Eat, Sleep, Move

If I had only 10 seconds to explain to someone how to live a healthier life, I’d go with this:

Only eat foods that your grandparents had access to. Sleep in a cold, dark room for a minimum of 7 hours. Move more frequently throughout the day. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Sometimes You've Got to Move FAST

There was a time when I was scared to move fast. 

I had just finished my college hockey career and I had some serious issues going on in my lower back and my right hip. I did what most 20 somethings who think they’re invincible do and ignored the problem until it was unbearable. 

There are two instances I clearly remember that helped me realize I needed a change.

The first was when I was at a friends house and he was showing me his the new dump truck he got for his business. I climbed up into the dump body to take a closer look and when we were done, I found myself hesitating to jump down. When I took the leap and landed on the pavement I tweaked my back. The familiar feelings of a tight stomach and pain radiating down the back of my leg appeared.

The other time I was in an intense ping pong battle. 

My friend and I were equally matched and having a competitive game. When the ball bounced away from the table I took 3 quick steps and bent over to grab the ball before it rolled underneath a table. This time I strained a groin muscle because I moved too quickly towards the floor while reaching.

A hidden benefit of a well rounded strength and conditioning program is that it gets you more comfortable moving at a high velocity. My training was lacking anything like that at the time because all I did was try to lift really heavy things, which in retrospect was just compounding the problem. 

Since then I make sure to include some jumping, medicine ball throwing, reactive training (think bear crawls and vertical bird dogs) and olympic lifting variations.

We try to include these things in our clients’ programs too. Recently, you may have learned how to do a dumbbell snatch. Historically, we’re saved this movement for athletes. Getting to start fresh on our programming at the end of the lockdown however, allowed us to reevaluate what we were doing and this was something we decided was important to start including.

Movements like that teach you how to move fast. In fact, you can’t snatch a dumbbell or slam a medicine ball without moving with speed. These movements translate in real life when you need to express power, which is a display of strength and speed. Think picking up a heavy bag a mulch, catching yourself slipping on ice or take a few hard steps uphill.

Knowing that intention can make all the different in the gym. Most of the time we want to move under control with a nice tempo, but sometimes, we need to open it up and develop a tolerance to moving quickly.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How'd That Feel?

You can start doing this simple check while you’re working out to improve your awareness and movement skill.

After each rep, ask yourself, “how did that feel?”

Each time you get to the top of a squat, pull a kettlebell off the floor or perform a stroke with the rower, how did that feel? 

Compare it to the previous rep, try to make them all feel similar, to make them all feel fluid.

This will create an awareness around good technique and strengthen the connection between your brain and muscles.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

September Update

this was originally published as our September Newsletter. If you’re a current member and do not receive these emails be sure to let me know.

Happy September! I'm here with an all things Gain update today.

It's been 13 weeks since we reopened our doors on June 1st and started operating in the Post-COVID World. In those 3 months, we've had 1829 individual client sessions. While dramatically less than a typical summer, I'm pleased that we've been able to operate safely and so many of you have been unwilling to sacrifice your health and well-being.

Alex, Taylor and I are getting our reps in, too. We're getting used to our new warm up format, becoming masters with the new programming software and we've become exceptional at disinfecting. Which, by the way, we've gone through at least 10 gallons of.

While the business is different, we feel as though our new format is better able to serve you. We're more organized, peoples' workouts are more efficient and most importantly we're able to give everyone more attention.

If you don't know, we now warm up as a group, with each person in their own individual workout pod. Each member has a whiteboard with their training for the day already planned out and we set up any and all equipment you'll need for the duration of the session. This has helped us keep everyone physically distant and ensures there's no equipment sharing.

Going forward, please remember to wear your mask when you walk in, when you exit, and if you need to travel across the gym for any reason and won't be able to stay physically distant from everyone. Also, don't skip the hand sanitizer when you walk in. There are 3 touch-less dispensers in the office, use them!

These policies are what's keeping us alive, please continue to follow them.

Here are some more updates for you:

SCHEDULE

The schedule will remain the same moving forward.

The gap in-between sessions allows us to re-clean (yup, we clean everything twice) all used equipment and commonly touched surfaces, lets the gym air our and gives us the time to prepare the equipment and whiteboards for the next session.

