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Enjoy the Ride Part II

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For those of you who read the UF blog often you may remember I wrote a blog about biking and getting outdoors a few months ago. Here we are again, I am getting outside and getting my mind working. So let’s take a ride together.

 

Once a year I ride my bike (with some friends) from Pittsburgh to DC. This has been a yearly event that I began doing with my father and has grown to over 25 people. If you are unfamiliar with the GAP trail or the C&O, they run from Pgh to Washington DC uninterrupted. This year I was unable to do the entire ride due to a global pandemic. Trying to make lemonade out of lemons I decided to ride two days to OhioPyle and back. So without further ado here is the story of my ride.

 

We left Nova Place at 6:15 Friday, October 9th and began our trek. The ride takes you from the Northside, into the city, along the jail trail before you cross the hot metal street bridge, and from that point on there are no turns for about 70 miles. The day started brisk, it was 41 degrees and about 3 miles in I realized that I should have worn thicker socks. It took me 34 miles to finally warm up. Lessons are always learned during this ride.

 

After grabbing some friends in West Newton, we continued to ride until arriving at OhioPyle around 4 PM. Little know fact, Curtis Miller has family near OhioPyle yet he has never actually gone into the town.

 

One of the beauties of this ride is spending time with friends and the people you meet. The first person I met was the gentlemen that, “didn’t like humans.” When I said good morning in the middle of the woods, he told me I was an expletive for interrupting nature. For the next two minutes he berated me for ruining his peace. I ended our conversation with good afternoon (he didn’t like that either). When I arrived at OhioPyle (after a rinse off), I  went to the local pub where I met some local friends, and we all swapped stories and sat by the fire. Both of these encounters kept the ride fun.

 

Saturday morning we woke up and began our trek back to Pgh. Riding back is much easier as it is a slow down hill the entire day. We made great time, and I made it back to Nova Place two hours faster than it took to get to OhioPyle the previous day.

 

As I touched on, one of the best parts of the rides is the people. This got me thinking about training and the gym. Much like with any sport we are all part of a team and it is the people that make the real difference.  With this in mind, I want to thank all of you for being part of our team and trusting us with helping you reach your goals.

 

Yours in strength,

 

Todd Hamer

3 Steps Towards Positive Motivation

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Recently, one of our members reached out to me and mentioned that they were having a difficult time gaining motivation to get to the gym. They mentioned that they were feeling discouraged about changing their body and convincing their self that they are in fact able to accomplish the goals which they initially established. They then asked me if I had any advice or if I ever experience this myself. I paused, thought for a minute, and then gave them my initial response. A week later, this question is still on my mind. So much so that I even asked a few co-workers what their thoughts were. Although this discussion could have gone on for days, we kept it short and sweet with three main points.

 

1) Know your “Why”: In other words, what is your purpose behind what you are setting out to accomplish? Maybe you are doing it for your family. Maybe you are doing it for your overall health. Or maybe you are doing it to challenge yourself with something new. Either way, you must have your “why” established and set in stone before you begin. If you don’t, then you will have a hard time staying on track throughout the journey. On the other hand, if your “why” is always clear and in sight, then you will always have direction, even when times get tough.

 

2) You must establish a certain level of belief: This belief must be strong enough that you can overcome any obstacle that is placed in front of you, or any self doubt that makes it’s way into your mind. We all battle with self doubt and negative thoughts, but your belief that you can become something better than you are must be stronger than the voice in your head saying you can’t. This belief can come in multiple forms, but the best way to gain it is simply by doing. You never know what you are capable of until you start. Once you get started and move forward with consistency, you will begin to build confidence and a belief that you can keep moving towards your goals. This goes hand in hand with our next point.

