 For May, we're heading back into an Intensification block, so we're going to put a hold on our "spicy" workouts." Reminder: Intensification blocks focus on power, strength and speed. The primary focus of this strength block will be to simultaneously get everyone stronger and more explosive utilizing the complex training method. Complexes: integrating eccentric strength training and explosive plyometrics. Complex Training integrates strength training, plyometrics, and sometimes sport-specific movements. It consists of an intense strength exercise followed by a plyometric exercise. Strategically selecting explosive exercise to gain Post Activation Potentiation (PAP) is the driving force behind complex training. What is Post Activation Potentiation? The term Post Activation Potentiation (PAP) simply refers to an acute excitation of the neuromuscular system following some form of exercise (5RM Back Squat). This acute excitation has been shown to improve subsequent explosive performances such as the counter movement jump and sprint speed. The complex training method has been shown to improve jumping, sprinting, throwing, kicking and even change of direction speed performances.  Theoretical model representing the relationship between post activation potentiation (PAP) and fatigue regarding possible windows of enhanced performance With complexes, we’re working to improve our eccentric strength and stay dynamic with explosive plyometrics. This training is all about creating a shorter transition from the eccentric portion of a movement to the concentric portion of the movement. For this 4-week Strength block, here’s what our main movements will look like:
 There is a concept in exercise physiology known as Strength Deficit. Which is the difference between concentric and eccentric strength. We are stronger eccentrically. But if we train with a concentric focus, we can close the gap. And when we decrease the gap between concentric and eccentric strength, our relative strength improves. What is relative strength? Relative strength is the amount of strength to body size, or how strong someone is compared to their size. This reflects a person’s ability to control or move their body through space, a vital trait in all athletics. All else being equal, smaller individuals have higher relative strength. This is why despite both athletes being in great condition, a 145-pound male with an equal absolute strength to a 180-pound male will apply greater relative forces into the ground and be able to sprint much faster . The transition time between concentric and eccentric is also important. It impacts the force we can develop. A faster change from eccentric to concentric yields a higher rate of force development. A more robust eccentric ability means you can generate higher concentric outputs. And as we look at strength deficit, a larger deficit means we will generate more power and be able to endure higher loads. You are about 1.5-2 times as strong eccentrically compared to concentrically. People reach their ceiling concentrically rather quickly. It is a naturally weaker contraction type. At near maximal loads, people can always lower the weight under control but will fail when they try to lift the weight concentrically. A big reason to utilize eccentric training is this: There is still a lot of potential energy to tap into if we shift focus from concentric to eccentric. Plus, by maintaining better positions, there is a decreased potential for injury. We have designed this training block this way because it is more sustainable, smarter, and gets a better ROI over a long-haul, especially those of you grinding through two-a-days for the #kingsistencychallenge.
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Written By; Gerrick King  Let me start this off by saying these 4 reasons aren't the only reasons your training might not be progressing but for me they're the 4 most common issues that I notice.
1: PROGRAMMING AND TRACKING This is the most common I see. Either a person isn't following a training program, they're doing somebody else's program or the wrong program for their goals, they program hop and/or don't track their training. The easiest solution for this is to find a program that's right for your goals, stick to it and track your training. The internet doesn't replace a professional. SOLUTION: GET A TRAINER + PRACTICE CONSISTENCY. 2: DOING TOO MUCH It is rare for me to have a lazy person come on board. Usually the person is busting their ass in the gym 6-7 days a week and frustrated they're not progressing. This lack of progression is often due to a combination of Number 1 and doing too much too soon. Working hard is awesome but it's a long run not a sprint. SOLUTION: TAKE REST DAYS + HAVE PATIENCE. 3 - NO PROGRESSION If we don't challenge the body the body won't change. The body adapts to the training stress put upon it so once it's adapted to that stress unless you challenge it with slightly more during a training phase it will not progress further. The easiest means of progression are to increase weight, sets or reps over the course of a training phase. SOLUTION: UTILIZE PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD. What is "progressive overload?" To increase the demands on the body over time. This is necessary for continuous progression. How can we achieve progressive overload? - Increase Training Volume - Increase Training Intensity - Increase Load Lifted - Increase Training Frequency - Manipulating Tempo/Time Under Tension - Manipulating Rest Periods - Increasing Training Density 4: TECHNIQUE NEEDS WORK Poor technique not only puts you at risk of Injury but it also limits the amount of weight you'll move compared with what you could do with proper technique. Getting this right early on in your training life and constantly refining your skill will make long term progress more likely. With technique you'll also find every lift has a weak link, if you can identify this, strengthen it through accessory work you'll be able to get that stalled lift progressing again. Don't do all the flashy shit you see on instagram. SOLUTION: LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS. Lucky for you, we account for all of these when we program all the workouts at King Strength and Performance! Written By: Jason Saran  Ok. So you decided you need to make some food changes in your life. You want to start a diet, but don’ t have a clue where to