Setting Personal Records on the Reg

During the month of August, Lisa and I have chosen to work on ourselves from the inside out. We started by creating goals then we created a plan to achieve it. Our plan includes a list of potential obstacles and/or challenges we expect to encounter along the way. Then we developed a plan to tackle these issues when they arise. The goals we set follow the traditional S.M.A.R.T. goal format. I am looking to achieve a new P.R. at the Long Beach Half Marathon in October. This goal follows the S.M.A.R.T. format because it is:

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Martin F. started with a vague goal, we talked and came up with a S.M.A.R.T. goal. Now he is on his second short-term goal and has set a new long-term goal; running the Long Beach Half Marathon. 

S.M.A.R.T. goals have been used for a long time by businesses to help asses employees and to drive productivity. These 5 characteristics of a goal allow us to pass judgment on our ability to achieve the goal whether we do or don't. The S.M.A.R.T. goal must have an empirical value, a number. Your final goal might not be a S.M.A.R.T. goal, it might be vague in nature. One of the most common goals I hear as a trainer is "to lose weight." Another one is to be stronger or more fit. These are great goals, but the problem is that they aren't measurable nor specific. These goals need a number value, like losing 20 pounds, running a sub-6:00 mile, or dead lifting 300 lbs. Only then can we make a proper goal achievement plan.

  When I have a client who wants to lose 40+ pounds, I will break their goal into more compact short-term goals, like losing 15 pounds

Goals shouldn't be overly ambitious or lengthy, otherwise they can lead to failure or can be unrewarding because they take too long to achieve. When I have a client who wants to lose 40+ pounds, I will break their goal into more compact short-term goals, like losing 15 pounds. These are more manageable because they have less obstacles, simply due to the shorter amount of time it will take to achieve said goal. Also, short-term goals allow us to create evaluations that will help designing our goal-achievement plans or making adjustments.

Ken has been one of my most dedicated clients ever. While his goal might be quite zealous, Ken always sets an achievement plan, stays focused day by day, and always achieves.          

                   @Glide_tc 

My last tip about goal-attaining is to stay focused and persistent. All achievements, especially in fitness and in health, take time and effort. Don't expect that because you make all these changes to your lifestyle that you will change immediately. Specifically, the physical changes take time to become visible. That is because the psychological change must be made first. Once you have a made up your mind on a goal you want to achieve, make a goal-achievement plan, assess the plan, then execute the plan.

5 Tips for Avoiding Summer Weight Gain

It is common practice to get in shape for the summer season full of skin-baring events like pool parties and beach bonfires. But many people forget to practice many of those same habits that helped them get ready for the summer and end up gaining back all weight they lost.  Here are 5 tips for keeping the weight off during your busy summer.

1. Maximize your time with Max Effort

Fitting workouts into our busy social schedules can be difficult. One of the best ways to get the most out of your workouts is to perform maximum effort sets. Whether that be 3-rep-max sets of barbell squats, doing push ups, hill sprints or even running a 5k; max effort sets will burn calories and keep the metabolism elevated. Also, the typical workout shouldn't last much more than thirty minutes. I like to do a mixed maximal circuit at least once a week. I also lead a hill and speed work class on Thursday evenings that not only has me and my clients gasping for air, but my glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors are firing by the end of the 30 minute workout.

2. Exercise for Fun

This is one of the most common ways we see people kill two birds. Don't just go out to the beach and lay around to get your tan. Get outside and play a bit. Go for a hike, play volleyball, just work up a sweat in one way or another. Running along the beach is great for building up running power, but it also strengthens the muscles that support your knees and arches of your feet, which can take a beating at music festivals, fairs, and all-day events.

3. Don't avoid the BBQ, avoid anything squishy

Lisa Saunders, head of our nutrition program, tells us that eating at the barbecue is quite simple. She says, "avoid anything squishy, or that becomes squishy or expands when placed in water." This means potatoes and pastas, breads, chips, crackers, and corn. So feel free to have a cheeseburger, just wrap it in lettuce. 

4. Make exercise a priority

Don't just plan to workout, make appointments with yourself to workout. Whether that means blocking off available time from clients to meet with you or skipping lunch and/or happy hour with co-workers, creating a schedule with a reminder in your phone, tablet, or computer just like you would with a work appointment immediately creates a sense of importance. We wouldn't cancel an appointment with a business relationship, so don't cancel an appointment with the gym. Hiring a personal trainer or joining a bootcamp workout group is a great way to prioritize fitness. 

5.  Hydrating, as important as eating

Many times thirst is confused for hunger, so we typically crave and fill our stomach up with carbs that hold onto water. By staying hydrated with basic water, electrolyte drinks, and water filled fruits and veggies, we can avoid over eating, dizzy spells due to dehydration, as well as muscle and stomach cramps when enjoying our outdoor activities. Pro-tip; to make your own electrolyte water, infuse with cucumber, calcium-magnesium powder, and a slice of lemon or grapefruit. Also, pickles are packed full of sodium and potassium, 2 highly important electrolytes for muscle contraction, which is why they are my favorite post-run snack. Check out My Favorite Post-run Snacks, Drinks, and Meals for more great ideas.

