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What I Love About Fitness in Waterbury, Watertown, and Wolcott CT.

By admin on January 25, 2010

Full Disclosure to begin with…. I grew up in Wolcott and spent much of my childhood and early adult life playing sports and participating in fitness programs in Waterbury, Watertown, and Wolcott. Therefore i’m naturally drawn to the competitiveness of the area not only in sports, but in trying to be the best in the areas of health and fitness as well.

Waterbury has all the traits of a grinding hard working city, and this carries over a great deal into Wolcott and Watertown as well. The people of Waterbury love their basketball and as a result try to stay in the best shape possible through various fitness routines.

One of the most intriguing parts of bringing Health and Vanity Boot Camps and Personal Training to Waterbury is that much of the knowledge in the industry hasn’t made its way here yet. The people of Waterbury work their butts off in the gym and fitness centers, but haven’t been shown how to get the most out of their workout programs yet. There really aren’t any advanced small group personal training programs or boot camps in the area yet, and this is something Waterbury has sorely been missing out on.

The cities youth(especially its females) have always been very concerned with the shape their in and their physical appearance. This is what makes working in Waterbury, Watertown, and Wolcott so appealing to me. I’m able to bring in cutting edge fitness and exercise techniques through boot camps and personal training for a price that everyone can afford.

Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for a fitness boot camp that will take the cities of Waterbury, Watertown, and Wolcott by storm to finally give them the fitness programs they deserve.

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Why I Love Bristol, CT…

By admin on January 25, 2010

Right off the bat(pun intended)…. the city of Bristol is host to the Little League New England and Mid Atlantic Regional Playoffs every August. This creates a sense of excitement in the Bristol, Plainville, and Southington communities over one of my favorite sports. There is nothing as innocent and pure in the sporting or fitness world as Little League Baseball. It is also why I love being able to help the youth sport participants in the area become the best they could be at their sport through fitness, exercise, nutrition, and sport specific conditioning. Bristol is just a perfect place to help the city’s youth because the city is so passionate about it.

The other obvious attraction in the city of Bristol is the sports network ESPN. ESPN gives Bristol and Connecticut the leader in all of sports entertainment. It really doesn’t get much bigger then ESPN, and this is made even better by all the sports stars past and present the come in and out of the city.

With such a major player in the sports industry right down the street the people of Bristol are naturally more inclined to participate and prepare for sporting events. Whether young or old I find that many many people are looking to get involved in personal training, boot camps, nutrition, and overall health and fitness. This is great for me as a personal trainer and boot camp instructor to have so many people willing and eager to better their fitness levels on an everyday basis.

Plainville and Southington also show some of the same characteristics as Bristol does when it comes to signing up for boot camps and personal training. The area surrounding Bristol is a hot bed for sports and it creates great sport and fitness rivalries in and amongst these cities.

These are just a couple of the reasons why I love helping the people of Bristol, Plainville, and Southington increase their fitness levels through boot camps, and personal training.

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Why I Love West Hartford…

By Jason LaChance on January 25, 2010

West Hartford is located in Central Connecticut and right next to the city of Hartford. The neighboring towns include Bloomfield, Newington, Farmington and Avon. West Hartford is approximately 100 miles southwest of Boston and 100 miles northeast of New York City which give it quick access to two of the countries greatest cities. As a result of the influence of these cities West Hartford is able to among the best of the best when it comes to knowledge of fitness, boot camps, personal training, nutrition, and all aspects of health and wellness.

This understanding is what sets its citizens apart when choosing a personal trainer or boot camp in the area. It is much more enjoyable for me as a trainer and boot camp instructor to have clients that are knowledgeable and eager to learn like the people of avon, west hartford, bloomfield, newington, and farmington are.

The Town of West Hartford prides itself on its overall attractiveness, customer service, citizen involvement, public safety and education. This makes the town an attractive place to live and leads itself to the affluent and knowledgeable as referenced above. West Hartford has also become a destination for new businesses and families because it is a full-service community and quality educational programs.

West Hartford also boasts a wealth of shopping opportunities, from neighborhood stores to regional shopping centers including the famous West Hartford Center and Westfarms Mall. The manufacturing companies in the area also provide West Hartford with a affluent, but hard working class of people. This is a perfect scenario for a personal trainer and fitness boot camp instructor. Having a knowledgeable and hard working clientele is ideal for any fitness environment.

There are tons of great things to say about the West Hartford community, but I will save the rest of my praise for another day.

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Why boot camps?

By Jason LaChance on January 23, 2010

For the first 8 years of my fitness career I worked my ass off to help as many people reach their goals as possible while at the same time studying, and studying, and studying(way more then I ever did in college) to try and become one of the best trainers in the industry.

I would be up at 5am and train clients until noon… I would then crack open the books and study until 5 before training more clients until 8. Then it was either planning out programs or trying to get my own workout in. Weeekends consisted of either more clients or travelling to fitness workshops. Personal time? Yeah right.

This system worked extremely during my early twenties and I was able to help a ton of people and become really educated on the best way to do it. Once I got past the quarter century mark though this schedule began to wear on me. I lived a 1/2 mile from the beach in san diego and hadn’t touched the sand in months. Stress and fatigue had started to take its toll and I couldn’t keep up the workload. Not only was I suffering but my clients programs were suffering. Nobody likes a trainer who yawns their way through a session or who doesn’t have a plan for their clients progress. Something had to be done…

My brilliant solution at the time was to cut back on clients and focus on giving them my best. I figured the less clients I had the more attention I could give. This was true to an extent except I really didn’t cut back more then 5~10 hours a week and had cut a good portion of my business in the process. At that rate the $1500 workshops and cont ed courses would have to be cut also. now instead of time I was sacrificing the commitment and investment I had made to myself and being the best I could for clients. If I couldn’t learn from the best then I couldn’t deliver the best to my clients.

