Holiday Survival Workout

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Whether you are traveling for work, or with family, you can still keep up with your fitness with this simple bodyweight workout.

Round #1
Bodyweight Squat 25 reps
Dolphin Plank 25 reps
World’s Greatest Stretch 30s each side
Repeat 3x

Round #2
Mountain Climbers 25 each side
Push Ups 10-25 reps
Wave Squat 10 reps
Repeat 3x

Round #3
Alternating Reverse Lunge 15 reps each side
Side Plank with Hip Drop 15 reps each side
1/2 Kneeling Hip Flexor Rainbow 10 reps each side

Round #4
Bear Crawl Square 1-2 Minutes
(Crawl two steps forward, two step left, two steps back, two steps right, repeat in opposite direction, continue for allotted time.)

Why An Hour?

Do you really need an hour to get an effective workout?

Do you really need an hour to get an effective workout?

At PNF we get asked all the time why our sessions are only 45-50 minutes, rather than an hour?

Short Answer: Because it only takes that long to get an effective workout.

Slightly Longer Answer: An hour session is really just an old school training method that was started because of scheduling. It was easy to schedule clients on the hour, so we trained them for an hour. No scientific reason or benefit behind it. Just simple scheduling.

In fact, we used used to be like everyone else and did hour sessions. However, we were always finding ourselves with 10-15 minutes of time to fill. We got everything done that was needed. The clients were getting amazing results. But, the designed workouts were always 10-15 minutes short of an hour. So we’d add some stuff on the fly – real scientific huh? Then, we got to thinking. If we get everything in in under an hour, and the clients are seeing great results, why don’t we just start building our sessions on a 45-50 minute block of time? So we did and now our coaches get a few minutes gather their thoughts befor the next workout, talk with members, eat something, and take a bathroom break. And our members get the same results, actually better, in less time and can use that time to get other things done.

If you can get the same, or better, results in less time, why are you doing more?

More is not better, it is just more.

Holiday Survival Guide Part 3 – Surviving the Office Party

Holiday Survival Guide Part 3 - Surviving the Holiday Party

Holiday Survival Guide Part 3 – Surviving the Holiday Party

How to survive the office holiday party.

Over the next few weeks you will more than likely have your share of Christmas parties to attend. Some you may be looking forward to and catching up with old friends, while others may be more out of obligation.

So how do you keep your nutrition in check and your belt buckle at the same notch?

Simple really. You just need a plan.

#1. Which parties do you want to really indulge at, let your hair down, and just kick back and have a good time? At those let yourself have a few drinks with your friends. If there are appetizers “to die for”. Treat your self and enjoy them. As for the other obligatory parties sip a scotch or nurse a beer or two through out the night. And then make an early exit.

#2. Never show up hungry. Sure it’s easier to just eat when you get there. But will that be the best and healthiest option? Probably not, and you will end up eating stuff you normally wouldn’t. Eating a healthy meal before will ensure that you don’t gorge yourself on fried and sugary foods along with preventing your from mindlessly munching throughout the night.

#3. Use the smallest plates available. Research has shown that eating a full plate results in a feeling of satisfied hunger, regardless of the size of the plate. So filling a smaller plate will result in eating less, but still experiencing the same satisfaction.

#4. Don’t make it a late night. To prevent weight gain you need to get your sleep, more on this in Part 4, but for now set a time that you plan to leave and stick to it. This way you won’t wake up the next morning regretting the “just one more beer” that you had three times and only four hours of sleep.

This is a fun, festive time of the year. Stick to the rules above and you will make it through to January still wearing the same size pants.

Another Depressing Trip To The Mall?

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Another depressing trip to the mall?

An afternoon shopping spree used to be one of your favorite indulgences. Now it has become a dreaded chore. You like having nice clothes, but lately it just seems like nothing ever fits quite right and you end up leaving feeling horrible. You know that getting back to a regular fitness routine will get your clothes fitting the way they used to, but where do you start?

You could try yet another diet, but are you really going to count points for the rest of your life. You could join a gym, but everyone there is already in shape and there will be that “mean girls” club of fit “regulars” who flaunt themselves and judge everyone else by appearance and performance. Plus, what would you do? There are those new kettlebell thingy’s you could try, but they look dangerous. The treadmill is boring and cycling makes your butt hurt for days. You want to make a change but where do you turn?

Why not hire a coach that will be in your corner? Not all gyms are your stereotypical gym with the barely dressed fit people. There ARE nutrition plans that are sustainable. There ARE gyms out there that will make you feel comfortable, provide you with guidance and within a few weeks will have you feeling better about yourself than you have in years.

