Let's Get Started!

Are you interested in personal training and/or fitness classes?  Are you tired of going to the gym and doing the same workouts you've always done?  Or maybe you're not sure if you're using all those machines the proper way?  If yes, it's time to try something new and change up your workout routine or maybe just add a workout routine to your busy schedule.  Good news, your first class is freeeeee!  It will give you a good idea of the type of movements we focus on and the type of workout you can expect to get from every session.  I currently live in Fremont, CA and typically meet my clients at a location near them.  Our workouts can be completed almost anywhere, a park, school, track or parking lot.  I will provide all the equipment we will need.  It doesn't get much easier than this to get started.  Convince yourself to stop making excuses and start focusing on you and your health.  Email me at AndrewMarkStinson@gmail.com for more information and to set up your free session.  I look forward to meeting you.

One of my classes at All-Guard Alarm Systems, Inc.

Common excuses:

I need to get into shape before starting.

No you do not, this is your first step to getting into shape.

I'm too old.

Fitness is meant for all ages.  Each workout can be scaled fit your body's range of motion and strength.  Would you like to be able to pick up your grandkids and not worry about hurting your back?  If yes, this will help.

I don't have time.

This is by far the most common excuse.  Each session is only 50 minutes long.  Make it a priority.  Most things can wait 50 minutes.  

I have to watch my dog.

Dogs are welcome to come along and enjoy the show.  

Football Friday!

February 15, 2013

Today was Football Friday!  We played football and ran some receiving drills as part of our warm up.  It's important to play sports in addition to exercising.  It's the exercise that should make you better at playing sports or any other fun activities.  Don't just be good at exercising, go out and try new sports!

Here is our workout for the day:

A.
6 min EMOM (alternating)
20 Lateral barbell jumps
20 Incline push-ups

B.
21 back squats @ 65#
800 meter run
100 singles
21 back squats
RESULTS: 
Shalonda 14:13 Rx

Jesseca 7:23 Rx
Tara 9:04 RxSue 9:14 (35#)
Erica 7:30 (35#)
Kristy 11:06 Rx
Mara 13:05 (Rx/35#)

Hinh & Patrick

Meet Hinh & Patrick.  These two have made a ton of progress in the last three months.  In addition to their weekly commitments to fitness, they both have made great improvements to their diets.  Some of the diet changes include, making sure to eat breakfast no later than one hour from waking up, portion control (4-5 smaller meals throughout the day vs. two very large meals per day) and eating more vegetables.  They both have great attitudes and are a pleasure to work with.  

Here is our workout from today:

A.
L-Sit re-test
Past Results: 30/20/20 seconds (patrick)
2 TGU’s (Turkish Get-Ups)
3 rounds
RESULTS (L-Sit):Hinh: :30/:23/:28

Patrick: 1:01/:25/:25 <-- 31 second PR! 

(personal record)

B.
8 min EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute)
even: 5 burpees
odd: 10 sit-ups

C.
For time:
20 dumbell snatches @ 20#
8 Bleacher runs
10 dumbell snatches @ 20#
6 Bleacher runs
20 dumbell snatches @ 15#
4 Bleacher runs
10 dumbell snatches @ 15#
2 Bleacher runs

RESULTS:
Patrick: 5:31
Hinh: 5:39

Part C was pretty exciting to watch. This WOD was a combination of strength and endurance/speed. Hinh had an early lead making the 20# dumbell snatches look like feather weight, but Patrick later caught up as he sprinted up and down the bleachers like it was nothing. They started their final two bleacher runs at the same time! It's great to see how two people can push each other to get better and work harder. Well done gentlemen.

Benchmark Friday! (Friday, February 8th)

It's Benchmark Friday!

Today we completed a workout that has become a Stinsanity benchmark workout.  This is the 3rd time this workout has been programed.

The athlete spends 1 minute at each station and keeps a continuous count of the number of reps completed.

- Step ups (20" box)

- Medicine ball thrusters (10#)

- Singles

- Weighted bent row

- Dips

After a minute at each station has been completed everyone completes a fence run (100 meter sprint) followed by exactly one minute of rest time.  This is repeated for three rounds and the three scores are added together for the total score.

