Welcome to the GAIN Blog
The blog is updated Monday-Friday. Tune in for posts and discussion about health, fitness, nutrition, training experiments and reflection. We share articles, videos and more. We post the link to our Instagram story every day, make sure to follow along there to never miss a post.
Friday Thoughts #8
Welcome to this week’s edition of my random thoughts to end the week. Today, I have for you, some of the best posts I’ve seen on Instagram this week. Enjoy!
This story about a weightlifter in the 2009 Beijing Olympics.
This guys page, I can’t get enough of watching him to pull ups and slow muscle ups.
3. Apparently today is National Fitness Day, whatever that means. Either way, it was an opportunity for Juliet Starrett to share these 9 bullet point thoughts about health and fitness in general. The Starretts are so reasonable with their approach to health and fitness. They talk big picture and how to make massive change with simple practices and consistency. Be sure to follow.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Color Coordinated / Just Lift It
Do you know the reason why all the kettlebells in the gym are color coordinated? It might not be what you think.
When I first started coaching I worked primarily with middle school and high school athletes.
One of my most memorable groups was 8 girls from the varsity soccer team. They had offers or desires to play on at a division 1 school. They needed to get stronger.
At the time, it was the Wild West of kettlebells. You couldn’t buy a full set at Target, websites weren’t selling them, and if you could track down mail-in catalog with a kettlebell order form, you could get some shipped to you for even more of an outrageous price than today.
That meant we got all our kettlebells the old fashioned way. Finding gyms that went out of business, Craigslist, and our favorite, buying the demo kettlebells from a seminar off a truck, like a scene from Goodfellas.
That meant the gym’s kettlebell collection was mismatched, to say the least. They were all different sizes, diameters, colors. Most of them only had the weights on in kilograms, and if it had pounds you had to really look to figure it out.
One day I noticed the athletes were progressing on their goblet squats, but not their trapbar deadlifts and I couldn’t figure it out.
And then it became clear.
Since the kettlebells were a mismatched jumble, I would pass out the kettlebells for the day’s squats to make sure each athlete got the right weight. Since the weights were so mismatched, and hard to figure out exactly how much they weighed, they would just squat what was in front of them.
On the deadlifts, they were loading their own bars, and it’s very obvious how much steel plates weigh, with the white on a dark contrasting background. When they were faced with knowing the heavy weights, it made them nervous, even though they were exceptional athletes.
When I pieced this together, I did two things.
I headed to the hardware store and bought many cans of spray paint. I spent an afternoon color coordinating the kettlebells by weight.
In future sessions, I would just tell the athlete to grab the yellow or blue or green kettlebell for their squats, and it was never met with resistance, just like when I handed them out. I started loading the trapbars for the weekly deadlifts sessions, not telling them how much was not the bar until after a successful lift.
What resulted was an important lesson as a coach.
Sometimes the numbers can be intimidating and stop people in the tracks, they think “I’m not strong enough to lift that,” or “that’s way too much for me, I’ll get hurt.” So the color coordinated kettlebells stuck around, and now, with new clients who have very little experience in the gym, I tell them not to worry about the pounds, but to just think of it as the orange, or blue or yellow, or whatever color kettlebell.
The subtle mindset shift can unlock gains you didn’t even know you were capable of. So maybe, don’t worry about exactly how much it weighs, and just think of it as the purple kettlebell.
So that’s the reason the kettlebells, and everything else in the gym, is color coordinated. And, of course, to keep them organized.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Your Next Position is Your Best Position
Someone gave me a cop of The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook last week. It’s full of different techniques to self-mobilize your soft tissue, something we do at the gym everyday with foam rollers, lacrosse balls and the like. It’s an old book, so it’s a little dated, but there are some valuable takeaways nonetheless.
I was flipping through last night and this passage caught my eye:
“Staying in any position too long, even a comfortable position, is hazardous to muscles. A static position favors the formation of trigger points because it hampers circulation. Muscles need a certain amount of contracting and relaxing to stay healthy. Many jobs are static by nature, particularly anything done sitting at a desk. Unfortunately, sedentary or inactive work gives you the impression that your work is easy, that you’re not straining anything. On the contrary, you might be well under a great deal of subtle physical stain and not recognize it.”
