Gym Etiquette

It happens to all of us at some point. You walk into the gym and are about to jump hop on a machine to do cable rows, and someone has left a giant puddle of sweat behind! Were these people raised by wolves? Worse yet, is the fact that you are the only one in the gym! How long has that puddle been there? It can be very frustrating having to clean up after other adults in a public venue, so I bring to you this gym etiquette guide.

1. Don't stink. Yes, I know you are going to the gym to workout, but there is no need to smell bad. You are going to have plenty of time to get all musky and smelly. Please apply deodorant before going to the gym. But don't overdue the deodorizers. Putting on perfume or cologne before hitting the gym can also make it unpleasant for others. Keep it simple, don't smell like trash when you go in, and you should be fine.


2. Don't hog the equipment! I understand you want to get your workout done, but there are others that want to get their workout in as well. It's fine if you are the only one in the gym to hog what you need, as long as someone else doesn't need it. But if you workout in a small gym, be kind and share. Equipment can be very limited in smaller gyms, and everyone there has paid their dues to use that equipment. At the same time, don't get huffy if someone is on something you want to use, ask if you can work in between their sets. Most people should be fine. If you do work in, re-adjust the machines or barbell to what the previous user had it at too. They will think you for it.


3. Re-Rack the weights! Yes, you just did a 300 LBS bench press, I'm so proud of you. But re-rack the plates when you are done. No one wants to clean up your weight mess after you have left. By leaving the weights on the barbell and other plate machines, you are cutting into someone else's precious workout time as well. And what if they have difficulties lifting a 45 LBS plate?


4. Clean up! We are all guilty to a point I'm sure. You finished your workout and left without wiping down the bench or machines you just used. You left a nice butt puddle too. Take the time and wipe the machines down that you used when you are all finished with them. It's not that hard. Sure, we are all human and forget sometimes, but it shouldn't be constant. Also, throw away the wipes! No one wants to pick up your nasty wipes that you decided you could just leave in random areas of the gym.


5. Finally, put the cell phone away! Cell phones are great, we can play music and track workouts on them, but they can also be a huge distraction. Invest in a cheap mp3 player for music and use a notebook to track your workouts and enter them in your phone later. It gets really annoying when people are texting or talking on their phone at the gym. This can also be very dangerous as well. Distracted lifting is no joke. Sure it's funny to see someone texting while on the treadmill right before they face plant, but really? Was that text that important.

We are all bodybuilders

You have decided to change your life, you have put the first step forward into living a healthy lifestyle. Maybe you have been living this lifestyle for a while now. The simple fact is, you don't think you are a bodybuilder, that word might even make you shudder a little bit. But you are, in fact, a bodybuilder.

Oh yes, you may want to argue and say "But I'm not lifting heavy weights" or "I don't want to be a bodybuilder". Well TOO BAD! Ok, maybe that was a little rough, and you are not a bodybuilder in the way that you traditionally hear about it or that you may even think you know it as. You are building yourself a new body.

Yes! You are tearing down the old body that you don't want anymore, and building a new one that you want, that you want to share, that will last you a full and fun filled life. Just because you are a "Bodybuilder" doesn't mean you are hulking out. Look at bodybuilding shows, they have the ranks of Bikini, Figure, Physique, Fitness, and Bodybuilding. But all of those fall under bodybuilding. Look up bikini competitors like Alexis Burke, she is not big and bulky, but I can tell you now, she goes to the gym and lifts, she works her whole body.

So let's look at your bodybuilding in this way, shall we? You are changing your life. You have torn down the original structure of your body to force new habits, and to start building it to last. You may not fit into the general meaning of the word bodybuilder, but what else would you call it? Getting fit? Getting healthy? Embrace what you have become, and have fun with it. But don't scare the children, no one wants to scare children..ok, you can scare the children.

