Tag Archives: motivation

CeJ Mustache You A Question

Fitness, Life Health, , , , ,

Hello to my hairy, well groomed, bald and hairless Brothers & Sisters of Union!

 

I have a very important task I mustache you to partake in. I want your voice to be heard, and I need you to vote! Yes, of course go vote on November 3rd for a few of those political blokes, but this one has the fate of my face on the ballot.

 

Your options for this vote are Movember (Grow a Mustache) or No-Shave November (Grow it All).

 

Movember: is an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the month of November. This is done to raise awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and men’s suicide. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to “change the face of men’s health.”

 

By encouraging men (whom the charity refers to as “Mo Bros”) to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides annual check-ups, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of family history of cancer and to adopt a healthier lifestyle.Using the mustache as the driving symbol of the movement, Movember focuses on the three key areas of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health & suicide prevention.

 

No-Shave November: The goal of No-Shave November is to grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose and letting it grow wild & free. Also, donating the money you typically spend on shaving and grooming to educate about cancer prevention, save lives and aid those fighting the battle.  

 

Whatever charity has the most votes, is what I will rock on my face for that month, set up a UF charity page and continue to educate everyone on these health issues. Please vote in the comments, DM and share this blog and let’s spread the word on men’s health.

 

Cheers my friends and let me hear you SCREAM!

 

-CeJ

Have Some Fun and Improve with Us

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Last week I wrote about knowing our Why. Why are we here working in a gym? We are here to empower, educate and entertain everyone who enters our gym. Through this, we are offering a few different mediums to accomplish these goals. Today I want to highlight some of what we are doing and hopefully, something here will pique your interest.

 

  1. USPA Drug Tested Kabuki Open (Sat Oct, 31st 9 AM). This is a powerlifting meet that will be held under the tent here at UF. The meet is sold out, yet if you want to experience competitive powerlifting for the first time, we encourage you to stop by. The entry fee is only 5 dollars, and the tent will be heated so no worries about the weather.
  2. Getting Lean for Halloween Bootcamp (Sat Oct, 31st 11 AM). Join CeJ and Matt Grayson as they run you through a bootcamp in the parking lot of one of the finest breweries in Pittsburgh, Allegheny City Brewing. This outdoor workout will be one hour long before sharing some libation at ACB’s outdoor beer garden. This class is free for everyone.
  3. Comedy Bootcamp (Fri Nov, 6th 6 PM). This is a first for us here at UF. We will be holding a bootcamp followed by a comedy show with three local comedians. We will also have The Yard bringing food and libations. This class is also free for everyone
  4. Kabuki Squat, Bench, Deadlift Workshop (Fri Oct, 30th 3-7 PM). UF is hosting the Kabuki Squat, Bench, Deadlift Workshop in our performance lab. If you are serious about improving these lifts, I suggest you look into this workshop. Kyle Young of Kabuki Strength will cover all things squat, bench and deadlift related in this workshop. This event is 150 dollars and registration is through the Kabuki Strength website.

 

As you can see it will be a busy few weeks here at UF, and we will have more to come. As with everything we do, we will be requiring masks with anything indoors. Safety and health are of the utmost importance to us. 

Curtis’s Training Log

Fitness, , , , , ,

I am currently 2 weeks out from my next powerlifting meet. It has been one year since I stepped on the platform. As far as my training goes, one of the best things that happened over this past year was forced downtime. For 10 weeks, I was unable to train with any sort of actual equipment. During that time, I was confined to my garage with only a few resistance bands, some cinderblocks, and 2 bags of rice, that’s it. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my body was hurting and in need of a break from lifting. This was the first time in the 12 years that I have been training and took more than a week off of any barbell training, that’s 12 years of putting a bar on my back and in my hands almost every single week. We never realize it at the time, but it adds up and can accumulate a great deal of fatigue when not addressed.

 

When those 10 weeks of quarantine ended, I was mentally and physically refreshed and ready to get back into training. My body felt great, my mind was clear, and I was more motivated than I have been in a very long time. After a couple of months of getting back into the grove, I picked a meet, put a plan together, set my goals, and got to work. With the help of my training partners, I am currently feeling the strongest and healthiest that I ever have.

 

Listed below is a layout of my last 3 training sessions. One for squat, one for bench, and one for deadlift.

 

Day 1: Heavy squat:

 

Competition squat: Worked up to a top single at 755lbs.

Belt squat machine: 5 plates per side: 4×10

Leg extensions: 50lbs: 4×15

Leg curls: 50lbs: 4×15

Ab rollouts: 3×15

 

Day 2: Heavy bench:

 

Competition bench: Worked up to a top single at 425.

Competition bench: Backdowns: 345lbs: 3×2

Flat bench fatbell press: 120lbs: 4×10

Chest supported row: 90lbs: 4×10

Dead stop skull crushers: 125lbs: 4×10

Band pull aparts: Red band: 5×20

 

Day 3: Last heavy deadlift:

 

Competition deadlift; Worked up to a top single at 765lbs.

Bent over barbell rows: 185lbs: 4×10

Cable lat pulldowns: 200lbs: 3×12

Leg extensions: 50lbs: 3×15

Leg curls: 50lbs: 3×15

 

My goal this meet is to break a 2000lb total. This is something that I have been working towards for a long time. Anything can happen on the day of the meet, the only thing that I can do is prepare to the best of my abilities and trust in myself and everything that I have done up to this point. The rest has already been decided.

ACB Spooky Bootcamp Brews & Boos

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

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!!!

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

It’s Showtime!

Staying Grounded

Life Health, ,

Every Saturday morning at 5:30AM you can find me at RAW with my other competitive teammates doing our weekly team training. A few weeks back our coach programmed a 40 minute piece that required a 14# vest, men wear 20# (mine happened to be 17# and that was rough). Normally vested workouts are something I look forward too, MURPH being one of my favorite workouts but this one was different.

 

Since quarantine my anxiety has been at an all time high. I have found it is at its worst whenever I have heavy snatches or high-effort breathing (usually movements pared together where catching your breath just might not happen and it’s all about how calm you can stay). Now imagine yourself doing a CrossFit-esque programmed workout and add a 17# vest onto your body that inhibits your ability to catch your breath fully. For 40 minutes I found myself on the verge of a full on panic-attack, I even had one of my teammates tell me for the entirety of that workout to keep breathing deeply. 

 

Picture this in your head, going from one movement to another (I was paired with a female teammates to spit the work) and I am on my hands and knees during my rest portions just trying to catch my breath – This is when I knew it was bad and after the workout was done I ripped off my vest and I just laid there trying to get full breaths in.

 

The reason I bring this up is because staying grounded not only to avoid a possible panic/anxiety attack but in your life is an important quality to possess. When we focus all of our time and attention into one thing, make it our top priority and forget about how vast life is and stay single-minded focus, we give that one thing the ability to control our thoughts and feelings. What happens if you fail? What happens if you succeed? What do you truly have to show for?

 

Staying grounded keeps you honest, humble and aligned throughout your entire life. This is exactly something that staying grounded to avoid that possible panic/anxiety attack does as well, it helps you find that calm again. When I feel these feelings of tightness in my chest, I look around me and do the following (a list of things sent to me to help me stay grounded).

 

1. Breath deeply in through my nose and out through my mouth

2. Then I will look around me to find:

5 things I can see

4 things I can touch

3 things I can hear

2 things I can smell 

1 emotion I feel

 

During a workout I mainly focus on breathing deeply and pick 5 things I can see – I’ll usually make eye contact with someone or try and cheer someone else on (even if their not on my team for that workout) this allows me to gather myself for a brief moment and find comfort in my peers whilst still being able to focus on the task I’m trying to complete, something that works for me.

 

Staying grounded in your daily life looks a little different but the application is the same, allowing yourself to prioritize other aspects of your life such as family, relationships or things that make you genuinely happy aside from the one thing that is your main goal. When we maintain balance with all things that make our life great, the achievements we obtain tastes that much sweeter. This mindset is more sustainable than one that isolates and secludes us from other aspects of our life, creating that longing sense of what next if we achieve greatness or find ourselves depressed if we are teetering on the edge of failure. 

 

The panic that set in whilst in the middle of that 40 minuet workout with my 17# vest is something I will feel on any given day if I do not have balance present within my life. My biggest takeaway from this experience is to always find my footing when life or experiences hit me in the face and stay grounded in what makes me feel calm.

 

If you too find yourself overwhelmed during training or life, take these tips and find your footing again.

You’re Out of Your Element

Fitness, Life Health, , , , , ,

Hello my mighty morphing Power Rangers,

 

A few weeks ago, Union held the Bike Ride for Black Lives and since you know I am the cardiovascular love child of Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps, I had to hop on my Nimbus 2021 Bike and lead the pack for our 50-mile bike ride.

