Tag Archive for bret contreras

Recap: The Fitness Summit 2016

An incredible weekend of learning and shenanigans has come to a close and I can’t wait until I have the energy to start processing it all (because I think I slept a combined 7 hours in 3 days -_-).

Thursday night, my friend and I flew out to Kansas City to attend The Fitness Summit. I’d never been before, but have heard great things about it. I have been craving some new learning experiences and since this meant I also got to travel to another city, this seemed like the perfect event.

Some of the presenters I was very familiar with and some were brand new. I walked away with a new perspective, tons of new information that I can apply to training my own clients, and new friends. Here are some of the recaps:

Tony Gentilcore

…went over the Deadlift. This was one of the presentations I was most looking forward to, since deadlifts are one of my favorite exercises. He not only went over technique and deciphering the type of deadlift that a client should perform based on where they are at physically, but also showed us some really awesome practical modifications to get clients to reign in their form and get their bodies to learn the proper patterns of the deadlift. I easily have 5-7 new deadlift modifications in my toolbox and I can’t wait to use them with my clients.

This article highlights most of the “hip hinge badassery” as Tony calls it.

TonyGentilcoreHipHinge copy

Source: Tony Gentilcore

Why this was so helpful: The deadlift is such a great movement because of the recruitment of so many muscle groups. Because of this, many people have a hard time following all of the cues and maintaining proper form such as pulling the hips back, engaging your glutes/hamstrings/lats, keeping your chest out, neutral spine, and the list goes on. I personally have 2-3 clients that have an extremely hard time with this and it limits our training a bit. I am 99.9% sure that with some of the exercises Tony went over, I’ll have these clients deadlifting with proper form very soon.

Nick Tumminello

…discussed single leg movements and this was a pretty interesting topic. We practiced several of the movements that he went over and while the actual movements weren’t necessarily new to me, some of the positioning was different. It was interesting to perform these single-leg movements (such as reverse lunges and step-ups) in different positions to recruit more of the glutes or to put a higher load on the actual working leg based on the rest of your body positioning. I also added some new-to-me single leg exercises that I can add to my arsenal.

This article goes over some of those movements.

nicktumminello1

Source: Nick Tumminello

Why this was so helpful: As a trainer, the basics will always be the majority of what I’ll focus on with my clients. However, depending on the type of client (and especially the athletes), there are some single leg exercises that just do a better job at certain things. The more tools in my tool box, the better equipped I’ll be with my clients and their needs.

Bret Contreras

…talked about squats, deadlifts, and hip thrusts. While I’m pretty familiar with Bret’s style and have a slight bias considering I’ve learned a good portion of what I know from him, it was still a good refresher and I always learn something new from him. I think the biggest take away from this particular presentation was not being afraid to adapt. We’d all like to have optimal squat and deadlift form, but that isn’t always possible. We have to be able to adapt to what works best for the individual, even if it is outside of the “normal” technical recommendations. The main focus should be safety and as long as a client isn’t being injured, it’s okay to be less-than-perfect.

bret

Source: Bret Contreras

Why this was so helpful: I think as trainers, we get it in our heads that everything needs to be perfect at all times or else it is to be avoided. While I think striving for that perfect form is where we all should be thinking, accepting that that isn’t always plausible is also really crucial and making adjustments that will get the job done without injury is an option.

Last but not least,

Alan Aragon.

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, then you saw that he is my new #braincrush. Not only is he a brilliant guy, his delivery of information is incredibly sound. He gives real-world advice and leaves out the fluffy bullshit. I think I speak for most people at the conference when I say that he left all of us inspired and ready to take on the world. His tips and tools for pursuing your own career in the fitness business were really insightful and I think he touched on all of the “fear” aspects that many (if not all) of us have.

alanaragon

Source: Alan Aragon

Why this was so helpful: I’m often crippled by fear and have often felt like the only one. Alan’s advice was to find the things you love in the industry and build your business around them. Not only that, but he provided some tools to figure out what those areas might be for people like me who aren’t 100% sure what that “dream job” looks like. Fear is present in almost every single entrepreneur’s venture at some point, but his best advice to move past that is to just DO IT ANYWAYS. You da man Alan.

(Also, he’s really freaking smart, so you should go look through his articles too.)

There were several other speakers that gave really great presentations and I think it’s safe to say that there was really something for everyone there. From the fitness enthusiast to the personal trainer to the nutritionist to the fitness business tycoon, there was plenty of good information in all realms of the fitness industry. I will definitely be back next year!

The Location

It’d be a tragedy if I also didn’t mention the amazing gym that the conference was held at, Impact Elite Gym in Kansas City. This gym had everything you could ever need/want (except a hip thruster) and had tons of space to do it. The “feel” of the gym was hardcore/oldschool and the bar at the front desk where they made protein shakes, pancakes (!!!!), and had all kinds of drinks and snacks was bar none.

