Thanksgiving 2014- Turkey Burn BootCamp

In case you missed it, Turkey Burn BootCamp was fire. There were over 30 of us in Max Out Gym on Thanksgiving morning, training with tons of energy and excitement before we spent time with our families digging into all the food the holiday brings. There were eight different workout stations and the exercises participants did included: woodway sprints, battle ropes, push ups, shuttle runs, ab wheel rollouts, kettlebell swings, med ball slams, pull ups, plyometrics, etc.

The beauty of this workout was the mix of participants. There were McCohn Muscle clients, family members, other trainers, other trainer's clients, friends, family members of friends, etc. Some people work out at Max Out Gym all the time, some people I've never met before. The workout was enough for all fitness levels so everyone left with a feeling of accomplishment.

At the end of the workout, I shared a story with the participant out of a book titled, "An Enemy of Average." The short story started off with the quote, "Don't ask time where it's gone; tell it where to go!" I shared with them that we all have the same 24 hours in a day and what you do with that 24 will decide your accomplishments, success, and satisfaction. It was so much fun working with so many people, especially on a holiday. The experience was confirmation that I am on the right track in helping others improve their quality of life through health and fitness.

McCohn Muscle Client of the Month- November 2014

Amanda Scalise....a CHAMP in everyone's book!

She brings the energy and effort all the time, and her attitude is contagious. In October she lost 3lbs while participating in #GutCheck BootCamp and her standard once a week training sessions. She also managed to find the time to complete the Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Half-Marathon in just over two hours. Two days after her half-marathon she came into her training session and pressed a client best 96 reps of 45lbs barbell flat bench press. BOOM! 

Scalise also completed a half-marathon in October 2011, August 2013, and her first full marathon in October 2013. I might even be missing one or two of them.

She is an inspiration and a motivator. She works hard balancing career, family, fitness, and fun. I can count on her to lead by example, and I also know that every once in a while she is going to challenge me. She has been a loyal client and a great friend. We have seen each other overcome a number of obstacles and witnessed the growth that came from them. Even though she is one of the youngest, she currently is my longest tenured client. I've always believed that a trainer can only be great if he trains clients that do great things. That's what Amanda Scalise is to me....just flat out a great person.

Columbus full marathon Oct 2013, Mile 18

Who is Amanda Scalise to others? 

Well....I train a young lady that's 17 years old. I admire her for the simple fact that she does one thing that so many people are allergic to doing, and that's keep it real. One day this young lady looked me in my face and said, "Amanda is somebody I want to be like when I get older." Wow. What a compliment from someone who is worth admiring herself!

To other clients I would say she is a leader. She's silly and funny, always engaged, and a hard worker. From time to time she can be counted on to create a rebellion against the trainer as well.

Good business owners constantly think of ways to improve their brand.
When you have people like these supporting it, you're in pretty good shape.

McCohn Muscle Client of the Month- October 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, Suely Guimaraes

This one is all about EFFORT! Now before I upset most of my clients, because just about every one of them gives maximum effort when they're training, not many of them try to do it in distress. Suely would be just about any trainer's dream client because she goes so hard sometimes you have to slow her down. 

She has been a faithful participant in #GutCheck BootCamp since April. Now there was a bit of a language barrier because I am a little rusty with my Portuguese. It's been a long time :-) One thing that became obvious during the first couple months of training is that during the workouts she would sometimes get pelvic and abdominal pain. It wasn't because of the exercises, it was more of a medical issue she had going on with her body. It would get so bad sometimes that she would be in tears. Now you will never hear me tell clients, "no pain, no gain." I will not ask anyone that is physically hurting to push through to the finish. But it sure is admirable to see someone that wants it that bad. To see someone that is willing to put in that kind of work.

She's lost a total of 6lbs and lowered her body fat by 3%. The impressive part about it is she endured these grueling 6am workouts while dealing with a medical concern that would make most people tap out. Now we recently got the doctor's command to reduce intensity and rest more. We are abiding by that so Suely can come back stronger. Meantime in between time her tenacity and effort has earned her McCohn Muscle's October Client of the Month. You go girl!

