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Articles! Videos! Musings on Fitness!​

NO FEAR, JUST FIERCENESS: Empowering Women, Supporting the YWCA

1/31/2018

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TruFit Personal Training Studios is happy to announce it will be hosting a women’s self defense workshop on Saturday, March 3, from 10AM-12PM at 610 Davis Street to benefit the Evanston/North Shore YWCA.
Everyone deserves to feel safe and empowered. In this workshop with American Women’s Self Defense Association-certified instructors Michelle Courvais and Aaron Christensen, participants will learn valuable non-violent de-escalation and avoidance skills, as well as fundamental defense tactics against physical and sexual assault.
More specifically, attendees will learn skills like environmental awareness and situational control, boundary setting, wrist grab and choke releases, striking techniques and targets, as well as your legal rights following an assault. All skill levels are welcome.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Evanston/North Shore YWCA whose mission includes to empower women. Participants can sign up by donating to the event’s GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/selfdefense-workshop-trufit. Signing up ahead of time is encouraged! The suggested donation to participate is $25.
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TruFit’s own mission is to be a fun, safe and inclusive space for Evanston’s diverse community to work on their health and fitness goals. “Fear of judgement is a major reason people don’t seek help to get in shape,” explains owner Isabelle Libmann. “We work hard to cultivate a culture of fun and empowerment while still offering the best personal training services.” TruFit has committed to raising $4000 as well as volunteer hours to give back to the Evanston community for 2018. In 2017, TruFit ran charity events for local organizations including the Center for The Independent Futures, The Ted Fund, The Evanston/North Shore YWCA, ESCCA and the Evanston Food Pantry.
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It's Getting Hot In Here: An Easy Warmup Exercise To Help You Feel Toasty

1/18/2018

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I’m a HUGE fan of rocking for a variety of reasons:

  • It’s easy but can be progressed to feel more challenging
  • It helps reestablish better posture
  • It integrates your upper body with the lower body
  • It’s super safe
  • It’s soothing (you rock babies to sleep after all, right?)
  • AND, it really gets the blood pumping, gets your core temperature up and helps you forget, even if only momentarily, that it’s cold outside.
Here's a video showing you how it's done:
Let's break it down:

  1. Get onto your hands and knees, hands right under shoulders, knees right under hips.
  2. Look up with your eyes and keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth; breath in and out through your nose.
  3. Don’t think about bringing your belly button to your spine here, just let your belly hang :)
  4. Rock your hips back toward your feet (toes can be tucked or pointed, up to you) and then rock forward. Make sure you’re not holding your breath.

You can play with the direction you go in (you don’t have to go forwards and backwards, you can also go side to side, in a circle, diagonally; go nuts!).

You can play with tempo (go slowly or quickly).


You can play with taking one limb off the floor while you rock (so, for example, reach one arm straight out in front of you and do a few slow rockbacks and then switch arms; does it feel different from one side to another? You can also do this reaching one leg straight back. You get the idea.)

You can also lift your knees off the ground an inch and slowly go back and forth (again, make sure you’re breathing!). The first time I did this variation, my quads were so sore!

The rockback is also a great, safe way to either warm up your squat pattern or to reestablish your squat if your body’s had a really hard time getting into that position during training sessions.

Rockbacks can be really great to help with mobility in arthritic knees, hips or shoulders! Don’t go into pain but slowly play with the range of motion you can manage. If you have tender knees, make sure there’s padding underneath them and if kneeling on the floor is still too much, elevate yourself by placing your hands on a steady chair or bench and your knees off the ground.

In terms of how to incorporate this into your own workout, there are a few things you can do: 
  • Use it as part of your warmup
  • Do a variation between sets
  • Use it to pattern your squat before doing them
  • Or just do them on their own any time you get a break to move around a little! (And if you don't "have" time in your day, make time. You only need a minute or two!)
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So play on and warm up, friends!
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On Being the Last Kid Picked In Gym Class

1/5/2018

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When I say that TruFit's biggest core value is to provide a fun, safe and approachable space to exercise and that my own training company's purpose is to help clients feel empowered to take back control of their bodies, it's because I meet so many people (men and women) who, because of bad experiences in the past, feel like exercise isn't for them. 

I got to meet with a woman in her mid-50s this week who, after years and years of saying away from it, has decided to give the gym and training a try. The first thing she told me when we sat down was that she was the last kid picked in gym class. I had a visceral reaction as soon as she said that because I, too, was the last kid picked in gym class and WOW is that a feeling that comes right back to you: Hot tingling in your solar plexus like tiny pins poking at it; clammy hands; the unstoppable urge to look down. Those moments when you're so young can have a lasting impact on the health decisions you make as an adult! Legions of us last-kid-picked humans have made uncountable excuses for why working out just isn't for us. (I even failed at the solo sports in gym class!) 

So, you know, it's January and YOU might be looking for a new gym or trainer or program to do and I thought it would be a good idea to list out how finding said gym/trainer/program SHOULD go and when to run in the opposite direction. 

What to look for:
  • A human being that is available to sit down with you one on one to talk about you and about their programs
  • A human being who asks you lots of questions and lets you talk without talking over you
  • Someone who answers ALL of your questions (including, "What are your rates?") without being dodgy (or admits to not knowing the answer and that they'll find out)
  • Someone who can be up front with you if they're not a good fit, who can also refer you to someone who is
  • Someone who is so interested in you they offer you a program you'll be successful in 
When to run away:
  • When someone wants to lock you into a contract you can't get out of, like, right away
  • When someone insists on pointing out all of the "things" in you they'd like to "fix" 
  • If you feel uncomfortable in any way (trust your gut! There are lots of other options!)
  • When the gym you're going to acts like it's their way or the highway and that way is not your way
  • If the person you're meeting with doesn't ask questions about YOU or your goals, background, lifestyle and all of that good stuff
  • If it's clear the "vibe" in the gym isn't one you like
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The woman I met with today told me a story about how, when they played softball in that dreaded gym class, the teacher gave her a ball and said, "Throw it." She did and the kids laughed and made fun of her. They did this because, as she said, no one took 15 minutes to teach her HOW to throw the ball.

We all know WHAT we need to do. Look for the people who will take the time to teach you HOW to do it. 

Happy New Year, friends! Please let us know if I can be of any help in 2018! Shoot an email to info@trufitpersonaltraining.com or call 312-497-8999!
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