As busy as we were, I obviously couldn’t leave without getting a workout in.

Here’s what I did:

-Good Mornings + Squats: 45×10, 75×10, 95×5

-Back Squats: 145x10T (got all 10 reps in 1 set)

10 min. AMRAP

-RDL’s: 145×10

-Squat Jumps: bwx10

I did 6 rounds in 9:36 and called it. It’s barely 24 hours later as I’m writing this and my glutes and hamstrings are already sore.

-Leg Press: 140×10, 180×10, 230×10, 270×10, 320×10, 320×15, 320×5

EMOM – 10 min.

-Kettle Bell Swings: 70×6

This workout kicked my ass and I ended up having to go back to the hotel to shower afterwards. Totally worth it though!

Time to go read, write, learn and GSD(get shit done)!!!

 

 

Fitness Weekend! {VIDEOS & PHOTOS}

Happy Monday!!

I started my morning off with some HIIT today! Starting off my week with fitness definitely helps me get focused. Especially since I was out of town this weekend and totally discombobulated from real life. 🙂

I’m going to get right to this weekend’s shenanigans. It was an amazing weekend with friends and fitness!

Last Thursday night, my friends and I drove out to AZ! One of my friends was running the Rock n Roll Marathon, and since my family is from AZ, we decided to go support her! Instead of writing all about it, I figured I’d like pictures and videos tell the story!

I spent some time with my family..

mattytongue

My dad and my nephew, Matty

Hanging with my little big bro!!!

Me and my littlebig bro, Ben at La Grande Orange

sillymeandben

DRANK GOOD COFFEE….

Best. Coffee. Ever.

Best. Coffee. Ever.

Kombucha ON TAP at La Grande Orange…(GAME CHANGER)

My favorite flavor: TRILOGY

My favorite flavor: TRILOGY

Shenanigans with friends…

with .
・・・
!    !! #26.2 !  powered by plants !! Finished my 3rd marathon with a PR of 4:00:45. -- if I did not have to stop to poo - it would have been 3:55:00 ! Cut 17 minutes off my time from the last race in 2011:) I'm pretty stoked about that!  Get your ass up and do something!! If I can run 26.2 miles then you can at least run 1 or 2!! ! Fitness is a lifestyle..join the movement!! Thanks to  and  for driving my ass to the race from Cali..and supporting me at the finish line!!

Torri set a new marathon PR…and Francesca and I walked a mile to meet her at the finish line..so that counts for something, right?!

Worked out at my favorite gym, Maximum Fitness with the master, Karl

Feeling the pain in 3,2,1...

Feeling the pain in 3,2,1…

Set some new PR’s at Bret’s (i’m pretty sure there is special PR Fairy dust in Bret’s garage….I always hit PR’s when I’m there!)

OH, and I can’t forget the #bootybump! Who needs a chest bump when you can booty bump?!

I had so much fun this weekend, but back to work it is!

Hope everyone had a great weekend themselves!

Question of the Day

1. Have you ever run a marathon or 1/2 marathon?

I did the AZ Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon a few years ago, and have thought about doing another, but right now I’m focused on my lifting.

 

 

Oscar Rides The Treadmill

Happy Thursday! Can you believe Christmas is in exactly ONE WEEK?! Crazy, right???

I still haven’t done any shopping. Oops! It kind of crept up on me this year, but I’ll make up for it! 🙂

Guys, I have to show you this hilarious video of my boy, Oscar. We decided to put him on the treadmill the other night to see what he would do….

NOTHING. He did nothing. We were cracking up. I thought for sure that he would be weirded out when the belt started moving, but nope! Just sat there like a turkey on a conveyer belt. That dog!

In other news, my workouts lately have been SO AWESOME. I haven’t updated you guys lately, so here goes!

Back in November when I was home for Thanksgiving, I made a stop by Bret Contreras’s garage/gym. Bret was my very first trainer and still my most trusted! He put me through a workout and followed it up with a plan for me to do out here in sunny CA.

I’ve been doing this program ever since then, which is about 3 weeks. I am doing 3-4 full body workouts each week and varying between heavy weight (1-5 reps), medium weight (8-12 reps), and low weight (20-30 reps) in each workout. I’m doing things like back squats, front squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, chin ups, and bench press. There are also some other exercises that are thrown in, but it’s fun to stick to the major lifts for the most part.

pull up picThis program has been GREAT for me. I not only love doing it, but my body is responding REALLY well to it. My butt is totally getting firmer. I haven’t seen results this quick in a long time. Maybe ever?