TD Mentorship San Diego Day 3.5- McCohn Muscle

Day 3.5! This is it! This was it! By far this was the best day of the mentorship for me. Actually, I can say with confidence this was one of the best days of my life. 

The first day of the mentorship when Todd Durkin took the floor, he kept repeating, "guys we're going to go deep. We're going to go deep." I started looking around thinking to myself, "I don't know what this guy means by that, but if he thinks he's gonna make me cry, he's out of his mind." Seriously!

w/my roommate Jimmy Mackey, owner of MACFit360

I told Jimmy the day before that there were going to be some people that struggled once they left the mentorship. Todd did an awesome job working with us, but he is external motivation. We can't take Todd with us when we leave. I predicted that some people were going to go back and do well for a week, then they were going to fall into the same old habits because they did not change on the inside. Everything I said sounded right until that moment when Todd forced all of us to look inside ourselves.

There was a 3-part presentation on leadership delivered by Mastermind mentors. One of them, Frank Pucher gave a presentation of Three Simple Lessons for Business and Life. Now I don't know all of Frank's story, but I do know that he was running a training facility in New Jersey when throat cancer tried to attack him. Long story short, he kicked cancer's a$$, and is healthy enough to speak about it. My biggest takeaway from his presentation, "you need a team to ensure success."

"Everything in life happens for us, not to us." -Kelli Corasanti

Kelli gave us some insight on what to do "When the Going Gets Tough." Since the summer of 2014 was such a rough patch in my life I could easily identify with what she was speaking. Journaling, meditation, and self talk had already become a part of my emotional fitness. For me, her presentation was confirmation that I was on the right track. 

 I think Larry Indiviglia may have been my biggest fan out there. He always had the camcorder in his hand shouting out something like, "let's go Ohio! C'mon Buckeye!" He was quite the motivator. In his presentation he referred back to his days in the Naval Academy. He stressed the importance of being a team player.

Speaking of a motivation.

w/Randy Soulier

He was one of my workout partners on Day 1. We did sprint training on the Woodway treadmill. 60+ years old, and when I tell you he was sprint training......he was sprint training!

The time came for Todd to wrap up his 3.5 Day Mentorship by having us "go deep." It was his desire that we reach inside ourselves and find our purpose, our meaning, our why. He set the mood by playing inspirational music, as he likes to say, "music moves the soul." 

With several writing exercises we all had to dig inside ourselves and write about what it was we were really here to do. What did we want to accomplish? When it was time for our lives to come to an end, how did we want to be remembered? Todd Durkin, leader, motivator, man, trainer extraordinaire opened himself up to us. When he began crying, that was all she wrote. By the time we were done, there were very few dry eyes in the room. It was very emotional. Pretty much everyone in that room came face to face with their purpose in life. After all the hugs, high fives, and kind exchanges, we all left knowing what we had to do and how we needed to change. I was walking on clouds.

This guy is a true leader. I was honored to be a part of something so powerful.

Now I have a free afternoon and evening. The weather is gorgeous and I'm trying to put some miles on this Mustang convertible. Somebody please show me around this city.

La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya)

Facebook says it's the most affluential city in the US. A four-bedroom house costs 1.5M

Don't know about that, but the scenery was breath-taking.

Well hello there! 

 My gorgeous tour guide. 

Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Balboa Park, Old Town. I got to see it all. Had some good food, some wine, and dessert at a place called Extraordinary Desserts. Entrepreneur thought: an Extraordinary Dessert in Columbus would compete with Jeni's Ice Cream. It was that good.

Euphoric! 

TD Mentorship 2014 San Diego Day 3- McCohn Muscle

That Day 3 BootCamp? I'm not going to lie, I was more of a spectator than a participator. Yes, I probably had TOO much fun the night before, but my body was pretty sore after the first two workouts of the mentorship. So yeah, I was just listening to my body ;-)

We did a lot of activities and games here. There were some buddy exercises, some running, calisthenics; we played a game called Blob Tag which was pretty cool. It was more like a team building activity. There was also some type of football game I did not participate in because I got caught up in a conversation with a successful trainer and entrepreneur from Coronado named Christopher Foote. This guy has got it going on, and his positive attitude is contagious.