Today's results:

Tara: 179+190+200 = 569 (+140 reps! from 6/15/12 results)

Kristy: 125+125+169 = 419 (+64 reps! from 6/15/12 results)

Marie: 95+76+80 = 251

Sue: 127+133+133 = 393

Mara: 115+60+100 = 275

Erica: 135+135+153 = 423

Gettin some core work in before the workout.  6 stations: L-sit, sit-ups, plank, superman, hollow rock & hollow hold.  30 seconds on/30 seconds rest, 2 rounds.  There's actually a 7th member also doing some sit-ups in this photo, can you spot her?

Thursday, February 7th

Today's workout:

A.
Alternating Tabata
Dips/Air squats

B.
Back squats (in groups of 3)
5-5-5-5-5
(20 minutes)

C.
10 min AMRAP
10 ground to overhead with a plate (25/10#)
1 fence run
10 v-ups

Some action shots from tonight's workout

Friday, February 1st

TEAM WOD (30 min cap):
For time:
100 push press while partner holds a squat
200 sit-ups while partner holds a 25# plate overhead
300 singles while partner holds plank

Thursday, January 31st

400 meter run

A.
Partner up so you can share a kb
EMOM for 5 mins
5-10 air squats
5-10 kb swings

B.
Shoulder pass thrus
Good mornings

C.
EMOM 10 mins
5-10 thrusters
Choose a weight and number of reps and commit to it for the 10 rounds

Jess: Barbell
Tara: Barbell
Sue: Small barbell
Shalonda: 15# Dumbells
Mara: 8# dumbells
Ashely: Medball

D.
AMRAP 3 mins
4 T push-ups
4 V-ups

rest 3 mins

AMRAP 5 mins
OH fence run 25/10# plate
2 burpees
6 jumping lunges

New Year, New Goals

We started off the year with a great workout and some goal setting for 2013.  What are your fitness goals for 2013?

The "WORKOUT TIME" Song

This was my pre-workout song and dance.  I used to get so pumped before our workouts, I have since toned it down a little bit (but not much).  Enjoy.


Thanks to Sue for being a good sport!

Chipper!

A Chipper WOD is a workout that is completed in the order of the exercises listed.  It is only one round and is completed for time.  Individual boards were handed out to each athlete with the number of reps listed in descending order starting with 100 reps, then 90 reps…all the way down to 10 reps.  What makes this chipper unique is 10 cards were handed out to each athlete and they got to choose which exercise went next to the number of reps. 

Here were the 10 exercises:

Singles

Butt kickers

Medball/KB side-to-side (core exercise)

Thrusters

V-ups

Push-ups

Tricep dips

Squats

Mountain climbers

Lunges

 

Here’s what I like about this workout:

1.       It takes the blame off the trainer for the difficulty of the workout because the athlete designed it ;)

2.       It forces the athlete to think about the movements and implement a little strategy into their workout.  (Poor Sue, if you can see her board on the left of the photo above it had 80 squats followed by 70 thrusters followed by 60 lunges, that’s a lot of leg work all in a row!  But she got through it!  Champ!)

3.       Everyone’s workout is a little bit different and personalized.   

 

They all started off with 100 singles (very smart)

 

Mid-wod, everyone in action

 

 

 

This workout was completed on 10.3.12

Wobstacle 3.0

Today's workout was one of my favorites.  It's a WOD obstacle course or Wobstacle.

Here's the workout:
5 strict pull-ups
10 super wall balls (12' target!)
15 lateral barbell jumps
1 weighted fence run (2 15# dumbells, approx. 100 meters)
50 singles

The goal: go as fast as you possibly can.

Here's what I love about these workouts:
1. One person goes at a time so everyone can cheer them on and help motivate them to push harder.
2. It's a very fast workout, averaging 2 minutes per round.
3. There is plenty of rest between rounds so the athlete can recuperate and go 100% again.
4. After the 2nd round I announced that the person who beats their fastest time by the largest amount wins a Fit-aid (it's a recovery drink, most of them love it).  Take a close look at the photo, can you tell who won?

Great work tonight ladies.  That was fun.

