Get Out There!

The summer-like weather is here this weekend. Be sure to take advantage of it by getting outside.

It so simple, but I truly believe that spending time outside in nature is required for healthy living.

Go for a walk, go fishing, go on a hike, do a workout outside or just lay around in the grass. Whatever it is, enjoy it!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How to Throw Down: A Step by Step Guide

I seem to have inspired some of you yesterday with my post about creating a tough challenge for yourself. A personal throw down to test the waters, objectively see how your training is going and to get inspired. Here’s how you can go about creating your own person thrown down. 

1. Pick something you want to do.

Originally, this said pick something you like, but you might not like bodyweight squats and that doesn’t mean you couldn’t come up with a great challenge around them. Pick something that gets you excited, that you would look forward too, even if you look forward to it with a little bit of dread.

I urge you to try and leave the comfort zone here. The point is to see what you’re capable of that you didn’t think you were. What’s something you wanted to do for a long time but too scared to try? Start there.

2. Pick how you’ll challenge yourself. 

These are the variables we can control to create a throw down. 

Volume - how much of something you do 

Frequency - volume over time (i.e., if volume is how many reps or sets of something, frequency is how much volume you do over a period of time) 

Distance - picking a certain distance to do something like a walk or run or bike ride

Time - how long you’ll throw down for

3. Create Rules

Rules create confinement that increases the difficulty. An example here would be: I’m going to ride my bike for 2 hours, but I have to pedal hard up all the hills. Pick a date and put your throw down on the calendar, do it that day rain or shine. There are endless rules to choose from, but whatever they are, use them to create a challenge that’s appropriate for you. 

Alright, so that’s a little vague and unless you have something particular on your mind, you might have a tough time deciding what to do. Here are a few worthwhile examples I’ve come up with:

Bike for a certain distance or period of time.

Haven’t been training and building up for a 50 mile ride, who cares? Get out and do it. Or alternatively, set a time period, say 90 minutes, and ride as far and as fast as you can within that time. 

Total reps throughout the day. 

Pick an exercise, like kb swings, bodyweight squats, push ups or even pull ups. Spend all day, from waking up till bed time accumulating as many reps of that movement as you can. I feel obligated to remind you only quality reps count, don’t be too crazy. For something like this, you can create rules, like I’ll do 10 swings every hour on the hour, to give you a sense of how many reps you’ll get in.

Walk further than you thought possible. 

Honestly, I think this is where most people should give it a go. Try to walk for a certain distance, to a friend’s house or create a local loop you can repeat. Bring a water bottle, a good podcast and maybe a snack. I think many of you will be surprised with how well you can do here. 

Do something you have’t done in a long time or ever.

Get the cobwebs off your bike, put that kayak in the water or get a stand up paddle board set up. Find something that you’ve neglected, or maybe even been scared to try and give it your best shot. Even if you fail, I promise you’ll walk away with a new found fire burning inside of you to try it again.

In closing, remember that a throw down is a personal challenge to yourself. Test the waters, see how you do. Most of you will be pleasantly surprised. If you need any help in coming up with a throw down challenge for yourself, please don’t hesitate to ask, I’m happy to help you find something challenging yet appropriate.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

The Occasional Throw Down

I talk so often about the need to be consistent rather than intense when it comes to working out that I sometimes neglect the fact that occasionally, it’s necessary to thrown down a heroic effort. A gut check, if you will. A test to see where you're at and find any holes in your game. We’re all starting to feel a little stir crazy, at-home workouts are getting tougher, we miss barbells and sleds and gym friends and having an appointment or place to go. A tough challenge workout can get you back on track, inspire you and hopefully, make you realize that your training is actually working.

I experienced this last week, three times actually. First was a run at my favorite spot, Stratham Hill Park. The climb up Stratham Hill is a steep 100 foot climb covered in loose gravel. I decided upon approaching the hill that I was going to throw down, charge up to the top as fast as I could, knowing there would be a great deal of suffering upon reaching the tower at the top of the hill. Since I hadn’t been doing any speed work, or fast running or even getting in much uphill training, I never expected to beat my PR up the hill. I spent the rest of run trying to recover from the effort but I left the park that day feeling inspired - what training I have been doing, let me maintain my uphill power. 

