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.
Tough Start
As you may know, my wife Hannah has a 10k step streak going. She’s close to 220 days in a row. It’s been inspiring seeing her walk everyday and stay committed to her goal. Well, this isn’t a story about her success, it’s about my failure and what I’ll do with it.
As we were closing down 2024, I was thinking about what I want to do in the next year, and I couldn’t get over how impressive Hannah’s streak is, so I said to her, maybe I’ll get 10k steps everyday in 2025 to try and keep up with you.
January 1 rolls around and I head out for a 3 mile run and easily hit the steps. I had a hectic day on January 2. Lots of errands to run, work to do, and before I know it, I’m headed to bed with 7000 steps. The same thing happens the next day.
I made it a one day streak…. Might as well wait till next year to start fresh!
That was my mindset around habits for a long time. They needed to be executed perfectly or I’ll just try again another time. I’ve learned that nothing ever goes perfectly, and the most impressive thing about a streak is when you start back up after faltering.
My should be 6 day streak is only a 3 day streak. Not a big deal.
I’ll continue on as planned and see where it goes. After missing a couple days so early in the year, I’m nervous of the year long commitment because I better understand how easily it can slip away. For now, I’ll focus on the day ahead of me and not worry about the grandeur of the challenge.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
First Week - Back to Basics
I know it’s already been 2025 for sometime now, but today feels like it’s really getting started with our first full week of the year.
If you have some awesome new goals and habits you’re taking on in the new year, congrats, I’m excited for you.
With all the excitement around the new year, we can often feel pressure to start a new habit or challenge just because, and that usually leads to burn out. What I’m doing this week is getting back to basics and making sure I have my old habits nailed down before focusing on adding more to my plate. I’m talking super basic.
Getting in bed by 9pm, drinking some water in the morning (and not surviving off just coffee), planning and prepping breakfast and lunch, and getting my calendar organized are my priorities this week.
New goals and habits are awesome, but also make sure you have your basics squared away too.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 62
My brain isn’t sure it’s Friday, but it is according to the calendar. Welcome to the first edition of Friday Thoughts in the New Year. I hope your 2025 has been off to a great start so far. Enjoy!
Short people AirBike hack:
This is a clever solution.
Running Warm Up?
This is some fine stroller running. Great form.
We’ve tried this in our house, no way you’re getting to a 15 block stack with Nolan around.
Whoa…
Lastly, some habits/goals/resolution stuff to think about from my favorite, James Clear (via Peter Attia’s Instagram account).
Make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfying.
Happy Friday everyone, see you in the gym!
Justin Miner
Happy New Year!
2025 is here and the blog is back!
I had a great time hanging with the family over the holiday break, but I’m eager to get back into the gym and into my normal routine.
If you’ve known me for a while you probably think I’m a New Year’s resolution hater. I’m all for big goals, I’ve just witnessed too much resolution big talk with little or fading action. I actually like the idea of the fresh start. What things can we change or adjust to make better this year? I also like reflecting back on the year. How many miles did I run? How many workouts did I do? Can I plan another family vacation for the summer? What did I do well? What didn’t work? What do I want to try this year?
They’re all good chances to bring in the year right. Whether you have a big list of goals, a few small habits to change or are using this time as a chance for reflection, I wish you all the best heading into 2025!
Justin Miner
Friday Thoughts 61
Greetings! Happy Holidays. Welcome to the 255th blog of the year, and also, the last blog of the year. I do enjoy writing the blog, especially these Friday posts, but I’m looking forward to 10 or so days away from it ready to come charging out of the gate in January.
New Year, New Me?
If you don’t have any big, drastic, life-altering goals set up for the new year, or any new habits you want to develop - that’s okay. I’m at war with half-assed goals and would venture to say that not having one is better than some non-specific, hard to define wish. If you are eager to make change in the new year, please, start small. Tiny changes that don’t seem like much, that seem too easy, are the ones you’ll be able to stick with for the long haul. Don’t ‘burn out’ from your goals after a few weeks. Set it up to be manageable.
Other Notable 200 Day Streaks
I’m one of the most impressive habits I’ve seen pulled off this year, my wife Hannah just hit her 201st day in a row of 10k steps. I asked her how long she plans to continue and she said forever. For the most part, she rolls out of bed and gets straight on the treadmill for a 30 minute walk before running or lifting in the garage. There’s been some days she gets an extra walk in at night to hit the number, or a couple of crazy travel days involving overnight flights and time zone changes. Which, funny enough, at the GAIN party when I overheard Hannah telling Taylor her account of getting her steps in that day he replied, isn’t that kind of missing the point?
Their conversation has sparked a lot of discussion between Hannah and I over the past couple weeks.
I see Taylor’s perspective. The point of a steps goal is to have something to strive for and encourage you to move more and make it a natural part of your day to be exposed to more movement and more walking. While I get Taylor’s point that it could be seen as unnecessary or over-the-top to take a late night walk (early in the morning at home) after an international flight. To Hannah’s point, that’s the exact reason she’s doing it. Nothing can unwind 12 hours of travel like a nice walk, and if keeping the steak going encourages you to do it, I think it’s good.
KB Swings Update
The kettlebell swing challenge continues on. On Day 19, I’m averaging 295 swings per day with 5600 total 95% with the 24kg kettlebell, some lighter if I need to warm up or some heavier with the 32kg. I’ve taken more 0 days than I expected but that seems to be helpful to get a big day in. The most I have done in a day so far was 800. That was spread out throughout the day plus a workout of push ups and swings that accumulated 400. It takes about 5 minutes to do 100 no matter which way you slice it. It’s more time consuming that I expected and I thought sneaking in sets of 25 throughout the day would add up more, but it’s really only worth it when you can bang out 100 at a time, so I try to work within 5 or 10 or 20 minute chunks to get some work done. Technique feels great, and well-connected to the ground. Initially my forearms were a bit stiff and I’ve been trying to stretch my wrists more. I’m looking forward to moving on to something else, but in the meantime I’m going to keep chipping away at these swings, and hopefully log a couple of big days (1000+) over the holidays. I’ll keep my kettlebell roasting by the wood stove.
Holiday Hours Reminder
CLOSED: 24-25-26-31-1
Until next year!
Justin Miner
Must Watch
This podcast with Andrew Huberman and Kelly Starrett is a gold mine of information about health span, lifestyle, movement, fascia, training, the pelvic floor and breathing amongst many other topics as well. It’s loaded with discussion that will make you think and actionable items you can start implementing in your life.
It’s a long one, so buckle up.
Enjoy!
Justin Miner
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
running by the numbers 2024
Like many of the apps we use these days, Strava has an end of year wrap up that shows how many miles you ran, vertical gain, time spent training, etc. I want to share this with you today because I had a bit of a comeback to running this year, and I was surprised to see my miles compared to the past few years. If you get anything out of this, I hope it’s that you realize playing the long game is key. If I run for the rest of my life, a couple of down years will just be a blip.
To paint the picture, let’s go all the way back to 2019, what I would consider my ‘peak’ running year where I logged the most miles and felt very fit.
(btw, this is chump change for big milage people)
In 2020 I start my slow decline. I ran a couple big epic runs like a Hut Traverse, but it seems stressful now.
2021 - We have a baby at home and running is hard to prioritize but I still get out there.
2022 - we have a two year old, another baby on the way, running takes a back seat. I had a hard time getting excited about running at all this year and remember that clearly.
2023, my low point of running. I hated running this year, and couldn’t get myself to enjoy it at all. I ran only once race.
Whenever I would get out on a run I would feel guilty… I should be with the kids, or mowing the lawn or calling this person back… These thoughts had been building for a couple years and reached the breaking point this year - I was no longer having fun.
After the 50k in August I decided it was time for a long break from running. I took some time to chill and the hired a weightlifting coach in November, and would spend 6 months training specifically for the sport of weightlifting thinking my running days are behind me because it just wasn’t fun anymore - it was stressful. And of course it was stressful, in 5 years I went from 200+ hours of running to only 60. The drop off was noticeable and it felt like I wasn’t being productive for any of it to even matter.
My 2024 running season started in February, though I didn’t get out for my first run until April. I was in full on weightlifting mode, gaining weight and training hard in a new rhythm now with a coach telling me what to do for a new sport.
When the Mount Washington Road Race lottery opened up, I couldn’t resist. I threw my name in for the 8th year and finally got picked!
I was stressed. I was coming off my ‘worst’ year of running and now I hadn't even run in months and Mount Washington was just 7 weeks after the weightlifting meet! But I had to do it, it’s a classic race and it’s been on my list for a while so I accepted my registration and forgot about running until after the weightlifting meet.
Getting into that race sparked something in me. I ran 7 races this past summer, more than I ever have. I had fun too, and really enjoyed it for the first time in years.
Having to ‘cram for the test,’ and get ready to charge up Mount Washington was a novel problem to solve - how can I get ready to run this very quickly with just several weeks of training? That combined with the Hannah taking on her longest trail run ever, 20-miles, was the spark I needed to be reinvigorated for the summer.
Here are the races:
Bow Lake 15k
Market Square Day 10k
Mount Washington Road Race
MMD Franconia Notch
Wasatch pacing
Great Bay 5k
Stone Cat 50 Miler (DNF, ran 25)
Here are some other numbers from the 2024 running season:
Longest run: 45 miles at Wasatch Front
Longest streak: 44 days (July 1-Aug 12)
Most active day of the week: Thursday
Most active time: 2-3pm
Average activity duration: 40 minutes
Total active days 140 - 73% increase from 2023
Total run time: 150 hours - 107% increase from 2024
Currently, I’m on a break from running. My goals for 2025 are fluctuating as I decide what to do. The break has been since early November, when I DNF the 50-miler. That result definitely changed my outlook on the 2025 season, but nonetheless I’m feeling the itch to get out there sooner than before.
Above: finish line on top of the Rock Pile.
Below: me and Noli finishing a stroller run at the Great Bay 5k and Market Square Day 10k.
The point, as I mentioned above, is to dive into these numbers because it’s fun to look back and reflect. Also though, I want to prove a point that just because you have a bad day or week or year(s) it isn’t over. We need to focus on playing the long game if we want to live healthy and fulfilling lives and part of that is the peaks and valleys of your training life cycle.
Take some time today to reflect back on your 2024 training. How did it go? What trends can you spot? How can you adjust heading into 2025?
Thanks for reading.
Justin Miner
GAIN for Gather
During the 2018 holiday season we started collecting items for our West Road neighbors, Gather. We’re continuing the collection this year, and as in year’s past, we’ll be focusing on personal hygiene items. Something they are often in need of, but these items are not as commonly donated. Things like soap, shampoo, diapers, paper towels, laundry detergent, and the like. See photo below for more inspiration.
There’s a basket near the garage door, and we’ll be collecting items till mid January.
Thank you!
Justin Miner
Holiday Hours 2024
Here’s the schedule for the holiday season.
Monday 12/23 - open regular hours
CLOSED: Tues 12/24-Wed 12/25-Thur 12/26
Friday 12/27 - open regular hours (PM classes TBD)
Monday 12/30 - open regular hours
CLOSED: Tuesday 12/31-Wednesday 1/1
Thursday 1/2 - normal hours resume
Happy Holidays!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 60
Welcome to Friday thoughts, where I share random ideas, half-formed blog posts and my favorite things I saw on the internet this week. Enjoy!
Does coffee or caffeinated drinks dehydrate you? The research says no, but every person in the world will rush forward to tell you otherwise. I’m not suggesting only drinking coffee from now on, though maybe I should. Instead, just be careful of things that everyone repeats without knowing more details behind it. Two or three cups of coffee isn’t going to ruin your hydration status. Enjoy it.
Flashback! Here’s GAIN’s post of the day from 7 years ago. Inverted row, or as we call them now, ring row tips. Ring rows can get written off as an easy exercise and many people just kind of go through the motions on them. Being aware of the coaching points below and making sure to walk your feet far enough forward will assure a challenging movement for anyone.
Crazy 8 year old skills.
Everything that’s wrong with internet fitness. This guy is controversial in the training world because he has beliefs like squats and deadlifts are bad for you because they’re too dangerous, but has people doing things like a trapbar snatch, which in my opinion, is way less safe than simply picking something off the ground. Not to mention there are 15 other options to train that movement pattern without having to get inside of a trapbar to do it. Maybe he knows best since he’s a doctor.
NCAA Cross-Country Championships
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading along. Until next time!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
10k Swing Challenge
There’s this slightly crazy workout challenge created by renowned coach, Dan John. It involves doing 10,000 kettlebell swings over the course of a month, typically in 20, five hundred swing sessions, or spread out however you like. I’ve been having a hard figuring out direction I want to take my training and as I reflected over the past two years, I realized something. Anytime that I was stoked about training and enjoying it, I was very focused with one singular task. Focusing on one thing prevents training procrastination. It eliminates decisions and lets me get some work done.
I needed a challenge to end the year strong with. I had heard of Dan John’s 10,000 swing challenge before and had been spending time swinging big, heavier kettlebells for lower reps. On December 1, I decided I should give it a go. I asked Robert from the noon crew to join me and he didn’t even hesitate when he said yes.
It averages out to 322 swings per day for the month. I’ve been getting swings done in-between things at the gym or banging out sets of 25 paired with a different movements like pull ups, push ups or dips. Typically my workout is 20-25 minutes long for 400-500 swings, plus 10 more minutes throughout the day for another 100-200.
Soreness hasn’t been too bad. My hips are starting to feel stiff and in the early days my forearms were sore. The worst of the seems past for now anyway. I’ve been working on my hips more as the days progress and I feel tight. I was expecting my hamstrings to be stiffer, but so far they’re taking the workload well.
As of this morning I’m on track, or not falling too far behind, with 3500 swings. I’m not sure what the plan will be today yet, but I may try to make it to 4000.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Tolerable Middle
I was a young coach a seminar and the speaker was telling us whenever you’re unsure of how you’re doing as a coach, pretend there’s another coach looking through the window and judging your session. How would they grade you? Would they be able to tell you know what you’re doing? How would they rate your clients’ form?
This stuck with me for a while, and I still sometimes reflect on it, but one thing has changed - I learned that a good coaches let not-so-perfect reps go. They are a necessary part of the learning process and over cueing and correcting to achieve perfect reps isn’t the best use of time and often leads to frustration.
What we’re looking for when teaching someone a new movement or skill in the gym is the tolerable middle. That space between the perfect repetition and not good enough. That’s where you’ll make the most progress too. If you’re able to make every single rep of each and every movement perfect - it’s not challenging enough. That tolerable middle is a nice indicator that you’re working at the right effort.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Three Types of Workouts
I was digging through articles by one of my favorite strength coaches, the inventor of the goblet squat, none other than Dan John. I’m currently doing a kettlebell swing challenge of his own creation and was looking on his website for some reports of this challenge when I stumbled across a clip of Dan John talking about types of workouts he expects to have. These aren’t his favorite back squat or bench press or pull up workouts either. Neither are they his favorite set and rep schemes. Instead, we’re talking about how the workouts feel subjectively during and afterwards.
One out of five is pretty good, things go smoothly, no complaints.
Thee out of five are check the box - get in, get out, nothing magical but you got the work done even if you had to go through the motions or lacked motivation.
One out of five are trash. Tired, something feels off, don’t want to be there, everything feels heavy.
It was a nice reminder that each and every session in the gym isn’t going to be heroic. Most of them are going to be blah, some will be bad and some will be good. They all keep you moving in the right direction and they’re all a normal part of training at the gym.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Thank You!
On Saturday we had an epic night of celebrating all things GAIN.
I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came by the gym and had fun. I’m sure everyone has heard the story now, but if you haven’t, we scrambled to pull this off after losing our party venue with short notice. I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out, and while it created a lot of extra work for me and the guys, it was worth it.
Send me your party pics!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 59
Welcome to Friday Thoughts, where I share some of my favorite things I saw on the internet recently.
This is crazy.
The dedication to do this is very impressive.
This video has some good visuals for good rowing mechanics.
Stick the landing!
That is a freakishly fast.
There are a lot of things I love about these jumps, the upright torso, the springiness, his lack of shoes and look how his knees go over his toes! The most impressive things is how quickly he gets off the ground. Another way to describe this is the amortization phase. This is the transition between the eccentric and concentric phases of an exercise, where the body transfers absorbed energy into new power. On these jumps, this happens very quickly and in really good positions. Very impressive movement!
That’s all for now, see you at the party!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Party!
I’m excited for the long-awaited and long-overdue GAIN party on Saturday night.
Here are some quick reference details and final reminders for you.
Where: GAIN
When: 5-9pm
What: Gym friends, good times, food and drinks
Who: Members, friends and family of the gym
PARKING:
Please park in the lot in the front of the building and use either side of the building to walk around, there are lights on both sides but the footing is better on the pavement. If that lot is full you can park along West Road.
If a long walk in the dark sounds daunting to you, our typical spots are reserved for you. Park out back like your normally would - pull in spots or on the gravel out of the way of the trucks and our neighbor’s loading docks.
Looking forward to it. See you there!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
November By The Numbers
Welcome to the 14th edition of By the Numbers, where I look back and analyze passive data I collect over the month to try and make changes for the next month. Let’s get into it.
Steps: 273,434 total steps or 9115 per day average
Honestly, higher than I imagined. I ran only once the entire month, and even took a full week off. As always, I’m trying to get my steps in. While I won’t hit peak steps like I did this past summer, I’ll strive to keep that average up over the winter months.
Sleep: Average Duration: 7 hours 12 minutes, average sleep score: 79
The sleep average has been declining. What’s more telling than anything here is the new watch. The new watch is more sensitive to tossing and turning in the night, and when I actually fall asleep. Nevertheless, it still wasn’t enough sleep. I’m trying to be aware of my caffeine intake, and going to bed before I want to, otherwise I tend to fall asleep on the couch.
Workouts: 18
November is always a transition month for me. Summer running is over and it’s a nice time to take a break from training and shift gears. After my 50-mile race attempt, I dropped out halfway through, I haven’t been on a run since, and that’s a good thing. I got very focused this summer on getting quality running in and it’s hard to keep that motivation high. This past month I took some days off after the race, and did a lot of pull ups, push ups, rowing and kettlebell swings. It’s been nice to shake it up and my body is feeling good.
As always, I hope this inspires you to look back at your previous month and see what trends or habits you can spot. Make a plan and some small tweaks headed into this month and see where it takes you.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Low Barrier to Entry Workouts
Whenever I’m in a workout slump I use low barrier to entry workouts to get back in the game.
The opposite of a low barrier to entry workout would be something like a heavy back squat, deadlift, or a tough conditioning workout that requires ample warm up and mental fortitude.
Here are my requirements for a low barrier to entry workout:
I don’t have to change. I only wear gym clothes but believe it or not I have training and coaching gym clothes. An easy workout in coaching clothes is acceptable, but a hard workout is a no go.
No warm up. A low barrier to entry workout allows me to get straight into it with fussing about how to get properly warmed up. No movements that are that complex, (too) heavy or require much coordination.
Don’t have to change afterwards. If I get too sweaty I’m going to have to have to change. In order for it to be a low barrier to entry workout, I’m not changing afterwards.
Feel better afterwards. A good low barrier to entry workout ends like this, “That was good, I feel good, why have I been skipping so many workouts?”
Here was a low barrier to entry workout that got me back on track last recently:
EMOM 15
1 chin up + 2 kb swings + 3 ring push ups
Only 3 push ups! I know! So low barrier to entry.
The point is this; sometimes the changing, driving, eating, working, socializing and parenting stuff gets in the way of you working out. It gets complicated when you remember that working out makes all of those things better.
Big heroic workouts are cool, but small, simple and effective workouts are just as cool, and still move your fitness needle in the right direction.
As we head into the holidays, remember this concept of a low barrier to entry workout, some kettlebell swings, bodyweight squats or even a walk could be just what your body needs.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
This is Hard
It’s hard to make yourself go to the gym few times a week. You have to do it when you have no energy, no motivation, when it's freezing cold or extremely hot. You have to wake up early or come in after a long day at work.
It’s easy to get down on yourself when you aren’t making it in as much as you’d like or your progress is crawling. Today, I want to remind you that this is a worthwhile cause.
Pat yourself on the back, and remember that this is a good use of your time and frustration. In fact, being frustrating is probably a good thing, it means you’re striving to do better.
This isn’t a hall pass to skip workouts, instead this is a reminder that hard things are worth doing. Keep it up!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Write Your Own Thanksgiving Workout
An EMOM, or Every Minute On the Minute workout is one of my favorite ways to get a training session in. They’re low-barrier to entry, you don’t need to change in workout specific gear, do a complicated warm up routine, or anything of the like. Instead, pick 3-4 movements and complete them in a circuit for 20 minutes.
Movement 1: squat - pick any number of repetitions for your squat. It can be a box squat, bodyweight squat, or goblet squat if you have some weights kicking around. 5-10 is plenty for most people.
Movement 2: plank variation - any plank you want, high or low or to the side. Use your breath to time this, and aim for 5-8 big, deep breaths while holding the plank.
Movement 3: Single leg variation, 10-16 total reps. Reverse lunge, forward lunge, lateral lunge, lateral squat, cross-behind reverse lunge, split squat. Stretch those hips and get some single leg work in.
Moment 4: Player’s choice - this could be a rest block, stretch, or additional movement. Something like a kettlebell swing, push ups, hip switches, or even breathing.
During this EMOM, each movement will get its own minute. Starting the clock at 0:00, complete movement 1, wait until 1:00 to complete movement 2, 2:00 for movement 3 and so on. If you complete 5 rounds or 20 minutes, your last movement 4 will be on 19:00.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain