Category Archives: Training

Union Fitness Labs Presents, The Virtual Bumpy Turkey Bowl & Burn

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

Gobble Gobble to all of our Thanksgiving Bumpy Battalions!

 

With everything going on we had to call a hot route into a Red 7 audible…if you don’t follow that one, then you should take a quick peek at Wedding Crashers backyard football scene to hype yourself up and “would you just go stand on the other side please?”

 

Sometime during your Thanksgiving feast, Macy’s Day Parade balloon critique, Foosball cheering, Planes Trains & Automobiles marathon & mid-day nap, come jump on our Instagram and sweat the gravy train out with our Virtual Bumpy Turkey Bowl & Burn workout. We will have it posted in the morning so you have all day to get the deal done.

 

If you haven’t checked it out yet, please click on our Thanksgiving donation blog. The proceeds will go to a local business and our first responders.

 

We are thankful for all of you and the amazing things you do!

 

Come catch me on the flippity flop and let’s get bumpy on Thanksgiving.

 

Cheers,

 

CeJ

Updated Thanksgiving Workout

Fitness, Life Health, Training

We are doing our best to keep everyone safe during this time and we appreciate each of you for understanding our decisions. We have decided to open on Thanksgiving day for 2 hours so people can still train and keep some normalcy to their lives.

 

We will be open from 8AM -10AM on Thanksgiving day. During this time we will have workouts posted in the cardio lab, strength lab and the performance lab. We will also have a coach in each area. We invite you to come by and do one of these workouts or come by and do your own workout.

 

We will be raising money for a very special cause. This year we are partnering with a local deli that will make food for first responders. We will be accepting cash donations on Thanksgiving day. We hope you will take part with us while supporting a local small business,  and help those who are working extra hard to keep each of us safe. More details will be available on Thanksgiving morning.

 

Thanks and we hope to see you Thanksgiving morning for a different kind of turkey burn.

 

Todd Hamer

 

Weekly Wrap Up

Fitness, Life Health, State of the Union, Training

Happy Friday everyone, we hope you all had a great week, got in some good sweats here with all of our awesome instructors and enjoyed some of the beautiful weather we randomly had (even if it was mostly rain but still warm none the less).

 

For this weeks recap we have some changes happening within Union that we want to keep you in the loop on:

 

CARDIO LAB

 

Tuesday 6:00AM, Steph Stahovic

Tuesday 5:30PM, Cody Miller (starting Tuesday, November 24th)

Wednesday 6:00AM, Jocelyn Lemay

Friday 6:00AM, Matt Grayson

 

MOVEMENT

 

MOVEment will be moving to 5:00PM on Friday evenings only, continued to be taught by Jocelyn Lemay.

 

YOGA

 

If you haven’t noticed yet we have two new instructors joining us, both Meagan Gnibus and Lauren Sweetnich will be covering classes on an as needed basis. We are very excited to welcome them to Union and be part of our staff!

 

Also, we have started to utilize inside of Nova Place for our yoga classes. MindBody will reflect the location of each yoga class, be sure to check your MindBody Application for any room changes or ask our front desk staff to show you where yoga is being held if you have never taken a class on our Nova Yoga Deck.

 

Have a wonderful weekend and we hope to see you this weekend in our Cardio Lab and Yoga classes.

 

UF Team

Controlling the Variables

Life Health, Nutrition, Training, , , , , ,

When preparing for any event, game, or competition it is absolutely necessary to put as much focus into controlling all of the things that you have the ability to control. It’s also important to understand that there will be many factors that are outside of your control. The main thing to keep in mind is that the chips will fall where they may. There is no use in worrying or getting worked up about things that are out of your hands. The only thing you can do is prepare to the best of your abilities while controlling as many variables as possible. The rest of the time you are just rolling with the punches. Sounds kinda like life, huh?

 

Below is a list of things that you can control in order to achieve the best results possible on the day of your event, game, or competition.

 

Training program: Although it is not necessarily the most important aspect as most people believe, a properly designed training program is certainly a huge piece of the puzzle when it comes to your overall success. A program that is precisely planned will help you be better in all aspects of physical performance while also helping to keep you injury free.

 

Nutrition & Sleep: These are two areas that often go hand in hand, and in my opinion are two of the most important yet underrated aspects of overall performance. When you have a nutrition plan that works for both yourself and your goals, you will have more energy, you will recover better from your training sessions, and you will make better overall progress. Similar to this, the right amount of quality sleep will also have an overall affect on the same things. When incorporated together, they can have a huge impact on your overall performance and success.

 

Stress, attitude, and your response: We cannot always control some of the things that happen to us in our life, or in the world. But we do have control over how we choose to respond to those situations. Stressors are everywhere, and always seem to find us at the most inconvenient times. Through techniques such as meditation, visualization, positive self talk, advice from quality people, etc., you can control those stressors and even use them to benefit your training and performance.

