About a month ago, Casey, Lindsey and I attended a clinic in Columbus on Reflexive Performance Reset (or RPR): a system meant to help increase performance and decrease unnecessary injuries during sports and training using a variety of “wake-up drills” for your nervous system. Sounds great right? To be honest, after a little research, I was hesitant: when you watch video of the drills being performed, it seems like nothing short of voodoo. You’ll see people rubbing the back of their head, digging thumbs into their stomach, and karate chopping their inner thighs (so if you see Casey scratching his rib cage in the corner a little more aggressively than usual, that’s a wake up drill).

 

The system was designed, in part, by JL Holdsworth. JL is a long time member of EliteFTS and has been one of Casey’s friends and mentors over the last five years. JL was a world powerlifting champion and is currently running two gyms in Columbus OH (The Spot Athletics). So if anyone knows about performance AND stress, it’s him. Taken from the RPR website: You are under constant stress, which is interpreted as survival mode by your body. When in survival mode your body utilizes harmful compensation patterns which can lead to injury.  RPR® resets the body out of survival mode and into performance mode.

 

The guys behind RPR have been at this long enough to understand the initial skepticism, so we started the training with a simple anti-rotational test which they designed as buy-in for new RPR users. Everyone in the seminar was paired up with someone of a similar strength/build and we were instructed to try to knock our partner off balance by rotating one shoulder towards us while pushing the other away. This might sound easy, but even with the little resistance that my partner applied, I wasn’t able to keep the starting position (and I like to think I’m pretty strong). My first thought was that my core wasn’t strong enough: the first thing I am doing when I get home is planks every day. But what happened next confused me as my partner rubbed the muscles along my spine (erectors to be scientific) and then pounded on them with the end of his palm, like an aggressive, angry massage (percussion in RPR terms). This was my first experience with a wake-up drill. After this drill, we retested and I was able to resist my partner even after he applied more resistance. Needless to say, I was sold.

 

Through the rest of the seminar we learned more of these wake-up drills, moving from a group of drills meant for your core and out to more specific muscle groups and body parts. First we would learn the basics of the drill, then we would take a pre-drill measurement of performance, then we would execute the drill and finally, do a retest of our performance. Each and every time, my performance increased. Now the test that really hooked me was based on hip flexion. I have always had poor hip flexion, which I assumed was due to my glutes not activating. During our RPR training, I learned a more accurate way to think about my problem: my glutes were firing, but the timing in which my glutes fired was out of whack. This poor timing of my glutes firing actually lead to a serious non-contact injury. My hip flexion went from about 2 inches off the ground to about 4-5 inches off the ground. To be honest, my glute almost cramped since my body was not used to having to fire that much! Even though these still feel a little like voodoo, I can’t deny that the drills work.

 

 

While I don’t know every detail of the science behind RPR, I’ll lay out some of what I do know. RPR is designed to switch the timing in which muscles activate during certain exercises. This is the case when you are in hip extension, which is our most basic and most important movement pattern. You need to extend your hips every time you take a step or stand up from a chair. If you’re doing hip extension incorrectly, you’re creating poor motor patterns that will follow you into the gym. And if you do things incorrectly for long enough, you’ll end up with some severe dysfunction in the later stages of life. The gist of it is that the glutes should be the first muscle group to fire when we extend our hips, but unfortunately for many people, including me, that’s not the case. When the glutes don’t fire first, either our hamstrings or our contralateral quadratus lumborum (QL) deep in our abs, need to take over. Our body will always find a way to compensate for poor muscle firing, but eventually that can cause injury and subpar performance. The wake up drills we learned are intense enough that they cause a forceful reset (hence the name) of our nervous system, allowing us to retrain the body to fire the right muscles in the correct order.

