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Category: fitness

Four Advantages to Ditching the Straight Bar

September 14, 2022
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| Categories: Exercise, fitness, Strength, Training

1) Better Core Stability, Less Lower Back, Hip & Knee Stress For starters, the safety bar sits a bit higher than a standard bar and the camber pushes you forward, forcing you to fight to stay upright. Therefore, you will be a bit more upright than a high-bar squat and a lot more upright than a low-bar squat. Generally speaking, the more upright your torso is, the less pressure is placed on your lower back. And with the safety bar, the pressure will be displaced more towards your glutes and quads without putting your lower back in a tough spot.

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Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?

September 1, 2022
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| Categories: diet, Exercise, fitness, Health and Fitness
What should I eat for breakfast by CSC Trainer, Tom Nyilis

It’s a fair enough question and like so many things with nutrition it is a complex one and different for different people. Here is MY personal take on the question. YES, breakfast is the most important meal of the day and a healthy habit for long term health, weight management, athletic performance and cognitive thinking. For example, one 2021 systematic review of 14 observational studies found that those who eat breakfast seven times per week have a reduced risk for: Heart diseaseDiabetesObesityHigh blood pressureStrokeAbdominal obesityCardiovascular-related deathElevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol Weight management---by having breakfast you have more control of your

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Strength Training: Fatbells

July 22, 2022
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| Categories: Exercise, fitness, Strength, strength training
CSC Trainer Evan squatting with an overhead fatbell

Fatbells are a variation on the classic Kettlebell but with a twist. The handle is located inside the bell putting all the weight an equal distance from your wrist and hand. This allows the Fatbell to move with your hand and arm as if it was an extension of your body! This makes learning exercises like The Single Arm Snatch far easier than with a traditional Kettlebell while still getting more of a challenge than a dumbbell provides! Fatbells can be used in place of dumbbells for presses and rows but also for popular Kettlebell exercises like Swings, Snatches, and

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Calf Strengthening Exercises for Runners

July 22, 2022
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| Categories: Athlete, Exercise, fitness, Strength, Workout Tips
calf exercises for runners

Strengthening your calves isn’t just about preventing injury to your calves. It’s about protecting your lower legs as a whole. For example, if your calves are too weak, it puts stress on your Achilles tendon and shins. No runner likes dealing with a painful, squeaky Achilles tendon or going through the agony of shin splints. Include these calf exercises into your training routine two to three times per week to improve your form and help prevent injuries by building muscle in your lower body.  The difference between good calf exercises and great calf exercises is the time and attention you put into

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Jump Back In! What coming back to fitness clubs look like in 2021

April 9, 2021
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| Categories: Club News, fitness
Commonwealth Sports Club Workout Image for Blog Post

(2-3 min read) Fitness has looked a little different for everyone this past year. Maybe you’ve kept moving by incorporating a great at-home workout routine and have spent hours scouring Amazon for dumbbells and resistance bands like many of us have or even purchased a spin bike (good on you!). Now, with gyms and fitness centers back open, there’s a looming question… “Is it time to go back?” or “If I go back, what will it look like?” Gyms and athletic clubs all over the country are working their operations back up – but what does that look like at

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If you were stuck on a deserted island (or at home) with only one piece of exercise equipment what would it be?

April 2, 2020
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| Categories: Exercise, fitness, Health and Fitness

At some point every trainer, coach, athlete, or fitness enthusiast has been asked, “if you were stuck on a deserted island with only one piece of equipment what would it be?”  Well right now many of us are living that while stuck in our homes with little equipment. For me the answer to that question is the TRX Trainer.  Although, if I can cheat and bring two items the other would be a Kettlebell.  One of the main reasons I am such a big fan of the TRX trainer is the versatility.  While many know it as a tool for

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Primal Movement Flow

April 2, 2020
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| Categories: Athlete, Core, Exercise, fitness, Health Tips, Training

Primal Movement Flow is a combination of primitive movement patterns like hinging, crawling, squatting, lunging, rolling in all possible directions and connecting them by using transition movements. The end result is a flow of challenging body weight exercises/moves that are fun and enhance every aspect of fitness. This includes improvements in mobility of the joints, strength, endurance, power, balance, cardiovascular, the list goes on and on. Primal movements are early building blocks for every move we make in our daily lives, and being able to perform them well, will keep our bodies up to date and fight back some of

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Why trainers focus on the butt

November 5, 2019
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| Categories: Exercise, fitness, Training, Weight Training

Why do trainers like myself always incorporate Glute (aka Gluteus Maximus aka the Butt) work into our exercise programs?  Simply put, it’s the biggest muscle in the body and it anchors all hip and core activation for lower body movement.  It's also a key factor in lower body stabilization for upper body movement.  Once of my favorite sayings is “you can’t fire a cannon from a canoe” which is a simple way of saying proximal stability creates distal mobility. If your core, hips and lower body are not stable, you can’t effectively move your upper body. Again, your butt is

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How to be successful at the gym, Part 3: Consistency

October 15, 2019
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| Categories: diet, Exercise, fitness, Health and Fitness, Health Tips

It doesn’t matter what your goals are, consistency is key. That being said, it doesn’t mean that you can’t miss a workout (it happens to all of us). In that case, try to find a way to move a little more during the course of that day. Don’t think you need to start over and definitely don’t give up! Move on and understand that there will be thousands of other workouts to be crushed. Exercise Sometimes we get bored of our workouts and don’t want to repeat the same things over and over again. An easy solution to this dilemma

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How to be successful at the gym, Part 2: Work with a Trainer

October 1, 2019
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| Categories: Exercise, fitness, Training

It’s crucial that beginners work with a trainer. They should be assessed by a fitness professional to address their weaknesses and foundation work, such as stabilization and mobility, are incorporated for them to have a good base to build a strong body. They’ll also become more familiar with exercising and will learn skills that are needed in order to perform exercises correctly, with good form, progress and guidance. People who work with a trainer are most likely to get better, faster results because they have someone who holds them accountable and the programs are designed specifically to the clients needs

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