6 Months Ago, My Life Changed...

6 months ago, my life changed forever.  I now have a profoundly different perspective on staying fit and healthy while raising a child.

I know being a father is a very normal thing in society, but look at it from my perspective, I’ve never been a dad before.  The first time I changed a diaper was in the maternity ward at Bethesda Hospital.  I am grateful for the experiences in my life thus far that have led me to this point, and even more grateful for the last 6 months where I have grown as a man more than ever in my life.

Thank you to my fiancé Lauren for being the absolute best mother to our child.  Your growth as a mother and a partner has been a miracle that I am grateful for every day.  We will continue to grow as a fit, happy, and healthy family.

Shout out to all the parents out there who are doing the very best they can to keep their health a priority for themselves and their family. 

If you are looking to make a change in your fitness or nutrition, I’m here to help! Book a free assessment today by clicking the link below.

I Didn't Say It'd Be Easy, I Said It'd Be Worth It...

While on a zoom call, Charlie chirped with a smirk on his face, “Man I hate these lunges.  They are so hard for me!”  I replied, “I didn’t say it’d be easy, I said it’d be worth it.”  Charlie pondered for a moment, laughed and said, “I’m stealing that.” 

Charlie Kenney and I have been working together since the beginning of the pandemic.  First remotely as he was spending the summer in the northeast, but now in person since he is back down to south Florida for the winter.  We meet at the local park three days a week for an hour session including stretching and mobility, strength work, and conditioning.  I bring all the necessary equipment, Charlie gets a great workout, and he goes back on with his day.  However, Charlie sees it as more than just a workout.  Charlie gets to take an hour away from the grind of work and other responsibilities to work on himself.  It creates a ripple effect through the rest of his day and it will pay dividends for years to come.    

Charlie shows age is just a number, and he plans on continuing his healthy lifestyle for good!  It’s never too late to work on your own fitness.  Let’s get started today!  Click the link below to book a free assessment!

Fitness Coach Reacts to Viral Wellness Ad

My mother says, "70 is the new 50." This just cements the idea that you need to be taking better care of yourself. If you are going to be on this earth until you are 100, you want to make those years worth while and vibrant. That's why I have always advocated for aging populations to focus on exercise and nutrition. It's important now more than ever in the post Covid-19 world! In this video, I react to an advert that has been going viral. Hit me right in the feels…

Do you or someone you know need to make a change with their health and wellness? I’m here to help. Click the link below to set up a free assessment, and let’s get started today!

3 Tips For Healthy Living on The Road With ESPN Analyst Paul Carcaterra

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with my coach, mentor, and friend Paul Carcaterra.  I have known Paul for the last 15 years, and I’ve tried to model Paul’s best qualities in my own life.  He lives by his word.  He treats his employees like they are family.  And he tells it like it is, for better or worse.  I have always looked up to Paul, and he is one of the greatest people I know. 

In our conversation, I wanted to know how, while traveling for ESPN 100+ days a year, he stays in shape (Paul will be 45 this year).

Here are three tips from our conversation for surviving, and thriving, while traveling for work:

1. Pack Your Own Breakfast-Paul brings simple non perishable items with him while traveling for his breakfast.  Easy items like oatmeal, RX bars, and fruit are always in his carry-on.  Regardless of the hotel he is in, he always has one meal in his back pocket.

2. Enjoy Yourself, But Plank Ahead-Paul goes to some of the best eateries in the country, but before he does he plans ahead.  If he is in Iowa, and he knows he is going to be crushing some of the country's best BBQ, he makes sure the rest of his diet is on point in the day (no slip ups).  When he sits down to eat dinner, he enjoys himself.  The next morning, it’s back to work.

