What workout routine is best for your core muscles on a daily basis?

What workout routine is best for your core muscles on a daily basis?

A strong and defined core not only looks great but also plays a vital role in overall strength and stability. Atlas Performance Training is excited to present a 6-week core and abdominal training program designed to help you achieve a chiseled midsection while maintaining a balanced and nutritious diet.

Read More
What’s the hardest part of getting fit?

What’s the hardest part of getting fit?

Are you ready to embark on a 90-day journey that will transform your body, boost your fitness level, and elevate your overall health? Atlas Performance Training presents a comprehensive program designed to help you become the hero of your fitness story. This program combines strength/resistance training with cardio sessions for a balanced and effective approach.

Read More
Maintaining a 20-25 Pound Fat Loss: The Role of Consistent Strength Training"

Maintaining a 20-25 Pound Fat Loss: The Role of Consistent Strength Training"

Losing 20-25 pounds of body fat is an incredible accomplishment, but the real challenge lies in maintaining that hard-earned weight loss over the long term. Many individuals find it difficult to sustain their progress without making drastic changes to their diets, often leading to the frustrating cycle of yo-yo dieting. In this blog post, we will explore how a consistent strength training routine can be the key to maintaining significant fat loss without the need for drastic dietary alterations. Let's delve into the problem, its impact on health and performance, and the detailed solution we offer through our Atlas Performance Training (AP Excel) Personal Training Program.

The Problem:

Read More
Maintaining Your Health at an Older Age

Maintaining Your Health at an Older Age

As you’ve grown older, you may have noticed that things don't feel the same as they used to. You might not have as much energy, and you might want to change things in your life that don’t benefit you anymore. Don't worry; there are several ways to reinvigorate your health and improve your mood….

Read More
The New and Old Smarter Cardio Training of the 21st Century....

The New and Old Smarter Cardio Training of the 21st Century....

The goal of any training program should be to develop these energy systems and “train” them to produce the energy in an efficient manner during practice and competition so that energy is readily available to the muscles during physical activity. All three energy systems are interdependent of each other, but in most situations, one energy system or a combination of two of the three is required to make things happen. This goes into the concept of performance-specific training and how to create training programs that are designed specifically to produce improvements in muscular endurance, cardiovascular fitness, and improvements in speed and power of the individual….

Read More
Goal Setting: Create your outcome

Goal Setting: Create your outcome

This is something that we all use to give our wants and dreams a destination. I first learned about goal setting was my sophomore year in high school during a black student union meeting. Todd Lyght from the University of Notre Dame was invited to speak to us about his experience and to give us some tips and advice on how to set yourself up for success. The steps that he used were simple and straight to the point. At the time Notre Dame was the top college football organization in the country. One of the first topics he covered was goal setting and his system for setting his goals. Being a guy who loves examining systems and processes this was right up my alley!

Read More
The Butt and Gut Connection: The Top 5 Core Exercises

The Butt and Gut Connection: The Top 5 Core Exercises

What are the known and some not commonly known benefits of strong Core muscles?

When we see someone with a six-pack we automatically associate that with strength, and while improving the tone and the look of the muscles has its benefits, you can’t ignore that the function of the core muscles is to stabilize the center of the body during movement.

Some of the benefits of having strong core muscles are:…

Read More
3 Tips To Help you lose that last 20 lbs

3 Tips To Help you lose that last 20 lbs

This is a basic form of calorie restriction. Although there are several different versions of intermittent fasting, they all have the same fundamental rule; No Food or drink with a caloric value are to be consumed during the fast….

This is tried and true way to increase your energy expenditure to 525-625cal of energy per day. This could possibly help you hit that 1 lb- 1.5 lb fat loss per week. However, the 1# rule to remember is that you can not train yourself out of a bad or inconsistent nutrition/diet routine…

This is a more holistic way of planning out your weight loss program, and in my opinion, this should be the first method you should try to lose unwanted fat….

Read More
Build a Stronger Kid: Lift and Learn

Build a Stronger Kid: Lift and Learn

There is an age old question that goes back as far as I can remember, I tried to find out where or who came up with this myth and google failed to give me the definitive answer. But that is not important, what is important is that we are going to look at the benefits of learning to lift by briefly looking at the process of LEARNING to lift weights, which is based on two important principles. The first principle is developing the young person’s Relative muscular strength, which learning to perform basic bodyweight movements like a push-up, bodyweight squat, and lunge Pull-Ups, etc. with proper form and body control. In developing youth strength training programs for beginners exercises should in my opinion be limited to the use of specific types of resistance equipment like dumbbells, rubber bands, and tubes, with minimal intensity (lightweight) after they have learned how to properly execute the basic exercises that improve their Relative muscular strength. Developing relative strength varies and depends on the commitment of the individual youth, and their parents. After a solid foundation of relative strength has been developed, start developing their Absolute muscular Strength. This is when Free weights and resistance machines are added to the training program, examples of Free weight movements are……