Anyways, here are my workouts for the week!

Sunday: Rode bikes on the beach with my brother + walked all over Venice (done)

SM VENICE2 VENICE1Monday: 20 min. HIIT + Full Body Workout (done)

Tuesday: Boxing  (done)

Wednesday: Full Body Workout (done)

Thursday: Boxing

Friday: 20 min. HIIT

Saturday: Full Body Workout

Sunday: Active Recovery

I’m gearing up for the weekend. I have a few holiday parties to go to, so it should be a fun one! I’ll definitely have some pictures to share next week!

Question of the Day

1. What is your favorite holiday food?

I love the cookies. Hands down 🙂

Tuesday Things & a Funny Oscar Video

Hey guys,

I’m currently at the grand opening of the Reebok FitHUB Studio City this morning. This yoga and breakfast event is hosted by Tara Stiles and Haylie Duff! I’ll have a full review up on the blog next week! In case you’re curious now, you can find other Reebok FitHUB locations here: http://fitness.reebok.com/Reebok-FitHub/Articles/2014-10/New-Reebok-FitHubs/

Tuesday Things (random thoughts from my brain)

1. My new lifting program from Bret Contreras leaves me SO hungry! I am basically doing a full body lifting session 3-4 days per week. I’m loving it so much, but my appetite is through the roof! SO excited to be lifting BIG again and I can’t wait to see how this changes the game for me.

Glute pump goin' on. Heavy squats, Bulgarian squats, 45 degree hyperextensions, banded hip abduction.

2. Kombucha addictions are expensive. I think I need to either pick having a gourmet coffee OR a Kombucha every day, not both. If I just start making my morning coffee at home, I can make room in the budget for this Kombucha addiction, which seems to be ever-growing.

3. Sugar affects me much differently these days. Since I have stayed pretty consistent with staying away from sugar since my No Sugar Added Challenge ended, anytime I do eat sugar, I feel pretty sick. It has made me not want to eat really sugary foods. This is a new thing.

4. I bought a Squat Sponge for when I do hip thrusts. Game changer.  (a.k.a, no more bruised hips!)

$T2eC16J,!zoE9s5nd0o2BR1KZf0MSg~~60_57

5. I watched the movie “Come Back to Me” on Netflix last night. It was kind of your typical thriller with the naive girl who can’t see the obvious, BUT it was actually pretty good. I wouldn’t say it’s GREAT, but it definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Thought I’d share since finding good thriller movies on Netflix can be kind of a needle in a haystack ordeal.

come_back_to_me

6. For your entertainment, watch my dog completely talk back to me. Punk.

 

 

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap {Pictures & Videos!}

Happy Monday AND December 1st! This is the best kind of Monday, the start of a new month! How many of you set some goals for the month already??? I definitely did! While I don’t ever think waiting for a Monday or 1st of the month is necessary, it sure makes it more fun for my OCD brain. 😀

Ah, this past week/weekend was quite busy and enjoyable! We drove into emmawatson-fans on Tuesday night and didn’t get in until about 2am. LA traffic is no joke. Our little guy did great on the road trip, though and at one point, even offered to drive.

oscardriveWednesday, I headed to an old friend’s house to get a workout in. Bret was the person that got me into lifting weights, so I had to revisit the past and train with him while I was home!

I hit some MAJOR PR’s while I was there!

275 lb Hip Thrust for 3 reps

215 lb Deadlift for 1 rep

I haven’t even come close to those weights before so I was beyond stoked! It was a great way to start out my trip!

Thanksgiving morning, Charlie, Oscar and I headed out to the park for a family workout. We did:

Turkey Leg Workout: 5 Rounds

  • 10 Push Ups
  • 15 Lemon Squeezers (or you could do sit ups)
  • 15 Squats
  • 100 yd. Sprint

Oscar did all the sprints with us! He was tired out by the end (and so were we!).

oscarparkOur Thanksgiving meal was delicious, and so were the desserts. Since we had extended our No Added Sugar challenge, this was the FIRST TIME we had sugar in 37 days!!!

The verdict? We both felt super sick and decided that we will try to stay away from sugar as much as possible. We will still have treats here and there, but the way we both have felt while OFF the sugar is sooooo much better than how we felt ON sugar. We definitely won’t be going back to any old habits.

Friday was a fun day that revolved around…DOGS. We started the day by taking Oscar to the dog park. We have so much fun watching him play with the other dogs! Afterwards, we headed to my mom’s house so that Oscar could meet my furry brother, Knuckles.

oscarknucklesThey loved eachother. Knuckles was so tolerant of Oscar’s puppy antics. We took them both on walks and hung around for most of the day.

