The Spot Athletics Blog: Life

Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Most Important Thing

…is family.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our goals that we forget about the people who are propping us up. The people who are there to break the bad news and stick around for our reaction. Family doesn’t always mean blood relation, so I suppose the proper word for what I am trying to convey is COMMUNITY.

This past weekend, I competed at the Lexen Extreme Fall Classic and I got a reminder of what it meant to personally be a part of a community. The profound sense of acceptance and support that I received over the weekend is something I will never forget. This article will serve two purposes: to recap the meet and show you why building a community is so important.

I competed in the 132-pound class and finished the day with a 215-pound squat, 135-pound bench press, and 260-pound deadlift. Though I didn’t achieve a couple of my goals, I was happy to get a feel for the 132-pound weight class and set a PR total of 610-pounds with the support of many great lifters, coaches, and friends. Some of these people I’d never personally met before but corresponded with on social media, and some of them I’ve known for quite some time. Regardless, when I stepped onto the brightly-lit platform, it made all the difference that someone was there to support me when I really needed it.

When I say I needed it, I really did. After my missing my first deadlift attempt, I thought I was going to have to cut it there and bomb out. My hip-popped during the lift and my entire left leg was throbbing as I swallowed tears. I was told to pull conventional instead of sumo and the thought of that made me extremely nervous. My sumo pull has always been much stronger than conventional AND I’d maxed my conventional pull just a few weeks earlier and it was super slow. Not only that, but the weight I opened with was five pounds heavier than that super slow conventional pull. There was no way I’d be able to pull it off with an injury. Surprisingly, I PR’d my conventional deadliest by 25 pounds.

In all honesty, I started lifting weights because I just liked how it felt. But now it goes much deeper than that. Now I’m little more competitive, I’ve got training partners, and it kind of just feels like training and competing is something productive to do with my pals. We set our own goals, but we also know that we need each other in order to achieve those goals. This is why building a community is the key to achievement.

It was almost exactly a year ago that I started training at The Spot Athletics and at first l felt like the odd-man-out. Constantly getting picked on, making dumb mistakes, and always asking “Will I get yelled at if I do such-and-such?” Now, I feel a part of a family. Going further, I’ve expanded my network of friends and it was this small group that pushed me at the Fall Classic. It was these guys who offered verbal support, shared their ammonia to get me pumped, rubbed baby powder on my thighs before each deadlift attempt, and inspired me to believe in myself.

Our very own Nic Bronkall, or Coach B, took the time out of a beautiful Saturday to be cooped up at a powerlifting meet to handle me, because here at The Spot Athletics, we have something that not a lot of gyms have: a family. We want everybody to achieve their goals and be motivated to be the best person they can be.

Savannah Steamer

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 2/3-2/9

Another great week at The Spot Athletics! Make sure you share with your friends, and keep checking back for more!

Monday, February 10, 2014

They Aren’t You, You Aren’t They

It often perplexes me when somebody compares my son to another child and uses that child to mark certain milestones and “norms”. As a mom, it can be irritating, because oftentimes that person does not know either children well enough to ascertain what’s normal and/or acceptable for my son. Then comes the overused chant: “All children are different”, blah, blah...

Though I am instinctively defensive of my son, I was never really the same way about myself until recently. I’d continuously compare other people’s achievements and lifestyles to my own and that would somehow affect how I set goals. But now, I really don’t believe that comparing oneself to another is useful at all. Of course, there are always exceptions and one example right off the bat is competitive athletes. Sorry, but kids who play sports will usually fall into this habit and compare themselves to others, whether they are trying to defend a first-string position or take a spot in an individual sport such as track or wrestling. But for things that aren’t competitive, why waste precious energy comparing yourself to someone else?

