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9/30/2019 0 Comments Susan G Komen Race For Cure 5kSaturday I partook in my first 5k run -- and I did it to raise money for breast cancer. I met some new people and took some selfies with my team afterwards. If you want to check out more photos from the race, follow my Instagram page --- ShayFitnessWonderWoman
It was a wonderful time and I was happy I could partake in an event with a great community & to have had a team with my gym I work at. I definitely found the run a challenge considering I am not a long distance runner by any means, but I finished and that is truly awesome in my book! The last picture is of a gentlemen who stopped me after the race to applaud me and made mention of how he runs for a living; he was from out of town and we both shared stories of having members of our family either battle or die from cancer. I found out later he won 3rd place in his age group and funny story, because I ended up keeping up with him the whole time and I feel honored to have done so, because he did amazing! If you haven't had a chance to do a 5k , please give it a go, just for the experience. I think it feels good when you finish a race -- especially when you have no plans on winning or beating a certain time, you just do it for the community involvement and the cause and for the pure enjoyment of knowing you did something new and worthwhile for yourself. If you are a 5k runner or have done one in the past, share your experiences in the comment section, get more people running and staying active :D
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9/18/2019 0 Comments Single Leg Kettlebell DeadliftsAn underrated movement that needs a lot of attention because it provides a lot of benefits that can go towards your compound lifts & also provides a means of working on balance & coordination, stability, core strength, hamstrings, and mobility of the hips, back and legs. In the above video, I am demonstrating this workout utilizing a 12kg kettlebell.
Now because I have a harder time with my left leg keeping its balance, I tend to add more reps to this side to help build it and focus in on it, but naturally I usually do between 12-15 reps on each side. One thing to keep in mind, is this exercise is not meant to be fast paced, take your time and really focus on keeping your balance and utilizing the proper muscles with good technique/form. I tend to move a lot quicker in this video but if you are a beginner, do this exercise with little to no added weight and either hold on to something until you get more comfortable not having to do so, or touch the floor with the moving leg between reps (allowing you to keep your balance). Muscles Utilized:
Follow my Instagram to view this video & more! 9/16/2019 0 Comments Caffeine For AthletesCaffeine, one of the world's greatest inventions for many Americans. Typically people drink their caffeine in the morning for a boost of energy but now caffeine isn't just in your coffee and can be used for different purposes.
Like anything we eat or drink, we should be aware of what we add to this natural stimulant -- which makes the difference in how our bodies react to it and how much we should consume of it before it becomes a "performance loss" -- I use this word because I am going to talk about the pros and possible cons of consuming caffeine while trying to be fit/healthy. Lets start with, how many of my readers and fellow bloggers drink some form of caffeine? How often? does it work? Questions to consider because why consume a beverage with a purpose if it doesn't work and why feel the need to consume more of it in order for it to work? The problem that lies with caffeine for athletes and non athletes is when we use it, some of us then have a hard time without it in our systems; we start to depend on it (not healthy). Now I am not against caffeine and its uses, as a matter of fact, I take a pre-workout supplement before my actual workouts sometimes to aid in my energy levels and it helps to make me push through my workouts a little longer BUT I don't depend on it and can go without caffeine in my day to day life & while lifting. None of this is new information if you are someone who has had caffeine in your diet or has been one who needed to ween themselves from it, but this information is good to know if you are someone who plans on using a form of caffeine to aid in your workouts or day to day lifestyles. We got the black and white important stuff out the way -- let's chat performance gains and losses with caffeine. Performance Gains
9/11/2019 0 Comments The Barbell Front SquatThe Barbell Front SquatWhen it comes to squat variations, my strong suit is the front squat due to having strong quad muscles — in the video I demonstrate the front squat from the back side view, doing 135 lbs on the barbell & making sure to hit the 90 degree angle on the way down and bringing the weight back up evenly against my traps.
