Jacob Galloway
May/June Sign up dates
Cost: $360 each or $220 each if you bring a friend (applies for 2-3 teens per hour)
Are you looking to give you teen that high school or college advantage to make them the best player possible?
Do you ever worry about your teen’s workout habits?
Is weight training too much for their joints?
Should they be doing that much cardio?
Let our certified personal trainers work with your teen for 60 minutes twice a week giving them proper coaching for lifts, agility training and sports specific movements. Your teen will be given a written manual which emphasizes the importance of flexibility, strength training and speed/agility training.
- $360 per teen for 4 weeks of instruction and training.
- $220 per teen if you bring a friend with you (the rate if there are 2-3 teens in each workout)
For more information and to reserve a spot for you youth please contact Fitness Director Jacob Luckey (jluckey@sacdt.com).
Sports Conditioning
Every quarter we ask our corporate partners to submit teams into our Worksite Warrior program. Each team of employees then bands together for a month, working as a collective at their work and the club to lose the largest percentage of weight.
This quarter, Open Market’s team won by losing 21.7 lbs while their competition, All Star Directories, lost 16.6 lbs over the holidays and four week program. Every person on Open Market’s team lost weight with the largest weight loss being ~ 10 lbs. All Star Directories had 2/3 of their teammates lose weight with the largest weight loss being 7.5 lbs.
Congratulations on both teams’ success in both their weight loss and working together as a team to accomplish this feat. If your company would like to compete in our Worksite Warrior program please contact Fitness Director Jacob Galloway for more details.
For more information, please contact our Fitness Director, Jacob Galloway, at jgalloway@sacdt.com.
February Events 2016, RECAP, Sports Conditioning, Strength Training
All Star Directories, Open Market, Worksite Warrior
Please join Seattle Athletic Club in congratulating Kendra Kainz for her 1st place finishes at the 2015 NPC Washington Ironman Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure, Men’s & Women’s Physique and Bikini Championships! This competition is one of the top competitions in the northwest and is well attended with competitors both regionally and nationally. Kendra competed in Figure and took 1st place in the Masters 35 years and older, 1st place in the overall for Masters and 1st place in the open 5’6 height and above. Her 1st place finishes qualified her to compete at the national level for up to one year. Kendra trained hard for over six months dieting, lifting weights and posing. This is her first Figure Competition and she did an outstanding job! Congratulations, Kendra!
SAC Team, Sports Conditioning, Strength Training
bodybuilding, Championships, Figure, fitness, ironman
Most parents know that strength training is an essential component of maximizing their child’s athletic potential but many don’t know when to start said training. When asked this question I like to refer to the ACSM research article that states, “Generally speaking, if children are ready for participation in organized sports or activities — such as Little League baseball, soccer, or gymnastics — then they are ready for some type of strength training.” If you feel your child has the emotional maturity to take part in an organized sport then they are perfectly capable of taking up strength training with a qualified professional.
One concern many have is that strength training will negatively affect bone growth in youth athletes. This is a myth that is taking much too long to go away. There hasn’t been documentation of this actually occurring while there is in fact ample evidence to the contrary. Strength training has been shown to actually increase bone density, peak bone mass and bone strength.
Strength is the only physical attribute that has a direct impact on all other areas of athletic performance and has the highest potential for growth when compared to other qualities such as power and speed. In an article from the Mayo Clinic the author states that when done properly, strength training can:
- Increase your child’s muscle strength and endurance
- Help protect your child’s muscles and joints from sports-related injuries
- Improve your child’s performance in nearly any sport, from dancing and figure skating to football and soccer
- Develop proper techniques that your child can continue to use as he or she grows older
- Strengthen your child’s bones
A properly designed program for a youth athlete must be created and executed by a qualified coach and of course I am partial to myself because of my education, credentials, and experience. Currently my youngest client is a 12 year old basketball/football player whose performance has skyrocketed since he started strength training. I have also worked with the Skyline High School Girls Basketball team, the Bellevue High School Track team, and many individual youth athletes from around the area competing in lacrosse, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and even cheerleading.
I have seen over and over again what strength training can do for a young athlete and have come up with some guidelines that can serve any coach or parent working with young athletes.
General Guidelines for Strength Training Youth Athletes:
1. Master the basics while focusing on proper movement patterns. With young athletes it is best to first master general movement patterns and body weight exercises before moving on to more advanced strength training modalities. Great exercises include: jumping/landing, med-ball throwing, body weight squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and sled pushing/pulling.
