1. Squat Jump
2. Lunge/Split Squat
3. Deck Squat
4. Mountain Climber
5. Kicksit

Squat Jump

If you are just beginning we will just reach for the sky and come up on our tip-toes. If you are ready for more, we are going to focus more on keeping quality form and control during the landing. For advanced practitioners, you are going to increase the depth and height of your jump.

Lunge

Slow Lunge - Stepping Lunge - Lunge Jump Switch

Deck Squat

Slow Deck Squat with Assistance - Smooth Deck Squat - Explosive Deck Squat

Mountain Climber

Slow Stepping - Jumping from Position to Position - Add Speed

Kicksit

Slow and steady - speed it up - as fast as possible!

If you are looking for a fitness program to burn fat and build muscle but you don't have much space to workout, check out Minimum Space Athlete here: https://www.living.fit/minimum-space-athlete-perfect-for-you

By: Aaron Guyett, M.A., B.S., CSCS, TSAC-F, FRAs, FRCms

Education Director and Master Coach of Battle Ropes

Check out...

Jordan Harder is an athlete, coach and sneaker head. He studied Sports Psychology and Pre-Physical Therapy, while playing Lacrosse at Pacific Lutheran University.  

He helps people optimize and transform their life, not just through fitness, but with the mindsets, skill sets, and strategies needed to reach their goals. He is on a mission to show his clients that the only limits we have are the ones we put on ourselves.

Jordan Harder owns Harder Performance. Harder Performance is high-level coaching that will help you transform your fitness.  Harder’s coaching system is more than just a fitness routine...  he works with clients to help improve their mindsets, skillsets, and habits.

Harder Performance IS NOT…

For people thinking  who think they'll get results in a week.

A quick fix.

A cookie cutter training and nutrition program.

A restrictive/all or nothing approach to training and nutrition.

Harder Performance IS...

A proven system...

Director of Education: Andy is a tenured Professor in the Center for Sport Performance at CSU Fullerton. He was born and raised in beautiful Rochester, WA and is a die-hard Seahawks, Huskies, & Mariner fan. RIP Sonics. As a youth, Andy played every sport at his disposal, excelling at Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Track & Field. While not playing, he worked at grocery stores, gas stations, hay fields, blueberry farms, and in the road construction business. It was during this time he discovered Strength & Conditioning. 

Andy took his limited talents to Linfield College to join their Football team and pursue a degree in Exercise Science. While he experienced great success in both (2004 National Championship and 2x Captain and immediate inductee into the "All Ugly" Team), the true reward of this time was the meeting of lifelong friend (Doug Larson). The two fed each other's pursuit of knowledge of human performance and led them to attend the...

A Little Bit From Kelly Matthews

I’m originally from the Boston area but I moved to Austin, Texas this January (I love it!). I grew up a very active kid and ended up focusing on soccer in high school and then went on to play Division 1 at Northeastern University--the third of my siblings to do so. I got my personal training certification shortly after graduating and started my first training job at Equinox Sports Club. I spent almost 7 years with Equinox before making the decision to start my own business. Since then I’ve been working virtually and growing my online business while enjoying lovely Austin, playing futsal, raising a dog and a kitten and swinging lots of kettlebells.

My work has changed so much in the last year! I was training exclusively in-person for a really long time and like many other trainers, I quickly pivoted to virtual training when the pandemic hit. I thought I would hate it, but I actually loved having the ability to still connect...

By: Aaron Guyett, Education Director

How much do you bench?

I can remember this being repeated over and over and over when I was in high school, and there was a good side to this and a bad side to this being such an important thing for many young men...and still is very important for many circles and groups of both men and women.

Excessive movement training is overtraining, whether it is bench press, burpees, kettlebell swings or jumping jacks, especially if you are not incorporating optimum recovery and mobility.

Bench press can add strength, size, and muscle, specifically to your arms, chest and upper body, and there can be great carry over into sports and athletic pursuits. It also can create injury or mobility limitations if not programmed correctly.