AGA FITNESS CREW

Workout of the Day (WOD):
Max set of strict pull ups/max hang,
then 20 double unders/attempts
3 Rounds

	ROUND 1	ROUND 2	ROUND 3
TARA	12.5	9	9
KRISTY	15 sec.	10	40
SUE	10	8	5
JESSECA	12	9	15
JUSTINE	6 sec.	14	18
DEVIN	5	5	5

Tara: 2 large bands

Kristy: 1 large band on round 3

Sue: 1 large band

Jesseca: 1 large band

Justine: 1 large band

Devin: 1 large band

Completed on October 10, 2012

Post new results in comments (below)

"J.T." @ Crossfit Miami Beach

Recently my friend Kami and I visited Crossfit Miami Beach.  We were please to see the wod posted for the day was the hero wod "J.T." which is 21-15-9 reps of: Handstand push-ups, Ring dips and Push-ups.  Both of us had never done this wod before and we thought it looked right in our wheelhouse.  We were wrong...  This was a four minute wod in our head, but turned into a 15+ minute wod in real life.  You know those workouts that look pretty easy on paper and then turn out to be one of the hardest you've ever done?  This was one of those.  We both completed the first set of 21 handstand push-ups strict and unbroken.  Then we were done.. our shoulders were shot.  By the time I got back to the second set of 15 handstand pushups I had to do singles and kip each one.  I felt like I was never going to finish.  Oh yea, and it was super humid..we pretty much never stopped sweating for the rest of our trip..

Meal Favorites

Here are some of my favorites and why:

Chipotle Grilled Chicken Salad

Why:
1. It's paleo (minus the sour cream, I can't help it)
2. It's fresh
3. It's fast

Cobb Salad

I have since started substituting the blue cheese you can see in the middle of this salad with extra egg or extra meat.  The dressing is balsamic vinaigrette.

Grain free chocolate cookies

Mei (paleoodie.blogspot.com) made these the other night.  I ate about 5 of them in a second.  I also promised a lot of people I would bring them some, but I ended up eating them all.  Now I'm indebted to many crossfitters and coworkers about 100 "paleo" cookies.  Hope Mei will make more soon!

Spicy Chicken & Bulgogi

Why I Crossfit

Do you ever feel like you are just going through the motions of "working out" when you get to the gym?  I did.  I had about 4-5 routines that I rotated through each week.  It worked for a few months, meaning I was seeing results like my shoulders getting bigger and other muscle groups getting more defined.  However, I was missing two crucial elements in my workouts:

1: A workout out partner, someone to push me harder than I would push myself.  Also someone who could spot me to help me lift weights that are heavier than I am used to and also for safety (not letting a dumbbell fall on my face).

2: Constant variation in my workouts.  Chest and shoulders were my favorite routines so I often hit those more often than others.

Both of these elements were covered when I started crossfit and in a big way.

The definition of crossfit as I remember it from my first weekend of on-ramp (the intro to crossfit classes) is "functional movements that are constantly varied and completed at a high intensity."  First off, you don't just get one workout partner when you join crossfit.. you get about 10 to 15 plus a couple of coaches each time you go in.  Every day I know that I'm pushing myself harder than I normally would if I were to attempt the same workout on my own, guaranteed!  Second, each workout is different.  There are hundreds of different movements in crossfit, some you love, some you hate and you never know what you're gonna get.  Adding these two elements back into my workout routines has  worked really well for me.  I honestly feel like I am the strongest and in the best shape of my life right now and there is always going to be room for improvements.

Here are some examples of movements I never thought I'd be able to do before crossfit forced me to challenge myself.

Muscle ups
15 meter handstand walk
Clean and jerk 215 #'s
Butterfly pullups
Double unders

If you are thinking of starting crossfit my advice is JUST DO IT! Look up crossfit gyms in your area and call them/email them right now and ask when the best time to drop into a class would be.  Then GO!  You don't not need to be in shape before you go.  No one will yell at you and make you cry or puke.  Every workout can be scaled to your level of fitness.  So stop making excuses!!  Oh yea, it's a lot of fun too and you'll meet some pretty cool people.

The Mega Losers

The Mega Losers is a group of four women who decided to put together a weight loss competition at work. In a nutshell, they all throw $100 in a pot and the person who loses the most weight by the end of the 12 week period wins.  When I caught wind of this competition I approached one of the participants and offered to start training her once a week.  She accepted.  After our first training session the other three caught on to what we were up to and asked if they could join.  Of course I said yes.  Now we all train twice a week.  Every Tuesday and Friday right after work in our company parking lot.

