Archive for the ‘Fitness Tips’ Category
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
In October 2010, I was experiencing severe back and leg pain due to a herniated disc in my lower back. After numerous visits with multiple doctors and steroid injections in the spine, round-the-clock painkillers and muscle relaxers, I still found it difficult to do things as simple as putting on my own socks. By February, I had had enough and was ready to concede to back surgery.Meanwhile, my husband had been doing some personal trainingwith Kimberly at Emerge; and during the course of a casual conversation, she suggested I see Dr. Matt Lytle at Precision Health Group. I pessimistically agreed to try one more thing before setting up the surgery. I began seeing Dr. Lytle onFebruary 23. After three weeks, his treatment helped tremendously, and I was soon cutting back on some of my prescriptions. Dr. Lytle suggested I go to Emerge in order to build my core and increase relief from my symptoms. I started working with Angie on March 21 while continuing to see Dr. Lytle. By April 5, I was no longer taking any prescriptions. In February, I couldn’t stand to be in a car for 5 minutes; but in early May, I took a couple OTC and was able to sit on a plane for four hours. As I write this, I am heading to Texas tomorrow and not even packing any pain relievers. Thanks, Angie and Kim at Emerge for your part in helping my get my life back!
Sheila is one of the many clients that we see at Emerge everyday. Corrective exercise can help manage and heal pain that people deal with everyday. If your an athlete battling repeat injuries or if you sit at a desk 40 hours a week and experience neck and low back pain we can help. Starting a corrective exercise program starts with a consultation and a postural assessment. We then put together a corrective exercise program based on a persons daily routine, common movement patterns, and we develop the program based on each individuals movement dysfunction. These clients start out with therapy exercise programs and with in time they are completing 5ks, triathlons, and marathons and achieving personal goals they gave up on years ago. Contact an Emerge Trainer to gather more information and setup a consultation.
Emerge Fitness Training
Angie Pirtle
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Saturday, January 7th, 2012
One of the most cloudy areas of fitness today is dietary supplementation. A dietary supplement, as defined by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, is “a catch-all term that includes substances that the FDA does not consider drugs and also do not fall in the category of normal foods or food additives. Generally, dietary supplements are highly refined products that that would not be confused with a food.”
Unfortunately, most of the information given to consumers is from the supplement company themselves, or from anecdotal evidence from someone using the supplement that espouses its incredible efficacy. The truth is, very few supplements are shown to be effective in increasing performance , boosting testosterone, burning bodyfat, improving ones quality of life, etc.
Beware the supplement label claiming anything fantastic like a “1000% increase in testosterone” or “incredible fat incinerating power.” There is no scientific evidence for these claims in ANY supplement.
Furthermore, even in vitamin and mineral supplements which may be effective in enhancing fitness in some people with an extreme deficiency , there is no conclusive evidence that doses ABOVE the daily recommendation further enhances health or performance. A relatively balanced diet (of food) will satisfy most of a persons vitamin and mineral needs.
So, be careful of suspect label claims or claims of peers that seem too good to be true. They are. Save your money, eat a balanced diet, and stick to a smart fitness plan.
If you have any questions regarding any component of fitness, call me (636)399-7049 or get in contact with any Emerge trainer.
Matt Pirtle, MA. CSCS
emergefitnesstraining.com
Tags: Angie Nation, Angie Pirtle, athlete, Blog, bodybuilding, competitor, diet, dudas, Emerge Fitness, Emerge Fitness Training, gyms, healthy, kimberly renoud, Matt Pirtle, Matt Wirth, nicole lafser dudas, nutrition, personal trainer, saint charles, supplements, weight loss
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Sunday, November 6th, 2011
Diane & Barry Witmer and Beth & Dan Cuquet, 2 husband and wife teams who partner train at Emerge are finding that pairing up with their partner not only keeps them accountable to their weekly workout, but creates just enough competition to keep them moving forward towards their fitness goals. Between the four, they have lost a significant number of pounds while gaining/maintaining lean muscle mass, making substantial gains in strength, body composition and overall health and wellbeing. Both couples not only see their time together working out as a key part of their fitness lifestyle, but creates time they actively spend together.
