If you want to lift more weight, learn to use your glutes!

The biggest muscles in your body are the Gluteus Maximus and the Quadriceps Femoris. Most people have no problems using and developing their quads but struggle to increase maximal strength in both the squat and deadlift. A common reason for this plateau is both weakness and inability to engage the Gluteal muscles. For this reason, I recommend practicing neuromuscular exercises to learn how to engage your gluteals on demand.

Many people will use machines and bridges to target the butt and increase muscle cell size. While this is helpful in gaining muscle tissue in the butt, practices such as barre and Pilates are highly effective at learning control of the gluteal muscles.

The muscles of your butt don’t only perform extension of the thigh, which is the main function during a hip drive, or bridge. Your gluteals will also perform external rotation and abduction of the thigh. Learning to isolate these movements, which are commonly practiced in Pilates and Barre will help you to engage the muscles of your butt during many exercises.

Whether you are performing lunges, split squats, deadlifts or squats, your gluteal muscles should be pulling in your femur into extension, this driving your hips forward. To truly increase strength you mustn’t only build cell size, but also the ability to engage your butt muscles on command.

Diversify your training to maximize results

If you wish to improve range of motion one might think to start doing yoga. If your goal is to increase core strength you might think Pilates, and if you want to improve your strength you might wanna do CrossFit 7 days/week. If your goal is to improve your overall fitness you are doing yourself a disservice by doing the same workouts day in and day out.

The truth is most people should be diversifying their training disciplines on a weekly and/or daily basis. Finding time to squeeze in classes or workouts of multiple training styles will increase your overall fitness while also helping avoid over-usage injuries. Diversification will also help you stay stimulated and goal oriented. You can more easily see where adjustments need to be made to improve muscular balance, both antero-posterior and bilaterally.

Changing out your normal routine is as simple as signing up for a multi-discipline training facility, joining ClassPass, or making it a point to try a new workout style every month.

TRX exercises every golfer should be doing

Whether you’re a scratch or your just trying to get through a round without losing a ball, these 3 exercises will help create stability and consistency in your game.

  1. Russian Twist

    A combination of dynamic abdominal rotation and stabilization of the spine and hips is exactly what a golfer desires. This exercises accomplishes both. To increase difficulty, keeps your elbows locked and the hands as far away from your chest as possible. Add a squat and truly make this an explosive total body exercise.

  2. Pistol Squats

    While anyone can benefit from this well-known and well-hated exercise, golfers are especially the beneficiary of this single-leg exercise. Build stability in your hips by using your gluteus mediums tonmaintain square hips while balancing your bi-lateral leg strength. Increase difficulty by standing over your foot rather than leaning back, and use your handles for balance over leverage when possible.

    Add a stork-dive between repetitions to increase the need for stability

  3. Body Saw

    This is one of those exercises that looks so simple you know it’s gotta burn. Only a short range of motion is needed to feel the effectiveness of this plank variation. Be sure to keep your tail-bone tucked and pulling your belly button to your spine as you push and pull your body like a saw.

Shred your legs with this forgotten training tool

It seems that only elite athletes and exercise masechists use this tool regularly and enjoy it. The benefits are numerous and include being cheap, accessible, and efficient. What more could you want out of a training device. What’s great about them is you can actually find many of them for free so while owning one is great, owning multiple is awesome. What is this great tool?

Hills!

They come in all shapes and sizes. They are found in most neighborhoods around the world. If you ask any Kenyan or Ethiopian runner they will most definitely speak with both respect and admiration for their favorite training hill. Hills aren’t just for runners though. We use hills all the time to straight lateral speed and explosiveness in young athletes. We also use the incline to challenge our members to build their gluts and hamstrings doing lunges and broad jumps up the iconic Laurel St Hill that our studio resides on. No other tool is will force your heart to beat faster, legs to shake with exhaustion, get results as quick as finding a big steep hill and owning it!

The Podium: My top 3 beers that won’t fizzle your training

For as long as I can remember, sports and beer have always been loyal friends. It seems as though every competition uses alcohol as a reward. Whether that be the champagne shower after team-sports championships or the “free” beer at the end of just about every endurance race. Heck, the beer mile doesn’t even make you wait to finish to chug down a beer (or 4). We all know beer isn’t “good” for you, but sometimes the frothy, slightly bitter bite of a tasty west coast IPA is exactly what the body needs. This isn’t to say a beer a day keeps the doctor away, but if you’re one of those who likes to wind-down at the end of a long work day or you busted out a 15 mile trail run with 1500 feet of climbing, then these 3 beers are what I suggest.

