Category Archives: Life Health

Rest & Recovery, The Wim Hof Method

Life Health

Stress is a natural part of life. As humans we are designed to handle acute stress in our lives. We have a physiological process known as ‘Flight or Fight.’ When we feel overwhelmed or in danger, our bodies release hormones that increase our heart rate, slow down digestion, and cause rapid breathing. However, if we experience this process every day for weeks, months, or even years, it can cause harm to the body.

 

We all know that one person that seems stress free. Always happy, always healthy and always seems to have endless energy. You ask yourself, “How do they do it?” The answer is simple. The difference between people who feel the pressure of stress and those who don’t, is how they manage it.

 

There are many different methods to manage stress. Meditation, yoga, exercise, walking, writing, reading, I know you’ve heard of all these before. Today, I am going to discuss a method that I personally use to manage my stress. The Wim Hof Method.

 

Disclaimer: This method is not for everyone and it is always best to consult a doctor before trying it yourself.

 

Before I list the steps of the method I believe a little background is in order. The Wim Hof Method was started by a Dutch extreme athlete named Wim Hof or more widely known as ‘The Iceman.’ With an insane resume of cold exposure world records including: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in just his shorts, Standing in a container while covered in ice for 112 minutes, and running a half marathon above the Arctic Circle, in his bare feet. In order to accomplish these incredulous acts, he created a method to control his breathing, heart rate, and blood circulation. His motto is ‘what I am capable of, everybody can learn.’ By sharing his method with others through videos, talks, and books he has created a revolution across the globe.

 

The method is based around three pillars: Breathing, Cold Exposure, and Commitment.

 

Breathing

 

The breathing pillar consists of a set of breathing exercises designed to increase oxygen levels, reduce stress, and provide more energy. For the exercise find a comfortable upright seated position or you can lay flat on your back. You will breathe in through your nose using a deep belly breath. To tell if you are doing it right, place your hand on your stomach and when you breathe in your hand should rise with your stomach. Once you breathe fully in you will breathe out using your mouth. The out breath should be relaxed and should feel like you’re breathing from your throat. After you breathe out immediately breathe in again. Repeat this process 30 times. Once you breathe out on breathe number 30, you will hold this out breath. Hold until you feel the urge to breathe and then take a deep breath into your belly. Hold this in breathe for 15 seconds then breathe out. Repeat this process 3 times. It is normal to feel your body temperature change while doing the exercise. I recommend starting slow with your breathing and as you get more comfortable, increase the speed and depth at which you breathe.

 

 

Cold Exposure

 

With all the benefits it offers (inflammation reduction, improved sleep quality, and production of endorphins), cold therapy is very popular right now. We can see many wellness centers incorporating cold tubs, cryotherapy and ice baths in their facilities. Luckily, you can experience all the benefits right from your own home.

For the cold exposure you can take cold showers, ice baths or even, if you are crazy enough, go for a dip in a local lake or river. Personally, I take a cold shower every morning. It wakes my body up and gets my mind right for the day. For the cold shower what you can do is step in and turn the water on warm then turn it to cold for 30 seconds then flip it back to warm for as long as you need. Do this 4-5 times. For any cold exposure, start with short intervals and work your way up to longer periods of time. Always end with cold being your last interval.

 

Commitment

 

The third and final pillar is Commitment. I believe this is the most important of the three. This method is a practice and takes time to fully master. Without commitment, patience and dedication your ability to improve these 2 exercises is highly unlikely. In weight lifting there is the concept of progressive overload. You start with light weights and over time when your body gets used to that weight you increase it. Slowly you are able to lift more and more weight. The Wim Hof Method behaves the same way. Instead of weight, you are increasing your stress bearing capacity (Longer breath holds and longer time in the cold). Each time you do these exercises your stress bearing capacity increases and over time you are able to handle more stress (pretty cool!). Commitment is the name of the game. Even if you don’t see results right away, keep going.

