Featured Articles — For Your Health
Upper Back Mobility- Don’t Be A Slouch!
Here it is, another installment of mobility for your spine. Today I am going to tackle the mid or thoracic spine. In the gym you will hear me talk about the T-spine all day with my clients. Today I am going to let our new trainer Anthony talk about [...]
Good Stress
Exercise Science is cool I know I’m biased, but hear me out. There are literally mathematical models we can employ that guarantee enhancement of our strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular system. For instance, if you do X exercise for X amount of times for X length of time, you will on [...]
Its All Relative
When I came out of college I thought I wanted to be a coach. Always working with athletes. That seemed fun to me. Then I started being a personal trainer. I worked with all different types of people. Young.. Old... Athletes... Normal population... Injured... But then I realized something. What [...]
Training vs Working Out
I own a Personal Training Studio. Not a “gym” where people do “workouts.” There’s a big difference. “Working out” is just doing a bunch of random stuff that makes you tired. “Training” means that we purposefully, scientifically and intentionally build muscle, lose fat, gain endurance and become more resistant to [...]
Exercise Order
Does the order of the exercises you do matter? I get that question a lot … and yes, it does. After properly warming up and specifically preparing for the movements we’re focusing on, we have our clients tackle the most challenging, “biggest” strength exercise first. Think back squats, deadlifts, RDLs, [...]
Should I Squat?
Squatting is one of my favorite exercises, and one of the most beneficial when it comes to maximizing your relative strength. But, what if it hurts? A doctor (or an inexperienced coach) might tell you, “If it hurts, don’t do it.” There’s a lot more to it than that. If [...]
How Much Should I Eat?
Every once in a while, it’s worth reviewing portion sizes. Most people smart enough to be reading this newsletter know the difference between healthy and unhealthy food options. Mind you … I never like to define them as “good” or “bad.” But there’s a difference between choosing whole, minimally processed [...]
Am I Doing This Right?
One of the ways I’ve seen people get sidetracked is trying to be perfect with their nutrition and healthy habits. But I’ve also seen the pursuit of perfection get in the way at the gym. People know our coaches are sticklers for proper form; it’s one of the reasons they [...]
Knees Over Toes
Lets keep the mythbuster fun going! It has been previously thought that we shouldn’t let our knees pass our toes during our squat, as many certifying bodies in the personal training industry used to push. While some may still advocate this, it couldn’t be further from the truth. We may [...]
Ab Muscle
Keeping along with the fun of the previous mythbuster series, we’re here to address ab muscle. Do we have a lower, middle, and upper set of abdominal muscles? Like lower abs, middle abs, and upper abs?? Nope! As we’ve stated in previous newsletters / articles, if only things we’re so [...]
Spot Reduction
All too often we hear advice from “fitness pro’s” saying to do this or that ab exercise and we’ll lose that stubborn belly fat. Unfortunately, that isn’t the reality. While we’d all love something like this to be true, research has confirmed that it is a myth, however, there is [...]
Protein Intake
Protein intake is a murky part of nutrition. Some say that protein isn’t all that important, some say that it is essential, and some are in what we call the messy middle. We’ll aim to iron out some of this with how much we need, where we get it from, [...]
Carbohydrate Intake
Let's start by saying, carbs are not the enemy, they are your friend! We’ve covered this briefly before in a previous newsletter, but we’ll take a little bit of a deeper dive. Rather than focus on what they are, and all the nuances behind them, what we’ll focus on here [...]
Essential Fat Intake
Previously, in the not so distant past, the intake of fatty foods was frowned upon. Now, the hyperpalatable fatty foods, aka foods that contain assorted combinations of things like fat, sodium (salt), carbohydrates, and sugar, all for the taste, are still something we should just be mindful of. Outside of [...]
Grocery Store Quick Tip
The grocery store often seems like it has everything, and taunts us with all the cravings we may have in a day. One way to potentially avoid those cravings, if that is the goal, depending on what they are, this will help serve as a quick reference on how to [...]
Portion vs Serving Size
Judging portion size can be a tough thing to do for most people. This will aim to clear the air a little and make it easier to identify what portion size may be best for your situation. According to the National Institute of Health, we should all aim to consume [...]
National Ice Cream Day???
July 18th is National Ice Cream day! Now, it seems pretty rare to find someone who doesn’t enjoy indulging in ice cream, or the dairy-free alternative every once and a while. While we aren’t advocating for us all to go out and smash our faces into ice cream, only to [...]