Beth Pirtle
Emerge Fitness
Tags: beth pirtle, Emerge Fitness Training, fitness, Matt Pirtle, Partner Training, personal trainer, Saint Charles Personal Training, weight loss, workout
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Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
In between sets this afternoon, a client of mine mentioned he had seen his doctor the day before for a routine checkup. He shared with me an exchange he and his doctor had had during the visit that went like this.
Client: “Well Doc, I’ve been working with a personal trainer and I have been able to move around without the pain I used to have.”
Doc: “Personal trainer, huh? How old is this trainer?”
Client: “I don’t know exactly. In his thirties I guess.”
Doc: ”Well don’t let these young “trainers” push you too hard. Old guys like us don’t need to be worked that hard.”
Wow. Two big stereotypes given out as advice in a two sentence blurt.
According to this doctor, age is a BIG determinant of what you are able, and not able, to do.
I was too young to understand training older populations, and my client was “too old” to be trained “hard.”
People like to stereotype. It keeps the world simple and manageable. Things can be categorized in easy, quantifiable terms without exceptions. That’s nice. It’s also not reality.
A person’s age, gender etc. should not be the sole determinant of their ability to exercise. Their fitness level and readiness to exercise physically determines this. It wasn’t long ago that resistance training wasn’t for women. That opinion has changed. A lot.
Nevertheless, you hear what’s good for you or not good for you based on these very limiting ways of thinking and grouping people.
Bottom line, DONT LET THIS WAY OF THINKING LIMIT YOU OR GIVE YOU AND EXCUSE NOT TO BE HEALTHY. It’s not intelligent and it won’t allow you to hit your physical potential.
Matt Pirtle, MA, CSCS
Tags: Angie Nation, athlete, competition, Emerge, Emerge Fitness Training, exercise, fitness, functional training, Matt Pirtle, muscle, personal trainer, power, Saint Charles Personal Training, st. charles, trainer, workout
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Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Measuring power and velocity is a difficult often subjective task for an athlete or strength and conditioning coach. The TENDO power and speed analyzer takes estimation out of the picture and replaces it with real data on power production and speed of movement. Come check out this invaluable training and testing tool for athletes at Emerge.
CLICK TO VIEW DEMO with JEREMY MACLIN
Tags: Angie Nation, athlete, competition, dudas, Emerge, Emerge Fitness Training, exercise, functional training, Matt Pirtle, Matt Wirth, personal trainer, Personal training Saint Charles, power, power training, saint charles, Saint Charles Personal Training, st. louis, tendo unit, trainer, weight loss, workout
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Sunday, August 28th, 2011
This will be a quick post inspired by a mistake I often make in my own training.
Warm Ups are important. Getting tissue warm and ready for exercise is important for maximal performance and injury prevention, especially if that warm up is dynamic and mimics the kinds of movement you are about perform in your exercise routine.
With that said, after you have warmed up and performed a lighter warm up set with a specific exercise for a specific muscle group, GET TO YOUR WORKING WEIGHT.
For example, I was squatting today. I really do not like (the act of performing) this exercise. I found myself warming up with 135. I went to 185 next. Then 235. Then 285. Then 335, which is my working weight for my target reps number of 8. So, I ended up with one set at my max potential weight of 8. That’s one working set out of 5! That’s not good.
To force an adaptation (change) in your performance or physique, you have to work out at your max potential for all sets except for a warmup set (or 2 for bigger movements like deadlifts or squats).
I see people in the gym doing “chest day” where they will perform 3-4 warm up sets for every single exercise, even though they are training the exact same muscle group at a slightly different joint angle. At the end of the day, a routine like this will give you 5-6 sets that have a potential to change anything, with the rest acting as a combination of warm ups and calorie-burning weight lifting.
The point: Warmup and get to the point. If an exercise routine calls for 4 sets of 8 reps, that means 4 sets to failure at 8, which is your MAX weight, not a slowing ascending ladder of arbitrary sub-max loads.
Matt Pirtle, MA, CSCS
Tags: Angie Nation, athlete, bodybuilding, Emerge, Emerge Fitness, Emerge Fitness Training, fitness, functional training, Matt Pirtle, muscle, personal trainer, personal training, Personal training Saint Charles, power, Saint Charles Personal Training, st. charles, st. louis, trainer, training, weight loss, workout
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Sunday, August 21st, 2011
I am 20 weeks pregnant this week and not a lot of changes except watching my stomach grow daily. We had our 20 week ultrasound this week and everything is perfect. Baby is perfect size and growing. I have gained 6lbs at my 20 week mark. At 20 weeks with Charley I had gained 10lbs. I’m hoping for a 20lb weight gain. My doctor is extremely happy with my progress.
I felt good this week and had good energy and that is all due to the fact that I had a good week of exercise and diet. I got in all my cardio for the week and even had time for a few extra strength training workouts. Cardio is down to running outside with my two dogs or on the treadmill running at a 5.0 for about 20 min. Some days are easier than others but I listen to my body and when I need to I walk I walk. My walking is a 11.0 incline at 3.0 mph on the treadmill. With my stomach getting bigger I am feeling more tightness in my lower abdominal when running and that is when I take it down to a walk.
My core and strength training workouts have not changed. I feel just as strong as I did before being pregnant and have not had to make modifications. My main goal is to maintain my Lean body mass and not loose muscle. I stick to compound movements with 10-12 reps and still lift to failure and the end of a set range. I circuit train the big muscle groups. Today was a circuit of chest, shoulder, and legs followed by a 10 min run on the treadmill. I do lots of push ups, pull ups, shoulder lateral & overhead movements, lunges, and squats. I was able to get 3 body weight pull ups this week. Don’t know how much longer that will last. I was doing about 3 sets of 8 pull ups before pregnancy.
I kept my diet clean all week and splurged with pizza twice over the weekend and peach pie.
I eat the same thing everyday and this is a sample of my diet Monday-Friday
Breakfast
1 scoop Jay Robb protein powder with h20 or almond milk + 1 pc cinamon raisin ezekial toast
Mid Morning between clients
20 gram protein shake + 1 peach
Lunch
1-2pc of ezekail bread ( depending on how hungry I am) with chicken or turkey, low fat mayo, tomato, pickle, and lettuce. I load my sandwiches up with veggies it makes them so much better and takes care of my big appetite. I also have a handful of Rice Works chips. I get these at Dierbergs or Costco. They are very good and are made from brown rice which has a better response with blood sugar spikes and digestion compared to regular potato chips. That is my lunch every day.
Mid Afternoon
I eat again around 3pm and it is either a smoothie made with 1 scoop of Jay Robb protein powder, h20, and frozen mixed berries or 1 pc of ezekiel bread with almond butter and a low sugar strawberry spread.
Dinner
Dinner is me and Matt’s favorite time of the day. We enjoy cooking together and its the only time of the day that we get to spend together. Our dinners are always healthy and planned during the week. We do our grocery shopping on Sundays and plan the whole week. If we are unplanned and no food in the house that is when the diet goes bad and we are eating out and pizza deliveries. Bad Bad. Dinner is always a lean protein (lean red meat, chicken, turkey, fish), vegetables, and a salad. We keep it simple but cook with lots of spices and seasonings to add flavor.
After Dinner
I don’t eat after dinner and if I feel like something sweet I have a piece of gum.
Next weeks blog I will be adding dinner and breakfast recipes and also write about my experience with feeding my daughter who is 14months and her eating habits. Thanks for following my blog. Please feel free to share any comments on pregnancy experiences or email me with any questions.
Angie Pirtle
Emerge Fitness
Angie@EmergeTraining.com
Tags: Angie Nation, Angie Pirtle, Emerge, Emerge Fitness Training, Exercise and pregnancy, Matt Pirtle, Pregnancy, pregnancy angie pirtle, Saint Charles Personal Training, st. charles
Posted in Angie Pirtle's Pregnancy, Blog, Fitness Tips | 1 Comment »
Sunday, August 14th, 2011
This is week number 19 and the weeks are passing quickly. This was not one of my best weeks as far as exercise but I kept a clean diet. The days that I could have made time to exercise I found myself on the couch. I had a week of low energy and trained a lot of clients which left me tired at the end of the day. Today is Sunday and the start to a new week and I am going to pull it together. The one day of exercise I did was a 20 min interval run on the treadmill with my top speed at 6.5. I followed my run with a full body weight training circuit including core training.
Last week I wrote in detail about the protein powder supplementation that I use in my diet and today I want to write about the role protein plays in a pregnant and non pregnant diet.
Protein plays an extremely important part in pregnancy and the development of your baby. The amino acids which make up protein also form the basic building blocks of your body’s cells which in turn also form the building blocks of your baby’s body too. A diet low in protein can result in low birth weight.
During the second and third trimester is when you should make sure your protein levels are where they should be, especially as this is when your baby will be growing it’s fastest and that means placing more demand on you. It is recommended that you get about 70grams of protein a day.
Protein is also very important for maintaining and building lean body mass. A lack of quality protein will result in the loss of muscle tissue, muscle tone, a reduced immune system, slower recovery and a lack of energy. If your goal is to put on muscle and increase strength or even reduce body fat, while keeping definition and tone, extra protein from high quality sources is an absolute must. This is important pregnant or not pregnant.
The best sources of complete protein are found in animal foods such as meat, fish, shellfish, poultry and dairy.
Eggs are the best source of protein as they contain the highest amount of essential amino acids. Fish is the next best source and is then followed by meat, milk, soy beans, oatmeal, rice, peas, lentils, and kidney beans. If you are not getting your protein from food that is why you need a protein supplementation. There are lots of different kinds of protein supplementation on the market make sure to ask a professional which protein powders are best for you.
I enjoy sharing my journey and next week will be sharing more diet and exercise tips. I see my doctor tomorrow for my 20 week ultrasound. I will be posting pics and weight gain at the half way point in next weeks blog also.
Angie Pirtle
Emerge Fitness Training
Tags: Angie Nation, Angie Pirtle, Emerge, Emerge Fitness Training, Exercise and pregnancy, fitness, functional training, Matt Pirtle, personal trainer, Pregnancy, pregnancy angie pirtle, Pregnant, Saint Charles Personal Training
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Sunday, August 7th, 2011
Tags: Angie Nation, Emerge, Emerge Fitness Training, Exercise and pregnancy, Matt Pirtle, personal trainer, Pregnancy, pregnancy angie pirtle, Saint Charles Personal Training
Posted in Angie Pirtle's Pregnancy, Blog, Fitness Tips | No Comments »
Monday, August 1st, 2011
With the over-abundance of fitness and diet advice floating around in the gym, in magazines and on the web, it can sometimes be difficult to filter out the good information from the bad (and sometimes, dangerous). There is no shortage of advice in the local fitness facility or online from “experts” touting the latest sure thing diet plan.
With all of this (sometimes conflicting) information, certain fundamentals of fitness and nutrition will always be the basis for any further discussion, a “fitness axiom.” These things are true whether or not you want them to be. This will be the jumping off point for my experiment in intuition diet.
Intuition always assumes a certain amount of learned information. For example, a person might intuit that the moment is wrong to cross the street just before a car speeds by. The knowledge that streets are for cars and they often drive on them is understood first. My intuitive diet plans works this way, except I have had a LOT of time studying the street and the probability of a car approaching. Some information is learned, and intuition is driven by that knowledge.
I started this experiement in early July with nothing really to lose. In the past, a diet for me meant I was preparing for a show (on stage in basically bikini underwear). There was a lot at stake. This time, with the stakes smaller, I tried a different approach to my RIGID competition dieting regime.
I took the basics of nutrition and the metabolic functioning of the human body and applied the knowledge to a day-to-day “guideline” for my diet.
Some of the very basics:
1) Calories taken in must be less than calories expended.
2) A carbohydrates main function is energy, your body converts them into glucose for use.
3) Protein is essential for strong bones, skin and MUSCLE, and the body needs amino acids from proteins every day because they cannot be stored like carbs and fats.
This, along with some smaller absolute rules, was the information referred to the most in this experiment.
So I began on July 8th.
Next update soon….
Matt Pirtle, MA, CSCS
Tags: Angie Nation, calories, competition, competitor, diet, dieting, Emerge, Emerge Fitness Training, exercise, fitness, functional training, healthy, Matt Pirtle, saint charles, Saint Charles Personal Training, st. charles, st. louis, training, weight loss
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