 

Some of you may have noticed a new addition to our #powerful warm-ups: belly breathing or superman breaths. This is the most fundamental wake up drill used in RPR, and conveniently one of the easiest for us to implement. Most of us are “chest breathers,” meaning that we use the muscles around their upper chest to help inhale. This is not the most efficient way to breathe, and is often caused by chronic stress throughout our lives. When it comes down to it, your body can’t tell the difference between running from a lion and having a fight with your significant other – the stress reaction is the same. The belly breathing wake up drill helps reset our diaphragm to perform more deep breaths, which calm us down, help us focus on the task at hand, bring more oxygen into our bodies, and ultimately perform better. Of course we’re already having you do them!

 

We will be implementing even more of these drills in our warm-ups soon. We’re excited to get the rest of our staff together for a big RPR training this upcoming weekend! If you’re interested in how these drills can better improve your performance and overall daily activities in your life, come check out our #powerful class. We’ll get you breathing right and lifting heavy.

 

 

We’re going to try something a little different with one of our blogs each month moving forward. You’re going to hear straight from me about what I see and hear every day in our gym. My goal is to make it easily digestible and worth your time. If you find that it is, tell us. If you find that it’s garbage, tell us. We’re just like you- trying to improve at everything we do.

 

 

Our staff at UF has done a tremendous job putting our blogs together to get information across to our members each month. Most of it is what we preach daily to you all. Some of it was fun. Starting in February we went from 8-12 blog posts per month down to one per week. Like we preach in training- quality over quantity. So, if there are things you’re interested in learning more about, email us and we’ll write you your own blog post.

 

 

To keep this coherent, I’m going to use our values at UF to organize this information. That may change over time, but I think this is a great way to start. If you’re interested in reading more about those, click here: https://unionfitness.com/about/

 

 

UF values- EPIC: Education—Passion—Integrity—Community

 

 

Education

Earlier this month our staff took a trip to Columbus for an RPR clinic (Reflexive Performance Reset). Admittedly, I went for selfish reasons. I’m trying to fix my hips because my training has been suffering as a result of some dysfunction. However, my staff jumped at the opportunity to go (spending their own time and money) to help better serve our members with their performance and recovery. The basis of RPR is to use very simple techniques to reset your nervous system, allowing your muscles to do what they were intended to do. Traditional methods- massage and Active Release Therapy (ART) and rehab are all great tools, but they’re focus is limited to the muscle. RPR focuses on the nervous system, which controls the muscle.

 

 

One common application is back pain. We live in a world that our bodies are not designed for (sitting all day, eyes glued to phones or computers, etc). It causes bad compensation patterns including tight hip flexors and tight psoas.  So when you walk in to train, your nervous system keeps your psoas and hip flexors tight because that’s what you’ve taught it to do. I can explain why that leads to back pain but the point is moot because you have back pain and you don’t care why, you just want to fix it. So if you’re seeing some new warm ups in class, it’s a result of this clinic. If you have any questions, please consult one of our coaches.

 

 

Google “psoas” and “hip flexor” for reference.

Read more about RPR here: https://www.reflexiveperformance.com/about/

 

 

Passion

I’m going to try to make this as inclusive as possible, but understand I’m only one set of eyes. And I don’t get to see everyone in the gym each week let alone every day. With that being said, I want to take a moment to acknowledge Piyush Gupta for his commitment and passion in training. He comes in every day and busts his ass, but more importantly, he sticks to his goals outside of the gym. He and I have worked together over the last few months to tailor his training and nutrition. He’s responded really well already adding a few pounds of muscle in such a short time period. He understands that this is a process and there are no short cuts and for that I admire his work ethic. So thank you, Piyush, for you passion.

 

 

Integrity

There are two definitions of integrity. (1) the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles and (2) the state of being whole and undivided. Both apply to Union Fitness. We try to uphold honesty and integrity through our everyday interactions with our members. You and your experiences in our facility #1 and #2 priorities for us. Without you, there’s no us. Which leads me to the second definition- wholeness or oneness. I want to take a moment to publicly commend Coach Ali and Coach Lindsey. They’ve both poured themselves into coaching over the last year, but specifically empowering the women of Union Fitness. They’ve created a wholeness in our community that welcomes women of all backgrounds and ability levels. Through their hard work and our members’ trust, they’ve strengthened the integrity of our community at Union Fitness.

