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Push ups, pull ups and fat loss, oh my!
I think we can all agree that push ups and pull ups are hard…..really hard. A common goal I hear when students begin training with us is, “I want to be able to do a chin up” or “I want to be able to do a push up.”
I have been lucky to see hundreds of students meet these goals over the past 5 years. It is one of the coolest things to see as a coach!
So let’s talk about each of these and come up with 3 ways you can get better at them this year
Push ups
If you are a fat loss student then step one to being able to do a push up is to lose the fat. How do I lose fat, you ask? Food, it’s all about the food. We can help you get a better relationship with food so you can lose the fat so you are able to push your bodyweight up and down. We offer a ton of nutrition coaching- talk to us!
Learn to keep your body TIGHT. When we coach you to bring your toes and knees together and squeeze your cheeks it is not because we are knit picky. It is because to be able to push yourself from the floor and get your body to talk to each other from the head down to the toes you need to keep your whole body tight. If you can teach yourself to keep your body that tight during all of your training- squats, deadlifts, swing, planks, etc then it will become a more natural feeling
Working on your trunk stability. Let us teach you about rolling patterns (or see it for yourself on our website!) Practice perfect reps. Be PATIENT Be CONSISTENT and STOP telling yourself you’ll never be able to do it.
Pull ups
Same as the push ups. If you are a fat loss student then you need to lose the fat before you can get your chin over the bar. I’ll address relative strength in a moment
Hollow body holds. We’ve been working on them in training. Do them regularly. Do them right. We talked above about keeping your body tight. This is the same thing for a pull up.
Hang on the bar. In order to get your chin over the bar you have to first be able to hang on the bar. If you keep your body tight and just hang on the bar I can STILL help you get strong. If you lose the fat and you are strong, you will pull your chin over the bar
Here is a little education for you…
Relative strength- is the amount of strength to body size, or how strong you are for your size. This reflects a person's ability to control or move their body with no more weight than their own. Think push ups and pull ups for repetition.
Absolute strength- is the maximum amount of force exerted, regardless of muscle or body size. Think heavy deadlifts and heavy squats. If I am 140 pounds and I can lift 225 pounds off of the ground then I am stronger than someone who is 215 pounds and can lift 300 pounds off of the ground because I am able to lift 1.5 times my body weight but the other person can only lift 1.3 time their body weight.
There are many ways to prove you are strong, but relative strength proves you are strong AND lean.
Coach Meagan
Weird blog title, I know. The purpose of this blog is to remind you that everyone goes through struggles. Personal struggles, health struggles, pain struggles, work struggles everyone has struggles. Just like everyone has a story. We, as humans, go through some really hard stuff. Some people go through more struggles than others. Some are maybe more severe than others. But everyone has them.
The purpose of this blog is not to take away from anyone’s struggles. Struggles are hard and they just downright suck sometimes. My hope is to change your mindset to help you get through these tough times.
How you let your situation affect you has everything to do with how you get through it
Are you letting your situation control you? Are you letting it define you? Let me use an example to better explain. You just found out the only way you will get out of pain is to have your hip replaced. Dude, that sucks. It does. How are you going to let this news affect you? Is it going to consume your thoughts and your energy every waking moment until it happens? How about if you look at it like this, “This is going to be tough. I have been in pain for a long time and now I finally have the answer to getting me out of pain. It will be long road, but when I come out of this I will be able to do X, Y and Z again pain free! I can’t wait!” You are not just a person who needs a new hip. That’s not who you are. You are person who likes to be active. Who wants to age more gracefully so you can keep your independence and play with your grandkids on the floor. You are not just a person who is in pain. See yourself through the blinders and embrace the suck, because it won’t suck forever.
Smile and use positive self-talk. Look at the world in front of you. The floor is not that exciting, look up and stop putting yourself down! You are so much more than your flaws. If you choose you focus on the things you don’t like about yourself then it consumes you and you start defining yourself as that person. You don’t have to be. Embrace your flaws because they are personal to you. Focus on the things that are great about you. If you need helping defining the great things about you then please let me help because I can spout off what I love about you. Let those things define you because that is who you are.
Be purposeful when someone asks how you are doing. You are more than alright and more than just okay! Use more enthusiasm and you will truly start to feel the way you respond. I am a big believer in that.
Embrace the suck. Embrace your flaws. Celebrate your beauty and be flippin’ fantastic
Coach Meagan
Raise your hand if you have ever said or thought something like,
"I’ll start on Monday......" (But it is Wednesday)
Or
"Life is too busy for me to go to the gym right now so I’ll try again when life slows down"
Or
"I don’t have time to eat healthy"
Or
"It’s too expensive to eat healthy"
These are things I hear almost every day. I am here to change the way you are looking at your life just as much as I am here to help your change your body physically. If you can change your mindset then you can really get some work done. So let’s address one at a time and let it be known that I am no super hero. I have had these same thoughts to some extent too so let’s work through it.
"I’ll start on Monday......." (But it is Wednesday)
Ok, so you had a bowl of ice cream on Wednesday night and then a glass of wine and maybe a giant bowl of cheesy pasta. Oh and you missed training on Monday and Tuesday….DUDE, you’re gonna survive. I mean, your stomach will probably hurt like hell, but you didn’t just gain 50 pounds in one sitting and lose all of your muscle mass. So you tell yourself this week is blown so you’ll make sure on Monday you’ll get back on track. Ummm what? Are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday not good enough days to get your stuff together and make a plan? Every day is a fresh start. In fact, every minute is a fresh start. Forgive yourself and allow yourself to have your moments of weakness. They are acceptable. Adult tissy fits are totally acceptable and necessary sometimes. What is NOT acceptable is leaving yourself there in the dumps. Pick yourself up and try again.
"Life is too busy for me to go to the gym right now so I’ll try again when life slows down"
Here is the number one phrase I hear when clients leave. It crushes my soul every single time, because life will not slow down. The perfect time is never going to come knocking on your door. YOU, yes YOU, have to create the time. YOU have to understand that you are important too and you have to believe that and you have to act on that! Putting yourself first is not easy when you have a demanding job and kids and so on and so forth. I get it! Life is busy and you need to be a priority because without a healthy you other areas of your life suffer.
"I don’t have time to eat healthy"
I don’t even know what that means. Why not? Have you heard of an instant-pot or a crockpot? Have you heard of Pinterest or Google who have literally MILLIONS of healthy recipes using these machines? C’mon now. We are adults. We can take care of ourselves, but we do have to put in a little effort. Find simple recipes (You can even google simple recipes!), make a grocery list, go grocery shopping, prep if you can (if you can’t instant-pot doesn’t care! (You can put frozen meat in there!) and eat your healthy meal. Make extra for lunch the next day or so. You can do this. How important is it to you? If it is important to you then you find time and make it happen. Technology has come a long way, use it your advantage!
"It’s too expensive to eat healthy"
You know what else is expensive? Hitting the drive thru a Dunkin’s every morning or going out to lunch a few times each week because you didn’t bring yours. Now THAT is expensive! Frozen veggies are less expensive than fresh and they will give you nutrients too! You don’t have to buy organic to get results (I don’t!). You don’t have to shop at Whole Foods to get results.There are so many tricks. Ditch the excuses and you shall find results!
Coach Meagan
Do You Have Goals?
A goal can simply be defined as a desired result that is accompanied by an effort aimed at achievement. When setting a goal, you should make sure it is SMART:
Specific: “I want to lose 10lbs in two months”, not “I want to lose weight”
Measurable: “I will attend training 3x week”, not “I will train more often”
Attainable: “I will lose 2lbs a week”, not “I will lose 10lbs in a week”
Realistic: Something you are willing and able to work towards.
Timely: “I will lose 5lbs each month”, not “I will lose 10lbs”
Why is it important to have goals? Goals propel you forward and gives you something to work towards. Often times we get caught up looking at the large obstacles in front of us and become overwhelmed. Goals allow you to break it down into smaller more manageable steps. With each smaller goal we achieve, our motivation and drive to continue to the larger goal increases. We start to believe in ourselves. Also having a goal holds you accountable because you can track your progress.
Your coaches want to help you with your goals and keep you on track for success! We will have a Goal Box in the foyer. Use the form provided to write out your goal(s). Studies have shown that you are more likely to achieve your goals by writing them down. Once you have listed your goal on the form, as well as your name and email address, place it in the Goal Box. A coach will be in contact with you through email to review your goal and develop a plan to help you succeed. Once your personal plan is in place, your coach will check in with you regularly to make sure you are on track.
Let’s make it Personal.
Let’s Make it SMART.
Let’s Make it Happen!
There are many types of physical pain that we can experience. It is important to distinguish what is causing the pain. You may have screaming sore hamstrings and glutes from deadlifting more weight than you normally do. However, with proper recovery, hydration and nutrition this soreness will subside. We encourage you to still train through this soreness because movement will often aid in the recovery process.
In contrast, there can be pain that you have been dealing with for an extended period of time; weeks, months or possibly years. You may struggle with knee, back or shoulder issues and it can be extremely frustrating when they don’t seem to improve. I have witnessed some of you pushing through this type of pain. You believe, “I have been dealing with this issue for so long and it doesn’t get any better so I might as well just train through the pain”. Believe me I can understand! You want to be able to push yourself. You know what you have been capable of doing in the past. It is very challenging when you are not able to do certain exercises. You may feel a sense of personal failure. However, pushing through the painful movement pattern will only exacerbate the issue.
There are always alternative exercises that will help you build strength without the pain. Your coaches are here to help you. If you have knee issues, allow your coaches to make the necessary adjustments to your exercise selection. You can make a goal for yourself to work on improving your chin ups or push-ups. Most importantly, you want to remain positive and focus on what you are able to do. By focusing and improving on what you can do will result in positive feelings of accomplishment. This positive motivation will help to keep you committed to your fitness goals for the long term.
-Coach Erin
“This is how education works: you don’t sit down with a five year old and show them piles of books, assignments, and papers they are going to have to devour, Finish, and deliver by the time They’re done. The five year old just ‘shows up’ and day by day the work gets done.” -Dan John
I read this quote and it is a great way of categorizing the “trying to do it all at once” idea which often doesn’t have real results. When we looks at the quote above its just another way to realize how much work may have to eventually be done, but that it doesn’t have to be done all at once. Lets fast forward this a few years, lets say for the sake of argument that you are not five, lets say its your first year in college. So you are a freshman you walk into your advisers office and they look at you and say “Good morning, welcome to the university (it is your first day after all so pleasantries are being exchanged)” after which she drops a booklet down on the counter. On the front the booklet says “A four year degree in two semesters” with a picture of a group of smiling college students on the cover playing Frisbee out on the quad. You look at the front thinking “wow they look excited, and I can get my degree in 2 semesters? Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet”. Now you open to the first page, as you read you realize this isn’t some expedited curriculum, its four years of material that you are expected to finish in under a year. The first page is all the books you would need to buy over your college career but you need to pay for them all tomorrow since this is only one year, there’s a few thousand dollars right there. On the next page is a list of every assignment you will ever be assigned (let's revise that, on the next 6 pages). Followed by 4 pages of all the papers you will be assigned, then by another 3 pages of finals you have to take and senior research projects and papers you have to write. Rounding out with 4 pages about what you have to do for graduation and oh by the way, the day after you graduate you begin a career in your field for the rest of your life. All while finding a way to squeeze out 100+ hours of internship. How many people are succeeding on that system? Now let's say that somehow you do finish in a year. Let's say after burning four different candles at three ends for a year, you graduate. Do you think that the brain can really take in that much information in that short of a time period and be able to sort it and apply it rationally? Heck no.
Now apply that to your health. If you have bad joints, or you need to lose excess body fat, or you want to run a marathon, there is not “cheat code”. It is achieved by gradually learning how to change parts of your lifestyle that are not conducive to your goal, and amplifying the ones that are. If you came in tomorrow and Coach Dean gave you every piece of information available to him or gave you 500 steps to be healthy the rest of your life. How successful do you think you would be? I know I wouldn’t be successful, that’s way too much information to apply at once. Health and habits are something that must be learned and applied over time. If you are 80 lbs overweight and you try to implement 25 habits or steps the first day, you probably aren't going to be successful, it's about building a habit, then once its ingrained, building another. Continually learning more and applying more over time. So don’t expect everything to click at once, don’t expect to be able to apply 15 life changes tomorrow. Just come in, exercise, work hard, and make those small incremental changes. That’s the blueprint for real long lasting success and health, not trying to lose 60lbs in a week.
Make it Happen!
-Coach Adam