Self Improvement

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Jamie here, with this week’s health and fitness blog. For the blog this week, we decided to pose an interesting question to our training staff. The question was… What are you doing for self- improvement? Essentially, what do you do to do to challenge ourselves to become better, brighter, more powerful (physically or mentally). After all, life is full of choices and it is certainly full of stress. We have to do something to keep us going and to keep us motivated. Here are the answers from some of the members of our staff.

Gena

Besides exercise, I keep my self sane by reading (currently, I’m

reading Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat”), traveling (beach, to see friends and family, random places) and keeping my thoughts focused on current goals I have at any given time. One current goal includes becoming involved in policy-making groups, so I’m networking now to create that path.

Caroline

I am a goal setter, born and raised. I am constantly, possibly too constantly, reassessing myself and all that I do in order to strive to be the best version of me. I set physical goals for my weekly training each Sunday. I also set mental goals for myself each morning, anywhere from reading and educating myself or using positive self-talk to keep my day on the right track. The combination of physical and mental goals in tandem with self-awareness and assessment keep me continuously working toward self-improvement.

Paul

I exercise hard five days a week doing CrossFit and always try to get

outside for some recreation during the weekends. I try to eat healthy about 80% of the time. I sample new foods, especially vegetables, meats, and fish to explore and find new things I may enjoy. I cook my weekly meals every Sunday because otherwise I would eat restaurant food every day. I read at least one hour every day, whether it’s sports magazines and websites, fiction novels, stuff related to my job, or anything else I find interesting. I try to get at least eight hours of sleep every night. Finally I try to keep my apartment and workspace organized and clean at all times as I believe this helps keep me sane.

Aaron

Golf – no big surprise here…I love being outside and active

Reading- Usually read recommendations from clients

Travel/Photography – the more the better

Tom

I have a machine that pops baseballs. It can pop up to 20 baseballs to me (soft toss) and I hit them into a field then jog out to the balls and throw them back into the fence where I hit from.

When I am at home and the kids are playing outside I throw baseballs into a net that bounces them back to me or shoot hoops on my portable goal in the culdesac.

I also like to take the kids hiking on different hiking trails. Finally, I listen to books on my iPod while driving or mowing lawn.

Jessica

After a meeting with one of our managers in which we discussed the Team Culture at Empower, I started thinking: ìWhat do we all do to better ourselves?î and then I asked my self ìWhat am I doing for self-improvement?î And, the answer I came up with is: Not enough! Having a baby really has taken a lot of my focus and attention. I have poured myself into being a good mom ñ which is great and I love it, but I realize that I will be doing myself and her a big disservice if I donít also tend to my own needs and personal growth. Therefore, I have come up with two things I would like to work on for self-improvement:

1. Spend at least 1 hour per week working on organizing some part of my life ñ pictures, music, cabinets/closets etc.

2. Increase my workout/exercise duration to 45 mins ñ 1 hour daily.

Jamie

As for me, I just try to be the best person and best husband that I can be. That usually means helping out around the house (washing dishes, cooking some, vacuuming a couple times a week, making sure the dog doesn’t destroy the house) and keeping the yard clean. Believe it or not, I really enjoy cutting grass and Iím kinda sad that the fall is coming. I really hate raking up leaves. It completely sucks. I also like to stay in shape by doing some kind of crazy exercise routine 4 or 5 days a week. Lately, Iíve been doing a lot of bootcamp style training outside, as I donít enjoy the indoors as much. Catch me at the Eno River on the weekends as I continue to hone my fly fishing skills. Fishing, now that is something I could do every day. Oh, and never underestimate the importance of grillin’ and chillin’

Jamie Ives, MA, CSCS

Jamie has several years of experience in the fitness industry, working with clients of various ages, ability levels, and health conditions. He enjoys using his knowledge as well as his experience in exercise prescription and program design to help each of his clients reach their individual wellness goals and improve their quality of life. For more information about Empower Personal Training, please call (919) 401-8024

Stress, Routines, and Massage Therapy

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I think stress is one the great inhibitors of how we choose to live. Because stress is what is perceived, stress becomes part of our routine. We develop physical reactions to our perceptions of stress, which controls how we carry out daily habits, usually by limiting our responses to events and situations and our feelings of control. We become irritable, unable to sleep well, become grouchy with coworkers and family members, and we often put off things such as taking care of ourselves.

Massage therapyís greatest tool is retraining the bodyís perception of stress. By unlocking the patterns in the body, we unlock the mind, and we become more informed about how we can use our bodies (and our minds) differently to create more ease, not just in movement in general, but in how we conduct ourselves at the office and in traffic, in conversion, and really in just being ourselves. We find that itís okay to breathe and be in our bodies not matter what situation.

As a massage therapist, of one my goals is to help you find support, integrity, and balance, because these are the building blocks for overcoming the perceptions of stress. Not only does massage therapy disengage those rigidifying patterns (tension headaches, low back pain, grinding teeth, clenched fists, etc.), it opens a window to choose a different way of being in the world. Massage can help with finding more routines that suit you.

John Williford, LMBT

John is one our massage therapists here at Empower Personal Training. You can contact him by email at john@becomepowerful.com or by phone at (910) 232 5126.

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. Letís 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

• Articles,
• 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. Letís 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.

At Your Own Risk

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Torched

Paul and I, though we have differences, in general subscribe to similar fitness philosophies. our differences allow us to test each other and stretch our view points and therefore make us better.

Today’s workout was one of those times.

This workout, with a little modification, came from the folks over at gymjones.com. I like their idea of fitness being an ever changing adapting aspect of training from general conditioning down to the sports specific. I also like the science that they put into their exploration. You can read more at their site if you’re interested but for now, we’re going to focus on today and the results.

The workout was deceptively simple.

6 TGU (Turkish Get Ups) @ 3 on each side (25# KB) followed by 60 sec of FLR (or Front leaning Rest Position – the start of a pushup). 5 rounds total. Then 2 rounds of 1 min All-Out on the AirDyne and rest 1 minute while you’re partner works.

Paul thought this might be too easy. I was cautious as I felt we were both in for a surprise.

Here’s the result.

I can't feel my legs

As you can see from the obliteration both of us felt it was humbling, a good sign of a strong conditioning workout as it demonstrates and reveals weaknesses while at the same time pushing you forward to the next ‘level’. Our legs were dead at the end. They were on fire. We talked about why and believe that the fatigue that the TGU’s and the FLR induced in our arms prevented our arms from being remotely a factor during the AirDyne. The fatigue in the legs from the TGUs was then accelerated by the torching they received during the AirDyne All-Outs. Couple that with the fact that there was only 1 minute rest in the whole training session, our energy systems never had a chance to recover. Lactate far exceeded its ability to be reconverted into fuel and by that very last minute of all-out we were both looking to pass out.

The end result was, unanimously, that this was one of the hardest workouts we’ve ever done.

This is not a prescription. It’s not for the faint of heart. That doesn’t mean that you can’t attempt it, but do so with a clear understanding of your fitness level. Talk to your trainer, have them help you tailor the workout to your current fitness level. That also doesn’t mean it should be part of your current fitness level. This is a step up workout. Something to take you to the next step. Something that can help revel those ever present weaknesses and understand the power and beauty of the human body (both mentally and physically) under high-level stress.

Push it.