 

 

Community

Last but not least, I think this might be my favorite part of Union Fitness. So let me publicly thank you all for your contributions to our community. This is the first facility that I’ve managed, but I’ve been to every size and style gym across Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Austin. Very rarely do I have to stop someone from doing something dangerous or disruptive. More often than not I see members in both the Fitness Center and Strength Lab supporting each other and that means the world to me. It’s hard enough to get to the gym some days. Having a friend, training partner, coach, or even an acquaintance can make this process easier. Stay accountable to yourself, but lean on this community that YOU ALL have built to hold yourselves accountable.

 

 

Casey, Manager Union Fitness

 

 

Congratulations to our February Member of the Month: Terry Wiezorek!

 

Terry is only a couple months shy away from her one year anniversary with us here at Union and she has worked hard to earn this title. She joined last May with the intentions of becoming a better runner but started taking classes and fell in love with our #powerful class. Now she’s a lifter extraordinaire!  Add to that list: Supermom, Yogi and Metcon Crusher.

 

She’s a star student— always willing to learn and try new things and she’s our ring leader morning class goer.  Terry is the glue that holds our classes together in the mornings, always welcoming to new members and bonds together the regulars. Everyone knows or recognizes Terry. Everyone.

 

Her hard work is continually paying off with a new PR on the board almost every few weeks, constant muscle growth and increased endurance.  As if keeping up with her busy family isn’t enough, she balances everything out with yoga sessions three times a week.

 

She’s recruited her husband to step outside his comfort zone and take some Personal Training sessions with Coach Ryan and sweat it out in the Cardio Lab classes with Coach Lindsey. The pair can often be seen downward dogging together in Jocelyn’s Friday Happy Hour Yoga class #relationshipgoals

 

 

We are so thankful to our members, like Terry, that give so much meaning to what we do everyday.  She embodies the spirit and purpose of Union Fitness.  We can’t wait to see where this journey takes her!

We are all, I’m sure, far too familiar with stress.  It’s a part of everyone’s daily life (yep, you too!)  From work deadlines, caring for children, dealing with school delays or trying to understand recent school shooting tragedies, and everything else ranging in between moderately annoying to completely infuriating. How can we even begin to mitigate the damaging effects of these constant stressors?

 

My personal life has become so jam packed with these icky, permeating, suffocating stressors that I’ve found myself desperately searching for some kind of relief from it. So I work out.  I feel better momentarily and then it creeps back in.  So I work out again. It works and I find some instant relief, albeit brief.  So I try again, I test out a new Cardio Lab workout and let the sweat (and maybe a little swearing) cleanse me.  By the end of the day, I’ve worked out three times and yet the weight of the stress still sits heavily on my chest.

 

I continued to run my body into the ground to avoid the black hole of emotional stress inside my brain.  Until someone reminded me that I have the most powerful tool available out there to combat stress: a mindfulness practice.

 

As a yoga teacher, you’d think I’d have this whole mindfulness thing down by now and know better when I needed to whip it out like a strong, sparkling mind/body shield. Except the thing is, I found myself only practicing mindfulness when I was inside the yoga studio.  And with a growing pregnant body, a full time job and 6 year old twin tornadoes to raise, I found myself practicing less and less. I began to feel like a fraud yoga teacher, preaching one thing in my classes while my personal life was crumbling.

 

So I’ve slowly started implementing my mindfulness practice again, one step at a time, inside the gym and out:

 

Step 1: Breathe

As lifters, we know breath is the most important aspect of any lift. Yet sometimes  we forget that it is the most important aspect of anything. I began to try to  harness the power of breath control. When I feel overwhelmed, I take deep breathes to a count of five and exhales to a count of five.  Even after just one round, I can feel the calming effects.