Motivation Month

It's summer time in beautiful San Diego and we have reached my favorite month of the year. July is filled with so many exciting events, parties, and experiences it feels like if you blink you've missed an entire weekend. July, for many is a time to show off everything you've got. Pool parties on July 4th weekend beckons bikinis and six-packs of both the aluminum and flesh variety in droves. The MLB All-Star game and Home Run Derby are stopping by Petco Park to play America's past-time in an exhibition game that is basically a chance for the games best to flex the muscles at the enjoyment of the fans. Anyone and everyone will be attending parties and Fan Festivities in hopes of meeting stars from the field and from the Silver Screen of Hollywood just up the road from us. Pride weekend will allow our fantastically enthusiastic LGBT community to celebrate freedom to be who they are, and the party is enjoyed by community members and non-members arm in arm. The "nerds" and "geeks" of the comic, movie, action-hero, video game world will then descend on to the streets of our downtown and enjoy with pretty much everyone and at the envy of the rest of the world Comic Con. No other event has grown like Comic Con over the past few decades. Lastly, and my favorite part of July, my own birthday. A time in which I can pay tribute to everyone who has helped mold me into who I am. Friends, family, and mentors are all just as important as myself on this day because I see myself as a reflection of all that they are.

"Motivation isn't one specific object, idea, or emotion. Motivation takes on many forms"

Like I said earlier, this month is a time to show off. This month is a symbolism of motivation. We can see that every weekend of July there is something happening that has been used a motivational device. Motivation isn't one specific object, idea, or emotion. Motivation takes on many forms. One person may be motivated by a pool party on top the Andaz hotel to lose 10 pounds and get rid of that little pooch in their belly. Another might be a Major League Baseball player like Will Myers playing out of his mind in the month of June so that he can hopefully be voted into the All-Star game to play in front of his hometown crowd. My own motivation, that I want to show my growth every year on my birthday and show my appreciation for those who have helped me to become my best me, because the pride of my family and friends is what drives me most. 

Our forefathers were motivated to create this great and wonderful country so that we as their successors could practice the life we each chose for ourselves. Independence and freedom motivated the originators of this nation to take giant risks in leaving the security of Great Britain. These same feelings have fueled the LGBT community to fight for rights to live the life they choose. Their intrinsic motivation bleeds into the community and motivates members of all communities to stand up for what they feel, love, and believe. Comic Con, what was originally thought of as a "nerd" convention has developed into the biggest pop culture event of the year. If anything, Comic Con has brought to the realization of everyone that we are all "nerds" in our own respect; whether that be me nerd-ing out on fantasy football or Lisa getting excited to show me her latest meal plan she wrote for a client, with the same excitement you see out of Star Wars fans dressed head to toe as a storm trooper. Comic Con is a motivational destination for people to be the absolutely true form of themselves.

"Changing a body is easy, but changing a mind can be nearly impossible" 

Now how do I relate this all back to fitness, health, and everything this blog is really supposed to be about? I don't know. My motivation for writing this entry wasn't to shed light on my favorite things to do, places to go, or how to run fast. The message I want to send is that not everyone has the same motivation and as personal and performance trainer it can be difficult to find what truly motivates my client. I believe this to be the most difficult part of my job. Some people step through my door and do everything I tell them plus more and get the amazing results we see on infomercials. But the truth is that most people are not motivated and thats the whole reason they come to Lisa and I. They usually hate sweat, breathing heavy, and limiting themselves to chicken and veggies. It becomes my job to determine the quickest and most effective way for my clients to see the value making healthy changes to their lifestyle. Even after I figure out a good strategy to motivate Client X, I must them continue to stimulate them. Eventually that motivation will be gone. Either a goal will be achieved or the long grind of reaching that goal will cause the motivation to wain. Then I must develop another strategy. Changing a body is easy, but changing a mind can be nearly impossible. 

During the month of July, remember that we are only half way through the year. Most people made New Year's Resolutions and goals for 2016 back in January. I would like for anyone reading this to come up with a Half-Year Resolution and/or a goal(s) to achieve. Come up with something that truly motivates you and write it in our comments. My Half-Year resolution is to be persistent and timely in reaching out to my clients and followers through social-media and our Eat, Train, Perform Blog. My Half-Year Goals are: to 3 rep max dead lift 300 Lbs. and set a new PR by running a sub 1:35:00 half-marathon.

Injuries Suck!

Nothing bothers an athlete more than an injury. We can usually muster up the strength to compete through illness. Stress is usually alleviated by intense training, and we can convince ourselves, even in times of immense pain and torture, that our training is good for us. When pain or soreness turns to injury, that's when we as competitors are usually forced to throw in the towel.

