What I do . . .
• I “Walk The Talk!”
• Only one to one (one trainer/one client at a time!) This training is for folks that are truly ready to “make a change and continue creating changes and never stop improving!”
• Functional Training is for people that want to improve themselves to be able to live their lives better! With this training, you will focus on movements that will “help” you in your everyday activities and not just getting better at doing some “machine” at the gym!
• I offer “Beginning Boxing!” Before you drive to Portland several times a week and spend a lot of money and time, find out if “boxing” is really what you want to do! A lot of the time, folks have an “idea of boxing” that they saw on tv or a movie but don’t really know what all is involved! Sometimes they find that it is just what they want, but other times they come to realize that they had fallen in love with the “idea of boxing” and find that it’s not really what they want to do! So it’s better to find out which is for you before you spend a lot of money on travel and other expenses only to find out that you were “barking up the wrong tree” so to speak!
• Teach you excellent Mind/Body techniques, in addition to great physical fitness!
• Help you with many running techniques (get faster, prevent injuries so you can ‘choose’ to run as long as you wish into any age!) Many times, people want to run into old age but they only do the “running part” and forget that they need to do other exercises to work around the knee, hip and ankle joints to strengthen those areas so that they can continue to run at any age without all of the injuries!
• Aid you in developing your best Mind/Body!
Creating “circular,” life affirming movements in a world of “piston style” back and forth moves (that can cause ‘serious’ injuries!) – “The” Trainer/Inside Out Fitness
Through training myself and others and doing a lot of research over the last “48 years” (I started at the age of 12 and am now 60 years old) & being an RN IN CCU/ER/MED SURGE for 15 years, as well as performing many things like running almost 300 marathons, doing 59 bodybuilding shows, 32 Powerlifting events etc. I have come to some conclusions! Today I’ll talk about one of them and it’s about why you should include a lot of circular movements into your training.
Circular movements when training are so much more “functional training type” involved movements! Functional Training is about improving your mind/body in order to train in a way that totally enhances your ability to go through your life and do those “life movements” in a manner that allows you to get better all the time at “enjoying the continuance of the life that you have chosen!”
There are two main reasons (but there are many more!) that you want to include circular movements into your workouts!
#1 – if you don’t then you are stuck with doing what I call “Piston Style Movements!” These are your basic forward and backward movements! (Think of most machines) You continually “run the resistance pressure” over and over the same path of resistance of your body (muscles & joints etc.) and eventually you will injure yourself because you are just “beating a dead horse” so to speak! But if you do circular type movements, you don’t have near as much of a chance of YOU INJURING YOU!
#2 – if you only use piston style, back and forth type movements then you don’t learn how to do better in your life! (Which is again, what functional training is all about!) You only develop techniques of how to push and pull resistance back and forth but think about how life is? You don’t go around on your daily activities of living and just go back and forth all the time! Why? Well mainly because that wouldn’t produce any new results! (ie. you wouldn’t get anywhere!) No, “life itself is really much more about ‘circular living!’” Also, think about your world as you continue to move through it, is everything that you do all “equal?” No, pretty much every step you take is somewhat ‘different’ than the last! But when you are walking or running on a treadmill for example, it’s pretty much the same(there are no rocks or other things in your way that you must maneuver over or around!) So it’s not totally preparing you for continuing on your ‘life path!’ So think about the other machines that you may use in a gym? Let’s say you sit down on a seat to do machine seated bench presses, you can maybe change the height and possibly a little of other things but for the most part you are doing the same exact move every time! That just doesn’t happen like that in your “real world experiences!” Let’s say you do something simple like grocery shopping and carrying the bags into your house. Well every time, each bag is likely to be different with a different weight and a different makeup of what’s in the bag! So you need to create your exercise world to more closely resemble your “real time world!”
So as you move forward in your life, spend your time and money on the things and situations that will produce actual, continual “life affirming” changes that you can feel great about!
Thanks, “The” Trainer/Inside Out Fitness
Say hello to my March 2024 “Athlete of the Month!” Mitzi!