Read More
High-Intensity Interval Training

High-Intensity Interval Training

What is the AP HIIT method? Well, it is a training method that I turned into a small group training class in 2015 when I was finishing my bachelor's degree in Fitness and wellness. The concept was developed from a boot camp and a small group training sessions that I ran at the second gym I worked at when I first started. Most boot camps use just body weight for resistance and are really heavy cardio training (at least from the ones that I have attended and or seen) I wanted to include resistance training exercises within the session along with heavy to medium cardio, and core training. One of the main areas that I wanted to focus on was limiting injury but maintaining a medium-high heart rate and allowing the individual to focus on the movement first and not have to focus on counting reps. Here is an example of a training session………

Read More
High Brain Mileage

High Brain Mileage

I hate running but I like finishing a run. My relationship with running is complicated, and it started when I was a chubby kid in northern Indiana around the age of 13. I was in the 7th grade and it was my first year playing tackle football or really any football for that matter. I was close to 160-170 lbs and the PE coach talked to me about trying out so I signed up having no idea that the amount of running that would be required because if I did I would have taken a pass and probably been on another totally different path….

Read More
Is your success Too expensive?

Is your success Too expensive?

Over the last year, my goals have been good but that was not great! And so went my effort, it was good on a great day and ok on a good day; which equals average. As I prepare for the mid-year and as I look forward I will make my goals larger than my current life, this is scary but I need this more than anything. I don’t like being comfortable but it’s easy to be comfortable. I DON’T NEED IT EASY! As an athlete, I truly loved everything thing about playing sports but there were days that I did not like the preparation, the long hours watching game film, and even sometimes lifting weights (and anyone who knows me knows how much I love lifting weights).

Read More
Energy System Development Series

Energy System Development Series

Lifting heavy weights to become stronger is one of the most popular reasons to lift weights. But the combination of using various weightlifting principles and program variations to improve muscular Hypertrophy (increase in muscular tone and size) is even more effective and fun. Lifting to increase muscular size helps individuals improve not only their physical appearance but also their physical performance. One of the factors that are important is the use of set and rep manipulation. This means programming different sequences sets and reps to increase the stress applied to the muscles that are being trained and. In theory, the number of sets should be about 2-4 sets and the reps should be 8-12 reps using 65%-85% of the maximum weight you can lift for 1 rep for that exercise to achieve hypertrophy. One other important factor is limiting your rest in between sets to less than 1 minute. This limit in the recovery time will increase the stress on your muscles which increases the growth response your muscles have during the recovery process. THE MAGIC HAPPENS IN THE RECOVERY!   

Read More
Six Proven ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Six Proven ways to Boost Your Metabolism

These are just a few suggestions on how to increase your body’s ability to burn calories more efficiently and help you maintain your healthy body weight.

Read More
What is Your WHY?

What is Your WHY?

My "Why" is and always has been to help and serve people. That is one of the reasons I love team sports, it gave me the opportunity to be a part of a team and be a part of a collective unit. I never really paid attention or put a high value on my individual stats, my main goal was to be the best team player I could be and do whatever it took to win....

Read More
YOU CAN'T BE SOFT YOUR WHOLE LIFE

YOU CAN'T BE SOFT YOUR WHOLE LIFE

Every time I got the chance to go in there on my weekend visits I would try "lift" weights (was lucky I didn't lose a toe). Then my dad moved to Chicago and my lifting weight days were over as far I knew it.

Fast forward to 1988 my sophomore year of High School after football season I meet a 5'10 280 lb Italian guy named Raul Denotti, he was a bodybuilder and part-time volunteer football coach. It was in the weight room talking and "working out" which was basically doing curls and triceps cable extensions in between sets of talking…..

Read More
Energy System Development Series

Energy System Development Series

Just a brief overview of what Energy Systems Development training is by definition is training specific energy system to produce the desired training effect that is specific to the goals of the training program. There are there main energy systems that the body taps into to acquire the energy to perform tasks depending on the duration and the intensity of the task. Here is a brief description of the three energy systems……

Read More
Energy System Development Series

Energy System Development Series

Whether you are a high school athlete looking to gain an edge on the competition in your offseason/preseason training program or a weekend warrior training in your spare time for an obstacle race, marathon, or an adult athletic league, or trying to lose those last 10 - 15 lbs of holiday weight, the old way of improving your physical performance and condition has changed. Enter the phrase Energy System development (ESD) training. ESD training should be the foundation of any training plan to improve your performance; it could be the difference between competing at a high level or coming up short in a game. In order for muscles to contract and produce movement ATP (adenosine triphosphate) must be present. The body’s energy system is responsible for converting ATP to a usable form of energy called ADP (adenosine diphosphate). ADP can be produced using three energy systems:

Read More
Put the F in F.R.E.A.K and You will E.A.T.

Put the F in F.R.E.A.K and You will E.A.T.

The quality of the fuel you consume is the foundation of who you are. Lets break it down in regards to the three main macro nutrients you consume on a daily bases, which are Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats. Here is a brief description of all three:…….

Read More
Are You a F.R.E.A.K. like me?

Are You a F.R.E.A.K. like me?

We call them a “freak of nature” the individual must be Fast, Strong, and move efficiently. To achieve that level of physical fitness the individual must be a F.R.E.A.K, which stands for F-uel your body, R-ecover, E-ducate yourself, A-ssess your goals, K-eep a routine.

Read More