Successful people don’t compare themselves to other people, they focus on getting better. Once you’ve started chasing someone else’s achievements, you’ve already set a ceiling for yourself. Sure, I look to others for inspiration. I steal ideas and I think about what other people have been able to accomplish in the face of adversity. But I don’t compare myself to other people because it’s a toxic mentality that I’ve known all too well. Even in competitive sports, doing this can set you up for failure in the long run because if you are the “best” at your sport it won’t matter because the world in a huge, huge place. If you haven’t prepared your mind to set goals independently, when someone sets out to squash you, and DOES squash you, it will be difficult to recover.

Set quantifiable goals, so you can track who you were and who you want to be. Every day should be about getting better against who you were yesterday, not someone else. Look to those who are better than you as role models, not as competitors, because one day they might be able to help you out. And even though other people might compare you to someone else, don’t ever do it to yourself.

Savannah Steamer

Spot Athletics Intern

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 1/27-2/3

This has been a great week! Our athletes continue to make progress. The Spot Athletics staff traveled up to Akron University to help coach a strength and conditioning seminar, and JL went out to EliteFTS for the Under Ground Strength Session! Check out all the hard work our clients have put in this week, and don't be shy! Share!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

What to expect when you’re expecting... to be a strength and conditioning coach.

Ha. See what I did there?

Many people enter the world of strength and conditioning without knowing what to expect and then find out they’re not cut out for the job the hard way. Knowing what to expect can help weed out the weaklings. Here are a few things to know before you try your hand in the s&c world. If you want to do it, it’s the best job in the world. If you don’t, you will probably hate your life.

1. Your time is not your own: This is true whether you work in a private facility or not. People and teams reschedule, you need to write programs, you need to fix things around the gym. You never know what’s going to pop up early mornings, late nights, in the middle of the day, last minute. Whatever is written on your schedule, don’t assume that the rest of the time is free time because it’s probably not. This is great for people like me because now I have an excuse to not socialize and I can sit at home and eat oreos instead.

2. People will yell at you. You’re an intern for a reason. It means you don’t know much. You have a lot to learn. People will constantly be correcting you. Accepting criticism means getting better at things. If you didn’t want to get better at coaching you can go to 24 Hour Fitness and enjoy your name tag and bosu ball squats.

3. Just because you like lifting weights, it doesn’t mean you like coaching. Pumping iron recreationally (or even obsessively) does not mean you’re a good coach or you want to be a coach. Coaching is about the interactions you have with people and your ability to effectively communicate information, not the circumference of your biceps.

4. You won’t make great money (or any, to begin with). The majority of people who work in strength and conditioning don’t do it for the paycheck, long vacations, ability to sleep in, or ability to make their own schedule. But loving what you do day in and day out outweighs any of the other stuff. If you want to do it, you’ll make it happen. You’ll take an unpaid internship, move to undesirable locations, forego buying new things to pursue what you want to do. If you don’t want to work in the field, you’ll always be bemoaning the fact that you don’t have time or money to do other things.

In summation, working in strength and conditioning is kind of like having a baby (I assume). It has it’s drawbacks but if you want to do it, it is the best job in the world. Now back to my oreos.

Coach Lily

Monday, January 27, 2014

Getting Back On Track After the Holidays

Many people are still escaping the holiday hangover with thoughts of returning to their normal diet, their normal schedule and they’re regaining a sense of order as real life starts up again, so, in order to help you “bounce back” after the eggnog, the drinking, and your aunt’s famous pie, we are sharing a few ways to help you feel like yourself again after the holidays.

First off: can you prevent the Holiday Hangover? Sure you can. But almost everybody who celebrates the holidays ends up eating their fair share of calorie dense foods and swerving off their normal training schedule, so the question isn’t really how to completely prevent indulgence and laziness, but how to make “bouncing back” a lot easier.

If you are mindful of how you spend your holiday, you can avoid the misery of having a food baby and focus more on actually communing with family and friends. That doesn’t mean you should avoid the “bad foods” at all costs and complain that the gym isn’t open on Christmas Eve (because do you really want to be that person?), it just means that you should recognize that there’s a difference between a cheat meal and an “Oh-my-god, I-haven’t-had-my-grandma’s-mashed-potatoes-in-ten-years” kind of meal. Five meals in a row of the latter sort and most people won’t feel like themselves.

