UF Eats: Travel Edition

by Lindsey Pogson

Last weekend I took a (very) quick trip home to Philadelphia, and figured what better topic for my first food blog than how I handle my nutrition while traveling!

I take this trip somewhat frequently, but this was my first time driving it by myself. I was nervous, but everything went just fine. I could stop as often as I wanted and listen to whatever I wanted the whole time, so no complaints! It also made the eating part a whole lot easier.

I wouldn’t say that I throw all caution to the wind when it comes to food while on trips like this, but I do try to lighten up a bit. With my meal prep habit, I normally tend to eat the same foods each day, but I let that go when I visit home. I really only have two guidelines that I follow loosely:

1.  Add veggies and fruits whenever possible.

2.  Indulge, but only when it’s really worth it.

So how does that look? I start with what I’m eating on the road. I generally don’t think the kind of fast food on offer at the Turnpike rest stops are worth it (with one exception that I’ll come back to later), so I pack my own food. Pro tip: every rest stop on the Turnpike has a microwave in the gas station store, and anyone can use it. I always do. On my trip out, I prepped some snacks (veggies and guacamole, some fruit) and a normal meal:

Odds and Ends Breakfast Hash:

• Two handfuls of red or yellow potatoes, diced.
• 2 slices of thick bacon
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Cooking spray (I like avocado oil)
• 2 eggs
• Whatever veggies, herbs, and toppings that needed to be eaten yesterday, diced

1. In a pot, par-boil the potatoes until you can pierce them with a fork.
2. In a large pan, fry the bacon until just before crispy. Let it drain on a towel, then dice.
3. Turn the pan heat to medium-low and cook the onions until translucent. Then add garlic and any hardier herbs you’re using (I did rosemary here).
4. When that all smells really, really good, add your other hardy veggies (I used asparagus). If you’re using leafy greens, save for the end.
5. Cook the veggies for 2-3 minutes, then add the par-boiled potatoes.
6. Cover to cook until eggs are finished. Remember to shake or stir every once in awhile, but really give those potatoes a few minutes to crisp up on the bottom!
7. Spray another, small pan with your cooking oil and let it warm up. Then fry your two eggs however you like them!
8. Once the eggs are done, throw your hash in a bowl, top with the eggs and whatever other toppings you have (those are micro greens on mine), and enjoy!

I didn’t eat all of this by any stretch, so I was able to still snack on the fruits and veggies at my parents’ house.

Between my family and friends, we always eat out a ton when I’m home, and for that reason I pick and choose when to indulge and when to order some more typical foods. For example, I went to brunch with one of my best friends and took that opportunity to get this AMAZING almond croissant filled with Bavarian cream and enjoyed every last second of it. But when we went out for a quick lunch at a local chain, I stuck with salmon, rice, and veggies. It was still delicious, but helped me get those veggies in.

And just as I settled in, it was time to drive back to Pittsburgh! Because I didn’t have a ton of time to prep food, I relied on some of my favorite convenience options, salad in a bag and pre-cooked chicken slices. Take a big container and mix it all when you’re hungry for an easy, healthy meal.

And finally, there is one rest stop indulgence I like to make room for. This one normally comes as a surprise, but no regrets: it’s Pizza Hut breadsticks, and yes, they were 100000% worth it.

By: Alexa Ferri

Barbara goes to the gym. Barbara never warms up. Don’t be like Barbara.
If you are like most people, and myself, you tend to fly through your warm-ups. Maybe you don’t know why you are warming up or how it is a major piece to your goal puzzle. My aim in this blog is to give you the whys.



Why warm-up?
A few reasons to warm-up:
-injury prevention
-increase core temperature
-increase neuromuscular activation
-allow our muscles to adapt before the all intent effort

…these changes are a result of general and specific warm-ups.

A general warm-up is used to increase overall body temperature and prime your sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight system). Whereas, the specific warm-up is used to elicit a specific adaptation to the area you are training for that day (Think a greater intention with a specific warm-up).

