Category Archives: Fitness

Toria’s Trip

Clean Eating, Diet, Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , , ,

Hello! I’m one of the new kids here at UF. I wanted to introduce myself and share a little bit of my story with you all. So… I graduated from Slippery Rock University with my BS in Exercise Science and from the University of Pittsburgh with my MS in Health, Physical Activity, and Chronic Disease. I am currently an Exercise Physiologist at a research lab at the University of Pittsburgh, and a desk worker/soon to be trainer at UF. Now that you know my education and work background, let’s get into the fun stuff. 

 

When I was a student in college, I had gained just about 50 lbs over the course of those few years from being lazy and unmotivated. I believe I gained 25 of those 50 lbs in just one year. I only saw the inside of a gym maybe a few times per year. I was very unhappy with myself and didn’t care enough to try and lose the weight. I would eat fast food and drink pop (or “soda” for you oddballs out there) literally all of the time. I don’t think I really even knew what a vegetable tasted like. My physical and mental health both went down a steep hill. 

 

A little over a year ago, my doctor ordered a blood test because of the rapid weight gain and how badly I had been feeling. The test revealed that I had abnormally high LDL cholesterol levels (LDL = the “bad” cholesterol). At the age of 22 it definitely isn’t normal to have high cholesterol with no history of it in my family. Since I’m young it doesn’t seem like a huge concern, but I sure was scared for my future health. Not long after that news, I discovered a local CrossFit gym that I figured I could try out. I was intimidated and very unsure of it at the time, but I immediately fell in love with exercise and fitness. I ended up bringing my cholesterol levels down, losing all of that extra weight I had gained in college, gaining some solid muscle mass and a lot of confidence along the way. When I first started out, I could barely do a few pushups even from my knees and that extra weight I was carrying put a lot of stress on my joints. Now I can exercise with no pain, do movements I wasn’t able to before, and I feel great while doing it.    

 

I found a love and passion for exercise, and I realized that it’s something I will never give up on unless something crazy were to happen to me. Exercise is truly one of the greatest things on this earth. To be able to physically perform and experience what it can do to you is definitely a blessing as not everyone in this world is able to. On this journey I have learned that fitness is not about being better than someone else, it’s 100% about being better than YOU used to be. If you put even just a little bit of focus on yourself and your physical/mental health progress, it can truly go a long way. I hope my story helps you realize and remember that even with some of the setbacks that come throughout life, you can do anything you put your mind and body to!

 

Stay healthy friends!

 

Toria

Training Optimally and Recovering Efficiently

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , ,

In one of my recent blogs, I touched on understanding the basics of a training program. I discussed the areas of main movements, assistance work, accessories, volume, and intensity. Today I’m going to dive in a little bit deeper and go over a few more areas that will have a major impact on the overall success of program.

 

With any training program, the goal should always be to train optimally. This means that we are always looking to do the correct amount of work in order to produce the stimulus necessary to make progress, but without doing so much that we risk stagnation or injury. The biggest area that has an affect on this is our ability to recover from our training sessions. With recovery, there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. Things such as nutrition and hydration, sleep, stress, stretching, and mobility work are all essential to focus on outside of the gym in order to recover properly and continue to make progress.

 

However, when we consider our physical presence inside of the gym, we often overlook aspects of our training sessions that play a major role in how well we do or do not recover. The first is our training frequency. Frequency refers to how often we are performing a given workout, exercise, or movement throughout the training week. There are many different philosophies when it comes to this. Some people have great success with performing a particular session only once per week, while others prefer 2-3 times per week. Either way, it’s important to take all factors into consideration when deciding training frequency. If your life outside of the gym is hectic, then you may not be good with a higher frequency. If you are managing your time with proper sleep, nutrition, etc., then a higher training frequency might suit you well. 

 

The second thing to consider is your training duration. This refers to the amount of time that you are physically performing each training session. Depending on your goals and level of experience, your training session can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. The thing to remember is that you want your sessions to be as efficient as possible. You should only be taking as much time as needed to complete your exercises and sessions. The longer that you are in the gym, the more time you are taking away from your recovery, and giving less time to things such as nutrition, relaxation, sleep, etc.

 

The third area to consider is your training intensity. This is something I touched on in my last blog, but today I’m going to explain it in terms of RPE or “Rate of Perceived Exertion”. When incorporating RPE into your training, it is portrayed in the form of a 1-10 scale in order to measure overall difficulty of the previously performed set. For example, an RPE of 10 would mean maximal effort, and no more reps could have been performed. An RPE of 9 would mean that one more rep could have been performed, and 8 would mean that 2 more reps could have been performed, and so on. Although tracking RPE is not absolutely necessary, it is a very easy and beneficial way to track the difficulty of each movement and exercise within a training session, and can help you understand the balance needed within each program. Your intensity or “RPE” should be optimal for your specific goals. If you are always pushing the limits, then it will become harder to recover, and you risk the chance if injury. Frequency, duration, and intensity all go hand-in-hand and play a major role in overall performance. Putting a little extra emphasis on these areas will help to keep you strong, healthy, and progressing within your program.

It Goes Beyond the Gym

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

You’ve probably heard it before, “ you can’t outwork a bad diet.” I mean you can try but at some point you’ll either hit a plateau with your goals or you’ll start feeling “blah” and those are things that happen when either you’re not eating enough or you’re not fueling your body with the proper nutrients it needs to perform simple daily tasks.

 

If you’re an athlete within your respected sport or a member of Union Fitness coming in at 5:30PM to get bumpy with CJ in #Powerful, you’ve probably more than likely heard someone or our staff briefly mention anything in regards to nutrition. Not only do we want our clients to perform to the best of their abilities but we also want them to feel good in their everyday life. This all starts and ends with the basics of good nutrition. Good nutrition can be defined as eating whole and nutrient dense foods. Generally in a good diet we want to look for foods that contain vitamins, minerals, complex carbs, lean protein and healthy fats. These foods include, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds, and lean protein (when prepared with little to no saturated facts or added sugars/sodium).

 

So back to the all defining phrase, “you can’t outwork a bad diet.” For example, let’s use an early 30’s female, who works a full-time job, eats out a lot, workouts 1 hour a day and likes to enjoy a glass of wine before ending her evening – This would be what her day looks like.

 

6AM Wake-Up

 

Breakfast: breakfast sandwich from fast-food chain + coffee

Heads into work for 9AM

Lunch: chicken salad with ranch and a diet soda

Afternoon snack: greek yogurt with granola + water

Leaves work at 5PM

Takes CJ’s 5:30PM #Powerful

Dinner: burger and fries + glass of wine

 

Now let’s break this down a little, overall she’s not eating terribly but we can nit pick at a few things. First, she’s not eating enough and more specifically she’s not eating enough whole and nutrient dense foods. Secondly, her fast-food breakfast sandwich, diet soda and a burger/fries will eventually leave her feeling the “blah” sensation at some point (if her eating is consistently like this). Her water intake is also very low and my overall observation is she just needs to replace a few things that would fuel her body better.

 

Let’s take a look at the same woman but with a better understanding of eating well.

 

6AM Wake-Up

 

Breakfast: glass of water, breakfast wrap (homemade) + coffee

Heads into work for 9AM

Snack: greek yogurt with granola/blueberries + water

Lunch: glass of water, chicken salad with balsamic dressing and a soda water

Afternoon Snack: Protein bar, banana + glass of water

Leaves work at 5PM

Takes CJ’s 5:30PM #Powerful

Post-Workout: Protein shake + granola bar

Dinner: Seafood pasta + glass of wine

 

After she has learned the basics of good nutrition she implemented a few things, increasing her water intake, increasing her protein intake, choosing drink options that are healthier and making sure her meals are portioned and opting for more homemade meals and whole foods. She is eating more and fueling her body for the simple things like daily tasks whilst getting the nutrients she needs to help her get through a PM workout.

 

The goal here is to understand that regardless if you want to gain muscle or lose weight, you’re going to need to eat but what your nutritional plan looks like is going to be specific to your own goals and your genetic makeup. While we’re at it too, diet culture has long engrained in us that we need to eat less to lose weight and thats not necessary the case (but thats another blog post for another time).

 

It all comes down to fueling your body for daily life and working out. So, whatever your goals may be keep in mind whole and nutrient dense foods are the answer, shop the perimeter of your grocery store and allow yourself to eat the things you love in moderation.

 

Much love,

 

J

Being a Female in a Male Dominated Industry

Fitness, Training, , , ,

I get many questions related to being a female in the strength and conditioning world. Often times it is related to how I work with other male coaches (sport coaches or strength coaches) and/or male athletes. Further, I am often asked how I train females differently than males. From a general sense I truly believe it does not matter if you are male or female in this profession, as long as you are confident in who you are as a coach and are able to connect with the people you are working with. Working with any athlete comes down to can you teach the movements you have programmed, and can you motivate the athletes to achieve their highest potential related to what you are working on each day. I find it is almost easier to coach males from a technical stand point if you know what you are talking about. If you give them a coaching cue, they try it and it works, they usually realize you know what you are talking about and are ready to respect and work with you – regardless of being male or female. Females tend to be a bit more skeptical at first and inquisitive as to why they are doing the movement in the first place. Male coaches and strength coaches more often then not value having a female to work with to create a more well-rounded staff. Again, if you know how to do your job there should really be no problem. 

 

I like to think we’ve gotten past this issue in 2020, yet there are still some people out there that would probably disagree. There are no exercises that a female cannot do that a male can and vice versa. A barbell will not make a female big and bulky. I lift weights at least 5x a week and still look do not look like a bulky man. A female can bench press a bar, just like a male. From a very general perspective exercises can be done by both females and males. It is important to note that there are some difference in programming that could be applicable to create the “best” program for a male vs a female. For example, the Q angle of female hips can make them more susceptible to certain injuries, and thus we can program accordingly to attempt to reduce that risk. I may do more hamstring and posterior chain work with a female than a male, yet the exercises I choose are still possible to be effectively done by both sexes. It is also very possible for a male to be deficient in posterior strength, putting him in the same injury risk category. At the end of the day programming should be designed based on the human needs not a broad category such as male or female. 

 

From a career perspective it is important to note that within strength and conditioning it is easier to get a job as a female than as a male when you are first starting out. However, that changes when it comes to progressing in the field. A male is much more likely to progress to a higher title such as associate director or even director faster than a female. That is a very real frustration in this male-dominated field. I am incredibly grateful for the women who have been in this field way longer than me and have fought for their career progress. There are several female directors of strength and conditioning that are doing great work. This is just something to be aware of and to fight for your worth in the field.

 

Overall being a female in strength and conditioning has its challenges just like any other career. If you know how to do your job, are confident in who you are as a coach, and understand how to motivate people, you will be fine. At the end of the day I focus on why I got into this career – to help people (any gender) get better. 

My Five

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

I feel like its been a hot minute since I last wrote a blog and whilst I normally have something to say in regards to nutrition, training or even mental wellness today I’m taking a different approach. I’m going to throw at you five things I cannot possible live without, this is in regards to every aspect of my life and a little “get to know me” type of post if you’re new to Union Fitness and have no idea who that blonde chick in the Birkenstock’s is.

 

My Five

 

Coffee: I’m a huge advocate for letting your body wake up naturally rather then jump out of bed and literally run for the freshly made pot waiting for you on the counter. However, there is nothing like it when I take that first sip in the morning, I truly do go to bed thinking about that initial cup of coffee. I will argue that Starbucks is consistently just okay and I’d much rather opt in for a small business brew that has been locally sourced.

 

Breakfast Food: I don’t know about any of y’all but I could eat breakfast at all hours of the day, I mean its basically an excuse to eat dessert at 8AM in the morning. I’d say my favorite breakfast meal that I don’t normally get to eat would be a crepes with a Nutella spread, bananas + strawberries doused in maple syrup (because I’m also Canadian, duh).

 

The Gym: Pretty sure a lot of people feel me here, especially post-quarantine I realized how much of my socializing in life comes from the gym atmosphere. Not only is it a huge hobby of mine it’s also my job and I’m very thankful to be able to do what I love on a day to day basis. The gym has allowed me to grow immensely over the past six years and within the last three, getting more involved in the competitive aspect I’ve truly learned how important it is to love the process and love the day in/day out mentality.

 

Leggings: I’m getting pretty basic here with my top five but if I’m being real with you, I own two pairs of jeans and thats 100% the truth. Leggings are my work, workout and life choice of clothing and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I despise clothes that are tight and especially during specific times of the year sometimes I really just hate clothes and would much rather live on a private island so I could wear a bikini all day long.

 

Ice Cream: Hands down would do absolutely anything (that is legal) for Ben & Jerrys. I’m a fan of chocolate Halo Top but lets be honest, if I’m going to have ice cream I’m going to eat the real stuff, even if a lot of dairy hurts my stomach. I’m just a huge ice cream girl, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a whole pint in one sitting, truly wondering if maybe I could handle another. Name a better ice cream company, I’ll wait….

 

As generic as my answers are they are so truthful, my life is super boring and primarily revolves around work, training, eating and sleeping but honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, now that I’ve told you all my five, I’m nominating my fellow co-worker Cayt Neff to white about her five things she can’t live without!

 

Much love,
J

Bootcamp and Beers

Alcohol, Clean Eating, Diet, Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , ,

Great people of Union,

 

I come to you electrified with great tidings of events to come! We are so happy to see you all safely return to Union and want to do a little something something to celebrate our members, friends of members and our community with two upcoming events.

 

The first event will start your 4th of July off with a BOOM! Here at UF’s outdoor location we will have an hour long, fun filled Charity Super Class led by Curtis, CeJ and a few special guests coaches. The class will start at 9am, we will toss some weights around, jump, throw medicine balls, carry bars, sprint and much much more. So please feel free to bring a friend, brag about this event on your social media and rock your best 4th of July workout gear. We will be taking any and all donations for………..Wounded Warrior.

 

Our next event “UF & ACB Bootcamp & Beers” will be held at Allegheny City Brewing July 11th from 11am-12pm. A few of your favorite UF Coaches have paired up with ACB to bring you a Saturday morning get you right bootcamp class, that any and all our welcomed, you just have to be 21 or older to enjoy some tasty libations after the class. If you are interested in this class please just give us a heads up or surprise us and show up, no matter what we will be ready to get bumpy then safely cheers some glasses afterwards. We will be asking for canned food items to donate to our local food bank, no money for the class is needed, just a positive attitude and your smiling faces!

 

Thank you for making UF so strong and building a community.

 

Cheers,

 

CeJ

Training Log; CeJ, Ham and The Skylyn

Fitness, Training, , ,

Today we will take on a trip around the Union Fitness bump team.

 

We are lucky enough to have guest lifters join us often here at UF. Today Skylyn joined CeJ and myself for a fun bench session. The following is what went down.

 

Warm Up

Jump Rope 100 reps without a miss. This is something that should be done daily.

Band Pull Aparts 150 reps with different angles and bands.

 

Lift

Strength is still down BIGTime since the lock down. SOOOOOO…..

Bench

bar 45 2×10

95×5

135×5

185×3

225×2

245×2

265×2

275×2

285×1

 

1a Shoulder Save Close Grip Bench 225 3×8-10.

1b Chins with 26# 3×6-8.

 

Drop Set Dips 2 sets, 2 chains x10, 1 chain x10, BWx20, Band Assisted x20.

Drop Set Cable Rows I forget the weights, but we did 20 reps and 4 drops (so well over 100 total reps).

 

We finished with some fun arm pumps on cable machines.

 

Since returning from the lockdownI have returned to training with CeJ and I realized how much fun it is training with good people. I often see lifters who are looking for a “coach,” my best advice to you is stop looking for a coach and find good training partners.

 

Ham

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Team?

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , , , , ,

When I was younger nothing stuck for me, it wasn’t until my mother forced me into swimming that I eventually learned to love it. I started on a summer swim team, it was an outdoor pool and this less than 100lb girl would shiver like no other, my lips were blue and I was always and I mean always cold at practice. It was so bad that my mother had to buy me a wetsuit just so I could withstand an hour plus of practice. The Colby Sailfish is what started it all for me and from there my parents decided to put me into winter swimming, I remember it being a huge deal and caused so much drama. Back then moving from summer swimming to winter meant you wanted to be more competitive and looking back I realized if that never would have happened then I wouldn’t have been as competitive as I am today.

 

Swimming was a big part of my life and it helped me learn the importance of routine and structure. I followed swimming with cross-county and paired those together for the remainder of my school years. It didn’t leave much room for anything else but my life was sports and for as long as I can remember, even at 27 thats how it has always been. I’ve always enjoyed putting my all into something that gave me results based upon what I put in, it was entirely up to me and how hard I wanted to work. It showed me that work ethic didn’t throw out favors and it didn’t give away trophies for participation, there was a clear winner based upon time that was spent grinding.

 

My biggest takeaway from swimming was relays, it didn’t occur to me until later in life that I absolutely enjoyed the rush of being on a team consisting of four people. I’d always push myself harder, I’d swim faster and I’d leave it all out there in the pool for my teammates. This translated fluidly to when I started competing in the sport of Functional Fitness, being on a team consisting on two males and two females took pushing myself to a whole new level. In all my years of being an athlete I have never pushed myself to the point I continue to push myself on a day to day basis with my current teammates. 

 

This is why I think playing sports when you are younger is so important, it truly is part of what makes you who you are in this present moment. It teaches you things that you will carry throughout your life and give you skills that you can apply to many situations that aren’t even closely related to sports. When I was put on a relay in swimming I knew that I had a part to play in the outcome and with that being said, in life you play a part alongside many people. This can be your relationship, as a daughter, brother or sister, it could be as a parent or a coach. We are all constantly surrounded by opportunities to showcase our ability to work within a social structure and create something beautiful alongside others.

 

So, to answer the title of this blog, why team? I think it all comes down to being able to share something greater than yourself with other people. When working within a team generally you know your teammates abilities and they know yours so you’re able to jump in when they need a break and vise-versa. To be able to have this understanding amongst three other people is so rare and to even be able to communicate in such a way that you all understand what each individual is feeling is a learned skill from your younger years of competing. 

 

At the end of the day I absolutely love being on a team, it has given me a sense of belonging in a world that makes it so hard to be yourself. It’s also more than a team, they are your friends, your family, not because you spend so much time together but because you truly do care about each individual. I think I’ll always choose to be on a team in every aspect of my life, not just my athletic pursuits. If the life lessons of team sports taught me this much that it carried through till my 27th year around the sun then there is something to be said about the kind of person you turn into when you learn to let people help you and they let you help them in return.

 

Much love,

 

Jocelyn

UF Adventure Team

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , ,

For those of you who couldn’t join us last Saturday we had a fun day of outdoor exercise and showed our new expansion (The Performance Lab). We here at UF are happy to be expanding our services to all of our members. One area I am hoping to see growth is our outdoor activities.

 

One of the events we had last weekend was the first ever UF bike ride. It was a small affair with 4 riders, but an active and fun group. We rode our bikes from here through the Northside and into the strip district for a nice tour of our fine city. The ride consisted of a few nice little climbs but nothing too bad.

 

I hope events such as this ride become a more normal activity here at UF. With all that we as a society have been through in the last three months let’s all try to get outside more. Find ways to connect with your community and see the beauty in the world. My challenge to UF is to find ways to be active, while remaining safe and healthy.

 

Thank you all for what you do, and if you have new ideas as to how we can get outside and be better people, neighbors and friends please tell us.

 

Peace and Love,

 

Todd Hamer

Salutations Sultans and Sultanas of Swing.

Fitness, Life Health, Training, ,

Today we are going to play a game to help us understand and know the difference between Sprains, Strains & Tears on this episode of Know…Your..Lingo! (Audience participation and applause)

 

Let me lay down the terms and facts about them first. You will be tested on this so bust out your writing utensils, be it quil, dip pens, ballpoint or #2, and paper, parchment, or clay tablets and toss that thinking cap on, even you back there Billy!

 

Sprains go down when a joint (ankle, knee, wrist, shoulder, ect) is forced into an awkward or unnatural position. Sprains are the overstretching or tearing of ligaments. Think of a ligament as a fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bone to bone to help stabilize them together. A scenario this could happen is when you are walking on an uneven surface and then your ankle turns/twists one way. People often say twist when they refer to sprains.

 

Strains materialize from repetitive movements over a long period of time or from a single incident, where overstretching or tearing of the muscle or tendon occurs. Muscles and tendons are fibers that connect muscles to bones. A chronic strain would be from repetitive movements overtime whereas an acute strain is a single instantaneous stretch or tear. A scenario this could happen is when you are picking up a heavier box from the floor and feel a “pull” in your lower back. People often say pull when they refer to strains.

 

Tears stumble into existence from the ripping of ligaments, muscles or tendons from related actions that would cause those fibers to overstretch and is far  more serious and could take months to heal. Tears could mean surgery or rehabilitation depending on the severity. You may see a tear happen in sports, one of the most know tears would be at the knee more commonly thought of as an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear.

 

Fill in the blank Test.

(Sprain Strain Tear)

Select the correct term above to fill in the blank. 

 

1. Todd was frolicking down Penn ave listening to Hatebreed when he awkwardly stepped in a pothole and _______ his ankle.

 

2. Big Curt has been throwing fast balls all season for UF’s baseball team, but after throwing the game winning pitch in extra innings he felt a pulling sensation in his shoulder muscles. Big Curt believes he _______ his shoulder.

 

3. During the Wizard’s Powerful class one of the members crushes a lift and hits a new PR. Upon celebration the Wizard performs his special PR dance and then magically goes down gripping his knee. Upon further review is appears the Wizard has suffered a ________ at the Knee

 

4. When Sky’s favorite gym reopened (UF) she was thrilled to go train. So elated, that she jumped on the deadlift platform, loaded the bar to 500lbs and gave it the old fashioned college try. About halfway up on the lift she feels her low back get tight and drops the bar. The crowd grumbles and rumbles, saying she must have ______ her low back.

 

5. Mr. Rogers was leaving his television station WQED on a cold Pittsburgh winter day. As he was walking down the stair he slipped on some slippy ice and caught his fall by extending his arms and landing on his writs. He felt like his wrist was jammed or twisted and said “Awe shucks I ______ my wrist.” He immediately healed because he is Mr. Rogers.

 

Thank you for learning and playing on today’s episode of “Know Your Lingo”. Tune in soon for more fun and as always Stay Bumpy my friends.

Cheers,

-CeJ

Answers: 1) Sprain 2) Strain 3) Tear 4) Strain 5) Sprain