by Jonathan Fletcher

In the past, If something caused me pain during or after a workout I would typically stop what I was doing, immediately put ice on the affected area while simultaneously beginning to worry about all of the terrible things I may have just done to myself.  I would immobilize myself as much as possible to minimize the damage and take the maximum allowable dose of ibuprofen.  As I went about my life I would notice every little “feeling” in the affected area and start to worry about what was causing it.  Was I broken? Was there something messed up in there? Should I just continue to rest it? Should I take up yoga?

by Blakley Bonds

What is a de-load week and why do we do them? 

A de-load or back off week is a reduction in volume and intensity while still moving each day.  Move through your normal work cycle but with a reduction in volume and load. Most often this is done with about 60-70% of your normal load.

A de-load gives your body (and mind) a period to recover and rebuild and come back stronger. 

We cannot put a date on it and it happened within the past 5 years but one day Jonathan just started cooking… and I let him.

I’m not afraid to admit that he makes 99.99% of our food. And I love it.

We’ve had a few questions about how to bake chicken from clients so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for him to also teach me.

Jogging isn’t the answer.

If one of your fitness goals is to lose body fat, we can help.

By focusing your training on building muscle by lifting increasingly heavier weights, you increase your lean mass (muscle).

After a twelve hour day at the gym on Day 1, I could already begin to feel that this was going to be a physically challenging week. I ate a little more food than normal that evening (about 230 additional calories) and was sure to get to bed early.

A quick lesson on how to weigh your meal as you make your plate

by Jonathan Fletcher

Weighing and measuring your food can be intimidating when first starting out. How the heck are you supposed to eat a normal meal with 6 or 7 ingredients without using every plate in the kitchen to weigh everything?

IT IS POSSIBLE!

You don't have to have a gym membership these days to have access to tons of top quality workout gear. 

If you've decided to drop some coin on some equipment to build your own "at home" gym, here are our recommendations on where to start.

➤ In 2017 there were approximately 61 Million members of gyms in the United States

➤ Planet Fitness is the highest grossing gym with revenues of 1.5 Billion in 2015

➤ 80% of people who have a gym membership do not go regularly (less than 2x week)

➤ 80% of people who join a gym in January have quit going at all by May

I (Blakley) grew up in Louisiana and this was a stable at dinner time.  Recently my mom and I cooked this dish together and put a healthy twist on one of our favorite dishes.   Since Jonathan is the self proclaimed ‘chef’ in the house… I had to teach him so we can eat it on the regular.

It’s a great wintertime meal and if you don’t mind leftovers you will be eating on it for a few days!