Tag Archives: Success

Union Fitness Labs Presents, The Virtual Bumpy Turkey Bowl & Burn

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

Gobble Gobble to all of our Thanksgiving Bumpy Battalions!

 

With everything going on we had to call a hot route into a Red 7 audible…if you don’t follow that one, then you should take a quick peek at Wedding Crashers backyard football scene to hype yourself up and “would you just go stand on the other side please?”

 

Sometime during your Thanksgiving feast, Macy’s Day Parade balloon critique, Foosball cheering, Planes Trains & Automobiles marathon & mid-day nap, come jump on our Instagram and sweat the gravy train out with our Virtual Bumpy Turkey Bowl & Burn workout. We will have it posted in the morning so you have all day to get the deal done.

 

If you haven’t checked it out yet, please click on our Thanksgiving donation blog. The proceeds will go to a local business and our first responders.

 

We are thankful for all of you and the amazing things you do!

 

Come catch me on the flippity flop and let’s get bumpy on Thanksgiving.

 

Cheers,

 

CeJ

Nutrition Tips For Thanksgiving

Clean Eating, Diet, Fitness, Life Health, Nutrition, , ,

The holidays give a lot of people anxiety when it comes to eating, being fearful of overindulging, not being able to control their intake, or for some, not sure how to approach any holiday while still enjoying the foods they love. My simplest piece of advice that I can offer always reigns true for anything in love, eat mindfully but allow your space to indulge without guilt, how do we do this? Well if you keep following along you’ll find out.

 

Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays, mainly because I get two in one year. As a Canadian we celebrate Thanksgiving in October however also being American, we celebrate this holiday but in November. From the pie to the stuffing to the gravy, this holiday is all about the food and I’m here for it (sometimes I end up in a food coma, actually let’s be honest, I always end up in a food coma around Thanksgiving).

 

As always, my tips are just suggestions and in no way do you need to follow them head-on. I’m simply sharing what I share with clients who struggle with this holiday and want to also stay on track with their goals while enjoying all the amazing food that sits in front of them.

 

Fasting for Thanksgiving is a big no-no, you do not need to fast for this festivity unless you are someone who already follows an intermittent fasting schedule. Instead, let us look at the day this way:

 

  1. Enjoy a high protein, low carb, and fat breakfast
  2. If your Thanksgiving dinner sits in the early afternoon, instead of having lunch, make yourself a high protein, low carb/low fat snack.

 

          • If anything, people struggle with getting enough protein in on this day so having 1-2 meals or one meal and one snack that is high in protein will set you up for success.

 

      3. For your Thanksgiving meal, the following is a suggestion:

 

          • 1/4 protein, 1/2 carb, 1/2 vegetable, 1/4 fat (can be included in protein/carb). Within this structure, you’re still hitting all your core groups and you can visually see on your plate where each macronutrient sits.
          • For dessert, if there are many different kinds sometimes I’ll opt for smaller portions to allow more space for a variation or if I’m more prone to want just apple pie, 1-2 slices is the perfect amount for me (I’ll never skip dessert, it’s the best part).

 

Remember, these are just suggestions to get the most out of your holiday without feeling like you overindulged. However, if you’re someone who doesn’t struggle with these feelings then please disregard my suggestions or follow them if you want to also stay mindful of your goals. Everyone is different and we all have different relationships with food, that is why what works for me doesn’t necessarily work for the next person.

 

If anyone needs any extra advice or wants to reach out to speak on the holiday, feel free to DM me on my personal Instagram. I’m always available for a little chat, especially since I’ll be spending the Holiday virtually with my family.

 

Have a great Thanksgiving Union Fam, much love,

 

Jocelyn

Movemember & Men’s Health

Life Health, , , , , , , , ,

The votes have been counted, and we have declared Movember the winner for this month’s education and charity event.  What do you think of my stache? Pretty cool, huh?!? Below is a little reminder of what Movmeber is all about.

 

Movember is an annual event where all partaking grow 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 their family history of cancer and 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.

 

Now gents, I’m asking you to let the hairy caterpillar blossom and promote awareness for men’s health. Remember that we men are stubborn about mental health and think we are too tough to get sick. It’s time to change the narrative here and educate men on how to indicate early and prevent these issues. We have people who love us and want to see us live long and strong lives. Ladies, you’re in this one, too! You have fathers, brothers, sons, and friends who need your support and a kick in the ass at times to take care of their health. This month I will do a few more blogs on this topic. This one is just for you to help me bring attention to this issue, so tell me about some topics you’d like to hear about.

 

Click here you can go and donate to promote Men’s health awareness. 

 

CeJ

How You Move Through Struggle Matters

Fitness, Life Health, , , , , , ,

If you read my training log last week you would know that I’ve been working on mindset,  in regards to how I am talking to myself during training. I’m a big believer in self-love and I practice this every day with my morning routine, listening to my body and prioritizing my mental health above all things.

 

I’ve been having a rough go at it recently, and honestly this last week felt like it would never end, I didn’t even want to go to training on Sunday because I hadn’t been eating. I was beyond exhausted and felt like I had absolutely no energy to give to a training session. But, I ended up going and for that, I am thankful because 2/3 of my training pieces were mentally stimulating and I pushed myself past the point at which I thought I would’ve failed.

 

My main training piece looked like this:

 

2 Rope Climbs

10 Clean + Jerks @ 125#

2 Rope Climbs

8 Clean + Jerks @ 135#

2 Rope Climbs

6 Clean + Jerks @ 145#

2 Rope Climbs

4 Clean + Jerks @ 155#

2 Rope Climbs

2 Clean + Jerks @ 165#

 

Let’s break this down a little bit, the rope climbs were just there and a minor formality to get to the barbell. The clean and jerks themselves were what I was struggling with mentally, after not fueling myself for at least a week I was feeling weak and just not prepared to lift heavy weight under fatigue. I was thinking all these things in my head during my warm-up sets and I only touched the 135# bar once before the workout.

 

Going into the workout I wasn’t confident but I lead with confidence, that’s where the difference lies. I would jog from the bar to the rope and walk to the bar from the rope, this was a strategic plan to keep my heart rate consistent and from skyrocketing. I knew I didn’t need to worry about the rope climbs but that I wanted to keep myself from failing any clean and jerks because having to hit that lift again after failing is soul-crushing (especially at a high percentage).

 

As the workout went on I still didn’t feel confident but I kept leading with an attacking mindset and staying calm. One of my training partners even mentioned after the workout that I looked like I was going to have a panic attack before the workout but he was proud that I kept myself collected throughout. As I move through workouts like this I’m starting to learn myself a little bit more and it’s crazy even after six years of CrossFit there is still so much I am realizing about my capabilities.

 

I was never once negative during this workout, I didn’t feel great but I also didn’t allow myself the space to dwell on the way my body felt. I trusted my training and what I had prepared for up until this point and I was not disappointed. I’d say this workout was a struggle for me, even if you visually couldn’t see it, it’s the mentality that takes the wheel regardless if you’re not feeling 100%.

 

I’m proud of how I performed in this workout and it was truly a test of what I have been working on endlessly in my training. Next time you’re having an off day in regards to your training (or simply life in general because I feel anything in the gym can be related to real-life in one-way shape or form) remember, how you move matters. Even if you don’t feel your best, be confident in yourself that you’ve done all the right things to help you push through.

Halloween BoooooCamp

Fitness, Life Health, , , , , , , , , ,

We had a lot going on this past weekend here at the UF headquarters.  The weekend started off with our second powerlifting meet of the year.  We had about 60 competitors lifting and dropping tons upon tons of weights.  We always love hosting these events.

 

We also had our Halloween BoooooCamp over at our friends’, ACB (Allegheny City Brewing). CJ “The Grim Reaper” Jasper led our team of ghouls and goblins over to put on a very scary workout that included, rowers, Rogue bikes, ski ergs, battle ropes, and the deadly prowler.

 

We had 15 “trick or treaters” that came and crushed our workout!  We were lucky to have sunshine and great weather to give our trick or treaters an awesome experience.  What made this special is that we had a healthy split of Union Fitness members and non-members that came out and joined the fun.

 

I have to say CJ held NOTHING back on this 5 station, 3 min round, non-stop, grueling workout!  10 mins into the workout the sweat was rolling off the heads of the brave souls that came out for the spooky event.

 

Here at UF, when we work hard, we play hard!  After the 5 deadly stations, we were all treated to the tasty craft beers at ACB. Matt, Amy, and their staff always treat us well with all the different flavored beers.

 

Whenever we do special events or mobile workouts, our General Manager Todd Hamer is adamant about giving back to the community.  This BoooCamp was dedicated to Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  We asked the attendees of the BoooCamp to bring gift cards for our friends over at the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, and they did not disappoint!  We have worked with WCS before and we love all the amazing work they do for victims of domestic violence.

 

Please stay tuned to our blog and our social media pages for updates on our next events.

 

Grayson

Weekly Wrap Up

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Happy Friday Union fam, it’s been a great week here at the facility and going into the weekend we have a handful of things planned for our members and clients. But first a slight recap from myself (Jocelyn):

 

I can only speak for myself but I know the rest of our staff would agree, getting to spend our time with all of you is a privilege none of us take lightly. We all got into this field because we enjoy guiding people along their own fitness journeys and with that being said it is truly one of the few reasons that gets me out of bed in the morning. Now, some days are harder than others obviously but sometimes all I need is great one hour coaching session to get those endorphins going again, if you’ve taken any of my classes you know I’m always dancing and cracking really bad jokes.

 

On Monday’s and Fridays I coach my class MOVEment which is a slight play off of the CrossFit programming I have grown to love and what got me to enjoy working out. It’s fun for me to come up with workouts and watch my classes run through them, you’ll always leave a MOVEment feeling like you got a solid hard workout.

