Tag: Motivation

What Type of Workout(s) Should I Be Doing?

March 8, 2022

| Health and Wellness, Workouts

We humans always feel the need to complicate things. Never is this more apparent than when it comes to trying to lose weight and get in shape.

People are always looking for that perfect workout. That perfect diet. One day it’s HIIT., One day it’s barre, One day it’s yoga, etc., etc. If this sounds like you then let’s stop for a second and take a deep breath in through your nose. Hold it for a count of 4 seconds. Then slowly exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds. OK, feel better now?

Here is the deal. I am going to break this down as simply as possible. At the end of the day, unless you are training for a specific sporting event, race, etc, it isn’t any more complicated than what I am about to tell you.

If you are currently only doing “cardiovascular” training such as running, cycling, etc. then add some weight training and yoga/mobility/flexibility training 2-3 times per week for 30-60 minutes.

If you are a meathead currently clanging and banging the weights away at the gym, then add some HIIT and/or cardio training as well as some yoga/mobility/flexibility training 2-3 times per week for 30-60 minutes.

If you are currently only doing Yoga, then add some strength training and cardiovascular or HIIT training 2-3 times per week for 30-60 minutes.

If you currently only lift and do cardiovascular or lift and do H.I.I.T. then add yoga 2-3 times per week.

Understand where I am going with this?

Don’t have 30-60 minutes a day to do this type of training? Then do 15-30 minutes.

Don’t have time for a full yoga class? Then pick out 1-2 short yoga flows of 10-15 minutes that focus on your whole body and add them to the end of your other workout routines or do them just before bed to relax.

Don’t have time for HIIT or Cardio then add it for 10-15 minutes at the end of your weight training workout.

Get the idea?

The exact workout program doesn’t make a ton of difference if

You are training your whole body
You work out hard each workout
The workout is challenging and gradually increases in difficulty
It is done consistently

If your workouts include all the above, then in a short time you will see results.

There is no perfect workout routine. The key for optimal health and performance is to make sure that you do some form of resistance/strength training, HIIT or cardio training and yoga/mobility/flexibility to keep your body looking and functioning optimally.

It doesn’t need t be fancy or complicated. Simple, challenging, and consistent is all that really matters.

If you’re not sure how to do any of these types of exercise, then hire a coach to help get you on the right track.

Yours in health.

Kevin

But What if I Gain the Weight Back?

May 1, 2021

| Health and Wellness

You started an exercise and nutrition program and have lost some weight and can finally fit into your old “skinny” jeans and clothes again. You are extremely happy, and you should be. You have made an amazing accomplishment. It is at this point that I like to say to clients “now it is time to donate all of your “fat”, “old” clothes because you won’t be needing them anymore. Unfortunately, at this point the client often replies “but what if I get fat again?” Here is why it is important to change your mindset if you wan to maintain your results for the long run.

In his awesome book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill tells this story. “A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield.

He was about to send his armies against a powerful enemy, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win!

We now have no choice—we win, or we perish! Well guess what? They won!

To be successful in whatever goal you are undertaking then this is a very important and often overlooked concept. When you are attempting to accomplish something and enter into it already thinking about your “escape” plan that you have to fall back on, will you really and truly continue to give it 100%? Especially during tough times that will inevitably pop up from time to time? Probably not.

Now I am not saying it is not a great idea to have a back up plan but if that plan is also comforting you in a way that already has you thinking that you are going to fail in the long run then guess what? You WILL fail in the long run.

To keep the burning desire to reach your goals alive you need to eliminate things that will make it easy for you to retreat from your challenge when the going gets tough. If you remove the sources of retreat then you will have no choice but to succeed.

Let’s apply this to fat loss. If you keep your “fat “ clothes just in case you gain the weight back then you are already planning to gain the weight back. I see this happen all the time.

Let’s take a different approach. You just lost a bunch of weight and all of your clothes are too loose. Schedule a time and take all of the clothes that are too big for you now and confidently donate them to people that can use them. Then when you have a slip up from time to time and start to feel your “skinny” clothes getting a little tight use this as a sign to tighten up your diet (instead of your clothes) and get more consistent with your exercise before you fall to far off the wagon.

If you are serious about wanting to be leaner, healthier and fitter then “burn your boats” don’t give yourself an easy out for when you get in a rut. Remind yourself that this new lifestyle is who you are now. Not the unhappy, unhealthy and unfit person you were before. You got this!

