Blog | FVT Warrior Wellness | Lee’s Summit Personal Training & Kettlebell Coaching

Can I ask a quick favor?

We are ALMOST ready to open registration for the FVT Ultimate Challenge Workout.

As we get things wrapped up and ready to rock, wanted to get YOUR feedback on a few things.

Here’s what we got so far:

— The FVT Ultimate Challenge Workout is going to be an EPIC three to four hour workout event … think “extreme” mud run meets fitness competition meets FVT challenge workout

— Tentative date is Saturday, January 10th

— The event will be an “ultimate” test of your overall fitness – strength, endurance, and much more … everything from feats of strength like pull ups and pressing heavy KBs, to running a 5k, to everything in between

Here’s some things we’re thining of including / encorporating – but would LOVE to get your feedback on, to make this event as awesome as possible:

— We are thinking of having a main event – where the focus is teamwork and FINISHING, not competing for a specific time … and a BONUS (shorter and optional participation) event the end, which will have a competition aspect for those that want to take it to the next level.

What are your thoughts on including a competition aspect?

— The MAIN focus of this is a fun event to train for and keep FVT members motivated over the holiday season. That being said – we initially thought of making it FREE. BUT … we also know from events and challenges etc we’ve held in the past … folks don’t take it as seriously if they don’t have a little “skin in the game”, so to speak.

Also keeping in mind the time and energy etc to organize something like this – what do you feel is a fair registration price?

— We will train for it over the next two months – Nov and Dec – as part of the boot camp classes at FVT. We’ll work things in to the mix like pull ups and short runs and heavy lifting and MUCH more.

Would you like to have some training in ADDITION to the workouts we are doing in the regular boot camps at FVT, specially geared towards this event? Maybe a private Facebook group for all that are registered? Keeping in mind possible additional time/cost factors with both of these things of course as well.

Please leave your feedback in the comments section below. Please leave feedback in the actual blog comments section, NOT in the Facebook comments area. Thanks!!

Thanks in advance! Can’t wait to get this thing going!!

– The FVT Team

November 2014 Challenge Workout Results

November 2014 FVT Challenge Workout results are in!!

Here’s the workout again, in case you missed it:

=> November 2014 FVT Challenge Workout

And the results:

*Note – modified and “standard” times are COMBINED this month for simplicity’s sake … but be sure to make a PERSONAL note of how much weight you used, what style of push ups you did, etc … so you have something to compare to and improve upon next time around.

Women:

P.K. 458
S.F. 451
V.C. 437
J.M. 416
M.A. 407
C.B. 399
K.S. 398
J.M. 391
J.J. 387
R.R. 382
C.L. 378
D.T. 377
A.P. 377
A.L. 373
L.A. 367
L.T. 361
K.M. 359
M.T. 356
B.C. 354
C.G. 344
C.S. 334
C.P. 329
T.P. 315
M.H. 314
R.H. 310
D.B. 289
A.L. 287
M.R. 267
A.A. 260
Men:

B. R. 438
R.M. 398
J.M. 401
B.P. 364
R.B. 363
R.A. 360
M.P. 353
B.K. 339
K.S. 323
M.P. 310
A.W. 286
J.W. 273
E.Z. 244

FVT ULTIMATE Challenge Workout

We have something VERY cool we’re planning at FVT … and while all the details and specifics aren’t quite yet worked out, I wanted to share the idea and plans we have so far with you … so you can start getting yourself mentally and physically prepared for this one-of-a-kind event!

The unique, fun, VERY cool thing we’re planning is the FVT Ultimate Challenge Workout.

Here’s what we got so far:

— The FVT Ultimate Challenge Workout is going to be an EPIC three to four hour workout event … think “extreme” mud run meets fitness competition meets FVT challenge workout

— It will take place in early January 2015 (exact date to be announced next week)

Plus, it will be a lot of training all at once, as in all in one day … the goal being that anyone without injuries that would prevent them from completing it, COULD do it … but also TRAINING to prepare for it will make it a MUCH more positive and successful experience.

