All posts by excelweb

Taking the Guess Work Out of Dieting

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I am a serial dieter. For me, exercise, even intense sweaty butt kicking sore for days exercise is not enough to maintain my desired weight.  Over the past year I gained 10lbs to which I credit stress and a lack of care with my eating.  With summer right around the corner I decided it was time to buckle down and get back to the lifestyle (I say lifestyle and not diet because there is nothing temporary about healthy eating habits) that I know works for me. My goal: lose 15lbs by my birthday.  The cornerstone of my program: Logging!

I have been a calorie logger for years. So much so that I can tell you the calorie count in most foods off the top of my head. I continue to log because it keeps me accountable. Every piece of food that goes in my mouth as a graze through my day is added to my log. This may seem overwhelming to some at first but I have found that there is nothing more motivating and empowering then truly being in control of how and what I eat. Keeping my numbers (calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats) in check makes me feel like I’m running the program rather than being a slave to my diet.

Logging also gives me an opportunity to plan the next days food the night before. I allow myself 1200 calories and try to plan out at least 800 of them before I start my day so that I don’t find myself reaching for something unhealthy because suddenly I’m starving. Planning as such also gives me a little wiggle room every day for that random unintentional snack.  I am three weeks in to my new program and have already lost 8lbs. Im feeling better, more in control and definitely happier with myself. Dieting gets a bad rap; its often associated with deprivation but it doesn’t have to be. Eating better in conjunction with your exercise routine and tracking how, what and when you eat should be empowering and confidence building!  For more information or advice on logging programs see Ilicia at Excel Fitness.

By Ilicia Balaban, CPT

Excel Fitness Welcomes New Trainer: Heather Claflin-Coy

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Heather Claflin-Coy is an experienced fitness professional having been in the industry over seven years.  She graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Exercise Science/Human Performance. After obtaining her degree, Heather worked in the corporate fitness industry which included assisting in managing Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s fitness and wellness program.  During those years in North Carolina, Heather helped in creating a healthier work environment for the employees at BCBS by leading health fairs, incentive programs, and fitness related programs.

Aside from the corporate fitness industry, Heather has coached Conard High Schools varsity cheerleading and gymnastics teams, taught lectures at the University of Hartford, and has had ongoing continuing education in exercise science.

“Do something each day that makes you break a sweat. Find activities that are fun for you and that you will stick to.”

Education and Primary Certification:

  • BS Exercise Science/Human Performance, SCSU, New Haven, CT
  • Internship St. Francis Hospital Cardiac Rehab and Fitness Center, Hartford, CT
  • Current American College of Sports Medicine Health Fitness Instructor
  • American Aerobic and Fitness Association Personal Fitness Trainer

Additional Certifications and Experience:

  • 2009 American College of Sports Medicine continuing education summit, Atlanta, GA
  • 2008 Yoga Essentials online continuing education
  • 2008 Exercise and Obesity home study
  • 2008 Certified Gliding Fitness Instructor2006 Mind Body Fitness online home study
  • 2008 AFAA Personal Fitness Trainer Certification
  • 2005 CPR/AED Certification
  • Experience teaching group exercise classes
    • Kickboxing, Step aerobics, Yoga, Pilates, Sculpting, Bosu
  • Experience teaching health/fitness related lectures

 

 

Relevant Job History:

  • 2005-2010 Corporate Fitness employee, Medifit Corporate Services
  • 2005-2010 Worksite health screener, Health Fitness Corporation
  • 2007 Personal Trainer, Planet Fitness, Shelton, CT
  • Collegiate Soccer player

What are Battle Ropes?

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What are Battle Ropes?

Chris Caruso, CPT 4/10/2012

Battle ropes are heavy duty ropes designed to be lifted and moved with controlled motion. Training with battle ropes develops functional strength, power and endurance.  Battle rope exercises require the whole body to move the rope, which engages the core and increases the heart rate. Implementing rotational movements with the rope stimulates the oblique muscles of the abdomen/core which helps to support our bodies to better perform activities of daily life. This includes housework, driving, bending over, walking as well as sports like golf, baseball, etc…

 

From personal experience, I always had weak wrists which interfered with my workout routines. I found that I was unable to easily do pushups, lift weights like the bench press, or any pressing motions. Determined to fix my predicament, I wanted to find something that would be enjoyable but at the same time challenge my workouts. After researching, I stumbled upon what is known as battling rope. Over the past year I have noticed a significant strength difference in not only my wrists but also my core and stamina. Today, I’m currently using the ropes 2 to 3 times a week in my circuit-training program. I use them to help train for flag football by building endurance and power. If you’re someone who is looking for something fun, different and bold to help build your cardiovascular endurance, strengthen weak bones and shed some body fat, the battling ropes are right for you!