  1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

    A classic and a staple in a independent beer lovers repertoire. Not only does this beer have a full bodied flavor you come to expect from a California-based craft brewery, this golden delicious has a relatively low calorie count (180). It is hard to beat the drinkability of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale because it has only 10g of carbs per 12 oz, half the amount of a comparable, and probably my favorite beer, the .394 by AleSmith Brewing. Still, keep your Sierra drinking to a minimum as it can be easy to rack up the calories consuming 3 or more at a time.

  2. Corona Premier

    What better way to cool off after a long day than to take a mental vacation with a corona. The Premier version allows you to do this without the guilt. I personally prefer this version to the classic Corona Extra. Corona Premier is far less filling which can be attributed to the fact it has 12 less carbs and 60 less calories than Corona Extra. This is my go to mid-week beer.

  3. Half-pour of something tasty

    This is a tough option but when I really want a juicy, hazy, New England style I.P.A. or a sticky and dank IIPA coming in at 8.0% or more, I’ll go to my local bar, Bottlecraft, where they rotate taps regularly. I’ll order a half-pour or if I see a couple options I want to try I’ll get two 4 oz pours. Using this strategy allows me to enjoy the type of beer I truly like while keeping my diet and hangover in check.

Cheers!

How to tackle your diet on Super Bowl Sunday

It’s late January. You have been hitting the gym 5 days a week and while you are feeling stronger and more energized, the visual results haven’t been what you expected when you decided to never eat a carb again. Monday workouts are no longer something you look at as a “great way to start the week.” Your somehow skinny friend has been enjoying beer and nachos during the NFL playoffs while you have been avoiding a social setting where you might break your dry January streak and ruin all the hard work you have been putting in. Still, your pant size hasn’t dropped a singe-digit to the odd-number scale. Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend and along with a hopefully great game comes an equally as great spread. Dry January will be over and your no-carb diet is hanging on for dear life. Is it time to give up and indulge as any true American should, or do you stay the course and pray this all pays off come Memorial Day?

I’m here to tell you, enjoy yourself!

Goals are not reached in a linear manner. Weight-loss, strength gains, and flexibility don’t improve on a daily basis over the long-term. Not all aspects of your training will increase at the same rate so we can’t expect one day of indulging (or over-indulging) will ruin your progress. If anything, this might be exactly what your body and mind need. Like a mini vacation from the routine of eat healthy, workout hard, drink protein, sleep 8 hours. Much like returning from a vacation and feeling motivated to kick-ass at work, sometimes a vacation from your fitness and diet program motivates you to get back in the gym and doing an extra set of everything.

Come Super Bowl Sunday, start your day with a long run (60+ minutes) with some hill sprints thrown in or a dynamic METCON workout at your local fitness studio (i.e. Fast as F*ck | @glidetrainingco) to establish an increased metabolic rate for the rest of the day. Then show up to the party with a 6 pack of your favorite beer, enjoy some wings, and hope you win some money in a super bowl pool. Then Monday morning do a workout to get the week started off great.

FREE 28 DAY CHALLENGE! Beginning February 12

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28 Day Challenge!

Spring time is just around the corner which means…  summer is coming!

Join Josh and Lisa for an all levels 28 Day Challenge!  

Starting Monday February 12, we will be posting a FREE 20 minute workout every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and anyone participating that is currently or starts using Isagenix will receive a FREE 28 day macro balanced meal plan that will be tailored to your goals (fat loss/muscle building/etc)!

Workouts will be a combination of high intensity and strength training exercises that will increase your metabolism and fat burning ability, especially when paired with balanced intake of nutrients that fuel your body and keep you feeling great!

Requirements:

1.  Before and after photos (day 1 and day 28)* 

2.  One social media post/week doing an exercise from one of our workouts tagging @glidetrainingco                                                                           

3.  28 days of dedication!

At the end of the challenge, anyone who completes the requirements will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win prizes, including:

Grand Prize (1): 3 1:1 Personal Training Sessions**, Glide Training Co. performance style leggings (or shorts for guys) and tank

Second Prize (1): 2 weeks of unlimited classes and nutritional consult**, Glide Training Co. performance style tank

Third Prize (2): Canister of Isalean protein (flavor of your choice), Glide Training Co. performance style tank

2 participants will be chosen by Josh and Lisa to receive an additional surprise prize, based on results, dedication, and improvement!

Join us in kicking up the intensity, getting fit, and ready for summer!

*no photos will be shared without permission

** may add these on to current package if you are already a member!