Wearable Tracker Accuracy
A lot of us wear watches or trackers that are in charge of tracking a myriad of health markers from how many steps we get, to how our sleep last night was. With the most common things being step count, heart rate, and caloric expenditure during exercise (calories burned when [...]
Calories Burned During Walks
Walks are a fantastic way of burning some calories for the day! While they may not burn a ton of calories, they can be healthy for many more reasons than one. Individuals have been found to burn ~ 150-200 calories from walks that were around 30min (1), which is great [...]
July 4th
The 4th of July is upon us, already! Seems like it was January yesterday, time sure is flying! With it being the 4th of July, let's all take some time to celebrate our freedom! Although this country has been, and continues to go through some adversity, it has persevered [...]
Hydration
Our bodies are about 60% water (1)! This is important to note because we can see why it is important to keep hydrated. In staying hydrated, we can ensure that we can regulate our body temperature day-to-day, deliver nutrients to our cells, ensure our organs are functioning properly, to assist [...]
National Men’s Health Month
Hey everyone, did you know that June is National Men’s Health Month?! Now, even if you aren’t a male reading this, it's likely that you know one, whether that be son, husband, nephew, brother, or so forth. So, let's quickly go over why National Men’s Health Month is important. [...]
Family Fitness Day
According to the National Recreation and Park Association, June 12th is Family Fitness Day! This is a special day that helps promote health within our community, in addition to promoting the importance of parks and recreation within our community! With all of the parks that the Scottsdale/North Phoenix area [...]
Sleep
If anyone didn’t know by now, we’re here to tell you, sleep is absolutely essential! There are a ton of benefits from a proper night’s sleep of 7-9hrs, which we’ll aim to break down for you here. From steller researchers, such as Matthew Walker, research has consistently pointed at sleep [...]
Posture Month
May is posture month, so of course, we’ll be addressing posture! Posture can be a bit elusive, and depending who you ask, the definition of good posture, and “correct” postural position (the way we sit, stand, etc.), can certainly vary from person to person. From Posturemonth.org, over 65 million [...]
Mobility vs. Flexibility
Oftentimes, flexibility and mobility are interchanged to describe the ability for one to obtain a specific position, stretch, or have an adequate range of motion to be able to go through a particular movement. There is, however, a difference between mobility and flexibility. Flexibility, or the ability to be flexible, [...]
Exercises that help burn fat?
Exercises that help burn fat, simply put, are all of them! One exercise won’t particularly burn fat more than another. However, the difference is that some exercises may require a higher level of effort than others, which will cause a higher level of caloric expenditure (calorie burn) than others. [...]
Easy ways to increase activity outside the gym
Although the weather is beginning to get warmer outside, there are still a bunch of ways to stay active outside of the workouts we do in the gym. In addition to our exercise in the gym, staying active, or increasing your activity is a major key to recovery, overall health, [...]
What makes a healthy diet?
What makes a healthy diet has been a very controversial topic amongst most people lately. It is an extremely nuanced topic that most certainly varies depending upon the individual and their given lifestyle. With that in mind, from a general perspective, let's break it down into simple terms. If the [...]
What Are Protein, Carbs, and Fat
All three, protein, carbohydrates, and fat, make up what is termed macronutrients, otherwise seen / known as macros. Macronutrients are the underpinning of the diet or nutrition that we follow, basically, they are what makes up all the food that we eat, and give us the calories and energy [...]
Cardio vs. Weights
In the most simple ways of looking at it, the difference between cardio and weights is the application of load (i.e. weight). Meaning that doing cardio doesn’t involve the incorporation of a higher load than one's own body weight that it takes to execute the given movement. For example, [...]
What’s The Difference Between a Training Gym and a Membership Gym?
Well, like many small businesses out there, gyms are taking their lumps too! It got me thinking about how we can make Pinnacle Fitness as safe and sanitary as possible. I will get more into that later this week, but I wanted to touch on something that not a [...]
You know all this sitting is killing your back
I have received 10 emails in the past week from people asking me for low back help. They are stiff, achy, lethargic, and their joints hurt. My first question is always how much movement are you getting? Followed by how much sitting are you doing? Followed by how much water are you drinking? These three [...]
8 Things You Need To Start Doing RIGHT NOW
Tomorrow I am going to be talking about staying active and how to keep your low back in shape during these sedentary times! Here is a little help if you haven't downloaded it yet. Much more to come tomorrow. 5 Moves to A Healthy Back 8 Things You [...]
Tips to boost immune system to fight COVID-19
I am sure you are getting bombarded with a ton of information to help fight the COVID 19 virus. In reality, if you have taken care of your body over the years, exercised regularly and followed a good diet, you are ahead of the game. It is always possible [...]