With that plan going nowhere quickly I was at a crossroads of where to go next in my career. Luckily the real solution was about to present itself.

A client of mine at the time did a ton of work with local charities and asked if I would help by teaching a group class on the beach with all the proceeds going to the areas kids. I was a little hesistant at first because whenever I thought of group classes it reminded me of step class, 80′s aerobics, and body pump. Spandex and headbands were definitely not my thing, but I agreed based on the idea of helping the kids out.

That decision literally changed my life. I realized during the class that I could still deliver personal attn and an incredible workout. Not only that but the thrill I got oujt of helping 25 people in less then an hour was unbelievable. I had helped more people in that short time then I had the whole week. With that a new direction for my career and business had formed. Ambitions of a personal life even began to develop!

Fast forward a little over a year and I’ve now helped hundreds of people reach their goals through boot camps in san diego, los angeles, and now in my home state of ct. Boot camps have given me a chance to expand my education further then I ever thought possible, and given me the means to give my clients the cutting edge techniques they deserve.

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Why that 45 minutes on the elliptical is a waste of time.

By Jason LaChance on January 22, 2010

Have you ever taken a good hard run around the West Hartford Town Center? Through Blue Back Square and onto North Main Street? How did you feel when you were done? Winded? Refreshed? Like you just had a great workout?

Now think about that feeling compared to hopping on one of the ellipticals at one of the gyms in West Hartford. Its a different feeling right? Not quite as inspiring and not nearly as good of a workout.

There’s a reason for this and its not just the smelly gym equipment. Chances are most of your workouts don’t take place outdoors and when you do get out there your body is very suprised and responds. The key to getting results is to continually suprise your body with new workouts. Your regular 45 minutes on the elliptical just doesn’t cut it anymore after the first few weeks. In fact if all you are doing is cardio then your body probably stopped responding a long time ago.

Bodyweight and resistance training will take you much further in getting the body you want, and in a much shorter time frame. If your looking to really have a toned and healthy looking body for the beautiful West Hartford spring then you need to start hitting the weights. This could be with a personal trainer or in a boot camp or even on your own.

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The Top 10 Habits and Thoughts of Female Gym Goers…

By Jason LaChance on January 21, 2010

The inspiration for this post comes from being in countless number of fitness studios and gyms over my 9 years as a personal trainer. Most recently in West Hartford, Plainville, Bristol, and Farmington, CT. I’ll preface this by saying that guys are just as foolish as girls about how to workout, but I’ll save that post for another day.

Just remember that, while you may have developed bad habits now, you are always just another day from heading in the right direction. Developing correct habits usually takes about three weeks of consistency before they start to become ingrained.

Here we go…The Top 10 Habits and Thoughts of Female Gym Goers:

1. Your afraid to lift “heavy” weights, or to drop your reps below 15, in fear of getting bulky.

2. When asked ”do you workout?” You respond “Yes I do 45 minutes on the elliptical 5 days a week.”

3. You started off using the 3-10 lb dumbbells 6 months ago and are still using the 3-10 lb dumbbells today.

4. You think Zumba is the best workout ever.

5. You try the latest and greatest ab toning, butt shaping, arm blasting workouts from Shape each month. You possibly even carry their cheat sheet around the gym with you.

6. You have recently purchased P90X or are seriously considering it.

7. Crunches and the ab machine are your idea of a “core” workout.

8. You think aerobics and step classes are the way girls are supposed to train.

9. Your convinced side bends and hyperextensions will get rid of your love handles.

10. You don’t understand why the contestants on the Biggest Loser could lose so much weight, but you can’t drop 5 LBS.

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Pick 5: Home Fat Burning Workout

By Jason LaChance on July 17, 2009

Pick 5

1 min each exercise/2 sets of each

Bodyweight Squats
Pushups
Planks
Lunges
Crunches

Add a set of 1 min of Jumping Jacks in between each exercise. Total time: 20 minutes

You can do this workout anywhere… Any open piece of grass in West Hartford Center, your home, or any park of your choosing in the Farmington Valley area.

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Hot Summer Workouts in the Farmington Valley

By Jason LaChance on July 17, 2009

Well we finally have a 90 degree day in CT again. Today will be the first day to hit that mark since April.

With the crappy weather we’ve had its very easy to let a day like this sneak up on you hydration wise. Just keep in mind how much water you have throughout the day, and if you think its enough then have some more. Today is also a good day to mix in more fruits and veggies as they have water that will also keep you hydrated

Well anyway hope everyone enjoys this hot hot Friday in Connecticut!!

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West Hartford Boot Camps

By Jason LaChance on July 17, 2009

Health and Vanity Boot Camps are coming to West Hartford!

Finally West Hartford will have a top notch-no nonsense boot camp to call their own.

The location is coming soon and will be very close to West Hartford Center. Check out our Boot Camp programs for info on the classes we will offer.

You can now reach us at 860-255-8484 to sign up or to get a better idea of what we offer.

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Morning Workouts in West Hartford and Farmington

By admin on July 17, 2009

Ahhhhh….The morning time. The ULTIMATE test of ones motivation.

Personally I hate mornings, but even I have to admit how good it feels to accomplish something before most people are even awake. A morning workout can give you the energy and confidence to tackle the tough day ahead.

Brian Tracy has a motivationally series called “Squash That Frog” with the premise being get the toughest thing out of the way first. Working out may or may not be the hardest part of your day, but in either case it serves as a great jumpstart to a fullfilling day.

Who in the Farmington and West Hartford areas jump starts there day with a workout? Anyone in the West Harford area interested in early early morning boot camps?

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