The next day I decided to try and lift something heavy. The gears were churning in my head, I wondered if I maintained any strength since I haven’t been lifting heavy on the regular. A spontaneous deadlifting session Friday evening in the parking lot of Gain let me know that my strength is still there, and maybe there’s even more of it than I’ve had in a while. I pulled a near max lift for a casual double.  

After a mellow weekend, I realized I had done a short-burst, all-out, power effort and a pure strength effort. I needed to round out my challenge week with an endurance effort. I pulled up Strava and took a look at some of the routes I had run in the past couple months. Upon deciding a route, I headed out the door and down the street to Stonehouse Forest. I completed my loop much faster than my previous time, out of this world progress that left me smiling as I ran back into the driveway Monday night. 

I’m sharing this with you, because as I mentioned before, I talk so much about consistent effort, that I neglect the fact that the occasional heroic effort shines a light on how our training is going. If you asked me how training was going before last week, I would have told you it was utterly horrible. I would have told you I’m barely running, never getting in a long run, no speed work at the track, no heavy strength training. I was convinced I was losing fitness everyday. After testing myself, I feel confident in what I’ve been doing, which I assure you, is very little compared to a normal May. I now know that my consistency is paying off, that work I’m doing isn’t going to waste. 

If you’re starting to feel like you’re spinning your wheels, I challenge you to come up with a heroic effort to test yourself. Maybe it’s walking for 2 hours, or doing more bodyweight squats in a row than you’ve ever done. Maybe you lace up those running sneakers you’ve been thinking about or find a cool local spot to get out a go on your first hike in a long time. Pump up the tires and dust the cobwebs off your bike. Whatever it is, make sure it’s challenging for you, this is about competing against yourself, not comparing yourself to others. If you’re able to take on a challenge like this, I guarantee you’ll come out the other side feel inspired.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

CFSC

One of our core values is to find the positive in anything. We want to look adversity in the face, say “good,” and look for ways we can use the struggle to our advantage.

Our in-person Certified Functional Strength Coach event was cancelled last month and we decided to take the online course. You see, coaching is a craft, like woodworking, designing and art. That means, overtime you can improve, question the way you’ve done things, learn from mistakes and always strive to get better.

The Gain Team and I spent the last several weeks becoming Certified Functional Strength Coaches. We watched hours of videos, had thought-provoking discussions about warming up, heart rate monitors, the order of corrective cues and how we write training plans.

I’m sure the in-person event would have been a world-class experience, especially since our friends at Maxway Performance were hosting it. Either way, I’m happy to report back to you all that we’re not slowing down. We’re coaches, at a gym, first and foremost. Regardless of whatever circumstances get in our way, we’re dedicated to improving, filling holes and committed to best coaches possible.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Repetition

Getting stronger, improving movement quality, gaining mobility and increasing endurance is all about repetition. You’ve got to get your reps in to build a tolerance and adapt. Making good nutritional choices works similarly. You’ve got to get reps in of high quality, tasty meals, so that your default craving is your go-to, well-rounded meal. In other words, making healthy choices is about creating habits, not your willpower to make better choices.

Recently, I’ve started eating the same breakfast everyday; four eggs and one or two pieces of toast. In pre-quarantine times, I typically opted to skip breakfast and push my first meal of the day back until lunch time, but that’s a discussion for another day. My new breakfast routine however, has been a staple in kicking off a day of healthy eating. I know by getting some high quality protein and fats and some carbohydrates that I’ll be full for hours, and by starting my day off on the right foot, more likely to make better choices throughout the day. 

The repetition of eating the same thing, however boring it can become, is a cue to kick start a day of awareness around eating. For example, if I decided to have pancakes instead today, I might be more likely to make a poor choice at lunch or snack too much after dinner, justifying my actions with the less than optimal choice for breakfast. The classic - I’m off the wagon now, I might as well keep going - downfall many us of fall into. 

