Epic

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Do you ever use this word to describe something? Have you ever said something like, “man, that was an epic workout” or “that movie was epic”  Well I think I have something that helps to define ’epic.’

Epic.

In case you hadn’t heard this was a tennis match to end all tennis matches. This was the EPIC of tennis matches. Somewhere close to 150 games were played to decide the outcome of this one match. It took approximately 11 hours to finish. 11 hours. Ironman triathletes do 11 hour races. You could fly from NY to England and drive to Wimbledon and still have about 3 hours to spare. Drive from NC to NY City and you’d still be able to take an hour off to catch an off-broadway play.

The endurace of these athletes (not to mention their strength) is phenomenal. Especially when you consider how often they had to serve the ball. How often the volleyed. How often they stared at each other and wished for everything in their being that either this was the last one or the guy across would just give up.

This was pretty amazing and by all rights epic.

You want motivation. The next time you do that 60 minute workout. Think of these guys and see if you can’t push that much energy into the hour you’ve got. Give it everything. Leave nothing on the plate. I guarantee when these guys were finally done they had nothing in their tanks. They were empty, spent, obliterated.

See if you can obliterate yourself, walk away and come back the next time that much stronger. That is what fitness is.

Mike Babbitt, M.F.A, M.A., CSCS, ACSM-HFI
USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Master Trainer
Mike is a Master Level trainer at Empower Personal Training. He has a unique approach to fitness that combines his scientific foundation of research and applied exercise physiology with his artistic experience as a professional stage actor. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024

Nutrition and the Man

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It’s men’s health month here at Empower. With Father’s day just around the corner and the summer reaching peak all of us guys are still looking for ways to feel and look our best.

Do you have mid-day crashes? Do you wish you could just drop that extra 10 pounds? Do you feel lethargic through most of the day? Bloated (yes, this is not only a problem women have but the difference is theirs is hormonal, ours is something else.) If any of these things apply I have one cure all for all of it.

Nutrition.

That’s right. No matter how much you work out, no matter how many days a week you hit the gym, no matter how often you stare into the mirror and ask that dreaded question, if your nutrition sucks you’ll never even get close to six-pack abs or <10% body fat.

Nutrition is the one key that virtually everyone can improve on. Stop. Wait. Go back and read that sentence again. I’m talking to you, the guy who read that the first time and said my nutrition is pretty good. No it isn’t. It sucks. It may not suck as bad as others but trust me it still sucks. Everyone, E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E can benefit from changes to their nutrition.

Here’s a nice quick article to read that can help you make some quick changes.

There are a few key fundamentals that are in this short article that are kind of hidden but can be applied to an even broader range of nutrition advice.

1) Just because it is low-fat doesn’t mean it’s okay to indulge in. (i.e. see Pretzels.)

2) If you gobble down a big burger or even a smoothie or high calorie protein drink after your workout you just set yourself back. I never understand why someone who completes a 30 minute workout needs to drink a 20 oz. Gatorade. My rule of thumb, if the workout isn’t over 90 minutes you don’t need a high calorie recovery drink. I’m not saying that recovery nutrition isn’t important, it most definitely is, but look at those labels. Most people, athletes not included, don’t need 25 grams of protein in their recovery meal. Be sensible. If it’s under 30, drink water, if it’s under 60 stick to low calorie supplement replenishment.

3) Coffee. I drink coffee. I drink it black. No sugar. No creamer. The average calories of a latte or frappuccino drink is roughly around 400-600 AT LEAST. That’s a meal right there. And it’s a high sugar, high caffeine meal as well which is probably the worst combination of ingredients you can put in your body at the same time. Without going into to many technical mumbo-jumbo terms what caffeine+sugar does to your hormonal levels looks like Pike’s Peak stuck in the middle of the Kansas flat-lands.

Nutrition is the Rosetta stone of fully unlocking your athletic potential. You can work out all you want and as hard as you want but without this one key factor you’ll never get to where you COULD go.

Mike Babbitt, M.F.A, M.A., CSCS, ACSM-HFI
USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Master Trainer
Mike is a Master Level trainer at Empower Personal Training. He has a unique approach to fitness that combines his scientific foundation of research and applied exercise physiology with his artistic experience as a professional stage actor. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024

Men, Stress and Massage

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I have asked some of my male clients why they get a massage. All of them said stress, pressure of life, and work. Stress can cause headaches, migraines, chronic muscular tension, and lowered immunity, as well as play a large role in the quality of sleep. Acute and long term stress can also lead to unhealthy coping behaviors such as over-eating and inactivity. Let’s face it, stress is a normal and necessary function in life, and we are not getting away from it! However, how we manage our stress can make a big difference in how it shows up in our bodies and minds. Experts say a relaxing massage is an excellent stress elixir.

Massage is on of the best ways to relieve tension. The benefits of massage therapy are numerous, ranging from promoting relaxation to loosening tight muscles and increasing blood flow. It can help you manage stress by relieving anxiety and tension, promoting relaxation, increasing your energy, improving sleep, reducing muscle soreness, and decreasing pain.
Therapeutic massage, such as the Swedish method, is one of the most popular techniques in relieving stress. The Swedish technique, that are often referred to as a full body massage, involve gentle kneading pressure and long strokes applied to the surface to relieve tension in the muscles and connective tissues. Other techniques that can help relieve stress include deep-tissue massage to release tension from the deeper muscles and connective tissues, and trigger point therapy to release muscle spasms from specific areas.
SPECIAL OFFER: June is for Gents!
Gentlemen, in order to break the stress cycle, the month of June you will receive $10 off your massage in order to de-stress and celebrate all your hard work!

Call Empower at 919.401.8024 and schedule your massage TODAY!
Or book online here.

Men, Stress and Massage

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• massage
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I have asked some of my male clients why they get a massage. All of them said stress, pressure of life, and work. Stress can cause headaches, migraines, chronic muscular tension, and lowered immunity, as well as play a large role in the quality of sleep. Acute and long term stress can also lead to unhealthy coping behaviors such as over-eating and inactivity. Let’s face it, stress is a normal and necessary function in life, and we are not getting away from it! However, how we manage our stress can make a big difference in how it shows up in our bodies and minds. Experts say a relaxing massage is an excellent stress elixir.

Massage is on of the best ways to relieve tension. The benefits of massage therapy are numerous, ranging from promoting relaxation to loosening tight muscles and increasing blood flow. It can help you manage stress by relieving anxiety and tension, promoting relaxation, increasing your energy, improving sleep, reducing muscle soreness, and decreasing pain.
Therapeutic massage, such as the Swedish method, is one of the most popular techniques in relieving stress. The Swedish technique, that are often referred to as a full body massage, involve gentle kneading pressure and long strokes applied to the surface to relieve tension in the muscles and connective tissues. Other techniques that can help relieve stress include deep-tissue massage to release tension from the deeper muscles and connective tissues, and trigger point therapy to release muscle spasms from specific areas.
SPECIAL OFFER: June is for Gents!
Gentlemen, in order to break the stress cycle, the month of June you will receive $10 off your massage in order to de-stress and celebrate all your hard work!

Call Empower at 919.401.8024 and schedule your massage TODAY!
Or book online here.

Good Samaritan

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I had a very interesting run-in with a complete stranger yesterday.

I was on a quick dinner break and going to pick up a chicken breast sandwich from Subway (no cheese, lots of veggies, no sauces). There’s a guy in line in front of me with his 10-year old son. We move through the line giving out our condiment request to the preparer behind the counter. Both of us sort of finished about the same time and standing in front of the cash register, the guy hands the clerk a $20 and says “put his on my tab, too.”

I was stunned. I sort of looked at him like I wasn’t sure what he had just ordered and he just smiled. Finally, when I got some words to actually pass through my brain I stammered out, “Did you just buy my sandwich?” He nodded and said, “There are still some good people in the world, pass it on.”

I looked down at the little boy and smiled at him as he stared at me like I was an alien. “Your daddy is cool.” His face lit up.

What does this have to do with exercise? Well, nothing on the surface really. I could make up some sort of connection and make it sound like this was a lesson to be learned about how to be the best that you can be through every full repetition. But really, it doesn’t have anything to do with that.

I made a promise to myself to return that favor. I’ll start with once a month, doing something just because I can. Pass it on because there really are still some good people in this world. And you never know who’s day you’ll make by finding that smile.

Mike Babbitt, M.F.A, M.A., CSCS, ACSM-HFI
USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Master Trainer
Mike is a Master Level trainer at Empower Personal Training.  He has a unique approach to fitness that combines his scientific foundation of research and applied exercise physiology with his artistic experience as a professional stage actor.  For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024