 

3) Give yourself at least three weeks of consistent work: Those first few weeks are always the hardest. Once you bust through them, the process starts to become habit. During those three weeks, stay 100% dedicated to yourself and your goals. Make it a priority to do something every single day. On the days that you work out, put your full effort towards that session and even everything that you do outside of the gym. This includes nutrition, hydration, quality sleep, etc. On your off days, go for a walk, a bike ride, or stretch, but just stay moving. You will be surprised how motivated you become when you stay in motion. Soon, the work will become second nature. Your “why” will keep you focused, your belief will keep you empowered, and your consistency will keep you moving forward towards your goals.

 

Stay strong, friends.

Bootcamp Comedy Show

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UF is beyond excited to announce our first ever bootcamp comedy show. We are going to  bring together all the good things of the world for one awesome night. Friday November 6th we are going to have a boot camp workout run by our funniest and most hype trainers, Matt Grayson and Charles Jasper.

 

Following the bootcamp style workout, 3 of our local comedians are going to take the stage. We are going to set up a stage on the turf outdoors and have seats inside and outside utilizing our new performance lab space. Each comedian will have about a 20 minute set to entertain us. We have also requested that they workout with us before hand (let’s hope they are up for it).

 

We will also be offering food and libations compliments of our newest partner, The Yard. Check out their offerings and hopefully they will bring us some of our favorite cheeses and beers.

 

In addition to all the fun we are asking anyone who registers for this class to bring some canned goods.  We will donate all the canned goods to the food pantry on Brighton Rd.

 

To register for this class, just go to MindBody and this will be listed as a class. As with any of our fundraiser events everyone is welcome, members and non-members, additionally this is a free class for everyone.

 

Let’s get bumpy, share some laughs and do more good in the world.

 

Free Classes and Schedule Changes.

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As we mentioned in our previous post we are now starting to introduce some free classes. The first class that will become a free class to all members is our Blitz class. The Blitz class is a 30 minute lunch time lift. The idea is that you can get a good lift in, shower and be back to work without missing your next important zoom meeting. Blitz is held in our new performance lab and Todd Hamer is the lead instructor for this class.

 

As we move forward with everything re-opening we will be slowly adding a few more free classes. So please keep your eyes open for this.

 

Schedule Changes.

 

We are now adjusting some class schedules. We are making these changes to better serve you the members. As with anything if you have issues please tell us as we want to make the best schedule we can for you.

 

Powerful evening classes will now be at 530 & 6PM. We are making this change so that each class can get to see each other and help us build a stronger community.

 

We are dropping our Tuesday morning bootcamp at 7 am.

 

We are also dropping our Monday and Wednesday 7 PM cardiolab.

 

If you have any issues with these changes please reach out to us and we will do the best we can to adjust our schedules.

 

Team UF

 

 

9/11 Our Remembrance

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As most people who have lived through a terrorist attack on their county I will never forget where I was on 9/11/2001. I was a grad student sitting in a sport law course at Virginia Commonwealth University. We had a guest professor that day in class and as he discussed tort our professor walked back into the room and said, “Go home and call your families, we are under attack.” These words will never leave my head and each year that passes I remember how I felt that day.

 

Everyone handles situations like this differently. Most of my classmates went down to a local sandwich shop and watched the news. I am different and didn’t want to be around people so I went to the weight room and trained. I am one of the few people who caught up with everything later. I do not know if what I did was cowardice or me avoiding this horror of the moment. What I do know is 9/11/2001 always had an impact on me and I have visited each of the crash sites numerous times and every time confusion is the biggest emotion I have in that moment.

 

In honor as a tribute to each of the 2,996 humans who perished on that day I have been asking people here at Union Fitness to tell me what 9/11 means to them. Here are some of the words and phrases that I heard today.

 

“Never Forget.”

“Honor.”

“Never take a day for granted.”

“Sad.”

“Powerful.”

“Unifying.”

“Remembrance.”

“Tragic.”

“Scared.”

“Confusion.”

 

These words are a good reminder for of us as a society. The one that stands out the strongest to me is confusion. To this day what happened is still confusing to most of us and that is OK. We just hope that through all of this confusion we can help support you and each other.

 

Remember United We Stand.

 

Todd Hamer and Team UF

 

 

Meet Dave

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Hello Union Fitness Family,

 

My name is Dave and I’d like to introduce myself as the newest member of the Union Fitness Family!  I just finished my first month and will be coaching group and personal training sessions as well as holding down the front desk at times.  My first month has been great so far and I look forward to many more.  What I love about being at Union Fitness is the people.  I personally believe you’re not going to find a more well rounded group of coaches and trainers in the area who truly care about wanting to make other people better.  The whole reason I got into strength and conditioning and more specifically coaching is to help others and it is great to be around others who share that same mission.

 

My strength and conditioning journey started 6 years ago as an assistant high school football and strength coach in Lexington, KY.  Since then I primarily spent time in Division I college football, twice at the University of Akron, once as an intern and as an assistant, and at the University of Maryland between being an intern and an assistant.  Last year I spent time working with Grossetti Performance out of New Castle, PA assisting with NFL Draft Prep.  I also spent time at another sports performance facility here in Pittsburgh before coming to Union Fitness where I worked with not only local athletes, youth and professional, but also coached group and personal training sessions.  I am currently finishing my Masters in Strength and Conditioning from LaGrange College and will be finished January of 2021.  

 

I could definitely share more but maybe I will hold off for another post if Hamer let’s me write another one.  If you see me at the gym don’t hesitate to come up and say hello and I look forward to doing what I can to help make Union Fitness the best place to train in Pittsburgh.  

 

All the best,

Dave

 

Iron City Open Update

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To all of our members and friends I hope you are as excited as we are about seeing lifting again. I wanted to make sure we get an update out as the meet is now one week away.

 

The meet will be held Saturday August 22, 2020. Weigh ins will be Friday and Saturday (for specifics check with USPA). The meet was originally scheduled as a two day meet, yet the USPA as well as UF have decided with the reduced numbers it no longer made sense to spread it out over two days.

 

We will be allowing spectators. This is an outdoor event and state rules limit it to 50 total people. We are hopeful that we have a nice crowd and we are also hopeful that it stays under this number and we do not need to turn anyone away. We will be strictly following mask guidelines so please be prepared with your mask at all times. Lifters will be permitted to remove their mask for their attempts.

 

We are also working on food trucks as well as a beer truck to make the day more enjoyable for everyone. We ask that everyone please show extra patience this year to help us and the lifters have a great day.

 

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact me directly anytime. Lifters with more specific questions please see USPA Pittsburgh instagram or contact Doug directly.

 

Todd Hamer

todd@unionfitness.com

What the World Needs is More Coaches

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What does it mean to be a coach? On the surface a coach can be defined as someone who is helping an individual work towards achieving a goal. This is what most of us think of when we hear the term. However, as we go deeper, we will realize that coaching consists of much more. The ability to coach is within each of us, and it’s something that we need now more than ever.

 

I’ve spent the last 11 years of my life as a coach to athletes, kids, the elderly, and general population individuals. During that time, my focus has always been to first build a connection with each person, and then help them to unlock their full potential with the goal of being able to become their own coach in the future. With coaching, the goal should never be to want people to rely on you in order to achieve those things, but rather possess the ability to learn on their own, and then to pass on those lessons which they have learned throughout the process. In my opinion, this is the true definition of a coach. 

 

The more experienced I become within my career, the more I realize that these actions go far beyond working in a performance setting, but rather a universal setting. In my opinion, coaching is not confined to a certain group of trained professionals, but anyone who has learned from their life’s lessons, and is willing to pass them onto others for the greater good of humanity. Each of us has a skill that distinguishes one person from another. We can use those abilities and skills to help coach others to work towards a better, more knowledgable version of theirselves. I strongly believe that this is the ultimate goal of life. It’s what we are here to do. Today, we need quality coaches more than ever. So, ask yourself “How can I help, and what things have I learned that I can pass onto others to help them become a better version of who they are?”. If we can all do this, we will be great.