I thoroughly enjoy every second I get to work with her! Trainer
The Art of Using Angles for Increased Strength
If you’re not training your muscles at different angles, you’re leaving precious gains on the table.
Written by Robbie FarlowLast updated on Oct 25, 2022
Strength training isn’t as complicated as people think. In fact, a relentless focus on the basics—squat, deadlift, press, pull—can produce eye-popping results. But understanding the basics of how the game works only gets you so far. Eventually, you need to level up your knowledge and attack your goal from a different angle. When it comes to challenging your muscles or stimulating them in various ways, if you’re not training your muscles at different angles, you’re leaving precious gains on the table.
How Much Does Exercise Angle Matter?
By BarBend
When following a training program, you’ll notice that the volume, load, intensity, and frequency will gradually change over time. In order for progressive overload to occur, it’s important to change other variables, including the exercise angle.
Range of Motion and Hypertrophy
One way to change your exercise angle is to train the same exercise through different ranges of motion. If you train a smaller range of motion, you’re also making your exercise angle smaller. Think about the 1 ¼ squat. While you perform the first squat to (maybe) your full depth, you then do an additional ¼ of a squat before coming back up. Just because it’s not your full range, doesn’t mean it’s not still effective.
A study on the effect of range of motion on hypertrophy during resistance training showed that while training the full ROM is most beneficial to lower body exercises, they’re only more beneficial to a certain degree. (1) Partial ROM exercises also stimulate muscle growth. Studies on upper body exercises produced mixed results. (2)
Isometric Angles and Strength Gain
Exercise angles can also be manipulated in isometric exercises. You can level up your plank by elevating your feet, for example. Research has shown that angle changes do seem to positively impact strength increases for isometric exercises. (3) That’s not to say you can’t get your gains without changing your angles — but you might want to try those subtle angle changes for extra strength.
Exercise Angles and Hypertrophy
Research hasn’t definitively found that changing your exercise angle alone has a direct impact on hypertrophy. So if you’re looking for a bigger “upper chest,” you don’t want to solely depend on incline presses to get you there.
However, many studies have shown that changing multiple variables over time to create progressive overload — and continuously challenge yourself — is necessary to see results (4). If you can’t change your angles, you can continue changing other variables.
Develop a Better Mind-Muscle Connection With These Quick Tips
Be one with the barbell.
Written by Jake Dickson, NASM-CPT, USAW-L2
Last updated on December 18th, 2023
For most, “lifting weights” is a very literal pastime. Sure, goals may differ between a recreational gymgoer who strength trains to benefit their health and a career powerlifter chasing an ever-higher total, but the general idea is the same: Get the weight from “A” to “B”.
For bodybuilders, it’s a bit different. Resistance training isn’t an end unto itself — it’s the means by which the physique athlete carves him or herself out of the proverbial stone. A bodybuilder’s workout plan is meticulously crafted and carried out with a certain hypnotic zealotry. Credit: Alfa Photostudio / Shutterstock
Ask any bodybuilder what separates a decent workout from an exceptional one, and most will dive into a rambling about how the workout made them feel. The euphoria they experienced as their muscles twist and knot and shred and split under the skin.
That feeling is the mind-muscle connectionat work. It’s how you connect the dumbbellin your hands to your chest, or your lats, or your shoulders. The mind-muscle connection rides the line between mysticism and material; here are nine science-based tips to help you get in touch with your body in the weight room.
Mind-Muscle Connection Tips
A better way …
Think about this… we hear things like, “think outside the box!” Meaning, “to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective!” So we say the one-liners but do we ever get outside that darn box?
Well, for training, I have found a way to not only get out of the box but to do a lot of good, positive, “goal shattering,” extraordinary “feats!” That is to venture “off the beaten path,” of #1- using things like clipboards or other “information gathering” techniques to work off of while training! #2- having the client’s entire workout made up before seeing the person the day of training! #3- not allowing the client, on the day of training, to have very much input on what “their” own session will look and feel like! #4- doing the boring, repetitive and less productive tasks of things like “3 sets of ten!”
So, here’s what you can take away from what I have stated here, I have nothing pre-planned before the session, this allows for a better “flow” of training and definitely takes away much of the “boredom!” So without pre-planning the session, the workout becomes much more interesting (for my client and myself) and therefore more enjoyable, effective and productive! This allows the client’s mind/body to create something new all the time and that’s extremely refreshing! Also I don’t know, before the client gets to their session, what areas of the body or what genres (boxing, resistance exercises etc.) we’ll be using because much of that information is left up to the client after they arrive! At the start of each session I will ask the client what “direction” would they like to go for their session? They can say things like, “upper body, lower body, cardio, boxing etc.” or they can get even more specific about what they’d like to focus on, but the idea is to allow the client to be involved more in the creation of their session! Not to actually make up the exercises, mind you, but to know what “direction” they would like their training for that day to go to! However, what I do have, before the session, is my knowledge of my clients goals, their history of any injuries and accomplishments! I also know things like how they respond to certain exercises and what “motivates” them to push for the “changes” leading to accomplishing their goals! So by giving the client more “input” and “control” over “decisions” regarding their session and their workout, I am “empowering” them to feel like they are creating this wonderful “change” in their life!
Next, how do I improve on the boring and non-stimulating and low productivity of your basic setup of “3 sets of 10?” Well I do what I call “building on the last set!” What? I start out with a “functional move” and then with the next set (using the ‘Time Under Tension’ principle) I will do what we did with the first set but ADD to it another move and therefore “creating” a longer set and keep doing that until your sets become several minutes in length! So we don’t just repeat the same thing 3 or more times! Everything becomes your own “unique set!” This, I find is extremely effective to keep all sets and training sessions different then the last and it makes your body to keep responding to something different all the time (this enhances your ability to keep growing stronger, better, bigger and faster!)
If you’ve ever took control of something in your world and created something wonderful from that, then you know what I’m talking about here! When you feel that you have “generated” your own positive outcome, WOW! That’s powerful stuff! – “The” Trainer/Inside Out Fitness
Just put in a good effort and do it regularly.
By Jennifer Heimlich
February 12, 2024
Image by: Inside Out Fitness
When you see the biggest guy in the gym pull up to the weight room, you might assume he’ll be reaching for the heaviest weights. You’ve gotta pump massive iron to build massive muscles, right? Well, not really.
“There’s a lot of lore around this routine or that routine, and a lot of it comes from former Soviet bloc country training regimens where most people were taking steroids,” says Stuart Phillips, PhD, a kinesiology professor and research director at McMaster University. Some of it also comes from a misunderstood study from 1946: While rehabilitating soldiers from World War II, army physician Thomas DeLorme argued that heavy resistance training was better at building muscle than, say, repetitive activities like walking or biking, and for decades, many took that to mean only heavy weights were helpful, says Dr. Phillips.
Yet the more scientists look into it, the more they’re finding that heavy lifting isn’t a prerequisite for growing muscle, or as the experts call it, “hypertrophy.” Recently, Dr. Phillips led a network meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that looked at 192 randomized, controlled studies with a total sample size of more than 5,000 people to find the “optimal prescription for hypertrophy.” What his team discovered shocked many. “You can lift lighter weights, and as long as you lift them with a high degree of effort, they’re as good as heavier weights in making you bigger,” he says. Even just using your own body weight, like with push-ups or lunges, works. The key is simply to get pretty close to what personal trainers call “failure,” or the point where you feel like you can’t keep going any longer. That could take up to 25 to 30 reps, and you’ll still build muscle, says Dr. Phillips…
Please read below about things to do and not do, in order to get the most from “Functional Training!”
First, when starting new (exercise) do this: 1- go slow 2- use low “added” resistance or no added resistance at first … 3- stop immediately if you feel pain! Do those 3 and you can be pretty sure that whatever you choose to “take on” you’re likely not to hurt yourself! That’s a big, big thing! If you don’t hurt yourself, you won’t have to deal with “setbacks,” which can set you back months or even years!
