As a fitness professionals, we often see people slaving away and working hard at the gym only to sabotage their progress with poor eating habits. We preach that diet, nutrition, rest and recovery are equally as important as the time you spend here at the gym. So what are the best and worst diets out there?  The following, in no definitive order, are what we believe to be possibly the worst diets in history.

 

The Baby Food Diet:

Designed to promote weight loss, this plan entails eating 16 jars of baby food per day instead of regular meals and snacks with only one “regular” meal per day. Although one of the “safer” diets on this list, it’s still not recommended. While it may help you shed some pounds, it is most likely a short term success and definitely on the “fad” list.

 

The Tapeworm Diet:

As crazy as the name suggests, at the turn of the century these little parasites were sold in pill form to help you lose weight. Besides lacking any evidence or research that this is even slightly effective, it can be downright dangerous.

 

The Cotton Ball Diet:

Yep, you guessed it— eating straight up cotton balls. The idea is that you fill up on these calorie-less puffy beauties and you aren’t hungry for much else. Considering that there are essentially no vitamins, minerals or other macronutrients in cotton balls, you can add this to the dangerous diets list.

 

The Vinegar Diet:

Made popular by Lord Byron in the 1800’s, this diet included drinking massive amounts of vinegar and water daily.  This, in turn, caused spells of vomiting and diarrhea.  It’s really no surprise this famous poet started shedding pounds.

 

The Fletcher Diet:

Originating in San Francisco by art dealer Horace Fletcher, this diet involved chewing each bite of food 32 times and then spitting it out.  “The Great Masticator” declared his body would absorb the nutrients without packing on the pounds.  False information like this diet is not bound by science or logic and is inherently dangerous. Yet another add to the “Do Not Attempt” list.

 

The Cigarette Diet:

Before Surgeon General warnings, this diet was made popular by, you guessed it, cigarette companies. Ad campaigns swirled around touting the many benefits of smoking, including suppressing the appetite and weight loss.  One company said “Light a Lucky and you’ll never miss sweets that make you fat.” This should go without saying, but avoid this diet at all costs. Bottom line is it is dangerous and deadly.

 

 

So after a mind blowing and crazy list of bad diets, what are some good and healthy diets to try?  Our answer here at Union Fitness will always be: Ask the professionals! See a nutritionist or registered dietician.  Unlike all of the crazy diets above, this is a surefire way to promote a healthy lifestyle through diet changes while remaining safe. Each and every body is unique and has its own obstacles to overcome when it comes to safe and effective weight loss. A nutrition professional will help you navigate those issues without tapeworms, baby food, cigarettes or any other unhealthy or dangerous means!

 

New year, new UF! Or at least some new classes, a new coach, and a greatly expanded schedule. Here’s what you need to know:

 

1. We’re happy to welcome Ryan McUmber to the team! Ryan moved here from California to be part of our UF family. He earned his BS in Exercise Science and had been coaching strength and conditioning classes closer to home until his move here. He’s already jumped right into our #powerful and Fatbell Revolution classes and has proven himself to be an excellent coach. Come test him out sometime this week!
2. Introducing the Cardio Lab! We tested this concept out a little bit last year, but we’re now fully up and running for 2018 with a bunch of new equipment and classes offered 5x per week. Stay tuned to a future blog post with more details on this one.
3. Power Nap with Alison! If you’ve ever been interested in trying meditation, now’s the perfect opportunity. Every Wednesday at lunch Alison will be guiding you through a quick meditation practice, followed by a relaxing power nap. As she likes to say, this class is BYOB: bring your own blanket.
4. We’ve seen the attendance in our #powerful classes slowly rise all through 2017, and in response we decided it was time to offer it 5 days per week! We’ve added two 5:30am classes for our early risers, and now have options for #powerful every weeknight at different time slots. What’s better than lifting with friends?

 

If you’re new to UF (or new to our classes), we’ve put together a class trial pack just for you. For $15, you get to try every type of class we offer! You can purchase this trial pack online, through our app, or by stopping by the front desk the next time you’re in. See you soon!