 

Individual relationships/ people you choose to be around: Choose to be around good people who will lift you up and good things will happen. Chose to surround yourself with people who hold you back, and that’s exactly what will happen. Having the right people in your corner for guidance and support is absolutely necessary when you want to be your best. Quality individuals will always keep you on track when you’re heading in the right direction, and will put you in check when you veer off course. 

 

Control these variables, and you will give yourself the best chance to succeed. Do not worry about or focus on those other things that are out of your control. Prepare to the best of your abilities and good things will happen one way or another. Stay strong, my friends.

Exercise is Medicine

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , ,

I’m sure you have all heard of the phrase “Exercise is Medicine” before, but have you ever taken a few minutes to reflect on what it means to you? 

 

It is so easy to get stuck in a repeat cycle of being unmotivated and feeling a little bit down. We all have those mornings when the alarm goes off and all you want to do is close your eyes, roll over, and go back to sleep. Once you have one of those mornings it seems like the rest of the days that follow tend to go the same way. This time of year, (when the weather gets colder, the days feel longer, you eat a lot of great holiday food, and you wear heavier/bigger clothing) it can be difficult to find that motivation to get yourself out of bed and do anything – especially get to the gym and exercise. The days when it is most important to find some time for yourself to go out and exercise are those days where you have no motivation, and maybe not feeling like yourself. The benefits of exercise are more than just physical. 

 

Even just one short 10 minute workout per day has a high amount of benefits. Exercise can get your heart rate up, reduce some daily stresses, and increase concentration throughout the rest of your day. You don’t need to set aside hours of your day to go to the gym to see some gainz. Just be sure to give yourself some time to get that workout in and I can guarantee it will turn out to be the best time of your day! 

Jocelyn’s Training Log

Training, , ,

One thing I’ve been working hard on is my headspace and mentality when it comes to training. I like to describe myself as being deer-esque, which if you know me personally is so true because I’m very light, happy, and everywhere all at once kind of person. I know when it’s time to compete and be serious but channeling anger, attacking the bar and digging deep within myself is not an everyday reachable thing for me.

 

Over the past several weeks I’ve been working on really channeling this intense energy and pushing myself to a limit I feel like I wouldn’t be able to sustain, but I sit there, in discomfort, and just put my soul into the workout/training piece.

 

Last week we had our typical team training session which included a very gnarly 21-minute same sex, team conditioning. I was the shadow on a 2-person team, this means I will do the same scheme of work as one partner (mimicking their efforts but being there for an extra push for both partners). It’s not always fun being a “shadow” because you feel your effort doesn’t count but I took this mentality and pushed even harder whilst pushing my other two team members in the process.

 

This was the workout:

 

21 MINUTE CLOCK

AMRAP 5

Buy-in: 32 cal bike (split however with a partner)

100-yard sled push (45#x2) *I did 50 yards

MAX squat clean in remaining time (135#)

Finished with: 10 squat cleans

 

IMMEDIATELY INTO

AMRAP 7

Buy-in: 40 cal bike (split however with a partner)

100-yard sled push (45#x2) *I did 50 yards

MAX squat clean (145#)

Finished with: 9 squat cleans

 

IMMEDIATELY INTO

AMRAP 9

Buy-in: 45 cal bike (split however with a partner)

100-yard sled push (45#x2) *I did 50 yards

MAX squat clean (155#)

Finished with: 9 squat cleans

 

Normally I would look at a workout like this and be wary that I could even move the 155# bar as I did during this workout, the fact that I attacked each rep and got roughly around the same reps per round/weight is a win for me. The most rewarding feeling is when your coach comes up to you not once but twice to tell you how happy they were with how you executed the workout and how they are noticing the mentality shift you’ve been working on.

 

I left this session proud of myself, 155# is only 30# off of my best clean and even a few weeks back I hit 5# off of my max at the end of a disgustingly rough workout. Both of these times my mentality was strong, I dug my heels in and I didn’t pull back.

 

I’m not entirely sure what we’re training for right now besides the CrossFit Games Open in February when our 2021 season begins but I’m here, working hard because this is no time to sit back and relax, it’s all about the grind right now, so here I am.

ACB Spooky Bootcamp Brews & Boos

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

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!!!

 

Spooky season is in full effect with pumpkin spice lattes at every corner, scary movies on each night, and Grayson & I coming to lay down a Trick or Treat Bootcamp on October 31st, 11am at Allegheny City Brewery parking lot.

 

This will be a free charity bootcamp that anyone can come get spooky at. We ask our non-members to sign a quick waiver before you get your Saturday Scaries on. Please bring any canned goods you can spare as we will be donating all to a local food bank.

 

You know when Grayson and I get together, you are in for a nice couple of tricks! Have no fear, at the end, we’ll hook you up with the first round of treats and some cold brews from our good friends at ACB!

 

Like, comment, and share this article so we can have some spooky fun, show support to a local business and community!

 

It’s Showtime!