 

With classes still gaining traction during this pandemic I’ve had some great opportunities to get to know clients in classes one on one. When I first started here at Union back in January I was a fresh face and then the pandemic hit and we were all forced through virtual connection. Luckily social media in that respect was a game changer and when we came back, seeing some faces I haven’t seen in a long time made me so happy. 

 

I might be biased but Cardio Lab might be one of my favorite classes to program for, my Tuesday crew is about the same every week and they have all come to expect the same thing from me, a hard workout (but they secretly love it). I’m sure they all come to listen to my Halsey inspired playlists and my terribly awful dance moves, I know I need to work on them guys.

 

If you’re around this weekend, come take a Friday evening MOVEment with me at 6PM for a great grindy conditioning piece or hangout with me on Saturday. I’ll be here at Union for the Kabuki Open and going over to Allegheny City Brewery to hangout while CJ and Grayson coach some of you all through our Bootcamp and Boo’s!

 

So, if you’re free come hangout, have a beer and enjoy a (fingers-crossed) beautiful day!

 

Much love Union fam,

 

Jocelyn

Jocelyn’s Training Log

Training, , ,

One thing I’ve been working hard on is my headspace and mentality when it comes to training. I like to describe myself as being deer-esque, which if you know me personally is so true because I’m very light, happy, and everywhere all at once kind of person. I know when it’s time to compete and be serious but channeling anger, attacking the bar and digging deep within myself is not an everyday reachable thing for me.

 

Over the past several weeks I’ve been working on really channeling this intense energy and pushing myself to a limit I feel like I wouldn’t be able to sustain, but I sit there, in discomfort, and just put my soul into the workout/training piece.

 

Last week we had our typical team training session which included a very gnarly 21-minute same sex, team conditioning. I was the shadow on a 2-person team, this means I will do the same scheme of work as one partner (mimicking their efforts but being there for an extra push for both partners). It’s not always fun being a “shadow” because you feel your effort doesn’t count but I took this mentality and pushed even harder whilst pushing my other two team members in the process.

 

This was the workout:

 

21 MINUTE CLOCK

AMRAP 5

Buy-in: 32 cal bike (split however with a partner)

100-yard sled push (45#x2) *I did 50 yards

MAX squat clean in remaining time (135#)

Finished with: 10 squat cleans

 

IMMEDIATELY INTO

AMRAP 7

Buy-in: 40 cal bike (split however with a partner)

100-yard sled push (45#x2) *I did 50 yards

MAX squat clean (145#)

Finished with: 9 squat cleans

 

IMMEDIATELY INTO

AMRAP 9

Buy-in: 45 cal bike (split however with a partner)

100-yard sled push (45#x2) *I did 50 yards

MAX squat clean (155#)

Finished with: 9 squat cleans

 

Normally I would look at a workout like this and be wary that I could even move the 155# bar as I did during this workout, the fact that I attacked each rep and got roughly around the same reps per round/weight is a win for me. The most rewarding feeling is when your coach comes up to you not once but twice to tell you how happy they were with how you executed the workout and how they are noticing the mentality shift you’ve been working on.

 

I left this session proud of myself, 155# is only 30# off of my best clean and even a few weeks back I hit 5# off of my max at the end of a disgustingly rough workout. Both of these times my mentality was strong, I dug my heels in and I didn’t pull back.

 

I’m not entirely sure what we’re training for right now besides the CrossFit Games Open in February when our 2021 season begins but I’m here, working hard because this is no time to sit back and relax, it’s all about the grind right now, so here I am.

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!

Know Your Why

Life Health, , , ,

This week I officially celebrate one year working here at UF. I have learned much about running a gym and have made plenty of mistakes this past year. It has been a year unlike any other. I spent much of the time when we were closed considering a question many of us have asked. Why do we do what we do.

 

You may be asking yourself, isn’t “Start with Why,” the title of a book? Yes it is. In my 20’s and into my 30’s I read many books of the self help/success genre. As I have moved into my 40’s I have diversified my reading immensely. Much like training when you read you should grow with the books you read and the books you are currently reading should lead you down a path to more in-depth books. Just as your training should evolve, so should your mind.

 

This leads me back to our why. As a gym/training center/performance center our why is to help you improve. Now we can ask,  “How can we do this?” As I see it, we are a lifestyle company as well as an entertainment company. Lifestyle as we help people live and lead a better lifestyle. Entertainment as we want to make this a fun and exciting environment.

 

Knowing our why we have now added one more way to add to your lifestyle. Next to the cardio lab we have added a bookshelf. This bookshelf is our mini-library. You may notice the sign that says, take a book, leave a book, just please read more. This is our goal for our mini-library. All books are there for anyone who wants them and we hope you may even add to our books by dropping off a book that once helped you grow.

 

Thanks and please read more.

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