First Day-Huge Success Virtually
What a day. We are officially 15 hours into launching our At-Home Health and Fitness challenge and we have already raised $1075 for our local small businesses! I can't even tell you how proud of our members, community and all of you that donated! I am truly touched! [...]
Coronavirus-Pinnacle Fitness-Boost Immunity
These are very trying times and as a business owner, husband and father, it is my responsibility to personally speak to my members. I opened Pinnacle Fitness 10 years ago because I thought that I could provide a great solution to many of the health issues that I was [...]
This Amazing Thing Happened!
I have been very lucky in my life to be surrounded by kind and caring people. It started with my parents and continued into my friends, teammates, and co-workers. I was supposed to coach this weekend in Wisconsin for my 19th annual shot put and discus clinic, but due [...]
Low Thyroid Diet Strategies
I generally put information out on movement or low back health but I happened to read this article by Jennifer Broxterman, MS RD and I found it really intriguing. It has a ton... And I mean a ton of info relating to thyroid health and diet strategies that can help you [...]
Offense Vs. Defense
I know the Superbowl is over, but as I watched my wife's Chiefs come back against a dominant 49ers defense I got to thinking. There’s an old saying in sports that says, “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.” Another version of that quote -I’m not sure which came [...]
Coronavirus
Dear Pinnacle Fitness Family: I wanted to send you a note about our response to the Coronavirus. As I am sure most of you are aware, there has been an increasing concern that the virus will likely continue to spread around the world, including the United States. Of course, [...]
Have You Seen This Man? Don’t Do This!
We all have busy lives. We all get run down. We all keep piling more things on our plate. Do you feel like this sometimes? This is a good friend of mine and this picture was taken about a month ago. He is like me... Why take [...]
Arianna Huffington’s 8 Tips to Better Sleep
I have to share some tips that I picked up on my recent travels to Mexico… When I checked into my hotel, on the bed was a laminated card with Arianna Huffington’s 8 Tips for a Better Sleep - it’s a slick promo for her book The Sleep Revolution. I [...]
What Makes PIN FIT Different
So I ran into my neighbor who is a personal trainer at another local gym in Scottsdale. It is a larger gym but a lot of the trainers just rent space in the facility. I asked him how the re-opening went this week and he responded "Fine, we didn't have [...]
Time Management vs Time Investment
Well, how many of us talk about time management or lack of time to get it all done? Yeah, pretty much all of us… It’s probably the number one excuse I get from people who don’t workout or cook supportive meals. Number two, of course, is money...Although, when most people look at [...]
Staying Fit While Being Social
When you think about getting together with friends for an evening, what activities come to mind? Catching a movie? Meeting up at a favorite restaurant? What about an office party or a summer get-together? More than likely, the center of the activity for these functions centers around food and [...]
Are You Hungry?
Have you ever actually stopped before eating to check in with your body to see if you are actually hungry? Chances are if you practice some mindfulness around your eating, you would discover that often we reach for food out of boredom, loneliness, anxiety, sadness, or a feeling of [...]
Good For Fitness…Yoda Wisdom Is…
Well, this article is for my big brother Josh and his wife Elly! They will appreciate my nerdy play on words and since they LOVE Star Wars it should be a hit. But in terms of fitness..... Getting into better shape does not have to be an impossible task [...]
Understanding precedes change…
When you think of the most helpful weight loss tools, what comes to mind? Diet books? Protein shakes? Treadmills and free weights? Chances are, when you think of things that will be helpful to you on your journey to fitness, you immediately consider tangible objects like those just mentioned. [...]
When Good Fat Goes Bad!
Such a controversy over fat. In the 1980's, fat was the culprit for all health problems so the food industry went to all no or low fat options. They filled the food with other additives to make up for the reduced fat. Unfortunately they have done the same things [...]
7 Habits That Fit Healthy People Do
I wanted to share with you a few lifestyle choices that can really help in your fitness journey. People that are successful in fitness tend to follow these guidelines. Thought you might enjoy this. 7 Habits of Highly Fit People Lots of people ask me how to quickly and [...]
Sugar: Is it a Toxic Substance?
I don’t think it is a secret to anyone that the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer is higher than it has ever been and continues to rise. I hope at this point we can all agree that our diet and lifestyle directly correlate to these statistics. In [...]
Fat Loss By Resistance Training
“Who Else Wants To BURN MORE FAT Than Ever Before Without Wasting Countless Hours Of Their Life Away On Unbelievably Boring Cardio Machines?” Discover the Fat Loss Secrets of MRT(Metabolic Resistance Training)… Have you been wasting your time with traditional exercise routines that produce little to no results? What [...]