 

NAY NAY my friends! I am more like my good pal Gimli, ” I’m wasted on cross-country. We dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances.” In my short career of riding bikes, I’ve crashed more times than rode over 20 miles and usually when my bike ride ends, the cold brews are cracked. Needless to say, I was out of my element for this bike ride.

 

My current bike is a classic 1987 hand-me-down from the OG Gray Beard himself. One of the first rides on this bike the lever arm fell off, so that was neat.  Bribed by doughnuts, beer, a free shirt and a great cause I accepted the challenge of doing something I’m not very good at, (never have done) and riding towards the sunset….well towards Kennywood. We left Union in a pack of 25 and very quickly I was in the back of the pack, you know, being the caboose. They say slow and steady wins the race, well at least I was still in the race. On our journey we had great weather and saw some great sights as we crossed over the Hot Metal Bridge, along the river, past Kennywood and even past our Lieutenant Governor Big John Fetterman (who we hope joins us next time).  Once I got cruising, I felt so good I rode a little past the 30-mile half way point to meet up with the 50-mile group that would be heading back. With them I had to haul to keep up while they were biking with ease.

 

I was out of my element on this bike adventure but with the challenge of my friends, fuel of a good cause and spirit of adventure it all got done and next time I’ll consider jumping in on the 50-mile ride…if I get my hands on some of those cushioned pants. Oh, and there indeed was beer at the end of this adventure.

 

Get out of your element more often my friends,

 

Cheers,

 

CEJ

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

Ten Reason to Join us for Squatober

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

 

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

 

Todd Hamer

Thank You

Fitness, Life Health, State of the Union, , , , ,

As many of you probably already know this weekend we hosted “Bike Ride for Black Lives.” This was a fundraiser and the brainchild of Jessie Theisen (one of our awesome members). We were able to raise close to 4,000 dollars that will be donated to the Urban League of Greater Pgh.

 

This was our first bike ride fundraiser and I was not sure how we would do. We did better than I thought we could have. 50 people got on their bikes and rode one of three options 50, 30 or 10 miles using our extensive trail system we have here in Pittsburgh.

 

This blog is more of a thank you to each and every one of you than anything else. I would be remiss if I did not add some special thank you’s to this list though. My family came through big time! I had aunts, uncles, my father, my wife, and son and a few cousins come out to either ride or volunteer. In addition, we had some members and employees who stepped up big time! Curtis and his lovely wife Liz did a great job with the rest station. CJ actually didn’t wreck this time. Sara Rusner, this couldn’t have happened without her. Matt Grayson (who is my consummate backup man) once again had my back. Matt got us shirts when our first order fell through, he took care of picking up food, coffee, etc and I am indebted to him for his help. Others involved here were Cayt, Katlyn, Cody, Dave, Racheal and the rest of our awesome staff.

 

Thanks to each and every one of you and let’s keep doing good work. One of our goals is to do something for society at least once a month, so bring me ideas.

 

Final thought, we even had a John Fetterman sighting on the trail. Next time Big John needs to be on his bike with us!

 

Thank you

 

Todd Hamer

Let’s Ride and Make the World a Better Place

Fitness, Life Health, , , , , , ,

The week for our bike ride is upon us!

 

As you have probably seen we are hosting a bike ride fundraiser. We are excited as this is something new to Union Fitness. The ride is called “Bike Ride for Black Lives.” All funds raised will be donated to the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.

 

FAQ

 

What are the ride options?

 

We are hosting a 10, 30 and 50 mile ride.

 

What are the routes?

 

We will have maps available the day of the ride.

 

The ten mile ride will leave Nova Place, ride to the Northside trail and follow the trail beside the Allegheny River and back to Nova Place.

 

The thirty mile ride will cross into town, then catch the Great Allegheny Passage and ride up past the waterfront and back (it will end at about Kennywood).

 

The fifty miler will follow a similar route to the thirty except follow the GAP past Mckeesport.

 

How do I register?

 

Click here and scroll down to Saturday. The ride is listed as one of our “classes.” This “class” is free to anyone (member or non-member of UF).

 

How do I donate?

 

All donations are taking place through our go fund me page, click here for that site. 

 

What time does the ride start?

10 mile family fun ride. This ride will leave UF at 10:30 AM with registration at 10 AM.

30 Mile Challenge. This ride will leave UF at 9:30 with registration at 9 AM.

50 Mile Challenge. This ride will leave UF at 8:30 with registration at 8 AM.

 

Will there be rest stops?

 

For the 30 and 50 mile rides we will have a support crew at the waterfront. They will have water, gatorade and snacks.

 

Let’s Roll.

Team UF