Remember, posture is just a word or what position you’re in, and your best position is your next position, because the more you can move, the better. Avoid static positions and try to move frequently. Take breaks and instead of searching for the most perfect set up, try a variety of positions throughout the day to expose your tissues to many different stimulus.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
No Evening Classes - Friday October 20th
This Friday afternoon, the GAIN coaches and I are headed to Milford, Connecticut for a seminar.
As such, we’ll be closing the gym down early.
There are no 4:00pm, or 5:30pm classes, but the rest of the day we’ll be following out regular schedule. See you in the gym!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Halfway by the Numbers
Today marks October 16th, we have crested the hallway point of the daily habit challenge.
At the start of October, I urged all of you to zoom out, and gain some perspective on how your habit can compound, and how the little things add up each day over time.
If you’ve been diligent, let’s say breathing for 5 minutes per day, what do the numbers look like halfway through?
5 minutes per day x 15 days completed = 75 minutes of breathing!
Can you believe that? One hour and fifteen minutes of just focusing on your breathing! And it only took 5 minutes.
Let’s dive a little deeper. Several of you have reading goals.
Swap out the 5 minutes of breathing for 5 minutes of reading.
75 minutes of reading! But wait, there were those 4 nights that you were into the book, and you ended up reading for 20 minutes. We can add 4x15 minutes (additional time) to the 75 minutes for a grand total of 135 minutes of reading.
Now, according to this, the average person reads 300 words per minute, or 1500 words in 5 minutes.
With the original total of 75 minutes, you would have read 22,500 words. With the additional 60 minutes of reading spread through the habit challenge, without even trying, you could take the total to 40,500 - almost doubling the amount you consumed.
Hopefully you’re starting to see how these small efforts add up over time. The halfway point is a big milestone, but you’ve got a long way to go, keep it up!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts #7
Join us tonight at Liars Bench for a GAIN Community Event. We’ll be hanging out starting at 5pm. Hope to see you there!
Daily Habit Challenge: second weekend coming up. Plan ahead and stick with it. You’re basically halfway there, hopefully it’s getting easier and easier.
Easy Strength Update: As I approach the final 10 workouts of the 40 session program, the frequency was starting to add up. As my “everyday” weight climbed, eventually, the time I need to recover did as well. I’ll see the program through the end, and in the spirit of it, I’m focusing on keeping the weights easier this week. I’ve taken about a week off from ring dips. Doing daily 2x5 sets was wearing on me. I felt really strong, and did an easy, slow tempo set loaded with a 20 pound weight vest. After that, I decided the daily volume was too much and I’d rather do the ring dips once or twice and week with a little more time between sessions. I’ve replace some of that time with more tempo pull ups. Really focusing on a hollow position or, when I’m feeling a little more fresh, an L sit eccentric.
Check out this Get Up breakdown with some common faults.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
3 Keys to Sticking with a Strength Training Plan
Consistency over intensity. Everyone wants to be heroic when they first start. Instead, focus on showing up. Some of your workouts should be easier or shorter initially. Aim for 2-3 days a week instead of the overly ambitious 4-5. Play the long game and you’ll stay healthy and make it a sustainable habit.
Do a private session - strength training is not one size fits all. There are no exercises, weights or pieces of equipment that are perfect for everyone. If you’re nervous, doing a private session with a coach and getting properly assessed will determine what ranges of motion you have, things to stay away from and give you some measurable goals to improve upon.
Talk to someone! Figure out an action plan, create some measurable and attainable goals to hold yourself accountable. This won’t work if you decide to do it on a whim. Talking to a coach means you have someone on your side looking out to help you stick with your new habit.
Ready to start? There’s two ways to get involved at Gain.
If you’ve got some experience and are comfortable around the gym, our 3 session trial membership is right for you.
