New Addition to an Active Lifestyle

Hi Everyone! 

Last month was an exciting one for me.  I recently welcomed a new member into my family.  No, not a baby, we'll not a human baby anyway.  I purchased a dog!  A German short-haired pointer puppy.  Her name is Gabby and she has been quite a handful.  Short hairs are known to be dogs with a lot of energy and Gabby definitely fits that description.  This works well with my lifestyle as I like to be very active and even on my worst days, I have no choice but to get up and take her for a walk.  Her favorite place to go is the beach.  Luckily I live in South Boston and the beach is only a few blocks away.  She loves to play fetch and just run up and down the beach.  This allows me to get my own workout in as I'll run up and down the beach and she'll just chase me.
This leads me to my point.  Dogs can be excellent exercise partners.  Whether it be walking, running, or hiking, most dogs are usually up to the task.  So if you have a dog or have considered getting one take into account the effect they can have on your fitness routine. Just make sure you check with your veterinarian before you take your dog on a long run.  Some breeds are more capable of handling long distances than others. 
Spring is here, so get outside with your pet and enjoy!

Russ's Bio

Russ Erikson

My passion for fitness grew through my love of sports.  I was very active as a child and played many different organized sports.  Starting with soccer, hockey, and tee ball as a youth and football and track in high school.  I’m pretty sure there were a few years of basketball mixed in there as well.  Haha!

I have always held a passion for sports, both as a spectator and participant, but most enjoyed the active lifestyle myself. It was in high school, around the age of 14, that I started weight-training.  This was something I really come to enjoy and knew would be part of my routine for the rest of my life.  To this day, I still love the feeling of accomplishment physically and psychologically upon completing a workout.

After high school, I went on to participate in college athletics and played football at Bentley College (now Bentley University).  Weight training was required for everyone on the team.  This was fine with me since I had been doing it for 4 years already.  During these years I had the benefit of working out with other guys on the team, which was good for motivation, having a lifting-partner and for spotting purposes. We were fortunate to have an athletic trainer at Bentley that provided our training programs during and after the season.  After school, I moved home and quickly got a gym membership. I continued to work-out out consistently, but never really thought about becoming a personal trainer until a friend of mine told me about Ann Marie and Cutting Edge Fitness.  I met with Ann Marie at Cutting Edge Fitness 6 years ago when introduced me to this unique style of training.  She put me through my first high-intensity, slow-speed weight-training workout and I was hooked.  I started training with Ann Marie, and soon became a trainer at Cutting Edge, the rest, as they say, is history.

Some of the hobbies I enjoy are of course working out, skiing, and other recreational sports.  I've participated in many road races over the years including Reach the Beach, Samaritans Run, Smegs Legs, Jingle Bell Run, Santa Speedo Run, Boston Marathon 5K, and one Sprint Duathalon.  The races are fun and help keep me active outside of the gym.  I love personal training, connecting with clients and helping them achieve their goals, improve their fitness and lead a healthier life.

Through my experience as a fitness professional I refer to this quote to sum things up for those looking for motivation to start a fitness program, as I use it to motivate myself:

“If it is important to you, you will find a way.  If not, you will find an excuse"

Russ hails from Rockland, MA, which is about 25 minutes south of Boston, and now lives in South Boston.

Reach the Beach Part 2

Hi All,

So as you all now I completed the Reach the Beach run from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach on the weekend of September 16th and 17th. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We (my girlfriend Sam and her friend Michelle) drove up to Hampton Beach on Thursday afternoon to meet the rest of our teammates and transfer our belongings into the two vans that we rented. Well, of course with my luck the van that we rented had not arrived yet. A portion of our team was unable to make it up that afternoon so they were going to drive the last van up to Cannon later that evening. So we had one less van to pack our things in and had to cram them into one of the other vans that were already fully loaded. When we opened the trunk the first reaction we received was "oh my god". Ok they actually said something different, but I want to keep this PG, so I won't repeat it. They couldn't believe the amount of stuff we brought with us. Due to my excellent packing skills, we managed to get everything in one of the vans and than proceeded to make the trip to Cannon. We arrived at Cannon and checked-in to receive our race numbers. After checking in, we enjoyed a nice dinner at the mountain that consisted of chicken broccoli ziti, meatballs, salad, bread, apple pie and ice cream. A meal loaded with carbs to prepare for the amount of miles we would be running over the next couple of days. After dinner we went to the hotel to rest for the night.

The race started at 8:20AM, so we had to be up early to have some breakfast and get ready. It's always good to eat something light and plain before a race. You don't want to eat something that is going to cause any problems with your digestive system. We had some English muffins with some peanut butter. A perfect blend of carbohydrates and protein. It was very cold that morning, probably in the upper 30's, so I wanted nothing more than to get the race started, so I could get into the heated van. I ran the 4th leg that day which was about 4 miles. It was raining and cold during my run and the run finished with a nice long hill! It's safe to say I was looking forward to putting some dry clothes on and getting back in the van at the end of the run. We finished up our 1st set of legs and than stopped a restaurant along the way for some dinner. Our 2nd set of legs kicked off after 7:00pm and were set to go until around 11:30 or 12:00pm. This was my favorite run of the trip. It was about 48 degrees and dark of course, so we had to wear reflectors and head lamps. It was such a comfortable temperature to run in that I felt like I could have kept going after my 5 miles were up. After the 2nd set of legs, we stayed at a tent village. We were lucky enough to get there early so there were still some tents available. 3 of us stayed in the van and 3 stayed in the tent. We managed to get around 5 hours of sleep as our team arrived around 6am to pass the baton off to us. The day started off cool, but warmed up and turned out to be a really nice day. I ran the last leg this time around which was about 4 miles. My legs were pretty tired by the end of it, as I wasn't used to the starting and stopping routine of the race. It would have been nice to finish the race on Hampton beach, but that was left to other 6 members of our team in the other van. We drove to Hampton ahead of them, showered up and waited for them at the finish. The last 1/2 mile was right on the beach, which was a nice touch. Our team finished up around 3:30. They had lunch and a beer tent waiting at the finish line, which everyone was looking forward to. After lunch and a drink or two, we were very tired, so we packed up the truck and headed home. It was a long weekend, but an enjoyable one. It's something that I would definitely do again and would recommend to anyone who enjoys running as it was very well organized. It was also fun to see how creative people were with decorating their vans. Our team name was "Team Got the Runs" so we decorated our van with Pepto Bismal, bed pans, and toilet brushes! There were many other good ones out there as well. People really get into it. The most important tip to give you would be to pack plenty of clothes as you'll need 3 sets of running gear. Also be prepared for all types of weather as you never know what is going to be like in September.

Sorry for the long post. I could have gone on longer as again it was a great experience. I know they also do a Reach the Beach in Mass now from Wachussett mountain to Westport Ma. So if you're interested in running 15-18 miles and living out of a van and porta potties for the weekend give it a try! Or you really want to push the limits you can sign up as an ultra team and run a total of 32-36 miles. Not sure what I'm going to do next, but I'm always looking for another challenge. Whatever it is I'll be sure to post.

Thanks, Russ

Reach the Beach

Although I do enjoy working out and partaking in most fitness activities, I have never been one to enjoy long distance running. Most of the road races I've done have consisted of 3-7 miles. We'll that is all about to change the weekend of September 16th. I've signed up to run the Reach the Beach. For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a 200 mile relay race from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach. My team consists of 12 members who are each responsible for running 3 different legs of the race, which starts on Friday morning September 15th and ends on Saturday morning. Each leg is approximately 5-7 miles long. So all told each person will have run 15-18 miles by the end of the race. This is definitely a new challenge for me and should be pretty interesting. Running at 2am in the dark will be a first for me. I volunteered at one of the checkpoints for a race that was similar to this last spring and it looked like a lot of fun (except for the guy who vomited right after he ran through my checkpoint). I've been running 2 or 3 times a week in preparation for the race, but plan on taking it easy the week of the race to keep my legs strong and avoid injury by over training. Who knows maybe this race will change my outlook on running long distances. I'll follow up with another post after the race is over. Wish me luck!

What keeps me motivated?

Hi All,

Staying motivated to work out can be very tough for alot of people. Any of the following could be factors in keeping people from working out.

Tired of their routine
Tired from working too much
Not seeing results fast enough
Would rather be doing other things

I've come across each of these before and would like to share some of the things i've done to combat them.

Tired of the routine-For me its not really so much the routine that bothers me, but the intensity with which I go about it. I've been in the gym before and have been going through my workout and than i'll run into someone I know and end up talking to them for the next ten minutes. Anytime something like this happens it completely ruins my workout. I'll leave the gym saying to myself how bad the workout was and convince myself that my routine needs a change. The next time I workout i'll go in and do a similar routine without interruption and will leave the gym saying what a great workout I had. So i've come to realize that it has more to do with how I go about my workout than the routine i'm going through. Pace and intensity keys to getting yourself out of a workout rut.

Tired from working too much-We all have jobs that take up a large junk of our lives. There's no way around it. So you have to learn how to deal with it and avoid letting work get in the way of your fitness goals. If you know that you are going to be tired after work and will not work out than you have to change your workout time to the morning or afternoon if possible. Vice versa if your tired in the morning. Also remember that working out will give you energy if done with the right pace and intensity.

Not seeing results fast enough-If you're not seeing the results you want fast enough than you need to take an honest look at what you're doing and how disciplined you have been with it. If you want results you have to be all in with the fitness path you are following. You won't get there if you're doing it half way.

Would rather be doing other things-Everyone has a life and sometimes you'd rather be out fishing, playing with your kids, or going to a move than working out. It's totally understandable. One thing to ask yourself is how long do you want to be able to do these things? To have a quality of life as you get older it's imperative to stay fit. Strong muscles take pressure off the joints and ligaments and help prevent injury. Also you don't have to spend 2 hours in the gym everyday to stay fit. Cutting Edge has proven that with 30 minutes to Fitness. So the next time you think about skipping a workout to go to the beach remember that you still want to be do all those same beach activities when you get older.


Stay Fit and Stay Focused
Russ

Russ's Healthy Dinner Recipe

Ingredients:
Brown rice
Chicken
Mushrooms
Carrots
Broccoli
Water chestnuts
(I add green peppers)

1. Cut the chicken into strips
2. Mix a marinade of minced garlic, low sodium soy sauce, dash of hot pepper sauce, and ginger root.
3. Let chicken marinate for 1 hour
4. While you cook the rice in 2 cups of water for 40 minutes with 1/2 tblsp of sea salt Cook the chicken in a pan with 2 tblsp of EVOO.
5. Once the chicken is cooked through add the veggies and cook until soft.

Healthy Meal Completion - Serve the chicken and veggies over the rice or on the side if you like.

Train Hard, Sleep Hard

Rest, relaxation and sleep are very important when it comes to your body. Lack of sleep can cause stress which will hinder muscle development. The average sleep needs for adults over the age of 18 is 7.5 to 9 hours per night. Chronic lack of sleep can cause fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation. These are definitely three things you do not want to bring to the gym with you. So make sure to get the sleep that your body needs. Your workouts will improve and the results will follow.