Yours in health,

Kevin

Small Steps, Big Changes

March 29, 2021

| Health and Wellness

One of the hardest things about falling off the health and fitness wagon is getting started again. Many people will be on a roll for a while and getting great results and then life kicks you in your junk and knocks you down. The truth is that this happens to even the most dedicated people from time to time. This post was written to help you get back up and get back at it. If you are having trouble getting motivated to start exercising and eating healthy, please keep reading.

It’s not if life gets in the way and derails your training and nutrition program but when. The trick is get going again. Fortunately, it is not as hard as you think. A common problem is once someone falls off for a while, they get frustrated and oftentimes depressed. Part of the reason for this is that people feel like if they are not able to do as well as they were doing before then it is not worth doing at all. The other reason is that people tend to look at the big picture of everything they have to do to get back to where they were and get intimidated and scared. The trick is to not even think about what you were doing before or all if the things you “should” or “have” to do but focus on one small action step towards your goal that you can do now. Less thinking, more doing.

Depending on how long you have been out of the training and nutrition game you may be very out of shape, feel weak, tight, aches and pains etc. The key is to keep your action step as simple as possible. Do not make it more overwhelming than it already seems to be. Do not try to go from zero to 100 in a week. Simply pick something small that you feel 100% confident that you can do. For example, set out your gym clothes for the next day’s workout and then walk 10 minutes. Do 10 squats and 10 push-ups 2-3 times per week. If you want to start eating healthier and you have been eating ice cream every night, then starting by not eating ice cream for one night. Sure, you may be thinking “what is that little bit of exercise or dietary change going to do for me?” The answer is to build momentum and confidence. Contrary to what many believe motivation does not lead to action. Action leads to motivation. This approach works for everything in life. The key is that once you start getting some small wins you feel better. You feel accomplished you get into a flow. Then over time you begin to want to do more and more and before you know it you are back at it full swing and kicking ass.

If you have been stuck for awhile or unmotivated to exercise or eat healthy then pick something easy. Even if it is just a small step towards your goal and start by doing that step each day. Then build on it from there. Every great journey began with a first step. Make you first step small and easy and in a short time you will look back and say to yourself ‘Wow, look how far I have come?”

Yours in health,

Kevin

Choose Your Identity

March 24, 2021

| Health and Wellness, Uncategorized

Decisions, decisions. Everyday there are numerous important choices that we must make. Such as, what am I going to have for breakfast? Should I wear a button down or a polo? Should I wear deodorant or go au natural? Just kidding, I wear deodorant and just kidding, those are not important choices. One really important choice however, is am I going to take care of myself and be healthy, fit and feel great or am I going to let myself deteriorate, get out of shape, sick and fat?

Choose your identity?

Having trained hundreds of clients for over 25 years, one of the most important common denominators of my most successful clients comes down to this one simple question. Who am I?

The most successful clients choose working out, eating healthier and exercising as a lifestyle. This lifestyle is part of who they are. It is as important to them as brushing their teeth and applying deodorant! Not sure what my fascination with deodorant is today but let us continue, shall we?

People that are not successful being in shape, healthy, lean still have not decided. From time to time they may decide to join a gym, start an exercise program or a new diet. The problem with this approach is that they have not chosen to make that a part of who they are. They have one foot in and one foot out. Sure, they decided to act which is great, and I applaud them for that first step. Unfortunately, once things get hard or life gets in the way they go right back to square one. Why? Because they did not take on the new identity of who they wanted to become. A fitter, healthier, better version of themselves.

There are many reasons we humans do this. Most of the time it is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of change etc. A great piece of advice I heard from Jaimie Foxx on a Tim Ferris Podcast is “What’s on the other side of fear?” the answer is “nothing.” And he’s absolutely right. There is nothing on the other side of fear.

Many of us worry about what might happen, about the worst case scenarios and what can go wrong but rarely do they ever happen that way. And even if they do, it would still be a really good experience, a life lesson for you to learn and grow from.

What are your goals? Take a moment and write them down in detail. Then ask yourself is this who I want to become. If the answer is yes, then you must make this part of your being. It must be who you are. If you want to be fit, look, and feel your best then you must do the actions necessary to be that way. It must be a priority. No negotiations. Plan your meals, shop for your food, prep your meals, schedule your training sessions, take your supplements. Show up each day. I am not going to lie. It will be hard in the beginning. The trick is to stick with it. Day in and day out and in no time at all it will become a habit. A beautiful healthy habit. Just like brushing your teeth and putting deodorant on.