begin. You’re lost. Your friends are trying to persuade you on which diet reigns king. There’s also social media, which is saturated with demonizing carbohydrates and glorifying a life full of tupperware packed meals. Sensory overload much. With all these options, how are you supposed to make an informed decision? Let’s first establish a goal. What is it are you trying to accomplish? Is it to be overall healthier? Do you want to lose, gain or maintain your weight? Whether you choose to eat healthy or not, all foods are looked at as an energy source for your body. Let’s call the unit of measure for energy: calories. All foods contain calories. They also contain a code that our body breaks down. We can call those macronutrients or macros for short. Shouldn’t we always be eating healthy? In a perfect world, yes. But that’s not always the case. Let’s say for example you are trying to lose weight. Your body is going to treat 100 calories worth of banana the same as 100 calories worth of a brownie. Both are primarily carbohydrate sources, which can be used as a prime source of fuel for your body. The thing that differentiates the two are micronutrients — small compounds needed in minimum amounts to enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances essential for healthy growth and development. I will address this more at the end of this blog. Sure, including fruits and vegetables into your diet will inevitably bring you health benefits. However, eating clean or healthy does not always correlate with fat or weight loss for that matter. You can choose to incorporate healthy foods into your diet (which is most optimal) but changing your body composition comes down to one bottom line. You must establish what your caloric intake is based on your goals. We know that eating healthier will make you feel better and keep your body running at its best. The old saying, “there can be too much of a good thing” can be applied to dieting. You can eat all the healthy food you want, but without limiting the amounts of food you consume, you will never achieve the goals you have set for yourself. In addition to setting a caloric intake, macronutrients are equally as important when it comes to changing body composition. We must monitor the amount of proteins, carbs, and fats we consume if we are concerned with gaining muscle or losing fat. A gram of protein is equivalent to 4 calories, a gram of carbohydrates is also 4 calories, and a gram of fat is equivalent to 9 . Macronutrients and calories correlate with each other. Each macro has a set purpose. Proteins are the building blocks of your body. They rebuild the muscles you break down when you workout. Carbohydrates are typically the primary source of energy our bodies will use during intense activity. Fats help our bodies regulate our hormonal processes. By manipulating our calories and macronutrients, we can set our “diets” to help us achieve our goals. So how do we figure out what out caloric intake is? Your macros or caloric intake are determined by your physical traits and activity level. There are many free tools such as https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ which can help guide you in the right direction. However, to get the best results, I recommend consulting with a professional (nutritionist/dietician) or using https://www.avatarnutrition.com/ to get a fine tuned, tailored program. After you establish what your caloric intake is, you then have to log and measure your food. This ensures that you will be eating as accurately as possible and getting optimal results. It is a bit of hard work, however this system is the most approximate tool we have. Using a food diary such as myfitnesspal will help you track and journalize your food entries. If you are eating fresh foods — you will inevitably have to weigh them. That’s right, you have to purchase a food scale as well. This sounds like a lot of hard work. I’m not going to lie, it is. I have seen others and even myself get too obsessed with this process. To be honest with you, it is not sustainable forever. With some years of experience doing this, I have tried and used this system to educate myself. I know how to do all of these things intuitively. I am not afraid to eat over or under my macros to enjoy myself. I don’t restrict myself when I eat at restaurants with my friends. I have simply counted my macros for so long, I know what my body needs when I have certain goals. I treated this process like school. I absorbed as much data as possible, so I could then make educated choices for my future. Without going through the process of counting, logging and measuring my foods — I would not be as knowledgeable or know how to diet intuitively. Another issue I would like to bring up before I recap this blog is the idea that you don’t have to eat healthy. I brought up the point that your body will only see food as an energy source. That is true, however if you are not eating healthy, nutritious foods, you are doing your body a disservice. I treat myself like I am an athlete. To perform optimally, I must fuel my body with as much micronutrients as possible. To reiterate, micronutrients are small compounds needed in minimum amounts to enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances essential for healthy growth and development. They are essential for your body to work and function at its absolute best. Don’t deprive yourself just because you want to change the appearance of your body. You can accomplish both — changing your body composition and doing it in a healthy way. If you deprive your body of too many micro and macronutrients, it will not function properly. This is why it is smart to consult with a professional before trying. Let’s recap everything we went over. 1. Get off social media 2. Figure out what your goal is 3. Figure out your caloric intake (macro calculator, professional, etc.) 4. Pay your dues — track, count, understand, eat HEALTHY foods 5. Do it long enough where you can ditch the process 6. Eat intuitively I hope this blog helps you better understand the basics of nutrition. I am not a nutritionist in any sorts, but felt that I should help guide people since I have been through it already. By: Gerrick King  In college, I thought my psychology classes were GPA boosters and I never took them seriously. Who would have thought that the information that I learned from my psychology minor would be so significant in my career.
