Optimum Performance Training CCP/Crossfit Level 1 Certified Trainer
"A year from now you will wish you had started today"
Fitness: Is an evolving journey that follows a path of continued self-improvement through a balanced approach of learning, discipline, struggle and reflection. The body is a physical structure that needs to be treated with proper care allowing the mind to open its true self in discovering its purpose. Becoming comfortable with uncomfortable through physical and mental challenges leads to genuine growth as a human being providing the strength to achieve.
Jason started with Garage Gym in January 2012 with hopes of putting on some muscle mass and increasing his strength.
Jason has gained 18lbs of muscle since starting
Increased deadlift by over 100 lbs
Can do muscle ups on the rings
Climbs a 15ft rope 10 accents wearing a 20lb vest
Bench press 210 x 1
52.8lb weighted chinup
In a perfect world there would be one way of training, and one way of eating. Easy, just follow that one specific plan and bingo….RESULTS. This isn’t a perfect world and there is no one way of eating and training that covers the entire population. Take these examples: An undertrained 48 year old female training to live a healthy functional life, 20 lbs overweight, high stress, sleeps 6 hours a night and a right knee injury verus a 21 year old male training to place in the top 10% at Crossfit Sectionals, 8% bodyfat, deadlifts 415lb, 43 inch box jump, runs a 5:30 mile, sleeps 9 hours a night and has limited stress. Would it make sense for these two individuals to be following the same training and nutrition plan? (these are made up examples) Our 58 year old female would be training 2-4x per week for 30-40 min a day focusing on proper form, and movements that relate to everyday life, bending, squatting, pushing and pulling at a low intensity and low volume with plenty of rest between sets and sessions. While focusing on a nutrition and lifestyle plan designed to help her improve body composition, and decrease inflammation within the body. Our 21 year old male (assuming he’s 12 weeks out from competition and has been training at Garage Gym for 1+ years) would be training 6-8 times per week with multiple double sessions, 2-3 ice baths per week, consuming 200+ grams of quality carbohydrates per day, napping as much as humanly possible and following a training program that is moderate strength training volume (15-20 sets), mixed modality anaerobic and aerobic based sessions, multiple crossfit testers, aerobic power work and 1-2 flow recovery sessions per week which would include 5000m rows at 65% effort and 3-4 mile airdyne rides at 65% focusing on breathing and relaxation. Different? I think so. We can use hundreds of examples just like this. Senior in highschool preparing for his football season versus a Marine recruit preparing for Recon indoc versus a 61 year old male who has COPD, smoked for 25 years and has diabetes.
Moving forward I want you to become aware and notice (two very powerful words) the differences in the needs/wants/priorities of all individuals when looking at a training, nutrition and lifestyle prescription. An important question to leave of with…. is your plan working(seeing constant results) and not causing you harm(injury, bored etc) while leaving you with a sense of enjoyment and understanding?
Wow its been 3 weeks since I've last posted. Im going to try and be more diligent with posting from here forward. We've been cranking at the gym, putting in long days and watching our client base keep crushing each day. Also google changed our blogs so they can only be opened in google Chrome, which I am not too good at using so I avoid it as much as I can.
The below post is an article I wrote for the local newspaper.
Tired of the gym?
Everyone knows that guy at the gym that looks like he’s trying out for a role in Pumping Iron. He’s walking around giving advice to everyone between his seated dumbbell curls listening to Lady Gaga and drinking from a gallon jug of water. Hardcore. Then you wake up one morning and you decide you are tired of training at Planet Treadmill and have nightmares of the lunk alarm going off because you are actually working out hard. You want to work out at home, in your own space, freedom to grunt, sweat, and cry if needed.
Welcome back to reality, solider. Anyone can train at home, in their backyard or a parking lot. We’ve made everyone believe that they need to have the latest ab blaster or they have to train on a nautilus machine to see results. Right? Wrong! Its summer time, get outside and breathe some fresh air. Listed below are 3 ideas to play around with when looking for a good workout outside. With that said, remember these ideas are for those looking for something new. Two things: don’t over do it, the below workouts are potent. Second, getting hit by a car will not help you get fitter- be safe.
1) Hill Sprints- Find a huge hill, start at the bottom, sprint as hard as humanly possible for 20 sec. Walk down the hill to the start line again and rest for 3 min. Repeat 6-10 times. Simple, but yet you never see anyone sprinting hills anymore, other than myself and my group class on West Hill. Stop by and introduce yourself next time you drive by, we don’t bite.