 

Stress is non-negotiable. But, with the Wim Hof Method, you can increase your stress bearing capacity and can learn to manage it better.

 

There are so many stress management techniques out there. Try what works for you and commit to it. Take time to focus on your mind and you will find yourself happier, healthier and more energetic. If you have any questions about the method or would like more information go to their website.

 

pastedGraphic.png Welcome to the Official Wim Hof Method Website

Discover your inner fire at the Wim Hof Method website. Become happy, strong & healthy with our online courses, workshops, travels & app. Visit us today.

www.wimhofmethod.com

 

For now stay healthy, keep going, you’ve got this.

 

Best Wishes,

Dylan Kopp

Are You a Monster Truck or Lambo?

Fitness, Life Health

I have a theory in life that we are all just boats sharing the same river. Within this river are barges, speed boats, kayaks, and everything in between. Each of us is doing our thing yet we are all creating wake for one another. When I make decisions I try to consider not just my fun, I also try to consider the wake that I am creating. This theory stands the test of time, yet one area it never quite worked out is when it comets my training. My training has moved more into the Henry Rollins approach, it is about me pushing to be a better me. This got me thinking, how we train becomes how we look, feel, and perform.

 

Monster Truck vs. Lambo

 

Tenzing and I went to watch Monster Jam last weekend and it was a blast (he watched the trucks, I people watched). Tenzing’s favorite truck (Megladon) was not there, yet his second favorite GraveDigger was there, my truck is El Toro Loco. While watching these impressive machines I let my mind wander about training. How do torque and horsepower work together to make these machines do some amazing tricks. For the uninitiated, give me a minute of your time to revisit some science. Zatsiorsky wrote about three methods to increase muscular tension.

 

  1. Maximal Effort (ME)- Moving a heavy load slowly.
  2. Dynamic Effort (DE)- Moving a light load quickly.
  3. Repetition Effort (RE)- Moving a moderate load for multiple reps.

 

Everything we do in training still falls into one of these methods. Too often I see people fall in love with one of these methods. Some love to be explosive, and train too often in an explosive manner. While others are always “grinding,” and training too often in a heavy manner. The last group love the pump, and always  use using RE to feel “bumpy” when they  leave the gym.

 

No one method of training is perfect and every program has holes in it. The key is to not being just a machine made for torque, (using ME all the time) or one made for horsepower (DE). Training should be a compliment to your life and at times your body will need to run, jump, or shovel snow. Train your body to do all of the above. Movement is medicine and if we wish to be healthy we shouldn’t train solely to be a monster truck or a lambo. We should train to be humans who can move.

 

Another way to think about this is as my good friend Brett Bartholomew said, “lift different weights, at different angles, at different times of the year, at different speeds.” I may have messed up that quote, yet you get the idea. The goal in training is to be prepared for life and to be strong means being strong at all things. The exception is when are preparing for a specific event (powerlifting or marathon will be very different training). Once the event is over return to training for your life.

 

Now let’s all go be a chevy volt.

 

🙂

 

 

 

The Beauty in the Team

Life Health,

Many people smarter than I am have written extensively on growth through struggle. I will be the first to admit that I have had an easy life. I know that I am just a product of all of those who came before me to help me become who I am today. I am not saying I have never had struggle, I am just saying I know many who have had much more. Maybe I have had just the right amount of struggle for the person that I am?

 

“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”

– Leroy Satchel Paige

 

For the last few blogs I have been writing about my recovery and what I am doing to improve myself. Today I want to take a little different approach and try to show an appreciation of injuries and set backs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we need to find ways to find beauty in set backs.

 

Thank you’s that I owe.

Charles Jasper- I love to mess with CeJ, yet I have worked with CeJ longer than any other person in my life. I see his approach to life and envy him in many ways.

Curtis Miller- Curty doesn’t always know how impactful his words are and he has helped me immensely.  He is a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Jared Caroff- How can anyone not love this guy. He’s smart, strong, and has less body fat then you or me. Wait, I take that back, the better question is how can anyone like this guy? I’m kidding I appreciate how much he is willing to help.

Magic Hands Malik Abrams- Malik recently joined us and he has been amazing. He has also helped me return to lifting. I have only kicked him in the face once during a massage.

Toria Crispin- Toria keeps the bills paid and the lights on at UF, so without her stepping up rehab wouldn’t matter.

Jaci and Ethan- The dynamic, olympic lifting duo won’t let me cheat my front squats. When the program says 10 second iso then I know I better count slowly or Jaci will time with her slow stopwatch.

All the other UF employees who make up a great team here. None of us are an island and without them we wouldn’t be able to have such a fun environment. Thanks to each and every one of you. The new RYDE instructors are awesome to have here, and all the cardiolab, Yoga, personal training, as well as front desk people are awesome and I am thankful for each one of you.

 

Now that I have praised all the staff what does this have to do with my injury? Everything! Without this amazing team working together there is no way I could worry about my own training.

 

 

Ham’s Comeback

Fitness, Life Health, Training

As you may already know I injured myself training three weeks ago. While injuries are never fun we all know that bumps and bruises are part of training. I am going to use this opportunity to fix some issues that I have ignored for far too long. While trying to return to training I am going to keep Jared’s words in my head, “In two weeks you will think you are better, then for the next two months you will do something that reminds you that you aren’t” 

 

I began “working out” the week after my injury (while it appears that my injury is 100% soft tissue, I must be smart in returning). The reason I quoted working out is because there is a big difference between training, and working out. Training has a purpose and is striving towards goals. Working out is aimless and not nearly as focused. To be fair I began this process two weeks ago, and while it seemed aimless it honesty wasn’t. The goal the first two weeks was to move, work on my mobility, and return myself to pain free (mostly) movement. 

 

Now to begin my training.

 

Today I will begin my training again. This will be the first time I train with a barbell or any real weight. I will lay out my plan below. Before I do that here are some specifics about the plan. I discussed this with many people to come up with a solid plan. First thing you may notice is that the program looks upside down. I squat last. Curtis had this idea as I will be warmed up and moving better by the time I get to my squats. In addition the only barbell movement I am doing for the next 2-3 weeks is a front squat. Here is the program.

 

  1. Slider Leg Curl 3×15
  2. Bulgarian Split Squat (31X tempo) 3×8
  3. Chins 3×10
  4. SA Bench with Iso opposite arm 3×10
  5. SA Overhead Press 3×10
  6. SA Row with Iso opposite arm 3×10
  7. Trap Bar Carries 3×20 yards
  8. Front Squat (10 count iso) 3×3-5 

 

That is it. I will still begin each day with bike 10 minutes and about 15 minutes or rehab/mobility work. Wish me luck as I will be SORE. 

Meet the Interns, Montrell

Life Health

Hello Union Fitness! My name is Montrell Newton Jr, and I will be interning here for the spring semester! I am originally from Miami, Florida, born and raised #305. You are probably asking why I moved from 90 degree weather to a place where it snows. Well, I decided to expand my horizons and pursue a degree at the University of Pittsburgh #H2P. I am a Resident Assistant at the university and a part of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. My long-term goal, is to open a hybrid facility consisting of a physical therapy clinic, performance center for athletes, as well as the general population.

 

Before I achieve that goal, I decided to enter the Clinical Exercise Physiology Masters program at Pitt. For my area of interest, I want to help people. I want to help educate the masses on health, and how to live a healthy life without making it difficult. I find it rewarding to help people achieve their goals, or assist people in different aspects of their lives. I decided to intern at Union Fitness because of the family environment it has, and also I believe the trainers here have a lot of knowledge that can help with my future endeavors. I am looking forward to meeting all of you and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

 

*Editors note, Montrell came to Pittsburgh to experience good football.

Toria’s Goals

Life Health

We are already 2 weeks into the New Year, and today is page number 13/365. Many of us use this start to a brand-new year to get their mindset in the right place and to set some goals to reach. For some, it is a challenge to self-reflect and get your mind in the right place to determine what goals you want to achieve. However, I feel that it is important to do this in the sense that we all could benefit from the motivation and drive it takes to achieve these goals. Goals are fun since they can be absolutely anything, and we can set them to be a one-time thing, short term, long term, or even for a lifetime. I am going to share my top 5 goals for the New Year with you:

 

  1. Continue to build resilience.
  2. Develop new leadership skills.
  3. Have a solid regular training schedule.
  4. Increase my frequency of cardio sessions.
  5. Create better reading habits.

 

I have cultivated a crazy amount of resilience in the past year, and I would like to continue to stay strong and build resilience throughout this New Year. With my new position as Director of Business Operations here at UF, I will need to be a leader. I have been in leadership positions before, but not with any of my full-time jobs, so I am excited to learn from the others here and to continue to develop my own new leadership skills. I have fallen out of my regular training schedule almost completely, so I would love to set a solid schedule for the New Year. Cardio has never been my friend, but I would like it to be. To change this, I will increase my frequency of cardio sessions and hope that it doesn’t completely destroy me. Finally, I would love to create better reading habits for myself. I used to read a fair number of books throughout the year, and recently I have fallen off that trend.

 

Remember it is never too late to set your goals. As Mahatma Ghandi once said “The future depends on what you do today.” It may not be easy, and you will probably run into some obstacles along the way but without any change now, nothing will be changed for the future.

 

Toria

Bicycle Times.

Fitness, Life Health

Nothing says Pittsburgh winter like cycling. I am here to tell you that you are invited to ride your bike to DC with me.  No, I will not ride in the middle of the winter. For those who don’t know there are two trails that connect, to run from Pgh to DC. I have ridden it many times, and have led groups on it. Here are some details.

 

When?

May 25th-May 30th. The ride takes 5 days and each day averages 68 miles.  We get rooms in each town we stop in and get showers, dinner, and a possible libations.

 

Who’s riding?

 

Great question as I have done this with one other person and led twenty-five. So we will see who joins us.

 

How will we get back?

 

Depends on group size. Larger groups, we all chipped in and rented a touring bus. Smaller groups, we get picked up by friends or CeJ.

 

How good do you have to be at riding?

 

This is not a hard ride. The steepest grade is 1.5 percent. It follows the old railroad tracks so isn’t too bad. It is more mentally fatiguing than anything else.

 

How do I sign up?

 

Talk to Todd Hamer.

 

So get in RYDE class and get ready to ride with me.

 

2022 and Still You.

Life Health

Welcome to 2022. One of my favorite ideas is a quote from the great Albert Einstein. To quote Einstein, “People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” His point was that time is non-linear and we are not just moving from one moment to the next. This idea ruined my childhood, as it made me realize that Doc Brown was incorrect in Back To The Future.

 

As with many of my ramblings this may or may not have anything to do with health, strength, or fitness. Yet, I do believe it has to do with all of the above. The calendar has changed and we are now in a new year, yet you are still the same you. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Only you can answer this. I am just here to pose the question. Self reflecting is something that I try to do daily and I am now asking each of you to join me. Set some goals for not just this year, set goals for a lifetime. I am going to share my short term goals with you.

 

  1. Run 30 miles this month. As a former runner I want to get out a little more.
  2. Perform 1000 pull ups.
  3. Lift at least 20 times this month.
  4. Only consume alcoholic drinks once a week, and no more than two drinks.
  5. Finish 4 books this month.
  6. Find at least one new volunteer oppurtunity.
  7.  Build at least 3 more Lego creations with Tenzing.

