Category Archives: Life Health

Member Spotlight

Life Health

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 Hannah Miers.

 

Ladies & Gents, here is Hannah in her own words!

 

“I grew up in Elkhart, IN. I went to college at Indiana university then moved to Pittsburgh right after graduation. My Bachelors degree is in event management but had a career change right before the pandemic and am now an esthetician. My Fav lift is probably squats. The  reason I train is to feel strong/healthy physically and mentally. My favorite thing about Union is the coaches and the fun classes, plus I’ve learned so so much about lifting since I started coming to class.

 

If I had to pick a Celeb workout crew, it would be J.Lo for sure, Jen Aniston , and Kim K.

 

My favorite food, well I could prob eat Mexican food everyday and Margs of course. -Han”

If you see Hannah around the gym, please say hi!

More Lessons Learned

Life Health

I wrote a monthly column on elitefts for almost a decade. I am proud of much of my writing there, and I once penned an article entitled Lessons Learned. The point of this article was that none of us are self made and we all learn from one another. We must understand that none of us solely control our own futures. We must rely and lean on one another. This leads us to where we are today. What lessons have I taken away during my time as GM at UF? How are those lessons helping me to better serve each of you?

 

  1. I am not strong. One of the biggest pluses and minuses of working at UF is seeing so many strong people everyday. It reminds me that we all must work harder and it takes a whole team to make one stronger.
  2. Diversity makes me/us stronger. UF is one of the most diverse populations of humans in the city and I love it. On any given day we see powerlifters, business professionals, runners, cyclists, a few random cross fitters and even a bodybuilder or two every so often. I haven’t even mentioned the age, sex, sexual preference, race, and religion differences that makes all of us better.
  3. Everything works as long as you work hard. I have seen many people have great success here at UF. Some have lost weight, increased their strength, increased mobility, and just generally move better. The amazing part of seeing all of this is that I’ve seen numerous of ways to achieve these goals. I don’t care what your goals are I just care that you reach them. I learned that you can reach them in many different ways.
  4. Consistency is all that matters. I love watching Jared Caroff lift. Not only does he pull 600+ at 148 lbs, but he is also very consistent in his training. I recently spoke to him about his training and there is very little fancy yet he just shows up everyday and does the work. So I ask you to show up tomorrow and do the work to reach your goals.
  5. Final lesson for today is to enjoy the gym. I was meeting with a new member last night and we were intreruppted a few times by members saying hello. She mentioned how much she liked the positive vibe of the gym; a community of different people coming together as a family. I was reminded that we all feed off of one another and when one of us brings positive energy it is a gift that we all can feed off of and pass it on.

 

I hope some of this got you thinking and I thank each of you for what you bring to our little world. It is appreciated by more people than you could imagine.

 

 

 

The Importance of a Good Coach

Life Health

Well, I kept my promise from my very first blog (I know so many of you were knocking down my door to hear this one).  I am going to talk about why I stopped playing the game I love. As I have stated before I had the best basketball coach in the world growing up. However, he was not my only coach. I also had the worst coach in the world. What a nice balance I have had in my life. Going into high school I was more prepared than ever to go into try-outs and make varsity as a freshman. Me, along with two other freshmen, made it.  To this day, I wish I had not. 

 

I am happy to have the experience to speak upon now, but I can honestly tell you that it was a horrible experience at the time. I like to think I am a pretty positive person. I know many of you see this ray of sunshine and think, “How could this burst of cotton candy and rainbows ever be sad?” *cue rolling eyes*. But, yes, I was downright miserable. Let me elaborate on why that was. 

 

Freshman year I did not expect to play in any games. I knew I had to pay my dues and hopefully get a chance to show what I had. I had to earn her trust. This coach did everything in her power to make sure that I regressed as a player and she sure as hell succeeded. I went to her on multiple occasions asking what I could improve on because at the time I valued her opinion. She kept coming up with stuff that I could do better. I fixed the problem and once I did she would come up with something else. I get it, I had a lot to work on. But, when someone is just constantly telling you that you are not good enough to even get a chance, it takes a toll on your mental image of yourself. Especially someone who is “supposed” to do the opposite; someone who is supposed to be your “coach”. 