— No aspect of fitness will be neglected … you’ll need to be fit in EVERY way to excell at this challenge. If you’re strong, but out of “cardio” shape, you’ll be in trouble. Same goes if you’re a runner who does no strength training.

GOOD news is, you got two months to prepare 😉

— There will likely be a main event – where the focus is teamwork and FINISHING, not competing for a specific time … and a BONUS (shorter and optional participation) event the end, which will have a competition aspect for those that want to take it to the next level

— Registration will open next week
Final details of how the whole thing will work will be coming soon … but just wanted to give you the early heads up so you can start thinking and planning ahead.

Watch out for an email with more details and a link to sign up early next week.

Thanks, and talk soon –

– Forest Vance
Owner, Head Trainer, FVT Boot Camp and Personal Training

November 2014 Challenge Workout

It’s FVT CHALLENGE Workout time!!

November 2014 FVT Challenge Workout

Set up is FIVE exercises:

– KB swings (standard weight is 24k for men, 16k for women)
– hand release push ups (from the toes for men, from the knees for women … each rep, at the bottom, take your hands off the floor)
– walking lunges (lightly touch your knee to the ground on each rep; each step counts as one)
– inverted rows (either suspension trainer or Lebert Equalizer … knees are bent, feet flat on the floor … any grip … touch the ground with the body and chest to the level of the hands on each rep)
– burpees (no push up at the bottom, clap hands above the head at the top of each rep)

Get as many reps as you can of each exercise in 60 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds between exercises. Do three rounds total, resting for 60 seconds between rounds. Your score is the total number of repetitions you do in the workout.

Score benchmarks:
300 – great
375 – amazing
450+ – world class

Good luck! You’ll need it 😉

Scores will be posted at the end of the week.

– The FVT Team

Meet Jenny!

Big shout out today to FVT Superstar Jenny J!

jenny j 1

jenny j 2

Jenny brings a positive attitude to EVERY session, whether it’s our boot camp or the FVT nutrition coaching group, and has been working very hard to reach her goals this year.

She is over 15 pounds down and getting stronger every day … and she just did her first 15 sec pull up hold (along with a 2 min plank hold, 50 swings in a row with the 16k and our Tabata burpee challenge) to earn her grey FVT band at the beginning of this month!

Great work Jenny, we appreciate you very much, keep the momentum going and awesome, awesome job!!

– Forest Vance
Owner, Head Trainer, FVT Boot Camp and Personal Training

PS – HOW did Jenny do it? Working with her closely, I believe the top three factors were:

1 – HER. She has dedicated herself to getting better and working hard to reach her goals … DESPITE a crazy work/travel schedule, family obligations, etc. She has decided to make her fitness and health a PRIORITY and has got it done – no excuses.

2 – Dialing in the nutrition / meal planning piece. Jenny got some great results with our boot camp – got stronger, more fit, more energy, and so much more … but joining our Nutrition Coaching Group and focusing on that critical piece of the puzzle as well has taken things to the next level.

3 – Consistent training. Jenny will work out at the studio, taking our boot camp classes anywhere from three to five times per week, in addition to hiking and running outside of the gym.

Top 7 Tips for Eating Well While Eating Out

coffee

Happy Halloween!!

Hope you have some fun plans.

We had a great FVT Nutrition Coaching meeting this morning, as usual.

=> Click here for more info on FVT Nutrition Coaching – we have two spots currently open in the group

Thought I would share what we talked about today with you on the blog this week – so you could get a feel for a what a meeting is like, and the kind of topics we cover.

Also figured it would be helpful for ANYONE who struggles to maintain their healthy eating plan while away from home.

Hope it helps, and have a great day!

###

Forest’s Top 7 Tips for Eating Well While Eating Out
FVT Nutrition Coaching meeting topic #23

Here are my top 7 tips for eating well and staying track while you are eating out.

I should also mention that these are relevant to when you are eating out, when you are on the go and away from home for long periods of time – like a full 12 or 14 hour day – or when you are on the road and traveling for work or vacation.

One – plan ahead – before you leave the house – whether it is for a meal out, a long day ahead, or several days away from home, you need to make sure that you have a plan. What are you going to be eating while you are away and how does it fit in to your plan? Are you going to pack food and take it with you, or do you have some kind of strategy to grab some healthy food while you are on the road? Think about these things and stick to them when you’re eating out.