 

 

Core Focus

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Core Focus

Ilicia Balaban ACE C.P.T. 3/21/12

My clients are sick of hearing it: “Use your core, tighten your abs, focus your breathing on contracting your stomach.” Core conditioning continues to be a foundational building block to unlocking true fitness potential. Good fitness is characterized by performance in five areas: aerobic capacity, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. Every single one of these categories and additionally, balance, stability and coordination, is affected by core strength.

Your core in composed of several difference muscles including the rectus abdominus (the pretty muscles that compose a 6-pacK), internal and external oblique’s, transverse abdominus, multifidus and erector spinae (lower back).  Too often in an attempt to achieve a flat stomach, individuals pay extensive attention to the rectus abdominus and obliques while virtually ignoring the other muscles. For sufficient core strength and to reap the benefits of increased balance and stability, equal attention must be given to all core muscles. The transverse abdominus (TVA), often the most overlooked of the core muscles, is arguably the most important with regard to regulating proper form, support and distribution of weight during exercise. Basic crunches and sit-ups do not work the TVA to the extent that a plank or full abdominal extension and contraction (like on a BOSU or Stability Ball) does.  For example try a single leg plank or BOSU single leg rotational crunch.  Additional attention must also be given to the muscles of the lower back as they work in to promote stability and provide support in a balanced training regimen.

The best part about abdominal strength training is that most any exercise can be become a core focused movement with a little modification. First and foremost, remember to engage your core upon lifting any weight, regardless of difficulty, direction or momentum. Bracing ones core means contracting the abdominal muscles much in the same way you would contract any other muscle, your bicep for example. Bracing DOES NOT mean sucking your gut in. You should be able to breathe normally with your abs contracted. Then add a balance challenge. Performing a simple movement like a bicep curl or overhead press on one foot or on a BOSU ball will add inherent core dynamic. Spending a little extra time and focus on training your core muscles both in the gym and throughout daily activities will promote increased balance, coordination, and build a stronger foundation from which other aspects strength, endurance and cardiovascular training will prosper. For more information on adding core training exercises to your workout please see one of our experienced trainers.

HYPE Tons of Toys

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HYPE Tons of Toys

Jeff Roux B.S. Exercise Science 12/20/11

On Wednesday, December 14, HYPE (Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs) held its annual Tons of Toys event at the Gershon Fox Ball Room at 960 Main.  Nearly 300 people attended the event and HYPE collected 1,410 toys, topping last year’s count of 950 toys collected.  Excel Fitness’ Co-Owners Shawn O’Brien and Jeff Roux were present to donate  over 50 toys they collected at their personal fitness center. Mr. O’Brien stated, “It’s great that over 1400 local kids will have smiles this Christmas.”  “Hosting a toy drive is such a simple thing to do to raise awareness and give back to our community.  We are thankful to be a part of this growing event and to have such generous members and friends who donated,” added Mr. Roux.

All of the toys collected will once again be donated to 96.5 TIC’s We Are the Children.
HYPEsters have been supportive of Tons of Toys since the first event five years ago, and this is Excel Fitness’ second year collecting toys for the community.

Thank you for donating over 50 Toys!

Exercising while injured, my personal story.

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Jeff Roux B.S. Exercise Science 11/23/11

 

I recently and unfortunately suffered a laceration on my dominant hand requiring 9 stitches.  The ER doctor asked me what I do for a living and when I told him he kind of laughed and said, “Well, you won’t be working out for a couple of weeks.”  Little did he know who he was dealing with and what I was capable of trying?  In actuality, I believe that he should have suggested continuing to do lower body exercises and cardiovascular work, ensuring to keep the wound clean and dry, but that is another story in itself.

 

My injured hand

Needless to say within 3 days of the injury I was back in the gym.  I was able to complete a full lower body workout using plate loaded machines, crunches on the ball and two shoulder exercises.  I thought I would still able to palm a shoulder press machine and not affect the stitches and while griping a dumbbell with my left and use my right hand to support and perform a modified DB front raise.  I also ran 2 miles.  2 days after that I returned to do more core, and plate loaded chest machine and used the resistance bands to perform Lat pull downs, back rows, chest fly’s, bicep curls and overhead db triceps extensions.  Through only slight modification in placing the band around my wrist instead of in my palm I was able to complete many of the traditional exercises one would normally complete in the gym.  One week after the injury I was playing tennis with my left hand and actually beat the person I was playing with.  My point is, whatever you’ve hurt there is usually a way to exercise around that injury.  UBE’s (upper body ergo meters, hand bikes) are great for people who have injured their lower body.  The question remains if an injury occurs does this take away from the fact that you still have a health goal?  Are you going to sit at home and wait, or are you going to explore the alternatives?  Everyone knows exercising has positive effects on mood; many people get depressed when they cannot exercise, so why stop exercising?  Find a way, your mind and your body will thank you.

