Breakout Athletes is a training program founded and operated to bring comprehensive drills and exercises to today's athletic youth. Our drills and workouts have been designed to prepare the young athlete's of today, for future top level competition, by enhancing their skills, fitness and conditioning.
I spent my first 6 years of my eight year career focusing on weight training and slow fat burning routines on treadmills or stair masters. This has drastically affected my sprinting capabilities. If you asked me to go out and run a half marathon, it would be no problem. But doing super sets with my legs and then sprinting 200 meters affects me greatly. Why? I have always focused on slow twitch fibers for years. But Crossfit has the demand for fast twitch fibers. A lot of time I will have to do 15 dead lifts and then run 400 meters. Well imagine what your legs feel after that? And it isn't one time but repeated 4 more times.
As I have always said, Athlete's Fuel is based upon being an athlete, not specializing in anything. I know this is my weakness, so I address it. how do I address this situation. I work on doing sprints under high volume fatigue. I try and do high volume/low weight reps, and then sprint 200-400 meters. This will increase my fast twitch fibers over next few months. So when I am addressed with a workout that demands speed, I can compete with the best.
Thank you for everyone who came out for the rowing competition. We will be doing it again on August 14 next month. We will have the same promotion, 20% off everything, free samples provided by Visalus and a free beverage or energy bar with any purchase of fitness clothing. Furthermore we will be holding a promotion that same day at
Lifeworx Fitness
14388 Union Avenue, San Jose, Ca. It is owned at operated by my good friend and fellow competitor Shaun Eagon. I will give more details on that promotion in the coming future. But be aware that Health e Centric will be having to great promotions that day.
The rowing competition was a blast and the top 3 men and women were
Women Men
1. Tiffany - 1:47 Shaun - 1:26.4
2. Amy - 1:52.8 Devin - 1:29.9
3. Liz - 1:53.3 Austin - 1:35.4
I sent out emails to most of the winners to come and collect their gift certificates. Thank you to everyone who participated.
If you haven't noticed, Health e Centric has put together packages in the store. Mr. Moles has taken the time to develop baskets for each section that will attribute to success in that field. For example, if you are planning on losing weight, we have a great package designed for your success in weight loss. Instead of buying a bunch of different products at full price. Health e Centric has made the basket, with a guidance book included, of an entire package for weight loss. These products are discounted if you buy the package and it would be the first step to your weight loss goals. If you haven't noticed them yet, come by the store and check them out.
My favorite package is the strength gaining package. It is everything you need to start building the lean muscle you have always wanted.
Here is the newest newsletter that we are sending out to our loyal customers. Right now we are holding off sending out the newsletters to our customer base but we do send it out to 3,000 Real Estate Agents at Intero Real Estate. Our loyal customers receive 10% at all times for any purchase, if you are interested. Hope you enjoy the newsletter.
HealtheSaturdays
Motivation
There are a lot more important things in life then working out! Wait, did I just say that? We have families, work, and daily tasks that take priority a lot of time. Or maybe you are balancing just fine but there is always a friend by your side saying, "lets stay in, grab some beers and watch the game". Or maybe work has you down. The economy has been inert for about 2 years now. When things do not look bright, the last thing anyone wants to do is go push themselves on the treadmill or up a steep hill in the blistering California heat.
But sometimes you just hit a wall with the same fitness routine. There is a rare breed that anticipates their next workout, I am one of them. But I can assure you that it crosses our minds every once in a while that we don't want to go through the endeavor we have programmed for that day. Just when you think all hope is lost, you come across a little motivation.
What is that motivation? The list below are simple alterations you can make to keep you motivated. A lot of time we get stuck in a routine. The same 5 miles a day on a treadmill, the same music, the same stretch. You have tried hiring a new personal trainer or you have switched over to the new fitness fad. But those become stagnant after a while. A lot of time it is physiological. You won't switch a routine because you think you "will not get the same affect as you did before". Sports psychology is major factor in fitness. It took my father twenty five years to switch from running to biking and now all you can do is find him walking around in his biking gear contemplating if he should bike twenty or thirty miles that day.
If you don't plan on changing your fitness routine any time soon, and I wouldn't blame you. Then the next best thing is to find a little motivation in fitness.