With a general warm-up, we are priming our body to become efficient at improving oxygen availability by dissociating oxygen from hemoglobin, increasing muscular blood flow by opening blood capillaries, and improving neuromuscular communication by increasing the speed of nerve impulses.

With a specific warm-up, we are prepping the group of muscles being trained and its surrounding tissues and joints. The specificity is useful in gearing your motor skills, muscle and joint plasticity, and ensuring adequate muscle fiber recruitment.

Aside from the aforementioned benefits, mental preparation is another important variable to a successful training day. The focus and mental preparedness will carry over into your technique, mind-muscle connection, skill, coordination, and just overall enjoyment.

Full disclaimer: these recommendations are intended for general and preventative measures, using weight training as our focus. Now if you are a person with a particular injury or have an area needing special attention, then specific drills and stretches should be prescribed on a per individual/diagnosis basis by a doctor or coach.

General Warm-Up:
We want to increase overall body temperature and not necessarily hone in on any specific area, hence “general.” We will get to the details later. A general warm-up is typically performed for 10-20 minutes. The duration is going to vary depending on your cardiovascular level of fitness. Within your general warm-up you can include some dynamic stretching/mobility as well. This can be specific to your day’s focus. Your intention here is to get your body acclimated to feeling warm, moving in a mimicry motion for your intention of the day, and beginning to activate the sympathetic nervous system.

Examples of General Warm-Ups:
Walking on the treadmill
Light jogging
Elliptical
Biking
Rowing
Burpees
Dancing (fav)
Examples of General-Dynamic Lower Body Warm-Ups:
Hip CARs
Quadruped Hydrants
Leg Swings
Inchworms
Spiderman Reaches
90/90 Hips Stretches
Box Jumps
Examples of General-Dynamic Upper Body Warm-Ups:
Band Pull Apart
IYT’s
Scapular Retraction/Protraction
Internal/External rotations
PVC Pipe Pass Through
Arm Circles

Specific Warm-Up:
Specific warm-ups are ones that compliment or mimic the activity or movement you are training for that day. With the intention of specificity, we are attempting to increase the speed at which nerve impulses travel and the sensitivity of our receptors in that particular focal point. This is helping us gain control as to what we want our body to do or how we want our body to perform. Whether your goal is strength, hypertrophy, sports, etc., we want to increase our muscle fiber recruitment efficiency. Try adding unilateral exercises to your warm-up. It is important to have both sides firing and to work on asymmetries that could potentially retard progress.

Make your warm-ups slow and controlled. The intensity of a specific warm-up should gradually progress from low to moderate intensity, before beginning our working sets. We typically do this for squat, bench, and deadlift by pyramiding our way up. Our purpose for the specific warm-up? To prime the muscles, increase joint range of motion, and increase psychological readiness.

Examples of Specific Warm-ups:
-Squat specific warm-up drills: banded air squats, lateral banded walks, banded monster walks, goblet squats, light leg press. After the specific drills, you will begin with the bar and gradually move up your percentages while decreasing reps (remember this is a warm-up not your working sets, so do not exhaust yourself, but at the same time it is critical to prime our body in this manner)

-Deadlift warm-up drills: KB swings, light RDL’s, lateral banded walks, glute bridges, glute focused back extensions, banded/cable lat pull overs, etc. Again, progress in weight and start with the bar as you did the squat.

-Bench warm-up drills: Band pull aparts, light dumbbell bench, light banded tricep ext. And of course, don’t forget your bar pyramid.

Cool-down…BUT WHY?
First, we want to take our raised heart rate down to a relatively normal resting heart rate. We also want to promote recovery, and return our bodies to a parasympathetic drive (hopefully this is a familiar return and not something that is new…)

When we train, we create a very stressful process within. Muscles fibers develop micro tears, tendons and ligaments get worn and stressed, and waste builds. We also experience blood pooling. A process that occurs when your working muscles require attention from the heart, eating up the oxygen and nutrients that blood delivers. This is a quick drive by, then back to the heart for more. Once exercise stops, so does the pressure of blood to the heart. After training, blood and waste products hang out in our muscles, this is typically characterized by mild swelling and burning.