Do “functional training!” That means that you do more “angles” and more circular motions instead of what you get with “machines” which is “piston style” (“isolated movements “) movements of training or straight “in and back” moves! Shy away from those, or at least don’t do them always, to prevent “injuries!” By staying with “piston style moves,” it’s way too easy to get hurt and also even if you don’t injure yourself, you’ll find that you won’t build muscle and strength at a rate you would like to! Again, use mostly “circular type moves!” Also, learn about “anatomy,” especially joints & their range of motion! Why? Read on …
Several years ago, a study was done that showed that if you thought about the muscles and joints at the time you are working them then you would get 30-35% more strength and muscle mass than if you did stuff like not thinking about what you were doing by “watching tv etc.!”
“Breathing” properly is extremely important! Blow out through pursed lips through the hardest part of the exercise to: maintain power and strength and avoiding holding breath while applying resistance which keep from increasing your blood pressure and limiting your chances of “having a stroke!”
To get the most from “functional training,” always be thinking of what you can do that is “new” to you or what you haven’t done in a while! Your body/mind, if presented with the same things all the time, will fail to continue much “improvement” because it (body/mind) needs “new stimulation” in order to keep moving forward with progress!
Here’s some running some tips on “jogging” (running) that I have found helpful to me over the years! Once you get to the point that you’re ready for them, you might want to try some on, so to speak! Just like everything else we discuss, you can give them a couple of tries (or three) and if they work for you then use them but “modify” them to “make them yours!” If you find out that they don’t work for you then just toss them aside and create something that does work better for you!
• when running, look ahead on the trail (or road etc.) about 15 to 20 feet ahead of you! This will keep you from looking down towards your feet.
• Wherever we look, then that’s where our head wants to go so if you need to look directly down towards the ground you can just “scroll” your eyes instead of dropping your chin and allowing the pressure of the weight of your head to “lead” you into starting the process of actually looking down by moving your head down. By avoiding positioning the weight of your head to go down you can also avoid creating poor posture which could lead to your lower back to start hurting (once that happens, usually things just continue to get worse)
• When you run, think of trying to let the entire bottom part of your feet to touch the ground at the same time. It probably won’t happen but at least you won’t be doing as much of “hard heel striking” which will, over time, jar the joints in your lower body and create pain within those joints!
• A small amount of the distance of your running (training) should be done as “laterals” or “grapevines” or possibly even backwards running. If you do this you will go a long way to strengthening other areas around the joints (instead of just pounding the same areas all the time) of your lower body and that will be more “healthy!” If you don’t do some of those types of moves then prolonged forward striking will probably cause injury at some point.
A little bit more information on running: if you are training then “pumping the arms back and forth” can be something you do or not do depending on what type of training you’re doing. But if you are running a race, then I would suggest to only pump the arms when going up hill (when you really need to) because working the arms a lot will burn up energy and you need to maintain as much of that as you can in order to accomplish the desired “speed,” when finishing the race!
Also, when going up hills, you need to shorten your stance in order to continue a running pace! One thing that you probably don’t want to do is to “have to stop and walk” during a race, because for many folks if they have to stop and walk that first time then it’s the “START of a lot of stopping and walking!” So shorten your stance on the uphills as needed but stay in a “running fluidity motion!”Thanks! “The” Trainer/Inside Out Fitness
Welcome to great “Functional Training!” Whether it be in “the great outdoors” or in your home or backyard, enjoy the “challenge!” Please look over this page (and others if you would like) before contacting me. Thanks!
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Ready to get your free consultation? Go to the link below or go to the contact page and press on link and fill out the form and I’ll get back to you ASAP! Thanks, “The” Trainer/Inside Out Fitness
https://www.jotform.com/assign/240365966602157/240366060033040
Are you finding it difficult to “stick” with your “Mind/Body Training” and keep advancing forward? Keep improving over time?
