JANUARY’S TRAINER TIPS
Missed out on our trainers' valuable tips this month? No worries! We've got you covered with a quick roundup of some noteworthy insights shared by our fitness experts at Pitt Fit Project. Here are a few highlights from our IG account: @pittfitproject.
MEET LEAH WELLS: PFP’S Newest Trainer
I’m Leah - NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Group Personal Training Specialist. I’ve been a one-on-one and small group coach for two years, working with a wide range of clients at different ability levels. I have coached over 1,500 hours in those few years and learned and improved with each hour.
MEET BLAKE BERNSTEIN: PFP’S Newest Trainer & Massage Therapist
Meet Blake! Blake is our newest trainer and licensed massage therapist. Working in both fields, he understands the importance of balance. Being your healthiest means working out hard and making the time to recover properly!
TURNING ACCESSORIES INTO SUCCESSORIES
Accessory work is additional exercises or modalities that are added to your program to help you build strength, improve position, improve technical abilities, or even reduce pain caused by inefficiencies. Whatever accessory work you decide to do it should have a clear purpose for being your program, especially if you have limited time to train.
MAXIMAL ATTEMPTS: MENTAL & PHYSICAL APPROACH
You have finally reached the point in your program where you’ll be taking maximal attempts. Whether these are snatches and clean and jerks or bench presses, squats, and deadlifts, they will no doubt challenge what you have worked for up until this point. Maximal attempts are just that, they call for us to exert both our reserve of strength as well as require the highest level of technique and precision that we can muster at that moment. Not only are our physical capabilities challenged but our mental capacity to focus and overcome what is in front of us. It is, without a doubt, extremely difficult but you are more than capable of doing so.
TEEN WEIGHTLIFTING AT PFP BARBELL
The Teen Weightlifting Program at PFP Barbell is designed to introduce teens to barbell exercises and movement in a safe, positive, and supportive environment.
VARIATION IN TRAINING: WHY DO IT?
One of the main reasons people start training/exercising is because it can be fun and challenging. There comes a certain point when you do the same things over and over they can become boring and unfulfilling. This usually leads to people dropping exercise altogether or resorting to making changes with no real plan for why. Another phenomenon that occurs is called the law of accommodation. This basically states that our bodies will eventually adjust to the stimulus we enact on them and that in order to see results, we must keep challenging it. Although, how much change is enough?
PROGRESS TRACKING: WHERE TO NEXT?
We’re moving into spring, and the first portion of your new training plan is done. You’re about to start the next part, but you are unsure how to quantify what you’ve done and how to progress to the next portion of it. There are a number of ways to determine the quantity and magnitude of your training over time. Setting yourself up properly for the future can be difficult without tracking because how can you discern what is too much or too little?
GET TO KNOW OUR TRAINERS: ANDREW DUFF
In my personal training career, I have experienced a wide variety of people. I have seen old and young athletes and non-athletes. I have worked with people that had very serious and particular goals, as well as people with very general goals. In any case, what I have learned is that it’s not a person's goals, background, or even personality that influences how I view working with them. Rather it is the quality of our communication and the relationship we build.