So, this is all fine and dandy, but how does a cool-down help? The cool-down will help recirculate the blood, which also helps bring fresh groceries aka oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, ligaments, and tendons to begin repair.

Also, remember how cool-downs can help increase parasympathetic activity (rest and digest)? Well, here are some techniques to gaining back some control and relaxing. Breath work! Try lying on your back either with your feet flat on the ground or with your legs elevated up against a wall. Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth, this can be very efficacious to shutting down that fight or flight drive. If this does not appeal to you, here are some other tips to redistribute blood and begin the recovery process; relax in pigeon pose for 2-3 minutes per leg or another favorite stretch, foam roll, or just hop on a bike or treadmill and go easy. Last, BUT not least…HYDRATE.

By Casey Williams

My training sessions have been few and far between as of late due to my current health. I just started Entyvio in place of Humira, and it’s going to take awhile for it to kick in. Long story short, my body is just generally achy and inflamed and I’m run down. Realizing that I’m not Superman, and the cost/benefit of training just is in the red, I’ve been taking it easy.

Most days involve at least one mile of walking at various paces and inclines.

Saturday (the day of our photo shoot)

Box squats with the SSB up to 405×5

• this was the most weight I’ve had on my back in months, and it didn’t kill me

Some box jumps and push ups

KB rows, single arm

At this point I was whooped, so that was the end of my training session.

Thursday

I made a concerted effort to have some structured training on this day.

I went through my shoulder warm up, then…

SSB front squats 135 3×10

Push ups 4×20 x 60 sec rest

Landmine presses 2×8

And then I fell asleep sitting down. It sucks, but that’s the nature of the beast. I left the gym and went to bed early that night.

I’m at a point where I have committed to taking what’s there. If I don’t want to train, I don’t. If I have the itch, I will do something. What is irrelevant. Just picking something up and putting it down is enough. The goal is to feel better physically, not feel better mentally about ‘getting something done.’

I come from a long line of excellent chefs. As a child, my grandparents owned a Chinese restaurant in Mt. Lebanon and lived above it. My siblings, parents and I were literally always there. My grandfather was the head chef, having avoided the front lines of WWII because his commanders found out about his extraordinary cooking skills. My grandmother, bedridden, was the designated babysitter of my brother, two sisters and my wild youngest sibling self. My great Uncle was the prep chef and we would often escape to the basement to help him peel shrimp and roll wontons. My mother waited tables in between managing her own business called “Diane’s Delightful Desserts” (now you know where I get my love of alliteration from). My father manned the massive woks in the kitchen where we would sneak in for tastes of whatever was cooking. Suffice it to say I had a great childhood (and yes, I can still roll a mean wonton). But I think my grandparents would roll over in their graves to see my slacking cooking skills as of late. Every week when I’m meal prepping or thinking about what I’m going to cook for the week I ask myself one question: What is going to be the easiest?

Since the baby was born, I rely almost exclusively on my crockpot. My go-to breakfast is some version of steel cut oats. This week’s delicacy:

¼ cup dry Steel Cut Oats
1 cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1 scoop Vega Salted Caramel Protein & Greens Powder
1 cup Blueberries
1/8 cup Goji Berries
1/8 cup Almonds
Nutrition Facts: Protein 31.0, Carbs 57.2, Fat 16.0, Calories 497

My lunches usually consist of some sort of protein that I can cook in the crockpot. Typically I throw a huge beef roast in but I’m attempting to scale back on my red meat intake so this week I did chicken. Ever since my pregnancy though, I cannot stand the taste, smell or texture of chicken. So I attempted to disguise it by making Shredded Buffalo Chicken & Asparagus:

5 oz Chicken Breast
Crapton of Frank’s Red Hot
1 tbsp Blue Cheese Crumbles
90 grams Asparagus Spears
Nutrition Facts: Protein 35.5, Carbs 3.2, Fat 8.4 Calories 225

Maybe one day I’ll make my family proud again by honing in on my hereditary cooking skills but for now it’s crockpot, crockpot and more crockpot. If you’re struggling with healthy meals, try dusting off your crockpot and get creative. Share your recipes with me because I think my kids might spit at me if I feed them oatmeal one more time.

