C19H28O2

What is this molecule and why is it important in exercise?  Or, better yet, why is it important to know it's effects?

This is testosterone.

Testosterone is one of the most critical hormones in muscular development and often is overlooked for other things.

My focus with testosterone is not in the anabolic (growth) nature that it provides, but on the effect that it has upon the nervous system.  When bound to a nerve in some way, it increases the Action Potential frequency (action potential is essentially an impulse down the nerve).  When you increase the firing frequency, you typically increase the muscle recruited to perform a task.

When you increase the muscle used to do something, you ultimately increase it's size, strength, and it's power.  It's basically a cascade of events that lead into the ultimate desired goal.  In this case, starting with a hormone and ending with the targeted goal.

Increasing free testosterone is very difficult, more for women than in men, but nevertheless difficult.  A simple way of going about it is to commit to a long-term training plan that over time will increase it some, but depending on the person it could be in large magnitude or in small.

So ultimately, by increasing free testosterone in your body, you'll have the training effect that you likely desire.  Which usually is increased muscle size, strength, and speed, improved fat-burning capabilities, and ultimately a body that you can be proud of.  

Inspiration, one video at a time

On Monday, I was able to get a live stream of one of my workouts done on Facebook.  This workout was something I had thought about for awhile and it all played out well on camera.  Some things to note with the live stream:

1.  There is some idle time, depending on what's going on and my audience, you may see me texting or whatever during that idle time.
2.  I have to move the camera.  Not all of the equipment is located in one spot, such as a squat rack or a pull-up bar.
3.  I'm still learning how to better use live video.  This was my first time on camera in this way, and while it was successful (in my eyes) I'm still working on my comfort level in opening up.
4.  Camera angles are completely based off of what equipment is available.  I at some points had my tablet propped up against a bench or a bucket of chalk.  Just being opportunistic.

I'm going to try and live stream as much as I can.  Because I usually train in a commercial setting, I do need to be careful and mindful of my surroundings so that no one inadvertently get's caught on camera without prior knowledge.  I did have this happen the other day, but I believe you couldn't get much of a view of him.

I hope that you'll tune in frequently and hopefully are inspired by my workouts.  To finally break down what I did the other day it was as follows:

Squats
Pull-ups
Romanian Deadlifts
Banded Push-ups
Battle Ropes

Nothing crazy (maybe?), but I felt good doing it and it was really good to get back in action after a hiatus.  I'll keep posting more frequently regarding my schedule of workouts.  In the meantime, tune into my Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/martinhubnerfitness/

A glimpse inside....

I decided on our drive home from the beach that I'll attempt a live-stream of my workouts.  I'm going to start out with Facebook but depending on how that goes, I may attempt with YouTube and/or Instagram.

My decision to do this is to show what I do and what I can do to motivate you.  For this upcoming week, I'll be only using Facebook and thus I have to tell you where to view.

So, to view the live stream please join my facebook group at this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/martinhubnerfitness/

I'll be keeping it public for the time being until it grows  enough to justify turning it private.  Once you decide you want to join, I ask that you look around at your friends list and see if any of them would be interested.

My plan is to go live around noon today, but they'll vary each and every day depending on my schedule.

I look forward to your watching.  

When I get back..

Today is the final day I'm at the beach, and as you may have noticed that I didn't go ahead and post on Wednesday.  It's not because I didn't want to, but this vacation is definitely some time to spend with my family, who during a normal work week do not get the attention that I'd like to give them.

I'll be on a new/old front when I get back to work.  The war on the dad-bod will continue, as it was under a ceasefire while I was here at the beach.  As much as I wanted to, and as well intentioned as I was, maintaining caloric balance, amongst many other things was next to impossible while here.

My initial goal when I return is to get back into a somewhat normal workout schedule.  Prior to my vacation it was erratic at best.  Primarily because of the increase in work schedule that happened about 3 weeks earlier.  Another factor that limited my exercise was my right foot.  Running was next to impossible as was many other exercises and lifts that I was hoping to perform.  It still hurts, but much less than it was before.

I'm still trying to hit the cardio hard, as when winter comes, it becomes less and less.  However this is that time of year that I do prefer to lift over cardio.  So I may work on something that integrates both.  I'm not exactly sure of some of my goals, but I do know that this dad bod needs to be chiseled out.

