Category Archives: Life Health

What is STRONG?

Fitness, Life Health

Here at UF we have some of the strongest people around and at times it can distort our imagine of strength. If you train at UF odds are you are STRONG. Think about this, what percent of humans actually train? And what percent train hard? Then consider that most gyms do not have people squatting 6,7,800 lbs and most gyms don’t have people deadlifting 600 for reps or multiple members bench pressing 500.

 

Now what we have seen what the strongest do let’s ask what is strong? Stuart McRobert once wrote that strong is a 3/4/5 guy (I do not know his numbers for women, sorry). So what is a 3/4/5 guy? A 3/4/5 guy is a 300 lbs bench press, a 400 lbs squat, and a 500 lbs deadlift. I know all the lifters are thinking, that isn’t strong! Yes it is, hear me out. Go to most gyms in America and deadlift 500 lbs, I promise you that heads will turn. Squat 4 plates and same thing will happen. Bench 3 plates and odds are you will be one of the strongest in the gym. As a powerlifter these numbers would be nothing to write home about, but as a human realistically this is a strong human.

 

So when you are training, and you look over and see someone squatting 200 lbs more than you can squat, don’t fret, you are strong. Instead of comparing yourself to a high level powerlifter, compare yourself to where you were before today. Are you stronger than last week, year, or month?

 

Stay the course, own your strength and keep working!

 

Hamer

July Events

Alcohol, Life Health, ,

My friends,

 

July is almost here and you’re gonna want to bust out your calendars for this month! We are pumped to bring you a packed schedule of events, from bootcamps to outdoor yoga, comedy shows and more. Below is a quick blast schedule of fun. Break out your markers!

 

Friday July 9th at 6PM

 

Bootcamp, yoga, and comedy show fundraiser benefiting OUT Athletics. All are welcome, not just Union members! Pride attire encouraged! OUT Athletics is a non-profit working to remove the barriers that block LGBTQ+ individuals access and participation in fitness, health and wellness. Register on the OUT Athletics website or scan the QR code on the flyer in the gym.

 

Sunday July 11th at 11am

 

We will be highly caffeinated and ready to kick start our Sunday Funday at Commonplace Coffee in the Mexican War Streets for a FREE bootcamp. We are asking for donations to the Central Northside Clinic. After the bootcamp, your first drink is on Union. Cheers.

 

Saturday July 17th at 10am 

 

We are coming back for our second bootcamp at Threadbare Cider House in Spring Garden. We are turning this one up to 11 with more adventures, challenges and games. This is a ticketed event that can be purchased on Threadbare’s website and will include the bootcamp, a first libation and 9.99% charitable donation to Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

 

Sunday July 18th at 12pm 

 

Outside on the Union lawn we will be hosting a FREE Yoga & Beer class. Come 1 come all and let’s get our Zen on.

 

Sunday July 25th at 10am

 

Wigle Whiskey’s revenge with our 2nd bootcamp at the Strip district location. Sign up on Wigle’s website to grab your ticket that includes the bootcamp, first libation and donation to our little friend Danny (who is raising money for a kidney transplant).

 

Also remember to go to Pgh City Paper and nominate UF for the best gym in town. You can vote every day till July 9th.

 

Stay tuned my friends and come down to party with us!

 

Cheers,

 

CeJ

Time=Love

Life Health

In my last post I wrote about lessons I learned from others. Today I want to spread some Aloha from St Simons Island GA. Yes, I am aware that St Simons is not any where near Hawaii, yet we can spread Aloha anywhere.

 

My good friend Hank McDonald was a strength coach at University of Hawaii and he brought me out to speak a few years back. I owe Hank and Tommy a huge thank you for that trip. To put it in perspective the other speakers came from The Ohio St University, Auburn, San Francisco Giants, former NFL strength coaches and some top private trainers. Then there was me, from the athletic giant Robert Morris University. I was lucky enough to learn about  Hawaiian culture from Keanue Reeves cousin (he is a professor at UH). Morale to the story, I was outclassed in every way possible and I learned that Aloha means many things including good vibes.

 

In my last job I worked with two men’s basketball coaches. The first guy was a good guy and I am still a fan. He was put in a position that he could not succeed, and he was let go not long after I arrived. The second coach Jamion came in and did his best to bring some good vibes to the team. He spread the aloha during my time there, and there was one thing he said (which I had heard before, yet stuck with me this time), Time=LOVE. Whatever you spend your time doing you love. I was also able to meet a man that became a good friend Greg Graber, Greg wrote the book, “Slow Your Roll.” We hit it off because he spoke a lot about meditating, and controlling the controllable. Greg reminded me to slow my roll and stop fighting loosing battles.

 

Time=Love is a simple idea. If you commit time to anything then you must love it. So why I a taking time from my vacation to write this? I am doing this because I do love spreading aloha.  I will probably not touch a barbell this week and doubt I’ll train, I also probably won’t answer your email :-). So take some time today to decide what you love, and give it your time.

Maggies Why?

Life Health

When coming to Pitt, I never thought about any other field except medicine. I spent most of my life fantasizing the idea of being a doctor because I convinced myself that was the only way I would be successful. However, I did not take the time out to learn what success meant to me. I could be successful at anything because I am a firm believer that what you put in is what you will get out of most situations. I just needed to figure out what I wanted to be successful in because clearly medicine was not it. *flashback to me crying in my large dunkin’ iced coffee in the middle of the library at 3am.

 

Once starting classes in the fall of my freshman year at Pitt, I quickly realized that my plan was not going to work out as anticipated. I wanted to choose a career that was going to lift me up rather than keep me in the ditch that I constantly found myself in. I was completely lost. I took classes that did not interest me, let my fitness deteriorate and my mental health took a toll. The perfect trifecta. That all changed once I took my first Intro to Exercise Science class. After entering that class, I was finally learning about something that piqued my interest and was able to prevent the diseases that I convinced myself I wanted to cure as a doctor. Wouldn’t it be a little less morbid if I dedicated my career to stopping them from happening in the first place rather than banking on these diseases to strike?

 

I had the opportunity to make connections and learn so much more about the field that I ever imagined. Having people around me who were willing to help me navigate my strengths and weaknesses was the key to knowing more about who I am and what I am capable of. I went into this major as someone who was far from who I am now. By far from who I am now I mean strides behind who I am now. In all honesty, I have only cried into my large dunkin’ iced coffee once this week so far. If that isn’t progress I don’t know what is. I was someone who was confident in nothing that she did, and believed that she would fail if she even tried. I came out of that major as a young woman who is confident that she can accomplish anything that she sets her mind to, with some hard work and elbow grease. I have so much to learn from those around me and I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have been extended to set me up to achieve my version of success. My time here at UF thus far has proven that to be true. 

 

I declared as a Health and Human Development major with a concentration in Exercise Science and have never even had a doubt that this was the right move. I fell in love with the science behind movement and how our bodies respond to exercise. I loved figuring out the “why” behind what we do as humans. Learning that everything is connected and how we treat our bodies in reference to exercise and movement effects every other part of us has become my why.

 

The main takeaway from my time in learning Exercise Science is simple: Exercise is Medicine. I carry that ideal with me every single day because living an active lifestyle can help solve many other health related issues whether that is mental, physical or otherwise. I am not saying that you need to train like an elite athlete to be healthy. That most certainly is not the case if any of you have seen me in the gym. I am simply stating that you must treat your bodies with the respect that they deserve. It is the only body you get and if you take care of it, it will then take care of you. Make exercise your medicine because it sure as hell has become mine as I have progressed from who I was into who I am and who I wish to be. 

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