By Alison Yee

Understanding Pacing

By: Lindsey Pogson 

Welcome to Week 3 of our Cardio Lab series! If you haven’t read Ryan’s defense of the Basics class or Alison’s breakdown of work/rest intervals, I highly recommend you do so now.

If you’ve taken one of our Cardio Lab classes (or any other HIIT or Crossfit class), you’ve probably experienced redlining at least once: that feeling of being completely out of breath and desperate for air, dizzy, heart beating out of your chest, ready to puke. We’ve all been there, and I’ll actually go out and say it’s something everyone needs to experience at least once (or twice) in our lives to really understand what we’re capable of.

But if we’re redlining during every workout, we’re in real trouble. While it’s tempting to push ourselves to the brink in every class, it’s a surefire path to injury and burnout. We want you to make fitness a lifestyle, not something you do all-out for a month and then take three months off to recover. And frankly, you don’t NEED to redline to get a good workout! So with that in mind, what might be a better option?

You’ve probably heard me yelling “Pace yourselves” over and over again in my classes, particularly in the GRIT class. Pacing is the key to finding the balance between taking it too easy and pushing so hard you’re puking. Let’s get into WHY I’m constantly preaching pacing, and HOW I want you to do it.

Part 1: Steady wins the Race

You’ve heard it a million times before, and this time is no different: slow and steady wins the race. While I largely agree with this, you really don’t need to be slow to stay ahead, just consistent!

The most common mistake we see in Cardio Lab classes are people that go out way too hard at the start. And I’ll admit that I’ve been guilty of this – I told my Saturday class that the last time I’d attempted the 20 —> 1 Burpee workout, I started way too fast and redlined halfway through. You can avoid this with a simple strategy: take your first 5 minutes so easy that it feels a little ridiculous. Yes, you might be moving a bit slower than the rest of the class, but you’ll be giving yourself room to grow into a faster pace. Think of those first 5 minutes as your true warm-up.

And after those 5 minutes?

Part 2: Develop a Class Strategy (Know When to Push It)

Once your warm-up period has come to an end, it’s time to pick up the pace – little by little. In running circles, we talk about achieving “negative splits” – a racing strategy that basically comes down to completing the second half of the race faster than the first half. That sounds crazy, but with practice will become second nature.

To achieve this, you’ll need a plan. You’ve already started out on the right foot by taking your first 5 minutes as an extended warm-up. From there, we start to ramp up the pace, while still staying a bit below your true capacity. One way to achieve this is through numbers, particularly when you’re on the row and ski ergs. If you know your best 500m pace is 2:00, you’ll want the first half of your workout to only include splits that are slower than that all-time-best pace – more like 2:10 – 2:05 splits.

Since we aren’t using the row and ski during the entirety of (most) Cardio Lab classes, you’ll need a different strategy when on the bike or the floor. My favorite is actually the simplest to use – pay attention to your breath.

If you’re maintaining a nice easy pace (somewhere in the aerobic zone powered by your oxygen intake that Alison talked about last week), you should be able to maintain a conversation with me while you’re working (you never thought I was striking up a conversation while you’re on the bike just as a test, did you?). This is where your first 5, even 10 minutes should be. From there, we’re going to slowly start building up – next you’ll only be able to get one sentence out at a time. Then maybe just a few words. Save the point at which you can’t talk at all for your final “kick,” or the point right at the end of the workout where you sprint for it and give it your all.

So yes, your start will feel easy, but you’ll probably progress through the workout faster OVERALL than you normally do, and will still finish it feeling accomplished (and spent).

Part 3: Build your Aerobic Capacity

The ultimate goal of all this pacing talk is to get you to spend as much time working your aerobic (oxygen powered) and anaerobic (muscle glucose powered) systems for as long as possible, WITHOUT hitting your anaerobic threshold, AKA the place where you redline.