This day, Saturday, we got overloaded with information. Entrepreneur, Trainer, Gym Owner, Beachbody Diamond Coach, and speaker Trina Gray jumped it off with "Time to Get Social." A lecture on steps we could take to improve our reach on social media platforms. Ladies! If you do not follow "Trina Gray Fitness" on Facebook, I encourage you to do so. She is a wife, mother, and inspiration like many of you.

www.facebook.com/trinagrayfitness

Instagram: @trinagray

Next we learned from Entrepreneur, Trainer, Gym Owner, Beachbody Extraordinaire, Marketing Mastermind, and speak Vito LaFata. He opened up a lot of people's eyes about the way our websites were put together, why they needed to improve, and what we could do to improve them. Talk about some useful information. Remember how I used the word "overloaded." We received so much good information over these 3.5 days there is no way to implement it all quickly. All of it is going to take time but the faster we're able to put it together, the better our businesses will become. For sure!

That's Vito and Trina on the left. I'm not sure why I did not get pictures with them. Probably because they made me realize how garbage my social media and website was. lol :-) Their presentations were GAME CHANGERS!

Other lectures we received on day 3: The 30 Minute Business Model, The Art of a Great Presentation, and Going Deep Coaching.

Then you know how fitness professionals do, Work Hard....Play Hard.

This is what happens when you get a Buckeye fan and a Wolverine fan together! Well dressed hostility. She has some great arms, but her team though! Todd was gracious enough to let all 65 of us come over to his house. He fed us, provided water, wine and other beverages. I even had a chocolate chip cookie. It was a good time. A couple of conversations that stood out to me was one with Brent Gallagher, owner of West U Fitness in Houston. This guy is amazing. The Dave Ramsey of trainers. He's built a training facility that brings in over $1M a year and he has no debt. HELLO! He gave me awesome encouragement and advice about starting my own training facility.

The other was an inspiring conversation with the Director of First Impressions at Fitness Quest 10, Stephanie Anderson. As she was talking to me about some difficult times in her past it really stirred something up inside of me. I looked at her as a conqueror; someone who has fought many battles to get to the point where she is today, and she has the courage to tell her story. 

Listen to her story here

Little did I know, the emotion I felt from one conversation would be taken to another level on the last day of mentorship.

And the Michigan Wolverines are still poop!

TD Mentorship 2014 San Diego Day 2- McCohn Muscle

w/ Todd Durkin

This man is the reason high level trainers traveled from all over the world to San Diego. There is certainly more about Todd that I don't know but I will sum it up as best I can. 

-Massage therapist and bodywork specialist

-Personal trainer and BootCamp instructor, clients include Pro Bowl running back Ladainian Tomlinson WHEN he broke the all-time single season touchdown rushing record. Drew Brees, before his injury with the San Diego Chargers and after when he became an All Pro and Super Bowl Champion with the New Orleans Saints. There are a plethora of others including NFL and MLB players and mixed martial artists. A real Bootcamp instructor! His morning classes made me feel like I was back in the Army.

-Owner of Fitness Quest 10 which is a gym small in size but gigantic in performance. He has an AWESOME staff, including 30+ personal and group fitness trainers. His facility also offers massage, body work, and chiropractic work. It's a one stop shop for the human body.

-Worldwide motivational speaker. This guy could fire up the laziest group of people. I first heard him speak in 2013 at the IDEA Fitness Convention and I've been following him ever since. In that time he's traveled to Australia, Europe, and all over the U.S. fulfilling his vision of making IMPACT in people's lives.

-Blogger, author. I also follow him on social media @todddurkin

He has one book published (that I know of), and is working on another. He sends out several emails a week as well.

-Husband, father. He has a beautiful family, a wife and three kids. 

It's like, when does this dude have time to sleep? It's easy to see why I would travel to the west coast to learn from him. He IS pretty much everything I want to be in the fitness industry.

He's endorsed by Under Armour too.

This day of lecturers included: The Blue-Print for Success in the Fitness Industry; Systemizing Your Business; The Top 10 Lessons I Learned While Building My Dream Facility, Treadside Manner Talk, and How to Have a 100k Month.

These presenters flew in from all over the country as well.

After an intense early morning BootCamp, a day filled with classes, and a Q&A meeting with the inventor of the BOSU ball, David Weck, who is a brilliant, mad scientist type by the way, it was time for me to play hard. 