That type of place is Pittsburgh North Fitness. There are no judgments here. PNF has coaches here to guide you each step of the way, and will provide you with sustainable healthy eating habits for life.

Let us help you change your life!

Five Pillars of Fitness

5 Pillars of Fitness

5 Pillars of Fitness

There is no right or wrong way to develop a fitness program. And one way is not better than another. However, there are some common threads that need to be in every program to create change. The following are five components should be included in every fitness program. If they aren’t already start incorporating them today.

Pillar #1: Get Off The Treadmill.

Most of the clients work with have spent the majority of their fitness lives doing nothing but cardio and are coming to us because their go-to cardio routine is no longer working. Their body has become accustomed to cardio and does not
respond to it anymore. For others their body will just no longer tolerate it and they are beginning to experience aches and pains. Whatever the case may be their
body has changed. And this means the plan of attack must change.

By changing the focus of the workout to strength training you will be able to provide a new stimulus to your body and also work around any injury issues you may be experiencing.

We have heard from many leery clients that they are hesitant to move away from
their old tried and true cardio routine to a strength training routine due to the follow misconceptions.

#1. Fear of bulking up.
#2. Fear of not getting in any cardio with a strength-training program.

The fear of bulking up and looking like one of the women on TV at the Crossfit games is very common among our female clients and is a legitimate concern. If this is your goal we can certainly help. But, we have found that the majority of our female clients are just looking to tone up and gain a little definition so that they feel better about themselves. We achieve this through prescribing fitness programs that will not add unwanted bulk, but rather toned lean muscle.

As for not getting in any cardio. We program each workout to keep you moving through circuits of exercises that keep you moving and increase your heart rate.

Pillar #2: Always Train The Backside.

We are a society of sitters and spend most of our day in a seated position with poor
posture. This poor posture leads to back and neck pain as a result of weak upper
back muscles, weak glutes, and tight hamstrings.

This means we need to train this muscles on the backside to help restore proper posture. The primary focus should be on the muscles of the upper back with exercises such as the TRX Row and the glutes with the kettlebell swing.

Pillar #3: Build Work Capacity.

Looking good is one thing, but having useful muscle and strength is what will
make the biggest impact on your body and life.

We’ve all seen the athlete who looks great with his shirt off, but when he gets on the field he can’t play. The same thing happens with many gym goers. Each week they run a few miles on the treadmill, do a few sets of the circuit machines and maybe do a few exercises with light dumbbells. But yet they still get winded when carrying a suitcase up a few flights of stairs, or hurt their back when moving furniture.

The problem is that while they workout regularly they are not building work capacity. This is the ability to perform physical work over an extended period of time without getting tired or hurt.

The fastest route to improving this is through loaded carries, like the farmers walk, bear hug carries with a sandbag or heavy bag, and sled pushes. Using noncompeting compound sets and kettlebell and barbell complexes in each workout is also an effective way to bring up work capacity.

Pillar #4: Total Body Movement.

The body works as one unit, not as separate groups of muscles. Therefore,
it should be trained as one unit.

Using multi-joint movements, like the deadlift, squat, overhead press, the pull-up, lunges, and loaded carries, you will create a higher metabolic response in the body than if you only focused on isolation exercises. Including these movements in every workout is what will make great fitness program.

Additionally, you will also build a body that is functional in everyday activities and has a higher injury resistance.

Pillar #5: Train Like An Athlete.

While you may never have any aspirations of competing in an athletic event
this does not mean you shouldn’t train like one. The human body was
designed as an athletic machine and should be trained this way in every workout. This means getting up on two feet, jumping, sprinting, moving laterally, and moving quickly at some point in every workout. The only difference between you and an athlete is in the level of the movement performed.

There you have it, five pillars to start incorporating into your regular workouts.

Holiday Survival Guide – Part 2 – Set A Workout Goal

Holiday Survival Guide - Part 2 - Set A Workout Goal

Holiday Survival Guide – Part 2 – Set A Workout Goal

Holiday Survival Guide: Part 2 – Set A Workout Goal

It is easy this time of the year to skip your workouts. Friends and family are visiting from out of town that you have plans with. You are hung-over from drinking too much, yet again, at the night before’s Christmas Party. All of which makes it easy to miss your regular workouts and just say the heck with it until January.

But, do you really want to have to start all over again in a month? Be sore after each workout again and lose all that toned muscle that you have worked so hard for to a layer of pudge?

We didn’t think so?

That is why it is important to set a workout goal for the next six weeks. Maybe you typically get in three to four great workouts each week. Awesome! But, it may make sense for you to cut back to two per week until January. So let’s set the goal of getting in twelve workouts between now and January 2nd. Sound doable? Great!

It doesn’t matter how you get in these twelve workouts. It could be two this week, four the following week, and one the week after. You’re still on track, actually one ahead.

Focus on maintaining your fitness over these next six weeks and you’ll survive the holidays without losing all your hard work.

PNF’s Holiday Fitness Survival Guide – Part 1

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Part 1 – How To Stay On Track At Thanksgiving Dinner

There probably is no better meal than Thanksgiving dinner, okay Christmas dinner is pretty good too. At least that is until you have finished eating and find yourself about to slip into your annual after dinner bloated food coma. You know, the feeling you get after eating so much that loosening your belt or slipping on your comfy sweat pants doesn’t even help. So you slowly make your way to the couch to sit down and talk with friends and family. And of course watch the annual football game, even though you could care less about the Dallas Cowboys.

No! How did this happen? You said to yourself that you wouldn’t let this happen again this year. You’ve worked hard all year changing your body. You’ve committed to a workout plan for the last ten months, changed your eating habits, and you have even lost two pants sizes. But, now you are nervous that you are going to slide back into your old habits. After all, this is the hardest time of the year for you and it seems like every year you gain at least five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. You said not this year, but so far you are not off to a great start.

So how do you prevent overeating this Thanksgiving and still enjoy all the delicious food that you look forward to?

Here’s how:
#1. Take smaller portions, but take some of everything.
#2. Skip the bread. That is why there is stuffing, so enjoy that instead.
#3. Eat a healthy breakfast. That way you will not be starving when it is time to sit down and eat, or craving sugary carbs. If you are eating later at dinner time, make lunch healthy too.
#4. Do not pick at the meal while it is being prepared.
#5. Go for a walk with the fam after the “big dinner”, or play a game of touch football with them. This will help you digest and burn off some of what you just ate.

Keep these five steps in mind as you enjoy your dinner. And if you completely blow it and overeat, it is just one day. Get back on track tomorrow. This journey isn’t about perfection, it is about consistency over time.

Workout Smarter, Not Harder Using Heart Rate Zones

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Workout smarter, not harder.

The harder you workout the more calories you burn and the leaner you get, right? Well, not exactly.

Does keeping your heart rate in 80 and 90 percent range for most of your workout produce the best results? No again.

To look and feel your best everyday you want to keep you heart rate in to 60 and 70 percent range (blue and green zones if using MyZone). This is the range that allows your body to burn the most stored fat. When you reach the 80 and 90 percent range (yellow and red zones if using MyZone) you begin to burn sugars stored in the muscles, called muscle glycogen. When the body burns off its stored glycogen during a workout it causes you to go home and pig out because your body is depleted of energy. Additionally, working out in this high heart rate range tends to make you excessively tired and results in you being less active throughout the day. So while you may see calories burning like crazy on the screen and feeling like you are killing your workout, you end up burning less through out the day due to reduced overall activity along with being extremely hungry with a strong craving for carbs and sugar. So you end up eating more and this can turn you into a fit fat person overtime.

Also, working out in the higher ranges leads to chronic tiredness, aches and pains, injury, and burnout. None of which you set out to achieve when you began your fitness journey.

As you increase your fitness level you will find yourself having a harder and harder time leaving the 70 percent range. This is good. It is the result of an increased work capacity, meaning you are able to work at a high level for a long period of time without tiring easily.

The people who workout in the 60 and 70 percent range find that they feel great after their workout, leave the gym energized, and experience less injuries. They also tend to be leaner and look more fit than those who are always trying to stay in the highest heart rate zones.

So the next time you hit the gym for your workout remember, the yellow and red zones equal tired, injured, and excessively hungry. While the blue and green zones equal healthy, lean, and energetic people who are ready for whatever the day throws at them.

It is important to workout hard, but only hard enough.

Exercise of the Day – Slider Jack Push Ups

Grab a pair of Valslides and give the Slider Jack Push Up a try.

Step #1 – Push up position with toes on slides.

Step #2 – Lower down and spread out legs.

Step #3 – Press up and bring feet together.

Step #4 – Repeat for reps!

Need a progression for your push-ups? Give this one a try.

Need a progression for your push-ups? Give this one a try.

Kettlebell Squat to Stand

A simple exercise to add some variety to your workouts.

A simple exercise to add some variety to your workouts.

Tired of doing the same old squats each and every workout? Give the Kettlebell Squat to Stand a try for some variety and let us know what yo think.