You’re likely already spending a lot of time working on your anaerobic fitness – strength training and most HIIT workouts are largely of this type. So that leaves your aerobic fitness, or what we’ll call your aerobic capacity. We need to increase your ability to do work while just using oxygen (and your stored bodyfat) as power. To do this, we need to slow down and go longer.

I once had a running coach who gave me the following challenge when we first started out: cover 3 miles without ever letting your heart rate (HR) go above 140 beats per minute (bpm), and tell me how long it takes. I laughed – I was regularly running 10+ miles, my resting heart rate was around 50bpm, and my observed max was around 200bpm! I figured this would be super easy, I’d run it like any other short run and be done with it. Totally wrong. Within the first mile my HR started creeping up closer to 150. I’d have to slow down to a walk and recover. The entire exercise went like this. I don’t remember my final time, but I’ve never forgotten that lesson.

To get that heart rate number down, we use “long, slow distance” work, and you can apply the same principle to building your aerobic capacity for classes. If you do the math, my target HR max in that exercise was 70%. And going forward, all of my long runs were done with the same intention of always staying around 70-75% of my max. This isn’t all that different from how we program for strength training, huh?

So you have some options. Go into a GRIT class knowing that you’re only working at 70-75% that day. You’ll be able to talk though the entire class – even the end, because you’ll restrain yourself from pushing quite as hard as you can to really reap those aerobic building benefits! If the thought of not going all-out in class is painful, you can easily build that aerobic capacity using any style of cardio you like. Walking and running are always available. I adore the elliptical for aerobic work when I’m feeling a little too beat up from high impact work. And if you wanted to get more specific to the Cardio Lab, hop on the rower and take on some 5-10k rows! Remember to keep an eye on your heart rate, or bring a friend to talk to!

Part 4: Build your GRIT

In this last piece, we’re going to focus on something other than your physical abilities – it’s all about the mind.

When you walk into the Cardio Lab and see a 2500m row time trial on the board (plus lots of other stuff), you know some pain is in store. Yes, you need to a certain level of fitness to get through it; we’ve already covered that part. But having the right mindset for that kind of workout is also imperative. You need to build your mental toughness, your grit, to power through and come out the other side.

You’re building and using up your mental toughness all the time, whether you realize it or not. At work, when you’re given an important project and a strict deadline. At home, when your new baby won’t let you sleep but you manage to get through every day anyway. At school, when it’s finals week and you’re just surviving, taking it one test at a time. These situations require grit, and lots of it. You find a way to manage. Now I want you to think about using these grueling workouts as a way to build that mental muscle.

Pay attention to what we covered above regarding pacing, but when you get to those last few minutes, when you’re trying to find that final kick, dig in. Focus on what you’re doing in that instant and nothing else. Tell yourself that you can do this. Push harder than you thought you could – it’s just for a few moments. It’s going to be hard, your muscles are going to hurt, but it’s temporary, and you’ll be better for it. See what you’re truly able to do. And when it’s over, realize that you are capable of more than you know in just about every facet of your life. That GRIT carries over.

UF Eats

By Casey Williams

We’re bringing you a new blog for Wednesdays- UF Eats! We sat around as a staff and thought ‘what do we do everyday that could help our members’ and we came up with one thing- WE EAT! And we love eating. So the goal of this blog is to let you in on any secrets we may be keeping- what we eat, why we eat it, when we eat it, how we prepare it, what we like about…the list is endless.

In an effort to lead from the front, I’ll kick this series off. Interestingly enough, I was sick recently and my mom made me stew. It’s kick ass because my mom grew up on a farm and cooks like it. I’m lucky to say the least- I grew up with home cooked meals everyday of my life- and who doesn’t love their mother’s cooking?

My diet at the moment is not particular or restrictive in too many ways. I’m eating a heavier balance of proteins and fats with some carbs thrown in as I crave them, but at a much lower percentage than I have eaten in the past.

I’m also fasting about 15 hours per day, with a 9 hour feeding window. I wake up around 730am, have a big glass of water with lemon, then have a cup of coffee. Around 11am I head to the gym and have two more cups of coffee (with 2 tablespoons of unsalted, grass fed butter whipped up in it) for my commute. This is the point that breaks my fast.

Then lunch! So my mom’s stew consisted of chuck roast, carrots, and potatoes. All slow cooked and delicious.

Another meal around 4pm. And potentially a snack when I get home from the gym. Once I have my last meal, I start my clock and don’t eat for the next 14+ hours, with the goal usually being 15-16 hours.

I’ll check back in a month and let you know what else is on the menu and how the intermittent fasting is going!

By Alison Yee

Last week, the first blog in our Cardio Lab series, Ryan talked about the importance of getting back to basics in order to become more efficient and prevent injuries. Teaching the why and the how-to, in short, educating & empowering our clients has always been one of our top priorities here at UF. So step one: Learn (or re-learn) the basics in our Cardio Lab: Basics class. Step two: Learn the ins & outs of the most common type of programming we do in our Cardio Lab classes: High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.

In my Cardio Lab classes, I always joke that rest is hard to come by. It’s true—I’ve been known to crush the cardio out of you, offering little respite as far as water breaks or downtime. But when we program rest, we expect you to take it and here’s why.

Let’s start with the basics— what exactly are work/rest ratios?

Simply put, it’s a fancy way of explaining interval training. Work/rest ratios are the foundation or framework of all interval training. They describe the amount of work, exercise or effort performed compared to the amount of rest (or sometimes lower intensity work) prescribed. For example, a 1:2 work/rest ratio would be double the amount of rest compared to the work. In a Cardio Lab class it would look something like this: a thirty-second echo bike sprint followed by sixty-seconds of rest.

Intervals are incredibly effective because they can zero in on certain energy systems (we will get to those in a second). Knowing how (and why!) to use which intervals when is a key component to good programming.

So now that we know a little bit about what work/rest ratios are, let’s nerd out on some science behind it. In a very basic sense, we know that we use food to fuel our bodies. But how do our bodies turn that fuel into energy for our workouts? We have three main energy systems for this: Phosphagen, Glycolytic and Oxidative.

Phosphagen System:
-Fastest way to get energy
-High power bursts; only lasts for 0-10 seconds

Remember back when it was nice outside (and the Pittsburgh weather wasn’t doing some weird mixture between snow/rain/slush/false springtime/hurricane winds) and we would do what I lovingly call “window sprints”? You recruit this energy system to perform one of those bad boys.

Glycolytic System:
-Second fastest
-High power energy; only lasts for 30- 60 seconds

A good example of this system would be short-ish intervals on any of the machines in the Cardio Lab or even one of our famous “door sprints”, y’all love those right?

Oxidative System:
-Slowest way to get energy
-Low power energy; lasts for long periods

This one is easy—take one of my classes on a Friday morning and you’ll soon find out what it means to recruit this energy system. It’s basically, any long AMRAP in one of our Grit classes. Run marathons? Then your oxidative system is strong too, my friend.

While all three energy systems have their time and place, it’s important to train all three of them in a variety of ways to optimize your health and fitness. That’s why our Cardio Lab classes are always different and although it may not seem like it at the time, each class has a very specifically designed purpose. You may think the coaches here are just out to punish you, but I promise you that there’s a reason behind it all. (Ok, you got me, sooooometimes I may simply program something because it’ll be “fun”. But we all a need a little fun in our lives sometimes, ya know?)

Understanding the different energy systems is not the only piece of the puzzle we need in order to understand interval training. It’s also important to have a base knowledge of the different types of muscle fibers. We have two main types: fast twitch and slow twitch.

Fast Twitch:
-Recruited for short durations
-High intensity bursts
-Fatigue quickly

Do you feel like an Olympic God(dess) when you’re doing Tabata Intervals but feel like your muscles are made of lead during anything more than a couple minutes? Chances are you probably have a high level of fast twitch muscle fibers.