I met two young ladies by the pool at lunchtime that were not part of the mentorship. It just so happened that it was one of their birthdays, and they invited me to hang out with them that night. Uhhh, HELL YEAH!

Unexpectedly, I found myself in the Gaslamp District surrounded by BEAUTIFUL people.....and some alcohol.

Yeah! I didn't really know any of these people, but we all had a common goal: to have some fun!

I'm telling you, it felt like Whatever USA.

All my peers were back at the hotel chillin' and I'm out having the time of my life. I was so grateful I got to meet these people. All because I socialized for 20 minutes with two ladies at the swimming pool during lunch. But just like last year, when I went out on the late night adventure with my cousin in LA......damn if I don't have a BootCamp workout in a few hours.

TD Mentorship 2014 San Diego Day 1- McCohn Muscle

The Todd Durkin 2014 3.5 Day Mentorship came at exactly the right time. After a summer of excelling in training and business, while struggling with some personal issues I proudly limped into my 34th birthday, in need of a getaway. I don't take many vacations, or days off for that matter and getting out of my everyday environment could not have come at a better time. My clients showed me plenty of love on my birthday which had me feeling euphoric. Little did I know, that feeling would skyrocket over the next few days.

A lady at the airport in Minneapolis came up to me while I was eating and asked if I was this guy.......T.O! Terrell Owens. He's about 6ft3in and I'm 5ft9in but whatever. The important thing here is being mistaken for a superstar, millionaire, former NFL athlete. I'll take it as a compliment.

Sun's Out, Guns Out baby!

Everyday during the mentorship was 87 degrees and sunny. It was absolutely beautiful weather compared to all the thunderstorming going on back home in Ohio. The only time the weather felt inconvenient was during the first of our 3.5 days when we had a killer 4pm workout at Fitness Quest 10. During the workout we did Woodway treadmill sprints, hill sprints, shuttle runs (suicides), TRX, band training, kettlebells, med ball slams, push ups, ab rollers, battle ropes, and a few tools I had never used before. Training was at a high level!

Battle rope training mixed with plyometrics.

Girl look at that body! I work out!!

I just had a birthday, and fell off my meal plan a little bit. But I felt good enough to take my shirt off in front of 75 other trainers. Being fit feels good!

I don't know what other people were thinking about this and I really didn't care. TD told us to have fun and that is exactly what I did. I had to get the footage, because a few of my clients like to do The Wobble from time to time in the morning at Max Out Gym. We get down like that.

Rockin it!

While everybody else was working out, or taping us:-) Samantha Lazaris and I were doing The Wobble. She's a Wolverine fan but it's all good. I didn't hold it against her.

60+ trainers from all over the world attended this mentorship. Some had little experience in the fitness industry and others were absolute powerhouses. Meeting and working out with them, including the staff at Fitness Quest 10 was a great experience.

Olivia Skaates- September 2014 Client of the Month

 Olivia Skaates.....back on top!

Showing off her Champion ribbon at The Kentucky Horse Park a month after a serious surgery.

Olivia has been a consistent client since.........Oct 20, 2012. We began training at Urban Active Polaris. Then when I moved to Max Out Gym Columbus, Olivia, her mom, and big bro came along and trained with me there. Olivia is a beautiful young lady. She is an adept horse rider, and she also plays on her high school lacrosse team.

She used to ask me "when am I going to be 'Client of the Month?" I would laugh and tell her that even though she worked hard when she trained, people that earn "Client of the Month" have exceptional stories. Some have lost 20+ pounds, some have shed off a high percentage of body fat, others have trained hard and killed it at a competitive event.

Now she is Client of the Month for September 2014.
This is what happened.

Benign tumor from t2 to t12 next to thoracic spine. That's pretty large. The surgeon recommended surgery and said she would need to collapse Olivia's right lung to remove tumor on that side.
You can bet Olivia was doing some intense cardio a week before her surgery. If one lung was going to be down, that other one had better stay strong.
During surgery the expert hit a lymphatic duct that caused a chile leak. Olivia had to be on a fat free diet for a week. She was out of the hospital after that week but three days after been sent home her right lung filled up halfway with fluid plus 1200cc of chile fluid in chest.

Another surgery, another chest tube
TPN nutrition for 8 days (that's liquid meals in a plastic bag btw)
Fat free diet for 2 weeks and she's been fine ever since.

 Taking selfies during my adjustment though.

This is a different kind of "Client of the Month" right here. Even though she is athletic and trains hard, she is September's best because she endured a dangerous and emotional process. We've all been through those tough times where we are challenged spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Sometimes we feel weak and vulnerable while going through them. The thing is, most of the time when we get through, we are smarter, harder, and stronger than ever before. 
Congratulations Olivia on earning Client of the Month. Keep keeping your game tight!

www.mccohnmuscle.com

https://www.facebook.com/mccohnmuscletraining

McCohn Muscle Client of the Month- August 2014

Look at that smile!

Our August Client of the Month is a blast from the past. I first started training Lauren Dieck when she was a student at Olentangy Orange in 2011. Butt kicking training sessions twice a week, combined with workouts on her own time pushed her to a 2nd place finish in her first triathlon sprint. 

Since then she has left to study business at Miami of Ohio. She has stopped back to train with me every summer since. This summer was a little more special. We started training in the beginning of June and Lauren was not at her best. The rigors of school not only caused stress but also left her with little time to work out. Her eating habits did not help and neither did the medication she was taking which is known to cause weight gain. She'd tease herself about having three chins. Yikes!

So we went to work. Two days of training every week, plus two to three days of workouts on her own. Lauren was to also enter her food consumption on myfitnesspal.com for accountability. The results were minimal at first as we worked out all the kinks. Lauren finally hit her stride when she gained more confidence during her workouts in the gym, and started running at Hoover Dam with her mom on the other days. Myfitnesspal wasn't convenient for her, so she just kept a food journal that she'd bring to her training sessions.

In two and a half months of training, Lauren cut around 4lbs, 3% body fat, and two chins :-) The award is not because of her statistics though; it is because of her effort and commitment. She never missed a training session. She gave 110% during the sessions as she always does. She stopped taking her medication that wasn't needed anyway. She show consistency with her grocery shopping and food preparation. She did not quit. She started the program and did what she was supposed to do all the way through. In the end, many of her friends and family members saw the difference and mentioned it to her, which seemed to be the best reward of all. Great work Lauren! Have a great school year.

www.mccohnmuscle.com
Make Your Presence Felt!

Trainer Tuesday

Trainer Tuesday!

Even though we did not have a Client of the Month for July, your favorite Trainer has a pretty cool story. In the middle of March when he was getting a hard working client ready to step on stage, he stepped on the scale at 219lbs.

He then started a training program of workouts 6x/week.
Day 1: Lower Body
Day 2: Upper Body
Day 3: Sprint training
Day 4: rest
Day 5: Lower Body
Day 6: Upper Body
Day 7: Strongman training

During these workouts he set a personal best for Deadlifts(465lbs x3), Barbell Walking Lunges(185lbs x8), and Incline Chest Press(120lbs dumbbells x8). While making gains on his strength, he also improved his sprint speed and endurance using 3-mile run times (29:08 to 26:04).

Not only were the workouts stellar, but his high fat, moderate protein, low carb cycling meal plan was just what his body needed. In the middle of July he weighed 208lbs, his body fat % had decreased by 5%, and he's stronger and faster than in March.

High five your favorite Trainer when you see him. You've probably played a part in keeping him inspired.

McCohn Muscle Client of the Month- June 2014

Jess DelRe's journey with McCohn Muscle Training has been like the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy! It has been a 16 month journey that has included persistence, dedication, loyalty, patience, education, frustration, flexibility, focus, sacrifice, and good old fashion hard work.

Now you've probably heard several people say, "forget the scale. It doesn't mean anything." This is true in certain situations, but not all of them. The scale is a tool that tells a story. It also can be used to motivate people to make better decisions in the kitchen, and work harder in the gym. When Jess first started training, the scale said that she made some poor choices with nutrition, and was not spending quality time in the gym. By her own admission she lacked upper body strength, and from assessing her she also lacked core strength and cardiovascular endurance. So we attacked her training and nutrition with vigor. Training sessions 3x/week and homework on the weekends. Food journals were front and center every week. Jess did everything that was asked of her, however the scale was saying that there was not much change. So that dedication, focus, and sacrifice turned into frustration.

Anyone that knows me as a trainer knows that I have pride in what I do. I get results! So when someone is doing their part but isn't seeing results, it's a blow to my ego. A BIG blow. For a while, Jess DelRe was like the puzzle that could not be solved. Looking back on it now, it was just an obstacle we had to get through together. It required her to be flexible, me to educate myself more, and both of us to be patient.
After five months of training Jess lowered her body fat by 6.5% and improved her 1-mile run time by 4 minutes. She had also lost 8lbs, which isn't bad but we knew that more could be done. Jess began doing things she had never done before. Running 2-miles without stopping. Deadlifting and squatting over 100lbs in the same training session. Running 3-miles without stopping. Her performance was on another level. In the meantime I increased my service by generating meal plans courtesy of Evolution Nutrition. This was a game changer for Jess. She followed the plans to a T and the excess weight began coming off. Then Jess upped the ante. She wanted to get to a certain weight by her birthday at the end of May. Two weeks prior to her birthday we were 5lbs away from the goal. So we scrapped everything that had been working well, and implemented what I call the "Deadline Diet." Wouldn't you know......WE HIT THAT GOAL! I suppose I should add that she has lost a total of 23lbs and 12% body fat. This recognition of Jess DelRe is well deserved. It's also a testament to staying the course, even when it seems that what you're doing is not working. Great job Jess! Let's find another obstacle to knock down.

McCohn Muscle Client of the Month-May 2014

Mother, Wife, Leader, Doctor, Athlete, Yogi, Runner, Bike rider, Lifter, Coach, Nature Lover, Owner, Volunteer, Partner, Friend, Helper. Overall World Class Person. 

I heard her husband refer to her one time as the All American girl!

The first time I trained Dr. Laura Skaates she was already in phenomenal shape. Her vision was to be well prepared for the 2012 Arnold Classic Pump and Run. I gave her all types of tough exercises and high intensity movements and she took it all. It was easy to tell she had a competitive side.

What I did not know is that Laura is one of the most OUTSTANDING people on the face of this Earth. She is a young mother of three. I've had the privilege of training her two oldest and like her they are awesome people in their own respect. Her husband is one of the coolest guys in the world. She leads a healthy, good looking staff at Skaates Family Chiropractic on Cooper Rd. in Westerville. If you've ever been there you know what the atmosphere is like. Besides being a great business coach and client, Laura Skaates is an exceptional leader. If you've served in the US Army you've heard the expression, "Lead From the Front." That's what she does. She leads by setting the example; by showing more than talking which is becoming more uncommon nowadays.

She also has tremendous athleticism.

Insert inversion pic

She does stuff like this. Pull ups, box jumps, kettlebells, squats, sprints, balance and ab exercises; you name it, she can do it. Earlier this month Laura participated in the Cincinnati Flying Pig Pump and Run. For those that do not know, the Pump is bench pressing a certain percentage of your body weight as many times as you can. In Laura's case, 70lbs (we were training like it would be 85lbs for some reason). She pressed out 27 reps like a Boss. Wouldn't you know that 27 reps was the highest of any participant in the Pump and Run, male or female. Then her 5K RUN time was 25:30 which was 3rd best of all the female participants. So basically, SHE ROCKED IT! Funny thing is that she was still disappointed because her goal was 30 reps on bench press and a 24min 5K.

I guess that is how one sustains success though. 97% would be satisfied with finishing as the top performer at this event. She's not one of them. She's always keeping that competitive edge. So she possesses greatness because she uses it in everything that she does. Let's offer up some congratulations to Dr. Laura Skaates for all her success. She deserves it!

McCohn Muscle Client of the Month-April 2014

These ladies would make any trainer proud. They're perfect examples of hard work, sacrifice, and persistence. Their journey has not been easy by any stretch, but they are still enduring. And they are leaders that moms everywhere can admire.

