Your One-Stop Fitness and Nutrition Coach

Nowadays everyone like the one stop shop idea, cause everyone is super busy with life. Between the internet, social media, and binging Netflix our days are chock full. So a one stop shop for your fitness would be a great idea, right? Well if you go into your local favorite strength facility and work with a good strength coach, you get that…. Let me explain.

Strength coaches aren’t just useful when it comes to picking up heavy things. We’re also good at a few others:

1)    We make you strong(er)..  duhhh. That’s the obvious one so we will start here. Tendons, ligaments, bones, muscles, all connective tissues will become strong(er) using a simple progressive overload principle that most strength coaches employ.

2)    We help with Mobility/Yoga Flexibility. Would you believe me if I said stretching/moving through a range of motion under load is more beneficial than just stretching normally? It’s amazing when people say they are more mobile/looser after strength training. We also include some “traditional” stretches before you start or in between your heavy lifts to put the icing on the flexibility cake!

3)   We give you power. Why do we need power as we get older? We are not playing HS sports anymore, so it’s not important, right? Absolutely wrong and maybe more wrong than you think. Adults need MORE power work than HS athletes that have optimal power output due to their younger age. We lose power as we age, which is super important to try to maintain. Power output will help you go up stairs, help you catch yourself from falling down, and help you keep up with your Grandkids as best as you can. It also lets you create lots of “energy” or “force” with what you muscle you have. Power also helps with elasticity of your tendons and muscles. It helps your muscles bounce back and power forward when you have to go up multiple stairs or do multiples of the same movement.

4)    We teach you nutrition basics. There is tons of nutrition “info” out there but it can be really confusing. There are also many people that aren’t totally sure what a carb/protein/fat macronutrients are and why each one is important for proper health. That is where a Strength Coach comes in. How can you expect to eat “healthy” if you have no idea what to eat or what’s the best for your goals? We can go over the basics while lifting to get you a some great knowledge of how to fuel your body. If you want more info or a custom plan we can sit down together and map it out. Start with knowing the basics and it will lead to better nutritional health right away!

5)    We get you some great cardio work. Look no further than some finishers from your local strength coach AFTER you lift for your strength and hypertrophy work. Or you can include/count your hypertrophy work as your cardio if done correctly for more conditioning emphasis. Either way, a good Coach should be able to give you enough conditioning work for general fitness while still keeping it under your time constraints/needs. If you are training for a marathon or long race, it might need to be longer on some days keep in mind but for general “cardio” health it can and should be able to be completed within 15 minutes of your strength work.

Ready to dive in? Shoot Coach Joey an email at jtabtraining@gmail.com to schedule a time to come in!

Top 5 Takeaways from my Perform Better Conference August 2-4th

Over this past weekend, Coach Joey put down the weights (only for a minute) and picked up the books at the annual Perform Better Conference in Providence. This conference not only keeps Joey’s CSCS certification active, but teaches him tons of new things he can bring back to the gym for better workouts, better nutritional advice, and better overall health. Below are the top 5 takeaways from the conference that you can take into your own life.

1)    Connections – Making connections at one of these top notch seminars is a funny thing. I met and reconnected with so many amazing coaches over the weekend. Some were “famous” in the industry, some were just attending, and some in between. While this will not lead to more sales for someone like me, it goes far beyond the sales or money making possibilities. Having a great network around you is one of the most important aspects of a successful and fulfilling and happy life.

2)    There are some easy ways to drum up business and community outreach that doesn’t take thousands of dollars just a little bit of courage and connection with local businesses and restaurants. Be on the lookout for me at some local great places soon! Not only is this a great opportunity to promote the gym, but hopefully it will lead to some pretty cool local recommendations for you all to check out!

3)    Have some confidence and go after what you feel you deserve and work really hard for. It was a wake up or kick in the butt talk about putting in the work and making sure you get the results you are working for. Just like in the gym, you get back what you put out.

4)    Geeky tip(s): 

a.    Mobility before stability- You need to be mobile (having joint range or motion) first, then we can make that joint stabile from teaching it how to “Brace” or get strong. When we lose mobility, we tend to slow down and have degeneration.

b.    When working on stability, the simple act of breathing out hard gets most people to brace their core pretty well. This can be used in many aspects, even a setup for a deadlift. After you breathe out hard and feel that “brace” you can keep it and get a small breathe in and pull.

c.     Fat loss training still needs high reps, speed(power) work, heavy work and mid rep work. A good fat loss program will have all the above, just like we have at Jtab! (funny how that works, right!?)

d.    The simple cue of trying to pull apart a band or anything you’re holding onto, will help engage your lats more, especially for those that have difficulty working that area.

5)    Taking “diet” breaks more often than you think will usually lead to better adherence and results. It’s not normal to be “dieting” for 3 years straight. Not only is it not normal, its super detrimental to your hormones and health, and can actually have the opposite effect of what you’re trying to do. Eat above maintenance for a few days/weeks and then go back to base or below base level. A few days break can help keep your body on it’s toes, and burning fat and calories.

Move of the Week: Thanksgiving Day Stretches

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and while we are all excited for that delicious dinner, we all know how we're going to feel afterwards. Our stomachs are full, and our backs and hips ache from sitting in chairs all day. Today, our Move of the Week features a series of stretches that you can do right in your chair (or on the couch before your tryptophan coma) that will help open up your hips, stretch out your back and get your glutes firing. So, enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, but get at least a little movement in your day to help prevent those post dinner pains.

Move Monday: Yoga Plex

Many of us on the East Coast got pummeled with snow this weekend. After shoveling out for 2 days, many of you are probably nursing sore a tight muscles this Monday morning. Because of that, today we're not focusing on a muscle building move, but on more of a stretch. This Yoga Plex stretch is great for releasing tight muscles in your hip flexors and your upper back. 

There you have it! Hopefully this has helped ease some of your discomfort today. See you back next week for another Move Monday by J-Tab Training.