We typically recommend dynamic mobility with a warm-up and a more static mobility with your cool down with every workout session. We also recommend doing twice as much pull strength training as your push strength...

Jumping into a workout without some kind of warmup is about as smart as starting your car and then hitting the pedal to the medal. When it comes to warming up there are many ways to give it a go. From some light calisthenics, to steady state cardio, to warm up sets before big lifts, but our favorite is joint mobility training. 

Mobility training through dynamic joint mobility drills or using a more in depth system such as FRC will prepare and lubricate the joints before putting them through the rigors of strength training. 

Mobility drills allow you to assess where your body is at the given time so you have a map to move through. It’s not just about your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. It’s also about your nervous system so putting each joint complex through the ranges you feel comfortable with will allow you to push harder through your session or scale back where you should. 

It’s important to find the capacity that you have so that you...

Dumbbells vs Kettlebells….

This question pops up all the time from well-intentioned, inquisitive trainees to the person trying to downplay the benefits of the kettlebell. The answer is pretty simple; use both. There...article over. However, if you’d like to know a little more why, then keep reading.

Let’s start with the anatomical differences. The most obvious one being that the kettlebell has a handle with the weight at the end. This creates an unbalanced nature to even simple exercises like squats and presses. Since the weight isn’t balanced on both sides like a dumbbell this creates extra tension pulling in one direction that creates a greater need for stability. This is why the first time you grab a kettlebell of the same size of a dumbbell it feels significantly heavier and more awkward. 

This has it’s pros and cons. Pros being that it creates a slightly different training stimulus. The con being that while the bell is in the racked...

Rachel Prairie, NASM-CPT, Reiki, FAI, PPSC, Living.Fit

Anytime Fitness Manager of Exercise Programming

15 years as a fitness professional Rachel loves to help people connect to themselves, each other and the planet in order to get healthy and stay healthy. As Manager of Exercise Programming for Self Esteem Brands – Anytime Fitness, the largest fitness franchise in the world, she trains trainers and provides operations, technology, advocacy and services to make healthy happen for people across the globe. Rachel is an entrepreneur who’s operated Prairie Fitness for over 10 years and runs wellness retreats, localized pop-up fitness classes, and hosts online kettlebell certifications through the Functional Aging Institute.

Watch the FULL 40 minute interview here: https://www.living.fit/products/living-fit-multimedia/categories/1922292/posts/2151302563

Check out more interviews and articles from Marcus Martinez and Aaron Guyett in the blog, or get full versions by...

Pre workout coffee intake can increase fat burning during exercise. BUT before you fill up your cup for your next workout, keep reading because there are a couple important considerations you should pay attention to.

Coffee is an antioxidant and has compounds that are beneficial for your health and reduce the risk of certain diseases.. On top of that, a recent study just came out shedding light on how caffeine intake of 3mg/kg pre exercise can increase fat oxidation during exercise. 

While all of this is great, there are a few individual circumstances where coffee may not be beneficial. For example, caffeine interferes with estrogen metabolism, so if you have high estrogen levels you may need to cut back on the caffeine. You may also need to cut back if you experience anxiousness, jitters or...hate to say it, but if you rely on caffeine to get you going in the morning/throughout the day, it may be a good idea to slowly decrease the amount you’re consuming.

The Kettlebell is a dynamic exercise that will build a stronger, more powerful athlete. With great power comes....you know where I’m going.

The responsibility lies on your shoulders to make sure you make the most from the movement without injuring yourself or your client. Here are three common mistakes that most new trainees make with kettlebell swings and how to fix them.

Mistake #1: Lacking stability in your feet.

Whether you’re swinging from a bilateral stance or performing walking swings, staggered swings, etc. you want to make sure your feet are firmly planted on the ground. As the weight is moving it’s constantly trying to move your center of gravity with it. This is why it’s important to use shoes that are thin enough to create a strong connection between your feet and the floor. Practice rooting your  entire foot and toes into the ground before you do anything ballistic. Feel the connection throughout your lower limbs all the way...