For more information on modifying your exercise program to fit your needs contact the fitness professionals at Excel Fitness, you’ll be glad you did.

My Vision Problems and Sight Loss – My True Story

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My Vision Problems and Sight Loss – My True Story

By: Shawn O’Brien

It was a regular day two months ago, I was having a cup of coffee watching sports center like any other day and something wasn’t right.  I told my girlfriend I was having vision problems.   She suggested, what I described as blurry vision with small black dots forming, might be a migraine.  I did some research and found a few different types of migraines, some of which cause headaches and some don’t.  There were certainly auras and distortions to my vision and wouldn’t you know it, the vision was worse the next day.

I called my eye doctor (who my Lasik surgery years ago) and made an appointment for a few days later.  Let’s remember it has only been a few days from my onset of symptoms to my appointment.  You shouldn’t mess around with your health.  The exam was going as usual, until the eye doctor paused, looked confused and then said he needed to confer with a specialist.  He came back immediately and scheduled an appointment with a retinal specialist later that afternoon. The undertone of this discussion were immediacy and emergency.

I came back to the retinal specialist and after taking a super magnified looked at my retina he asks, how am I feeling?, do i have a fever?, have I been sick?  Well the answer to all of those questions was NO.  He diagnoses my vision problem as Posterior Uveitis.  Uveitis is an inflammation of the inside of the eye, specifically the layer of the eye called the uvea.  Usually caused by some type of infection, but since I have been feeling fine, it would be the unusual or rare type (the kind on “House” the TV show).  The good news is, I don’t have any bacterial or viral infection, it is idiopathic, meaning I will never know what caused my retina to get inflamed.

By this time my vision is worse and the aura and spots are becoming more of a distortion.  I am very worried about this and so was everyone else.  Since there was no infection, TREATMENT: massive amounts of Prednisone.  This stuff made me crazy on some days and other days I was exhausted.

In conclusion, I have been to the doctor over 10 times in the last two months, chest x-rays, full blood panels, eye photos, Prednisone and some positive thinking and the eyes are getting better.  90% better, but may have some permanent scar tissue.  I only have one little blurry spot left in my vision and feel much better off the Prednisone.  Thinking back to the day I was noticing my vision not being 100% I never really put off the doctor.  I made an appointment and had it looked at almost immediately.  The healing to both eyes is going well as of the photos today, but imagine if I had waited.  I could have had some permanent vision loss.

The doctors were great, my family was helpful and supportive and my girlfriend was a rock.  Thank you all.

Be sure to visit your eye doctor and physician regularly and if you don’t feel well don’t put it off!!!

Excel Fitness Achieves Fund Raising Goal for Cancer Research, AGAIN!

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Excel Fitness Raises Money for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 

By: Shawn M. O’Brien, Co-Owner of Excel Fitness

 

Making Strides Success TEAM EXCEL 2011
Making Strides Success TEAM EXCEL 2011

If you haven’t heard of Excel Fitness in West Hartford, CT, we don’t blame you; we are a small, but award winning fitness center with close ties to the local community.  Excel Fitness, which opened in 2007, has two owners, Jeff Roux and Shawn O’Brien, along with a great mixture of 5 to 10 full and part time employees.  In these four years, we have seen some of the worst economic times, the home financing debacle and a variety of worldwide national disasters and during this time we have committed ourselves to our local community with clothing drives, school supply drives and food drives.  Although, we have a deep rooted commitment to the local community, our dedication and effort is even greater during The American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” our only true dollar raising event.

Excel Fitness got involved in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in 2009 and at that time we raised over $4100 and Mr. O’Brien became a Pacesetter (one who raises $2000 or more) for The American Cancer Society.  We felt very proud of this effort and thought it would be a great thing for the business and our staff to continue this in 2010.  During the months to follow our event, Mr. O’Brien’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, her treatment and double mastectomy was successful.  She is now in remission.

The year quickly passes and Excel Fitness gets a jump start on the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event for October of 2010.  We attended the kickoff breakfast and got emails out early, while Mr. Roux and Mr. O’Brien pledged to paint themselves in pink body paint if they hit their aggressive goal of $7000.   We hit goal again and yes we looked fabulous in pink body paint running outside in Bushnell Park in Hartford, CT at 9am.  Team Excel Fitness hit this goal and WE were more than happy to celebrate with some fun at an event dedicated to saving lives.   At this point we had raised $11,100 for cancer research and as a team, Excel Fitness finished in the top 3 for companies and Mr. O’Brien, a Pacesetter again, was in the top 3 for participants in total fund raising dollars.

