This week we are introducing our readers to another aspect of Living Your Fit Everyday (L.Y.F.E). Personal training may not be your thing, and that’s totally OK, but one key to working out is making sure that you are in an “ideal” environment that can motivate you to take it to the next level. That said, let us introduce you to Core Fitness. Located in Dallas, Texas (Bishop Arts area for my fellow locals), Core Fitness isn’t your typical commercial gym and that’s what people like about it. They are taking a grassroots approach to fitness that will have you feeling like they’ve invested in you just like you’ve invested in them. Teamwork makes a dream work right?!

Name: Frank May and Zaina Ocon

Age: 24 & 21

One-on-one training

Personal

Privacy for women

Description of Brand/service:

Core Fitness is a a local gym committed to advancing your personal fitness. Getting in shape is a different battle for each individual. That’s why they offer both group classes and one-on-one training. Whether your goal is to bulk up or slim down, their goal is to keep you moving.

Frank May: I know from personal experience going to big gyms can be overwhelming and disheartening. When I graduated from high school I was on the road to recovery from two consecutive knee surgeries and my weight skyrocketed to 360. I was self-conscious and I felt uncomfortable in my own body. Luckily I had supporter who pushed me to keep working out and get in shape. Learning how to work out was a struggle in its own, especially when there’s so many workout and diets being thrown your way you become overwhelmed. I had a few people in my life who acted as my personal trainers and because of them I was able to reach goals I never thought possible. That is what inspired me to be a trainer. I know how hard it is to reach out to people for help when you honestly feel pardon my word choice but disgusted with yourself. I love being a trainer because I want to give others hope and show them they can live a healthy life and reach goals they felt were out of reach.

Zaina Ocon is one of Core Fitness’s most experienced trainers. She too has overcome personal insecurities. Zaina’s journey in health started on the opposite spectrum of the health world. Some people feel uncomfortable by the amount of weight they have put on and then there are others who feel smaller than what they would wish for. The best description most people use is skinny fat. Like most women, though Zaina joined the gym, she lived on a treadmill. Feeling scared about weightlifting and thinking she would become too bulky and masculine, she would run for a few hours every day believing that would help her get in shape. But running so much caused Zaina to injure her knee. After going to see the doctor she was advised to lay off running for a month or two. That left Zaina only one option to try to stay in shape in fear of losing her progress, weight lifting. With the help of a few people in her life she was taught how to lift and she instantly fell in love with it. Since that day she has never looked back and she can’t imagine going a few days without touching the bar or some dumbbells. Since then, Zaina has gone from weighing around 105 to about 135 to 140 but she has never felt healthier and more comfortable than she does now. Now she has dedicated her life to showing women the beauty of weight lifting and hopes to help as many people as she can get started on their personal fitness journey.

Because they are all about helping others get comfortable in their own skin and motivating individuals to push themselves to the next level, Core Fitness wanted to leave you with some of their favorite staple exercises. Give them a try and incorporate them into next week’s routine!

Core Fitness’s Staple Moves

Foam Roller Bridges: In my years of training I’ve seen women struggle to get the backside they want because their glutes and hamstrings are inactive. In other words they’re not worked out properly and their quads overwork to help them do leg exercises. So this is how you perform this exercise.

Grab a foam roller lay down with your legs straight out you put one hands at your side.
You only place one leg on the foam roller and you raise the other leg up at the same time you push your hips up and squeeze your glutes hold it anywhere from 10 to 45 secs.
Immediately do 10 to 20 reps of hip raises on the foam roller, making your glutes touch the ground and pushing your hips back up. This sounds easy in theory but I promise you your glutes and hamstrings will be on fire.

Best way to get your backside to grow is make them wake up before you do your leg workout.

Hamstring/Glute Raises: In my opinion the best hamstring exercise to perform out there. If this isn’t in your arsenal you need to give these a try. Again keeping the glutes engaged will help push your growth much quicker. The way I look at it your body is chain of movement, especially in your lower body and if there is a weak link in the chain it makes it harder to grow. In order to perform this exercise you can use a machine specifically made for it, but if you don’t have access to one (which most gyms don’t) then there are other ways around it. You want to find something to hold your ankles down you can use a partner or a bar like we do in the picture. One thing I want you to keep in mind is pushing your hips forward the entire time your back should remain arched and never round out. I have yet to meet anyone who can perform it off the bat so we use a stability ball to assist until you can perform it on your own.

Place your hands on the ball and slowly lower yourself using your hamstrings and glutes to lower you.
You basically flex them to help you go down slowly and then you slowly raise yourself back up.
When done right you’ll feel it only in your hamstrings and glutes.

Squats: Of course the staple of all leg workouts are the squats. I personally feel there is no set width to perform this exercise. Everyone is built differently and everyone’s hips are placed differently. Finding a comfortable width can be the challenge to performing this movement. I like to tell my clients to play around with the width of their stance until they find a comfortable spot and to work on pushing their hips back without pushing their knees too forward. Here I like to start off with box squats. This takes away the fear of falling and it gives the person a target to shoot for. This can be performed with a bench or a chair as well.

Start with placing the box/bench/chair behind you and find a comfortable wide stance
Push your hips back and come back up.
Focus on working on the endurance of the movement with your own body weight and then slowly add weight by making them hold dumbbells and eventually the bar.

Too many people jump to use the bar. If you cannot perform this movement with your own body properly in high repletion then you need to hold off on adding weight. Form is kind and it’ll guarantee you to be able to work out for years to come.

This is just a small peak of what Core Fitness has to offer. Finding a community of fitness experts and enthusiasts that speak to your goals and your soul is something that can really make a difference in your journey!

L.Y.F.E Gives You Core Fitness