3. 40-45 Minutes Is All You Need For A Workout-When Paul first started traveling for work, he used to have fuckarounditis when it came to his workouts.  He would hit some triceps, maybe take a jog on the treadmill, but he was in the gym loitering around for over an hour.  These days, Paul has an intention of shocking his body and making 40 minutes in the gym a constant high intensity routine.  Body weight movements, dumbbells, treadmills, you name it, he’s getting after it.  If you aren’t going to give it your all, you might as well stay in your room and watch morning cartoons. As a bonus, Paul makes sure to workout first thing in the morning.  There are no excuses to not workout when everyone else is sleeping.  He also hates it when he has a workout hanging over his head for later in the day.

If you like these tips, give the rest of the podcast a listen by clicking the link below, or watching on the Floch Fitness Youtube channel.  If you like the podcast, please consider subscribing! I put out a weekly podcast that gives insight and information on all things training, health, and nutrition.

Thanks!

A Quick Fix For Lower Back Pain During the Bench Press...

I started sneaking into the health club when I was 12 years old. I say sneak in because I wasn't old enough to be allowed into the weight room on my own, you had to be 13 years old. I would puff up my chest and look like I knew what I was doing. News flash, I didn’t know what I was doing. At the time, I knew you had to be good at bench press if you wanted to be considered strong. When I learned to bench press 20+ years ago I had a huge arch to my lower back and I was way up on the balls of my feet like a ballerina. Through sheer grit and thousands of repetitions, I eventually hit some pretty impressive bench press numbers (275lbs. for 8 reps and 305lbs. for a one rep max @ 175lbs. bodyweight). The issue was that the bench press didn't translate to better overall athleticism on the field and it exacerbated my already overextended posture.

After years of going at the bench press haphazardly and trying to lift as much weight as I could, I broke the movement down and built back up again. I started with my foundation: ribcage and pelvis (breathing mechanics and form). From there I slowly built back up. I am not lifting as heavy as before, but I feel stronger with my upper body pushing in almost every other way, and I don't have the same lingering lower back issues when going overhead or after movements like push-ups or burpees. Take it from me, bench pressing enormous weight is not worth it, especially if it leaves your lower back aching.

In this video, I show you a quick fix to take away some of the lower back strain of bench pressing: elevating the feet. Elevating the feet so the thighs are more perpendicular to the ground takes away some of the pressure on the lower back. As you learn how to use your glutes and abs to hold your pelvis in position, you can start to slowly lower your feet back down from there. Keep in mind however, elevating the feet is only a quick fix, and if you want to really improve your bench press it takes technique, specific corrective exercises that are built for your needs, and a coach to keep a watchful eye on things. If you are ready to improve your bench press, I am here to help. Click the link below if you'd like to book a free assessment to see how we can move your bench press in the right direction!

Bodyweight Training For Muscle Mass???

Since Covid-19 hit, many athletes and prospective clients come to me concerned about not having enough equipment to put on muscle mass. I’m here to tell you:

1. You don’t need fancy equipment to put on muscle

   and

2. Stop making excuses for not exercises

If you are wondering if you can put on muscle mass with bodyweight only, you need look no further than gymnastic bodies. These athletes rarely lift weights and have substantial muscle mass (especially those who specialize in the rings).

In this video, I break down one of my favorite techniques to build muscle mass with little to no equipment: myo-reps. Myo-reps involve first performing an “activation” set, where a relatively lower load is lifted to near-failure, typically in the 12-30 repetition range. Then, a series of lower-rep “back-off” sets are completed with the same weight, e.g., 3-5 reps. These sets are repeated using 5-10 second rest intervals until the individual can no longer complete the targeted number of reps (in this case 5). In general, myo-reps “work” through traditional mechanisms of muscle stimulation, e.g. mechanically loading the muscle through a range of motion that requires motor unit recruitment of the target muscle(s) with enough training volume that produces muscle damage and metabolic stress. This stress causes the body to adapt and build muscle.

When selecting exercises, you don’t want to go too complex like olympic lifts, or something that you have to use really heavy load. More simple movements usually do great with these including pull-ups, dips, push-ups, and hamstring curls.

