Epic Fitness is hosting a free fitness bootcamp exclusively for GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake residents!

Kickstart that summer pool body with a free workout with the Epic Fitness training team this Saturday, March 31st at GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake!

Epic Fitness at GRIGIO bootcamps consist of a full-body resistance and cardiovascular workout in a fun group environment. All sessions are designed to meet a broad range of fitness levels, so if you’re a beginner or a pro athlete, you’ll still get a great workout!

All GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake bootcamp participants will:

• Receive a FREE ice cold Muscle Milk for their post-workout recovery!
• Receive an entry into the raffle for a FREE iPod Nano and FREE Month of Personal Training!
• Have an opportunity to schedule their FREE training session and wellness assessment with a certified trainer!

Event details

Place: Inside the GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake Leasing Office

Time: 11:00 a.m.

Cost: FREE

What to bring: Water bottle, and comfortable workout clothes (mat or towel is optional)

Duration: The session will last about an hour from warm-up to cool down

Epic Fitness bootcamps are a fun type of outdoor (sometimes indoor) group exercise classes that mix traditional calisthenic and body weight exercises with interval training and strength training principles to leave you with a great workout in a fun social environment!

Email us at Contact@EpicFitnessTraining.com for more information on fitness bootcamps or personal training at GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake.

Today Epic Fitness is proud to announce another resident fitness program going into effect at Grigio Tempe Town Lake!

Grigio is one of the premier upscale apartment venues in Tempe. Located just North of Tempe Town Lake the residents can enjoy professional one on one training and group fitness classes as well as the great view!

Grigio is Bold. Sexy. In the now. And we believe will be a great fit for the next Epic Fitness Resident fitness program. Epic Fitness personal training is a great add on service and amenity to the residents that currently includes weekly events, parties, pools, and full concierge service.

We at Epic Fitness are excited to get to work and ready to meet all the great residents at Grigio and we will have that oppertunity at our First event which is a meet and greet on Saturday, March 24th from 2pm to 4pm.

Grigio Tempe residents! Come out on Saturday for the opportunity to:

• Meet the training staff!

• Get a free Epic Fitness Sports Water Bottle!

• Enter to win a Free Month of Personal Training or an iPod Nano!

• Schedule your complimentary fitness assessment and FREE personal training session!

Epic Fitness training will also be hosting a couple other events including:

A free Nutrition Class hosted by Dr. Andrea Gorman who has PhD in Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Wellness is a registered dietitian with 20 years in the field.

This event will be held on Monday March 26th at Grigio Tempe

FREE for all Grigio residents and friends!

We will also be hosting a FREE fitness bootcamp for all Grigio Tempe residents and friends!

Epic Fitness bootcamps consist of a full-body resistance and cardiovascular workout in a fun group environment. All sessions are designed to meet a broad range of fitness levels, so if you’re a beginner or a pro athlete, you’ll still get a great workout!

This event will be held on Saturday, March 31st at 11am

FREE for all Grigio residents and friends!

You can sign up for all of these events at the Meet and Greet on Saturday the 24th or in the Grigio Leasing office.

For more information about Epic Fitness Training and to schedule your free Fitness Assessment and Personal Training Session please contact us here or email us at contact@epicfitnesstraining.com

And a special thanks to everyone at Grigio Tempe Town Lake for welcoming us into your facility!

Cutting back on the processed sugar and missing that night time Ben and Jerry’s?

Kristy over at the Naked Kitchen has a solution. Use frozen bananas and get a substitute you might like even more than a pint of your traditional treat…

For Banana Blackberry Ice Cream

• 2 medium sized ripe bananas

• 8 blackberries

• 4 peach slices

• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

For Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

• 2 medium sized ripe bananas

• 1 tbsp raw honey or maple syrup (optional)

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp peanut butter (optional)

For Banana Sweet Potato Ice Cream

• 2 medium sized ripe bananas

• 1/4 sweet potato

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

• 2 tbsp coconut milk

• 2 tbsp chopped pecans (optional)

What is a Man Maker?

Part of the crossfit/sealfit/garagefit cult? You’ve probably been performing the man maker until you’re blue in the face for some time now. What about everyone else? This combination movement has become mainstream for good reason– the man maker combines large core movements into a sequential series that taxes all the major muscle groups.

The result? A well designed exercise that sends your heart rate through the roof, maximizes calorie burn during and after exercise (see EPOC), stimulates muscular endurance, and helps develop symmetry by working antagonist muscles.

How to perform the Man Maker

You’ll most likely see several variations of the man maker performed in your gym or in online training articles. The most widely accepted version is the 8-count movement listed below:

• Squat
• Push-up
• Single Arm Row
• Push-up
• Single Arm Row (opposite arm)
• Squat
• Power Clean
• Push-Press

The man maker starting position is simply standing with a pair of dumbbells hanging at your sides:

(1) drop squat to the floor so that the dumbbells are touching about shoulder to hip width apart (2) Kick your legs back to a push-up position and perform a push-up (3) from the push-up position perform a one-arm dumbbell row with your right arm while supporting your weight with your left arm and slightly widened feet (4) Perform another push-up (5) one-arm row with the left arm (6) bring legs back up toward your hands into a drop squat (7) stand up and clean the dumbbells to your shoulders (8) perform a push-press… repeat

 How to implement the Man Maker into your workouts

The man maker series can be added to your workouts as a circuit training station consisting of about 30 – 45 seconds worth of repetitions or as an independent exercise. Keep in mind that the man maker is a full-body exercise, so you’ll most likely want to transition into something like jumping rope or a core station for your circuits while giving your major muscle groups a short break.

For training videos on other movements like the man maker, visit our training video library.