You probably don’t feel like yourself because you are reading this article, just admit it, you ate not one, not two, but three plates of food! It’s okay, so did I and I felt like four months of hard work had flown out the window. Not so. Here’s a list of things you can do to get back on track as soon as possible:

1) Drink Water. Yes, I said it, and yes I am chastising you. I know you had that cappuccino in the morning and those Mojitos at night. You need to grab a glass of water right now and chug that thing, because you probably came out of the holidays less hydrated. Think about it: caffeine is a stimulant and alcohol is a depressant, but they both have a diuretic effect. This constant energy and hydration imbalance is very taxing on the body.

2) If you didn’t miss a single training session, good for you! Keep doing what you are doing. But if you haven’t stepped foot in a gym for over two weeks it would not make any sense to try to train harder or heavier than you did before. For the first week, see if you maintained and then adjust accordingly.

3) Foam-Rolling, stretching, mobility work, these are all great tools not only for your regular training, but for those days when you know things are a bit rusty.

4) Getting enough sleep should already be high on your priority list because your muscles need sleep as much as your mind does, but oftentimes, it’s hard to do this right after a holiday because there are errands, chores, family duties, etc. Though there is a large range of what doctors believe to be the “ideal” amount of sleep, listen to your body and adjust based on your performance.

5) Relax. Nobody loses their progress, gains, or strength within the short window of a few weeks. Don’t harbor guilt about the holidays, they’re supposed to be a time of joy. If you spend too much time thinking about the past, you lose sight of your goals and cannot plan for the future.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Training Through the Pain - An Intern's Blog

If you are anything like me, then you know what it's like to roll out of bed feeling like you just got hit by a Mac truck. Knees creaking, elbows and shoulders aching, lower back cramping up...some people just have bad luck when it comes to accumulating injuries, and I am most definitely one of those people. Simple things like walking down the stairs can be a difficult task if my knees decide to act up on me, so how would that correlate to being able to train my legs with the intensity needed to make progress? Well it is at this point that your ego needs to take a backseat, and you either need to 1) completely stop overloading that joint or muscle until the injury has healed or 2) find exercises that don't aggravate it.

For the majority of people, using the excuse of "oh my knees hurt" to throw leg training out of their weekly split is like a blessing because 99% of gym goers hate the pain of heavy squats, lunges and deadlifts. Same with elbows..."you mean I don't have to bench heavy now?" No that's not what I mean. There are a few ways to ease the joint pain we all experience without completely voiding all exercises utilizing those joints:

1. Don't do exercises that hurt

This should seem like it's self explanatory, but for stubborn individuals like myself, this is much harder than it sounds. I've been dealing with nagging knee pain off-and-on for almost two years now, and through utter stupidity and the desire to train hard, I kept doing heavy squats and leg presses despite my knees hurting more than my muscles full of lactic acid. It wasn't until my knees started swelling from all the inflammation that I finally realized that doing it my way wasn't going to cut it. Now when I perform exercises that stress my knee joints, I know when to stop and when it is safe to continue based on if there is ANY pain during the sets. The key is to not let your joint pain advance to the point that mine has. Catch it early and adjust your program around your weaknesses: in this case, your weak joints.

2. Get your diet right

This is a very underestimated factor when people discuss inflammation of joints and overuse injuries. The typical Western diet consists of breakfast at McDonald's, lunch at Taco Bell, and dinner at Pizza Hut, or in other words, high levels of unhealthy fats. Poor diets like this can greatly increase inflammation inside your body due to poor ratios of Omega-6 fats to Omega-3 fats leading to painful joints. On the other side, healthy fats such as fish oils and other polyunsaturated fats can reduce the body's inflammation response and decrease swelling and pain in joints. So in short, less crappy food and more oils, nuts, and fish (fish oil supplementation works well too.)