Choosing ME!
Too often we get caught up in the “should” and “have to” in life and lose sight of the things we enjoy doing and support our physical, emotional, and mental well being. What better time to do that then on/around your birthday? I have found over the course of [...]
“Don’t Let The Old Man In”
I think I move pretty well... Do I really need someone to help me understand how to properly move? The answer is YES!!!! Why do you think all high end athletes get batting coaches, strength coaches, mindset coaches etc. They understand how important it is to learn how to do [...]
Diet vs.Lifestyle: What’s the Difference?
You’ve no doubt heard the ominous statistic: two thirds of people who lose weight gain even more back within four or five years. 1 That in itself is enough to discourage even the most determined among us. What’s the answer? What is the secret to not only losing weight but keeping it [...]
How To Save Your Body While Traveling
I have spent the last few days in Minnesota working on my gym business and making sure that I am always making positive moves for my staff and my members. I learned a lot but was also nice to see the issues that other gym owners have are the [...]
Back Stabilizers VS. Movers
The question of why can I lift 100+ lbs easily but when I reach for a piece of paper I blow my back out and am crippled for weeks. Well, this comes down to a couple of different things. Obviously if you have some serious issues in your back [...]
Accountability and Responsibility
As a gym owner I talk about accountability a lot because I want all of our members to not only show up for their workout but also achieve their goals. Having an appointment creates accountability. Having someone waiting to work with you creates accountability and having a friend or [...]
How Hydration Saved My Back
Back in 2013, I had a major back injury which left me debilitated for nearly 6 months and another 6 months of intense rehab. I can remember thinking, will this ever get better? And more importantly, how can I keep this from happening again.... HYDRATION One simple but easy [...]
5 Weight Loss Obstacles Busy Moms Face
I’ve had the pleasure of personally working with thousands of busy moms over the course of my 20-year fitness career. But I never fully understood their struggle until the birth of my son Patrick 10+ months ago.Watching my wife Alicia struggle with working full time, Patrick time, breast feeding, [...]
Deadlines and Contests: Your Keys to Fitness Victory
Deadlines and Contests: Your Keys to Fitness Victory Have you ever told yourself that you are going to lose weight and get fit in time for spring, only to be frustrated when warm weather rolls around? It’s easy to hide behind heavy winter clothes, but when the mercury starts climbing, [...]
What You Need to Know About Adrenal Fatique
Chances are you have heard of adrenal fatigue, but you may not be quite sure what it is. Understanding this condition is important however, because some experts suggest that 80% of the Western world will be affected by adrenal fatigue at some point in their lives. The adrenal glands are [...]
Minimum Effective Dosage: Train Smarter Not Harder
There are few things as exciting as new transformation participants eager to make serious lifestyle changes and make up for lost time in their quest to get fit and healthy. Their motivation and passion are contagious, and watching transformations is one of the most fulfilling aspects of being a trainer. [...]
Importance Of Exercise When Going Back To School
Whether you are a student or the parent of a student, you likely have one thing on your mind as the new school year begins: academic performance. From kindergarteners to graduate level college students, concentration and learning are critical and directly related to how successful the year is and how [...]
It’s Summer! Beat the Heat with these Summer Workout Tips
Baby, it’s hot out there! If you have been working out over the winter and spring months, you may be surprised at the new challenges that summertime fitness throws at you. It is summer and it is HOT. You are probably discovering that your body reacts to the heat differently [...]
Cold and Flu Season is Upon Us: How’s Your Gut Function?
Fall is here, and that means that cold and flu season has arrived. Have you ever noticed that some people seldom get sick? Or maybe you have wondered why after being exposed to the same virus, one person gets ill while the other remains well. The reason lies in the [...]
Relax and Lose Weight
Want to get healthy and lose weight? Then relax. It’s true. Relaxing is good for you, and what better day to brush up on relaxation facts than on Relaxation Day! August 15th is a relaxation holiday. So relax and read on for tips! The role of cortisol One of the most [...]
Why You Need a Personal Trainer
There’s a reason why celebrities and other highly successful people use coaches and trainers: IT WORKS. And that is why so many people are turning to personal trainers to help them move from mediocre to excellence in their pursuit of health, fitness and weight loss. The Reality More than 91% [...]
10 Ways to have a Healthier Holiday Season
This time of year is notoriously a time to indulge, but don't let this be the green light to OVERINDULGE! You can still enjoy all of the festivities of the holidays without too much of an impact on your health and waistline. Here are 10 ways to have a healthier [...]