings but because of that, they can be more individualized. Some common and readily available BF% tests are done with skinfold calipers or bioelectrical impedance scales & the ease of access can sometimes provide user errors. However, water displacement, bodpods and X-rays can be much more accurate, yet a bit harder to get to. If you have a reliable skinfold tester, they can be pretty accurate and quick to gather results.

 

Remember this information is all out there at your fingertips, I just wanted to give you a quick spark of information to clear up any misconceptions or to jolt conversation or curiosity.

 

Stay Bumpy my friends,

CeJ

SMART Goals and UF?

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , ,

When planning a training session or a group of training sessions one must ask what is the end game? Always start from the goal and work back. At UF we have many people training for meets, races, as well as different sporting events. With this in mind I ask you to take a moment and ask yourself honestly what are your goals.

 

Goals 

 

Start with the basics with goal setting. Make your goals SMART goals. If you are not familiar with SMART goals, SMART is an acronym for;

 

  1. Specific
  2. Measurable
  3. Achievable
  4. Realistic
  5. Timely

 

Take a little time to write your goals down. Maybe you want to increase your bench press by 20 lbs in 12 weeks or maybe run a 5k before May. No matter what goal you have in mind make it SMART.

 

Where does your goal fit in the gym?

 

At UF we are very lucky to have Curtis Miller as our Director of Customer Engagement. In short Curtis’s job is to make sure you are in the right place within our gym. Some people have very specific goals and for that need personal training or classes. Others may just need a treadmill to run on their training days. Regardless of what you need Curtis will help find you the place to be in the gym.

 

Different goals, Different Equipement.

 

If your goal is to be a high level lifter you may need some programming or training. At least I would assume you need a membership in the strength lab.

 

If your goals are to drops a few lbs and move a little better then a cardio membership may fit you better.

 

If you want to push yourself and be apart of a fun community then UF Unlimited may be for you.

 

If your goals are to sweat and move your body then the fitness center membership could be your option. This membership may be the most underrated option we have at UF. It is a great way to get into the gym (at a very affordable option) and train using some great equipment.

 

I listed each of these out because I have seen many people who have goals that do not align to their actions. Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most amount of time with.” I am not sure if this is necessarily true, yet after twenty years of coaching I can say that from my experience, who you spend time with clearly influences you and your habits. Your habits will lead to your outcome.

 

Even as I self reflect on my training I see many mistakes. I asked myself yesterday am I a mountain biker who lifts or a powerlifter who mountain bikes? Also, I am aging in both activities quickly so maybe I’ll never set a SMART goal or maybe I need to see Curtis and find out my goals?

 

 

 

 

 

CeJ and Sky’s Meet Prep

Fitness, Life Health

To my most excellent Dudettes & Dudes,

 

Week 1 of our 12 week meet prep adventure is in the books! Believe it our not, Skylyn only wanted to strike me once or thrice while I was wrapping her knees for our first go around in knee wraps. Let me tell you, the first time in wraps were a doozy and we didn’t even crank up the tension yet. Think of knee wraps like long elastic fabric that cover the knee and lower quad. Once you learn how to use knee wraps, they magically add pounds to your squad, that is if you are ready to embrace the numbness in your toes. Since we have both never trained in wraps, every squat session we will be wearing knee wraps. The first few weeks we will be working in the 65%-75% range for 4-5 sets of 5 just to feel squatting in wraps and learning how to use them properly. We’ll post a video of how to wrap knees and squat in them coming soon. Then you can hear us squeal and curse at each other. 

 

We laid out our blueprint for our first 4 weeks and we will be training 4x a week, staying pretty specific to the main lifts (squat, bench & deads). 

 

 Below is what our 4 days will look like:

 

Squat Day vs Wrap

Duffalo Squats 4-5×5 for Rpe 8

SSB Eccentric Squats 4-5×3 (5Down)

Leg Press 3-4×10

Elevated Reverse Lunge 3-4×10-12e

Ham GHR/Back Ext 4-5×12-15

 HLR 4-5x

 

  1st Bench Day

Duffalo Bench Press Work Up to RPE 8 x1

Duffalo Bench Back Downs at 85% 4-5×3 Paused

Duffalo Spoto Bench Press 3-4×6-8+

DB Incline Bench 2×20 

 Barbell Skull Crusher 4-5x 8-10

Chest Sup Tbar 4-5x 10-12

Facepull/PullApt/Rear Delt 3-4×15-20

 

