Sports & Athletics – Page 3

March 23, 2015March 24, 2015

Orangetheory Fitness attacks the Big Climb 2015, fights blood cancers

The Big Climb is about Elevation

You must rise up. To rise up is to fight against cancer and there are many ways to do this.

Incline and vertical training for fat loss

There is something I can be passionate about for rising up. Working your way up the pull of gravity is key to the disease prevention lifestyle.

Disease prevention with incline training

Fat loss, muscle tone, and improved cardiovascular health can be achieved through a moderate-to-high intensity training regimen with fresh nutrition.

That’s why I captained the Big Climb 2015 Seattle team

Team Orangetheory Fitness Seattle at the Big Climb 2015

The above picture was moments away from the starting stairwell to go up 69 stories in Seattle’s Columbia Tower.

A gray day won’t stop us now

Getting to the top is the inherent value, if the view is decent then bonus

Getting to the top is inherent in value, if the view was amazing then it would just be excess

Make it to the top!

Here is Seattle in all of its spring glory, I was happy to be catching my breath with this in sight

Here is Seattle on an inevitable day with the gray and I have sweat through my shirt just now

Congrats to the finishers

Woo feels good to finish! Rachel and Julianne celebrate

Feels good now! Julianne and Rachel celebrating Big Climb 2015 achievement

Looking over the Puget Sound and downtown Seattle, Queen Anne, and Magnolia

Not one of Seattle's finest days when it comes to views but still enough to appreciate

Take in the view and then let’s go eat something

Thoughts about the Climb 2015

This fundraising effort was rife with support from many individuals. I appreciate you all for that, and for being here reading this. Here are a few thoughts I have about the Big Climb 2015

Your heart is the most important muscle and you should eat to support it
When I consume a beetroot, carrot, kale juice, it’s because I feel like it helps me breathe better
Breath in through the nose, out through the mouth
Use your upper body and core strength to pull yourself up and to push through the turns
Core strength improves with progressive resistance training
Pump yourself up and do what it takes even if it means some self talk!
Do it again for next year

Our team will continue on. We celebrated at a Sunday Happy Hour downtown and then walked home thanks to our city dwelling lifestyles.

Later that day

The spring day in Seattle departed with rays through lingering levels of moisture

Thank you for reading and stay tuned

November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

— Leave a Comment

How do you Maximize High Intensity Training for Accelerated fat loss?

Use heavy weights

Of course heavy is relative to the levels of your capabilities. Lifting technique improvements can certainly make for a safer and more powerful exercise. Progressive resistance is fundamental to strength training philosophy.

Body-weight can be heavy enough especially if you perform the reps as fast as you can

Body weight can be heavy enough if you perform the reps as fast as you can or get more work done in a shorter period of time than your last workout (aim for progress)

Training the mind to train the muscle and burn fat

Why do some people not go nearly as heavy as they can? Perhaps to play it safe and I understand that. More vulnerable populations (like if you’ve had shoulder surgeries) will have to watch it especially. That being said, the healthy workout population should consider this…

Lower the size of fat cells, while increasing the density of muscle cells

Maybe people don’t go heavy because they don’t want to bulk up. I’ll say that some people are more prone than others in this bulking regard. Most often it is the opposite — once people train heavier, they get lowered body fat and denser. It’s likely due to the reduced reps and volume.

Central Nervous System for fitness, cognitive function and mobility

We train movement patterns at Orangetheory Fitness in Seattle. For example, a common exercise is the squat and goblet squats with a weight do make the booty go good.

Goblet Squat keep your core tight and drive through heels

The heavier we go relative to our overall 100% max is similar to doing a push pace at 84% or higher on the treadmills. In other words, by increasing the intensity there are many ways that the exercise recovery will produce beneficial body adaptations.

So next time you select a training weight, think about what is 80% of what your overall maximum capability would be and go from there.

Squeeze the weight

You will activate more nervous system pathways by squeezing the weight and focusing on full body tension during every multi-joint exercise.