Saturday was my nephew Matty’s 2nd birthday! He has gotten SOO big. He is truly a little boy now. It was fun to watch him play around with the other kids. His excitement when the cake was brought out might have also been the cutest thing ever. He was SOOOO EXCITED.

sanchezfamMy sister’s little family (soon to be 4 of them!)

After the party, we were all pretty exhausted, so we hopped in the car and started the long trek back to LA.

oscarsleepOverall, this was such a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family! I love being able to spend time with them and got a much needed break. Now I’m ready to tackle the new month with a clear, fresh mind!

P.S. I’ll be releasing more information about my FREE E-BOOK, The 10 DAY SEXY SLIMDOWN, this week! Stay tuned! If you can’t wait, you can subscribe to my newsletter on the top left of this page. 🙂

Question of the Day

1. What was the highlight of your holiday?

 

 

My Top 5 Exercises

Hey friends!

It’s been a whirlwind of a week over here. I definitely wore myself out both physically, and mentally. Work has been pretty crazy and all over the place, and I’ve been kicking butt in the fitness department. Between running, rock climbing, hiking, plyometrics, HIIT, and heavy lifting, I’ve literally  been doing it all. Next week I am even planning on taking an adult gymnastics class, so stay tuned for a recap of that! For now, I’m battling a little cold, but hoping I will heal myself by creating cocktails like this:

sickness cocktail

and drinking lots of fluids.

The Core 5 Exercises 

With all of the different types of exercises out there, things can get pretty confusing. There are so many different movements and ways to perform those movements, that sometimes it can make your head spin. Of course, you can target your muscles in many different ways, but there are some basics that I believe are what build your foundation. Not only are they functional exercises, but they are strength building and work your entire body simultaneously. If you master these, consider yourself a master of strength. 😀

1. Push Ups

We all know what a push up is, but are you doing them properly? When done correctly, the pushup will work your pecs (chest), deltoids (shoulders), abs, and triceps, but even your legs, glutes, and lats must work as stabilizers in order to do a push up correctly.

Modification: Start from your knees until you build up strength to do a proper push-up. The same flat-back form and movement should be kept.

2. Pull Ups

I have a love/hate relationship with pull ups. They are such a GREAT exercise, but take a lot of work to become good at. There is really only one way to get better (and do more) pull ups, and that is to…wait for it…DO PULL UPS. But you may ask, how do I work on pull ups if I can’t do a single one?! Well, there are several modifications that help you practice the movement until your strength is built up enough to do pull ups on your own. Here are a few options:

Options #1: Band Pull Ups – both legs

band pull upOption #2: Band Pull Ups – one knee in (same as above, but using only 1 knee in the band)

Option #3: Band Pull Ups – one foot in, straight leg (instead of your knee on the band, you put your foot on it. Both legs stay straight)

3. Back Squats

The back squat is definitely an important exercise for everyone to learn and practice. I always tell people the best ab exercises I know of are squats and deadlifts. Like the push up, this is a full body exercise. Your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and abs are all working very hard during this exercise. Your back is used as a stabilizer as well. The proper back squat involves a nice athletic stance, with your chest out, shoulders back, flat back, and abs pulled in through your belly button. Here is a video by my good friend (and my first trainer! He taught me all of these moves back in 2007) Bret Contreras. The video talks about proper form, problems, and corrections. It is well worth watching!

4. Deadlifts

Probably my favorite exercise of all time. There are several different types of deadlifts, but for our purposes, I am speaking of the Conventional Deadlift. Unlike the squat, the deadlift is a hinge at the hips. This exercise works your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, and abs. It is another exercise that requires a lot of attention to form, as not to injure yourself. Learning your form on this exercise is the first priority before adding weight. Once again, I’ll let Bret take this one:

5. The Hip Thrust

Back in 2007, I learned about the hip thrust first hand from, of course, Bret Contreras. In his small Scottsdale gym that I trained with him at, I was introduced to this move and forever fell in love. With the exercise, not Bret. The hip thrust is absolutely the best glute exercise out there. It is a power movement that uses SO many muscles and truly targets the glutes in a way that squats and deadlifts just don’t do (not to take away from them, just a different reaction from the muscles). I am posting another one of Bret’s videos, as he is one of the first people to spread the word and research this amazing exercise in depth.

Side note: Bret is now selling the Hip Thruster machine! (you better believe I’m talking my gym into getting one.)

So there you have it folks. I can guarantee that if you master and practice these 5 moves, you truly need nothing else. Of course, you can always supplement with other exercises and focus on speed, power, or strength (which will all give you a different way to use these moves), but these are staples. Learn them, practice them, and watch your fitness level take strides.

– What is your favorite exercise?

– Do you practice any of these exercises regularly? If so, which is your favorite/least favorite?