One Simple Cue that will Help Your Squat & Deadlift

Training, ,

When performing the squat and deadlift, we’ve all heard and incorporated the basic cues. Things such as “back flat”, “chest up”, and “eyes straight ahead”, are amongst the list of things which we focus on during each training session, and at this point they have most likely become second nature. There is however one cue that we often miss which could have a tremendous impact on our progress within these two lifts, and that is “head back”.

 

A majority of the time (especially when the weight begins to get heavy) we lose track of what our body is doing as we become focused solely on lifting the weight. When this happens, one of the first things we might notice is that our head begins to stick out far in front of the weight, which then causes our body to follow. When performing the squat and the deadlift, we want as much of our body in line or behind the bar as possible. By doing this, we can keep a majority of the weight centered over our body which will increase our likelihood of completing the lift while decreasing the risk of injury. 

 

The next time you squat and deadlift, record yourself from the side. When you go back and watch the video, look at how you moved, and then take a look at your head position prior to, and throughout the entirety of the lift. If you notice that your head is drifting out, pack it up! This is how…

 

Squat: On the squat, make sure that this is something that you are focusing on as you unrack the bar. As you descend into your squat, drive your head back into your neck & traps about 50%. Then as soon as you start to ascend out of the bottom, drive your head back 100%. What you will find is that you are now able to better initiate the movement with your sternum coming up first as opposed to having your hips shoot up first.

 

Deadlift: On the deadlift, this is a technique that we want to apply from the very beginning. As we bend down to grab the bar, we should already be working on getting our head position where we want it. Then, as soon as we begin to initiate the pull, we want to pull our head back into our traps as hard as possible. When done correctly, this will assist us in making sure that our sternum rises first, and then our hips, instead of the other way around.

 

Give it a shot and let me know what you think. Stay strong, my friends.

Ten Reason to Join us for Squatober

Fitness, Life Health, Training, , , , , , ,
  1. Squatting everyday will make you stronger and cooler.
  2. Completing any challenge is a good thing.
  3. A cool T Shirt.
  4. A free massage.
  5. If you are a fitness center member you get a free upgrade to strength lab for one month.
  6. It is for a good cause (outfits an underprivileged school with a weight room).
  7. Meet some new friends who also like to squat.
  8. Everyone can pick on CeJ.
  9. PR Party at the end of the month.
  10. For every person who does this I will personally donate 5 dollars to a charity of your choice (when in doubt bribe them).

 

These are my reasons why you should join us for our first Squatober here at UF.

 

Todd Hamer

Control Your Deadlifts for Better Progress.

Fitness, Training, , , ,

Out of all of the major compound lifts, the deadlift is the only one that does not require an eccentric (lowering) phase to initiate the movement. Because of this, the concentric (lifting) portion is hands down the most important aspect to be trained. But, what if I told you that focusing on how you return the bar to the floor could greatly help you increase the quality and strength of your pull?

 

We’ve all seen it, someone sets up for a set of deadlifts, lifts it with great form and control, only to be followed by an uncontrolled limp-body descent. If you watch closely, there’s a good chance that you’ll notice each of the following reps become less sound and less technical than the one before. Whether you’re a powerlifter training for a competition, or someone simply looking to improve strength, the goal should always be to make every repetition an exact representation of the one before.

 

Now, I completely understand that holding a bar in your hands loaded with heavy weight for any period of time can be uncomfortable. The last thing that anyone wants is to feel the knurling of a bar trying to pull the skin off of their hands. But if you’re going to take the time to perform a lift every single week for months and years on end, why not take the time to get the most out of it possible, right?

 

So, if the deadlift is a concentric only lift, then what’s the point of worrying about how we lower it? Well, let’s look at the squat and the bench press. As you lower the bar, you’re gaining feedback from your body on what muscles are firing and how to keep them tense and engaged. This then allows you to be in a stronger position for the concentric portion. So even if the squat and bench press started from the bottom up, by practicing this technique we would sill get stronger. The more practice we have doing this and the better that we get, the more efficient we can be. Over time, this adds up into many technically sound lifts, which allows us to also get stronger.

 

So how do we apply this to the deadlift? The easiest way is to try to make your pull and your return look like a mirror image. If you were to watch the entire lift on film, it should look the exact same when played forward or backwards. While you’re doing this, be sure to start light and take your time. Understand that at first this may affect how much you can lift overall, but it will drastically improve your strength over time. Start with around 60-70% of your max and try to take around 3 seconds to return the bar to the floor. During that time, focus on recognizing which muscles are working, and what needs to be done in order to keep them engaged. Do not lose that tension once the bar returns to the floor. Even in between reps, keep tension, stay engaged, and in the exact position that you want to perform the next rep. This will then help you know exactly what to do when you begin your first pull, even without being able to perform the eccentric phase. Over time, as you learn how to build and keep tension throughout your body, you can start applying this to heavier weights, and you will begin to see your strength and technique improve tremendously.

 

If you see me in the gym, don’t hesitate to grab me and ask for help. If you follow me on Instagram, don’t hesitate to send me your videos. I’m glad to help any way I can. Stay strong, my friends!

 

Curtis