2. Use proper loading parameters. Strength training doesn’t always mean loading up a squat bar and going as heavy as possible. As a general rule with young athletes it’s best to stick with body weight exercises or exercises with loads that allow the athlete to complete 8 to 20 repetitions each set. As the athlete advances the intensity of exercises can advance as well.
3. Teach proper force absorption. Learning how to properly land and decelerate will be invaluable in preventing future sports injuries for any athlete. Deceleration is also a crucial factor in agility performance.
4. Don’t specialize too early. Young athletes should build as broad an athletic base as possible in order to maximize athletic potential. Performing only exercises that seem “sport specific” is not an effective way to build an athletic base. While this might make for a good basketball or soccer player now, it will actually do them a disservice for their athletic future. Specializing early is also a great way to burn a kid out on a sport.
5. Make it fun! Strength training should be something that the kids look forward to and enjoy. This is an opportunity to set them up to not only maximize their athletic potential but also create life-long healthy habits. If your kid does not enjoy training they won’t reap maximum benefits and will likely discontinue training at the first opportunity they get.
I started seriously strength training for sports at 15 years old and I only wish I would have started sooner. At that time I started working with a strength coach named Mike Seilo, and I am not exaggerating when I say he changed trajectory of my athletic and eventually my professional career. Strength training with a qualified coach dramatically increased my athletic performance and without Mike I don’t think I would have gone on to compete in track and field at the collegiate level. Outside of improving my sport performance Mike influenced me to become strength coach and work with young athletes. Mike’s influence on me went way beyond sport performance and I can only hope to have the same influence on kids during my career.
Under the right supervision strength training can be a huge benefit to any young athlete. Not only will they improve athletically, they may learn some valuable lessons that serve them inside and outside of the gym as well as develop life-long personal relationships. If you have a child involved in athletics I highly recommend you find a qualified coach and get their strength training career underway.
If you have any questions regarding youth strength training please contact PFT Tom Sheriff CSCS (tsheriff@sacdt.com)
206-443-1111 ext. 292.
Diet & Nutrition, Fitness Advice, Fitness Department, Fitness Programs, Lifestyle, Motivation, Sports Conditioning, Strength Training, Workouts
endurance, programs, sport conditioning, techniques, youth, youth training
If you have taken an interest in your body, or taken steps to learn about it, you may have heard about fascia. Or, you may have heard the term myofascia, the fascia specifically interwoven, supporting, and involved with the muscle tissue. Perhaps a ʻfascial stretchʼ was mentioned before or after your yoga or Pilates class. Chatting with your trainer or physical therapist, you may have heard the word mentioned while he or she explained a specific movement or function of a muscle group.
According to Merrim-Webster, fascia is connective tissue sheet that covers or binds structures of the body. It is a whole network that supports the structure of your body and is throughout, not just on the bottom of your foot where you had that painful plantar fasciitis years ago. Simplified, if you peel an orange, take a look at the matrix of white membrane. In this example, the white membrane is our fascia and the orange is our whole body. All that membrane is providing support for the tiny pockets of juice, then organizes the pockets into segments, then binds the sections, and wraps it up into a sphere.
Because fascia is located throughout every area of your body, it is important to pay attention to this tissue. In areas where this thickening of fascia occurs, such as the iliotibial tract, or IT band, it is essential to keep the tissue movable and adaptable. Sometimes immobile tissue can become uncomfortable or painful. Many athletes find that foam rolling the IT band on the outside of the thigh, gives them relief from knee, hip, and sometimes back discomfort. Rolling a small ball on the bottom of the foot keeps the fascia in a pliable state–reducing the chance that painful plantar fasciitis will return.
This is also one of the many reasons why massage is so helpful in recovery and in general well being. It stretches and mobilizes the fascial tissues of the body, creating a happier you!
To find out more about fascia and how our Massage Team can help you, contact our Massage Director Jessie Jo at jegersett@sacdt.com. To book your next appointment with Ivy, you can do it online as a member or by calling the Club at 206-443-1111.
Fitness Advice, Health News, Massage, Sports Conditioning
discomfort, fascia, helpful, iliotibial tract, IT band, massage, Rolling
Jason does an outstanding job balancing being a husband and a father of two with working early and sometimes working late. He always comes into the club looking for ways to help change one person’s life and make someone’s day better.
Jason Anderson has been a pillar of the fitness department for over 10 years. In those short 10 years he has been able to reach out and affect hundreds of lives within the club. His attention to detail, attentive demeanor and superior knowledge has allowed him to create amazing workouts for so many of our members.
Jason Anderson is a quiet leader within the club who gives so much of his energy to such a wide range of members and departments. He is never too busy to help out a member in need or to mentor a younger fitness staff member to grow into the professional they want to be. We feel very fortunate to have Jason on our team; we know that it is people like him that make our club truly exceptional.
Employee of The Month, Fitness Department, Motivation, Seattle, Sports Conditioning, Squash, Strength Training
Athletic, athletic training, club, exercise, Personal Trainer, Personal Training
What happens when you only have 15 minutes to workout? For the majority of us 15 minutes means nothing happens. A lot of time we get it in our heads that we have to have at least 30, 45, or 60 minutes to get a workout in and anything less wouldn’t be worth the bother. Well as I can report from my own experience and any of my clients that show up late to a session can attest, a whole lot of good stuff can get done in 30 minutes or less.
One great way to making efficient and productive workouts in a very short amount of time is to:
- Move quickly
- Use big muscles
- Use power exercises
- Incorporate full body movements
- Take few rests
One very valuable exercise for any workout but especially for short workouts is the Kettlebell Front Squat. Here’s how it goes…
Grab one kettlebell (for progression use two kettelbells in rack position), hold it tight to your chest with your hands on the low 
part of the handle and maybe slightly on the round part of the bell (see left side picture). With the bell on your upper chest descend down into a deep squat. Getting your thighs below parallel should always be the goal (see right side picture). However, to get to full depth in any squat you need to keep your feet flat, your chest up, your hips under you (not behind you), and to maintain tension in your muscles (not relaxing in the bottom). This is the easiest with weight on the front of your body as the weight counterbalances your backside. So not only is the KB Front Squat great for strength it is also a great exercise to help you understand posture in a full depth squat.
Why is this squat so darned good? Front squats are one of the best ways to increase strength in your quads, which in turn increases stability in your knees. The increase in depth also helps you fire more muscle fibers which will in turn increase your heart rate as well as caloric burn. Using your big muscles means a lot of effort goes into the movement thus increasing the results of strength from the exercise.
Here is a very basic and fun way to incorporate the front squat with a short and effective workout. So the next time you only have 15 minutes to workout there should be no excuses!
- 10 Push-ups
- 10 Kettlebell Front Squats
- 10 Bench Tricep Dips
- 10 Kettlebell Front Squats
- 10 Ab Crunches on the exercise ball
- 10 Kettlebell Front Squats
- 1 Minute “Sprint” on the Elliptical.
Repeat for a total of 3-5 times through.
For more information on effective workouts please contact Adriana Brown at abrown@sacdt.com
Fitness Department, Fitness Programs, Kettlebells, Sports Conditioning, Strength Training
ab crunches, exercise ball, full body, kettlebell, movement, muscles, power exercises, push up, Rest, squats
On December 6th I competed in my second powerlifting meet: The Team Phoinix Holiday Classic. This meet was held in Lake Stevens by my friends of Team Phoinix Powerlifting. This was another great meet that was fun, efficient, and humbling. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the sport of powerlifting I suggest you look up my recap of my first meet where I go into more detail about the sport itself.
It had been about a year since my last competition so I came 15 pounds heavier and confident in my strength gains. I weighed in at 250 pounds so that put me in the 275 pound weight-class as the lightest lifter in the group. I expected this and was fine with it since I have no interest in the dehydration and starvation involved in cutting weight to be in a lower class. The only set-back I experienced heading into this meet was an SI Joint issue I suffered about 10 weeks before the meet. This sidelined my training for about two weeks but I was able to recover from it thanks to the help of Dr. Li. Despite this issue I was confident I would hit my meet goals.
Squat:
During the squat everything went exactly to plan and I ended up setting a PR and hitting my goal of 440 lbs (200kg) with plenty of room to spare. I believe I would have been good for at least 460 lbs that day.
1st Attempt: 365 lbs (easy opener, a weight I can do at anytime on any day)
2nd Attempt: 418 lbs (8 pounds above my best gym lift, very easy again)
3rd Attempt: 440 lbs (meet goal, probably left 20 lbs on the platform)
Bench:
I’d been toying with my bench technique and wasn’t quite sure how it would go. My goal was to break my previous meet PR of 298 lbs.
1st Attempt: 265 lbs (easy opener, felt great and explosive)
2nd Attempt: 303 lbs – MISS (big jump but I wanted at least 2 attempts at my goal)
3rd Attempt: 303 lbs – MISS (got the bar about 4 inches off my chest before it drifted
forward and I failed the lift)
Deadlift:
Deadlift had been going quite well in training. My goal was to break the 500 pound mark; my highest training deadlift was 465 lbs.
1st Attempt: 425 lbs (easy opener)
2nd Attempt: 475 lbs (this flew off the floor easier than expected but I stuck with the plan
instead of taking a bigger jump)
3rd Attempt: 501 lbs (just as easy as my second attempt, left at least 30 lbs on the
platform)
Overall I hit 2 out of 3 goals, took 2nd place in my weight-class, and left the meet very happy. Now it’s time to continue to get bigger and stronger!
Fitness Programs, Sports Conditioning, Strength Training
Bench, Competition, deadlift, Phoinix Holiday Classic, Powerlifting, Squat, Team
Dr. Michael Li, DACRB
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday! Each January, most of us rush back to the gym determined to burn off some holiday season calories and work toward New Year’s resolutions to get into better shape. Unfortunately, some studies showed more than half of those who join in a gym or fitness club will drop out after 3-6 months. The common reason: injury.
I want to use this article to lay out some strategies that can help you avoid injury and reach your fitness goals any time of year. If you are someone who wants to stay fit for the rest of the year, this article is for you! Here we go.
Overtraining & Injuries
As we are enthusiastically starting our new year training program, sometimes we may do too much, too soon, and those usually lead to early overtraining, and increase one’s risks of injuries. How can you tell if you are over trained? Here are couple things to look for:
- Test your resting heart rate in the morning or before you have breakfast & coffee. Is it higher than usual?
- Did you find yourself still feeling tired after a good night of sleep? This can be an early sign of overtraining.
- Soreness versus pain
- This is one of the most frequently asked questions I encountered and I hope the table below helps differentiate the two:
Muscles sores
|
Pain
|
| Discomfort sensation: the area feels tender to the touch, and you feel a dull, tight achy feeling when you are resting |
Discomfort sensation: sharp pain at rest |
| Onset: during exercises or 24-72 hours after exercise |
Onset: during exercise or within 24 hours of activities |
| Duration: 1-3 days |
Duration: more than a week |
| Location: muscles |
Location: muscles or joints |
| Feels better with: stretching, some light movement |
Feels better with: ice, rest (or no relief from either of those) |
| Feels worse with: being static |
Feels worse with: any activities |
| Appropriate action: continue the exercises once the soreness subsides or to a point you feel comfortable |
Appropriate action: consult with a medical professional if pain is sharp and/or lasts more than 1-2 weeks |
What to do?
Gradual increase in exercise intensity/volume.
- I found most folks injured themselves by doing too much, too soon. You may be away from training for a while, and thought you would just pick up where you left off. I would say to start off easily and ramp up gently. Start with one set of exercises for two weeks and see how your body response to it. Sometimes it takes time for your body to adapt to the new exercises routine, and you may not feel the good (and bad) effect from the exercises until 2-4 weeks later. Increase the difficulty of the exercises once you master the form and the movement.
Pay attention to your body
- “Feel” the work you are doing with your body and watch your form. Quality movements always trump high volume and bad forms.
Recovery:
- Good nutrition: make sure you eat and drink well and put good fuel back in your body after exercise.
- Sleep well: your body grows when you are sleeping. Better sleep = better recovery = better growth!
Planning & ideas:
Set Goal(s)
- Some folks train for a marathon, some exercise to prepare for a squash tournament, some just train to be healthier. No matter what your intention is, set a goal. You will commit to your exercises routine when you have a goal. Write it down. Put it at your computer screen or at your fridge. Ask yourself “why” you train/exercise and stick with it!
Make it practical
- This one follows nicely after you set up your goal(s). Make your training practical to what you want to do. If you are training for a hike that you would do during your next vacation, make sure your training helps you directly with your hike. You will be more compliant with the exercises.
Cross training
- You maybe training for the marathon, but it does not mean your training only involves running. Our body is a great adapter, both to good and bad stress. By doing cross training, you will train the weak stabilizing muscles you may miss during your regular training, and give the muscles a break. If you are a runner, do some weight training to helps support your joints to take on road.
Have some fun!
- Going to the gym can be a drag sometimes, especially during the days of 12+hours of darkness outside. Make it fun for yourself to go into the gym. Mix up the exercise routine after you build a strong foundation. Grab a workout buddy. Have a friendly pickup basketball game. Have fun with the exercises. Being healthy can be fun too!
Resources:
- Take advantage of the professionals in your circle and in the SAC. If you are dealing with an injury, get it checked out by me or other health care professional during the Wellness Tuesdays. Don’t know where to start on exercising programming, set up an appointment with a personal trainer.
- The personal training staffs and I have worked together on numerous occasions to help a member reaching their fitness goals. When a member is injured and come to me, I always communicate with his/her trainers to create the best exercise plan for that member. Together, we can check your base fitness to support your desired activities level; identify training errors; correct biomechanical problems; provide an appropriate plan to reach your goals.
I hope this article helps giving you a great start to 2015. Don’t hesitate to email the Seattle Athletic Club’s fitness director Jacob Galloway (jgalloway@sacdt.com) or me if you have any questions. Have a great 2015!
Dr. Li has been taking care of the SAC staff and members since 2010. You can find him at the lobby performing injury screen for members every 3rd Tuesday of the month. His practice, Mobility Plus Sports Rehab, is conveniently located about 10 minute walk from the SAC. You can find out more about him and his clinic at mobilityplussportsrehab.com. He can be reached by info@mobilityplussportsrehab.com.
Dr. Li, Fitness Advice, Fitness Programs, Sports Conditioning, Strength Training, Workouts
cross training, fun, goals, injuries, Muscles sores, overtraining, Pain, pay attention, practical, recovery
There are many sports that involve lifting heavy things. Powerlifting, strongman competitions, the highland games, and the shot-put are all sports involving heavy weights and objects. The sport of Weightlifting is the only sport done with a barbell that is performed at the Olympics. Olympic weightlifting (or oly for short) involves two events, the clean and jerk and the snatch. Both events requires the athlete to lift a barbell from the ground to their shoulders and then overhead (clean and jerk), or directly overhead from the ground (snatch). The lifter needs to move the barbell and themselves at very high velocities to execute the task successfully. This is different than most heavy lifting sports as they use relatively low velocities when compared to weightlifting. You might ask, “Joey, I don’t plan on being an Olympic athlete, why would I want to do Olympic weightlifting?”. A proficient weightlifter has explosive speed, highly coordinated motor patterns, strength, and an exceptionally strong core. These are all qualities of a balanced fitness program.
These characteristics are some of the key components of becoming more athletic. Regardless if you are trying to improve your squash game, or be able bring the groceries inside the house in a single trip, barbell lifting – weightlifting specifically – will benefit you greatly. The core strength that weightlifting develops is unrivaled. The word “functional” strength is thrown around the fitness world all the time. Weightlifting truly develops functional strength and power. Functional core strength is developed with the large amount of overhead activity and movements with high weights away from the body’s center of gravity. While functional hip strength is developed with the quick powerful hip extensions performed throughout each lift.
When determining the training program of an athlete it is important to look at the requirements of the sport. Most sports require speed, strength, power, and agility. These are all components of oly lifting. For example, when was the last time you saw a sprinter leisurely stride out of the blocks during a 100m dash, or when can you recall you have seen a fighter slowly lift his leg to kick an opponent. We must train explosive to become explosive. This is not to say that a proper strength phase of training is not necessary. I am saying that these are all pieces of the puzzle that need to be properly assembled. The incorporation of hypertrophy, strength, and explosive training methods will create a more complete and effective athlete.
Lastly I want to touch on that slow moving sprinter or lame kicking fighter. In the off chance that you do see this happening, it is probably due to an injury. It is common for many athletes to have hamstring and knee injuries. Olympic lifting places a heavy demand on the hamstrings and develops their size, strength, and power. This is important for two reasons. The first reason is that a having stronger, more highly trained group of knee flexors (hamstrings) will resist fatigue more greatly than a non-trained group of knee extensors. This resistance to fatigue will reduce the risk of tearing during movement. The second involves the knee and ACL. The hamstring plays a substantial role in stabilizing the knee and preventing the tibia from sliding from beneath the femur often resulting in an ACL tear. Thus, a more highly trained hamstring can help prevent injuries to the knee. In regards to your shoulders, the overhead lifting develops stability in the shoulder and also helps prevent injuries.
If you have any questions regarding barbells, powerlifting, or general fitness, please contact personal fitness trainer Joey Cole at Jcole@sacng.com.
Cardio Training, Fitness Advice, Fitness Programs, Lifestyle, Motivation, Sports Conditioning, Workouts
lifting, Olympic Athlete, weightlifting