 

 

In the months to follow Mr. O’Brien’s father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of 2010 and died weeks later.  The events while tragic only recommitted Shawn’s efforts to find a cure for ALL cancers.  Welcome 2011’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Kickoff Breakfast and Mr. O’Brien is now a keynote speaker for “How to Fund Raise” at the event.  With his wonderful and supportive girlfriend, Holland, accompanying him, he spoke about the emotional drive behind committing to this cause and the deep emotions of not only survival from cancer, but loss from cancer.  He gave the very emotional “How to Fund Raise” speech with not a dry eye in the audience of a few hundred people.

Excel Fitness was deep in the fund raising protocol for 2011’s event.  Excel Fitness had a wine tasting  event sponsored by Wine Cellars4 in Farmington, CT and massages from Nurturing Hands in West Hartford, CT along with numerous raffle prizes and a door charge.  2011’s efforts were the most successful fund raising thus far.  We hit $8141.  Mr. Roux and Mr. O’Brien are both Pacesetters, Excel Fitness #2 as a company and Mr. O’Brien was #2 as a participant.  Our goal of $8000 was hit on the last day of fund raising and all because we have a great team, wonderful friends, supportive family and most of all passion for this cause.  Now finishing our third year raising money for The American Cancer Society we have raised over $19,000.

Excel Fitness may be a small business, but we have a large impact on our clients and community.

www.excelfitnessct.com

Excel Fitness Trainer – Matt Knight – Finishes Hartford Marathon

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Marathon Follow Up

by:

Matthew Knight, B.S, CSCS

Excel Fitness Personal Trainer

Matt Finishes Hartford Marathon
Matt Knight Finishes Hartford Marathon

Recently, I just finished my first marathon and I am very pleased with my results.  I finished the 26.2 mile run in 3:40:55 which placed me 458 out of 2,314 people.  I was able to maintain a 7:49 mile pace thru the first 13 miles then miles 13-20 my pace dropped to 8:10 per mile and thru the last 6 miles my pace dropped to 8:27 per mile.

The run was very difficult; I experienced bad chafing about half way during the run so ended up just losing my shirt.  But the hardest part of the run was definitely the muscle cramping.  Throughout the last 3 miles I had to battle thru severe muscle cramping in my hamstrings which definitely showed in my results.  Around mile 16 and then again around mile 22 I took a sport  gel packet which gave me some carbohydrates and replenished some electrolytes, also threw out the run I tried to drink water to prevent dehydration.

Overall I had a great experience training and running the Hartford Marathon.  Now that the race is over my body is very sore, not just my lower body but my shoulders, biceps and back too.  A goal of mine would be to eventually qualify for the Boston Marathon.  In the future I plan to keep on running and improving on my results.

To see my results and an online video of myself crossing the finish line follow the link below…

http://www.ctnow.com/about/hartford-marathon/results/

 

Get your Two-Week Guest Pass and Free Personal Training Session to Excel Fitness

Another Endoresment for Shawn O’Brien and Excel Fitness

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Another Endorsement for Shawn O’Brien and Excel Fitness

by Martha Price Miss Hartford County 2011

 

I had the pleasure of working with Shawn O’Brien at Excel Fitness in preparation to compete in the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Pageant.  He helped me reach my goals of slimming down, toning up, and most importantly, living a healthy lifestyle.  After several personal training sessions, Shawn has provided me with a wealth of knowledge about health and fitness which I am sure to use for the rest of my life.

One of the most valuable things that Shawn taught me was how to challenge my body using a variety of equipment and techniques.  He tailored my workouts to accommodate the equipment I had at my school’s gym.  Before working with Shawn, I usually played it safe by containing my workouts to the treadmill, elliptical, and stretching area.  Now, I’m confident and comfortable using every piece of equipment, lifting weights in the weight-room, and lunging across the room with 10 lb dumbbells. Needless to say, I am now much better equipped to stay in shape.  Since I typically travel to Connecticut on the weekends, I was wary about not being able to keep up my workout regimen at home.  Shawn provided numerous creative alternatives to maintain my workouts using the limited equipment I possessed.  The variety of exercises I learned was not only effective, but it also made my workouts interesting and continuously challenging.  From this experience, I have taken away a wealth of knowledge about how to get fit no matter where I am or what equipment I have.

Martha Price - Miss CT Top 10
Martha Price - Miss CT Top 10

Before I started working with Shawn, I assumed that his role would simply be to help me get in shape.  After our first session, I knew that Shawn was more than a personal trainer.  His genuine words of encouragement helped me not only persevere through challenging workouts, but also through the stress and pressure of competing in a pageant.  Shawn constantly reminded me to stay positive and keep working hard to achieve my goals.  His optimism is contagious, and made me feel as if I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

I am very blessed to have had Shawn on my support team as I prepared for the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Pageant.  I took the stage feeling confident, healthy, and focused.  With Shawn’s help, I was a top 10 finalist.  I am excited to continue using the knowledge that I have gained from working with Shawn not only in preparation for future pageants, but also in my everyday life.

Forever Grateful,

Martha Price, Miss Hartford County 2011

 

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