Gorilla Pit Athletics

If you’d have told me when I was in my early-30s crying in my bathroom over the condition of my thighs that I’d be teaching a dance fitness class and in the best shape of my life when I am 44, I’d have thought you were mad. Simply mad. It all started in 2009 when I was 36. I’d just moved to Florida and needed to make friends. I signed my then 5 year old daughter and myself up at the local YMCA. Surely we would meet people there. Except, I found myself back on the treadmills and not interacting with anyone. Passing the Group Fitness schedule I saw the word “Zumba.” What in the world is Zumba? I can’t recall if I asked the front desk or if I Googled it, but I convinced a mom-friend from our kids’ gymnastics class to go with me. I was terrified to go to my first class. Oh the anxiety of it all. It was confusing. I love Latin music, but the fitness part was baffling and I think the instructors hips weren’t actually attached to her spine. I was determined, however, to figure it out. Eventua…

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the delay in getting these out. I started a new job last week and have been in training so have no set schedule yet. I was up and out early but once I am settled in, we should be back to normal. Hope you guys still did the challenge and redid some older ones to keep moving forward.

I've been healing up still from my calf tear but luckily I am okay on stationary movements. I hurt my flexor tendon do it only hurts when I am pushing off of the toes to step forward or go an an incline. Squat and deadlift seem to be okay but I've been staying light and doing more rep work.

I was able to hike today after 15 sets of deadlift yesterday (Saturday) and before it was over I had swelling in my ankle and mid shin area so, I am sure I will be hurting in the morning...but I am mobile without being in total pain.

So, I am posting these in the evening now the night before so, here is Monday's training for those who wish to keep going.

Push-Ups 10
Seated Shoulder P…

Good morning everyone!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are rested and ready to go!

Now  that we have been at this for a few weeks, we are going to be moving from the daily tip and challenge, into more full blown mini training sessions. Instead of a challenge to add to your workouts, these can be used as your workout for those who so desire.

Today's challenge is the 3x100 challenge. While I am prescribing the exercises today, it is an interchangeable program. Any three you like for 100 reps each and you can section them off, doing 10 or 20 of each one in a round fashion.

Today is weighted overhead squats, push=ups, weighted row. You can do these with sandbags, dumbbells, barbells, weight plates, a child (lol) anything that puts you under load and makes this harder.

So think 10 OH squats, 10 push-ups, 10 rows for 10 rounds. Try and keep your rest between rounds limited and the same throughout the session I would say 30-45 seconds between rounds or up to 60 seconds if your condi…

Good morning everyone!

Hope you all are feeling rested and yet ready for the weekend!

Today's tip and challenge are designed to increase your overall fitness levels. We want to perform or try to continue performing while under some oxygen debt in order to make our bodies perform better. This means we need to decrease our rest periods. This should all be done within reason of course. Think of keeping your rest between 30-45 seconds to remain in the target heart rate of 150 BPM for short but intense high intensity training.

Challenge: Burpee/Box Jump complex. 50/50 to 12-16" box. We are starting low. If you've done these before and are comfortable jumping higher, go for it. If you have not, I'd suggest started at 12" until you get comfortable with box jumps.

This should be a fun and easy challenge to add into your day and take about 10 minutes if you're not used to it.


Have a great weekend!

Do Well Be Well,
Ty

Good morning everyone!

I hope you all crushed the push up challenge yesterday and are ready to go after a new challenge today.

Keep in mind, these challenges don't need to take the place of an existing fitness routine you have. Just add them in as a special challenge on top of what you are doing. If these challenges are all you are doing, great job and keep going!

For those looking for more, don't forget that I design specialized/individualized programming so if you're interested in working one on one with me, shoot me an email at ty@thetattooedbuddha.com

Tip: While cardio might seem like the best way to burn fat, it's not. Treadmill work or elliptical work are only burning calories while you are doing it. The best way to burn fat and create lean muscle is resistance training. Resistance work tears the muscle fibers and as you rebuild you are burning calories. This means around the clock caloric burn. Now while the tip seems anti cardio, there is a need for fitness trai…

Good morning everyone!

Hope you are nice and sure from yesterday and ready for more fun on the way to a fitter and healthier body.

Today is all about the push up. It is a much under-looked chest and arm developer and when done right, consistently and in sufficient volume can be amazing. There are two primary push-ups that I use; the standard push-up that we all know and the tricep push-up done on the fist not the palm, and the elbow and arm path is directly horizontal, meaning your arms are touching your lats the entire time and you are pushing up off of your tricep.

Today is gonna be a doozy so let's get started.

Tip: On your regular push-up, make sure you elbows are shooting down away from the shoulder and not going straight out. Think a 22 degree angle away from the shoulder going towards the waste. Having your elbows straight out is going to put unneeded pressure on the shoulder joint.

Challenge: Regular push up - 10 sets of 10 in the morning and 10 sets of 10 tricep push-ups. Y…