Need help building lean muscle at home? I’m here to help! Click the link below to get started building the body, mind, and spirit of your dreams today!

Athlete Spotlight: Drew Backoff

Throughout the pandemic, people have been faced with unimaginable hardship and obstacles. It is so challenging to focus on what you can control, and let go of things that are out of your hands. Drew Backoff, has used his fitness as a tool to center himself and continue a growth mindset when it almost seems impossible. Drew has improved his deadlift technique, hit a personal record on his power clean + hang power clean, and hit another personal record last week on a 3 rep max front squat (FEATURED BELOW). All the while improving his technique and ensuring that he will be able to have fun in the box for years to come.

Not only is Drew a stud in gym, he is also a compassionate and generous man, set an amazing example for his three sons Reed, Trevor, and Shane. Drew took on the American Heart Association’s Executives with Heart Challenge, raising funds to fight against cardiovascular disease. Drew has raised over $1,600 with a goal to get to $3,000. If you’d like to donate, click the link below. Donations are tax deductible.

Drew, keep grinding and setting the example for what hard work and dedication are all about!

If Drew’s journey has inspired you to be the best version of yourself, I’d like to help. Click the link below to book a free assessment and let’s get started today!

How Sore Should I Be?

When I was 16 years old, my good friend and training partner Max and I went to the gym and jumped into a brand new training block called German Volume Training (popularized by Charles Poliquin). We didn’t really know what it was called, all we knew is that we would put about 50% of our max bench press on the bar, perform 10 repetitions, rest a minute, and then do it again...for 10 total sets. Failure wasn’t an option as we performed forced reps to achieve the 100 total prescribed reps. That was just the start of the workout and we had an additional 6-10 sets of various other exercises to perform as well. For the next week, I couldn’t lift my arms up past my belly button. I was so proud. This is only a hilarious story since we both survived to lift another day, but it brings up the question, “How sore should I be from my workouts?” There are many factors that will affect the amount of soreness an individual experiences (diet, sleep, age, etc.) but today I will focus only on the athletes training and exercise. Like many answers, that depends. Is your goal to be sore, or is the goal to improve something else, like body composition, strength, or performance. If the goal is to be sore, there are very simple ways to cripple athletes and have them rolling out of bed the next morning unable to sit down on the toilet (see 100 bench press workout). Sometimes soreness is inevitable, like if you are exercising for the first time, or if you are coming back to training after a layoff. But if your goal is to make strength/performance or body composition improvements, you must be able to train with frequency (2-3x per week). If you are too sore from your previous workout, and you are unable to to train or your training is compromised, then you can’t make progress. If you are not sore at all and aren’t challenged by your workouts, then you won’t make progress. This is why I rely on the minimum effective dose. In exercise, you want to push beyond the threshold of your current abilities, and then recover. This forces the body to adapt. Any more stimulus, is wasting your time at best and detrimental at worst.

A good way of determining if the training stimulus is enough (popularized by RP Strength) is using a pump and soreness scale.  After the workout ask, “Did I get a good pump and was I challenged?” Judge on a score of -2 to +2 (+2 being I didn’t get much pump and -2 being I was so challenged that I couldn’t even finish the workout, 0 being I am pretty sore, but I could train tomorrow).  The question you ask the next day, “How sore am I?” Same scale -2 to +2 (+2 I could train right now and I am not even sore, -2 I am crippled and need to take a day or two off).  Most training sessions should have a some of 0.  If you are doing a lighter week or deloading you may have more +2s, and once in a while you may have some -2s when you are really challenging yourself or maxing out/testing.  If you 80%+ of your training sessions are 0, then you are sure to make great progress over time.  I leave you with this quote, “You only need to suffer enough, any more is just showing off.”

Looking to get the best workout of your life and stop wasting time in the gym? Floch Fitness will write you a custom exercise plan that fits your exact needs. Click the link below to set up a free assessment and let’s workout together to create the best version of you!