Now this video might not show close up insight or a step by step direction — but you see the squat form and the depth I am doing in order to hit full ROM (range of motion). If you are new to this exercise or any form of exercise, be sure to start off with lighter loads to work on technique/form. Muscles utilized: Quadriceps glutes adductor magnus soleus hamstrings gastrocnemius erector spinane anterior/lateral delts suprapinatus rhomboids upper/middle/lower back Benefits of the exercise Improves core strength glute activitation Benefits of the exercise
7/14/2019 0 Comments The "Carnivore" DietAs a personal trainer, I thought for sure I had heard it all when it comes to dieting and food fads--- I figured each diet offered something different from the last with the same promises: weight loss, healthy and results. It wasn't until I was training a past client; that he brought up the "carnivore diet", at the time I rolled my eyes because I wasn't even sure what to think of it (I LOVE MEAT) but still the thought made me shake my head that something like this would even be a thing (of course it would be, it's 2019 and people never run out of ideas). I promised him I would look into it because I was interested to learn more due to the fact I love meat and I had very little knowledge on it.
Well It has been months, but finally I took the time to do some research on this diet and I figured why not share it on the site so that my readers could be aware of this diet / especially since my clients are always curious and reading up on the newest fitness/health topics to date. I want to mention as much as I love meat, I am not being bias when it comes to writing this article today, because I simply live by "health is having a balanced nutritional long term lifestyle and staying active" while also finding a positive mental balance. No matter your thoughts, beliefs, research, etc, when you read this, take it as a learning experience and NOT as me promoting it because I don't promote diets on this blog, I give you the ins & outs and you decide what works best for you. The Carnivore diet consist of eating all things meat, fish, eggs, and low lactose dairy products. The diet excludes fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and high lactose dairy products. Butter, lard and bone marrow is allowed on this diet. Along with seasonings that have NO carbs The diet encourages drinking water and bone broth but to stay away from alcoholic beverages, tea, coffee, pop, fruit juices, plant based drinks. Pros:
In summary, I wouldn't recommend this diet long term wise because there is not a lot of research or studies that back it up with being a longer term healthy lifestyle but in the short term it could be helpful (pending how your body responds to it). This particular diet might be more expensive considering meat is expensive to buy compared to plant based foods. I think like many diets before this one, it can work for you and against you & it won't work for everybody, it won't magically help you to lose weight and it isn't guaranteed to work. Personally, If I was to try this diet, it would be to see how my body responds to it no more than 30 days, how well it works with me being a powerlifter and if any results come from it. Hopefully all of my readers/clients reading this have a good idea of what this diet consist of & if you do decide to give this a go, please be safe about doing it and pay attention to your body. ACSM Certified Personal Trainer Shay-lon Moss 3/24/2019 0 Comments My First Fitness Photo-shoot
Friday was my birthday, Saturday was my first fitness photoshoot and I was hella nervous. I wish I could say i came prepared but mentally I was running wild with thoughts and emotions. I always wanted to do a photoshoot and now I have a reason (my business, building a portfolio and marketing myself). It turned out to be both fun and very hard because I had to learn to hold poses/ holding heavy weights for extended periods of time isn't easy (even if athletes make it look like so) and I had to be able to flex my muscles to capture veins, striations, etc. I have to admit the fact I had a great photographer helped me a lot, because she was both helpful and patient and very encouraging during the whole shoot. It lasted well over a hour and when it came to an end, without me asking, she mentioned wanting to continue to be a photographer for me -- which was awesome because wasn't sure how it would go from here on out. I am so happy I did this, for those on my Facebook page (personal page) you might have noticed my long post about the reasons why I did this and how much this photoshoot meant to me-- it goes much deeper than the business aspects, it was on a personal and mental level as well, something most people probably didn't even know about me -- but in order to be the best personal trainer I can be, I had to do this for me without worrying about the validation from others / society. I DID IT! and I am very happy, the final results will be done within 10-20 days, and I haven't decided if I will show them on my social media platforms or keep them to myself and only show certain people -- but either way, this was a HUGE step for me and I don't regret it one bit. My next photoshoot will be in May/June outside, so I am looking forward to it and hopefully going forward it will help with building myself as an athlete and personal trainer.
