Why You're Doing What You're Doing: The Movement Assessment

For those keeping score at home, I write the Home Gym Series, which has been going splendidly, twice a month, nutritional strategies get some love one week a month, and now this series.

This series is all about answering questions related to the programming clients receive at Purposeful Strength. Through these answers I am hoping that you will learn about new concepts in your workouts, see the thought process(es) that go in to working with a Personal Trainer, and like I am doing with Beyond Strength, steal my ideas for your own workouts!

Our first edition covers a topic that all my personal training clients, in person and online, go through; the movement assessment.

“Hey Casey, Can you just start the workouts?”

Nope.

I Did My Food Journal...Now What?

In my 12 years of personal training, coaching people on achieving fitness has never been the challenge.

You see, exercise is an external addition to your body. If you were able to regulate sleep well, eat the right levels of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, and just move around for 10,000-15,000 steps, there is a very high chance that your body would be deemed ‘healthy’.

No additional exercise needed.

The challenge has always been nutrition.

The old cliché says that ‘food is fuel’, it is so much more than that.

Food is social. Food is comforting. Food is fun (ever make cookies with a 3 year old?). Food is status. Food is pleasurable. Food is a necessity for life.

Because of the reasons above, trust me, the list continues. People’s relationship with food varies. This variability makes coaching nutrition exponentially challenging.

ArticlesCasey LeeFebruary 28, 2022nutrition, nutrition coaching, food journal, food log, how many calories should I eatComment

Home Gym Series: Peloton and Strength Training - How To Improve Your Peloton Rides

I love spinning, I always have. It’s been the only group exercise class I’ve consistently taken in a gym setting since college. The music kicks ass, the instructors are always fun, dark rooms, fun lights.

On a physical level, Peloton/ spinning is low impact (easy on the joints, taxes your lower body and lungs (what’s up physical growth?), and has measurable metrics that can be used to track improvements.

It’s my jam, for sure.

So Peloton, though I don’t have one - my wife wanted a treadmill instead (*insert eye roll*)- would definitely be something that I consider, and have recommended to friends and clients who I think would enjoy that community driven approach.

Okay, Casey, pipe it…how do I get better at my Peloton rides and how do I increase my output?

6 Things You Didn't Know About Exercise

If you ask someone what aggravates them about their profession there is no doubt that they could rattle off a few things.

Maybe it's social media perception?

Maybe it's misinformation surrounding your practices?

Maybe it's the weird work hours your industry requires?

*I promise I'm not projecting the fitness industry downfalls to you*

But seriously, ask yourself what frustrations come with your professional industry, I bet you have a few.

So for this week's newsletter, I wanted to rattle off a few short concepts/ideas/sentiments/facts that many people misunderstand, don't know, or due to the plethora of B.S. that get's spewed to us through social media and traditional media, can get confusing.

Sound good? Cool. Let's rip.

ArticlesCasey LeeFebruary 17, 2022exercise, calorie deficit, burning calories, how many calories does exercise burnComment

A collection of thoughts: How long should you workout? Does neck training matter? Is single limb training better?

In a not so distant past all of my writing consisted of outlining 3 thoughts and ideas. Hell, I even named my podcast 'The 3 Things Podcast' for that very reason.

After (literally) years of trying to write consistently, and failing over and over again at sticking with it, I found that I work best in short format, typically 3 things, and elaborate on those points once they are outlined. In past newsletters and Purposeful Strength articles you may have noticed that pattern.

Alas, my good friend, I am going back to my roots this week and highlighting 3 things that keep reoccurring in my mind...

Home Gym Workouts: How to maximize limited access to weight

I’m a home gym guy through and through. If you’ve followed Purposeful Strength for any length of time you’ve read about the time saving benefits of training at home or heard me talk about my favorite pieces in the “rave cave”, the name of my home gym palace.

I even did a small write up on equipment that I recommend for those looking to get strong in their home. If you want to bypass the article and download the goods, click the button below.

All of those reasons and resources are fine and dandy, but training at home has its own challenges.

Limited access to weights
Small(er) training spaces
Volume/ sound restraints (ever workout with your toddler taking a nap?!)

Just to name a few…

Insert this “Home Gym Training Series”, something near and dear to my heart