Stay tuned…

Orangetheory Fitness Seattle Orangetheory Seattle Power of the Mind Sports & Athletics Weightloss Now

June 5, 2014September 4, 2014

— Leave a Comment

High Intensity Interval Training is a HIIT for fat loss

Run faster to burn fat quicker

You want to burn fat more quickly, like in a faster way. Here’s a somewhat truism. Actual fat loss is leaps and bounds more important than just weight loss. Should you do what it takes to get that lean/healthy muscle tone?

I know, that’s why I want to burn fat today!!

Fat loss is a byproduct of healthy nutrition and effective training

If you are doing this for health reasons, then fat loss should not necessarily be the primary goal in itself. The primary goal is the action and digestion of consuming our plant-strong diet with lean proteins and healthy omega-3s. In this case, fat loss is merely a byproduct of superior nutrition habits.

Methods for fat burning

Look at the picture and notice the differences in body composition between these two runners. Keep in mind that these are both extremes.

Runners, explosiveness/strength vs endurance/distance

explosive/strength vs endurance/distance

Even though the body fat % may be about equal, the female sprinter has more impressive form and physique
The sprinter appears to have leaner muscle for the obvious reason that there is in fact more lean muscle
Notice Hip:Waist ratio significant difference. Sprinter butts can be out of this world (not said for an Olympic marathoner)

How much does your time matter? The Sprinter trains her body for a FRACTION of the time that a marathoner. While the marathoner is out there hitting the cement and losing muscle for long hours, the sprinter has much shorter bouts of effort. High intensity rules the fitness world currently.

It should be making sense by now

You just get way more bang for the buck by focusing on strength, power, speed, explosiveness, and conditioning to experience your fat loss effects.

Train your cardiovascular system with sprints

In this workout, my trainer was Kyle Anderson of Seattle, WA (Orangetheory Fitness Capitol Hill) and he motivated me through the challenging sprint intervals. Check out my heart rate report

A heart rate graph through challenging strength and conditioning workout

The data on the heart rate graph shows that I did work within 84% or higher of my max heart rate through intervals. Training the cardiovascular system in this method also improves muscle tone due to the muscular and metabolic demands of sprinting.

Three steps to running faster

latissimus dorsi: One of the most powerful sprinting muscle. Learn the power of arm drive for sprinting success.

latissimus dorsi: One of the most powerful sprinting muscle. Utilize the power of elbow drive for sprinting success.

1. You should feel that you are propelling yourself forward during sprints. Too many people land on the ground and waste energy on the reactive force of landing. Instead of running on the ground, run over the ground.

2. Use the hips to run forward. The human gait (natural movement of body through space) expresses hip:waist ratio in important ways. Larger, more developed glutes and tapering to a lean waist will typically be strong indicator of fitness (and perhaps even fertility).

3. Drive your upper body muscles in sync with the hips. The latissimuss dorsi as a totally undervalued muscle when it comes to sprinting (and that hourglass shape). The more powerful a muscle contraction (arm drive) helps you produce force with the legs.

Go all out

At some point during your intervals, when you are all out generating force and power, you should attempt to go a little faster than the last workout you recovered from. By making progress, you will get results faster. That is the nature of fitness — we must choose our own path. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Progression should be the number 1 consistency in our training.

Keep working at it. Sometimes you will need more rest before you can go faster… and other times you just need to go faster.

Orangetheory Seattle Sports & Athletics

February 12, 2014

— Leave a Comment

3 Thoughts on High Intensity Interval Training

HIIT is — this year — the number one fitness trend

Exposure to the concept of High Intensity Interval Training has become widespread through journals, magazines, and programs all over the place!

An example of a person who utilizes fast energy

The reason is simple, and we’ll get to that…

1. Body composition

The most valuable measure of overall health and fitness relates to Body Composition. We should consider the internal elements as promoting vitality — in a way that reinforces key structures and anabolic processes for both men and women.

HIIT promotes a lean body type to support key muscular structures.

2. Value of time spent

High intensity requires fast energy.

By developing an efficient use of fast energy, the result is a cascade of beneficial hormone release throughout the system. Hormone regulation allows the body to persist in a desired state– allowing vitality and clarity of thought.