Give the gift of health and fitness to your family or friends this holiday season! This is the perfect gift for their New Years goals and resolutions. You can purchase a gift certificate toward our online training or nutrition programs. Also, we have a special discount from now until January 5th of 20% off the online training and nutrition programs for the recipient. Read more about our online personal training here: http://cassfitness.net/online-personal-training/ Read more about our nutrition services here: http://cassfitness.net/nutrition-2/ Amount of your gift $25 Gift Certificate $25.00 USD $100…

The Hip Flexor Stretch is one of the most important stretches you can do. Most people have tight hip flexors, stemming from lots of sitting. Imagine if you sit for eight hours at work, sit for 1-3 hours a day for your commute (Yes, that is common in the Washington, DC area.), then sit on the couch when you get home? That is a recipe for not only overly tight hip flexors, but as a result, you could very likely experience low back pain. Also, tight hip flexors could pull…

Many people have shoulder pain or tightness that does not get discovered until you do a physical assessment with a personal trainer. Fortunately, there are stretches, such as the Shoulder Cross-Arm Stretch that can help alleviate some of the pain and/or help prevent shoulder issues from occurring when you are doing exercises like the Chest Press or a Push-Up. This stretch is an exercise that will help benefit you along with corrective strength exercises and a well planned program, so you are not doing the same pressing motions too much.…

Are you looking for a great triceps bodyweight exercise that requires absolutely no equipment? Well, if you have not tried Triceps Push-Ups, then it is time you treat your triceps to one of the best overall exercises you could possibly do. Triceps Push-ups are tougher than regular Push-Ups since your triceps are pushing the brunt of your bodyweight as opposed to your chest, which are larger muscles that can push a heavier amount of weight. You bring your chest all the way down to the ground and push up just…

The Lat Pulldown primarily targets the back. More specifically, the Lat Pulldown targets the Latissimus Dorsi or ‘lats’ muscles. It also works the lower and middle trapezius, the rhomboids, and the serratus anterior. The lats are powerful stabilizers for when you do exercises such as Squats and Deadlifts. With that being said, the Lat Pulldown is one of the best overall exercises you can do for your upper and mid back. Pay close attention to the instructions and the proper form demonstrated on the video. This exercise unfortunately is done…

Below is a link to the best self-myofascial tools that we use for muscle recovery not only for our clients, but we use them ourselves! From Foam Rollers for the back, legs, and hips, The Orb (More details to come on its wonderful benefits, including a wonderful self-myofascial release for the glutes), the Theracane for the upper back and shoulders, and basics such as the lacrosse ball and tennis ball.

I have recently received lots of questions regarding vegan options as far as protein powders. We also have clients with bodybuilding goals that also happen to be vegan or vegetarian. Traditionally, there were not a lot of good sources of protein for muscle recovery if you did not consume meat or whey protein. You were not going to sit and eat 10 servings of broccoli or six servings of legumes. Veggie burgers became very popular as an alternative. Even for a while, I consumed them on a regular basis, during…

2014 is wrapping up and hopefully your year was full of fun and physical activity had by everyone in your family. I hope this year brought you closer to the realization, if you weren’t already aware of it, that physical activity is not just an activity you do sporadically, but a life-style that even the youngest members of your family should be participating in and can benefit a great deal from. Please check out my previous posts to read more about those benefits if you haven’t done so already! Usually…

Well, fall is here and summer is now just an awesome memory. If you’re like me you’re wondering where summer went and why it always has to leave so abruptly! Lucky for us the fall season is just as awesome and rewarding as the summer. Children are back in school, which may not make them very happy, nit I’m sure parents everywhere are rejoicing. Another aspect which makes the fall an amazing and rewarding time of year are all the organized sports that not only can be viewed on television,…

From our experience, not only in personal training, but in our own personal weight loss and strength training goals, as well as goals our friends have met, they are achieved even more easily with a partner. CASS Fitness has trained couples, multiple friends, and multiple family members at the same time for our hour long personal training sessions even if their goals are different from each other. The clients sometimes get competitive with each other. It also adds another dimension of accountability, since you are in your uphill battle together.…