This blog is for the personal trainers and coaches out there. If you've been in the training game long enough you have probably figured out that every person who trains with you has their own idea on what working out is. As personal trainers, we can't make the mistake of assuming everyone wants what we want. Yes, we know they need to lift weights, eat right, and make better choices around what they do outside of the gym. This however must be applied to the person in a way that they can handle and process. Learn to adapt. Here are a few different types of clients you will see at the gym:
Basically, clients come into the gym or all different reasons and we need to be able to recognize this and give them what they want while we give them what they need. It is more than just a workout. At the end of the day, be nice to everyone no matter what.  This blog is for all the trainers, coaches, and professionals in our field who struggle to find new clients and/or retain the ones you already have. I genuinely hope this helps.
When it comes to training / coaching in any sense, you're going to look at the relationship you have with clients as being the foundation of anything. If that's not something you have, then it's going to be really difficult to convince them to buy into a program, or set whatever standard and expectations you have for them. You have to create a relationship with your clients so they learn to trust you and have clear communication with you. However, that's not always the case. What looks like resistance is often a lack of understanding / clarity. It's really easy to get frustrated with clients for coming in late or not doing things the way you want them to, but again, it comes back to context. I have learned that sometimes you have to not take everything so personally and try to have an open minded perspective. You should try to understand: What scenario are they currently in? Where are they coming from? How was their day outside of the gym? If you can grasp that, then you're likely to do a better job of meeting them in the middle and setting up more realistic expectations. The most important thing when you're trying to create client buy-in is to develop strong relationships. If a training session starts at 5:30PM and you don't get there until 5:25PM and then barely say two words to a client, how can you expect them to trust you or your program? They'll just "yes" you to death without really communicating, and then go away and do what they're already doing. Instead of trying to cram everything into a few minutes a week, I was around clients basically all day, every day. Almost too much, actually definitely too much. You need to actually give a shit. This gave me a good insight into how they were receiving my advice / coaching, what they were doing with it, and if it was actually working. You can be the most knowledgeable trainer out there with degrees and certifications but if you aren't willing to see things through the perspective of your client and get to know them then you're going to be a lousy trainer that no one wants to be around. Respect is a two way street, if you want to get it, then you've got to give it.  As a reminder, we will be flipping our training blocks every 4 weeks. Block #2, Accumulation |
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I the opportunity to work with Gerrick. They were great sessions and I really appreciated how far he pushed me. He clearly had an elevated understanding of muscle anatomy and would always have thoughtful answers to my many questions. I highly recommend Gerrick.
- T. Luke Sherwin, Co-Founder of Casper |
"This place has such a great atmosphere! The owner is top notch and the coaches make you feel comfortable, no matter what level you're at with your fitness. I used to be a bit intimidated to go to gyms and lift weights, but not here. They make you feel at home and I always get a great workout. Everything is clean, bathrooms are nice and they have special workouts, workshops and a physical therapist on staff. Great addition to Cranford, NJ. Highly recommend!"
- CLAUDIA P. |
"Walking into a new gym will always be intimidating to me, but walking into King Strength and Performance made me feel welcomed. I have never been to a gym where everyone actually talked to one another during AND after class. In the past month, I've made some friends with similar fitness goals, and it makes these group classes fun even when my body isn't fully awake at 7am.
This gym truly stands by its slogan "Consistency is King." Taking these fitness classes made it easier for me to get into my workout routine; however, all the daily workouts vary. I have been coming here almost every day, and I definitely feel my overall strength and performance has improved. Gerrick does a great job in acknowledging clients' abilities and caters the workout to their difficulty. He offers countless exercise regressions and progressions for his clients' needs. Also, his confidence in his clients makes it all the worthwhile to do your absolute best during these group classes. I am sure with Gerrick's help, I'll finally achieve my goal of doing a body weight pull-up. I would 100% recommend this place to anyone who is a novice gym-goer and to anyone who wants to shake up their gym routine!" - ALECIS V. |
"Many things about this place keep me coming back. I am a big sucker for amazing customer service and the owner Gerrick gives you just that. From setting up my first appointment- to pushing me to push myself in his classes- it's honestly been such a great experience. I'm not usually a pro-gym person at all- and I usually struggle a lot when it comes to motivating myself in the gym and sticking to it- but this place has helped me to focus on being healthier and more serious about going to the gym. Although most workouts kick my butt- it has not made me feel defeated or above my head as to keep me from going back or feeling out of place. Even the other people in the gym who might be more accustomed to the workouts have been welcoming too! I highly recommend this place for anyone who has fallen off the wagon or who's been looking for a new gym that caters to building the best you."
- MEGAN V. |
"I've been a member of traditional gyms for a while now and can honestly say that switching out and joining King Strength and Performance has been one of the best decisions I've made. It's been about two months since I started training at the gym and I can already see huge leaps in my strength and athletic ability. Not only are the fitness classes themselves A+, but everyone at the gym is so friendly and welcoming. You can really feel the sense of community as soon as you enter the doors and that everyone is pushing each other to be better and stronger in a positive way."
- ALEXA J. |
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