3. Get your warm-up down

Warming-up is an often overlooked aspect of training for 100% healthy individuals who deal with no chronic pain, but for the majority of us who have experienced injuries that hinder our performance, we know that a proper warm-up cannot be overlooked for the health of joints. Whether it is foam rolling tight muscles, stretching, doing more light sets to get blood into the joints, riding the bike, or any of the million things people like to do to prepare for training, find what works best for you and your affliction. For example, my warm-up before a lower body workout would be foam rolling my IT band, quads, adductors, and hip flexors to loosen the muscles pulling on my knees. I would then move to stretches, possible the bike for a few minutes, then a ton of sets of light leg extensions and leg curls to allow my knees to get used to a load on them. I've found that this warm-up really helps to allow me to train mostly pain free. I'm still not going to be able to put a ton of weight on my back and rep out heavy squats without a good amount of pain just because I thoroughly warmed up, but it at least allows my to do SOMETHING to stimulate the muscles so they don't wither away. And while you're battling joint pain, sometimes that's what your goal has to be.

So for the people who know what it is like to be held back by nagging and weak joints, try the things I've found to help me and who knows? It could help you too. Be creative with your exercises that you do, so if your knees are bothering you that day, don't do heavy squats. Clean up your diet and remember that not all fats are bad. And nothing can take the place of a proper warm-up to not only recover from injuries but to prevent future ones.

Bryce Calvin - Strength and Conditioning Intern

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Get Your Mind Right

Your mind is what stands between you and your goals. It's what stands between you and any challenge that life throws your way. If there is something that you want you must believe in that with every ounce of your being. Look life happens. There are minor set backs and major setbacks. But life isn't perfect. And it shouldn't be.

Look time comes and time goes. People always want more of it but all they seem to do is waste it. If you have a dream if you have a goal then nothing should stand in your way. But if you make excuses then you truly don't want those dreams to be come a reality.

You should never give up on something that you truly believe in. In my eyes, if you don’t have to work for something, it isn’t really worth it. If you set your goals high and work your ass off to reach them, you will feel like you deserve it. When you have a problem in life, have the balls (courage) to face it head on.

Figure out what the problem is and then make a plan to solve it. If you don’t offer a solution to your problems, don’t complain because, because nobody cares. Be quiet because nobody cares about your problems if you aren’t offering a solution or doing something to change your situation.

Winners adjust. Successful people face adversity and kick the hell out of it. If you want something bad enough, quitting isn’t an option. Quitting is for losers. People today are coddled and need to stop making excuses. Society as a whole is weak-minded, frail, and gutless.

Challenge yourself. Everyday. Step outside your comfort zone. Confidence to succeed will come when you prepare life your life depends on it. Don't ever put a limit on your ability to grow as a person.

Stop making excuses. Get your mind right and go after what is you truly want in life. If you have excuses take them else where. Do what it takes to get it done. Embrace the process. Don't lose your sight at the first sign of failure. Look forward to the challenges of life. Embrace them. Raise your standards. Do something better today than yesterday. You are not meant to remain stagnant and complacent.

Stop preparing to live and start actually living.

Coach B

Friday, January 17, 2014

Friday technique video- bench press hand off

Handing off a bench press is a very important part of the movement, making or breaking big records. JL explains how to properly hand off the bar so your training partner can hit the numbers he needs safely.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

NSCA Conference Takeaways

This weekend, some of the Spot Athletics staff attended the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Coach's Conference in Indianapolis. It was a great experience learning from the speakers and other attendees at the conference. I wanted to share a few of the thoughts I've been mulling over the past few days.

1) Have a varied toolbox.

There is more than one way to reach a desired training affect. The more tools you have at your disposal, the better you will be as a coach. You will be able to adjust for different circumstances and individuals. That being said, there is also not one right way to reach a goal. If someone tells you that there is only one way to do something, they are a liar and probably not a very good coach. Avoid at all costs.

2)Have a balanced program.

People love mobility these days. So much mobility. Some people base the majority of their programs on mobility. Mobility is great and important but it's one piece of the puzzle. No matter your goal or sport, there needs to be a balance of strength, mobility, and relevant conditioning. It's easy to get caught up in certain buzzwords, exercises, or methodologies but at the end of the day, there are certain tried and true methods that have been around a long time for a reason. There is an ebb and flow of ideas in the strength industry and it's good to remain balanced in your approach to training.

3) Always try to learn

I learned just as much from talking to (or eavesdropping on) other coach's conversations as I did from the speakers. Even the best coaches say they are always reading, learning, and talking. Once you think you know everything, you've lost. You're doing a disservice to yourself and to those that you train. One of the speakers reminded us that some of the best information can be found in training texts from decades ago. Learning doesn't necessarily mean going out of your way to find the hottest new trend in TRX training.

- Coach Lily

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Knowledge

This past weekend myself and other staff members attended the NSCA coaches conference in Indianapolis. It is one of the largest gatherings of strength and conditioning professionals. There were coaches from high schools, elite division one colleges and professional sports teams. Over the course of two days over 20 top coaches presented on topics ranging from speed, plyometrics, strength, olympic lifting and other industry breaking topics. Getting to catch up with old friends and getting to meet new coaches. Along with getting to see where the industry is headed and who the young up and coming coaches.

But where I learned the most was sitting down for dinner with coaches from various Big Ten schools and talking about training and coaching. It was humbling to say the least. I took away a handful of ideas that I am excited to start implementing into our clients programming.

To me if I can come away with one thing from these conferences my money was well spent. I get caught up in my own ideas and sometimes get stubborn in what I do. These conferences are always good to keep my ego in check and a quick reminder I don't know all that much. The day you think you know it all is the day that you are done in this industry.

The conference isn't necessarily the topic of this blog. What I want to get across to you is to always keep pursuing perfection. Always keep bettering yourself and advancing your knowledge in your respected field. Don't ever stop learning. Don't ever stop trying new things out. Invest in things that will make a return for you. This conference was an investment and the handful of things I learned this weekend is going to help all of my clients reach their potential. I have new tools in the tool box for you and I am excited to utilize them.

I challenge you to learn one new thing everyday. To invest in one thing everyday that will not only better you but also those around you.

Invest in yourself. Invest in your knowledge. Invest in your health.

Coach B

Monday, January 13, 2014

Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 1/6-1/12

Check out another great week of training at The Spot Athletics. We have our volleyball players getting ready for their club season, and high school athlete, Marcus, just getting back from trying out for the Army High School football game. Great work everybody! Keep it up!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

What is a good workout?

The vast majority of people leaving a gym will talk about how great their workout was because they “got crushed” or can’t feel their arms. But the fact that you vomited doesn’t mean you had a great workout. So how do you know if your workout was good or not? First off, think about your goals. Then answer this question- is your workout getting you there?

If your goal is to lose a significant amount of weight, doing a boatload of tricep extensions will leave you sore but won’t get you any closer to your goal. You should be doing high intensity, compound movements. Just because you don’t get a crazy arm pump, doesn’t mean your body isn’t working hard. If you’re an athlete, you need to get stronger, improve your patterns, get better at your sport, and prevent yourself from being injured. Does doing drop sets of leg extensions make you want to vom? Probably. Does it make you a better athlete? Probably not. Chances are, you have practices to attend so not being able to walk for 3 days is probably not in your favor. Even if you’re not an athlete, you probably want to be able to sit on the toilet without having to lower yourself onto it with the aid of a towel rack.

Being sore is a symptom of delayed onset muscle soreness- which is your body responding to a new exercise or a seriously increased load. It is also pretty much only caused by exercises with an eccentric movement. However, if you are doing the same exercise (for example, squats), your body will not have nearly the same response as the first time you squatted and you won’t feel that same soreness. Does that mean squats aren’t a productive exercise anymore? Do I even have to answer that question? Unless you’e been doing the same weight for a long time (or less weight), the exercise is still productive. Just because your muscles aren’t on fire, doesn’t mean you aren’t getting anything out of it. You could do pretty much any new exercise- no matter how stupid- and still be sore from it. You could do a series of bizarre movements and feel like you go hit by a truck the next day just because it’s something new- not necessarily something beneficial.

If you leave a workout and don’t feel absolutely crushed and wanting to pass out, ask yourself if what you did was conducive to your goals. If the answer is yes, you had a good workout. Do you expect every workout to leave you lying on the cold floor pleading for death or do you want consistently progressive workouts that will get you to your goal and keep you there?

PS That was a rhetorical question

-Coach Lily

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Supporting other people's goals

There are a lot of articles, tips, and tricks on accomplishing your own goals, but what about when someone you care about has a goal to set? It should be important to you, if they're important to you, but regardless of how much you care about someone, you may be trying to sabotage them and not even know it! Here is a quick guide for you to take a step back, assess the steps they're taking to reach a goal, and figure out how you can make that goal attainable.

1. DO NOT feel like they should make an exception for you! If they are taking care of business, and they are not neglecting you, stop trying to make them feel like you're the exception to the rule. If they're dieting, don't tell them they should eat your cake because YOU made it. Don't even offer it to them. If they have a goal of sticking to a schedule, be it for training, school, or work, do not expect them to drop everything for you. Make time elsewhere.

2. DO ask them about their goals and what you can do to help! Accomplishing large tasks, regardless of how much determination a person has, can be extremely difficult, especially if they feel like they are alone. Get involved. Ask them what you can do. A lot of the extremely high level athletes I know usually have something in common... a strong support system (ie, significant other, parents, siblings) that will help them with cooking meals, making sure they have the right equipment packed, and making sure they are staying on schedule.

3. DO NOT tell them you told them so when they fail, but also, do not sugar coat things. The one constant in trying to be great is failure. It happens to everybody. Be encouraging. Help them evaluate their situation, and then help them draw a plan to overcome obstacles. Sometimes, the biggest push a person needs to reach a goal is someone that they can trust honestly telling them they can do it.

4. DO remind them that there is life outside of their goals. People can get engulfed in their work, regardless of what it is, believe me, I know. It's nice to have someone remind you that you're doing something because you love it, and not because it defines you.

Follow these steps, and you will definitely help that special someone be the best person they can be.

ATHLETES: this has to be a reciprocal relationship. Your goals are YOUR goals, not everybody else's. If someone is supporting you, support them back, and let them know you appreciate everything they do.

Coach Z

Monday, December 30, 2013

Don't make resolutions, make good

It's that time of year when people start to look back at what has happened the year before and what they want to happen in the year ahead. Most people make the mistake of putting forth a new years resolution that is unrealistic. Let's face it, if you haven't worked out in 10 years, the odds of you training 7 days/week in about the same as you winning the lottery. So don't make some crazy resolution like this, instead make a resolution that you are going to make one attainable "resolution" per week. Week One could be to join a gym. Week two could be to go to that gym 2x/wk. Week Three could be to clean up your awful diet a little bit. After 52 weeks of these little victories, you will be surprised at just how much you have been able to change your life.

These little weekly victories not only help you feel like a success but they also lead you to your ultimate goal of a better looking and healthier you. People can handle small tasks that are defined in front of them, but a large task with no direction seems overwhelming and will most likely never happen. If you just focus on one small task per week then over the course of the next year you will make more changes than you have over the last 10 years of your grandiose resolutions that never quite happened. I know that something like going to the gym 2x/wk seems like it wouldn't make a huge difference but honestly for someone who isn't working out, just going for a walk 2x/wk can make a big change.

This year don't just make a resolution, make good by setting one small goal per week and attaining it. If you aren't sure where to begin when it comes to your fitness or your eating then come see one of the great personal trainers at The Spot and they will not only get you on the right path, but keep you there so you make long lasting changes.

The Spot Athletics Blog