What are we doing?

Dawn and I have been asking ourselves this question quite a bit this past year. We moved in with her parents in an attempt to save money and to help out. We hoped, in the process, we would figure out where we wanted to settle down. Unfortunately it only confused things. Dawn picked up several clients and made several friends in the area, while I sat in my car for the better part of the year. I also picked up three clients at school. We were both growing the business but in two very different areas of the state. We both really like the Davidsonville/Annapolis area, but we have that one little thing (my career) that keeps getting in the way. So, long story short, we are taking our show(and family) on the road. On June 1st we will be moving to Clarksburg MD. in an attempt to get closer to my work and hopefully simplify life and make growing the business easier.

I was reading a few old posts the other day and came across the post about our affiliation with CrossFit. I could feel our excitement just reading the post. Several things transpired since then that have given us reason to rethink our desire to be affiliated with CrossFit. We still think their methodology and the principles that their training is grounded on are solid and we incorporate them into our training, but we are older and wiser these days and try to make it a practice to listen to our gut and what it is telling us. Failing to do this in the past has cost us dearly. We are no longer pursuing affiliation with CrossFit and instead are on a mission to learn all that we can from several training and nutrition sources. We are still passionate and focused on sharing what we know with others and making a living doing it.

This week will be a banner week. I have finished my online class and am on spring break. We are planning on several posts this week. We will add several exercise posts, we will share a workout video to give you an idea of the intensity we are shooting for when working out, we have a post on warm-ups and stretching after a workout and a post on sleep. We will also provide information on our next Clean Eating Challenge. It will be a shorter, 10 day version of ones we have done in the past and it is coming just in time to jump start your beach body efforts.

Just wanted to keep everyone up to date with what we are doing and thank you all for staying involved in our progress.

Girls of Marriottsville Part II

It has been a while since I have written about my lovely ladies from Marriottsville who make training so much fun for me! Daira and Pete are my fitness super stars. They have grown so much since we first started working together. Their unbelieveable physical strength matches their mental strength. There is not an exercise or workout too hard for my ladies these days. Instead of moaning and groaning about the workouts, they give me the "bring it look" So what if they have to complete burpees, thrusters, and push-ups multiple times in the same workout, it will get done and with great intensity. Just a little background on my ladies. Daira is 57 and a mother of 3. Pete is 53 and a mother of 1. They both work full time and train with me 3 days a week. Pete still has to struggle with back issues aggravated by standing on her feet all day, but she is strong and determined and won't let anything hold her back at this stage in the game. Daira used to tell me she could not lift anything too heavy and would moan and groan about having to. These days, she is picking heavy weight up off the ground and putting it over her head. Both ladies snap right ihto the zone as soon as the workout starts and stay there until it is complete. I love training Daira and Pete and I look forward to seeing them continue to grow as they reach their fitness and nutrition goals!

The Pull-up Post

We have had this one in the works for a while, just have not gotten around to putting it up. Now that Kim has forced our hand here it goes. Most of us have issues with pull-ups that go all the way back to our middle school PE class where it was the only damn thing keeping us from reaching the 100th percentile and the coveted Presidential Physical Fitness Patch. Ok, maybe I'm the only one with the issues, but either way the bottom line is that most people hate pull-ups. This hate usually stems from the fact that they cannot do them and putting in the work to be able to do them is hard. The benefits from this simple body weight exercise are well worth the time and effort it takes to be able to do them. Pull-ups help with:
* Grip Strength
* Shoulder Mobility
* Posture
* Core Strength
* Upper back Strength

The first step is to find somewhere to do pull-ups. A park, tree branch, homemade device, etc. all work well but are sometimes inconvenient. We have had a lot of success with the Iron Gym Pictured here.

Kim mentioned a similar one called the ultimate body press We really like the dip station. We built our pull-up bar in the garage for about $10 worth of plumbing pipe from Home Depot. It does not matter what you use just find something that is at about arms length and get to work.

It must be said up front that we define a pull-up as arms fully extended at the bottom and chin over the bar at the top. How you grip the bar and how you accomplish that can vary greatly and is cause for much debate in the fitness world. It should also be noted that it may take several months of jumping pull-ups or band assisted pull-ups to get to the point where you can do pull-ups on your own. Have patience and stick with it. The ability to pull your own body weight is foundational to health, function and longevity.

Here are the different types of pull-ups we use


The strict pull-up


The kipping pull-up


The butterfly kip


Start with the jumping pull-ups(don't underestimate them or you will be very sore the next day)and work you way up. Good luck!

Run Amuck

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I am taking an on-line class and it is kicking my hiney. So far, the good thing about the experience is that while I was procrastinating on getting my work done I came across a new mud run that Dawn and I are going to compete in this spring. It looks like fun, is local, and will be a great way to gauge our preparedness for the Warrior Dash in the fall. Click HERE for all of the details, but it is basically a 5k race with a few water obstacles thrown in the way. The race is on May 1st and is right in Rockville, 10 minutes from my work.

Just like the Warrior Dash we would love to have as many of you join us as possible. We have a small group of teachers from my school who have already signed up. We will be running in the first heat of the day at 9:30. It's a great way to put yourself out there and have something to train for. Alright, back to my school work.