1. GO OUT AND BUY NEW WORKOUT GEAR. If your a runner, get new shoes. If you do yoga, grab a great new pair of pants. If your a biker and can afford a new bike, then go purchase that mountain bike you have always wanted. Any accessory that makes you feel and look good is an unbelievable staple to keep you motivated. If you feel good and look good, then being motivated to stay in shape is pretty easy.
2. CHANGE YOUR MUSIC SELECTION. Or simply add a new playlist. If most of you use the same Ipod playlist everyday, it can drastically effect your workout. For example, if you listen to the same playlists daily, you may know exactly how long that playlists plays for. This used to affect me because I would run 20 minutes after my weight training routine. I would know I was only on minute 11 by the third song that had played. Then I would start thinking, "oh man, I have nine more minutes left at this pace. Maybe I should stop"? If you change your music or change the variation, you will never know where you lie at any part of your workout. In addition, a new song may light a little fire underneath your step on the treadmill.
3. A NEW DIET. I have always been able to stay motivated by deciding that I want to improve my physique in a certain way. Adding certain supplements and tweaking my diet keeps me motivated. Maybe I want to be 10 pounds lighter for beach season? If you have a goal set, staying motivated will go hand in hand with any fitness routine.
4. A TV PROGRAM. I have dealt with several clients that have trouble staying motivated. We live in an era that supplies us with flat screen monitors mounted on the walls at gyms or even better, attached privately for our viewing on the treadmill. If you have trouble getting to the gym, find out what time your favorite television show is on. If it is reruns of Seinfeld that come on every weekday night at 7:30pm, go to the gym and watch it on the treadmill. By the time the show is over, you have worked out for 30 minutes. If you sit at home watching this show every night, you might as well walk or run to it on the treadmill!
5. FIND A FRIEND OR A CLASS. Grab your spouse, your best friend or someone you see daily at the gym. A lot of times working out in an atmosphere that has someone else motivated for the day, will keep you inspired. It is impossible to come into the gym everyday ready to tackle a routine. But if you can join a class, feeding off other peoples adrenaline will help you. Most gyms offer daily classes included in your membership. Finding someone that is as passionate as you are will only help you improve and stay focused.
You cannot always stay motivated. But reach for these guidelines anytime you feel despair in fitness. These could be your simple tool to achieving that healthy lifestyle you have always wanted.
Have you noticed anything different outside the store as of late? We have mannequins outside posing in our new Under Armour Attire. We have built out the center of the store with clothing and we are still waiting for more. We have found a price competitive with any major retailer, Big 5, Sports Authority, etc that carries this exclusive brand.
You no longer have to drive all the way to Valley Fair to get your workout attire, we have it all right here for you. Come by and check it out.
I have been slowly testing my bicep to see how it performs under stress. I decided to go ahead and try 20 clean and jerks on the minute. How this works is you start with a light weight and do 1 clean and jerk every minute for 20 minutes. The idea is to increase in weight until you are almost at 75% of your max. Well I started today at 185lbs and moved all the way up to 225lbs.
This is a really good sign because pulling the weight is a movement that should irritate my bicep. I was able to do all 20 without any pain.
Another reason to try this workout is it will improve your form. Since you move up in weight, you get tired easier. This makes you dive underneath the weight during the clean so you can catch it. If you are looking to add weight to your clean, maybe you should give this workout a shot.
I hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July and has a safe trip if your leaving town. Next week is Second Saturdays. We will be having the rowing competition that day. Please refer to my post this week on the competition. I will make another post about it next week.
When I opened the new store at the beginning of May, I decided to give something back to the Los Gatos Community? I want to see people live a healthy lifestyle. So we built a loyalty program that was 10% off any loyal member, any time of the month, on any purchase. It doesn't cost you anything to be a loyal member.
Well I got to thinking and thought, "well how is this different then any other major franchise out there"? So I thought about giving a larger discount for people who choose to live healthy lifestyles. So what the Health E Centric team came up with was, 20% off the first week of every month. How it works is that you have to be a loyal member to receive the discount. Also you have to be a member at any local gym, fitness studio or have a personal trainer in the Los Gatos Community. This was a great incentive for us to give back to the local community, support local business and support individuals who decide to live a healthy lifestyle.
Our 20% discount starts tomorrow and will last until Friday of next week. Remember, you must be a loyal member which means you give us your name and email address. Then just tell us what gym or fitness studio you workout at and it is 20% all your purchases. Come take advantage of this offer, it is quite special.
