The deep squat is a functional movement and requires many different patterns to be working efficiently in order to maintain position. During this particular test we are analyzing the functionality of many of the components we tested previously, but now we are asking you to utilize them all together. The deep squat took place with your heels elevated on the board or on the floor and with a dowel rod pressed overhead.

What is this band for?

During this movement assessment we are looking to see if there is adequate hip, ankle, and thoracic spine mobility, and also proper core stability to complete the pattern. Leaning forward, inability to get the hips below parallel, and pain are the 3 major things we are looking for that will raise a red flag and therefore add in that purple wristband!

What does this mean when it comes to exercise?

If there is pain associated with this movement (often times felt in the knees), a large lean forward, or not quite enough mobility to get the hips to the desired depth, we want to improve all of these areas before adding an external load or stressing our extremities past what they can currently tolerate. Working through range of motion exercises will be beneficial at the current moment.

Examples of exercises not performed with a purple band:

• Loaded squats (kettlebells, dumbbells, resistance bands)
• Jumping

How can I work to get out of my band? I want to do some of those exercises!!

As stated previously, making sure we have proper mobility of the ankles and hips and stability of the trunk will be important for performing the deep squat. Therefore, you will want to incorporate the exercises listed below into your daily routine!

1. Adductor Mobes

How to perform:

• Start by kneeling down on your left knee and placing your right leg extended straight out to the side.
• Make sure to keep your right foot flat on the floor and your toes pointing forward.
• Place your hands on the ground in front of you, with your hands just underneath your shoulders.
• Rock your body forward and then sit back as far as you can.

Repeat: 5x on each side

1. 1/2 Kneeling Ankle Mobes

Purpose: Improve ankle mobility- dorsiflexion

How to perform:

• Set yourself up in a half-kneeling position with your L foot forward. Set the dowel rod up outside of the pinky on the L foot.
• While holding onto the dowel rod, drive your L knee to the outside of the dowel rod, away from your midline.
• Pause for a few seconds, reset to starting position, then drive knee forward again. Keep repeating these steps.
• *Focus on keeping the heel L heel on the floor the entire time.

Repeat: 1 minute on each side

Let's conquer this band!

I want to make eating unhealthy HARDER than eating healthy. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had to struggle to eat foods that were not good choices? Wouldn’t it be helpful if you had access to all the goodness of nutrition without sifting through all the other?

Begin Your Jumpstart

Date: Wednesday, July 12th

Time: 6pm to 7pm

Place: Get Fit NH Concord

Today I want to share with you my Pro Coach experience. Pro Coach is our nutrition coaching portal which is coached by the one and only Coach Nancy. Today I want to share with you how Pro Coach has completely changed my way of eating and helped me achieve some consistent results.

Focusing on one habit at a time. This has been HUGE! You don’t have to do any of the thinking with the habits. Pro Coach sets you a new habit to focus on every 3 weeks. This has been a game changer for me. I have never been more tuned in when I am eating than I am now. Habits like eating until your 80% full/leaving food on your plate. Slowing down when I eat. These are small habits that have changed the way I eat.

Another HUGE benefit to Pro Coach is how engaging it is. You write your own “Owner’s Manual.” You discover where your weaknesses are and help yourself overcome those obstacles. The best part is that your coach (Nancy) is reading your responses and helping you dig even deeper and take another step toward success. The feedback alone from my coach has been so valuable and life changing. It is okay to have a bad day and it is a place to check in and measure your progress.

This is a lifelong version of the Sizzling Summer Slimdown (S3.) It puts nutrition in front of you every single day. It provides a short lesson about where your focused habit is and has you check yes or no daily on your habit. On top of all of that, bi-weekly you share your results and it measures your progress over time. I have been doing Pro Coach since April and as of two weeks ago these were my results (be transparent, right?).

This program is worth it. I am talking to you not only as coach, but also as a human being who struggles with nutrition and needs accountability to stay on track.

-Coach Meagan

Funny story…some of you might know this story…

The other day we got to have a Fun Friday on a Thursday. Coach Cari and I arrived at the gym Thursday morning at 4:20AM to find the parking lot pitch black. Every single light was out as we pulled in. At 4:20 AM that is kind of creepy, by the way! We went in together and learned that we had NO power. The iPod was dying, we couldn’t see the board, or two feet in front of us…crud!

At the drop of a dime, our plan went COMPLETELY south and we had to quickly come up with a new plan. The planning process wasn’t totally smooth either. I came up with a training we could do outside that would have worked well, BUT it wouldn’t have worked well for our poor bands. When Coach Dean came in, he came up with a much better plan that was safe for our students AND our equipment! The training was a total blast. The outcome was positive and everyone left feeling happy and accomplished.

Success!

Now let’s apply this to any other real life situation, right? We have a plan and sometimes stuff happens! Stuff that is TOTALLY outside of our control, but has a direct effect on THE plan, such as getting stuck at work and missing training or forgetting your lunch in the fridge at home. That was not in the plan, so what do you do?

Learning to plan is a skill, and you know what else is a skill? Coming up with a plan B! I did not have a plan B the other morning at 4:20AM, but you know what? I will now! Situations come up all the time where we have to make a choice that wasn’t on our radar. It is a skill to make a choice that you will be proud of and happy with. For example, coming to the next later training hour or making a nutritious choice at lunch at a restaurant. Just because the plan fails sometimes doesn’t mean our world needs to come crashing down. Be ready to adapt and overcome. Be flexible and make choices you will look back and be happy with. Every failed plan is an opportunity to learn.

-Coach Meagan

You may have noticed a theme with these posts, they all center on kids not being able to get out and play the way they used to. The next step in our Athlete Academy program for ages 9-12 over the summer will be to work on some proactive flexibility.

You may be wondering why I am prefacing that with the word “proactive”. Here is why - as kids get older, their time sitting in class and sitting on the couch increases. Ever notice that a toddler walks around endlessly, can squat down perfectly to pick something up, but a 15 or 16 year old has to kneel down or bend over at the waist to do so? Its because of two things: growth and lack of movement in functional patterns.

That’s why in this 6-week summer program we are looking to offset that. Kids sit at desks all day which shortens their hip flexors and stiffens up their upper backs. Combine that with growth spurts that make connective tissue suddenly inflexible and you have a recipe for a child lacking in mobility. Those who are in athletics will notice declines in performance, and those who are not will notice compounding problems that will make any active activity much more difficult.

That’s why our goal is to correct the problem this summer before it even becomes a problem. We have kids in our high school program now that are seeing just how major the benefits are of increased flexibility and mobility. Imagine if they didn’t have those restraints in the first place?

-Coach Adam

The hurdle step, which is demonstrated on the left, corresponds to our green wristbands. This movement allows us coaches to analyze functional symmetry. While performing this stepping/stride like motion, we are looking for maximal hip flexion of the stepping leg all while maintaining hip extension of the supporting leg. This exact movement was performed during the active straight leg raise as well but we are now adding core and pelvic stability into the mix!

What is this band for?

As a coach, we are looking to see if you are able to properly dorsiflex your ankle to clear the string (having adequate ankle mobility), proper hip and knee flexion/extension, control your pelvis, maintain extension of stance leg, and to maintain upright and minimizing upper body movement as much as possible while completing the movement.

If anything stood out and/or you needed to compensate, we want to work towards fixing that problem before potentially causing a greater one!

What does this mean when it comes to exercise?

We want to stay away from exercises that require jumping! Adding in that impactful activity may not be appropriate at the moment. First, we want to work on improving hip mobility. Jumping/landing without the proper postural control and movement mechanics could result in injury.

How can I work my way out of this band?

1. 1/2 Kneeling Hip Flexor Mobes

Purpose: Improve length of hip flexors and teach your body about hip extension rather than lumbar extension

How to perform it:

• ​Set yourself up in a half-kneeling position, with the R leg forward and L leg down on the floor. Ensure that both knees are at 90 degrees.
• Place your hands on your R knee and keep arms extended straight to keep your chest tall.
• Press your R knee away from your body, while tensing the L glute.
• Push forward until you feel a mild stretch in your L hip flexor.
• Hold for 1 minute.

Repeat: 1 minute on each side

2. Figure 4 Stretch

Purpose: Stretch out hips, glutes and lower back

How to perform it:

• Lay on your back and bring your right foot to your left knee.
• Reach through your legs and lace your fingers around your left knee and pull it gently towards you.
• If you are unable to keep your head on the ground – place your hands around your thigh or support your head.

Repeat: Hold for 30 seconds and then switch sides, repeat 2 to 3 times

Let’s conquer this band together,
Coach Cari

This is a somewhat different spotlight I am sending your way this time. After the Rock’n Race this year, Adam Rosenthal came up to me and told me about how he had used his Myzone to make sure he was exercising safely in the Rock’n Race. I asked for permission and was given the okay to share the follow up email he sent about it. 

This is more a spotlight on Adam for having the wherewithal to not only use the information provided to him, but also apply it for his own health. Also it's a great reference for anyone else who needs some other ideas how they can also apply the information! Read below!

“I just wanted to thank all of the coaches at GFNH for the wisdom you have en parted on me via the MyZone training sessions. At Mile 2 last night on the slight incline coming out of the State of NH complex I looked down at my heart rate and saw it had reached 155 BPM which is my Max. 97 degree temperatures and fast walking my usual 5K race pace had pushed me to my max and it was time to back my pace down to 135 BPM and finish the last 1.1 miles which I did. My time was 2.5 minutes slower than my usual 5K times but under the weather circumstances of record high temperatures I accept that and am looking forward to my next 5K race. As Bob Moses stated after the race it was a PW (Personal Worst). I have lived to race another day! I wanted to thank everyone at GFNH for giving me the knowledge and wisdom to make such a crucial decision to back off my race pace because of the heat. Without the MyZone training program this might not have happened resulting in more serious complications. Thank You!”

Thank you for reaching out to us, Adam. Great job using the tools available to you and making the quick decision to keep from setting yourself back. You can continue to make it happen!

-Coach Adam

Fitranx is an exercise leveling system composed of 8 levels. The best way to think of it is like belts in martial arts - as you become more proficient in more difficult exercises, you have the ability to test into the next level during Fitranx testing days at Get Fit. As you progress from Level 1 all the way up to Level 8, the exercises will become more challenging. This will be sure to give you something to consistently strive for to make yourself better.

The thing that makes this different than other things we have done in the past, like the Get Fit games for example, are a couple big factors. First, these tests are standardized and are being performed all over the country. You know that if someone on the west coast is a Level 5, and you just passed the Level 5 test, you both had to complete the same number of exercises, the same selection of exercises, and the same weights from those exercises. Also, these level tests are categorized by age: Bracket 1 is ages 16-35, Bracket 2 is ages 36-55, and Bracket 3 is ages 56+.

Now, for a little information about the testing days. First and foremost, every participant must level their way up, so everyone, regardless of current conditioning, must start at Level 1 and work their way up. Our next testing day will be July 15th (it’s a Saturday) where the Level 1 and Level 2 testing will take place. Subsequent testing days will follow once it has been fully kicked off. Each tests consists of two parts - a strength portion and a conditioning portion - so you must be up to the task in both in order to complete the test. More information to come! be on the lookout!

-Coach Adam

Summer is here! With summer comes beautiful, gorgeous days! With those beautiful, gorgeous days comes the desire to soak up the sun for every minute possible, which means some of our colder month habits get brushed off…

Yes, I am talking about training. Here are three things you need to know and DO this summer so that you stay in the game!

1. Don’t let weather dictate your attendance. Easy for me to say, right? This is my job. But this is YOUR LIFE we are talking about. We only get 2-4 hours of your whole entire week to keep you moving toward your goals. Training is ongoing. You want results? You gotta be consistent!

2. Make training an appointment. You know how you put a dentist appointment or a doctor’s appointment on your calendar? You can’t miss it, right? It is planned. So is training. Make training a “non-negotiable.”

3. Understand that while biking, walking, running, hiking are all forms of exercise, it is far different than strength training. Strength training is the magic that keeps you aging gracefully. We need to be STRONG to keep our bones healthy and we need to be STRONG to continue to get up and down off of the floor. Being STRONG is what keeps you independent and you can’t be STRONG if you are inconsistent!

Be consistent. Be strong. Be accountable. Get results. Be better than you were yesterday!

Coach Meagan

Next Scheduled Recovery Week: July 3 - July 9, 2017

If you are new to the concept of recovery weeks, please read on.

If you have been training with us for awhile and you have ignored recovery weeks, read on.

Especially you.​

Recovery weeks serve a critical function within the training cycle (more on that below for those of you who want to see the science).

You may have noticed that as we get closer to recovery week the daily and weekly training intensity has increased.

That is purposeful.

Because we are working toward a week of MacroRecovery, we are intentionally working at a higher level.

Then we will take a scheduled, purposeful rest.​

Because whether you think so or not, you cannot and should not train really hard, all the time.

In fact one of our training program design principles is what is referred to as MED.

Minimum Effective Dose.

In other words, what is the MINIMUM stimulus we need to get better - stronger, leaner, better conditioned, etc.?

What? The minimum you say? That is NOT my style. Go hard or go home!

That WILL work, at least for a short time. Until your training overwhelms your ability to recover, and you start breaking down.

How can you tell that is happening? That you're not recovering fast enough from your training? Here's a few warning signs:

Altered Heart Rate and Blood Pressure

You are having a hard time getting your heart rate up, or it's beating like a racehorse when you feel like you aren't really doing much.​

Poor Sleep Patterns

​An increasing pattern of the inability to sleep restfully.

Decreased Performance

Your training loads have stagnated or even decreased.​

Mood Swings

One of my big ones (no secret I know - sorry).​

Eating Habits Disrupted or Compromised

It's not just a matter of will power. Overreaching and overtraining can cause physical cravings if our bodies are missing crucial nutrients because of too much physiological or psychological stress.​

Decreased Immunity

If you are getting sick frequently (eg. more than one cold a year) your immune system is probably compromised.​

Increase In Injury

This could be not recovering from the normal microtrauma caused by training, for example you are sore for 2 or 3 days after training, or you are getting strains, sprains, aches and pains that you normally do not.​

Lack of Progress (Plateau)

This could be either in body composition (not losing bodyfat/gaining muscle) or not making gains in the gym.​

Enter Recovery Weeks

Recovery weeks are designed to give you rest; physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

You see stress is not just a "mental" thing. Do you realize when you train you are stressing yourself out, on purpose? That gets added on top of all the other stress in your life, whether it be work, home, or the jerk who cut you off in traffic. Your central nervous system doesn't care, it just knows when you have too much of it, and it doesn't like it!

​And while you can't stop the knucklehead from driving like an idiot, there are things you can do to avoid excess systemic stress, and taking recovery weeks is one of them.

Here's My Top 5 Things To Do On Recovery Week

1. Catch up on my reading
2. Get some extra sleep
3. Spend more time with my family
4. Eat at a more leisurely pace
5. Visit somewhere I haven't before (this week is normally our "Spring Break")

​What about you?

You see you don't have to "not move" for a week. There is nothing wrong with getting outdoors, taking a walk, hitting the rock climbing gym, spending some time on the foam roller and stretching, getting a massage, and/or taking some long showers or baths.

Those things will aid your recovery and help you relax; running 2 or 3 or 5 miles every day (or every other day), or going to spin class, will not. 

I train hard, but more importantly I train and recover appropriately. 

I am in it for the long game. When I am sick, or excessively tired, or injured I cannot train.

THAT is what sets me back.

Recovery is what drives me forward. On a daily, weekly, and quarterly basis.

​You ready to get better with me?

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Coach Dean

PS. Below is the "Science Stuff" I promised - Enjoy!

All About Recovery Weeks

Our recovery weeks are what I would call Macro-Recovery. In other words we take a planned week off every training phase in order to let the body rest up from hard training and get ready for the next phase.

But did you know you can do even better than that? We have a number of athletes in the Get Fit NH family who participate in our Bioforce HRV monitoring program, which measures your systemic stress load on a daily basis, which allows us to fine-tune the recovery process on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. You can catch up on that by clicking here

Read on why properly planned and adequate recovery is important for you!

The Recovery Curve

I saw the recovery curve for the first time during my time with Australian physical preparation coach Ian King. His principles laid the foundation for the way we program, train and especially recover here at Get Fit NH. The principles that work with professional athletes apply to us too!

The following illustrates a “good” recovery curve:

The green line represents what we are all looking for – continual, never ending progress over time. We are getting stronger, faster, thinner, better looking (ok at least that’s what I wish for).

Reality Check – ain’t gonna happen. The process of changing your body is not linear, in fact what we are looking at in an optimal training environment is more of a “One step back brings me Two steps forward”.

A closer look at the chart will help explain what I mean.

The red line represents Equilibrium. This is where your body wants to stay, no matter if your goal is losing fat, gaining lean, or both. As you have no doubt found out, forcing your body to change is hard work – really hard work. When you walk into Get Fit NH, our training is designed to elicit that change. But it’s not as simple as “working out” day after day after day. In fact as I am about to illustrate, training without proper recovery is actually hurting you, not making you better.

The blue line represents the “recovery curve”. Starting at the left hand of the chart all the lines intersect. For this illustration that point is where your first training occurred – you “worked out”.

But what’s going on?