I'll also work on getting back to logging in my food on myfitnesspal.  I find that it's much better if I do it regularly and I'm less likely to do something stupid in the process.  What I love about the program is that if I"m still under on calories, I can have my kryptonite....oreos.

That's the plan for when I get back.  The #fightthefluffy continues.....

How to vacay....

I'm in a condo at N. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Today was a "chill" day of which my wife and I went out to gather some groceries and coffee (she's a Pumpkin Spice Latte junkie, I'm a nitro cold-brew junkie).  Between waking up and now, I've been working on some homework to get ahead of the curve.  Though, we did spend several hours on the beach and in the pool.

Nutritionally, I drank plenty of coffee (as usual!) and had a sandwich for lunch with some grapes.  Nothing crazy, nothing fried.  What I attribute to this success, or at least maintenance, is the lack of an "official" breakfast.  While some say that it's the most important meal of the day, I've concluded that it may be the most important for some, but not for others, myself included.

I'm not going to say that I'll be innocent while I'm here.  That's far from the truth.  While I acknowledge that many trainers and nutritionists would eat "clean" many others wouldn't.  We only take this week-long vacation once per year and thus I'll eat what I decide I want to eat, and drink what I want to drink (especially on the beach).

Ways that I do try to avoid what I deem unnecessary calories are to order a salad instead of fries, to drink diet or light instead of full, and to keep it grilled (when necessary) instead of fried.  Fitness-wise, I'm taking the week off to rest and recover from some injuries that I've sustained in the last few months, specifically my left knee, right foot, and lately my right hand.  Fortunately, I have some homework that I need to work on and that gives me a good reason to be "lazy."

We'll spend the week mostly lounging around the beach, playing in the ocean and pool, and going to various sites around Myrtle Beach and N. Myrtle Beach.  I'll still be posting, but it may be less frequent than normal.  Stay tuned......

How to be better....

Next week's my vacation.  It's long overdue and I'm very excited about it.  In any case, I'll be setting the stage for some new series' here on my blog.

Most of this upcoming series will definitely be self improvement, especially for those that battle the parent bod.  I'll discuss some tricks and tips that you can use while navigating the mine field that is parenting.  

Some of it will be nutritional, some fitness, and some just on how to relieve stress and get some much needed relaxation.  

I figure I've had practice in this whole thing, as I do have 3 kids.  

Anyway,  stay tuned for more.......

Adapt and Overcome

As I had posted a few weeks ago, I have a foot that's pretty banged up.  This also doesn't include the opposite knee that's a little upset with me overall.  So with that, I've had to adapt my workouts so that I didn't feel broken or anything after I finished with my workout.

Some things don't hurt when I do them.  Prior to the foot injury, I was able to do barbell lunges fairly well (check it out on instagram!).  I had a difficulty with squatting due to my knee hurting and being a general pain in the ass for the span of a couple of days after.  Now, lunges hurt because of the angle that my foot is in while I perform the lunges and squats so far don't seem to be too bad.

Running is also something that I can't do for the time being.  I was really enjoying going out for runs, as it was relaxing.  Now, the impact hurts and forces my foot to throb for awhile.  So I can do things like the elliptical, which honestly is boring for me, or what I did the other day and would seriously consider again was to hit a heavy bag while I listened to some music (for the duration of the music) and then find a song that had a good rhythm and used the battling ropes.

With this, I ended up doing about 20 min of bag work and nearly 5 min straight on the ropes, which if you've ever done them you know is hard.

This is how I've had to adapt my workouts to still get what I need but without compromising my injury.  My sparring has diminished significantly due to this and it's sad, because that's where I can get some of my stress out.  But, after my vacation next week, all things should be back to normal.  

What is fitness?

This wasn't my original post, that was for whatever reason not saved.  But i was thinking about what fitness means to each and every one of you?  Not all defititions are created equal, but according to the dictionary:

1.  The condition of being physically fit (like no shit right?)
2.  The quality of being suitable to fulfill a a particular role or task.
3.  An organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

For the most part, while not equal, our own unique definitions may fall into line with one or more of these.

My own view on what fitness is is that it's a condition of your body to meet the demands that it is regularly asked of.  So for my case it's being on my feet all day, showing how to do different things such as lift weights, stretch, or various cardio machines, it's to be able to play with my kids, and finally it's to knock some of that "honey-do" list out.

So what does fitness mean to you?  Why do you engage in fitness?  To what end is the purpose of your planning, training, and dedication?

Stress management or life's punch in the face?

As I write this, I'm sitting on my bed trying to "multi-task."  I'm also working on some Finance homework for the MBA that I'm pursuing.  I bring this up because it's only part of the iceberg that is our life (my wife and I's).

My day, especially when doing school work, begins at 5 with an important cup of coffee (or pot of it).  I'm usually doing some school work, grading my students (more on that in a minute), working on workout plans, or just writing this blog.  I am usually to work around 7 to begin training the moment I arrive.  My day is often broken up between training, exerci
se classes, classes at the University, and every so often a meeting.

I teach four classes, identical, at the local university (keeping the name silent here).  They are all health & fitness related and I have about 80-100 students combined.  Fortunately, this is something that I've been doing for quite some time.  I usually change something up each semester because I want to be effective for my students, not boring, and want them to learn something.  There's a fair amount of outside the class preparation time associated with this, so this adds to the iceberg.

I train about 25-35 hours per week, to include any classes that I teach (usually boxing).  Most of the time, this is the fun part of my day.  Every so often my body, my focus, and even sometimes my emotions become involved with each person or each hour.

To top this all off, my day doesn't end with work.  Three kids and a wife are also part of my life.  Make no mistake, most of what I do is for them.  This usually results in me being exhausted half of the time, but in the end if they're happy and healthy because of what I do, it's worth it.

My exercise at this point is usually really quick, no longer any of the 6 mile runs that I had over the summer; though as I write this, one of my toes is likely broken, which makes exercise much more challenging.  I try to get about 3 hours a week of my own workouts, not to include the exercise that I have the privilege of "piggybacking" on mostly in boxing/kickboxing.

My stress isn't actually very high.  While this almost seems overwhelming, it has it's moments of where it is and where it isn't.  Usually, the first week of any major change, like last week, involves a mountain of stress upon my shoulders.  Afterwards, it's generally pretty easy and manageable, thanks to a good battle rhythm.

I also always revert back to times in my life where I was in worse circumstances, mostly while in the Marine Corps.  And nothing at this point is that difficult or demeaning.

Find the outlet for your stress, and keep the iceberg afloat.  Fail to do this and you'll plunge into the dark waters of stress.

I get by with a little help from my friends!

If you've noticed what I've been doing lately, it's really pushing my Instagram and Facebook Group.  With that, my request to you all, my friends, and many others who read these posts regularly is that if you can start using certain hashtags when you work out or prep nutritional meals.

The main ones that I've been using are as follows:

#dadbod

#mombod

#destroythedadbod

#destroythemombod

#fightthefluffy

#freethefluffy

#christfitness

I like these because it really exemplifies what I do on a regular basis, and that is to fight the dad bod.  Obviously your videos won't be long, but by using these, we can create a movement to better fight the parenting bods that we've been granted as a consequence of parenting.  We don't need the parenting bods, we need our bods.  Our kids, while I love them, do not define my body as a "dad bod."

I know that sometimes we do it to ourselves, eating chicken nuggets and mac & cheese because it's the easier meal to prepare for the screaming demons we've spawned into the world.  We also finish our kids meals for them so we don't waste food.  Our exercise consists of going up and down the stairs a hundred times because they want water, or a hug, or to be tucked in, or whatever.  Our parenting bods are a testament to our dedication to our kids, but they are not to be enshrined, they are meant for battle.

Friends, please use the hashtags often.  Share your stories so that we may support each other in our quest to destroy the dad bod.  

Realizing what you're good at

What are you good at?  Not just in fitness, health, nutrition, or whatever....but in life.

While we may never admit to what we're actually good at, it's important to acknowledge it so that we may better ourselves and those around us.

I perceive myself to be a good coach.  To inspire others.  To have people do things that they wouldn't normally do.

I perceive myself to be a good parent.  This is a challenge unlike any other in that the actions and decisions that I make now can impact my children's future.

I perceive myself to be a good husband to my wife.  I love her and she makes me a better man.

Finally, I perceive myself to be a good friend.  This is one of the most important qualities that I believe that I have.  I believe in loyalty and dedication to your friends so that they better you and you better them.

We aren't here to go through the motions of life and not be impactful.  We are here to make a difference in another's life.  Each of us, regardless of how big or how small we are have an impact on another.

Go out and be amazing!