 

Step 2: Practice gratitude

It is so easy to let this one fall to the way side when stress feels suffocating. Inside the gym I have begun to remind myself that I am grateful for just being here. I am grateful for my health, strong muscles and resilient body. I am grateful to be surrounded by a supportive community of fellow friends and lifters.  Outside of the gym, my gratitudes are much the same. I am grateful for just being here, for beautiful, healthy children and a supportive family.  Honestly, once the list starts flowing it amazes me how never-ending it seems. For that, I am thankful.

 

Step 3: Turn off my phone

Admittedly, this one is challenging for me.  I clutch to my phone at times like it is a cherished child. Ridiculous. So, starting small, I turn off my phone during my training sessions and begin Step 4.

 

Step 4: Turn a routine task into a mindful moment

Although you can use this technique in simple daily tasks like showering or washing the dishes, I’ve been trying this with lifting sessions.  I use all my senses and try to focus on the experience. Try it yourself: How does the chalk feel on your fingers and on the barbell? How does the air around you smell? What does the bar feel like in your hands? Notice what happens to your breath, your body and your muscles before and after you complete a lift? Listen for the multitudes of sounds surrounding you.  Close your eyes, what do you see? Open your eyes, what do you see?

 

Step 5: Remember mindfulness means simply being present

When frustrations naturally set it, when the doubts all come creeping back and when the stress is angrily knocking on my door again I try to remind myself that mindfulness simply means being present.  It doesn’t need any fancy gimmicks or fancy meditation classes or any twisting contortions of yoga poses.  It can simply mean taking a moment to hug my child or a simple moment of silence.

 

 

So, yes, the stressors are still there. They are still just as jam packed and just as icky. But there is a breaking in those dark clouds now.  And yes, working out is a great way to combat stress but it is not a cure-all. In fact, in my case it was just a Band-Aid and a momentary endorphin boost.  To reap the full benefits of it, I needed to pair it with my powerful tool of mindfulness, both inside the gym and out.

 

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and if I’m being totally honest, it’s not my favorite holiday. So instead of writing about workouts you can do with your boyfriend or whatever, I’d like to focus on loving and caring for the most important person in your life, who you probably neglect especially around this time of year: you.

 

I want to talk about self-care today.

 

This is a topic I know that I struggle with, and from my interactions with our members, I’d guess many of you do too. I find it so easy to pour myself into helping other people – at work, at home, at school; family, friends, significant others especially. But I find it incredibly difficult to turn around and care that much about myself. I give and give until there’s nothing left, hit a breaking point where the only thing that helps me recharge is an extended vacation in some beautiful tropical country. Then come home and do it all again. In 2018 I’m trying to cut that cycle short by taking better care of myself so I can take better care of others (without the breakdown). I’ve learned a few things about self-love and self-care so far this year that I’d like to share:

 

What self-care ISN’T

 

When I started this self-care project, I did what every millenial does best and read a million lists on a million clickbaity websites. “Take a hot bath, light a candle, have a spa day, eat some comfort food, buy a whole new wardrobe, go broke at Sephora, drink a glass of wine in front of the fireplace you don’t have and reflect on your beautiful life,” etc. These things are all great if you enjoy them (I unapologetically do), and they can be a form of self-care, but let’s be honest: this is some surface level stuff.

 

It’s EASY to sit in the tub with some candles and drink wine and tell yourself that this right here is the thing that’s going to fix the stress and make everything okay again. It certainly feels good in the moment. But when it’s all done and you’re still laying in bed at night unable to sleep and you don’t know why, I think it’s safe to say that your self-care practice wasn’t really cutting it.

 

What self-care IS

 

No one likes to hear it, but this is the truth: self-care is WORK. Buying new shoes isn’t getting at my real problems – especially if my real problems include paying off my student loans (they do) and better managing my money. I might get some instant gratification out of a new purchase, but that wears off and then I’m back to square one, just with even less money.

 

In a lot of ways, self-care means putting your current whims and wants on hold to focus on the bigger picture. Yes, maybe eating a tub of ice cream would feel awesome right now, and in some circles that would even count as self-care. But if what you really want for yourself is to be a faster runner, is that what you actually need?