Injuries are serious and should be handled seriously. There are many strategies to try to prevent injury. I say "try" because sometimes there are freak occurrences and those types of injuries, we shouldn't beat ourselves up over. They are to be unexpected. The typical injuries we see in runners come from "too much, too fast" training strategies and imbalance of strength between antagonistic muscle groups. The importance of this entry isn't the alleviation of pain, or specific exercises to prevent training injuries, but rather the manner in which we handle these injuries emotionally and psychologically.

It was only 3 weeks ago when I had those thoughts of doubt that every true competitor fears possessing. I thought I would never be faster again;  I was on my decline.

I had just arrived back from Delaware where I had one of my best runs in recent memory. Complete bliss. Along a stream, on an uncrowded path which Lisa and I enjoyed the scenery of a 5 mile jog.  I felt complete relief. My previously and chronically injured left knee held up great and I was able to escape the mental fatigue due to constant refocusing on form, which my prior two runs were swamped by. Things like, How long was my stride length? My turn over rate? How about these shoes? Are they still the right shoe for my foot strike? Instead I heard absolute silence from my brain. Then, after returning to San Diego I went on a go-to 5k route to reestablish my bearings, after too much travel, and found it a crazy struggle. I was slow. Weak! Out of breath!? Confused. I took two months off running and pretty much all sustained cardio due to a bad MCL sprain, but the literal thought of, "I'll never be the same" went through the my head a hundred times. Injury ruined my stress relief mechanism and my internal competition with myself. I literally felt no need to ever run or work on speed again. 

This is important to me because I have never been a quitter. Anyone who knows me, knows I believe in myself, but for the first time I felt like I failed myself. I began to understand the complacency pit that people fall into. I thought I lost my lust for running.  

what we must remember as humans is that even though we are breakable, we are very fixable. Our bodies are the most magnificent machines we know of. I am 27 years old, the same age as my first vehicle. That old Nissan pick up still runs but it has had repair after repair and maintenence after maintenance done to keep it working. Are we to suggest that the human body, after 27 years won't have atleast some problems? And what about 30,40,50,60 years down the line? Wouldn't you expect your vehicle to have some changes and repairs made? What I'm getting at is we shouldn't expect injury or fear it. But if we want to reduce our chances of injury, we must prepare ourselves mentally for the struggle of rehab and practice preventative care to avoid all together. 

Injury is not the end. It is a whole new battle. It is like trying your hand at a different race distance that you had never trained or even imagined training for. Over coming injury is quite possibly as great a feeling as winning.  

To the top

Glide TC was born, in my mind, in November 2014. I was and still do work as a personal trainer at a boutique studio in Point Loma, an eclectic bay side neighborhood just outside Downtown San Diego. We work with mostly middle-aged adults in a one-on-one setting, with the occasional small group class. We have a great reputation for being educated and effective. I had been at the studio for about 2 years and recognized that business had reached a state of stagnancy. We were lacking the community feel that we see dominating the fitness market. Social status both online and within the community was lacking. While our trainers had a great relationship with their clients and we saw very good retention rates, we weren't building our brand recognition.

I decided to make an effort to create a bond between clients. A familiarity and sense of pride for those who came to work with our trainers. I once heard that the best way to bring a group together is to create a common enemy; Coach Kober would be that enemy. I began encouraging clients to join myself and another trainer, Lisa, in training for the San Diego Half Marathon. We eventually encouraged 4 clients to run the race, but as many as 10 people would show up to group runs on Sunday. At first people were hesitant and couldn't believe they would eventually run 13.1 miles. Fatigue, weakness, and soreness plagued everybody at some point, just like any race training program. Yet, Sunday's had become so popular that I felt the need to begin a track workout. This speed workout would be the foundation I am building upon. It was through the burn in the lungs and legs of my runners that each would grow to both love and detest me. 

Track workouts were brutal workouts for runners of all levels. We usually ran more than advertised, which led to the assumption that I was now always lying when explaining at the beginning of our session. The most important traits of a team are trust and loyalty, and if they didn't trust me they would trust eachother and bond over how hard I was drilling them. The loyalty trait of our team came from a social environment I call a "competitive support system." This not only tightened up the group but also helped each runner make big gains. Keeping track of splits and having relays were a couple strategies we used, along with promoting and praising individual efforts. Sometimes we would even run and feel the pain with them, just to prove the relativity of pain. By race week, we had a swagger about us.

The night before our race was a very emotional night for me. I have never been overly competitive with my running, atleast not against other runners. It is much more about the battle against yourself. There are a million stories about running saving someones life, or how it empowers people to achieve greatness. My running story isn't so much about me, as it is about them. My runners getting faster physically and stronger mentally. Ascending toward and surpassed their goals. Glide TC wasn't  intended to be anything more than a group that got together and ran. But I  realized when making my final speech before sending everyone home for the night, with everyone's eyes staring up at me, holding onto my every word, trusting that I am right and have prepared them well, that I had a team. For my first time, I coached a team and couldn't have been more proud of the effort they gave and the commitment they held onto. I applauded them and thanked them for being my first.

One year later we are establishing ourselves as a personal and performance driven training company. We look to better the athleticism of the amateur and to increase the ability of each individual.

To the top!