Month: September 2017

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – Hurricane Irma Update

I want to apologize to our regular readers of the blog & listeners of the Addicted to Fitness podcast for being MIA over the past week. Hurricane Irma posed a real threat to my family’s safety, and Shannon and I had to dedicate all our focus to preparing for this potentially life altering event. Fortunately for us and other Tampa residents, Irma weakened as it approached our city. This led the storm to cause what I would consider minimal damage and allowed us to record an impromptu episode of the ATF podcast.

Shannon and I take a departure from our normal training recap and health news to fill you in on all that went into preparing for this storm. We discuss the emotional eating caused by Hurricane Irma, which I will say is definitely a reality. We were anticipating being without power for sometime, which is why we cooked everything in our freezer including 4 boxes of Trader Joe’s croissants. Shannon and I do a good job sticking to a low carb diet, but once we were faced with the threat of a natural disaster, we couldn’t get ENOUGH comfort food.

After recapping our “hurricane” eating, we go into the more important topic of providing relief to those severely affected by Irma. I know I plan on donating blood this week and I encourage all that can to do the same. Blood donations are always in demand, especially after natural disasters. You can also donate cash to reputable charities who have already set up Hurricane Irma relief funds like the American Red Cross (link) and Save the Children (link). If you plan on donating to another charity to help Hurricane Irma victims, please make sure they’re legit by researching them on Guidestar.org.

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We truly appreciate all our friends & family constantly checking up on us before and after the storm. It always feels good to be shown a little love, which is a perfect segue for me to ask you all to show the ATF podcast a little love by giving us a rating & review on iTunes (link) OR our brand new Facebook page (link). I also want to reiterate that if you’re able to donate to Hurricane Irma relief, please do so.

As always, feel free to send us your thoughts about this or any episode of the ATF podcast via email (elementaltampa@gmail.com) or by reaching out to us on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter). We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode full of all kinds or useful fitness info. Thanks for listening and stay healthy this week peeps!

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hurricane-irma-update/id1121420986?i=1000392192174&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/hurricane-irma-update

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/hurricane-irma-update

Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – Fight Breakdown of Mayweather-McGregor & Polichemi-Gramatica

I go solo on this week’s Addicted to Fitness, but don’t worry. Shannon’s cohost position is not in jeopardy.

For those of you that don’t know, Shannon is well into her 3rd trimester with our first child. In addition to that, she’s still working full time and is only a few weeks away from completing her yoga teacher training. If you’ve ever been pregnant, or the significant other of someone who is pregnant, you know that R & R is paramount. That’s why I decided to take the podcasting responsibilities upon myself this week.

I love Shannon being my cohost and I know you listeners do too, but a part of me was glad I was able to roll solo on this week’s podcast. Mainly because I commented on a pair of recent boxing events that I was looking forward to for some time. But before we get into my thoughts on those events, I dive into our training recap for the week.

As previously mentioned, Shannon is only a few weeks away from completing her Bella Prana yoga teacher training. If I haven’t said it before I’ll say it now, I’m super proud of her dedication to this program. I’m sure we’ll discuss her final exam a little more next week so make sure you tune in!

My training recap consists primarily of training with Elemental Training Tampa (ETT) clients. This past week was my busiest since I took ETT full time in March. I couldn’t be happier and I’m really appreciative of how committed all of my clients have been. One client in particular has been extremely devoted to his training program and he got to use that training in a recent celebrity boxing event.

Anthony “Spanish” Polichemi has been training with ETT for the past 5 weeks in preparation for a celebrity boxing match with former NFL pro Martin Gramatica. The match was the main event of the annual Mike Calta Punchout, which ETT has been fortunate enough to be involved in for the past 3 years. Even though Anthony was giving up approximately 5 inches and 20 lbs. to Martin, I was confident that after his training with ETT at Tampa Strength and Master Amir Ardebily (click here to listen to his ATF interview) at Amir Acadmey of Martial Arts, he’d be able to get his hand raised.

I sadly had to miss the event, but I listened to a round by round broadcast on the 102.5 the Bone mobile app. It sounded like Anthony was able to use his footwork and head movement to score early and often, but he ran into several power punches from his larger opponent. In the end, Anthony lost a decision, but I couldn’t be happier with the way he performed. I’m even more excited that he’s decided to continue his training with both ETT and Master Amir.

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Photo courtesy of bloodyelbow.com

I wasn’t nearly as emotionally invested in the other fight discussed on this week’s episode. Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor has been the number one topic in the world of sports for the past 10 weeks. All the hype finally came to fruition on August 26th and to many people’s surprise, Conor McGregor performed rather well, given the circumstances.

Floyd has been touted as one of the best technical boxers of all time, and his 49-0 professional record would support that claim. Conor has recently taken the MMA and combat sports world by storm with his ability to talk a big game and back it up when he gets in the ring. Even though this match was considered by some to be somewhat of a sideshow, mainly due to Conor’s lack of ANY professional boxing experience, I was still looking forward to seeing how both fighters would handle the uncertainty their opponent would present.

Much to the surprise of most people, Conor started the fight very well. He used his size and reach to keep Mayweather at bay and land scoring punches. It look to me that Conor had done enough to win the first 3 rounds, but I had a feeling that Mayweather was simply analyzing Conor’s technique and would soon begin to capitalize on his opponent’s lack of boxing experience.

The fight seem to turn in Mayweather’s favor starting in round 4. He was able to avoid Conor’s punches and started landing power shots of his own. By round 8, Conor’s cardio was spent and Floyd turned up the intensity of his attack. Halfway through round 10, Floyd got Conor against the ropes, landed numerous unanswered shots which forced the ref to stop the fight. Mayweather won by TKO and improved his professional boxing record to 50-0.

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The Mayweather-McGregor fight wasn’t a great example of superb technical boxing, but it was entertaining none the less. Not NEARLY as entertaining as the Polichemi-Gramatica fight, especially for yours truly. Click here if you like to see a video of the entire match between Anthony and Martin. Follow Anthony on social media (@spanishep) and watch as he continues his fitness journey with ETT.

You should also follow us on our social channels (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter). Please reach out to us on social or send us an email at elementaltampa@gmail.com, and let us know who you think of ATF. We love hearing from our listeners and I promise all you Shannon fans that she will be back next week. Thanks for listening and stay healthy this week peeps!

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/addicted-to-fitness-podcast/id1121420986?mt=2#episodeGuid=bad843c8f61aa163342caa25cc7bb458

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/fight-breakdown-of-mayweather

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/fight-breakdown-of-mayweather-mcgregor-polichemi-gramatica 

Weekend Workout – A Stronger Core Means A Stronger You

Have you tried incorporating supersets into your workouts yet? For those that need a refresher on supersets, they require you to perform a desired number of repetitions for 3 separate exercises in succession. These workout sets allow you to up the intensity of your workout in a shorter period of time.

This weekend workout includes a core centric superset workout. Performing five 10 rep supersets of this workout will help improve strength in your ENTIRE core, not just your 6-pack (rectus abdominis). Don’t forget to warmup and modify the workout to match your fitness level.

Let us know in the comment section below if you completed this or any weekend workout. ENJOY!

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