Welcome back to another great core workout! If you are looking to smash your core, in need of a travel workout, or just looking for some training variety, this workout is for you!
Let me help you reach your fitness goals. Whether at-home personal training, personal training via zoom, or individualized training program, Floch Fitness has exactly what you need. Click the link below to get started.
The problem is that there is an abundance of information on the internet about the “perfect diet,” which causes people to feel overwhelmed by options. At Floch Fitness, I have helped hundreds of people attain and maintain weight loss, and I want to help you too!
Here are my most common dieting mistakes…
Unfortunately, eating really well during the week doesn’t make up for binging every weekend. Most clients I work with are frustrated because they work really hard to stay on track Sunday - Thursday, then “let it rip” on the weekends.
You really need a plan that that promotes consistency. Have a treat on the weekend, then move on. Don’t go completely overboard and have to start over on Monday.
You don’t have to cut any food group out of your diet to see lasting results. If your diet has more foods on the “can’t” list than the “can” list, it isn’t sustainable. Focus on what you can have; healthy substitutions add up and can make all the difference.
Here’s the truth: there isn’t a quick fix. It’s hard work. It takes time to change your habits and take control of your health.
Tracking progress shows success, and success leads to motivation. I know that clients are 50% more successful when they track their food, yet this is one of the toughest things to get clients to do.
If you are just starting, jump on a scale and test your weight and body fat percentage. Grab a tape measure and at least measure your waist circumference (around your belly button). Then download MyFitnessPal and just take an inventory of what you are eating.
Do this for two weeks, then retest your weight and body fat. See what you can accomplish by just starting to track!
We understand it is tough to do by yourself, which is why I have spent the last 10 years working with and learning from clients on what works, and what doesn’t.
When I look at people who were initially successful but then slip back into old habits, they tell me it was gradual. They found themselves with their clothes getting tight again and want something that is simple and sustainable.
If you know you have a competition or race coming up, you are more likely to train harder. When you have a nutrition coach providing support and accountability, you are more likely to be successful.
The internet and social media have created thousands of overnight "nutrition celebrities" and "experts". With so much conflicting information, and endless options, its easy to become overwhelmed and just go back to what we were doing before - and if we are trying to lose weight, what we were doing before probably wasn't working. Don't let your fear of choosing the wrong plan overwhelm you to the point of inaction. The truth is, the science behind nutrition and behavior modification goes well beyond a picture of someone with abs or a 7-day detox. Don’t fall into the “Diet Fad Trap!”
If you are falling for one or more of these mistakes, Floch Fitnes is here to help! Click the link below to set up a free assessment and we’ll put together a nutrition program that is tailored to your needs. Don’t wait, sign-up today!
Israel Costa jumped into a local Crossfit Competition and it exposed some holes in his fitness game. He struggled during the toes to bar and handstand push-ups and had issues with the olympic lifts. Israel knew he needed to improve his strength and gymnastics, but it wasn’t until we sat down and assessed his biggest limiter (upper body mobility) that we knew what direction we needed to go. We progressed the conventional compound lifts (squat, deadlift, and press) from simple to complex and integrated specific mobility exercises into his program to address his front rack and shoulder extension. He has been seeing great improvement and the proof is his very first strict muscle this past week:
Israel will be testing his fitness once again this coming weekend at the Black Sheep Games at Black Sheep Athletics (formerly Crossfit Boynton Beach). Good luck Israel!
Do you have shoulder mobility issues? It’s time for a mobility program built just for you. Click the link below to get started today!
It has been ingrained in us since grade school (see the Presidential Fitness Test) that the sit-up is the most important ab exercise you can do. If you have lower back pain however, I would avoid the sit-up like the plague.
"Blasphemy!" my gym rats bro-science experts will say. "You need a strong core!" First off, what do you consider your "core." Secondly, relax, this is just an article written by a guy who thinks the movie Borat is my generation's Citizen Kane. I digress. When you say core, I are assuming that you are talking about the muscle that support all ranges of motion of the trunk/pelvic AND your ability to respire (breath in and out). The sit-up, that targets the rectus abdominis, does a pour job at both these objectives. The rectus abdominis's primary motor function is controlling spinal flexion in the sagittal plane (back to front bending), and it actually has an insertion point that is anchored to the sternum, preventing the sternum from elevating during inhalation when active (that's bad). It's like watching Chris Farley wearing a jacket that's too small.
Your sternum gets pinned down by your rectus and without the expansion things get ugly really quick. You are soon compensating by extending the lower spine, further exacerbating stress on the lower vertebrae and muscles.
If you have lower back pain, and the sit-up is your primary core strengthening exercise, do yourself a favor and give the sit-up the ol' 86!
In future posts, I will be writing about my favorite ab exercises for alleviating lower back pain. You don't want to miss out, so make sure you click the link below to join our mailing list.
Looking for your own workout routine to improve your core and get rid of lower back pain? Click the link below to sign-up for a free assessment and I'll help you feel better, TODAY!