 

Sophomore year, I got to a point where I had proven myself in a game situation, so much so that the parents and spectators came up to me after the game and congratulated me on how well I did in the short time that I played. She even gave me a shoutout in the locker room herself. I finally thought this was my chance, that I earned her trust in me as a player. The next game came around and I sat in the same seat for 4 quarters only standing to cheer for my teammates. I had just done so well in the previous game, why did she not take another chance on me to prove myself further? It made absolutely no sense. 

 

Again, I approached her after practice one day and asked what I could do to be better. I thought I was doing a great job, but of course, she had something to say. “Your body language is just horrible and you need to work on that”. You must be freaking kidding me. My body language? Really? Sorry, my bad, let me sit up a little straighter and stick a corny smile on my face real quick while you continue to rip me apart in practice and sit me for 3 games at a time while I work my butt off for you. Then will you let me do my job as the big bad post player you brought me on the team to be? 

 

I was so frustrated because I knew that she was treating me like this simply because of our lack of connection as coach and player. She did not respect me as a player and it showed in the way she addressed me during practice. She praised one of the other freshmen because of the publicity she brought to our team through our local news. They happened to catch a game where she threw up a sloppy shot and it happened to go in.  From then on she was our pig and we had to feed her the ball despite her track record of being a lazy player aside from throwing up outside shots. This coach only cared about how she looked to the public and was shoddy at best. She was political in the way that she let parents suck her into letting their kids play over the rest of us. It was abundantly clear that she didn’t like me for one simple fact; I wouldn’t let her bully me. I would not suck up to her and I would not BS her. I honestly got to the point where I did not respect her because she did not coach for her love of the game or her love for us. She coached because she loved having people who she didn’t even know admire her. 

 

Halfway through my sophomore year season we had already had two players quit because of her incompetence as a coach. I threatened to leave because she stole my love for the game. I would spend hours crying after games and practices and for what? It was not serving my life in the way that it once was and it killed me to come to that conclusion. I finished out the rest of the season because I had thought it was the right thing to do. The day after our season ended I called my coach. I told her that my success as a person was not determined by her and that she had ruined the game for so many people. She should be ashamed for taking away so many players identities and I went on for about 5 minutes telling her that. I might have gone a little overboard, but I was fuming. 

 

I told myself I would not let her ruin the game I loved so much. I became a coach for a youth girls basketball team through my local church and shared my years of knowledge with them. I loved teaching these girls and seeing them succeed through the sport. I saw the passion in their eyes and it brought back the love in mine. I look back at this experience with pride that I had the strength to walk away from something that once brought me joy, but didn’t anymore. I knew that my happiness was so much more important than what this horrible woman thought of me as a person and a player. I refused to let what anther person thought of me determine what I thought of myself.  I wanted to be a better coach to young girls than she ever was to me. Never let anyone steal your shine, most of the time they are doing it because of the dullness in their hearts. Be better than that, you never know whose life you might change in the process of standing up for your own light. 

 

Happy training, 

 

Mags

Sunday Threadbare Bootcamp

Life Health, Training

Party people of Union and all of our friends, it’s time to raise a glass to Summer Boot Camps! We are very excited to kick off our 3 part boot camp series at Threadbear Cider House & Meadery.

 

Say What?

 

We’re partnering with our Neighbor Threadbare Cider on a Summer Boot Camp Series once a month at the Cider House! The workout will include various bodyweight, medicine ball and banded exercises in a timed circuit style training with a cardiovascular & mobility group warm-up, cool down and even a fun butt kicking finisher. These sessions will be led by CeJ & some special guest Coaches (Skylyn, Cej’s Partner in Crime is in for this weekend) who will be able to modify exercises and motivate all participants to make exercising fun & support our Pittsburgh community. 9.99 % of your $20 ticket benefits Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and includes a one glass of cider to enjoy at the Cider House after class! The Cider house has tasty brunch & fire pizza for some post workout fuel.

 

Where do I go to party?

 

Threadbare Cider House

1291 Spring Garden Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15212

 

When?

 

This Sunday June 13th at 10am.

 

Who can come?

 

This event is ticketed but members of Union, patrons of Threadbare and any one who wants to get their sweat on for a Sunday Funday can come join the party. Tickets are available on Threadbare’s website under the events tab.

 

There are still tickets available and Skylyn & I would love to see you get sweaty this Sunday and cheers a glass or two of Cider with us. If you have any questions, please reach. We will see you this Sunday, my party people.