Word of advice: Do it, even if it scares you, do it! some of the best opportunities in life come when you step outside your comfort level. It never hit me that I would have to sit down and really think about where I want my career headed; I mean I know the answer to this but a couple of days ago an obstacle stood in my way -- sadly, this isn't an easy obstacle to overcome. I made this website in hopes my clients & the surrounding community would read my blogs, listen to my podcast (when they get posted), start my online business in hopes I would make it great by next year, etc. The overall goal was to have this be my new upcoming way of saying "I can do this, I can be successful in this profession with hard work and dedication" -- thus far, I haven't taken charge of this site the way I had hoped and I haven't marketed myself the way I had hoped, so I haven't been a good host to many of you. I suppose video games and laziness has gotten in the way of my goals and my drive has been slow. Now, I have taken more of a notice and I want to do something about it, because before too long, I will be 27 & I want to say I am a little further than I was at age 26. I don't want to be complacent anymore, I have said this many times over but still have done nothing about it -- well today I will. Before I can go any further with this website, the owner of the gym I work at told me, I will soon have to sign a "non compete" form -- which means I can't work at another fitness facility, can't have my own personal training business, and can't any way make my job secondary, it is not the primary; whom I represent and work for. I would say on one hand, I am excited but on the other hand, it will hinder me for sure with wanting to be my own contractor in the fitness industry and that's a hard pill to swallow. I love my job at the gym, although it could be better if I actually got along with my club director but besides that minor ache, I love my job, but I also want to flourish and do BIGGER THINGS! do things I dreamed about and things that are meaningful to me. I have yet to sign this form, but I know it will come soon, and I have to sit down and think this over, because if I don't sign, could mean my job. I am pretty sure other gyms would have me sign this as well, but sadly, box gyms I will never make an income worthy of what I want as far as success, but by eventually having my own business, the income and advantages can be awesome. I know it will come down to what is more important RIGHT now, but I wish I could have it my way, LOL.
On the positive side of things, I still plan on blogging, creating my own podcast, Q&A's ect, because those are outlets that allow me to meet and network and share with the world & community alike. If they become a valuable income, that is a bonus. So from today going forward my planner that has website listed as to-do will be taken more seriously & I will put forth a better effort in making this website one that I can be proud of. This post of course was a rant, but mostly an update on possible changes that could happen from this non compete form -- when it comes time to sign it, I hope I make a good decision either way. Shay-lon 2/26/2019 0 Comments I'd Rather Be An Honest Trainer --Nothing is easy when you have to share relatively frustrating news with one of your clients; especially when they are sitting on cloud 9 with happiness due to feeling better with where the path is leading. I don't like being the barer of bad news myself, but there may come a time when you have deliver some hard to swallow news. Recently, I have had to do so with one of my clients & while I didn't at first want to be the reason he or she felt bad -- I knew if I hadn't said something then it would later catch up to me. I find the best way to discuss the lows of a client's progress is to discuss it with purpose, empathy and support, don't begin the sentence with negativity; instead start it off with concern -- because at the end of the day, you should be concerned with their highs and lows and show your empathy and support by active listening, showing understanding and being considerate of their feelings (because pending the topic of discussion, it might trigger them to be defensive) and you have to prepare for this because if it was the other way around, you would mostly likely feel the same way.