To your health.

Kevin

Old School Water Jug Workouts

March 14, 2021

Some of my favorite workouts are the most basic and true to life. Big basic movements using everyday heavy objects doing everyday things. This was the inspiration for this post and I hope it inspires you.

My family has some property upstate in the Catskill Mountains. We use the house year-round but over the winter we have to shut off the water and drain all the pipes, so they don’t freeze and break. This means that when we go up to the house during the winter months, we must bring large jugs of water to wash up, flush the toilet, brush our teeth, etc. Although carrying 4+ 7-gallon containers of water 2 at a time back and forth or 40 yards down the driveway through snow sometimes can be rough, it is also a killer workout. The primal part of me loves this and hopefully, you will too.

For this workout you will need two 5- or 7-gallon water jugs, I like the Reliance brand Aquatainers. They are sturdy and have comfortable handles. You can also get the Jerry can version which is a little narrower making it a bit easier to deadlift and carry them. This also makes it a bit more difficult to do push-ups on the handles. A third option if you are looking for something lighter and a bit smaller you can get the 4-gallon containers. These work better for shorter and/or smaller frame individuals.

The 7-gallon containers weigh 2 pounds each empty. Full they are 60 pounds apiece. The cool thing is that you can adjust the weight by adjusting how much you fill them. Another added benefit is that when they are not full the water movers around a lot more. This makes lifting and carrying them more challenging and can provide a different and perhaps harder stimulus to your muscles.

Below is the weight of water in relation to gallons.

1 gallon of water weighs 8.33 lbs.

2 gallons of water weigh 16.66 lbs.

3 gallons of water weigh 24.99 lbs.

4 gallons of water weigh 33.32 lbs.

5 gallons of water weigh 41.64 lbs.

6 gallons of water weigh 49.97 lbs.

7 gallons of water weigh 58.3 lbs.

Add the weight of the container you are using, and you will have the weight of each container for your workout.

Below are two awesome total body workouts that take less than 30 minutes using water containers.

Before you begin working out be sure to do a dynamic warm-up to get your body ready for the workout and to help prevent injuries.

Workout 1:

10 Deadlifts.

25–40-yard farmers carry.

10 push-ups using the container handles.

Rest 60-90 seconds and repeat.

Perform 3-7 rounds depending on you your goals and fitness level.

Workout 2:

10 Bent over Rows.

10 Triceps Dips or Push-ups using container handles.

Farmers Carry the containers up and down a set of stairs 1-2 times OR do 8-10 step-ups for each leg.

Rest 60-90 seconds and repeat.

Perform 3-7 rounds depending on you your goals and fitness level.

So now you have two “fun” and challenging workouts that you can do outside with minimal equipment. Use your imagination for other exercises! You can also do a higher number of reps or additional sets as you get more advanced. One last added bonus is these containers are great to have for extra fresh water during emergencies.

Give this workout a go and let me know what you think.

To your health,

Kevin

Killing Two Birds With One Foam Roller

March 10, 2021

| Health and Wellness

I hate birds. I mean really. All they do is make noise, fly around and crap on everything. Who needs that? LOL. Before P.E.T.A. loses it on me I am totally kidding. I love animals of all shapes and sizes. What this post is referring to is the old saying “we can kill two birds with one stone” or we can accomplish two things at once. These two things are killing stress and anxiety and killing bad posture, back, shoulder and neck pain. There is a third benefit. If you do this before you work out it can increase your performance a small percentage. So, what do you have to do to receive these awesome benefits? Your gonna have to read on if you want to find out.

Most people use foam rollers to painfully work on tight muscles and adhesions. I am not a big believer in this for most conditions, but that is for another post. One thing foam rollers are useful for however, is to decompress and align the spine a bit and to help improve posture. I learned this trick from my late great mentor Charles Poliquin many moons ago. He liked to use it with his athletes before a workout to improve strength during the workout.

To do this this exercise simply lie on a foam roller lengthwise (Use a 36″ foam roller). Keep your feet flat on the floor and your arms next to your body relaxed with palms up and elbows slightly bent. Lie there for 10 to 15 minutes. You most likely will notice that when you first lie down your neck is hyperextended, and your lumber (lower back) will have a large arch. Over the course of the 10-15 minutes however your spine and the muscles in the anterior (front) of your upper body (pecs, deltoids, scalenes, pec minor, biceps, etc.) will relax and gently stretch due to gravity. This leads to decompression of the spine and allows your spine to align more naturally. This can help decrease pain, improve posture and performance. Today this is more important than ever with so many people working at a computer all day, sitting too much, and looking at their phones, and tablets.

To make this awesome and easy exercise even better I decided to combine it with another beneficial activity. I thought “well I have to lay here for 10-15 minutes which can be kind of boring” So. I decided to “kill two birds with one stone” and add my daily guided meditation practice while I am lying on the foam roller. I love the apps Calm and Headspace. I like to switch back and forth from time to time but you can choose whatever works for you. Doing this not only gives me benefits to my physical body but also my mental capacity by decreasing stress, anxiety and improving focus, relaxation and performance. A super win-win.

I love to do this either as part of my morning or bedtime routine. Feel free to experiment and find whatever works best for you. I cannot recommend this enough. Please give it a try and let me know what you think?

To your health,

Kevin

Building an Awesome, Effective, and Inexpensive Home Gym Part 1

March 8, 2021

Since the spread of Covid-19 our world and especially the workout world has been turned upside down. With gyms closing or only operating at limited capacity, and the fear of going back to a gym many have chosen to go the home gym route. This movement has led to the advent of cool but expensive home gym systems such as, Peloton, The Mirror, Tonal, etc. and a shortage of a lot of the basic home gym equipment such as dumbbell, kettlebells, barbells, benches and racks etc. These home gym systems are cool and do offer a lot of benefits and a large decked out home gym is awesome but many people do not have the space or the budget to have these systems or a big home gym. This leads us to an important question?

What equipment should I buy to create a functional, effective, space saving and portable home gym?

If you are wondering the same thing then this post has you covered.

In this post I put together a list of 5 pieces of equipment that can create a formidable home gym. This equipment will offer you endless variety, allow you to advance as you get stronger, gives you portability and it takes up very little space.

Here it goes.

1-2 Kettle Bells. For females I recommend a 15# and a 20# or 25#. For men I recommend a 20# and 30-35#. These weight options allow you to start at a lighter weight as a beginner and progress to a heavier weight as you get more advanced. It also allows you to have a lighter kettle bell for unilateral or single arm/leg movements and a heavier kettlebell for double arm/leg movements. Kettlebells are one of the most versatile pieces of equipment that offer endless challenge, variety, can be used for both strength and conditioning and can easily fit under your bed or in a closet. Price varies by weight and whoever is price gouging right now and can range from $36 for 15# to $70 for a 30#. The link I have here has them in stock.
Exercise Band Set with handles, ankle straps and a door anchor. Bands are the most versatile, portable, and light weight exercise equipment there is. They take up almost zero space and are great for assisting or increasing the challenge of bodyweight exercises (think chin ups). Lastly bands are great to assist stretching. The set I have linked here also comes with ankle attachments, handles and a door mount. Price $30
Swiss Ball or Physio Ball. A swiss ball is another excellent piece of equipment that offers a ton of variety, can be used to lay on as a bench and can also be used for stretching. It also makes a great seat to improve posture if you sit for work all day. Try switching back and forth between your desk chair and a swiss ball throughout the day. The price is cheap as well around $20-25
TRX or similar suspension system with door anchor. Suspension trainers are another super effective, space saving and light weight piece of equipment. They offer limitless variety and are great for both beginners and advanced trainees alike. Price around $100-$129.
Sliders. Exercise sliders are a great inexpensive piece of equipment that offers a ton of training variety and challenge. The ones I have linked to here are two sided so you can use them on carpet and hardwood floors. They also come in two sizes. I recommend getting the larger size either way as it is more comfortable and easier to stay on them during certain exercises. Price $11

There you have it. You can have an AWESOME home gym with endless challenge and variety for around $250-300. This equipment should last you a long time as well. If you are on a budget then I would recommend one kettlebell and the band set and swiss ball if you can swing it. (Pun intended) You can always get the suspension trainer and a heavier kettlebell later as you progress. The good news is most of this equipment is available now or comes into stock quickly.

This is a simple solution to help keep your health, fitness, and fat loss on track.

Yours in health

Kevin

*If you would like personalized professionally designed programs or to join our fun and challenging virtual boot camp classes please check out the rest of my site for more information.*

If You Want To Hurt Yourself Working Out, Then Do This.

March 1, 2021

Over my 20 years of training almost every population of people, there are a few disturbing trends that I see. One of the most pressing trends is failure of people to properly warm-up before they workout. Not warming-up is a sure-fire way to get injured and derail your progress, motivation, and results. So if you want to get hurt and have a less effective workout don’t warm-up.

Point blank, before working out or doing any sport or physically demanding activity you need to warm-up. There is always at least one client that arrives late and misses the warm-up and proceeds to just jump into the workout. Have you ever seen a professional football, baseball, soccer, hockey etc. player before a game? How long are they warming up for? At least 20-minutes. They warm-up to prepare their bodies for the ensuing sport/exercise, to prevent injuries and to improve performance. These are highly tuned, professionals in peak shape and condition warming up. Do you think the average person who sits all day for their job and is not highly active for 95% of the week and not in peak shape and condition can forgo warming up? Hell to the nah!

Now the good news is that you don’t have to spend 15+ minutes warming-up. For most people, a short 5-10-minute dynamic warm-up will suffice.

Important to note, I said dynamic warm-up. A dynamic warm–up is “moving while you stretch” or stretching through a joint’s full range of motion and preparing muscles for more intense exercise to come. It is not beneficial and can also be detrimental to do static stretching just before vigorous physical activity. Static stretching involves stretches that you hold in place for a period of time, without movement. This allows your muscles to relax into stretch. You do not want to relax into stretch before a workout. Save static stretching for the cool down and/or off days to work on your flexibility.

The video below shows the dynamic warm-up I have used with hundreds of clients with a ton of success. Before you begin elevate your body temperature and heart rate by doing 2-3 minutes of a light jog, bike, jumping rope, jumping jacks etc. Then begin the dynamic warm-up.

Give it a go just before you start your workouts and lower your risk for injures, improve your performance, flexibility, mobility, and balance.

One thing to note is that even though there are limited studies to prove or disprove any of the benefits of warming-up. Through 20-years of “in the trenches” experience with hundreds of clients of all age groups, I can vouch for the effectiveness of doing a proper warm-up and cool down and the long term benefits they provide.

To your health.

Kevin

Quick and Effective Dynamic Warm-up

Get Out of Your Own Way

February 15, 2021

My First Post "Get Out of Your Own Way"

We have lift off. Welcome to my new vlog/blog/website. My name is Kevin. I am formerly the owner and head honcho of K-Strength Sports Training. I say formerly because a lot of shit went down in 2020 and so did my business. So here I am starting anew.

“Every day is a chance for a new beginning.”

Truth be told, as much as I love all the clients I work or have worked with, and my gym, I was starting to get burned out trying to run a gym and manage all that it entails. Long hours on the floor. Not much time with the family. No vacations. Not enough time to do more of the parts of my job that I love and wanted to spend more time doing.

As brutal as it was having to pull the plug on my business. My creation. Over 10 years of hard work, sweat, laughter and tears. Having to say goodbye to seeing so many amazing people who have become like a second family, a part of me is relieved. Not because of parting with them. But because of connecting with myself.

Like many people we get so caught up with the day to day and everyone else we often lose touch with ourselves. When we do this, an important part inside of us is slowly dying because we are cheating on someone we love. Ourselves.

Interestingly, as soon as I closed and mourned a bit. I was excited to get going doing what I “didn’t have time for” before. I started laying out a plan and setting things up and then proceeded to do everything and anything not to start. Sure, I did a lot of work setting things up, but the most important parts were always pushed back. It is like the one important phone call that you do not want to make but you know you have to. You procrastinate by creating other things that make you feel like you are being productive such as, organizing your desktop. clearing out you’re inbox, washing dishes, etc. You do everything you can except the things you need to be doing. I kept doing this and pushing it off until finally I would say I will just do it tomorrow. Then the next day and on and on.

For such a long time I bitched and moaned that I did not have time. Now when I have time and no excuse, I sabotage myself. I bring this up because as I stepped back and looked at my situation an important question came to my mind.

Was not having time, or having too many other things to do before the reason I was unable to do what I really wanted? Or was it just me all along?

I am now sure that it was always just me.

What is it that you want to do? What are you passionate about? What do you do to sabotage yourself? What excuses do you make?

Think about it and when you find your answer stop making excuses, create a plan and just do IT.

This is my “IT”. This is my new beginning.

To your health,

Kevin