 

This version of self-care feels to me more like a parenting relationship than the enabling best friend one I found in those self-care lists. It’s weird to be both the parent and the kid in this relationship, but just roll with it: would I let my kid sleep in and skip class all the time because they didn’t feel up to it that day? Of course not. Care about your future self as much as you care about your hypothetical (or real) child.

 

So here’s my self-care listicle. It’s not as fun as lying in a meadow surrounded by butterflies or whatever, but it’s definitely been more effective than the other things I’ve tried:

 

• Pay your bills on time. Open that mail even if it makes you anxious. The sooner you get it out of the way, the better you’ll feel.
• Make those doctor’s appointments you’ve been avoiding.
• Eat enough food. Make it nutritious. You know what that means.
• Make smart choices while you’re still at the grocery store. Avoiding ice cream once is easier than avoiding it every day after it’s already in your freezer.
• Have those hard conversations. Be honest about your feelings. No one can address how you feel if they don’t know.
• Cardio Lab hurts when it’s happening but clears your head after.
• Go after your goals. No one can do that for you. Get that first pull-up or a 400lb deadlift. You have to put in the work and that is within your control.
• Hate your job? Start looking for new ones.
• Get yourself on a budget. If you don’t know where your money is going, you can’t really save anything can you?
• Ask for help. A lot of this you can do alone, but not all of it. Lean on the people that love you. They want to be there for you.

 

This kind of self-care is hard. I’m still working on it everyday. Tackling some of the more serious issues in my life is draining and often terrifying, but I know that I’m going to come out on the other side a happier person. And for now, I’m lucky to be surrounded by people that are willing and want to help me get there. I hope you can do the same and consider loving yourself first this Valentine’s Day.

This Monday evening we are excited to welcome Mike Allen, DPT, to Union Fitness. He’ll be offering free functional movement screenings for all members, and we encourage every one of you to take him up on this offer, whether you’re currently experiencing aches and pains, or feel healthy as can be.

 

Mike is the President of Precision Physical Therapy and Performance in the North Hills. He’s an excellent physical therapist with over 11 years of clinical experience. He attended Slippery Rock University for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, finishing  his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science in 2003, and his Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2006.  His post-graduate work includes studies in spinal manipulation through the Spinal Manipulation Institute, Selective Functional Movement Assessment through Functional Movement Systems, and soft tissue treatment through the Institute for Physical Art. He’s also a lifelong athlete: he has played baseball, basketball, competed as a power lifter, and currently practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu. So you know that his advice doesn’t come down to “stop doing the things you love to do.”

 

Why should you get a functional movement screening (FMS)? If you’ve ever experienced low back, shoulder, or hip pain, you probably already know the answer. If not, the key is injury prevention. Mike will assess your movement joint-by-joint, looking for faulty movement patterns that may be putting you at risk of injury. Fixing these fundamental issues will make your day-to-day life more pain-free, AND you’ll find yourself moving more efficiently during your workouts. Can’t go wrong there!

 

Mike will be in house from 4-8pm on Monday, February 5th. We hope to see you all there!

Congratulations to our January Member of the Month: Amy Bistocchi!

 

 

Amy has been with us for a little over 6 months now and her work is really showing (look at those arms)! She jumped right into our Strength Lab offerings and quickly picked up on the big movements we come back to again and again. As of this writing, her best deadlift is a huge 205lbs and will surely continue increasing this year.

 

She also made the jump into working with a registered dietitian after attending a nutrition seminar we hosted last summer. Amy knows how to work hard but also knows how to lead a balanced lifestyle. We can’t begin to explain how excited we were to have a drink with her during our member happy hour over the holidays!

 

Amy is a familiar face here at Union now. She’s always quick to help out newcomers to our women’s #powerful class on Fridays. We can’t wait to keep watching her get stronger and healthier in 2018. Cheers to you Amy! Enjoy a little massage on us.