If the gym sounds intimidating, and it’s been a while since you’ve exercised, we recommend starting with a 3 Pack Private Training Session.
Get started now!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Training Session Breakdown By Category
Here’s a general breakdown of a training session at GAIN by categorizing the movements by intent. Strength training is the main event, with some accessory work, direct core training and usually conditioning. Of course, this is a generalization. Each individual member has a training plan designed for them and their abilities.
These categories provide the framework to build out a training session and eventually a long-term program.
A. The main event.
The exercises at the start of the workout are typically when we’re focused on building strength. Movements stay consistent, i.e., goblet squats and deadlifts, but rep ranges, volume and intensity undulate to allow for maximum long term adaptation. Keeping your body healthy and ready for action outside of the gym, rather than just beating you up.
B. Accessory work.
These moves pay to do regardless of weight and intensity. While we track progress on the main strength piece, accessory work is more about consistently exposing your body good movement rather than short term progress.
It’s helpful to think of loading here in 3 levels.
Bodyweight. Not feeling intense exercise? Push ups, ring rows, lunges and split squats are all beneficial even without the extra load. This keeps your training going even when the circumstances aren’t perfect.
Standard load. Your usual weight for split squats, one arm rows and db floor presses. This is a comfortable load you can do any day of the week for 8-12 reps.
Push it. When the movement is crisp or if you’re feeling confident, go heavier-than-normal. Touch this weight every 4-8 weeks.
C. Core.
Less is more. The more you can slow down and concentrate on trunk specific work, the better pay off. Your stability will thank you, and you won’t continue reinforcing bad bracing mechanics.
D. Conditioning.
Get sweaty. Create distance or calorie targets for the time duration. Occasional tests, i.e., 5 minutes for max distance or 20 minutes for average watts, measure progress and build pacing context for future training sessions.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
The Summer of the Perfect Program
As an exercise science major, a majority of my classes were focused on program design and exercise selection.
How could you maximize perform outcomes by controlling the variables you could control. I loved it.
We learned about what exercises paired with each and other and which pairings to avoid, how to order exercises, proper rest period timing and building macro and microcycles. Using that knowledge and a little bit of creativity, you can create a training program. It was really clear to me; if you weren’t strictly following a perfectly designed training program, you were just wasting time in the gym.
At the time I was playing hockey and I trained to get better on the ice. One summer, I became obsessed with having the perfect program, it killed all of my progress.
If I missed a day or two, I would throw away a whole week to start fresh on Monday. Eventually, this led to program hopping - I’m not making progress on this plan, I’ll create a new one! And the cycle would start over. Eventually I stopped trying at all.
Of course, it wasn’t the plan’s fault. It was my inability to stick with it. Or rather, my inability to get back on the horse. To just keep going with pretty good rather than thinking I needed perfection.
That summer was crazy. I was working full time as an ice truck driver, taking a college class, interning at a gym and training for the upcoming hockey season.
Trying to be perfect halted any progress I could have made. Instead of starting the program over and over again, I should have just kept going, even with some missed days. Sure, the plan wouldn’t be perfect or ideal, but the benefits of doing something far outweigh what you get with nothing.
As we enter day 10 of the habit challenge, keep this in mind. Being perfect all days isn’t necessarily the point. The point is to build a new habit. For some of you, that means the day after you lose your streak is the most important to start back up. Avoid quitting just because it isn’t perfect.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
October Get Together
Join us this Friday 10/13 for a GAIN Beer Night @ Liar’s Bench Beer Co.
We’re meeting there at 5pm, and will be hanging for a couple hours.
See you there.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts #6
Do you ever consider how many books worth of social media you consume each year? Sounds a little frightening when put like that. That idea, and our relationship with books is explored here. This video was sent to me by a GAIN Blog reader, and I really enjoyed the ideas they explored about our relationship with books and reading. It seems particularly revenant with our habit challenge currently underway.