Stacie "The Photographer" Bowers and Marta "Skull and Bones" Valente started #GutCheck BootCamp together on March 10th. Over the span of that month and a few days Stacie has dropped 7lbs and 3% body fat. She has done it the healthy way too. Not by skipping meals and doing excessive cardio, but by having healthy snacks in between her three main meals and consuming a nice balance of macronutrients (carbs, protein, fat).  She has shed over an inch off her waist and an inch from her hips. Stacie is also a regular participant at Skaates Family Chiro Pure Fitness class on Saturday morning. One of the coolest things about her in my opinion is she has 5 children. Five kids!!! And she stills make the time for her fitness and is outworking so many people. Quite the inspiration. Nice work Stacie!

Marta is a soccer mom for real. Her husband and children both love the sport. When she started #GutCheck BootCamp last month she did not have any exercise experience. Did you miss that? She had NEVER been to a gym before, but she was eager to make a change. Over her last month she has shed 6.5 lbs and lost over 2% body fat. She's made it to every 6am class which speaks volumes for someone that is not a "morning person." It's not just the exercising though, Marta is eating healthier than she ever has and drinking more water than she's used to. #GutCheck has just given her an avenue to continue to make many positive changes in her life.

All the hard work is paying off for them! You can make a change too. All you need is the right mindset and some unwavering commitment.

Let's stop calling HIIT "fat burning"

It tickles me when fitness professionals refer to high-intensity exercise as "fat burning." 

High intensity exercise burns calories; the fat is burned once the workout is over and the athlete partakes in a healthy nutrition plan that is very low on sugar and involves the proper calorie intake. 

HIIT(high intensity interval training) is a wildly popular way to exercise right now, and rightfully so. It's amazing benefits include boosting metabolic rate, high caloric burn, post workout after burn, and a serious endorphin high if you do it right. However, HIIT does not use body fat for energy, it uses carbohydrates, glycogen in the muscle, and ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Here is a brief explanation of why HIIT should not be referred to as "fat burning."

I’m going to be quick and try to use words that are simple as this is a science and the terminology can get kind of ridiculous.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is intense, sometimes 100% given bouts of effort followed by short recovery periods. It gets the heart rate up and burns a high amount of calories in a short period of time.

Now the body has three main energy systems and manipulating these systems during sessions is a big part of my training style. They are phosphagen, glycolysis, and oxidative. At any given time all three systems are active but the contribution of each system during training depends on the intensity and duration of the activity.

The best example of the phosphagen system at work is watching a sprinter. OR during a boxing match when a boxer has his opponent on the ropes. The opponent is obviously hurt so the boxer gives everything he has in an effort to drop his opponent. There is no strategy here, just all out effort. This is how the “working” part of HIIT should be performed; with all out effort. Now you can only do this for a short period of time, and the body cannot rely on oxygen so it is therefore “anaerobic.” Now out of all the macronutrients ONLY CARBOHYDRATES can be used for energy if there is not involvement of oxygen. Your body prefers carbs as source of energy because they break down 30-40% faster than fat. Have you ever tried doing HIIT on an empty stomach? Doesn’t work out too well.

Glycolysis is the breakdown of carbs- whether it be glycogen in the muscle or sugar in the blood. For the most part this is the energy system we are using when we work out. We’re giving intense effort but it is not 100%, and most of us don’t train for hours so it’s not prolonged exercise.

Now the oxidative system is where FAT is burned (used for energy). Lower intensity exercise, steady state work for a prolonged period of time. This is when the body shifts from using carbs for energy to using fats and protein. Yes protein too, that’s why it’s not ideal for muscle building and preservation.

Dr. Len Kravitz, Ph.D. is a well respected exercise physiologist in the fitness industry. He performed a lab experiment that gave these results: 66% effort over X amount of time burned 219 calories, 35 Fat cals and 184 carb cals. 74% effort over X amount of time burned 249 calories, 30 Fat cals and 219 carb cals. 83% over X amount of time burned 275 calories, 22 Fat cals and 253 carb cals. 

So basically what I’m saying is HIIT burns a lot of calories and you will burn fat but it’s not until AFTER the actual exercising (E.P.O.C.), not during. And I’m annoyed with people calling HIIT fat burning, ESPECIALLY exercise professionals. They should know better. But we all know that all fitness pros are not created equal.

Ready. Set. HIIT it!!!