2) Find a heavy rock. If you have a hard time finding one, walk on the edges of a farmer’s field and you will find plenty of them. Once you find your perfect rock, carry it home or to your car, this may be a workout itself depending how far you have to carry it.
Workout: Complete 21 Thrusters with your rock then 10 Burpees then Run 200m fast, rest 3 min and repeat 3-5 times. Another simple workout that will shred more fat in half the time you spend running on your elliptical while watching Oprah.
3) Buy an 8 dollar jump rope. I have 2 workouts for you with this one. Complete 500 single unders with your new jump rope for fastest time possible. For each mistake you make perform 10 pushups and 15 sit-ups.
For those that are jump rope pros, attempt this workout. Complete max double unders with your jump rope in 10 min. Goal is to beat 600. Breathing hard and drenched in sweat from 10 minutes of working out? I bet you are.
Don’t overlook the simplicity with training. These are very generalized workouts and I have hundreds if not thousands more. I write hundreds of workouts for athletes and your average moms and dads who enjoy this primitive way of training. I’d pick anyone of them to be on my team before your juiced up globo fitness junkie.
I also recommend you receive a proper fitness assessment before attempting these workouts. (my disclaimer). Are these workouts for everyone? No, as by now we all know everyone is different in their needs towards accomplishing true health, these are just ideas.
Cue the Rocky Music.
Train, eat, live,
Garage Gym, where we watch parents become fitter than today’s average 17 year old.
What is your definition of healthy?.................................
Most everyone WANTS something. Materialistic items, to be skinnier, more money etc...
Very few people that I meet HAVE A PLAN to accomplish what they want.
I speak with numerous people on a daily basis and this topic comes up. I want this or I wish I had that...
My response is...what is your plan on getting there?
I get looks of confusion.
Unfortunately in today's society we are conditioned to wait for things to be handed to us
Mom and Dad buy Johnny his new video game because he wants it
16 yo has her first car bought for her and insurance paid
Fast food meals, all we have to do for is pay
Weight loss pills
Microwaveable meals
The list goes on and on.
Over time this line of thinking translates to how we view our physical health and personal life.
Weight keeps going up, you dislike your job more each day, joints starting aching more, and your credit card debt increases.
And we wait....
We would like to feel better
We wish we had a better job
We play the lotto
Hoping
There is no easy way. Anyone successful in any field will always tell you the path was tough. It wasn't easy.
I recently read an article about a world champ Tetris player http://www.geekwire.com/2012/tetris/
My coach's brother, OPT , posted this article and brought it to my attention.
Within it this individual speaks of his passion. Tetris and playing/mastering video games
He lists a few key points that translate to anyone looking to improve, accomplish a task etc.
I wanted to highlight 2 of them
1) Practice makes perfect. I tell clients it takes 5-8 weeks to make a new "change" a habit. The more you integrate the positive changes the easier they become over time. I give clients specific lifestyle prescriptions along with training and nutrition programs. The more you attack these with consistency the faster they become the new "you".
2) Ignore the critics- Generally anyone who is downplaying your effort or the changes you are trying to implement are what I call "arm chair quarterbacks" They criticize a play on the field without truly having been in the play. Ignore those around you trying to bring you down to their level. When the idea of building my Facility in my backyard came up, I was told that my location was poor, and its safer to stay where I was (a job that was leading to no where). Today most of you know how that ended up for us. :)
To summarize, do not wait for an opportunity, chase one down and pounce on it. It may try to get up and run away again, but keep chasing because without that chase you are stagnant and in nature if an object is stagnate too long it decomposes.
Wake up everyday with a plan, and enjoy the ride.
A coach whether for training, nutrition and/or lifestyle can provide that structure and accountability needed for you to succeed.
My wife and I are proud owners of Garage Gym! We believe that a solid foundation in exercise, nutrition and lifestyle factors is key to a happy, energetic filled life. We operate our brand new 1000 square foot facility in our backyard providing our clients a comfortable "at home" setting to workout in. Our group classes are small(6) allowing each client to recieve proper attention during and after workouts. Our private one on one clients are extrememly successful and our results speak for themselves. Our passion in training and nutrition has led us on this path to assist others in all their fitness and nutrition goals, come join us!