Union Fitness is built on a community. So anytime Union can contribute back, we will. A friend of the Pittsburgh fitness community unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer. After brainstorming some ideas UF decided that the most effective way to raise money is do what we do best, share our knowledge and passion of lifting.

 

The seminar was an absolute success. We had fifteen attendees that were curious about the art of benching and deadlifting. People were overly generous with their time and monetary commitments and it gave the #powerthroughcancer series a great jump start. The seminar was split into two sections. The first section of the seminar went over proper bench press technique and the second section was deadlifts. In each section Casey and Yessica first went over main technique points followed by letting the people perform the exercise. While performing the exercise Casey and Yessica walked around to give specific cues for the athlete’s needs. Some of the cues that Yessica and Casey went over for the bench press were to externally rotate your hands,  drive your legs and keep your back as tight as possible. You could tell from the look on each of the athletes faces that there was some confusion in the cues but each person was determined to work on the technique. After some reptitions, more people started to understand what each cue meant and the confusion soon changed to excitement. After grabbing lunch at the Federal Galley we headed back for the deadlift session. This is where the intensity picked up. AC/DC started blasting while a fog of chalk filled the room. Casey and Yessica went over important cues such as keep your hips down, drive your feet into the ground and keep your chest up during the lift by flexing your triceps. After the cues were said people started putting on the plates. One of the athletes decided to go for a Personal Record and ended up hitting 4 reps instead of one! Overall the seminar went very smoothly with people walking away feeling good from the new personal records and the feeling of helping a friend.

 

This seminar is a great example how here at Union fitness is able to bring people together to help other people in the community. Casey and Yessica plan to continue doing these seminars every weekend this month to help further raise more money. The next seminar will be at Arsenal Strength on Sunday January 14 at 9 am.

 

With New Year’s Resolutions in full effect, I’ve begun to put away the computer, phone and television in exchange for healthier habits.  It’s not exactly the brand new year that’s encouraging me to ditch the zombie-creating devices (although it definitely helps!) but rather an innate need or quest for knowledge.  Trying to skip the fake news and clickbait articles, I’ve opted for good ole fashioned books.  Here’s what’s currently on my reading list:

 

Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance by Dr. Kelly Starrett

Although I’ve read this book numerous times before, I always come back to it.  It is a must have resource for coaches and gym goers alike.

 

Weightlifting Programming: A Winning Coach’s Guide by Bob Takano

If you know me, you know that one of my greatest loves is Olympic Weightlifting. Learning the lifts are one thing.  Learning how to coach, program and implement them in training is a whole other ball game, which this books describes in depth.

 

Conscious Coaching by Brett Bartholomew

This one has admittedly been on my list for a couple months (Sorry Casey!) but I’m excited to dive in to explore the psychological and emotional sides of coaching.

 

Whole 30 Cookbook by Melissa Hartwig

Ok so it may not be a page turner, but having a healthy cookbook handy certainly helps with keeping the nutrition and healthy meals in check.

 

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda

Here is another one that is a constant on my reading list.  I see this book as a day by day guide to living a meaningful, purposeful life through the guidance of ancient yoga philosophy.

 

Restorative Yoga For Life by Gail Boorstein Grossman

Restorative or recovery yoga is something we love here at Union Fitness! I’m constantly searching for new poses and techniques to implement into my own personal practice and into our Slow Flow Recovery yoga class here on Wednesday nights.

 

So it’s great to have someone’s current reading list but the real question is: What are the best fitness books to purchase? The answer is simple— whatever you’re interested in! My list will look a lot different than yours so I encourage you to head to your local library or book store or Amazon and just browse! See what catches your interest.  Happy reading!

 

It’s almost a brand new year and we know what that means— new goals and new resolutions.  Some of the top resolutions each year are to get into shape, lose weight, and be healthier.  Most of the time those goals come with a brand new gym membership.  While the staff here at Union Fitness is always here to help you accomplish those new goals, the first step is often a literal one— walking in the door. Just the thought can be overwhelming and anxiety producing. So how can you overcome gym-timidation?  Here are a few tips to help you take that first step.