25 Tips for Healthy Eating at West 6th Tempe

Dr. Andrea Gorman will be giving her class “25 Tips for Healthy Eating” in the West 6^th Tempe 7^th floor game room on March 7^th at 7:00pm. The event will be free to all West 6^th Tempe residents and there’s no pre-registration required. The class takes about 30 minutes and afterwards residents are free to ask questions and consult with Dr. Gorman on nutrition related topics. This class is a great opportunity for residents to learn ways to jump start weight loss or other healthy goals by learning some quick tips for eating at home or out in town.

Dr. Andrea Gorman’s background:

Andrea has over 20 years of experience in health and wellness and holds a license as a Registered Dietitian as well as a PhD in Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Wellness from ASU. She is the Co-Director and Associate Professor of the Health Promotion and Wellness PhD Program at Rocky Mountain University and teaches nutrition and wellness courses at Chandler Gilbert Community College and Phoenix College. She has also conducted research in the areas of weight loss, diabetes, and exercise as well as published several articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of American Dietetic Association, Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Osteoporosis International, and Journal of Health Promotion. Dr. Gorman provides both basic and comprehensive nutrition programs to the residents of West 6th Tempe.

For questions on the event email Contact@EpicFitnessTraining.com.

The Principle of Overload

“I keep working out but I’ve stopped seeing results”

The most likely culprit to a stagnant training program is a lack of overload in your workouts.

Overload is simply exerting a greater stress on your body than normal to stimulate its natural adaptive process (results). If you continue to do the same workouts, you will begin to see diminishing returns for your investment. This statement is true regardless of your goals– fat loss, increase power, gain muscle, increase endurance, etc.

You have four options to overload your body effectively:

• Frequency – Increase the number of times you workout in a week. Start slowly by adding one additional workout in per week and progress from there.
• Intensity – Increase the amount of effort during your workouts. This can be accomplished by running faster, lifting more weight, lifting weight for more repetitions, etc.
• Time – Increase the duration of your workouts. This doesn’t mean spend more idle time in the gym or at the track, but instead increasing the active time or number of total sets for a workout.
• Type – Change the style of your workouts to “shock” your body. This includes adding new and more difficult training methodologies, exercises, or workouts to make every session more challenging.

The most important concept here is that you must constantly change up your workouts (overload) to see results.

The sun, the pool, the beach, the swimsuit… Are you ready West 6th? 

Spring Break is around the corner and West 6th residents can sign up for an iPod Nano that will be raffled off just before ASU spring break on March 18th. Residents get 1 entry into the contest by signing up on our facebook page, and get 5 entries for scheduling your FREE initial assessment and training session!!

Visit facebook.com/EpicFitnessTraining to register

What are the best health, nutrition, and fitness apps for the iPhone or Android?

Epic Fitness has compiled a list of the top 10 health, fitness, and nutrition applications for the iPhone and Android.

1. Fit Builder

2. Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal

3. Nike Training Club

4. THI Trainer

5. Interval Timer

6. iFitness

7. Livestrong

8. Nike+

9. Lose It

10. Human Kinetics Now

Gym Germs

It’s winter time again, which means the cold and flu season is here. The more we spend time in public places the more likely we are to increase our risk of catching a cold or the flu. The combination of the large occupancy in large gyms and the number of surface areas that we all come in contact with expose gym-goers to a slightly higher number of germs than those that workout from home. No need to be alarmed, Epic Fitness has some simple measures that can help reduce your chances of getting sick.

• #1 is pick a gym that is clean with good housekeeping

• Bring your own water– water fountains contain plenty of little bacteria

• Don’t touch your face after handling equipment

• Use wall mounted hand-sanitizer

• Wipe down equipment with disinfecting cloths if available

• Wear sandles or flip-flops in the locker room and showers

• Get plenty of sleep– our immune system is compromised when we don’t get our 8 hours

• Take a rest day– overtraining can lead to exhaustion, fatigue, and a depressed immune system

Remember that a proper training program boosts your immune system’s ability to fight off germs and sickness, so the benefit far outweighs the risk of going to the gym.

Should runners hit the weight room? Absolutely!

The amount of time, the type of exercises, and the number of repetitions spent utilizing weights all depends on the individual and their goals. Most runners that choose not to lift weights worry about building size that will decrease mobility and cause greater effort. With a proper training program designed for runners there’s no need to worry.

There are all sorts of health benefits to resistance training, but we’ll focus strictly on using weights to improve running performance and reduce the likelihood of injury.

The easiest way to describe the methods of resistance (weight) training is to break them down in to 3 separate categories. They are strength, hypertrophy, and endurance. While modern weight lifting is a blend of all three, you’ll find athletes will mostly lean toward the style of resistance training that fits their goals and lifestyle. As an example; a power lifter will focus on strength training, a bodybuilder will almost always train for hypertrophy (muscle growth), and a runner for endurance. These three methods are identified by their “rep ranges” and rest cycles.

In order to maximize the benefits of resistance training for an endurance athlete, we’ll train in a higher repetition range that improves muscular endurance without building muscle mass or strength. These are high rep sets, typically above 15 repetitions each or a sequence of exercises with little or no rest between movements (circuit training). This means choosing a weight that is light enough to perform the prescribed number of repetitions to reach the endurance training zone. Just about all endurance runners can benefit from this type of resistance training without worrying about decreasing mobility or running efficiency. Actually quite the opposite is true! A proper endurance training program will help raise your V02 MAX while giving your lower body endurance to sprint off the start, finish strong, or push through those hills.

If training strictly to improve your running performance then stick to two full body resistance workouts per week. Focus on major muscle groups, performing 2-3 sets per exercise and about 15-25 repetitions each.