I did a workout with one of my best friends this morning because he has been trying to get back on track with his weight after a 24 year hiatus, or safe to say, never really addressed it since he was born. I took him in and did a workout. Well immediately after, I came into work, opened my computer and this is what I found on the first website that popped up on my computer. It comes from the blog of Crossfit Los Gatos, where I train daily. I have had this same conversation a hundred times with my friend and then the first day he comes into workout with me, this is the first thing I come across. I always believe things happen for a reason! This was not a coincidence, but a sign that maybe things will turn around for my best friend. When it comes down to it, I love him as a brother and want him to take care of himself. Maybe not for me but for his beautiful wife and daughter.
Please read below!
Listen up, this post is probably going to be offensive to some people, I am sure. I have something to say and its a hard thing to say nicely or prettily. If you get offended easily, just stop reading now.
My cat is recovering from surgery to both eyes. He has a cone and stitches and he looks like Frankenkitty. He had a very painful condition where his lower eyelid actually started to curl down and into his eye so that his fur was rubbing and pushing against the eye, causing ulcers. Think about it, it makes me shudder to think how much pain the little guy was in. Well, it cost about a month's income for me to have it fixed, a situation which has not been easy and one which I am not overly happy about. But what was I going to do? I couldn't let the problem continue and I wasn't about to put him down. You see, when you have a pet, you accept responsibility for its wellness.
Responsibility. Yeah, it's a word that rates right up there with discipline for popular appeal.
My father passed away a little less than a year ago. His whole life he was very fit and he ate right and stuff, but he got a very aggressive form of cancer, and exercise and diet and health probably didn't matter that much. I am sure that they gained him some extra time, but there was just nothing to be done, his death wasn't preventable.
But there are a lot of deaths that are. Too many. Way too many. Too many people die from diseases directly related to how they live their life. Directly related to what they eat and drink, their (in)activity level, their stress level.
Responsibility. You have a responsibility to take care of your self. That responsibility is not to yourself. It is to your family-your spouse, your kids. When you marry or have kids, your life is not yours any longer. You don't get to say things like "its my body" or "I don't have time" or "its too hard" or "I'm only hurting myself", because none of that is your choice anymore. You have a moral obligation to take care of yourself. Just like I did with my cat. And don't give me any shit about being single or childless. You very well may be married and have children someday. The responsibility is the same.
My family is devastated by my father's death, of course. Are you going to visit that pain on your family because you like to eat cheetos and drink? Are you going to miss graduations and weddings and the everyday interaction and love that makes life special because you can't get off your ass? Because exercise is too hard, or you can't find the time? Bullshit, grow up, get a little discipline. You have a responsibility that goes way beyond putting food on the table, or paying the rent, or getting life insurance, or whatever. A responsibility to be healthy and fit and happy. A massive responsibility to all those who love or depend on you that you will be around for as long as you possibly can be.
I look around me everyday and I see people that are overweight and underfit. They probably have, or soon will, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a host of other problems. Problems? Precursors to an early death is a more to the truth. Yeah, you can call me an alarmist, or a stormcrow, or a pessimist, or an insensitive jerk, but it doesn't matter because unfortunately I am right. I swear, sometimes I know exactly how Cassandra felt. I want to grab these people and shake them and demand, "what are you doing?", and scream at them, "get it together".
So get it together. Get off the couch, turn off the TV, stub out your cigarette, throw out the crap in your fridge and pantry, and get it together. Live up to your responsibilities. When you finally shuck off the mortal coil, it had better be from something that you had no control over.
Most of you know that I have been injured as of late. My bicep is healing pretty well so I am starting to test it. I tried some hand stand push ups this morning and felt alright, so I decided to do a workout. My back was so tight from doing 15 reps of 455lbs on dead lift yesterday, that I knew I couldn't lift weights today. So I designed an interval workout.
For 2 minutes, I would run a 400 meter sprint for as fast as I could, and with the remaining time I would do as many hand stand push ups as I could. Then I would rest 2 minutes and repeat for 4 rounds. A paced 400 meter run takes about 1:30, so that only gives you 30 seconds to do as many hand stand push ups as you can do. Well I did great. I actually crushed the first round.
I really like this workout and if you can't do hand stand push ups, you can sub push-ups, air squats, back squats, dead lifts, bench press, etc. It is a great replication of what you can push your body through under the stress of a 2 minute time domain. Moreover, I like how you can reset your heart rate with a 2 minute rest and hit it hard again. Try it out and let me know how it goes.