Two – make it a priority – there are only so many priorities that we can have in our lives at once time. Eating healthy does not have to be your number one priority – but if everything ELSE takes precedence over that – your work, your fun times, your everything else you have going on in your life – it makes it tough to actually get the results that you want to get from your fitness program.

Three – eat half the portion – a great strategy when you go out to eat at a restaurant is simply to half the portion. Eat half of your meal, and then you ask for a doggy bag before the meal even comes and plan on bagging out the other half to save for later. This is a great way to save calories and the portions at restaurants are often so large that you hardly ever need the entire thing.

Four – bring healthy snacks – stock up on healthy snacks whether you’re going to be away from the house for longer than a few hours, or you’re going on the road for several days. Snacks that do not require refrigeration are always easiest and most reliable as you know you have a place to store them. Go with things like protein bars, beef jerky, nuts, fruit, etc.

Five – always make the best choice available – recently, I was on a two day business trip, and I hadn’t planned ahead as well as I could’ve. I was staying at a hotel about half a mile away from where the event was going on, I didn’t have a rental car, so literally the only option was breakfast at McDonald’s next door.

Now, there are a lot of not-so-great choices at McDonald’s, and there are some that are okay. I was able to get a decently healthy breakfast by going with the Egg McMuffin, packet of fruit, and a black coffee. I could’ve just as easily picked the deluxe breakfast which adds up to over 1000 kcal – but I was able to be okay and make the best choice available and stay relatively on track.

Six – consider fasting – if you’re truly stuck and there are no healthy options available, what you could consider is fasting. Research is showing more and more health benefits of fasting, it’s a great way to get your focus away from food for a short period of time, and honestly it’s not gonna kill you to go without eating for 12 or 18 hours 😉

Seven – keep logging – while you’re away from home or eating out etc., a key to fat loss meal planning success is to keep logging your food. This way you can stay on track and be top of mind with what you’re doing, and it will help you make the right choices.

So there you have seven tips to help you stay on track – eating well while eating out. I hope these tips are helpful for you. Keep these in mind next time you’re on the road or away from home for a long period of time and it will help you stay on track with your healthy eating plan and keep moving toward those fat loss goals.

– Forest Vance
Owner, FVT Boot Camp and Personal Training
Author, 5 Minute Fat Loss
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach

PS – Learn more about the FVT Nutrition Coaching group – and grab one of the two remaining open spots – HERE

FVT Nutrition Coaching Group – Now Accepting New Applications!

Wanted to let you know – we are accepting new applications for the FVT Nutrition Coaching group!

We are opening up registration through next Tuesday (we have a meeting tomorrow morning at 7am and Tues at 4pm, so thought that would be good timing for new folks who wanted to make one of the meetings) OR until three new folks sign up, whichever comes first.

Now … this group is an AMAZING fit for some folks, and NOT a good fit for others.

But if it is a GOOD fit for you, and you follow the plan we give you, and tweak it as needed and recommended as we go, you WILL get some amazing results.

In just the last several months (and keep in mind some of these folks have only been in the group for a month or two), we have:

— 3 group members who have lost over 20 pounds
— 3 who have lost over 10
— 2 who have lost over 5
— lost over 100 pounds total as a group!

So the proof is in the results. The program works!

BUT … let me quickly tell you more about it, before I give you a link to the application page.

This is a small group – based coaching program. We focus on helping you improve and stay ACCOUNTABLE with your nutrition plan, and as a result get the best results possible from your workout and fitness routine.

Here’s what the program includes:

1 – Every other week, you’ll come in for an in-person meeting at the studio. We meet on alternate Fridays at 7am and Tuesdays at 4pm. You weigh EVERY time … then I do a 15-20 minute talk on a nutrition – related topic.

Topics we’ve covered recently are:

— Pre and Post Workout nutrition
— Top supplements for fat loss
— Eating well whil eating out

You get the idea.

Then at the end of the meeting, if we have extra time, we’ll do a “hot seat” session where we go around and try to help anyone who’s having specific issues w their meal planning, and come up with AS A GROUP specific strategies to solve them.

2 – You’ll keep an on-going food log, and send me a report each week with your average daily calorie intake, how many days you logged for the week, general comments, etc … I will review the report, give you some feedback, and hold you accountable!

3 – We have a private Facebook group set up where you can post your questions, get support from other members of the group, etc. At this point there is almost a year worth of archives as well where we have all kinds of articles / PDFs / etc on every nutrition topic imaginable (I post the handout that I put together from every week’s meeting up in the group)

4 – The cost is $49 per month. Honestly I think this service is quite underpriced. Colleagues of mine who lead similar groups charge two to four times this amount. I’ll be transparent and actually tell you that once it’s all said and done we don’t make a whole lot of $$ from it.

BUT … the results are so amazing, and it has had SUCH an impact on our group member’s lives, and I truly enjoy leading it … so we are going to keep it going.

However, we very well may raise the price for NEW members in 2015 … so hop aboard now while you can get in at a low rate.

If you are interested, and it sounds like the group might be a good fit for you, here’s what to do next.

1 – Click HERE

2 – Fill out the contact form

3 – Let me know why YOU want in the Nutrition Coaching Group. Tell me why you think you’d be a good fit for the group.

And I’ll get back with you ASAP!

If this group is a good fit for you, it could be THE thing that takes the results you’re getting from your fitness program to the next level. Look forward to helping you!!

Thanks so much, and talk soon –

– Forest Vance
Owner, Head Trainer, FVT Boot Camp and Personal Training
Certfied Fitness Nutrition Coach

The HIT (high intensity training) vs HVT (high volume training) Debate

Busy days here at FVT.

How about you? How’s life?

Progress on the new gym space is coming along nicely … things are looking good for move-in at the beginning of the year, exciting stuff! Here’s a couple pics of the main workout floor (we’ll have a larger space for boot camps and a smaller space for semi private / personal training – so we can have multiple classes going on at the same time and more class times available):

photo 3 (1) photo 2 (1)

Also to follow up on the other day’s email … we found a baby costume for our daughter. I think my wife wants to keep it a secret until Haloween, but I’m going to share a pic with you of her anyway – just keep this between you and me though, okay? 😉

Silly, silly stuff!!

On to the main point of today’s message.

Got a new video for you. In it, I talk about the concept of HIT vs Volume in your kettlebell workouts … and the idea that what you get OUT of a workout is largely based on what you put IN to it – in terms of energy, focus, etc.

See the video here:

To recap … the HARDER that you work, the SHORTER amount of time you’ll be able to maintain that workload.

A great example is your buddy that claims to work out for two hours a day. The reality is most folks just don’t have the ability to work at a high intensity for that long … it’s likely that maybe 30 or 45 mins of that is actual productive training time.

Which I fine I guess if you got two extra hours per day to train. But for most of us, who have families, full time+ work schedules, and more, a better solution is … if you work HARD, and pick weight that really challenge you (that you can use good form with of course) and exercise progressions that really challenge you (the hardest and correct “version” of a particular body weight exercise for YOU etc) you can get a GREAT workout in 15 or 20 mins.

I go through a really basic workout in this video of 20 KB swings and 12 feet elevated push ups, 5 sets each … and it’s TOUGH! I’m pretty smoked at the end.

I hope you can apply this idea to your training in general, whatever program you are currently doing, and start making faster progress towards your goals.

That’s it for today. Train hard, and talk soon –

Thanks –

Forest Vance, MS, RKC II
ForestVance.com

PS – Have we connected on Facebook yet?

My Kettlebell Basics page is here => http://facebook.com/kettlebellbasics
And the main page for our Sacramento studio is here => http://facebook.com/forestvancetraining

PPS – I also post most all email messages / videos / etc on my personal blog – check that out here if you haven’t yet here => http://forestvance.com

PPPS – We are opening up a few spots in our Nutrition Coaching program this week .. if you’re interested, here is more info on the program … I’ll have more details for you soon! => FVT Nutrition Coaching Program