As a personal trainer, I am constantly commenting on my client's progression/regression & allowing them to see where improvements can be made while rewarding their efforts and congratulating them on their accomplishments. I want my clients to feel comfortable coming to me about concerns in their health and fitness & also feel open to communicate outside circumstances they may be hindering them from reaching their current goals. I don't like negative talk, but I do however feel it is important to talk about aspects in a client's workout that they are struggling with or express my concerns if something arises that causes me to worry or feel as though the workout program is not fulfilling their needs due to something that has changed with them & their fitness level. Remember everyone has their good days and bad days, same with performance -- some days are better than others & we shouldn't down talk our clients when they struggle but we should definitely make it our mission to discuss our concerns with clients so they both parties can be open to finding a solution to the problem. Much like how I did Monday with my client. If you have any questions or concerns or want to share your experiences with this, leave me a comment & feel free to share this post with your peers! Shay-lon Moss ACSM Certified Personal Trainer 2/17/2019 0 Comments "Whole 30" & Exercise In a world where good nutrition & exercise is essential in becoming healthier and more fit, we have so many programs that have surfaced promising people results. Naturally, we take to these new diets with high hopes it will solve all our problems with wanting to lose weight, look good, have abs, big muscles, etc. but normally the diet program gives us just enough results to get us excited but once we reach our goals, we have no road map in teaching us where to go from there.
Well in the recent weeks, I have had clients ask me about the "whole 30" diet & how it works, what are the pros and cons, would I recommend it, the kind of results to expect from it, and how it works with someone who exercises or wants to add exercising to the regimen. I had no idea what this diet plan was, and from what I gathered from research, it once again offered people a way to lose weight and be healthier but with so many eliminations to their already diet. If you know me, you know I don't believe in eliminating foods from the diet ( I don't) unless a doctor says differently but I do believe in moderation, so I was already bias going in, but without proper research I couldn't inform my clients, so now I have done the research and I am going to share my take on this diet plan and give you information as to what to expect from this program. Keep in mind, I am NOT a nutritionist by any means, so the information I gathered, I cited from professionals. What is the "Whole 30" Diet? it's a diet program that has the person(s) go 30 days without eating any form of processed foods, sugars, alcohol, etc. Basically everything the person eats, will be whole. What foods are Approved? According to www.thekitchn.com/what-you-can-and-cant-eat-on-whole30-239838
Now most of this information is common sense based on the fact that the majority of Americans eat sugar and grains, so when you eliminate such things from a diet, you are going to suffer from fatigue and energy loss. For those of you who are used to exercise, this may only effect you for the first couple of weeks, according to: aaptiv.com/magazine/whole30-diet-impact-workouts there may be a chance that those of us who exercise will have to take some time to adjust to the dieting while exercising while others of us who are just starting a new program, it isn't recommended you do so while starting up the "whole 30" based on the fact it might be hard to do both at once & impact you mentally causing more stress. Now certain exercises are better to do than others while starting the "Whole 30" but it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the workouts you already take part in now, for those of you who are used to exercising, continue your normal regimen but keep in mind with lower energy levels -- you might have to consider lowering the intensity of the workout to sustain it and prevent injury. Some examples of exercises that might fit you best during this diet program and what to expect from other workouts: greatist.com/move/best-whole30-workout-for-you The list of exercises will give you an outlook on how to best carry out the exercise while doing the "whole 30" program. The most important take away is to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! this is because, you know yourself more than we do, so you know when the limit is reached -- be attentive to your needs. Another thing I found out that you may need to keep in mind is: muscle recovery will be compromised while doing the "Whole 30" program due to the fact you won't be consuming any grains or high quality proteins & this means the muscle will not truly recover. Secondly, your body may use own muscle mass for fuel which isn't good because it means that you will need to eat even less food to maintain body weight (not good for performance or physique). Now with all this information I was able to share with you, hopefully this gives you an inside look at the "Whole 30" diet and if choosing to, how to do this diet while also maintaining an exercise program -- it is possible to do both but look for the signs of fatigue and be prepared on how to best handle it. The "Whole 30" program guarantees results but this shouldn't be used a permanent diet plan, once you have done this for 30 days, have a plan on how to maintain the weight loss and new healthy gut benefits it created for you & go about your new lifestyle with more attention to food labels and what you put inside your body. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave feedback & share this post with your peers. Shay-lon Moss ACSM Certified Personal Trainer |
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