Don't let the gym intimidate you

We are a few weeks into the new year, and maybe you are new to the whole gym atmosphere. You went through the signup process, took a tour and a gym staff member showed you how to use the machines and gave you some tips. Now it's time you do it all on your own. You get on the chest press machine and adjust the seat. Then after you sit, you don't think it feels right, so you adjust it again and again. Finally you set the weight, Remember, the gym staff member told you to start low with around 10 LBS, so that's what you set it for. This is when you notice that in the time it's taken you, that there are more people at the gym and they are lifting heavier than you. You knock out some reps and your big day at the gym that you planned an hour for has turned into a 10 minute workout.

This intimidation is not uncommon for a new gym go'er. When you are just starting at the gym or fitness in general, you feel that all eyes are on everything you do. When you do cardio, you feel that people are racing you, or judging you because you can't run for more than a quarter mile if even that. When lifting, you notice that people may be doing a lot more than you, and you think they are judging you based on your lack of strength. This couldn't be further from the truth though. You also have to remember that you are new to all this, you have to start somewhere. After a few visits you will get it down.

Honestly, those people that you think are judging you, or secretly watching you, are probably more concerned about their workout and most likely don't even notice you there, or just don't care what you are doing.

We have all been that new person at the gym. I remember when I first started at the gym doing 10 LBS on all the machines, I wouldn't even touch the free weights. I was so self conscious. I would get to the gym super early and workout on the elliptical and hope that no one would come into the gym before I got to the machines. I didn't want people to notice how weak I was. But that eventually passed. Later when I rejoined the gym, I felt a bit intimidated again. I was lifting free weights, but I didn't have the strength that I wanted. There were others lifting, but I just put in my earbuds and did my thing. I may not be the strongest at the gym, but I don't care.

A couple weeks ago I noticed a guy at the gym working the machines, I said good morning to him and went on my way. Within a few minutes, I could tell he was a new member. He was looking over at me while I was lifting and starting to look intimidated. When I went to the seated chest press machine, I jumped the weight up to 125 LBS, and busted out 15 reps and went over to do dumbbell bench. He looked dumbfounded at the machine I had just left and made an adjustment and started using it. Soon after he left. When I went to that machine again, it was set on 10 LBS, all the machines he was using was set at 10 LBS. I haven't seen him since. He was intimidated and left, I hope he comes back. Personally I would love to workout with him, because I think it would be good for him to know some members there and realize that no one is judging him.

Gym intimidation will always be around, but the best thing to do is go into the gym with a positive attitude and doing the best you can. Who knows, maybe you will even make some friends at the gym and you might even end up being the one intimidating others next year.

Review: Con-Crét Snake Fruit

Creatine is a staple in most lifters daily supplements. Quite frankly, I have tried quite a few, and I honestly have enjoyed most all of them that I have used. But by far my favorite is one that I have only recently started using. Con-Crét is a brand most in the fitness world have heard of. I even heard about it before I got into shape myself. The package is kind of appealing. I mean, it does look like a caution sign. But Con-Crét really separates itself from the rest besides the packaging. Most creatine supplements use creatine monohydrate, most that I have used contain this form of creatine. But Con-Crét uses creatine HCL.

I wont go into the difference and advantages over one form of creatine compared to the next for the simple fact that I don't have that kind of time, and I am not an expert on creatine. I put into my body what I feel gets me the best results and doesn't taste like crap.

With Con-Crét Snake Fruit, I felt absolute zero bloating, while still getting a pretty good pump. The pump could be better, but it also depends on what I'm doing. I also noticed being able to go much higher with my reps, or depending on what I was working, being able to go much heavier. My first leg day using Con-Crét I was able to go from 465 lbs leg presses up to 528 lbs let presses. I also noticed substantial strength and improvement in my deadlifts. Unlike the creatine I've used in the past, I didn't retain water on the days that I used Con-Crét either. This is normally a side effect that I notice quite a bit when using creatine monohydrate. Most of all though, the taste is out of this world. I am big on my liquid supplements tasting good or at least decent. Snake Fruit has a great taste, and it even tastes good when stacking it with Beta-Crét Pineapple.

This will be my creatine of choice moving forward. While I will still use other creatines, Con-Crét will be the first I reach for. Price wise it is a bit more expensive than Monohydrates, but if you are looking to try something different, I would give this a go. Plus you can often find it on a good sale over at bodybuilding.com

Don't use the Holidays as an Excuse

We are in the middle of the holiday season, with the biggest of the holidays just a couple days away. It's during this time of the year that people really let their lifestyles relax. People naturally want to pig out and make unhealthy choices during this time of year. We pack ourselves full of food for Thanksgiving, load up on sweets and food for Christmas and pretty much live sedentary lives the last 2 months of the year because we want to use the holidays as an excuse. Well Stop!

 

Using the holiday season as an excuse to not eat right and not workout is like saying you don't have time to eat right and exercise. It's just an excuse. It's ok to indulge a little during the holidays, but at the same time you need to be conscious of the decisions you are making. You don't need to eat so much that you have a food baby by the end of the day!

 

Food is not the Enemy

When it comes to changing your lifestyle, it's easy to fall into the wrong way of thinking. Most of us that are switching our lifestyles are making huge changes in our diets. I know I sure did. The biggest mental issue to get over when this change starts, is how we look at food. Quite frankly this mental issue can stick around through your entire journey, even after you have done a complete transformation.

Think about it. You spend your time counting calories now. You start thinking if you consume less calories you will lose weight faster and get fit quicker. You begin to think of food as the enemy, you even become scared of food. Food is the single most important thing in your transformation! Food is what fuels your basic life functions. The human body needs 1200 calories a day to sustain healthy functions. To people that are scared of food, that seems like a lot. That 1200 goes really fast throughout the day. You walk around the office, walk down the stairs, workout, and so on. This 1200 burns up fast! This 1200 is the absolute minimum! You need more than that.

Most active woman can count on a good 1800 calories a day and be pretty well off calorie wise. But if you are a woman and are majorly active, well you are going to need to ramp that up a bit more. Take into account that during a 1 hour workout, you are probably burning anywhere between 500 - 800 calories depending on intensity. Now you have sunk back below that 1200, and your body wont fully recover. Food is your fuel, food will actually help promote weight loss with proper nutrition. Want to build muscle? Get some hot sexy abs? You have to eat.

But it's not just the calories. Sure you can get 1800 calories or so from just 1 meal of crap. It's the quality of calories. You need to consume good healthy foods. This means lean meats, vegetables, fruits, grains, healthy fats, complex carbs. Don't cheat yourself with garbage, because you will never get where you want to be. I can easily go into a restaurant and order a meal and get 3000 calories in that one meal. I know, I have done it before. And all those calories are normally absolute garbage. Be smart, eat for your goals, don't starve yourself. If your nutrition is in place, you will reach your goals. Your journey starts in the kitchen, and ends in the gym!

The Big Announcement!

Over this past weekend, I was able to finish off two really big things to bring into my personal training. Affective immediately, my clients can purchase BioFreeze and KTTape directly from me. Now supplies may take some time for me to build up some inventory, but this is a huge deal for me.

If you are not familiar with BioFreeze, well then where have you been? BioFreeze is one of the best pain relief gels that I have ever used. In fact, I've been using BioFreeze for years! I started using this amazing product back in 2010 when I was being treated for my back injury. Since then I haven't looked back or used anything else. BioFreeze is my miracle therapy for all my muscle and joint pain.

KTTape is something you may have actually seen if you watched the Olympic games. Otherwise known as Kinesio-Tape, this amazing sports support works wonders for everything. I started using it just to try it, and fell in love with it instantly. I have been using it for my foot pain, and I can't imagine going back to traditional taping. For more info on KTTape, View the video below.