If so, based on what I have learned in the past 50 years, you are probably sharing this experience with a “majority” because most people find it hard to go from week to week, month to month and year to year and never stop improving! Would you like to switch to the “minority” on this issue and find a way to do exactly that with your training? Keep feeling like you are always, at least to some degree, improving on those two most important issues in your life, “Mind and Body improvement?” Read on …
My advice, being very simple, will also be extremely difficult to implement and continue on an “everlasting” basis for many, but remember it is “SIMPLE” so you have that going for you! Ok! Here it is … Find a way to “challenge yourself mentally and physically” on an on-going basis that you can “control!” That means that you are addressing this challenge for “YOU!” As long as you are only improving because of what is based on what others want for or from you, then my ‘educated-guess’ is that you will never get the same, continuous, forward moving experience of health and fitness that can only come from a “deep-down” cleansing and then “building yourself back up” ‘by and for yourself!’ Once you can “tap into” this ‘thing’ I’m speaking of and realize the enjoyment of creating your body based on what you want for you, then and only then will you be able to reread what I’m writing here and say, “yes, I get it!” At that point, you just might have created yourself a niche that you can hold onto until “you decide” to change or rearrange the person that you have created for yourself! I’m sure you’ve heard this over and over but it’s when you do things to create happiness in your life based on what you want for you, then that is when you’ll be able to stop the roller coaster of doing well for a while and then doing poorly for a while and you’ll find that wonderful continuity of 2 steps forward and only 1 step back! Keep moving forward my friends! – “The” Trainer/Inside Out Fitness
Inside Out Fitness presents: “The” Trainer gives you the lowest price for 1:1 Personal Functional Training (but please check around!) while providing you, a private setting (I do in-home and outdoors but even outdoors one can find a private area!) with the best “Knowledge” {I have 15 years experience as an RN in CCU/ICU/ER & many years as a functional trainer & I’ve been working out myself for 48 years!} (best knowledge) of the human body/mind of a “Functional Trainer” in “The Columbia River Gorge!”
Services
I was an RN in CCU for 15 years where “quick, extremely accurate assessment of the individual was “crucial!”
“Assessment” is the best skill there is to make sure that you can provide the best care to patients and/or personal training clients! Why? Because with that skill you can determine quickly and accurately what is needed in order to help the person “without delay” and concurrently take a course of action which you think is worthwhile, helpful, or useful.
“The” best in Functional Training, guaranteed!
I do outdoors and In-Home training! Outdoors is the best way to train “Functionally!” In order to get your best sessions, you need to learn how to use your body anywhere at anytime! If you must rely on machines and the like then attaining “great functionality” will never be fully available to you! It’s good to have equipment but what’s not good is not knowing how to have a great functional training workout without all that equipment!
No “Pre-Planned Workouts!
Pre-planning your workouts is “ill -advised” regardless if your session is with a personal functional trainer or just doing a session by yourself! Why? Because if everything is written out then it’s likely you won’t go any further than the “boundaries” that you had planned! How do you preplan your “feelings?” How do you know what you are capable of if your “journey” is always “mapped out?” How do you know if something happens to change your mood? Maybe you might be in a better mood than you had “preplanned” and if so then planning everything ahead of time will only hold you back! NO DONT PUT A “FENCE” AROUND YOURSELF! Unless you want to hold yourself back!
“ … Open-ended tasks have more than one right answer, solution or outcome and can be completed in more than one way. They can take the form of statements, questions, tasks, projects or teaching methods. Different learners may use different types of thinking; and there are no predetermined correct outcomes. Open-ended learning activities are provocative and stimulate divergent thinking about a topic. Teachers’ attitudes, assessment criteria and procedures must also encourage students to take different paths and offer creative responses. Unique contributions are welcomed…” – Possibilities for Learning
Let’s build something great together.
Book Appointment
Please go to “contact” page and give a good time/day to set up a FREE CONSULTATION! Monday- Friday 6am-7pm and I’ll get back to you ASAP! Thanks, “The” Trainer Inside Out Fitness