Iron City Open Update

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We at UF are proud of our connection to the local powerlifting community. As the GM I was lucky to step into a position that the great relationships were already built in the lifting community. First let me thank you for being such a big part of UF.

 

We had to make a decision on whether it was appropriate to host the Iron City Open. At this point we are moving forward with the meet. For those of you who want us to hold the meet I am sure this is great news. For those of you unsure, we are doing all we can to keep the meet safe and hold ourselves to a high standard. What I do believe is we can do this in a safe manner. Here is a list of what we are doing to keep this meet safe and of course fun.

 

  1. Weigh ins will be limited to lifter and official.
  2. Masks will be required by everyone (the lifter may remove it for their attempt).
  3. The barbell will be sanitized and cleaned between each attempt.
  4. There will be no chalk bowl (bring your own chalk).
  5. No spectators inside the tent.
  6. The meet will be inside the tent with warm ups occurring in our performance lab with the garage door open.
  7. Each lifter will only be allowed one person with them at the meet (a handler)
  8. Temperature checks for each person entering.
  9. UF staff will be here all day to make sure all rules are being followed.
  10. UF has the ability to end this meet or excuse anyone from the facility who is not following the rules.

 

We believe with these precautions in place we can hold a safe, fun and effective meet. We look forward to working with the USPA again and anyone who has anyone questions, comments or concerns should reach out to Todd Hamer.

 

Thanks and BE STRONG!

A Conversation in my Head

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Hamer and I were taking a break from some heated bocce ball matches after work one day and started having the old debate: low bar or high bar. Hamer stopped and asked the women next to us what they thought. They had no idea what the hell we were talking about. Something that we might think is so important and give each other a hard time about, this woman had no idea what it was and had never given it any thought. Something as simple as that stuck with me, where is my effort going? Is it going somewhere meaningful? What, in the big picture, what actually is strength, how is it shared, what the hell does it even mean? Does it actually matter? 

 

I was watching Neat:The Story of Bourbon last night and they dove into how the whisky is made and  its history of it. They then dove in a bit deeper, to what it means to drink bourbon, to enjoy it with the people you are with. I found it paralleled strength quite a bit in my life. Getting strong is great, getting strong with people you care about is better. Often,the most important training is just getting under the bar with a loved one or pushing some sleds with a brother/sister. Sometimes numbers aren’t always the most important unless we’re in competition. But going through the day in day out of training next to someone else gives meaning to those numbers. I still want to chase  a 700lb deadlift before I go 6ft under, but I know I’m plenty training sessions away from that. However, by saying the numbers aren’t as important I mean when you’re training, I train with a guy that isn’t as physically strong as me, but mentally is so much more. On “those days” he knows he has to step in and get me out of my head and back under a bar. 

 

The other thing that has added meaning to my training is this; the harder I train, the more disciplined I am, the harder I train, the more compassionate I find myself feeling. I hear this alot in the combative sports, that the more time you spend training, getting choked out, the more compassionate and peaceful you find yourself outside of training. I think the same is true for lifting. My rack is where I can be aggressive, angry, whatever the hell I want to be, push my training partners and get after it, with any and every four letter word I  want. but as soon as I step away, I’ve found a peace. 

 

Which brings it back to the struggle. We always usually have a struggle, and the people we go through that struggle with are the ones usually closest to us. Training fosters that as we usually choose our struggle and our training partners are crazy enough to join us in  it everyday. Struggle teaches us to enjoy the hard work  with those we care about. One of my favorite training sessions wasn’t a heavy single (although we all know those are the best) but it was a barbell and a few hundred pounds of bumpers in the middle of a dirt road before a buddies wedding while we had a couple of beers and cleaned. Strength came down to this for me: it’s not about the barbell, it’s about the lives you touch and the people you meet. Strength is just a byproduct of a good relationship and like good bourbon takes time,the hard parts can’t be skipped and it can never be rushed.