Slow Twitch:
-Recruited for longer durations
-Low levels of force/Low intensity
-Do not fatigue quickly

Do you feel like you could run/row/ski/bike forever as long as it’s a moderate pace? Do you cringe a little inside when a coach yells FASTER? If so, you probably have a higher ratio of slow twitch muscle fibers. Endurance athletes often have more of these muscle fibers than their sprinting counterparts.

There’s even a third type of muscle fiber, a branch off of the fast twitch muscle fibers even though technically it’s more of a hybrid of both slow & fast twitch fibers. It’s called Type IIa fiber and it is kinda the do-it-all muscle fiber– part aerobic and part anaerobic.

Genetically speaking, everybody is born with a different percentage of each type of muscle fiber. Not happy with the muscle fiber hand you were dealt? Don’t despair! There are ways to work around your genes. Though your DNA may have set you up with the ability to excel at one thing and not the other, it doesn’t mean you have no choice in the matter. Proper training (like knowing how & when to train the energy system specific to your needs) can alter your muscle fiber make up, help your muscles conform and function more efficiently..

Ok ok, this information is all well and good but what does it all mean for you personally at Union Fitness? Well, nothing and everything! It’s means everything because knowledge is power, folks. And the more you know, the better you’ll become. There also may be times when you have to travel for work or can’t make it to the gym in time for class or even need to throw together an in-home workout for yourself. Understanding interval training gives you the knowledge to be your own coach on those days when you can’t make it here. But, on the other hand, all this knowledge can mean absolutely nothing because, let’s face it, sometimes it’s nice just to come into class to sweat out the demons and not have to think about anything at all. And it’s ok to have those days (or have all the days be like that!) because we are here for you to do all the heavy thinking as long as you all just continue to show up and do all the heavy Cardio Lab-ing.

By: Alexa Ferri

It has been a long six weeks of the Triphasic program. It had two weeks of eccentrics, two weeks of pause, and two weeks of concentric work accompanied by chains. I am happy for two reasons: 1) I learned that I suck at eccentric squats and need more of them and 2) I feel good, my body feels strong, and this new style of training took me out of my comfort zone…and to me that is the most important piece. Triphasic programming is interesting because you get a new modality of training (important for those who get bored with training easily), you become cognizant of your weaknesses, and you learn what you like and what you do not (which means you probably need more of it).

Currently, I am on the last week of this entire program and starting to write the next one. The big focus for the next program is to grow my shoulders, back, glutes, and abs (always more abs). So I am programming some additional shoulder, glute, back, and ab work 2-3 times per week. Oh boy! Ryan and I are taking on a competition to see who can grow their quads the most by July. So, basically I want to grow- and this takes time. I can only focus on the small wins each cycle and compare to the last. Looking at the big picture can get paralyzing. So to keep me focused, I really focus on enjoying the trivial successes, just as much as the big ones.

Here is a Bench Day from this week:

Bench w/ chains @85-90% 4×2
Bent over BB row 4×8
1a. SA FB Bench 4×10
1b. Zottman curls 4×10
1c. Lying leg raise 4×15
2a. Face pulls 4×20
2b. Cable tricep pushdowns 4×10 – 3 drop sets
2c. Cable crunches 4×15
3a. Chain flyes 4×10
3b. Ring rows 4×10-neutral, 10-horizontal
3c. TRX ab medley 4x5per

Video link:

By Ryan McUmber

Learning the basics is always important for any movement or activity that we pursue. It builds the foundation that helps us become more efficient while also preventing injury. As fun as it is to learn the finesse of certain exercises to show off to all your friends, the finesse will fall apart quickly if you don’t have the base to hold it. People might get tired of hearing one of us yell “knees out” on a squat but this simple cue holds the key to larger squats. Now, don’t think that you can hear the basic cues once and think that you are set for life. The core cues can easily be forgotten when focusing on speed or how many reps we can get during a workout. Like in the Strength Lab, we can focus on a similar mindset in the Cardio Lab- luckily we have a wonderful class called CardioLab: Basics. The Basics class is important for keeping efficiency in the movement, preventing injury, and possibly learning new cues that you have never heard.

