Strength Training

Skinny VS Strong

As Bob Dylan famously sang all those decades ago, "the times, they are a-changin'." I grew up in the 80's and 90's and watched my mom go to "aerobics" classes and then joined her in my teens in those same classes. We danced, pranced, whooped, hollered, and stepped up and down off those pink and green Reebok steps 1000's of times. We definitely worked up a sweat too. But what was our drive? What were we putting all those hours of sweat equity in for anyway? We were either gett

Lisa Magnuson

Jun 20, 20244 min read

Losing Power as you Age

Last August, I sent out this blog post highlighting the importance of maintaining and even gaining strength as you age. Today, I plan to discuss another equally or possibly even greater measure of performance commonly referred to as power. What is power in this sense? "Experts define power as the ability to apply force rapidly — using fast-twitch muscle fibers in short, explosive bursts." Amanda Loudin, New York Times: How to test your strength in 30 seconds Power is what al

Lisa Magnuson

Feb 28, 20243 min read

Training to Failure Sounds Terrible

Who sets out to fail? Not me, so when someone says do this one thing until failure, my knee jerk reaction is, no thank you, that sounds counter-productive. However, training to the point of failure (occasionally) can be immensely beneficial for muscle growth as well as psychological understanding of your actual end point. For the sake of argument, in this article let's assume the failure point is momentary muscular failure and not technical failure. Those are two versions of

Lisa Magnuson

Oct 12, 20234 min read

Strength Decline as we Age

It's no secret, that as we age we lose strength. I want to shine a light on how much we lose and what we can do to prevent the decline. Here are the scary statistics: After the age of 40, people typically lose 1-2% of their muscle size per year, have a 3-5% reduction in strength and power per year, and a 8-10% decrease in speed and explosiveness per year. So by the time you are 60, you "could" have lost a decent amount of muscle size, had a substantial reduction in strength

Lisa Magnuson

Aug 21, 20233 min read

Fasted Training- Hype or Helpful?

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of focusing on either building muscle OR burning fat, and encouraged you to choose one,...

Lisa Magnuson

Oct 5, 20224 min read

Can you Burn Fat AND Build Muscle at the Same Time?

The short answer, if you're reading this blog post, is probably not. If you are new to training, like have under a year of experience,...

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 21, 20224 min read

Estrogen, bone health, and all things "heavy"

This post is obviously directed toward women, however if you aren't a woman but know a woman, it might also be good for you to read so you can share the knowledge and sound smart. Menopause- "the big change", mother nature sure has a fantastic sense of humor. As women, we get the opportunity to have a fluctuating hormone cycle for 30-40 years with some lovely hormones that are quite beneficial to our health and wellness. Then, during a very short period of time, those hormone

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 8, 20223 min read

Here is a NEAT Idea!

If you have ever felt frustrated by lack of weight loss progress even while you are consistent with your workout program, I have a secret...

Lisa Magnuson

May 4, 20223 min read

Build your SKILLZ- Turkish Get Up

Oh, the movement we all love to hate. This little ditty is never a welcome addition to your workout program. Why is that? Quite frankly -...

Lisa Magnuson

Apr 5, 20221 min read

Time to Get "Uncomfortable"

In order to see results in weight training you can't keep doing the same thing with the same weight, you have to switch it up. So...

Lisa Magnuson

Nov 8, 20213 min read

Embrace Your Inner Superhero

With Halloween behind us, we have officially entered the holiday season. It's pumpkin spiced everything and candy and cookies galore. Now...

Lisa Magnuson

Nov 2, 20212 min read

Humble Pie- Random Workouts Don't "work"

Sometimes listening and being open to learning from your life partner is not as easy as it would seem. It's taken me MANY years to admit...

Lisa Magnuson

Oct 26, 20213 min read

Staying Consistent When you Travel

Ever get back from a trip and think, "ugh, I really don't want to get on the scale"? Travel and/or vacations are often on the top of our...

Lisa Magnuson

Oct 19, 20213 min read

Improve Your Virtual Training Experience

When we started out using Zoom a year and a half ago we had never trained anyone online...... ever. It was a quick and steep learning...

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 28, 20214 min read

Labor Day Outdoor Workout

Before the weather keeps us cooped up indoors again, take your workouts outside and enjoy some of the fall warmth. Myles has put together...

Lisa Magnuson

Sep 6, 20211 min read

What goes up, must come down

Getting up from the floor can be challenging for many of us. The range of motion you have to put your hips, knees and ankles through to...

Lisa Magnuson

Aug 23, 20212 min read

Vacation Mode- Simple Travel Workout

August around the PNW is a vacation month. It's a great time of year to go boating, camping or hiking and many of us are out enjoying the...

Lisa Magnuson

Aug 17, 20211 min read

The Importance of Warming Up

Whether you are heading out for a couple hours on the golf course or hitting the slopes for some turns, warming up is not something most...

Lisa Magnuson

Jun 7, 20212 min read

The Importance of "Dot Days"

Perhaps you remember this in the gym; prior to COVID shutting us down we had a spreadsheet print out up front with client's names on it...

Lisa Magnuson

May 10, 20212 min read

Clean up your "cleans"

I'll be the first one to admit that years ago when I was learning how to do a kettlebell clean my forearms ended up looking like bruised...

Lisa Magnuson

Apr 26, 20211 min read