 

To add some context to my goals, I already reach, or I’m close to many of these. The running is one goal I felt would benefit me mentally. The reading goal is close to what I am already doing, yet putting a number on it should help keep me honest. As for the Legos, Tenzing loves these and we build them often. So make sure your goals include personal and fun goals as well.

 

Oh yeah, and about the drinking goal, I have a glass of wine most nights while preparing dinner. On a rare occasion this will turn into two glasses. I can honestly say I feel no different with or without these drinks. What I can tell you, is that I want to make sure I don’t rely on the drinks and make it a crutch.

Red Eagle Crossfit Relief

Life Health

If you have been watching the news you may have noticed that Kentucky recently had some terrible storms. In the holiday spirit we would like to help a gym that was directly hit by these storms get back on their feet.

 

We contacted Red Eagle Crossfit. Red Eagle is located in Mayfield, Kentucky and everything they had in the gym, as well as the building was ruined from the tornado that ripped through town. We felt this was an opportunity to step up, and show how the strength community supports each other. Red Eagle is planning to rebuild, and hopefully open their doors again. The link for their Go Fund me is here. 

 

In addition to posting the Go Fund Me we are asking for you to drop a dollar, or some change in our fundraising bucket. This will also be something we will bring up during our  kick-off for out Ryde classes.

 

In the spirit of the season we ask that you consider donating to this great cause, and helping a family who owns this business.

Science Stuff You Should Learn

Fitness, Life Health

In the world of health, strength, and fitness there are numerous confusing terms. As one who has spent 20 years in this industry I blame myself, and those in my profession for this confusion. I and we must do a better job communicating science. Today I want to give you some basic terms, acronyms, and phrases that may help you.

 

  1. EPOC- EPOC stands for Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. It’s a very simple concept, that I will try to explain in easy terms. Imagine if I asked you to meet me at the parking garage. If you walked to 300 yards and I sprinted there when you arrived I’ll still be breathing heavy. We would have done the same amount of work (work is defined by displacement, so we both are equal in these terms), yet I am still winded. My body is still trying to overcome the changes in energy systems, yours is chillin. This is EPOC in real terms.
  2. Basil Metabolic Rate- This is how many calories your body burns by just sustaining life. There are a multitude of BMR calculators online. Age, sex, bodyweight, conditioning levels, and many other factors will affect this. Good rule of thumb if you are active then add a zero to the end of your bodyweight, and that’s a decent starting number.
  3. HRV-Heart Rate Variability. With the proliferation of smart watches I have seen a lot more people checking their HRV. In basic terms this is the time consistency of the time between heart beats. Think of it like this a good HRV is if your HR was 60 beats per minute and your heart beaten at 1.00 seconds then 2.00 seconds and continued this way for 60 seconds. Rule of thumb if your HRV is good then you are ready to train hard!
  4. RPE- Rate of Perceived Exertion. RPE was originally developed as a score of 6-20. The idea was 6 meant rest and heart rate would be at 60 BPM, whereas 20 meant full go, h and HR would be closer to 200. Now in lifting this isn’t even close to correct. RPE scale is now an easy 1-10 scale. The idea is 10 being as hard as you can do an activity and 1 being little to no work. The issue as I see it is that RPE is too subjective. IMO it should be looked at in the context of the training as well as using our next phrase, Velocity Based Training.
  5. VBT- Velocity Based Training. VBT is simple as it looks at fatigue as how much velocity drops on a given movement. With VBT There are a ton of rules of thumb as to how to use it. Yet, IMO VBT should be tied to RPE so that lifters can better use both of these ideas in their training.
  6. “Don’t fake the funk on a nasty dunk” Shaq. How does this pertain to strength and fitness? It doesn’t, yet it does. My man Ethan just told me I need to work this phrase into today’s blog, and any chance to use this quote is good for me. I will add that a closer reading of this phrase means, come into your session today with a positive attitude and prepared to not just fake it, but to work HARD.

 

Happiest of Holidays and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

Todd Hamer