 

Let’s talk about what everyone wants- those washboard abs. By now you might be getting bored of doing a thousand crunches every workout without seeing much result. Not only is this method ineffective, it also puts your lower back at risk. To be honest, when it comes to abs there are other factors that are more important in giving you those dream abs (see: DIET). But the benefits to strong abdominals only start with aesthetics: a solid core will allow you to move more comfortably through your day-to-day life, will make you a better runner, and will protect you when you’re lifting heavy. A diverse arsenal of ab exercises will spice up your training and bring some new, functional strength to your core. 

 

Here are a few of our favorite exercises to get you started: 

 

MB Transfers

 

Banana Rolls

 

Jack Knives

 

Hollow Body Hold

 

Side Plank

 

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: nutrition is the foundation for achieving your fitness goals. And making sure you have a healthy and nutritious meal available at all times can help you avoid those greasy quick options you turn to in times of desperation. Meal prepping not only helps you avoid unhealthy meals but also takes the pressure off of planning to cook when you come home tired from a long work day. Imagine a day with all the cooking is already done and all you have to do is pop the food in the microwave! Now I know the meal prepping can be frustrating, but here are three tips can help make meal prepping the easiest part of your fitness journey:

 

Buy in bulk

The best way to make meal prep easy is to always have food to cook. If you run out of food to cook the chances of you just snacking all night or buying food out goes waaay up. So, when you are at the store, buy in bulk. Buy the frozen pack of chicken or the large frozen pack of vegetables. Buying frozen also helps since it lasts longer. This allows you to limit the number of times you go to store as well as always having the food you need to cook.

 

Plan a day to cook

Sunday Funday! This is the stereotypical meal prep day in the fitness industry. But you will need to have a day that you can cook all of your meals. This day can be spent at the house with the family playing board games while everything is cooking in the oven. If you are trying to gain muscle then you might need two days to cook. Ideally you want to have these meals ready for times that you are on the run.

 

Cook meals that you will eat

This one is the most overlooked but probably the most important. I find that when people start meal prepping they tend to cook boring meals. You know, chicken breast that usually tastes like rubber, brown rice, and broccoli. Yes, these will help, IF you eat them.  This doesn’t mean you should overdo it will the sauces, but do try to add some variety to the meals. Get creative with it, add some spices, maybe different carbohydrates, and bring some color to your vegetables.

 

Hopefully these tips take some of the annoyance out of meal prepping. We promise getting in that meal prep habit will help you reach your goals faster.

 

We know you’re busy, but we also know you still value your workout time. To help you keep your training interesting this winter, we’ve got a few quick cardio workouts to add to your schedule. No excuses: whether you have a full 45 minutes to dedicate to a grueling cardio class or just 5 minutes to spare between conference calls, there’s something for you here.

 

If you have 5 minutes:

Get in a quick Tabata! Tabata intervals will tax your cardiovascular system and allow you to burn calories even after you finish your workout. Best part? You only need 4 minutes. Get on the cardio machine of your choice (we love the spin bike or elliptical for this) and prepare yourself mentally. All you need to do is 8 rounds of :20 as hard as you can, then :10 full rest. It gets hard quickly, but also gets the job done.

 

If you have 15 minutes:

Work some hills into your cardio. Hop on the treadmill or a bike and spend 2 minutes warming up at an easy speed with the inline on 0. After that, you’re going to increase hat incline by 1% every minute for 12 minutes, ending at a very steep incline that’s a challenge to keep up with. Spend the last minute backing your incline back down to a 0 for a quick cooldown. You’ll feel great after.

 

If you have 30 minutes:

Let’s work on your 5k time! You may not be able to complete a 5k run in 30 minutes yet, but with some consistent run/walk intervals over time, you’ll get there. We love the Couch to 5k program for this, which you can find here. There’s even an app you can download to walk you through it while you listen to music!

 

If you have 45 minutes:

This one’s easy: take a Cardio Lab class! Classes range from intervals intermixed with mobility to straight up HIIT to some tough endurance circuits, so there’s something for everyone. Even better, we’re now offering classes in 7 different time slots each week, and there will hopefully be more to come soon. You can check out our schedule here.