We're holding off on Saturday's for now. Simply put, we're doing a lot to operate safely and adding an additional day, when we've already added so much to our plates, will spread us out too thin.

They're not gone forever, but they're gone for now.

A couple other notes on the schedule:

Tuesday/Thursday, as it has been historically, is less busy than Mon/Wed/Fri.The spots that usually have the most openings are 10/10:30am, 12:00pm and 7:00pm. The busiest times are early in the morning and 5:30pm.

LABOR DAY

We will be open regular hours on Monday September 7th.

SESSION SIZE

We're expanding our squat rack system so we can safely add more spaces to each session and keep up with physical distancing.

We've felt as though we have the space to add more people, but not the equipment and designated areas to do it safely. Having the additional spaces will free up clogs in the schedule and make it more likely you can make it to those hard to book sessions.

As soon as we get it installed, the class size will increase to 6. If/when we feel comfortable, we will increase this to 7 with a long-term goal of 8 spots session.

AS A REMINDER

Book you session within 6 hours of the start time.

Cancel within 2 hours - but more is be better.

As everyone has gotten into the swing of things, we've seen an increase in no shows and late cancels. I cannot stress enough how unacceptable this is. You are preventing someone else from working out when you late cancel.

Yes, the schedule is more rigid than in the past, but the world is a different place and we all have to make sacrifices because of that. Please, help us, and your fellow Gain Members out by sticking to your sessions and showing up on time.

A note on the waitlist: if a session says "waitlist," it means that no one has signed up for the waitlist. If a spot opens up, you will immediately be notified that you got into the session (via email or text depending on your Mindbody preferences). Since a lot of people are booking weeks out in advance (you can go 4 weeks with MB), chances are good you will get off the waitlist. If it says "call," that means someone is already waitlisted for the class.

Please do not call the office number if you do need to make a last minute change, or miss the sign up window. Text the coach who is on the schedule for the time you want to come. It's also helpful if you text your coach if you're going to be late so we know to get started without you.

All of our cell phones are listed at the bottom of the email. Add them to your contacts list.

Good Bye Mindbody

Starting on October 1st, we're retiring Mindbody.

Active members will receive an email to confirm account details over the new few weeks as we transition to the new system. If you get an email to update any account information please do so as quickly to help us make this transition as seamless as possible.

This new software is more streamlined, easier to use and will be a nice upgrade for us all.

NEW WEBSITE

Our website got a facelift, be sure to check it out - especially if you've been out of the Gain Game for a while, we have a new Once per week membership offering that we've never done before.

VIRTUAL TRAINING

If the pandemic taught us anything it's that virtual training and at-home training is here to stay.

If you're on the fence about coming back to the gym, or need a fresh routine customized for whatever equipment you have access too, be sure to get in touch to see how we can help.

We have bodyweight-only programs, reGAIN, which is a program for former college athletes looking to get their edge back and I've finally started doing endurance coaching for people training for a race or just looking to formalize their training.

TRUECOACH

If you don't know, we retired the old sheets to minimize physical sharing and now track everything digitally. This has been a game changer for us in terms of workout history and having all the right information to make your workouts challenging.

It's also given the people still training at home a resource to upload videos for technique recommendations, and it provides workout history and built in accountability.

For you in person members: we plan out the days in true coach regardless of which days you plan to come in the gym. This means you may get an email saying you skipped a workout even though you didn't come in. If this bothers you, you can turn off the email notifications through your true coach app.

There, that covers it all. This was a long overdue update of everything happening. I want to close out by saying thank you. It's hard running a gym normally, and it's really hard during a pandemic when you're forced to shut down for months on end and people are scared to be around each other. We're fighting through this and will do everything we can to come out on the other side. Thanks for sticking with us and trusting in what we're doing - it literally means everything to us.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you in the gym soon!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

New Site

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to update the look and feel of our website to make it more streamlined and to show how we’re combating COVID-19 with our new policies and social distancing.

We’re not stopping here, either.

We have some more changes coming your way to make your experience at Gain even better. I can’t wait to show you!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Uncertainty

Yesterday, after a @gain_endurance client broke her 1 mile PR, I decided to give it a go.