 

1. Schedule a free New Member Orientation

 

Did you know Union offers a free introductory course to the gym? It’s our New Member Orientation and any member is welcome to schedule a session with one of our staff members. Afraid you won’t be able to find the water fountain? Or when you can use the Cardio Lab equipment or use the room for stretching? This brief orientation will take you around the gym, giving you the basic details of where, how & when of the inner workings of Union Fitness.

 

2. Schedule a session with a Personal Trainer

 

Still a little unsure? Schedule a private one-on-one session with one of our  certified Personal Trainers.  This in depth session will include things like discussing your goals and how to achieve them, your health history and of course, safely leading you through a goal-crushing workout.  Plus, the consultation will always be free! So there’s no harm in just meeting with one of       our trainers to see if you jive!

 

3. Take one of our Group Fitness Classes

 

There’s nothing quite like a group of like minded individuals (future friends!) to keep you motivated. Whether you’re in our strength classes or yoga or cardio lab classes, you’ll get help from one of our coaches and encouragement from everyone else.

 

4. Ask for help!

 

There will always be a staff member available to answer any questions or give you a little guidance.  Need a spot? We got you.  Need to vent? We got you. Can’t figure out how to work the leg press machine? We can show you.  Please don’t ever hesitate to ask any questions, whether you think they’re silly or not, we are a family here at UF and will always be supportive without judgement!

 

5. Don’t compare yourself to others

 

It can be easy to walk into a new place and instantly compare yourself to everyone around you.  Remember that everyone is on their own fitness path and as soon as you walk in the front doors, you’re with friends.  No one here is judging you.  Everyone wants to support and encourage you.

 

6. Be confident!

 

Yes, you may be new to the gym scene but be confident as if you’ve been doing this for years (But don’t forget, safety should always be your number one priority so don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it!) Remember the age old advice, “Fake it til you make it!”

 

So how can us veteran gym-goers help out the newbies? Leave the resting gym face at home.  Yes, we know that your back squat sets can be grueling and burpees can remove any trace of friendliness from anyone’s face but try to reserve those faces for just the mirror.  A smile can go a long way, not only to show those burpees who’s boss but to encourage all of our novice members.  Here’s to a brand new year, new goals, new resolutions, new PR’s, new badass-ery, and overcoming gym-timidation!

 

Watch out 2018, here we come!

 

It’s almost the 2018, so let’s talk about it: New Years Resolutions. I know I’m thinking about mine, so I’m betting your thinking about yours. And of course, our goal for every year at Union Fitness is to help our members reach theirs. With that in mind, I like to encourage my clients to set SMART goals, and no, that’s not just a snarky pun.

 

In this case, I’m referring to Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, Time-bound goals. Let’s break that down:

 

Specific: Instead of setting the oft-cited and then oft-neglected goal of “losing some weight,” let’s tighten that up. Maybe you have a goal of losing 15, or losing 2 inches off your waist (or adding an inch to your biceps, we don’t discriminate). We want to make your goals as clear as possible, so that we know when they’ve been reached, what’s keeping us from reaching them, or when it’s time to move on to bigger things.

 

Measurable: Playing into “specific,” we need to make sure our goals are measurable, otherwise we’ll never know if we’ve accomplished what we wanted! Habit tracking apps can be really helpful for this. Maybe you have a goal of walking for 20 minutes each day. That’s easy to measure, all you need to do is check off each day on your calendar or habit tracker. Looking more long term, a specific and measurable goal would be to walk 20 miles in 40 days.

 

Attainable: We all get ahead of ourselves sometimes, especially when it comes to weight loss goals. You may feel motivated enough to lose 30 pounds in 2 months, but the reality is that this goal isn’t really attainable (and worse, is definitely not sustainable). For weight loss, a goal of losing 1-2 pounds per week (depending on your size) is difficult but doable. For other fitness goals, like shaving a few minutes off your half-marathon time or getting your first pull-up, ask us! We’ll help you figure it out.

 

Results-focused: We’re looking at the final picture, not the individual steps that will get you there. Those specific goals like losing 10 pounds are better able to be realized than a more general goal like “eat more salad” or “eat less donuts.” I do still encourage process goals, like mentioned above with the habit tracker, but they still need to be specific – “eat a vegetable at every meal” for example. Still, for a good resolution, think final result.

 

Finally, Time-bound: Put a date on it. Lost those 15 pounds by June 1, just in time for vacation. Get your first pull-up by February 15. Cut 10 minutes off your half-marathon time by the Pittsburgh Marathon in May. Again, ask us for help setting those time goals. Having a specific date in mind will help motivate you after the initial thrill of the New Year wears off. Everyone needs a sense of urgency sometimes.

 

Now that you’ve got an idea of how to set those goals, get working on them! I’d actually encourage you to get started as soon as possible, ie. BEFORE the New Year. We’re trying to encourage that with our December new member special: sign up for a contract in December, get your second month for free! If you have a fitness goal that you want to reach, we’re here for you, right now. See you soon!

 

OH – and we’re hosting FREE Classes all day long on New Year’s Day. So stop in and see what Union Fitness can do for you!

 

 

Now that we’re fully entrenched in the holiday season, you might be tempted to let your workouts fall to the wayside while you enjoy all the food and sweets this month has to offer. “I’ll start working out again in the new year,” you might tell yourself. OR, instead of backsliding on your fitness goals for the next several weeks, you could take a different approach and consider hiring a personal trainer. Here’s why:

 

Automatic accountability

If there’s one thing we all need during this season, it’s a little extra accountability. That’s where a good personal trainer comes in. Not only will your trainer create an exercise program tailored just to your goals, they’ll be there to push you a little bit when you need it. Having a set hour on your schedule to workout a few times a week is usually motivation enough on its own – no one wants to waste their hard-earned money.

 

Invaluable exercise advice that’s good all year round

Your training plan and the workout tips you get with a trainer will be carried with you for the rest of your life. Learning proper lifting form is invaluable and can only really be done with an expert’s help.

 

Training flexibility

We know you’re busy this month, and that’s why we provide flexibility with our personal trainers. We might pair you up with two different trainers so you can mix morning and evening workouts. We’re here to help you reach your goals no matter what it takes!

 

Get ahead of the New Year’s Resolution rush

This one is really the best benefit of all: you’re getting a jumpstart on your 2018 fitness goals by getting started in December! The more work you put in, the more likely you are to stick with your plan. Plus, you’ll have your trainer locked in before our January rush starts.

 

If this sounds like a good plan to you, now is the time to start with a trainer. Our personal training rates are set to go up in January, so give us a call to get started now.

 

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, many of us anticipate our healthy lifestyles to take a hit.  The dinner tables will be set with stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, and so much more, making it hard to not go into carb overload. However, it doesn’t have to be this way! There are plenty of healthy alternatives for your favorite dishes so you can enjoy food with your family without the added stress of ruining your diet.

 

Instead of regular mashed potatoes, try Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”.

By making this easy swap you are lightening the carb load and saving yourself a ton of calories. There are plenty of different herbs and spices you can add to your “mashed potatoes” to make them just as delicious as the original version. Check out this Creamy Garlic Mashed Cauliflower recipe for some inspo!

 

 

Replace your original stuffing recipe with Quinoa “Stuffing”.

Exchanging your carb-filled stuffing with a protein-packed version is a great way to enjoy this holiday favorite. Not only will you feel better about what you ate, it’ll taste delicious too! Try making this Quinoa Sage Stuffing this year!

 

Make a healthy version of Mac & Cheese.

A creamy, cheesy mac & cheese is one of the best parts of Thanksgiving. There are plenty of healthy ways to get the same great taste for half the calories. Give this Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese a try!