Efficiency: achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort. Being efficient is important if you want to finish quicker during those rounds for time workouts or get that one extra rep when you are performing as many reps as possible. This will make sure every calorie you expend is driving towards being better. When you are completely efficient your overall fitness will shoot up. Think about this scenario: You have two people who are working out. Person A is moving inefficiently through the workout and person B has been taking the new sweet CardioLab: Basics class, so person B is moving with precision. Person A after a short period of time gets tired and must rest while Person B has more in the tank to keep going. Person B will be able to work out much longer since no energy is wasted hence allowing them to push themselves for a longer period of time. Person A realizes that they need to take Basics and after only a couple of classes is hanging with Person B with ease.

Basics not only allows you to perform better but I would argue that the most important reason is to learn how to avoid injury. Injury is no fun. Along with the pain that it can cause, your progress will be put on hold, and you won’t get to see the wonderful staff of Union fitness. The basics class covers how to protect yourself while using the movements that we perform during class. Taking the Basics class will also allow you to apply what you learn to all movements in and out of the gym. A hinge is the perfect example of this. Mastering a key movement such as hinging will allow you to stay safe during more than half the movements that are done in ALL of our classes as well as in everyday life. It can be applied to the ski erg, good mornings, deadlifting, picking up a box at home, and even picking up your child!

So what does this class look like? Lindsey constructs this mastermind of a class into sections. The warm-up usually includes drills that are essential for all movements along with bracing drills. Bracing drills teach you how to stabilize that mid-section of your body. This allows strength throughout the body when performing exercises to create efficiency and safety. After the warm-up, we go over the concept of that day’s class. Whether it is the Rower, Bike, or Ski Erg. Eventually we’ll touch on the idea of pacing-how to approach a long workout vs a full out sprint. Don’t worry!- We also cover floor exercises that are so common in our CardioLab classes. Although you may consider most of the floor work, such as med ball slams, a walk in the park it can be beneficial to go a little more in depth into these exercises. Med ball slams are a great exercise to cover what is called the “triple extension.” There are multiple books and viewpoints on the importance of triple extension – think “full body movement”- but if you are curious what this is and how to do it properly, I think it’s time to sign up for the class. Of course this is CardioLab and what would be it be if you didn’t feel like your lungs were burning and legs like Jell-O? So you can still prepare yourself for a finisher right before you walk out the door.

The Basics class can only make you better. This class is not only for beginners but for anyone that wants to improve their overall movement. Check out our new class to see if you can fine tune the exercises you already know or maybe learn something completely new.

Since my last training log, I am SUPER excited to write that I’ve started lifting some weights again. To say it’s helped improve my mood and overall outlook on life is an understatement. I feel like myself again.

I’m not following any strict training program by any means. In fact, I really just go in (a little earlier than usual, and I’ve met so many members that are new to me, it’s been awesome) and do what sounds and feels good on that day. I have generally been splitting my workouts up between upper and lower body, doing around two exercises per muscle group in each workout. I try to have a day where I’m including more “athletic” movements, aka I’m jumping around a little more. It’s been fun, and I’m already seeing some positive body composition changes. Here are two workouts I’ve done recently that I’ve really enjoyed:



One of the activities that I mostly gave up when I was feeling particularly sick was yoga. Getting to class in the morning just wasn’t a possibility, so I let it go and just tried to attend one of our classes on the weekend. I’m trying to change that now, because I truly never feel better than when I’m practicing yoga regularly. I couldn’t start last week due to some medical testing, but this week already started out on the right foot with a really intense power flow at my local yoga studio.

With the addition of more yoga, and with continuing my fairly time-intensive cardio routine (turns out getting on the elliptical with a book and my favorite focus playlist is super cathartic), that means I’ll need to reevaluate my little lifting routine. Here’s a loose plan for how I’ll be balancing it all:



None of the cardio requires much exertion, so I pretty much use it as “active recovery,” aka it’s replacing all the walking I was doing before I got a driver’s license and a car. I’ll give this schedule a week or two, see if I’m recovering okay, then readjust if needed. It’s simple, but the focus right now is on feeling good. With all I have going on, I think this will do it.