Deadlift Day

Speed Box Squats SSBvs 3chain 6×3 RPE 6/7

Block Pull vs 4Chains 4-5×2 70%-80%

Snatch Grip RDL 3-4×6-8

BB Row or TBar Row 4×8-10

GHR/Leg Curl 4-5×12-15

Abs Rollout 4-5

 

2nd Bench Day

Floor Press w Football Bar vs 2chain 6×3 @ RPE 6/7

Close Grip Incline 3-4×6-8

Weighted Dips 4×10-12

Weighted NG Pull-Ups 4×10

DB/KB Tri Extensions 4-5×12-15

Front-Side-Rear 3×8-10e

 

So far we are moving and grooving weight pretty well, dumping down some coffee and giving it hell with all our training sessions! We are working to keep our rest periods shorter and complete all our sessions in around an hour and a half. Let’s enjoy the ride and see where in the world we end up! If you have any questions, please let us know. 

 

-CeJ

Music and Motivation

Fitness, Life Health, Training,

Have you ever thought about what training in a gym would have been like through the 80s and early 90s? Many of us remember the days of using Walkmans and Discmans so we could hear our own jams while working out. Along with that came the annoyances of your CDs skipping, your tapes getting chewed up, going through tons of batteries, headphone cables getting in the way, and so on. Imagine what it was like even before portable music players, you would have to listen to what ever radio station the gym had on, eww! It has been known for quite some time now that music is associated with increasing work output while training , but what really happens when you are listening to your favorite tracks while lifting? Are there certain songs that are better for training than others? Is there a time that listening to music while training can be detrimental or make no difference at all? Let’s take a little closer look at music as a training stimulus. 

 

The most obvious effect, I think, we can intuitively figure out about music’s impact on training, is giving us a distraction to take our mind off how hard we are working. If we don’t think we are training as hard, it is likely we can delay the onset of fatigue. This has been confirmed already by several studies. Music not only lowers the rate of perceived exertion through distraction, but also can improve mood and increase arousal . Who wouldn’t think these are all good things before and while training. If we feel good, we train better, and if we don’t know we are tired, we train longer. However, if we look deeper into the type of exercise and the impact music has on it, there are some interesting findings. 

 

To my surprise, it has been found that when performing strength exercises to failure, self-selected music appeared to have no advantage over listening to no music at all. Although, in this same study, positive effects of self-selected music were found on the performance of explosive plyometric jumps . Perhaps what this may suggest is music has a different impact on your training depending on the duration of the effort. In this case, music has a greater impact on short explosive bouts of exercises in comparison to high repetition training. If this is the case, what is music’s impact on longer intervals of training such as long-distance cardio work? 

 

As stated earlier, it has been found that music can lower the rate of perceived exertion while training1, 2 but how does this occur? Is there actually a change at the physiological level in the body or does music merely work as a distraction? In a study where subjects were given fast rhythm, slow rhythm, and no music while performing 2 different anaerobic repeated sprint tests. What was discovered was the levels of blood lactate and heart rate where not impacted on not only training with and without music but also the tempo of music . Despite music not having an effect on the physiological aspect of training, studies have shown that soft slow music can improve cardiorespiratory performance when compared to no music at all or faster paced loud music . It was suggested that the slow tempo music allowed for a “distraction effect” from the stress caused by fatigue. I would also assume that slower tempo music helps set a better and slower pace for long distance training which would help increase the time till fatigue rather than altering anything at the physiological level to reduce the onset of fatigue. 

 

This information leads me to several conclusions about music’s effects on exercise. First off, music has a greater impact on exercises that are anaerobic (under 8-10 seconds) and aerobic (longer than 2 minutes) than it does on lactic training (20-90 seconds). This is shown by music’s improvement on anaerobic plyometric training and cardiorespiratory performance, but not on strength exercises to failure. Second, while the tempo of music does not seem to yet be studied in single bouts of explosive plyometric exercises, music tempo does have an impact on aerobic exercise by increasing the time to exhaustion through a “distraction effect” and possibly better pacing. The third and final point I would like to make about music and training is when music can actually be detrimental. An example would be when working on technique, whether that is on your own or you are coaching someone else. As noted earlier, music can produce a “distraction effect” therefore while learning something new or adjusting your technique music acts as cognitive interference and impacts your training goals. 

 

Music is sweet. We all like jamming our favorite tunes when we train and thank god it is so much easier to do now than back in the day. This only really skims the surface of music as a training stimulus though. Hopefully, this short write up gives a little insight into selecting music for training or not getting bent out of shape when you are getting a body building session in and it’s not your jams on the speakers, it won’t make as big of a difference as you think. To wrap this up, I’ll leave my go to training record. I thought about doing a top 3, but I felt like that was even harder than picking 1 single album. After much internal strife, I came up with Madball “Look My Way”. This album is certified to increase all your lifts 15%. Go to this blog post on our Instagram and let us and everyone else know what your go to album or song is for the gym.

 

 1 Anshel, M.H., & MarisiD.Q. Effects of Music and Rhythm on Physical Performance. Research Quarterly, 49: 109-113, 1978

 

2 Hayakawa, Y. Miki, H. Takada K. & Takana, K. Effects of Music on Mood During Bench Stepping Exercise. Precept Mot Skills 90: 307-314. 2000

3 Baigini, M.S. et al, Effects of Self-Selected Music on Strength, Explosiveness, and Mood. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 26(7): 1934-1938. 2012

4 Atan, T. Effects of Music on Anaerobic Exercise Performance. Biology of Sport 30(1): 35-39. 2013

5 Copeland, B.L. & Franks, B.D. Effects of Types and Intensities of Background Music on Treadmill Endurance. J. Sports Med. Phys. Fitness. 31: 100-103. 1991

6 Yamashita, J. et al, Effects of Music During Exercise on RPE, Heart Rate and the Autonomic Nervous System. J. Sports Med. Phys. Fitness. 46; 425-430. 2006

 

2021 Strength Project & Push/Pull

Fitness, Life Health,

Spring is almost upon us and we missed one of our favorite programs of the year so far in 2021, The Strength Project. We are bringing it back in a different way this year. We are also excited to announce our charity push/pull in just a few short weeks. Details for each event are below.

 

Strength Project 2021

 

In the past we used this with our unlimited members. In 2021 we want to open it to everyone. The way to get involved is easy.

  1. Over March/April take 30 classes or get 35 workouts on your own or… use 15 personal training sessions. To track this just sign the sheets hanging outside of the cardio lab.
  2. If you complete this you will earn a free massage and a workout with any of our staff members.
  3. We will also select a grand-prize winner for both male and female. The winners will be voted on by the staff. The winners will recieve a free unlimited month at UF and 3 PT sessions.

 

Push Pull 2021

 

We have been waiting patiently to host another push pull and the time is now upon us. We will host the 2021 Push Pull on March 21st at 10 AM. Weigh Ins will be from 7:30-9AM. The lifting will occur in the performance lab and we will have the garage door open so spectators and judges can be outside to help with social distancing. If we get lucky and have warm weather we will hold the entire event outside on our turf.

 

This year we will be raising money for the Pittsburgh Kids Foundation. One of our goals is to be more involved in the neighbor and this is an organization that works directly in the Northside to help less fortunate youth. We will have more information about how to give in the near future.  Visit their site here.  

 

For those of you unfamiliar or concerned about competing in a push pull competition, don’t fret. It is just a chance to challenge yourself in the bench press as well as the deadlift. We will have judges, spotters, loaders as well as others there to help you. If you are a competitive lifter and want to jump in as a training day great, and if you are new come on and try this event out as well.

 

Following the event we will (as always) share some outdoor food and libations. So make it a fun day, do some good, and move some weights!

 

Thanks and BE STRONG

Hamer

 

 

 

 

Shareholder Vs Stakeholder

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , ,

Early in my career I would scoff at reading business books. It was a huge weakness of mine. I did not understand that most lessons come from outside of one’s industry. As I’ve aged and matured (albeit slowly), I learned the lessons that can be offered from other industries are many times more important than just listening to those within one’s own industry.

 

This week I was driving and listening to a podcast with Abigail Disney. Ms Disney is, as her name suggests, a member of the Disney family (you may have heard of them). Her goal is to make Disney a better place to work and visit. She was discussing Disney’s culture as well as who the stakeholders of Disney were Vs. the shareholders. This is a topic some of you may be familiar with. I want to use this blog to write about how this applies to training and a gym environment.

 

Shareholders:

As people training in a gym I consider these people the ones who are focused mainly (not solely but, most of their focus) on external goals. As a lifter it could be numbers, or as one who wants to lose weight it could be the scale. The process is only as important as what outcome it gives someone in this setting. The world needs shareholders at time to be cold and make decisions based solely on outcome and no emotional connection to what’s going on.

 

Stakeholders:

For the people in the gym these are the ones who are there to enjoy the process and make the experience better for them all around. The stakeholder worries about the process, the outcome is important yet stakeholders live in the reality and know the outcome is not always a result of a good or bad process. There are many variables that can affect an outcome that the stakeholder can’t control.

 

We need both and we want to be stakeholders for you. Both of these groups are very important to our community. A good balance of both of these types of people can make everyone around us better. I do ask our staff when making decisions think like stakeholders. As a lifter spend most of your time thinking like a stakeholder. If you become to much of a shareholder then you will miss the beauty of having a great moment in the gym. Be involved in the process of helping improve yourself while you are here and also be in the process of others succeeding while you are here.

 

This idea reminds me of a quote, I have searched high and low and can’t find the author, “I want to come to the end of the day tired, defeated, victorious.” I remind myself of this quote daily. If I am being a true stakeholder for all of us and UF then I will be tired, beaten (due to winning some and losings some), as well as victorious for all that we have accomplished. If I (and we) do this everyday then the goals we all will reach will be well above what we could have done if all we worried about was the outcome.

 

 

Member Spotlight

Diet, Fitness, Life Health, Nutrition

Here at UF we love our members so much it’s time we show you off and have CJ climb the incline like King Kong, he will shout your presence from atop of the highest point of Mt. Washington!

 

This week we’d like to shout out Jessie Theisen.

 

Ladies & Gents, here is Jessie in her own words.

 

“I grew up in central California (where the cows overpopulate the people) in a small town called Visalia, however, I was born at Fort Bragg, NC (military brat- dad was 20 years 82nd Airborne and mom a marine). After spending the majority of my childhood in central CA, at 19 I picked up and moved to LA in 2008 where I lived there intermittently through 2016 (moved to PGH with my then boyfriend, now husband summer of 2016). Of my past lives, the most interesting is probably the opportunity I had as a professional makeup artist working in film, runway, magazines, commercials and doing everything from beauty makeup to special effects/gore (the latter was the most fun)! I was a professional makeup artist for the 8 year stint I was in LA.

 

For my current work, I am a team lead for a group of loan analysts at a financial tech company called LendingHome (they specialize in mortgages for people who fix and flip houses)- my team helps process that product, attempting to locate any process/design flaws and work with our engineering team to better perfect it. In short, it’s a fancy customer service job. I love the people I work with and can’t imagine being anywhere else anytime soon.

 

My training background really starts with Union Fitness. I was never the sporty or athletic type- I was a band nerd who could play Sweet Child O’ Mine on 5 different instruments while marching in a god-awful wool suit (feather and all). I would always strive to find ways to be active, though; I just never really landed on what worked for me. Took everything from cardio barre, to pilates, yoga, I just didn’t fit in any of those spaces. My drive and motivation quickly waned until I found UF, where they encouraged people of all athletic abilities to pick up a weight, and put it down, and pushed to do the same the following day/week, only heavier. THIS.WAS.MY. SHIT. Attending the #powerful classes on a regular was therapeutic for me. There were stents where I was going 5-6 days a week, sometimes two-a-days. It wasn’t even just the workouts anymore, it was the community of people who went to the same classes, continuing to build each other up and cheer each other on in their small(or big) victories. A place of misfits that I could call my own; UF is home to where I’ve made some of my closest friends. I’m grateful to the atmosphere it has cultivated and maintained from its origination until now.

 

The fun shit:

  1. If I could eat one food every day it’d be a cold-cut turkey sandwich (you’re free to DM me on particulars), I’m a fanatic and those close to me know it, there’s a certain consistency to the bread, color combo of the mayo and mustard together, a particular type of ground oregano- there’s an art to it, I promise; to which I must add, PITTSBURGH! Stop heating that shit up and putting fries on it…. STOP THAT SHIT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!
  2. If I was a piece of equipment at Union, I’d probably be the EliteEFTS PRO, short monster mini band (yeah, the small green one) – functional, small, sturdy, pain in the ass.
  3. I’m competing in my first ever bodybuilding competition this May 8th. Signed up last March a week before Covid shut everything down- (original show meant to be last Oct). I have gone through 2 cuts now, and 2 refeeds. What was originally meant to be a 6 month prep will be 14 after all is said and done. I’m f’n jazzed to get on stage and have one of them cold-cuts mentioned under #1 right after!
  4. The most under-rated candy is Chewy Sprees.
  5. I have only ever owned pitbull dogs as pets; they’re the biggest derpsters and I love everything about them. I have a black and white named Trouble; I would die for her.
  6. Oh, fave exercise:  deadlifts.”

 

Thank you, Jessie for being a great member of our community!

 

Cheers,

CeJ