Somehow, throughout your day, find ways to create repetition, things you do most everyday. These repetitive choices will work as habit cues. Signals to yourself to make better choices and to help you stay on track with less motivation. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Friday Thoughts

Happy Friday. Today, I want to share with you a question from James Clear’s Newsletter for you to ponder over the weekend. So often the choices we make regarding health give us delayed satisfaction. Sacrifices that pay off in the long term, not the short term.

Here’s Clear’s question:

“Am I doing this for present me or future me? “

PS

If you haven’t gotten a “I Still Train at Gain” tee, we’re offering pick up at the gym today 11-1.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How Are Your Toes?

We talk a lot of hip mobility and shoulder mobility, but there are other parts of the body that impact how much range of motion we can get in those spots while being active. Your big toe is one of them. Big toe dorsiflexion (lifting it up) is an important motion for walking, running and lunging. Without the proper range from our toes, we can place additional stress on shins, knees, hips or even lower back. 

In my experience, people who neglect ever loading the toes can develop stiffness. Typically, adding in sound functional movements will help alleviate this stiffness. That’s right, I’m talking about lunges again. Lunges, and movements like it, require those toes to stretch and load. It should become more comfortable over time.

 Besides training, there are other ways to add some mobility back to your big toe. Wearing less restricted shoes, or spending time barefoot can have a big impact. That, along with some daily stretching will make a big difference. Just bending your toes around with your hands can work, or if you want to take it to the next level, you can stretch the toes and bottoms of your feet by sitting on them. Starting in an all fours position, keep your toes hooked on the floor. Sink all your weight back till you’re sitting on your feet.

This is a major stretch for many people. After spending a minute or so down there, I’d be willing to bet your feet feel a little better while walking around. Give it a shot! 

Justin MIner

@justinminergain

Sick of Lunges?

Over the past month I’ve received countless emails, texts, DM’s and everything else about how sick people are of doing lunges. The truth is, they’re not going anywhere, they’re an imperative movement pattern we must continually train. Single leg training is a staple in all functional strength training programs, and for good reason, they help a lot of things. 

Perhaps most importantly, if you can’t lunge, you can get up and down from the floor. Which, surprising as it may be, is a task required for lifelong independence. It can quite literally be boiled down to an issue of safety. Can’t lunge, can’t get up, can't live alone.

In a less morbid sense, lunging teaches you how to stabilize your hip. It works all those little muscles in your hip that cooperate with your glutes to open and close your hip. These muscles help absorb force. When you step back or forward and lunge down, you must decelerate, absorb and transfer that force to stand back up. It’s quite complicated, actually, but lunging teaches you this skill and it becomes second nature. 

Lunging demands stability in your spine as well. You can’t lunge well if your spine is swaying all over the place. It’s a 3D demand, you need to prevent your spine from slouching forward, or flexing, and, at the same time, you must prevent it from arching, or over-extending.

Maybe they’re getting boring because the different variations of them are showing up almost everyday in your program, but remember, whatever makes it way into the program is there for a reason. It’s there to help you move better, build strength and keep your independence.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Maintenance

Back when I played hockey, we would train hard all summer and into the fall. Once the season would start up on November 1st, we’d enter ‘maintenance mode.’ Which, essentially was an effort to hang on to as much strength as possible during the grueling season. The goal was when spring time rolled around, we weren’t 15 pounder lighter and starting our off-season program over again from scratch.

The goal of maintenance, in regards to a strength and conditioning program, is about keeping what you've built within striking distance. Meaning, you wanted to be able to get your deadlift and squat and clean numbers back to where they were in the preseason after a month or so of dedicated training. This would allow you to then, progress from one summer to the next, instead of starting over every off-season.

This works a lot better in theory than in practice, but nevertheless, is a sound way to design a program when you’ll be faced with a six month season and many hours of practice, games, traveling and of course all the high speed collisions one faces when lacing up the skates.