I got warmed up at the gym before heading to the track. As I was jumping rope, I got nervous.

What was going to happen? Would I break my PR? Would I be so slow I’d be embarrassed? What if I’m way off from my attempt last year? All these thoughts flooded my mind and my nervousness grew as I drove to PHS.

This nervousness, this uncertainty in the final outcome is what makes running and training worthwhile for me. Committing to trying your best, when you know it’s going to be hard, regardless of the outcome.

The same nervousness happens before a big lift, or before an ultramarathon. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s good.

Be sure to make yourself face some uncertainty once in a while.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Strategic Not Heroic

We’re all fans of intensity. Going all in. Giving it 110%. Leaving it on the field.

Intensity is great. It can take you places and get stuff done.

One of our core values at Gain is consistency and moderation over intensity.

While intensity does have its place. We often times skip the consistent part and go for intensity. This leads to burn out instead of trust in the process.

We want you to commit to being healthier for the long term. This isn’t a quick fix.

Let’s make consistency just as sexy as intensity.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

More Info, Better Choices

As a young coach, I remember getting my first private client. The night before our first workout I spent hours and hours on excel planning out our first month of training. I had color coordinated blocks. Places for sets and reps and load. I had all the warm ups planned out and big chunks of space for me to fill in notes.

I felt like a pro. I used all my knowledge from college to periodize the most perfect training plan. The progressions were thoughtful and everything had a rhyme and reason.

Then our first session happened.

They showed up late. And had to leave earlier than originally expected. 

My plan was ruined. If we didn’t get to everything on day 1, that meant the rest of the week needed to be modified too.

I was bummed. This was the first time I witnessed well-executed text book planning come face to face with the real world. All the sessions that followed had similar issues. Some days they felt really good and we did more, some days they felt off or tired and we modified the plan to do less. 

I learned an important lesson. You can have the best plan in the world. You can follow all the program design principles and have your macrocycles, mesocycles and microcycles designed for perfect linear progress and as soon as it hits the real world, which is full of uncertainty, it can be useless. 

You’ve got to be able to adapt, modify and change things on the fly as you gather more information. I’ve said it before, your plan can be great, perfect even. But then, once you start a session, you gather more information. You learn how they’re feeling, how the movements look, what their attitude is amongst so many other factors.

When you gather more information, you can make better choices and decisions. You’ve got to be willing to change, no matter how good the original plan was. When I work with someone one on one now, I rarely go into it with a full workout planned. I have a rough idea of what I want to accomplish, but I need to see them warm up, chat with them, get a read on the room to figure out how we’ll attack the day’s workout.

Remember that. Some times your weights will need to be lighter, you’ll need to skip the conditioning or just not feel up for the planned workout. It’s not a bad thing to modify, it’s a smart thing. It’s using all the available information, and ignoring it would be foolish.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Get Started

Imperfect action is better than no action at all.

Waiting for the right moment, the right time, the right place is just delaying what you need to do, start.

It won’t be as seamless, clean or as easy as you imagine, but there’s no way to get going other than to start.

Time to get moving.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Hydration and Electrolytes

This summer I’ve been on mission to properly hydrate.

Two things have me feeling good and feeling hydrated to the max.

First is having a big glass of water while I make my coffee in the morning.

Second, I make sure to put a dash of salt in my water if I’m drinking without food.

Salt gets no love and I feel bad for it. 

Highly processed foods contain a lot of sodium, which is where our societal apprehension of salt comes from. However, if you’re eating fruits and veggies and quality protein and are cooking most of your food, you better be adding salt.

It’s an important electrolyte that helps us absorb water so we can stay hydrated instead of pee it right out. Many of you have expressed that frustration to me over the years. A simple fix is to get better at absorbing it, and that’s what a bit of salt can help you do.

Robb Wolf is a researcher, author and all around smart guy whom I look to for nutrition advice. Check out his video of why you may want to start adding some salt to your water. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Is This Normal?

Is deadlifting heavy weight, squatting high reps and being super picky about push up technique normal? No, it certainty isn’t. Is rolling around on a lacrosse ball, foam roller or doing dedicated hip mobility work normal? Definitely not. 

See, this whole fitness thing isn’t normal. Living with some sort of pain has become normal. Not being able to effortlessly walk down stairs is normal. Having to take the day off from work after a weekend hike is normal. Needing help carrying groceries inside is normal. Icing your lower back after a morning in the garden is normal. 

Fueling your body with fake foods is normal. You only get one chance with this body, why would you put crap in it? Because that’s normal.

Don’t be normal. 

Pursue strength as a skill. Spend time doing maintenance on your body. Move more and treat yourself like the fascinating piece of machinery that you are.

Don’t be that person that says “what till you’re –insert age here-.” 

Guess what? You don’t have to be like that you’re that age.

Passionately fight against the norm now and take care of yourself. Make it a priority, a sustainable practice you can do forever.

Put the work in now, even if it seems strange to your peers. They are normal, anyway. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Stepping Over 100 Dollar Bills for Nickels

I heard that saying for the first time this morning on a podcast.

The nutrition coach who said it was referencing people who wake up really early in the morning to do an extra workout instead of getting more sleep.

His argument was that getting more and better sleep was more impactful than getting in an extra session.

It got me thinking. Where else do we step over 100 dollar bills to pick up nickels?

Protein shakes instead of whole food.

Forcing intense workouts when we’re beat up just because we feel guilty.

Working out five times per week when you’re not actually ready for that time commitment and burning out after two weeks.

Taking multiple supplements instead of prioritizing nutritious foods.

Where else can you step over 100 dollar bills for nickels? 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

On/Off

I first heard of Dr. Andrew Huberman at the Art of Breath Seminar in Virginia Beach in November 2018.

Huberman was a participant in the day-long deep dive into all things breathing and performance, but afterwards, we were all invited back to the gym to hear his presentation. Huberman is a neurologist and researcher at Stanford. His lab focuses on neuroplasticity and more specifically, how we can use our brain to change our state, or physiological mood.

He’s been making the rounds on the major podcasts like JRE and Rich Roll. In both episodes, the simple thing that stuck out to me was making sure you have periods of intense focus and intense periods of not focusing at all.

When learning a new skill, or trying to concentrate to do deep work, you need immense focus on the task. Afterwards, the best thing you can to do help your brain adapt to the new stimulus is let is recharge but “shutting it off.” Huberman says things like good, deep sleep or even some concentrated breathing exercises can help you do this.

This hard on, hard off idea lets the brain make new connections and learn new things. We all think we learn while we’re doing the task, but the actual learning happens afterwards, when we give our brains a moment to chill.

Until recently, we thought all learning stopped around age 25 when the brain stopped developing. We now know that isn’t the case, and our brains are plastic, or malleable through adulthood if we’re willing to create the right circumstances.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Strategic Mindset

I was awful at studying in high school. I was able to skate through without as much as opening a text book or doing a single homework assignment. Looking back, I have no idea how I did it.

I had a rude awakening in college though. Without studying skills, I actually didn’t know how I learned, or how I should study to best retain information. I tried buckling down and studying, but nothing happened, since I didn’t know what I was trying to accomplish.

This is the first time I remember thinking about how I think. As the article calls it, metacognition. I realized that I needed to figure out how my brain worked so I could pass these challenging gross anatomy practical tests.

Taking the time to think about how we think, and how we come to decisions develops a strategic mindset. This mindset is an ability to use feedback to course correct and make better choices. Constantly questioning whether it’s the right way, or the most streamlined is a sure fire way to become more efficient. 

Whether you’re running a business, chasing health goals, trying to run fast or be less stressed, developing this mindset is a key to improving. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Timely

People have expressed one of their biggest concerns when starting back at the gym is finishing within the hour time limit.

In the pre-COVID days, we had no time restrictions, you could take as long as you needed. Many of you took advantage of this policy and would spread your workout over 90 minutes. The funny thing though, we’ve had to make more adjustments to make sure people take longer to complete their workout now with our new system.

We’re more organized. The programs are more efficient, there’s no waiting around at the table to ask a question and no need to wander to find an out of the way spot. You get all your equipment, your own personal space and easier access to a coach.

If you’re worried about taking too long, don’t be. And what do we do if you’re someone who blazes through the day’s workout? We have more time for cardio and mobility, of course! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Step Ups

Step ups don’t get a lot of love in the strength training world. 

They’re not that complex and they are overshadowed by cooler things people do on boxes like jump on them. It’s too bad, step ups can teach us a lot about how we move. Specifically how to create tension and where our movement faults may come from.

Once you have your foot planted on the box, never let it cave inwards, towards your big toe. A good cue to think about here is knee towards your pinky toe. It’s almost overcorrecting it so if in falls in a bit, you’re still in a good position. This applies to lunges as well.

That knee may also want to push too far forward, lifting your heel off the box. Don’t let that happen either! Imagine your foot as a tripod, big toe, pinky toe and heel. They should all be firmly planted when doing a step up. The thing that clears these faults up for most people is allowing their torso to drop forward. A slight lean, when starting the rep, will aid in keeping your lower body organized. 

These tips will help you whether you’re doing step ups for conditioning, with some load for strength work or most importantly if you find yourself outside the gym stepping up on things. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Healthspan

As you’re well aware of by now, I’m a fan of playing the long game. Like one of our core values says, consistency and moderation over intensity.

I recently heard a term I was not familiar with on a podcast that represents this long term view, healthspan.

Your healthspan is how much of your life that you are within good health without chronic disease or aging related disabilities. It’s a long term perspective that gets you to think about the small daily choices that accumulate to have bigger impacts down the line. 

I plan to keep my healthspan going for as long as possible. I want to be confident, independent and reliable. Training, sleeping, eating well and moving more are the ticket to get there. Remember, our daily choices add up, make good ones.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Squat Mastery

The squat is an anomaly. 

On one side, the squat is a basic human function. Before toilets, chairs and couches we probably squatted a lot. As babies, we learn how to squat to stand up and take our first steps. Somewhere along the way we lose this innate ability.

Many adults have no clue how to squat. This is such an issue there’s even people out there that say squatting is bad! This is what makes it an anomaly. We all do it at some point, and most of us lose the ability throughout the course of our lives.

Whether you’re a squatting pro, or just an amateur, I have good news for you. It is such a complex, high skill move that you’ll never master it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though. It’s a moving target. You should always be trying to make it feel better, smoother and more comfortable.

Here are the top 3 things to consider when performing a squat:

1. Keep your feet on the ground. No heel lifting or toe lifting. Try to maintain even pressure through the whole foot. Let this dictate depth.

2. Stand tall. By standing up nice and tall and the end of every rep, you set the next rep up for success. Be sure to set your hips by squeezing your butt.

3. Let yourself lean forward. In a perfect world, we could all squat with our torso totally upright. The problem with this however, is that it requires more skill and range of motion. I prefer to teach people how to squat with a big lean forward. While this looks more hinge-like than a squat, this teaches you to engage your hips, organize your spine and helps you keep your feet on the ground. 

Even if you’ve been squatting for years. Pay close attention next time and see if you can improve your movement. There’s always space to get better. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Slow & Steady

Today’s blog is a reminder that this health and fitness stuff can take a long time. Not rushing to the finish line is the key to success. You’ve got to stay determined and diligent, progress takes time. 

In fact, the best progress is the progress you don’t even notice. Progress that happens year to year that you totally miss until you stop and reflect.

I had that realization after a tough run in the mountains this weekend. Completing the run wasn’t due to one training block, one long run or one track workout. It wasn’t due to a single workout in the gym, or a single movements I’ve been practicing. It was the results of the accumulated effort over years. All the runs, all the rest days, all the gym workouts, all the nutritional choices and all the hours of sleep.

It’s hard to notice day to day, but year to year can really paint a picture. Make sure you’re playing the game long enough to reap the benefits of accumulation.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Nutritional Consistency

Since quarantine started on March 17, we’ve eaten all but 4 meals at home.

We typically cook most of our food, but this has gone to the next level.

I have been feeling great, too. I feel more energized, reaching for less coffee and have come to enjoy eating the same breakfast everyday.

We can get caught up in needing variety, just to keep things fresh. More often than not though, we should be shooting for consistency, not shaking things up just because we’re bored.

It happens in the gym too. Sticking with the plan, even though it’s sometimes boring, always pays more in the long run.

Find more consistency throughout your day, it’s the secret to playing the long game.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain