Recovery Week Reading List: Mission Nutrition

cookbookcoverI know you are all super busy, and sometimes you just don’t get to read like you would like to.

Well next week you are going to have an extra hour or so a few certain days, so howsabout taking the opportunity to catch up on some reading and making yourself better in the process. Better Eating = Better Health, so read up and then put it into practice.

Here is a compilation of some of our favorite “Mission Nutrition” topics.

Nancy ‘s Top 5 Grocery Shopping Tips

Three Rules to Easy Eating On The Go

Meal Planning Made Easier

Keep It Simple!

10 Ways To Eat Fresh

Food Labels. What You Need To Know

and if you don’t have a Get Fit NH Cookbook yet – pick one up this week!

 

 

The Top 10 Things You Should Know About Your Get Fit NH Training Program

hWho doesn’t like a good “Top Ten” list?

Our friends over at SGT inspired me to put together a Get Fit NH Top 10, so here goes.

Did you know?

  1. You can control the intensity of each training session with your own effort.  Don’t overlook this.
  2. Pain increases cortisol and cortisol increases body fat.  There is no benefit to working out in pain. Avoid the painful patterns (and get the proper medical attention if necessary) and train the non-painful patterns.
  3. Soreness is ok, but it’s not marker of a good training session.  Just because you aren’t’ sore the next day, don’t think that you didn’t train smart (or hard).
  4. Stacking fitness on top of dysfunction will only lead to injury or plateau.  SGT and the FMS screen find your movement pattern dysfunctions, and then we can work on cleaning up your weakest links.
  5. Overtraining (under-recovering) is a major contributor to lack of results and people giving up.  Nutrition and sleep are crucial to continued progress, as is taking a break. Taking a scheduled recovery week IS training.
  6. Lifting weights does not make women bulky! Resistance training will make you strong and lean.  Not lifting weights will make you frail and skinny-fat.
  7. You get much better results from doing a less challenging exercise in good form than you will from a more challenging progression in bad form.  Intensity must follow proper form, and is dependent on it.
  8. If your goal is fat loss, it’s important to know that you typically can’t out-train poor nutrition.  Treat your treats like treats. You can’t live well if all you eat is cheats and treats.
  9. Recovery is just as important as your training.  A good post training meal, 7-8 hours of sleep, stress reduction, and tissue quality work are essential to a balanced program.  You must live The Other 165.
  10. We are not going to do any sit-ups and crunches.  Your lumbar spine is made to stabilize, not flex and extend repeatedly under load.  We do stabilization exercises for the core, and if your form is right you are working your core on EVERY exercise that we select.  Core training at its best is working to maintain good posture under the load or force that is trying to alter that posture.

So there you go, our Current Top 10

Didja learn anything?

Now get in here and Make It Happen!
Coach Dean

Training Quality Counts!

fms_certified_expertAt Get Fit NH we as your coaches are always looking to do one thing – get better.

Why?

Because when we get better at what we do, it helps us help you reach your goals, and that is what we are all about.

You see it’s not all about you getting trashed every time you walk into the gym (believe it or not). I mean we all love to feel like we have worked hard, but crawling out to our car every day would be counterproductive. Those training sessions when we have left it all on the floor and feel great are an expression of all the hard work (sometimes backing off being the hard part) that we have done to get to that point. Our training is cyclical for a reason – because it works, and it works better.

To that end I am excited to tell you about one more way Get Fit NH is helping you get better. We are in the process of integrating the Functional Movement Screen into all our program design and coaching.

Over the past couple of months Coach Erin has been  laying the groundwork and doing a practical test of the system by taking a selected few of you through the Functional Movement Screen, and you will see this expand into Epsom as well as both Nancy and I have completed our course work and passed the FMS examination.

Our beliefs and methodologies have been based around these training systems for quite some time, but we had no baseline screening system for classifying if someone is able to safely enter our program to get the results they are looking for.

Our team at Get Fit NH really believes that this form of screening and standardizing movement is essential for safe, timely, effective results.

In order to better understand the premise of where these beliefs stem from, let’s take a look at some of the rules that Functional Movement Systems are based around.