Maintenance mode for a sports program is not much different from what we’re facing now. Once the gym reopens, we’ll all be eager to get our hands on a barbell, push the sled and maybe, just maybe, be excited to ride an AirBike. 

There’s no beating around the bush, that stuff is going to be hard when we get back. After a several week break, your muscles will be sore, your body tired and you may even have to rebuild those callouses. Instead of dreading the inevitable, consider taking on this perspective: you’re in maintenance mode, training to be ready when the gates open. 

Now, you can be training hard right now, and many of you are. You don’t think I would be ashamed of a deadlift PR in the middle of the season, do you? No, of course not! You can still build strength while maintaining, it just isn’t the focus or the main driver. If you’re struggling with motivation and eager to get back to the gym though, I urge you to think about your current training as maintenance. Once we’re back open, how quickly will you be able to return to your strength levels? 

It’s going to take time, for everyone. But you’re better off doing bodyweight squats than no squats at all. Or kettlebell swings instead of no deadlifts at all. Everything you’re doing, whether that’s just foam rolling or Zoom workouts or daily kettlebell swings or a couple of bodyweight movements here and there - will help you maintain, will help you be ready to build when the time comes.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

#istilltrainatgain

Gyms all over the country have been closed for several weeks now. As we get sparks of hope of the state opening back up, we’ve got warm summer days with the garage door open on our minds. The atmosphere of the gym is special. It’s a unique experience, to train at gain, which is why it became out motto many years ago. In fact, the first tee shirt we ever printed is where the saying on the wall came from, “I Train at Gain.”

As a tribute to our new, unofficial, quarantine motto, I Still Train at Gain, we got some new tee shirts. If you’ve been logging your individualized at-home workouts on TrueCoach, participating in Zoom workouts for added accountability or meeting up with your coach once a week on FaceTime, this shirt is for you.

Show off your commitment to training and living the Gain Lifestyle, even when you’re not allowed to go to the gym.

Get your own here.

Pick up today at the gym: 10am-12pm, Wednesday: 11am-1pm

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Cooking Class - Tonight at 5:30

A simple trick to eating healthier is to cook all your own food. It’s one of the reasons many people are successful with a challenge like the Whole 30, that basically forces you to cook all of your own meals. Knowing how to whip up a couple of simple, healthy meals is a valuable skill worth developing.

That’s why, Registered Dietician, Briana, is hosting us tonight on Zoom for a cooking demo. We’re making stir fry with a Thai peanut sauce. You probably have all the ingredients kicking around in your pantry, join us tonight!

We’re kicking things off at 5:30. Using the link below to register and get the ingredients list. Hope to see you tonight from your kitchen!

REGISTER HERE

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Motivation = Results or Results = Motivation

I saw this great post from Jordan Syatt on Instagram and had to share it here.

It’s conversation all coaches and trainers have will their clientele. Motivation doesn’t work. We want it to magically carry us to our goals, but in reality, it won’t take us very far if we don’t have a plan to take action, which, we need to be able to do without motivation. 

Jordan’s post was this:

NOT: Motivation —> Action —> Results

INSTEAD: Action —> Results —> Motivation 

There is no perfect way to start. No right day. No perfect program to follow. You need something that lets you take action. A saying I heard once about starting a business was “ready, fire, aim.” Meaning, get moving and sort the details out later. The same is true about fitness. 

In order to take action, we need to lower the bar. Set your expectations lower, make them more manageable. This way, you’ll be less likely to quit. Want to start working out three times per week for one hour? Great, start with a couple 20 minute workouts first. Prove you can do it, your actions will get your results and you’ll feel motivated. 

Quit waiting for motivation. It isn’t coming.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Training for Awareness

One of the most important, but rarely discussed, benefits of strength training is the awareness it brings. When doing an Intro Session at Gain, I tell prospective clients that we use time in the gym to create better default patterns outside of the gym. If you learn to deadlift with a kettlebell or barbell, when you go to pick up a a new shrub to transplant into your garden, you automatically use sound hip hinging mechanics. At first, it requires brain power. Eventually, you fault to the best position without any hesitation.

