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Best of Manhattan 2014 for Personal Trainers |
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Welcome to the Neighborhood
Jhon Persson
Sasha Tsvietkov
Oshay Walker
Elena Olken-Dann
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Building Your Team
By Lisa Snow, Personal Trainer
You're motivated to keep working toward your goals, but are your friends in your corner? Do they cheer you on, ignore you, or sabotage you by bringing junk food to work? Whether you're trying to manage the weight or bounce back from a serious injury, social support is an essential ingredient in fitness! Here are some simple ways you can get your friends involved:
Plan a fun, healthy weekly activity with friends.
If you usually go to dinner with friends, try getting them to do something new with you, like taking a dance class or going for a walk in the park. When you do go out to dinner with friends, choose healthier restaurants. HappyCow
and Clean Plates
are two restaurant directories that are great places to start looking.
Share your boundaries.
Are you on a specific nutrition plan? Let your friends and coworkers know what you can and can't eat, and write it down. Remind them that it's OK for them to ask you several times. It's great to have a "cheat day" or ot her system to let yourself splurge occasionally, but your "cheat" foods should be things you truly enjoy and pick out yourself, not stale doughnuts brought in by coworkers. People that truly care about you will respect your food choices.
Find one supporter.
While a personal trainer or fitness instructor can be a great addition to your support system, it's really important to also find one friend or family member who is truly on your side. Sharing your progress on social media is motivating for some people, but isn't a substitute for a real human you can talk to about the ups and downs of your fitness journey.
Contact me, Lisa Snow
ACE & NSCA Certified Personal Trainer
President
On the Mend Customized Fitness and Massage
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Do you have a gym in your apartment building?
Have a personal trainer give you and your neighbors an equipment demonstration.
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"Thanks to your website, I'm starting to get back into a healthier lifestyle."
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Learn Your Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body Mass Index (BMI) is essentially a height to weight ratio. Am I a healthy weight for my height.
Figure out your BMI now.
Underweight = < 18.5 Normal Weight = 18.5-24.9 Overweight = 25-29.9 Obese- 30 or higher
Remember, speak to your doctor before starting a fitness program and then seek out the right personal trainer for correct program design. Enjoy your workout!
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Find more great articles on the blog
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According to WebMD, the
top 5 things you can do for your heart are:
5. Exercise
4. Check for diabetes
3. Cut down on saturated fats
2. Monitor blood pressure
1. Sleep
Louiza and Lisa
have a few ideas to help with #5.
Want a more personalized approach?
Don't miss my visit to The Fitness Office on the Upper East Side.
Happy, healthy, and hearty!
Glenn
P.S. For daily fitness tips and advice,
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Use a Towel for Core Work
Barefoot or with sneakers, place a folded towel under each foot and get into the wedge position. Stick a straight leg out to your side as far as you can without engaging the lower back muscles. Repeat for the next leg. Do two to ten sets of ten repetitions, as you can.
Advanced 1: When both legs are straight behind you, do a push up!
Advanced 2: Extend both legs at the same time, like a scissor opening. Then return to starting wedge position.
Advanced 3: Move both straight legs at a time and straighten your arms to stick your butt up and have your hands and feet almost touching. Return to the wedge position. Add difficulty: Perform a push up right after the wedge position and as you begin to bring your feet to below your belly.
Advanced 4: Repeat 3 with the difficulty, but when you return your legs to the wedge, do so with a circular motion. So, extend each leg out in a circular motion to its respective side and to the wedge.
My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on
authorhouse
and amazon
. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site
http://www.louizapatsis.com
.
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Exploring NYC's Personal Training Gyms:
By Glenn Dickstein
On a picture perfect day, I made an impromptu visit to one of the
Upper East Side
's best kept personal training gym secrets. I made a quick call over to
The Fitness Office
, spoke to Vinnie Laspina and I was on my way. Tucked away in a residential apartment building is this
two floor facility.
As I entered the building I was quickly reminded of one of my favorite lines from the 1996 movie Swingers.
"For some reason the cool bars in Hollywood have to be hard to find. It's kind of a speakeasy thing. It's kinda cool. It's like you're in on some kind of secret. You tell a chick you've been some place, it's like bragging you know how to find it."
Vinnie and his business partner, Joe Burt, started The Fitness Office about three years ago after working together for a three-year period as personal trainers. They wanted to create a space where every trainer and client combination would feel welcome. After getting reacquainted with the space, I concluded that they succeeded.
"We built this space purposefully to feel like you're at home," says co-founder Vinnie Laspina. "It's about what each client needs individually each and every session on that specific day. Each trainer has the opportunity to deliver just that to each of their clients every time. Everyone here is as social as they want to be without ever feeling the need to "be" anything but themselves. That's when the results come....comfort + relationship with trainer + trainer skillset = results. That's the formula we have and will use moving forward. Very simple."
The Fitness Office space is advantageously unique. The space was originally a two floor apartment fantastically turned into a personal training gym. So, rather than having one open space,
you have the benefit of three different indoor spaces, each with its own uses, plus an outdoor space (more on that later.)
While both lower areas can be used for personal training sessions, the main room is for some serious strength training. The room is chock full of dumbbells, kettle bells, balls, and other "toys." The adjacent room is a bit more open, lending itself to small group training opportunities, as well as one-on-one sessions. Trainers will be happy to know that the room is
equipped with TRX for five so there is no need bring your own straps. With all of this equipment, you'll have some exhausted and strong students by the end of class.
Just out back,
there is outdoor space. Yes, I said outdoor space. It's the perfect space for a quiet warm up, cool down, or stretching session. Maybe even a yoga or Pilates mat session being mindful not to disturb the neighbors. Vinnie and Joe can tell you more about the outdoor possibilities.
But wait there is more! Remember I mentioned a second floor. Adding to the versatility of the space, upstairs has a massage table, some cardio to warm up on, and a kitchen. The separation is an especially nice feature here so you can separate more intense activities from the less.
Both trainers and clients will not only appreciate The Fitness Office for its equipment, but also for its amenities. The previously mentioned kitchen is open for use by trainers and clients. It may be just storing your breakfast, lunch or dinner in the fridge or perhaps to make a post-workout shake. BYO only. On top of that,
the facility boasts 3 full bathrooms, towels, toiletries, and private lockers.
Vinnie and Joe have designed an environment which takes away any excuse a client may give you. No excuses about cold lunches and no place to shower when you work out at The Fitness Office. Check and check! They have also created an atmosphere where independent trainers can feel comfortable and build a thriving business. I would
recommend any Upper East Side personal trainer check out The Fitness Office for themselves. It has a lot to offer and should meet the needs of many personal training clients. Just call and ask for Vinnie or Joe before heading over. They'll be happy to talk to you.
By Glenn Dickstein
By Chris Granville
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