  • Pain should not be present while performing basic bodyweight movement patterns.  If there is pain associated with these basic movement patterns, movement patterns will be compromised and substantially increase the likelihood for developing further injury to the site of pain.  Also, this could lead to a secondary injury from the body compensating to avoid the pain or restricted movement.
  • Having multiple limitations within several basic movement patterns, even if they’re pain free, can create compensations and general weaknesses that may lead to a greater likelihood of injury.
  • Basic unilateral movement patterns should be symmetrical on both right and left sides of the body.
  • Fundamental and basic movement patterning should precede performance related activities.
  • Basic before Complex, Stable before Unstable

Foundational movement patterns need to be assessed before we can create a program designed to fit each individuals needs.  Our goal at Get Fit NH is to provide the best personal training services available – bar none.

Using the Functional Movement Screening Systems, we were able to establish a solid baseline screening system to better help manage and prevent injury to the musculoskeletal system.  Also by establishing a baseline scoring criteria, we will be able to monitor and track progress to ensure that the right program is being implemented.

All of this screening, assessing, and implementing the right mix of corrective exercises into the programs are going to help keep our clientele safer and healthier for long periods of time.  We realize that injuries can happen.  However, it’s our job to reduce the likelihood of injury.

Exercise should be enjoyable…Exercise should be well thought out and serve a purpose…Exercise should help you meet and exceed your goals…Exercise should help improve movement patterns and make daily activities more enjoyable.

This training philosophy is the foundation of our group personal training program design at Get Fit NH.  It’s our job to get results and keep you injury free.  It’s all about the quality of the movement, not the quantity.

So don’t be surprised when you get a tap on the shoulder to set up an appointment for the screen. No matter how good we move, we can always get better!

Keep Making It Happen!

Coach Dean

Designed With You In Mind

I received an email from my friend and fellow fitness pro BJ Gaddour (Sven) where he mentioned he was asked to comment on in article on MSN Fitbie called “Is this workout completely insane?”, referring to the latest infocommercial craze “Insanity”.

You can check out the article and his complete comments here http://fitbie.msn.com/get-fitter/workout-completely-insane

In the email he went on to highlight some concerns beyond the protocol itself, which included lack of progressions, modifications and the high volume of plyometric work. I know BJ well enough to know these are legitimate concerns, not just the ranting of another jealous trainer.

His email got me to thinking about a subject near and dear to my heart, which is quality program design. One of the best tools we can put in your hands is the knowledge why you are doing what you do when you train with us, so please read on.

There is much more to effective and safe program design than meets the eye.

I remember the first time I sat with the coaches at King Sports International and started going over the concepts of effective program design –  it was truly mind boggling to me.

The way our bodies are designed to move is truly incredible. Single joint, multi-joint, unilateral, bilateral, vertical, horizontal, push, pull – and that’s just the upper body!

Since that time I have had the opportunity to write hundreds of training programs taking thousands of hours, and spent more thousands of hours on the training floor with clients. I’ve gotten a bit better at it over the years, but the learning and refining never stops.

So you may be asking yourself “What’s the big deal?”

Well let me preface by saying that just about any program will get you some level of results, at least when you are newbie.

But then reality sets in and one or more things happen:

  • Progress stops
  • You get hurt
  • Progress stops because you get hurt

And while there can be more reasons than program design why these things can happen, it is a common culprit.

Thought I would show you an example of movement types and parameters we use when considering our program design, just to give you an idea of what it involves. Keep in mind that exercise selection is just one of many parameters that are considered when designing strength training.

Others include number of sets, length of set, rest between sets, rest to work ratio, etc. We also consider the ratios between pulling exercises, which tend to be neglected resulting in injury, and pushing exercises. Same thing goes for hamstrings versus quads (back and front of legs).

I haven’t given examples for every exercise, but you’ll get the idea.