Developing this awareness can also help you notice bad movement habits. Hannah, now 22 weeks pregnant had this realization the other day. After her normal run, she came in with burning shins. Neither of us were sure why until later that night it hit her; her stride has changed. It’s okay that her stride is changing with her body, she’s growing a human after all. The awareness around her running will let her be more careful though, instead of just running through the pain.

I mentioned I’m an over chin-tucker on Instagram yesterday. That means when I do things like kettlebell swings, deadlifts and the olympic movements I look at the ground, not keeping my eyes on the horizon. During a run yesterday my tired legs were low-gear chugging up a big hill near my house. My head slipped forward and my shoulder followed by rounding - I was in the bad posture that shows up when I’m lifting. It’s also the posture that I fall into when I’m on the computer too long. 

The point is heavy lifting and long efforts will show your bad habits. If you’re aware, you can notice it and make the proper adjustments. When we’re fatigued, we want to find the path of least resistance, which isn’t always the best option. The more training you have under your belt, the sooner you will notice your posture on the computer and your slouching while driving. Don’t just train for the sake of training, train to learn your body, to learn yourself.

GAIN Present: Cooking Class

This Friday, May 8th at 5:30pm, we’ll be continuing our Friday Night Workshop Series. Only this time, we’re handing over the reins to our favorite Registered Dietician, Briana Bruinooge.

Sir fry is on the menu and Briana will lead us through the cooking process and demonstrate how to make a delicious Thai peanut sauce. Be sure to bring your A game, best-plate presentation wins a free 30-minute consult with Bri!

Register soon, spots will be limited and upon registration, you’ll receive a shopping list from Bri. See you there!

REGISTER HERE

Take a Break to Improve Technique

I touched a barbell this weekend. First one in some time. As you may know, my favorite thing to do with a barbell is olympic weightlifting. The high-skill, high-speed movements are engaging and frustrating. You have to focus. Be aware and concentrate on small movements, old habits and constantly be improving your technique. 

I expected to feel rusty. For my timing be a little off and to feel slow or weak. It took me a while to get warmed up, to feel the timing and movement like I normally can. What I didn’t expect though was for me to be better at picking up my bad habits. During most lifts, I have this bad habit of over-tucking my chin. I look down instead of up or forward. Having time off made this common, but bad position of mine so obvious. Normally, I can't even feel it until I watch the video reply. 

It was a nice surprise to find myself more aware of this and a couple other poor habits. It’s difficult to change the technique of something you’ve been doing for a long time - it literally becomes wired.  Taking a break, and getting a new perspective can level up your training though, no matter how counterintuitive it seems. 

It’s been a while since you’ve deadlifted, or rowed or done an inverted row. While these things will feel awkward once you get back in the gym, you’re going to pick up on something new, feel it in a different way than you did before. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Friday Night Workshop Series

Another Friday night and we have an opportunity for you to learn and practice some fitness skills.

Tonight at 5pm we’re talking all things kettlebell swings. If you’re a kb swing master, or if you’ve never done the movement, join us for some technique breakdown, drills and get feedback on your reps.

Things will kick off at 5pm, claim your spot using the link below.

CLICK TO REGISTER FOR KB SWING WORKSHOP

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How Will You Remember This

After a couple weeks of feeling lost and anxious I decided to make the most out of this week. After a month of constant reminders to myself to only worry about what I can control, I finally took my own advice and was able to shift my perspective.

I realized that someday my son, who will be born during all this, is going to ask me what it was like to live through the coronavirus pandemic. Do I want to tell him I sulked around and worried all day? No! Of course not. I want to tell him that I made the most out of my time by staying connected to clients, working on improving house and enjoying all the time spent with his mom. 