 

Pitter Patter,

 

CeJ

Union and Pride Month

Life Health

As most people already know June is Pride month. We here at UF are proud to be partnering with OUT ATHLETICS to bring an exciting event to UF.

 

Details,

 

What is it?

Bootcamp and yoga, followed by a comedy show!

 

When?

July 9th. Workout at 6 PM, comedy show at 7:30 PM.

 

Who?

This event is for everyone and we are opening this to members as well as non-members.

 

Where?

Here at UF. How will we do comedy here? Well that will be a suprise.

 

Why?

We are doing this to support OUT ATHLETICS. Click on the hyperlink.

 

Now that I am sure most of you are confused here is a better description. We will gather together to either take a bootcamp or yoga class. Following the class we will have 4 local comedians on the UF stage. This will take place on the turf outside the performance lab. While this class has zero charge from UF, we do ask that you register and donate to OUT ATHLETICS for this event.

 

We hope to be the most open, inviting, and welcoming gym you have ever been too. With that being said we want to make sure that everyone is comfortable entering and training at UF. So, let’s come together to support our LGBTQ+ members and friends and share some good times and laughs.

Bootcamp and Partnerships

Life Health

Ahh Yes, Hello Union Family, Friends, Distant Acquaintances & Wellness Yinzers,

As my friend who I’ve never met before, Mr. Andrew W.K., often said “It’s time to Party”! So let’s raise your glasses, shake those a$$es and take a first look at our developing Summer Pop Up Bootcamp Series. 

We have joined forces with our new friends Wigle Whiskey & Threadbare Cider to put together six…that’s right 1 more than 5, you read that right, six bootcamps. These 6 bootcamps will be hosted at Wigle in the Strip District & Threadbare in Troy Hill, 3 bootcamps at each location respectively. Currently we are limiting spaces to 20 people, each person will have a ticket, the price of the ticket will go to the bootcamp, 1st libation and a percent donation to a local Pittsburgh charity. The one and only, Sir Bumps-a-lot will be spearheading these bootcamp events alongside a mystery UF coach, to keep you all on your toes. 

Below are the dates of our current Summer Pop Up Bootcamp Series. 

June 13th (Sunday) @Threadbare
June 27th (Sunday) @Wigle 
July 17th (Saturday) @Threadbare
July 25th (Sunday) @Wigle
August 21st (Saturday) @Threadbare
August 29th (Sunday) @Wigle

10am start time for all Wigle & Threadbare bootcamps. Sign-ups will go live very soon, so mark your calendars and save some room for a good time. 

We do have a few more bootcamps in the works, one with our good friends at Commonplace Coffee but more details to come for that very soon. Keep your head on a swivel and let’s party hard with friends old & new while we support our community and local business. 

Cheers party people, 

CeJ

Slow Cookin’

Fitness, Life Health

I’ve been training and I’ve been training others for two decades now, and I’ve seen some great strength feats and amazing physiques. I am writing this to tell you that it is all fleeting. Hopefully, this isn’t too negative for you. It’s written to make you enjoy these moments more.

 

Any time that I start to get a big head, I remember what Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay experienced. These two humans summited the highest mountain and came down to tell their story. No one had ever accomplished this and it still is one of the most impressive human feats of strength and resilience. Also consider they climbed above the death zone with none of the technology that we have available to us today. People skiing at Seven Springs have better equipment than they had climbing Mt Everest.

 

This story is important not just for what they accomplished but also to remind us that we have a brief time to celebrate our victories. Anyone who climbs a peak 8000+ meter mountain knows that one can usually only spend minutes at the top and then they must begin descending or they will die. They knew that if they did not begin descending  then the accomplishment would mean nothing. This is the same as training.

 

If you look at social media you will see 20 somethings with 6 packs talking about how to be healthy (mentally and physically). Consider the context, has this person trained, worked, raised a family, bought a house, or dealt with life stress for a decade or more? Generally, the answer is no. We are living in real life and there will be stress and ups and downs. So instead of comparing ourselves to a filtered photo at the top of someone’s life just ask did you take steps forward? This does not mean that you will move forward linearly, even homeostasis moves up and down.

 

So what I am asking you is to not be so hard on yourself. My good friend Ward told me I have a very healthy relationship with food, I truly didn’t grasp what this meant. Yet, he taught me that most see food as good or bad, I see food as something to eat. At times I like cake or beer, sometimes I even have donuts. I know doing this may mean I won’t have abs like Ward yet I also am conscience of my decisions and I’ll try to do and be better tomorrow.

 

Lessons From the Worlds Greatest Coach

Fitness, Life Health

Growing up, I had the world’s best coach. Well, at least in my eyes he was. He did not have awards or medals or experience playing in the NBA. However, this man made an everlasting impact on who I am as a young woman. Coach Jerry was the man that I admired in ways that went beyond the court and far exceeding his knowledge of posting up in the paint. I was just a little 5th grader trying out for his AAU team last minute and convincing myself that I was not good enough. Whether it was my tremendous height or my sensational talent (sense the sarcasm?), he took a chance on me. I had never met this man in my life, nor have I ever gone through legitimate tryouts for a team, but he saw something in me. Little did I know that this man would completely change my life. So here are 3 lessons I learned from the greatest coach, Coach Jerry: 

 

  1. SHOWING UP IS NOT ENOUGH

I was a gangly, unpolished mess when I first met Coach Jerry. Not far from who I am now, but I just hide it a little better (again with the sarcasm). I was taught early to never just go through the motions as it leads to a deep being unfulfilled in every aspect of your life. As Coach Jerry always said, “Showing up is not enough” and he was right. He would send us home if we were mentally not there or if we were not listening to his direction. We were expected to be present in all aspects. One day we were not listening, goofing off and overall, just being a bunch of crazy kids. He got so frustrated that he ended practice early and told us that at our next practice we need to come to play. He said this way calmer than you would expect so we should have known that the large number of suicides we ran at our next practice were coming for us. Your body can physically be there, but why even show up if you are not willing to put in the work? What’s the point? Just going through the motions benefits nobody involved. Put in the work (read Curtis’s paying your dues blog for more😊) and success will eventually follow you because in a world only concerned about outcome, there still are people who appreciate the effort and the work that is required for success. Find the people who appreciate the work not the outcome. That has helped me ween out who appreciates me as a person and who only cares about performance. 

 

  1. TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

I played on this team with girls whom I still consider extremely close friends. But, back then, this team was my family and we sure as hell played like it. We knew each other’s strengths, weaknesses, ticks, traditions etc. Knowing each other on that level and becoming the best of friends off the court led to success on the court. In the middle of a game we were playing selfish, as individuals not a team. Coach Jerry called a time-out and was enraged. He yelled, “PASS THE BALL!” in all of our faces and that’s all we needed to hear. We were not the tallest, strongest or sharpest on the court, but we played smart in terms of playing to benefit each other’s strengths and minimize weakness. Therefore, we won more games and were happier with our performance. We had room to enjoy the game and not be so concerned about individual wins. We were much happier appreciating each other’s small wins and those we gained as a team. The effort each one of us put into a game was collectively enough to outwork our opponent that had players with contradicting efforts. In a professionally setting, learn from your coworkers, they are your teammates. In a personal setting your friends, family, significant other these are all your teammates. Teamwork will lead to more success than any individual ever will. 

 

  1. WHEN YOU GET SHOVED, LEAN INTO IT

Like I said, Coach Jerry never cared about wins/losses alone, he cared about the effort. Of course, sometimes he cared about the outcome as every coach does. But, there tended to be a positive relationship between effort and success. Coach Jerry had this big blocking pad that he named Delilah. Delilah was old and ripped and had a permanent dent in her from all the years of shoving against her players. Coach Jerry would put this pad on and shove us as we were trying to play, specifically going for layups or post moves. We were meant to lean into the pressure and perform regardless of what got in our way. Delilah was a pain in the ass to say the least, but she showed me that getting shoved builds character and teaches you to push through the pressure in order to get what you deserve. No matter what gets in your way, always do your best to perform whether in any aspect of your life.

 

Well, there you have it. I learned many things from Coach Jerry, but those were the big three. I carry these lessons with me in every aspect of my life especially as a young professional. Putting everything I have into every single day and not just showing up, working as a team and leaning into pressure are my three keys to success whether it is professionally, training wise or in personal relationships. Coach Jerry set me up for success; something I never anticipated as a gangly, unpolished 5th grade kid. 