Here is our very first workout:

Session 1 (60 mins):

Warm up:

200 meter run

Form a straight line – all working:

ü  Pull knee up into chest

ü  Butt kickers back

ü  Samson stretch

ü  Side lunges left to right

ü  High knees back

Form a line – one person working at a time:

ü  Karaoke

ü  10 wire box step ups

ü  Karaoke

ü  Leap frogs

ü  10 air squats

ü  Leap frogs

With a Partner:

ü  Squat hold & 20 OH squats 

ü  Switch

ü  Plank (sub hollow hold for bad wrists) & 20 Sit ups

ü  Switch

Skill work:

ü  Jump Rope

Movement work:

ü  Thrusters

WOD:

6 minute AMRAP

ü  10 Dumbbell thrusters

ü  10 curb jumps

ü  10 Mountain climbers 

ü  100 meter run

I learned a lot about my Mega Losers (that's what they call themselves) during this workout.  From the very beginning some of them were complaining about how their feet hurt from the 200 meter warm up run.  I did not anticipate this.  In my head I was thinking "how do I scale down a warm up run??"  I don't want them the just be walking.  I've learned to come up with quick substitutes for movements that can put someone at risk of an injury, but I was stumped at this one.  I told them they just need to start getting used to running (hoping that was the right advice).  Turns out, 12 weeks later they are all sprinting 400 meters as their warm up and not complaining about it at all.  I actually think the warm up run is now their favorite part of the workouts now :)

My Diet

I started crossfit in November 2011.  I always thought I ate fairly healthy until I heard about the paleo diet and started learning about what I was putting into my body.  The worst part of my diet was sugar.  I have a sweet tooth and would always have a bag of sour candy in my office.  Now I know that sugar is like poison to our bodies.  Ever since I have drastically cut down on my sugar intake and also cut most carbs I have seen positive results in my physique and overall fitness level.  My diet is pretty simple, eat a lot of food, but in small portions throughout the day.  Keep the meals high in protein and get carbs from vegetables.  Also, fat is good.

Here's an example of my typical day:

7:30AM - Protein shake (whey or progenex mixed with coconut milk) & 2 or 3 scrambled eggs with 1/2 of an avocado.

9:00AM - A half cup of roasted almonds, banana and a cup of coffee.

11:30AM - A serving of protein (usually grilled chicken, but today I had rack of lamb yummmm) with steamed vegetables (squash, carrots, mushrooms).

1:30PM - Three meatballs with tomato sauce, steamed broccoli and carrots and potato salad.

3:30PM - small serving of roasted almonds and cup of coffee.

4:30PM -(same as 11:30PM) A serving of protein with steamed vegetables (squash & mushrooms).

7:00PM - one banana (pre workout)

8:30PM - Protein shake (post workout)

9:30PM -A serving of protein with steamed vegetables (squash, mushrooms) w/ a glass of coconut milk.

10:30PM - Coconut Milk Ice Cream...I can't help it.  I get this late night craving every night!!

I usually eat a hand full of nuts later in the evening too.  Either, sunflower seeds, walnuts or almonds.

I drink a lot of water throughout the day, approximately 18 glasses.  That doesn't include my protein shakes and coconut water I drink with dinner.

After writing all this out it looks like a lot of food.  I am very lucky to have a wonderful fiance to loves to cook for me.  She usually prepares all my meals on Sunday evening and we package them up into about 8 - 10 tupperware containers.  Her blog is Paleoodie.blogspot.com.

What is STINSANITY?

Stinsanity is a crossfit inspired workout program designed to make fitness fun and produce results. Established in April of 2012, Stinsanity has been transforming bodies all over the Bay Area.  Each workout consists of a warm-up (ideally warming up the movements that will be in our main workout (the WOD), core work, skill, strength or mobility work and then the work out of the day (WOD). Each WOD can be anywhere from 5-30 minutes long and each session is about 1 hour (check out the WOD Archives to see some of our past workouts).  I absolutely love it when my clients tell me that our workouts are now a priority in their lives now and not optional.  Watching people transform and get excited about accomplishing goals they never thought attainable is very rewarding.  I strongly believe that fitness should be a part of everyone's life.

One day I heard one of the girls I train say to another employee, "You should try Stinsanity!"  She was referring to my workouts and I thought it was pretty funny and creative.  My last name is Stinson and she combined that with the Insanity exercise infomercial.  I told her I was going to use that name and pay her royalties if I ever become famous ;)  Thanks Kristy.