While more uncertainty lies ahead of us, I’m doubling down on my focus to make the most of each day. It doesn’t mean it isn’t hard, or that it’s wrong to be sad - it’s important to have those feelings too. I hope you’ll join me with an effort to make the most out if though, so when we all look back months, years and decades down the line we know we made the most of it.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

April (Virtual) Beer Night

You know what the last Wednesday of the month means, right? It’s Beer Night, a chance to get together with the Gain Community for some physically distant socializing. Log on to join us at 6:30pm tonight, BYOB!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN APRIL BEER NIGHT

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Eggs, A Love Story

I first started training when was in high school. I was serious about change, ready to do anything to get better. I started drinking creatine every morning, along with 4 glasses of water because I was so paranoid it was going to dehydrate me. I took 11 pack multivitamins. Giant pills that tasted like they got trampled in dirt. I set an alarm in the middle of the night, just to pound back a casein protein shake. These strange habits were rites of passage in the training world. None of these habits stuck around like eggs did though. 

One day I learned that eggs were a superfood. After reading they contained all the body’s essential amino acids, loads of easily digestible protein and healthy fat, I ditched the carton of eggs whites and never looked back. I’ve cooked eggs in every way imaginable. I ate them for breakfast everyday for years. Top priority when I got to college was to befriend the egg lady so I could skip the line and get my 4 over easy eggs without waiting. Today I’m more of a breakfast for dinner person, but still enjoy eggs a few times a week.

Scrambled eggs were the first thing I learned how to cook for myself. Fresh out of college, I would get frustrated when clients claimed they had no time for breakfast. You can have eggs in 5 minutes! I would proclaim, sounding like a spokesperson for the egg industry. Still a fan of scrambling my eggs, I’ve developed the perfect system to make them, which is what I want to share with you today.

First, get the pan hot. Throw on a generous tablespoon of butter, once that starts bubbling, it’s go time. While the butter is melting, gather your eggs. Four is my minimum, and 8 is the most I’ve had in one sitting, but more often than not I go for 5 eggs, unless its for dinner, when I’ll splurge for a half dozen. Crack your eggs in a bowl, bonus point if you can crack with one hand. Whisk ferociously with a small fork. This is the key to fluffy goodness. 

Pour the eggs in the pan and don’t touch them for 20-30 seconds. Once the edges start sticking to the side of the pan, pull them into the center with a spatula. After a few more seconds, divide the eggs in two, then flip. After flipping the eggs, lift the pan away from the stovetop. Scramble and chop and push the eggs around for another 30 seconds while hovering the pan over the stove. Before they totally dry up, scrape the eggs into a bowl, the preferred egg eating vessel. 

Serve with sea salt, pepper and hot sauce of your choice (mine is Cholula). Are you an egg fan? What’s your preferred way to cook them? 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

45's and 25's

I heard a well-known strength coach once explain that in a perfect world there would only be 45 and 25 pound plates. He was making a reference to teaching Olympic-style weightlifting to college kids. He said to get rid of all the small 5 and 10 pound plates, the awkward 15’s and those unnecessary 35’s. By eliminating the student’s options, they would need to first master a weight before deciding to make a significant jump.

For example, if you had someone that could snatch 185 pounds, they would have to get so technically good, and perform so many reps in order to feel confident enough to make the next jump to 225 pounds. Eliminating the decisions, and all the in-between weights, forces the student to learn the weight more. To get to know it’s ins and outs and to know how it feels in all aspects of the movement. 

You might be starting to wish you had another weight option these days. Maybe your kettlebell is getting light on your squats, or not really heavy enough to deadlift. If that’s the case, I urge you to learn the movement better. There isn’t going to be another kettlebell available, get to know the weight that you have. A couple extra reps or a slower tempo is all you need to make something feel more challenging. 

We have been given a chance to learn movements and learn the weights better than ever. At the gym, it’s easy to swap out weights when something is light or heavy or hard. Now, we need to make due with what we have. Eliminating the choice of all the in-between weights is a great chance to master movements and build strength. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain