As a coach I field all sorts of questions. I thought I'd take some time to answer the most common questions I hear for you . . . the masses.
How many times a week do you workout? This is by far the top question I get. My answer will probably shock you - in the terms you are asking, I workout three times a week. Getting to this number has been a journey for me! When I began going to Quinn's Gym I went twice a week. As I advanced in movement and metabolic capacity I increased my attendance to three times a week, then jumped to five times a week. In the past years, I have spent seasons of working out six days a week or even eight times a week when hitting two-a-days. You probably wonder what has changed that I now only workout three times. Well, I have learned - both through further education and personal experience - that three times a week in the garage is enough. By enough I don't just mean sufficient, I mean it is abundantly enough. Anything over three times a week in the garage and I actually begin to see deterioration in movement and strength gains. I am left zapped and often fighting off perpetual soreness and minor ailments. Three times a week in the garage gives me the chance to train my body in strength movements and cardiovascular capacity so that I can live a full life outside of the gym. I take the time freed up by not being in the gym to do other "workouts" - trail riding, hiking (especially with difficult terrain), and trail running are a few of my favorite activities outside of the garage. Getting to this number has all been a part of coming back to my goals time and time again and asking the question, am I making choices to have the life I want? Are my routines building up or destroying my quality of long-term wellness? When I realized my workouts were not aiding, but actually tearing me down I had to take an honest look at my approach. What do you do for workouts? A typical day in the garage looks like any day in a Frank Fitness class or personal session. Two of my three days I do strength work - which varies based on the strength cycle I'm in. Right now I'm doing a Front Squat and Shoulder Press cycle. Then, the third day, I'll pick a strength move of choice for "fun" - it could involve the barbell, kettlebells (like Turkish Getups), or even bodyweight work (like pull-ups or push-ups). Once the strength piece is finished I hit a good conditioning set. My aim is to keep things fresh and varied - both in duration and movement. One day I aim for a sprint workout (6-12 minutes), another falls in the mid-range (12-18 minutes), and then one endurance workout (18-30 minutes). All these choices help me stay strong, heart healthy, and fully functioning. How much sleep do you get? I preface this with, everybody's body is different and as such sleep needs vary. The important thing is giving your body the opportunity to show you how much it sleeps. This means getting to sleep early enough to allow yourself to wake up on your own accord (i.e. without an alarm) for a couple weeks. A challenge for sure, but worth it! I have found that I need nine hours of sleep - which obviously falls on the longer side. However it is what I need to function well, so I make a concerted effort to get my 9 hours every night. When I don't get them all in, I try to make time in my day somewhere to compensate. What does your nutrition look like? My goal is to keep it as simple as possible. The reality is, in addition to being a coach, I am a busy mom. My diet consists of whole foods and my aim is to keep processed food out of my belly as much as possible. I try to fill myself with so much goodness that I'm not hungry for junk. That said, I do eat foods many people dub as "bad" foods. I like a bit of dairy (mainly Greek yogurt, cream, butter, and a tiny bit of cheese), I eat some grains (I have a French toast weakness and I enjoy good granola in my yogurt), and I definitely partake in Peanut Butter M&M's and Twizzlers (especially when they're fresh)! These are exceptions though, not the rule. My diet is dictated by eating foods that sustain my body's nutritional needs (not just building muscle but, even more importantly, healthy functioning organs). This necessitates lots of healthy carbs - fruits and vegetables - to get the natural (not fortified) vitamins and minerals I need. A normal day might look like this:
And while this isn't a common question, it is a common response after these questions, so let's address it . . . Wow, that's great for you, that would never work for me! Actually, you're wrong (insert bomb drop). I know it's scary to deviate from what you've been told and believe. However, have you ever asked yourself why you believe what you do about how fitness is achieved? If you really boil it down, it is the fitness industry. Their job is to sell you fitness, therefore it is an industry. By nature, industry's motive is making bank. What happens is, instead of assessing the reality of what we are experiencing (feeling overworked, broken down, stressed out, and insufficient), we keep believing what we're being told. If we will consume more we will be happier and better off. In this case, if we add protein shakes, recovery supplements, and more workouts then we will finally reach our destination . . . majestic unicorn. However, if we dare to quit buying into the industry we might see we've been caught in a sneaky little rat race. We might realize we don't need protein shakes and supplements to aid recovery! We really just need a day or two of rest! We might understand that chasing the #fitspo is perpetuating the nagging feeling that we are insufficient. The belief that if we sweat more, work harder, and don't give up we will attain our dream body. Does what I say bother you? Does it make you feel like you wouldn't be doing enough? Does it make you roll your eyes at me? Good. Think about that. The truth I have found - through education and experience - is that this rat race lifestyle leaves me worn and, literally at times, broken. My body cannot keep up at those rates. So I have made the conscious choice to choose life. Which has brought me to the answers to above. Got more questions that I didn't address? Or new questions that these thoughts and perspectives made you think of? I'd love to get down to the nitty-gritty with ya! Shoot me a message or find time after class to chat it out! One of the passions of my work is coaching functional movements. This means what we do in the garage is a technical form of movements you are already doing in your daily life. The reality is, that though it may feel like you give a large portion of your day to your workouts, statistically they say it's really only about 4% of your day. That means two things 1) your workouts should serve the 96%; and 2) the 4% should not hinder your ability to function in the 96%. These are important thoughts for me and I build workouts around this mindset. Everything we do in the garage is to prepare you for life outside the garage. This is why I love coaching lifting. All of the lifts we work on in the garage are things you are already doing in your home, at work, or in your daily life (think grocery store, carting kids to activities, etc.). In our normal life we are most prone to injury when we are lifting, mostly because we don't view menial tasks like moving the dog food or getting the UPS delivery from the porch as lifting. Due to this we just manhandle the weight, don't think about the positioning of our body, and, in turn, jack ourselves up. Honestly I've done it myself. My goal in strength training, first and foremost, is to build technical proficiency. I want you to be able to execute a clean, technical lift without thinking about how to do it before we ever begin loading you. This takes time and lots of repetition. The goal is to build up muscle memory (yes, it's a real thing) and have the movement become a normal part of your bodies movements. Just like you don't think about how to walk - I want don't want you to have to think about how to deadlift. Once it becomes routine we can begin to add some load. So we begin with technique, building proficiency and then we move to strength building. The technique work is what is going to be the biggest aid in keeping you healthy in the 96%. When you're able to move things without thinking about how to safely do it we've already won a huge battle! It gives you the confidence to move things without help, to move them efficiently, and not be worried about whether you can or not. As we build strength on top of that technique we dramatically decrease the likelihood of injury outside the garage and increase our ability and confidence in getting things done. Need a 50-pound bag of gravel off the shelf? No problem. Need two bags of 40-pound dog food off the ground? No problem. Need the Christmas box down from the top shelf? No problem. That's what strength training does for you. Deadlifts. Shoulder Press. Squats. They all make you better at life. So keep putting in the work. Be committed to your technique work. Keep practicing. Build that solid base. Each effort translates into better movement and better movement translates into a better quality of life! I talk a lot about lifelong wellness because it is the heart of my work. However, there's something else that is at the heart of my work, but you will almost never hear me say a word about it. Today though . . . I just can't keep it in!
Community. I believe we were made for community. Healthy, encouraging, being known, community. It's a goal of mine for anyone who steps foot in the garage. I don't talk it up like I do wellness, because I don't need to. It is something that beautifully and naturally happens. I witness it growing during the warm-up or while I'm writing the workout on the whiteboard. I see it as people are pushing through a challenging workout or trying to learn a new skill. And most definitely in the camaraderie that takes place during the cool down. Even having seen these relationships growing, I was never so inspired as while I was away and the garage was closed up for the week. You see, these folks took it upon themselves to meet up and grind through workouts together. They could've taken the week off. They could have slept in. They could've done a million other things. But I believe that through the community they've built they chose to keep routine. This could partially be because they genuinely want to pursue their physical wellness. However, I would wager it has more to do with the community they experience and the accountability they experience from it. That's the thing, the piece we don't talk about a ton. Working out is good for the body, but community is good for the soul. When you can combine the two you create a lethal combination that rockets your wellness in an undefinable way. We can't quantify it, but I've seen how it keeps people coming back, how it builds confidence, how it pushes them to be better. Community and lifelong wellness are the underbelly of the garage. Together they define your journey. So keep your fancy routines and hot new workouts, I'll take good old fashioned hard work and community any day! 3xME Push-ups
EMOM for 12 Minutes Minute 1) Squats Minute 2) Sit-ups Minute 3) Plank Taps 3x0:20 Hollow Hold
3x0:20 Arch Hold 10 Rounds 5 Jumping Squats 5 Burpees 10 Sit-ups Brenton: 5 Rounds for Time
100 ft. Bear Crawl 100 ft. Standing Broad Jump - every 5 broad jumps complete 3 burpees For Time: 1 mile Run
AMRAP in 15 minutes 10 Alternating Sampson Lunges, 5 e.s. 10 Sit-ups 10 Push-ups |
AuthorMy name is Tiffany and I am the owner and trainer at Frank Fitness, a garage gym. I provide workouts to increase/maintain cardiovascular wellness and build strength. My goal is to help athletes maintain life-long wellness. Archives
January 2018
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