Sweating for a cause...then just sweating

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Wild World of Cal! Its been a crazy week, one that I have been chomping at the bit to tell you about. I ran my first ever road race! In the Upset of the Century, I didn’t win. I did manage to finish in a time that was below the goal I set for myself. Also, I want to tell you about Spinning with Ayla. One word to describe the experience, AWESOME.

So I am standing in a nice crowd at the starting line of the Danny Oates Memorial 5k Road Race and I have some serious butterflies churning in my stomach. I have played in some pretty important (at least, they were important to me) hockey and football games in my day, but I think I was more nervous about running in this race. Honestly, I think that this race was such a big step in my battle with weight-loss that it brought about this nervousness that I was feeling. 

The race experience was awesome. People were standing on the side of the roads all along the course calling out words of encouragement. It was cool. The funniest part of the day came when I tried to take a drink of water from the drink station and managed to spill the whole thing all over myself. The level of my coordination is impressively low. Anyway, crossing that finish line was beyond thrilling. I beat my goal of 30 minutes and might have just found myself a new hobby.

Alright, well that’s enough about my race-day glory. Let’s move on to Spin Class with Ayla. In my life before coming to summit health + fitness, I had never taken a spin class. Let me tell you, I am more than impressed. Ayla works you to the bone. All the while, she is giving you an amazing amount of encouragement. I was new to her class but it was like she already knew what I was capable of. She would say to me, “Cal, I know you got more in you, Push it”! Now, don’t get me wrong, its not like Ayla is a drill sergeant at the front of the class yelling at everyone who is not on the verge of dropping. She gives just the right amount of encouragement to those who need it. I find this extremely motivating and is a big help when I am getting tired. I left Ayla’s class absolutely drenched with sweat. On top of that, if you look down at your bike and the end of the workout and you see that you have pedaled over twenty miles, it is extremely gratifying. It is a great work out and, maybe more importantly, a great experience. Be sure to check out Ayla’s Spin Class on Mondays and Thursdays at 9:15am and Saturdays at 8:00am.

Well, that is all I have for you this week. Be sure to check in next week as I will be talking about the importance of balance. Should be an interesting read.

Until next week...

TTYL

Cal

Feelin' The Flow

Hello all and welcome back to the Cal Palace! The past few days have been spent preparing for the Danny Oates Memorial Road Race taking place in Bedford on Saturday September 25th at 8:30am. Come check it out as I am GUARANTEEING VICTORY (for someone other than me). This is my first road race and I am really looking forward to it. I have been doing a lot of running leading up to the race in addition to my typical weight training and preparing for my upcoming hockey season. With all of this exercise, it has been tough on my body. In an effort to maintain my exercise , get some mental relaxation as well as give my body a good stretch, I have been taking the Les Mills BODYFLOWTM class. 

BODYFLOWTM is a mixture of Yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi. It is a relaxing workout that has you perform a variety of stretches and movements that increase muscle strength and flexibility. It is a solid workout that left me sweating and feeling great. I can say that I was delightfully surprised after the workout. 

The first time I walked into this class, I have to admit, I was a little intimidated. You hear a lot of different stories about Yoga and Pilates and I really had no idea of what to expect. To add to it, I was the only male in my first class. I was thinking that I was going to look totally stupid. I was wrong. The moves are VERY easy to pick up. The class has a lot of repetition. When you go through it one or two times you pick up the movements and get by for the rest of the class. As I was performing all of the exercises, I was sweating. I could feel my muscles stretching and becoming looser. This was a feeling I really enjoyed. After days and weeks of being tight and sore, it was nice to get a workout and feel this level of comfort. 

The moves are a bit awkward at first. Did I look a little silly? Probably. However, I was doing the same moves as everybody else and NOBODY CARES! It wasn’t long before I got the hang of the exercises and I didn’t feel quite as silly. In taking the class, I can say that I am fully capable, along with EVERYBODY ELSE, of taking this type of class. It is not just for women. It does provide a great workout. 

I lastly wanted to talk about my favorite part of the class. The last five minutes. This is my favorite not because I know the class is coming to an end, but because it is filled with a meditation exercise that is amazing. You lie down on the floor and relax all of your muscles and meditate. It was unbelievable. It took everything in my power to keep from falling asleep. In times where busy schedules and stress take up a lot of everybody’s energy, it is great to close your eyes and meditate. Even if it is for only five minutes. It left me feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day’s challenges.

I hope this little insert will convince you that taking this class is worth your time. If you had talked to me a couple of months ago and asked me to go to a class like this, I probably would have laughed in your face. Give it a shot. I guarantee you will like it. 

Please remember to stop by the summit health + fitness booth at Bedford Day on Saturday September 25th from 10am to 3pm. There will be giveaways and fun for the whole family.

Until next week, have fun and stay active!

Cal

Buyer Beware!

Before I start my latest rant, I wanted to take a second to send my condolences to a good friend of mine, Tim Foristall. Tim lost his father, Steven, to cancer this week. We here at summit health + fitness would like to send our condolences to Tim and the rest of his family. Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I know that I said last week that I would be talking about our new BODYFLOWTM class. I have to veer off that road for the time being to get something off my chest. The purpose of this week’s blog will be to tell you about pre-workout “energy drinks” and how I STRONGLY recommend NEVER using them!

I had Wednesday scheduled as an off-day but I decided to come into the gym for a workout (Andrew’s Beach Body Boot Camp). I was really down on energy all morning and was having a tough time getting motivated to workout. I remembered that I had a free sample of a pre-workout energy powder (name of the product has intentionally been left out). The directions said to mix the powder with 6-8 ounces of water and to drink it 30-40 minutes prior to working out. I followed them to the letter. The drink was fruit punch flavored and was actually quite yummy. Before I could even finish the drink (remember it is only 6-8 ounces) I felt like I got slapped in the face with an energy kick. I began sweating profusely and could feel my heart rate increasing noticeably. It was unnerving to say the least. So I arrived at the gym, sweating heavily, heart pounding and on the verge of freaking out! I talked to Phil (one of the gym owners) and Andrew to see if this was normal. Their response: TOTALLY NORMAL. This is exactly what these drinks are supposed to do! How is that possible??!! Apparently, there are some who seek and crave this type of energy boost and overall crazy sensation. I AM NOT ONE OF THEM! Phil and Andrew were kind enough to make me aware of the impending “Crash” that lie ahead, but I will talk more about that later...

So now I proceed to the workout. This “magic potion” did what is was supposed to do. It boosted my energy and got me through a difficult class and a tough workout. What is didn’t say on the package is that it would make me sweat through two t-shirts, have the worst cotton-mouth of my life and make me feel like my heart was going to explode out of my chest.

I finished my workout and headed home to “ride out the storm” that I had created for myself. About an hour after I got home, the “crash” that I was promised had arrived. It felt like I had been hit by a train. I was exhausted. I ended up taking a two-hour nap in the middle of the afternoon. Needless to say, this mid-afternoon nap totally messed up my sleeping cycle and had me tossing and turning all night.

Obviously, I did not enjoy the effects of this product. Based on my research, there are a ton of them available on the market. There is a reason we do not sell them at summit health + fitness, nor will we in the future. If you are really dragging or lacking energy, try a cup of coffee and a banana. For most of us, this is sufficient. I do not recommend trying one of these drinks. If you are a fan of these drinks and are going to continue to use them, please be careful in doing so. The feeling I got did not seem right and appeared to be downright dangerous.

If you have stories related to the use of these types of drinks, positive or negative, please post them in the comments section. Please do not use any specific brand names when telling your story.

Thanks again for reading. My next blog will cover BODYFLOWTM, I promise!

Take Care,

Cal

Guess Who's Back??!!

Hello there all of you fitness nuts, welcome back for what is my third installment of Big Cal’s Fitness Blog! I promise I will stop counting these blogs soon, it is getting a little silly. Last week, I told you about Andrew Eppinger’s Burn class. This week, I want to tell you about Personal Training with young Andrew. 

The early part of my career here at summit heath + fitness has been working with Andrew. It started with me taking his Burn class then I moved to working with him on an individual basis for Personal Training. Before we started working out, Andrew took the time to sit with me and find out EXACTLY what my goals were. It is important that ANY trainer review your goals with you before you start working out. How else would he or or she know if they are pushing you in the right direction? I told Andrew that my goals were to get in better condition for my upcoming hockey season as well as to tone my body, essentially, to get everything tighter. Andrew took into consideration my goals and also helped me add to my “wish list” by simply having a discussion about what I thought looked good and where I wanted to be. In the end, we made a plan to get me in excellent cardiovascular condition for hockey, get my body tighter and we also set a goal to increase my strength and build muscle significantly in the shoulder, chest and arm areas. 

Since making these goals together, Andrew has developed all of our workouts together to meet each and every one of these goals. He takes the time to explain each exercise that I will be performing and will also explain exactly why I am doing it. Andrew says “ I feel it is important for the client to know exactly why he or she is doing each exercise. That way, they know exactly where they should be feeling the exercise. It also helps with motivation”. Upon request, I asked Andrew to push me past my limits. When it gets tough and you feel like quitting, Andrew is there with motivation and words that push you to keep going. I feel that you get the best results when you are pushing yourself past your limits. Go until it gets difficult, AND THEN do some more. That is my attitude towards working out, however, not everyone shares the same mentality. Upon watching Andrew work with other clients, I see that he is fully capable of figuring out just how hard to push each person. Andrew has the skill to know just when to push you harder and when to “ease off the gas pedal”.

I have obviously enjoyed my workouts with Andrew, but I wanted to see what some of his clients had to say about working with him. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Amy Scully has been working with Andrew for  just over a month. “ It has only been a month and I am already seeing the change that I want to see. Training with Andrew is ever-changing and motivating. His flexible nature will certainly help me achieve my fitness goals”. Amy is an extremely hard worker in the gym and Andrew has successfully harnessed that energy and given Amy the pathway to reach whatever goals she wishes. Chris Lesperance went to Andrew with the goal  of losing 35 pounds and to build muscle. He has been working with Andrew for three months and is pleased with the results he has seen so far. “Working with Andrew is definitely challenging. Each workout is different which keeps it interesting. I have already almost reached my weigh-loss goal and I couldn’t be any happier with the results”.  In talking with Chris, it is clear that he is not going to rest on his success. He and Andrew are going to come up with new goals to keep Chris moving in the right direction.

Working with Andrew will push you to your limits. You will work hard ALL THE TIME and will sweat immensely. You will do this knowing that your trainer wants nothing but success for you. He also wants you to reach your goals without getting hurt. Andrew Eppinger is at the beginning of a promising career as a Personal Trainer. Give him the opportunity to help you reach your goals and he will not let you down.  If you would like to set up a meeting with Andrew, feel free to send him an email at aeppinger@summitbedford.com. or you can simply let me know at the front desk and I will have him get in touch with you.

Thanks for your time and checking back in with me. Next week, I will tell you about my adventures in Les Mill’s BODYFLOW class. This is a class that should be experienced by everybody. I was totally skeptical walking in, but now I am convinced about its benefits. Check in next week to find out more!

Please feel free to share your thoughts. I haven’t received any on the blog yet. Don’t be shy!

Cal