Instead of performance going up, that line is actually heading down – this is what is called Depletion. If you think about it makes sense – you have worked hard, you are fatigued, your body is depleted of nutrients – you are spent!

Don’t worry, your body will get over it, if you treat it right! This is what we call Adaptation. Your body wants to be able to handle the increased demand that was placed on it, and starts the process of getting better.

You are in charge of if and how fast that happens. A few of the factors that influence this adaptation include recovery nutrition, stress levels, sleep habits, supportive nutrition, age, and training history.

The recovery curve continues with Supercompensation. Here is how Coach King describes this process:

“It is only when recovery is allowed that we see the super-compensation effect, the unique phenomenon where the bodies physical capacity is elevated in response to training, in anticipation of another exposure to the same stimulus.” – King, I, 1999/2000, Foundations of Physical Preparation

In other words your body has gotten better in response to your training, a new Equilibrium is established and this state is when we will ideally train again. Our programming at Get Fit NH is carefully designed to give this the best chance of occurring, but as I hope you are discovering, you have a lot to do with this with how you treat your recovery!

As you can see, when things are clicking, this process when repeated over and over means you are getting better and better, the blue line is headed up – pretty cool!

The flip side to all this is what happens when the recovery process isn’t working so well.

This chart represents recovery gone “bad”:

When we continue to train in a state of “Depletion”, regardless of the reason, the adaptation to super-compensation effect doesn’t occur, and instead of getting better, we find ourselves in a downward cycle. This can happen when we train the same muscle groups too soon, when we haven’t taken the steps described above to recover optimally (sleep and nutrition for instance) regardless of time between training, when we train too hard coming off an illness, etc. The last thing we want to happen is new equilibrium to be established in a downward pattern – not good.

The long and short of it is your body absolutely needs to recover from hard training. Consistently training in a fatigued state results in injury and illness. Your body is an amazing machine designed to put up with a lot, but it was also designed to need rest.

Which leads us to:

Recovery Weeks!

Face it – you can get beat up anywhere. Our responsibility at Get Fit NH is to help you get better!

That includes recovery weeks. We have found that somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks of training is just about right to take a full week off and let your body recover.

That doesn’t mean that you spend your training time on the couch eating bon-bons, but if you insist on going down to PF and hitting the weights or running 10 miles every morning, your body will suffer in the long run, and perhaps even in the short term.

If you find yourself fighting this concept, ask yourself this – Is your unwillingness to take a week off a well reasoned decision based on what you know to be true, or is it that your attachment to training is so strong emotionally that makes it so hard? You will not lose all you have gained by taking the week off, I assure you! Again to quote Coach King, “…if you don’t (take time off)…most of you are going to lose it anyway!”

So now that we have established you are ready, willing and able to embrace recovery week, what do you do?

Glad you asked!

Three Steps for Successful Recovery

1.) Physical Rest and Regeneration

– Our bodies must rest and recover to prevent over-training (or under-recovering) issues so that we can come back 100% healthy and energized for the next phase of the program

– Focus on maintaining and/or increasing flexibility and tissue health by stretching and foam rolling daily. 15-30 minutes is fantastic!

– Daily restorative walks are beneficial during this week. 30-60 minutes briskly walking (not jogging/running) will keep your body refreshed and active, without negating the purpose of this week. Don’t overdo it!

2.) Physiological and Psychological Rest and Regeneration

– We must normalize key anabolic hormones, refill muscle glycogen, increase caloric intake, and prevent any diet induced catabolism (losses of lean body mass) so that we can enjoy greater fat loss for the next phase of the program

– We have taken the road less traveled by being flexible eaters with a long-term approach to success and thus we will take a break from our aggressive fat loss nutrition plans. This is not a free for all, so stay away from your “trigger foods” (junk foods and sweets) that open the door to excessive calorie intake.

– Instead plan (key word) and enjoy 2 or 3 controlled free meals to reward yourself for all of your hard work, but do not overdo it!

– Caveat: If your nutrition habits have been less than optimal, more than likely none of this applies to you. Instead now is the time to plan and prepare to make the changes necessary to see the results you want. Spend some time with a coach and your Jumpstart Nutrition Guide if you need help.

3.) Celebrate the Fruits of Your Labor

– Take some time to reflect on how far you have come since you joined Get Fit NH in terms of improving your overall health, body composition, and performance

– Enjoy your results!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We would just like to take the time to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your hard work and dedication to improving your health and fitness… keep Making It Happen!

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