Upper Body Movement Patterns

Vertical Push
Unilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint
Bilateral
Single Joint (lateral raises)
Multi Joint (push press)

Vertical Pull
Unilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint
Bilateral
Single Joint (pullovers)
Multi Joint (chinups)

Horizontal Push
Unilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint
Bilateral
Single Joint (t-raises)
Multi Joint (pushups)

Horizontal Pull
Unilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint
Bilateral
Single Joint (t-raises)
Multi Joint (partner band rows)

Lower Body Movement Patterns
Quad Dominant
Unilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint (1-leg trx squat)
Bilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint (goblet squat)

Hip Dominant
Unilateral
Single Joint (1-leg stiff leg deadlift)
Multi Joint
Bilateral
Single Joint
Multi Joint (KB swing)

Trunk (Core)
Stabilization (plank variations)
Flexion
Extension
Rotation (sprinkler heads)

Within each one of these patterns are myriad progressions, regressions and modifications.  Each training week is programmed within the current training cycle to keep your progress moving forward and your body feeling good. Flexibility training, soft tissue work, and even our training schedule is designed with a purpose in mind.

The beauty of great program design coupled with great coaching is that your program is individualized in a group setting, and it’s a lot more fun and effective to have someone to sweat with!

The bottom line is the real Insanity is choosing to train somewhere else! 🙂

Thanks for choosing to train with us, and keep…

Making It Happen,

Coach Dean

 

What Do You Expect Out Of Your Training?

Nancy and I were at a health fair recently sharing the Get Fit NH goodness with the world (ok, not the whole world :), and a comment kept coming up from people as we talked to them:

It went something like this:

“I’m good, I go to the gym”

to which we follow up with...

“Great, what do you do there?”

and usually we hear about their adventures on an elliptical, or treadmill or something similar.

Our next question is “That’s cool, is there someone in the room that helps you with your training and gives you a plan?”

To which the response is “No, I just usually run for an hour, or do one of the programs on the machine”. In fact, today out of all the people we talked to only one (??) did any form of resistance training.

And that’s where the magic happens – when we explain to them that at Get Fit NH, not only is there a coach (or two or three) in the room, but they are actively coaching each client on safe form, good technique, and progressing or modifying as necessary.

Most of them think that’s the coolest thing ever.

You see there is a huge difference between hiring a room full of machines and hiring a professional coach. For some people the room full of machines is all they want, and that’s great. If that works for you I am all for it.

There is also a huge difference between Get Fit NH and other “class” options out there. We are group personal training. We are not up in front of the room leading the “class”. We are actively coaching, down on the floor when necessary, correcting and refining each movement to make sure our clients get the most out of their training.

After all that’s ultimately why our clients train – to get better – not just tired.

We have high expectations; of our clients for sure, but especially for ourselves. At the end of this post there is a copy of a sheet we hand all our clients outlining our mutual responsibilities. You will find that our expectations for ourselves outnumber our clients significantly. That’s not by accident.

Come experience Get Fit NH Bootcamp for yourself. Take advantage of our Two Week Free Tryout and find out why people all over Southern NH have chosen to train with us.

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean


What You Can Expect Of Get Fit NH Coaches

We believe that you want to be here and be an active participant in living a healthy lifestyle. It is our responsibility to provide you the fitness coaching you need to reach your health and fitness goals.

We will be enthusiastic and encouraging.

We will provide a safe environment in which to train.

We will always be assessing and coaching while you train in order that you can gain maximum benefit and be confident in what you are doing. We will ask you to stop what you are doing if we deem the execution of movement to be unsafe.

We will challenge you to work hard and to stretch yourself.

We will keep you accountable to your training days.

We will refer you to others in the health and wellness field when we believe that would be beneficial to your health and assist you in reaching your goals.

We will live what we teach, and take good care of ourselves so we can do our best for you.

We will continue to learn and grow through self-study, seminars, and workshops and by working with coaches and mentors.

We will live up to the highest ethical standards of our profession and treat all of our members professionally and courteously at all times.

What We Expect Of Our Clients

Do your best at all times and accept your current abilities.

Come every day with a positive attitude.

Avoid negative self-talk and minimizing your achievements.

Please do not use the word “Can’t”. Just because you are currently unable to do something doesn’t mean you won’t ever be able to do it.

Be present and ready to train at your scheduled class time.

Call, text or write when you are unable to come to a scheduled class.

Be prepared to laugh, learn, work hard, sweat, and succeed.