I’ve recently come across a realization amongst many veterans in my industry that I find interesting. It reinforces the fact that no matter how much you know about a specific topic, you can still fall prey to human emotional tendencies. A certain tendency is that more is always better. Some of the leaders in strength, conditioning and fitness have been forced to find alternative methods to maintain their fitness levels outside of resistance training. They have opted for outdoor cycling, swimming, and/or Yoga as their means to stay fit. Why have they substituted lifting heavy weights overhead and squatting with a kettlebell for laps in the pool? Did they become bored? Did the challenge of lifting iron become stale? Read More

Recently at the studio, I have been adjusting and manipulating the interval sessions we use during our Torch workout. The outcome goals for this workout are to improve mobility, increase strength, and drop bodyfat. One of the mistakes I think some coaches make is overcomplicating the workouts they administer. Much has been written about how keeping things simple is better for overall execution. Due to this, I didn’t vary the intervals used at the studio for years. In a mode of self-evaluation, I have recently questioned myself “What can we do better?” My conclusion was to adjust the time intervals relative to the desired goal for the exercise. Read More

Last night I was talking with my wife about the current state of the virus in Nevada. I was feeling optimistic because the current 14-day trend of cases was experiencing a substantial decline in Clark County, Nevada. She was more pessimistic citing the current death rate she read from the WHO report. I guess what we should both probably pay attention to is the percentage of deaths of those infected along with the overall daily infection rate. What the numbers don’t tell us is how the vaccination is affecting these numbers. That’s hard to measure. This is like when someone looks at their calorie burn from a workout at the studio. Read More

One of the things I take seriously at the studio is our program design. I follow the credo that there should be a reason why you do everything that is involved in your workout. If there is not a Why, or reason, you shouldn’t do it. I’ve never been a fan of the approach to like an exercise because it makes you tired or sweaty. Jumping up and down for 45 minutes will accomplish that, but I’m not sure what else it will accomplish. Another common mistake trainers tend to make, is to recommend an exercise because it creates “the burn”. The burn is a buildup of lactic acid. The burn is a reaction from your cells when they metabolize carbohydrates anaerobically without the presence of oxygen. Read More

Happy New Year. I thought it appropriate to start my first blog post of 2021 discussing goal setting. If you did not give it any thought the last few weeks of 2020, don’t worry, all is not lost for the year if you do not have them established by January 1st. I feel that part of the excitement of goal setting is the anticipation of making the goals. It’s almost like window shopping. In retail shopping, there is a financial exchange. You must give money or use credit to receive the services or product in return. In window shopping, you can visualize and imagine receiving the product or service without the investment. Read More

I want to wish you all a happy holiday season. It’s been a year of turmoil and we’re not done yet, but looking into the future, we will get out of this. This will be my final post for 2020, so I felt it was appropriate to end on a common theme for this time of year: goals. In a normal world, Christmas week is a time of celebration, which tends to include a few extra cocktails and cookies. This gets excused because we tend to look at the upcoming week, New Year’s Day, as the official re-boot on our hard drive. Looking past the keto-friendly cookies and glasses of cabernet sauvignon, what are your goals for 2021? Read More

It’s December 1st and I like to take this last month of the year to reflect on the past year, goals (achieved or missed), and to give thought to goals for the upcoming year. 2020 has been a tough year for all of us. My emotions went from a high, experiencing one of my best months in January at the studio, to worrying about this virus and how it will affect me, to temporarily closing my place, and wondering how am I going to survive and provide for my family. That was in the first 3 months! We are closing out the year and as of today, Moderna and Pfizer have both applied for emergency F.D.A. approval for their vaccines. Read More

I’ve spent the last year reflecting on lifestyle changes which I can do that will pay health dividends in the long term. Having spent the last thirty years of my life teaching and coaching people how to commit to the hard work of strength training now, so they can reap the future benefits of being physically fit, and having a better quality of life, has been my life’s work. Earlier this year, I addressed my sleep patterns and the value of sleep. During the summer, I assessed my daily hydration. Of recent, I’ve looked at the environment I train in, specifically my feet and footwear. On average, I spend 10-14 hours on my feet, six days a week. It has become common place for me to experience aches in my back, hamstrings, and/or knees after a few long days on the training floor. Read More

As a coach, I’ve experienced that the better you learn a specific topic, the more simplified you learn how to explain it. This has led me to become weary of anyone who tries to overcomplicate a subject matter when explaining. I think my disconnect is that many people confuse memorization for understanding a concept. I blame that on the way most of us were taught in school. We learned to memorize what would be on the test. I know I fell into that trap. When providing cues while coaching, I try to keep it as simple as possible. “Sniff air”, “Squeeze your glutes”, “Shoulders in your back pocket”, to mention a few. I find myself always referencing three things- glutes, core, and lats. Yes, the lats, or latissimus dorsi, are important. I will briefly share with you, why. Read More

As we all deal with the global pandemic of COVID-19, a common statement from those in epidemiology, the branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, spread, and control of the disease, is that we have to trust the science. This idea of how we approach and accept science inspired me to think about how we deal with science in the fitness world. I’ve taken a research and scientific approach to the programs we offer at the studio. It made me reflect on how we apply science to our progressions in exercise. Read More