One of the common complaints that I receive from group fitness athletes a.k.a. Crossfitters, is hand and wrist pain from barbell front rack movements. Most of the time, these issues stem from lack of shoulder mobility and rib cage mechanics however, there are some instances where it is appropriate to work directly on the hands and wrists themselves. This is either when an individual has had a wrist or hand injury or they suffer from an acute immobility in the hand and wrist. The following routine (inspired by Scott Hagnas and Gymnastic Bodies) is a simple risk series that can be completed before or after your workouts. My advice to you is work just outside your current pain-free range of motion and never go until to the point of significant pain. Slight discomfort is OK, but you should never have pain during these movements. Perform 10 reps of each movement. You can choose to either rest or do these movements consecutively. As you get stronger, increase range of motion. You can increase the intensity by placing more of your body weight over your hands and wrists. I recommend building the number of sets before increasing the intensity.
Are you dealing with specific mobility issues that prevent you from front racking the bar front? Do Burpee‘s cause your wrists to burn? I want to help! Click the link below to set up a free assessment and let’s work together To unlock your performance And working pain-free today!
I have tried everything for better sleep. I have tried a ton of supplements including melatonin, magnesium, phosphatidylserine, and Ambien. I’ve spent tons of money on various pillows, comforters, and mattress. I blacked out my room, made sure it was a cold, and got rid of all electronic lighting in my room (you’d be surprised how many things in your bedroom glow in the dark!). Nothing ever gave me significant improvement until I started addressing my habits around sleep.
Specifically, I had not properly addressed the habit of waking up in the middle of the night and staying in bed. It wasn’t until I had multiple discussions with Nick Lambe (@theonlinesleepcoach) that I had been ingraining poor sleep habits for years. He explained to me that lying in bed for anything more than 30 minutes is telling your body, “We don’t sleep in this setting, we lie around and ruminate.” My brain shot out the back of my skull when he hit me with this truth bomb. Every time I woke up at 2 or 3am, I was laying there, trying to get back to sleep, thinking about how frustrating it was. After enough time, that became habitual. I took Nick’s advice, and since talking with him, I give myself 30 minutes to get back to sleep after waking up (and maybe grabbing a glass of water). After 30 minutes, if I haven’t fallen back asleep, I get out of bed and my bedroom, and I sit quietly and meditate. This is what I choose to do, but reading, listening to calming music, or journaling about the ruminating thoughts are also great suggestions too. Once you start to feel drowsy again, get back into bed and just relax. Remember, your body is wired to sleep, you just have to get out of the way. The key to this practice is getting out of your bed/bedroom. As Nick puts it, “There should only be two things done in your bedroom if you want good sleep: sleep and sex. Everything else should be done elsewhere.”
If you need some more great information on sleep and sleep habits, make sure you check out The Online Sleep Coach (https://www.onlinesleepcoach.com/).
There are many other areas that can affect your sleep like exercise, diet, and stress practices. If one or more of these resonates with you, it’s time to book a call with me today and start moving toward the best night’s sleep of your life! Click the link below to sign-up.
Professor Scott Galloway (NYU Stern School of Business) converted to at-home contactless personal training early this summer and he hasn't looked back. He has been much more consistent with his workouts compared to his life before COVID, which has led to serious performance and body composition changes. He saves time not having to travel to and from the gym meaning he has more time for work (New York Times Best Selling Author) and spending time with his kids. Lastly, because I travel to him, he doesn't have to worry about equipment. It's a win, win, win.
Looking to take your training and accountability to the next level? Click the link to set up a free assessment today and find out if The Floch is right for you!
Your Weight Isn’t Budging- This is one of the most paradoxical symptoms of someone who is undereating and it often goes hand in hand with overtraining. Most clients that I work with are active (workout 4-5 days per week at least 1 hour per training session). These individuals are also active in their daily lives, and tend to eat pretty clean. It’s not until we take a 5 day food log they we determine they are on an extremely low-calorie diets (around 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day). The combination of high intensity exercise and extremely low calories leaves clients perplexed.
For good reason, they are extremely frustrated that their weight isn’t changing; for some of these clients, their weight has actually been increasing since they dropped their food intake and started working out more. Many of these clients are also eating a very low carb diet with the goal of losing weight quicklys (we’ll talk carbs later this week).
We’ve been trained to believe that the body is a machine, and we can input and output our calories in a way that will cause weight loss. So it’s understandable why these clients would expect to see weight loss from a significant caloric deficit like that. But the fact is, they simply can’t lose the last 15 to 30 pounds no matter how little they eat. Why is this?
While a short-term, moderate caloric deficit can lead to sustainable weight loss (think 300 to 500 calories per day), much larger deficits induce changes in your body’s metabolism in order to keep your body in a homeostatic balance. Your body does not like major, drastic changes, and it will make modifications to your thyroid, adrenal, and sex hormones in order to reduce your overall caloric output.
This leads to a whole host of other problems including sleeplessness, lack of sex drive, injury, and so much more.
If your weight loss plan just isn’t working, you are chronically fatigued, always injured, or need to take a serious look at your diet, I am here to help. Click the link below to schedule a free assessment today and let’s work together to bring out the best version of you!
