Intermittent fasting may sound like an alternative word to starvation, but it’s actually quite the opposite. Fasting differs from starvation in one critical way. Starvation is the involuntary absence of food while fasting is the voluntary withholding of food for spiritual, health, or other reasons. Intermittent Fasting is an incredible useful tool for fitness athletes, but you actually don’t need to change much of what you are currently doing to experience its benefits. In fact, you are likely already practising it in what you normally do in your daily routine. When you sleep, you are engaging in a type of intermittent fasting as Mike Lee explains in the video above.

At OPEX we believe in the upper pulling chain of action.  The argument around if or when humans should participate in upper pulling activities will go on forever depending on who you are speaking to.

When was the last time you scheduled an important meeting? A business project? A personal event with your loved ones? Scheduling important events is a simple act but it can make all the difference when it comes to personal and business success.

Everyone is always asking how to better their nutrition habits. What can I do to perform better, to feel better, to look better? From Keto to Paleo to IIFYM, how do we know what's best for us? Most times we forget about the little things, the simple pieces that will help make us healthier.

Don’t try and speed through the overhead squats. It could tire out your shoulders too quickly and set you up for failure in the double under portion of this workout. The best approach to take is slow and steady.

A lot of people come to me with rehab questions, and rightfully so.  I’ve sort of gained a reputation for being the “rehab” guy.  The truth though, is that I’m actually a performance enhancement coach.  I just happened to have been lucky enough to have a dozen or so mentors who were all experts in various fields, all of whom except one had at least one doctorate.  This gave me a wide variety of philosophies to draw upon in order to become a complete and total coach with a very deep understanding of how to enhance performance.  While I do love helping people move better, get out of pain and in general live more healthy functional lives, my biggest passion is building world class athletes, and that’s what I truly do best.

“In the fitness world we get really good at being entertainers without really connecting to what the client came through the door for. I feel that now when we coach our clients, we give them what’s in their best interest rather than trying to make them happy all the time.”

Rather than discuss the ‘best’ time to become a gym owner, we first need to discuss when it’s not good idea. Because, quite frankly, there are a lot of people in this industry who have no business owning a gym. No pun intended.

“I love everything about CrossFit, Its fun to lift heavy and move fast… I guess they call us the crazy ones because we love to hurt.”

Assess don’t guess; that’s the mantra we use to remind coaches of the groundwork necessary to write a solid fitness prescription. One tool used in that assessment is the Flywheel Bike. First employed by Swedish researchers a century ago to study force curves during bicep contractions, the bike is useful in assessment in that it’s safe, consistent and provides comprehensive data.

Get over the complaining of DB’s and the like – they are coming, you have been warned, its is the price we all pay for admission. If you are an owner of a gym this is a shared responsibility between the client, the organization of the testing and you – so lay judgement appropriately. (NOT on the DB’s)

Movement is something integral to human existence as well as physical performance and health. Health experts continue to remind us that adherence to the mechanics of proper movement is vital to overall health whether we are a weightlifting champion or an average joe. But what exactly is quality movement and can it be defined and understood in a clear cut manner?

Starting a second gym can be an incredibly risky venture, especially if you have no cash in your bank from which to fund it. Without cash, you will likely have to accrue debt in order to start a second business. The more debt you take on, the more risk you have. Too much debt can prevent growth and even destroy your fitness business entirely.

Andrew is fairly new to olympic lifting. His first phase is to start from the top down. His coach Brian Foley is working on positional work as well as teaching Andrew how to use his hips as the prime mover in his lifts.

But, because her days had her leaving her house at 5 a.m. to coach and not returning until the evening, getting through the course that she knew would make her a way better coach, always got bumped to the weekends. And often she needed time to recharge on the weekends, so she’d bump the education to the next week.

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts are constantly hunting for the best diet or nutritional program to enhance their fitness and health. After all, the best asset to any health nut is an easy to follow nutritional program that guarantees results. But is there such a thing as the ‘best’ diet?

Developing a younger CrossFit Athlete to a high level first requires the athlete to possess a strong passion for the sport.  Desire and perseverance will play one of the greatest roles taking young talent to Games.   What a CrossFit athlete needs to understand is the “Long Game” in training and development and that there isn’t any short cuts.

In order to be successful in competitive CrossFit, persistence is required. Yes, it’s a cliche. But it’s a cliche because it’s true. CrossFit is no exception to this rule despite what the sport appears to be. Talent will only carry you so far. Unfortunately, this lesson seems to be lost on much of the CrossFit Community. Social media stories would have us believe that training to compete in the Sport of Fitness is a much shorter track than it actually is. As a result, there are tons of athletes out there who are burned out from a process of training they were never actually educated on or bought into, to begin with.

To get a fitness trainer certificate and work as a personal trainer in a studio gym, boutique gym or group fitness gym can take as little as a weekend seminar. To receive a personal trainer certificate through bodies like ISSA, NASM or ACE and work in a globo gym takes on average 3-6 months to study the course materials and pass the test. To study and pass the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program quizzes and case studies takes most fitness coaches 6-12 months. 

It all begins with an idea.