Ride with Hamer

Life Health

13 years ago, I was living in Pittsburgh and my father was living in the DC area. During this time I heard about people riding bicycles  from Pgh to DC, I called my dad and said “Let’s try this ride out.” We did our research and rode 5 days from Pgh to DC. Looking back now, this seems like a lifetime ago. The trail was not complete back in those days and there was little to no cell service on the ride. Here we are, 13 years later and I have done the ride over ten times. This year I am inviting each and everyone of you to get a small taste of this ride, (without riding 350 miles).

 

Here’s your part!

I am riding this trail again this year with a friend. We are inviting you to ride some of the first day with us. We are leaving NoVa Place on May, 26th 2021 at 6 AM. We are riding 79 miles to OhioPyle. If you would like to join us for part of this day then you can ride as far along the trail as you would like and then return to NoVa Place and go to work (while I ride).

 

More details,

 

Date and Time: May 26th 6AM

Location: Union Fitness.

Distance to ride: Your call. Figure out how far you want to ride and cut it in half. Whenever we reach that mileage you can turn around and head back to the gym.

What to bring:  A working bike, water, and a helmet to be safe.

Where you will be riding: We will follow the Great Allegheny Passage. This is the trail that eventually will lead me to OhioPyle. If you are up for 10, 20, or 30 miles then come ride with us. Ten miles would have you ride with us to the end of the Southside then turn around and come back. 20 miles would have you join us to about the Riverfront shopping district before heading back. 30 miles would lead you with us past Kennywood and head back. No matter what we’d love to see you.

 

So, now I ask you, do you want to have some fun see some sites and join us? If so, then just be here May 26th. We won’t have a sign up as we can handle as many people that want to ride. All we ask is that you are either a member or you sign a waiver then have some fun and enjoy the ride.

Are You Paying Your Dues?

Life Health

Are you paying your dues? This is a topic that Jared and I discussed on this weeks podcast, but one that I want to touch on a bit further in this weeks blog. If you haven’t listened to it, I recommend you do. When you hear this saying, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For me, the best way that I could sum it up is “performing the act of hard work day in and day out with no expectation of an instant return or gratification”. Some of you may have a different definition, but I can almost guarantee that the end result is the same.

 

This is a topic that I am very passionate about and one that my parents taught me from a very young age. I spent a majority of my early years watching them work extremely hard in order to make sure that their three children had the things that they needed. My mom has worked for the county Board of Education for 40 years. My dad began working full time at the age of 15 in order to support his family. He just retired this past August and is still working one way or another every day. To this day, I have never heard them complain once about having to go to work or hear them say that they don’t want to do something. Even if that’s how they felt, they never showed it. They continued to wake up each morning, put their boots on, and go take care of business. Even when times were hard, they kept moving forward.

 

When I turned 14, I was lucky enough to get my first official job working for a local tent rental company making $5 per hour. I was the sledge hammer guy. My job was to drive 4ft metal stakes into the rock hard dirt in the middle of summer with a 20lb sledge hammer. In my mind, the money was great, and I was just happy to be working. I felt as though I was making my parents proud and was living up to the family name. I knew it wasn’t a lot of money, but I did know that if I continued to show up and work hard every single day, that good things would continue to happen down the road.

 

Because of my habits early on, that mindset continued to carry over into high school sports, college, my career as a Strength Coach & Personal Trainer, and powerlifting. If I struck out in baseball, I stayed after the game to practice hitting off the tee. If I failed an exam, then I would find a more beneficial way to study. If I lost a job, I would work harder on my weaknesses. And if I missed a lift, you better believe that I worked every single day to come back and hit it. 

 

The thing about paying your dues is that it does not pertain to only one area of your life. It is contagious and transfers to every single thing that you do. In order to have the things that you want, it is mandatory that you put in the time, work, effort, and passion towards whatever you are doing and “pay” up front in order to reap the benefits and develop the new skills needed to achieve your goals.

 

So when you feel as though things aren’t happening the way that you think they should, just know that there are still dues to be paid. Wake up every day willing to take on anything that comes your way. Accept it with open arms and know that you are becoming better from performing that task. If you do not see an instant reward, then keep moving forward. If you do that, then success will follow.