 

 

Fill up your plate with a delicious salad.

Piling on the greens will leave less room on your plate for the unhealthier options. Not only will it taste good, it’ll feel good too! With so many fall-inspired salads it’ll be a hit at your dinner. Make this Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad!

 

 

A green bean dish you can feel good about.

Save the calories by opting out of a creamy green bean casserole. Instead, make Crispy Roasted Green Beans everyone will love! These green beans will be so tasty; you won’t even miss the crispy onions.

 

 

Swap out Pumpkin Pie for Pumpkin Bars!

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the sweet taste of pumpkin pie after dinner. Whip up these pumpkin bars this year so you don’t have to restrain yourself during dessert. Check out the recipe here.

 

 

Switch it up, No Bake Apple Cobbler instead of Apple Pie!

Not only will these Apple Cobblers taste delicious, you can save time and oven space because you don’t have to bake them! This dessert will help you from overindulging because they will already be portioned out! Skip the pie and enjoy this instead.

 

 

It may not be easy to convert your entire Thanksgiving dinner into a healthy feast but by swapping at least one unhealthy option out for a better one is a step in the right direction! Don’t stress yourself out over your meal, enjoy it, and we’ll see you back at the gym! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, so does one of the most anticipated running events of the year.  While these races are not quite as intense as the recent New York City Marathon, Turkey Trots are a much-anticipated country wide phenomenon.

 

The tradition began more than a century ago with the Buffalo Turkey Trot.  It was established in 1896, a year before the Boston Marathon began.  The tradition began as a way to burn off some of the food you will inevitably ingest over the course of Thanksgiving Day.  This logical, (though slightly flawed since the average 5k burns fewer calories than a single piece of pumpkin pie contains), was embraced by people across the United States.

 

Since its founding in 1896, the Turkey Trot has grown in popularity.  It has morphed into a fun, family event that almost everyone has heard of.  In Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas, there are numerous Turkey Trots you can choose to partake in on Thanksgiving morning.

 

The most well-known Pittsburgh Turkey Trot is the 27th Annual PNC YMCA Turkey Trot.  This race is presented by United Healthcare and boasts a variety of race distances to choose from.  There is a 1 mile family fun run, a 5K Turkey Trot, and a 5-mile Turkey Trot.  The starting times are staggered between 8 AM – 9:15 AM.  For more information or to register for this race, visit

 

https://www.active.com/pittsburgh-pa/running/27th-annual-pnc-ymca-turkey-trot-presented-by-unitedhealthcare-2017

 

If you are searching for a medium length race, the Seubert Struttin’ Our Stuffin’ Turkey Trot could be for you.  This race 4.4 mile travels a pathed path through North Park, a mere 13 miles outside of the city.  The proceeds benefit Our Own Home, an organization that works to support individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities with housing, employment and independent living skills.  To register for this race, visit

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seubert-struttin-our-stuffin-turkey-trot-registration-open-til-1122-registration-38052173074

 

Another Turkey Trot in the area is the Sewickley Turkey Trot, located approximately 15.5 miles from Pittsburgh.  This 5K race begins at 8:30 AM and all proceeds benefit Faith in Action.  To register, visit the link below.

 

http://www.heritagevalley.org/pages/turkey-trot

 

The final Turkey Trot located in proximity to Pittsburgh is the Emerald Fields Turkey Trot.  This race, located about 21 miles from downtown in Mars, PA offers both a 1 mile fun run and a 5K.  To register, visit

https://www.active.com/mars-pa/running/distance-running-races/emerald-fields-family-5k-2016

Whether you are looking for a fun race to do with family or are trying to burn off a few extra calories before your Thanksgiving feast, a Turkey Trot is a great way to begin Thanksgiving morning.

 

They are plentiful throughout the country, so if you are traveling out of Pittsburgh for the holiday, be sure to look for ones near you. And, if you choose to run one, be sure to share your pictures with us using the hashtag #UFTurkeyTrot.