Shoutout to Hannah. She was doing a high rep/lightweight bench press workout the other day in our garage gym. She got pinned on the last round and no one was around to hoist the bar back to the rack. She pulled off some incredible maneuvering and rolled the bar to her hips and got out from under it. A very impressive feat of strength and athleticism. Also, an unfortunate thing most that happens to most lifters at least one. I’ll never forget the time it happened to me.
Check out this article about moment arms and forces of the squat. I brushed up on this after a discussion with someone after they back squatted for the first time ever. When they mentioned it’s hard, I said something along the lines of yes, the barbell is trying to crush your soul.
Highly recommend you don’t have 3 Crumbl cookies for dinner like I did last night. Even if you can’t decide on which flavor to get.
In better nutrition advice, I’ve been putting these pre-made vanilla Jocko protein drinks in my morning coffee. It tastes delicious and gets me an extra 10-20 grams of protein depending on how big my cup of coffee is. Grab one the next time you’re in the gym to put in your coffee - hot or iced.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Habit Check In
Today is day 5 of the Daily Habit Challenge.
By now, you should have all the details about your new habit worked out. You may need to dig in and answer a lot of questions about your routine, that way you can build you own habit process.
Things like, what time of day do I do this? But don’t just say in the morning, be as specific as you can - as soon as I get out of bed, or once my first cup of coffee is done, or as soon as the kids leave for school. Look for certain cues that can spark the habit. Something along the lines of; I’ll have a protein shake as soon as I get home from the gym.
Take a look at your calendar. What’s coming up in the next week to 10 days? Are the any disturbances to your habit? Traveling, dinner, things like that that may get you out of your routine. What can you start doing now to hedge against it? For most habits, just recognizing you’ll have some difficulty for a couple days is all the fine tuning you’ll need. Depending on your habit, obviously.
If you’re surviving off pure willpower, that will run out of gas soon. Create a routine by asking yourself lots of questions. Get specific as you can. That’s how you make it a permanent part of your life, no longer requiring willpower.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Bored and Okay
Yesterday I completed workout 25/40 on the program I’m following, called Easy Strength. Each of the 25 workouts has been exactly the same. Two sets of back squats, probably some dips, maybe some pull ups, and a kettlebell complex to warm up.
People keep asking if I’m bored. It couldn’t be further from the truth. The simplicity of the workouts are keeping me engaged. There’s no decision on what to do, I can just start training. Sure, I’m starting to want a little variety. But craving variety for the sake of variety kills peoples’ progress in the gym.
Instead of needing something new to entertain you, bask in the boredom. Get comfortable with it. Doing the same thing over and over again is what the majority of training is, and how to properly build real strength and conditioning.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Balanced Feet
When I'm coaching someone through a movement, any movement, one of the first things I draw my eyes to is what their feet are doing.
Ideally you should be balanced between the ball of your foot and heel.
Are you shifting all your weight back and letting your toes lift up in the air?
Or are you too forward, so I can see a little daylight underneath your heel?
It's a small but significant change, to find balance on your midfoot.
It's universally applicable to all things athletic.
The shortstop doesn't shift their weight back as they get ready to field a ball. A basketball player is on their mid foot before jumping up to grab a rebound. Even when I'm trying a kick flip my skateboard, I'm balanced on the mid foot.
The gym is where we practice movement, and if done correctly, the movements and skills we practice will transfer seamlessly to other parts of our life.
Don't get caught on your heels.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Not Perfect
Here we are in October and the Daily Habit Challenge is underway!
Here are a few things for you to keep in mind.
Starting on the beginning of the month means absolutely nothing. If you didn’t start yesterday, no one cares. Get going today and don’t get hung up about it being perfectly clean.
You should have a system to track your habit. Old fashioned calendar with a big X through each day, a habit tracking app or a recurring reminder through your iPhone’s built in Reminders app are all viable options. The satisfaction of checking it off keeps you engaged in the process.
When we decided to undergo this challenge as a gym, I asked Coach Taylor to list the top 3 reasons people won’t stick with their habit, here they are.
You get “bored” halfway through so you stop.
You’re unwilling to start up again after stopping or missing a day or two.
You don’t have clear enough guidelines, or made too big of a habit, so you never really start.
Lastly, to reiterate many of the points above, we’re trying to make positive change, not striving to be a perfect. Don’t let the illusion of perfection stop your in your tracks! Be consistent not heroic.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts #5
If you’re still coming up with a habit for the Daily Habit Challenge, here are 5 easy picks for you:
Walk 7500 steps each day.
Eat 100g of protein every day.
10 minutes of rolling and/or stretching at night before bed.
Lay down and take 10 big deep breaths before drinking coffee in the morning.
Do 25-50 kettlebell swings/push ups/bw squats/etc.
Tracking your habit is key to your success. It provides a reward for the habit and will reinforce the desired behavior. Here are a couple options:
Old fashioned calendar. Print out a calendar of the month, write your habit on top, stick it somewhere obvious and cross off a box each time you complete your habit.
Reminders App. This built in app to the iPhone is way underrated. Set up a recurring reminder to ping you each day at a specific time for the whole month. This is my preferred method.
Third party app. When we did this last in 2019, I used a free habit tracker app called Done. That one is still around along with countless others.
I’m past the halfway point of my Easy Strength program. The goal is to accumulate at least 40 workouts - simple, to the point, hard but not too stressful. People keep asking if I am getting bored. Not at all, I’m relieved. It’s easy knowing exactly what I’m going to do that day. I can procrastinate my way out of training by figuring out what to so sometimes, but not with this, I just start squatting.
After my big mountain run of the summer, I took off 6 weeks from running. Last week’s Seacoast Cancer 5k was the first time I laced up my running shoes since. I ran it with Hannah and the boys in the double stroller. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had running.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
My 2019 Daily Habit Challenge Experience
Originally posted September 2019, during our last daily habit challenge.
For many years, I’ve been terrible at push ups. That wasn’t always the case, until about 6 or 7 years ago when I had a shoulder injury I couldn’t seem to get past. While they no longer aggravate my shoulder, I’ve stayed away from this simple fundamental exercise for no reason other than by taking many years off them, I became quite bad at them. A set of 10 is maximum effort and never mind being able to do 20 or 30 in a row.
Instead of practicing them and slowly building up my tolerance, I became someone who doesn’t do push ups anymore. I would occasionally do a few sets here and there, and every single time, proclaim that I need to spend more time doing them but not do any at all.
When the September Habit Challenge started, I knew that’s what I needed to work on. For the last 8 days, I’ve done 30 push ups everyday. After the first day, I thought I might need to lower the number to 20, or maybe only 15. It was hard, harder than I wanted it to be and felt they should be. I went slow, did small sets and spread them out throughout the whole afternoon. Same thing the next day. On the fourth day though, I cranked them out in two sets of 15!
Practicing everyday has allowed me to adapt to doing push ups. They feel good on my shoulders, my range of motion is becoming better and I feel stronger doing them. Sometimes, when we want to get better at something, we need frequency in order to improve. When I was doing push ups once a week, I didn't see the progress like I am while doing them everyday.
When something is important to you, or you want to improve, add in some daily practice as a way to kickstart your improvement and build some momentum. As legendary strength coach, Dan John, says, if it’s important, do it everyday.
Justin Miner
@portsmouthcoach
Do the Math
I posted this video on Instagram yesterday, announcing the October Habit Challenging and laying down some ground rules. I wanted to expand on one of the points from the video. I mention zooming out and trying to see how the habit can positively compound over time. The best way is to build perspective, and you can do that by doing the math.
Let’s say your habit is to do the couch stretch for 2 minutes per leg each day.
Four minutes per day sounds unremarkable. Maybe even so unremarkable you’ve already written it off as too easy for your habit challenge. But, let’s say you listen to my advice, and take on the challenge of 2 minutes per leg per day.
The first week, you do exactly the minimum amount.
7 days x 4 minutes each day = 28 minutes of stretching in one week!
But here’s where it gets interesting.
The next day, day 8, you feel great. And your body is actually feeling better after the stretching session, so you start to look forward to it. On day 8-10 you end up stretching for 4 minutes per leg. Doubling your original habit time. Days 11, 12 and 13 are back to normal, just 2 minutes per leg. But on day 14, you have some extra time and end up doing 5 minutes per leg!
7 days x (8+8+8+4+4+4+10) = 46 minutes of stretching!
On week 3 your body starts to crave it. You aim to do 5 minutes every single day. Expect that you miss two days this week, you had some travel and it just didn’t workout. But instead of quitting, you get back on the wagon because you’ve done the math, and realized, even though you missed a couple days, you’re crushing because you beat last week’s total stretching duration, without even trying!
5 days x (10+10+10+10+10+0+0) = 50 minutes of stretching!
Do the math on your habit. Build it out and see how it looks in two weeks, four weeks, or a couple months down the line. Expect mishaps, they happen. It’s important to get back to it the next day. I should note, this is another reason why lowering the bar, and starting with a small habit, pays in the long run. It creates momentum and before you know it, your 4 minute stretching session is a 10 minute stretching session. Let’s get to work!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
October Habit Challenge
On October 1st we will be starting a daily habit challenge. You will choose one new habit to add to your daily routine for the entire month. The goal of this challenge is to kick start an improvement in some area of your life - physical, mental, nutrition. Creating a new habit can be difficult, but taking on the challenge with others with provided accountability will improve our chances to make a lasting change.
Selecting a specific and measurable habit is the most important aspects of this challenge. We want to avoid choosing vague habits like “eat healthier” or “workout more”. The more specific the habit is, the better. A few examples include walking 8,000 steps, eating 2 servings of vegetables, or reading 10 pages - these are clear and concise, realistic and achievable. We recommend choosing from these 3 categories: physical (steps, reps of an exercise, mobility, etc.), mental (meditation, reading, breathing, etc.), or nutrition (servings of fruits/veggies, multivitamin, hydration,etc).
It is important to remember that this a challenge that is meant to test you. You will have to make changes and plan ahead for this habit to become part of your daily routine. If you miss a day, the challenge is not over. We want to encourage everyone to give their best effort for the full 30 days. Oftentimes when the motivation and excitement of the challenge wears off you may want to stop altogether. But the days when you complete your habit when you don’t to are the most important. Meeting that resistance and continuing on is where changes are made. It teaches discipline.
To take part in the challenge, sign up on the sign up sheet located on the whiteboard near the coaches’ desk. From there, the we will let you know if you habit is approved and will provide accountability with weekly check-ins. There is no cost to join and the more people who get involved the better. Remember, no habit is too small.
Taylor Reuillard
@tailored_strength
Stroller Running
I originally posted these tips earlier this year when I was getting out for some runs with Nolan in the stroller. Yesterday, I had my first stroller race-setting experience, and I figured it would be a good chance to post a refresher of my favorite stroller running tips. It was cool seeing so many other families out with their strollers yesterday at the Seacoast Cancer 5k. Both Nolan and Elliot has a great time zigging and zagging down the race course.
It’s much harder. Pushing that heavy thing down the road is hard. Don’t underestimate it. Our neighborhood is full of subtle ups and downs, and with the stroller they are much more noticeable.
One hand only! In order to keep that fluid and smooth stride, you’re got to have some arm action. I place one hand in the middle of the stroller handle and pump my other arm, trading frequently. Avoid running with both hands on the handle if you can.
Side by Side. If I’m really trying to open up my legs and get moving, I run adjacent to the stroller. If I don’t, there isn’t enough room for my legs to open up.
Walk it! The goal of my stroller run last week was some easy volume. I threw my chest strap on to monitor my heart rate. I wanted to keep it under 150 beats per minute. This meant, I walked much more frequently than I would have had I not been pushing the stroller. Those slight climbs added up. Instead of feeling frustrated, I plan on that happening when stroller jogging.
Stroller running ins’t ideal. A little awareness of your position and how you're moving can make a big difference. Get out there!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain