Tag: tampa personal trainers

power training ropes exercise Driven Fit Gym Tampa

Power & Strength Training: Why You Need It

Written by Luis Echeverry on August 20, 2020. Posted in Personal Training, Transformation.

Power is the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movement. While it sounds simple, what you probably don’t know is that after the age of 30, we start losing up to ten percent of our strength every decade and thereafter. To make it worse, we’re losing nearly three times that amount in power! So how we do maintain power as we age? It’s simple…with power and strength training!

What Is Power Training?

Power is the product of both strength and speed, and at Driven Fit in South Tampa, it is a key element in achieving overall fitness results. Because power training stimulates the nervous system, it can reduce the chance of injury when used frequently and correctly. Power training involves:

Increasing power (obviously)
Exercises that produce gains in power which help sustain physical ability
Finding an optimal combination of speed and weight training

Strength vs. Power

As we age, power flows more swiftly than strength. With that in mind, most of our custom fitness programs include exercises that produce gains in both strength and power.

Unfortunately, in our industry we know many other trainers underutilize the power training part. For instance, other personal trainers often focus on the amount of weight and number of reps without paying mind to the speed of execution. Team Driven knows optimal power training and overall fitness results are achieved when speed is added to weightlifting and resistance training.

Driven Fit Power Training Exercises

We’ve got several power training exercises in our arsenal, but these are by far our favorites:

Kettlebell Swings

Several studies show how kettlebell swings are significant to power development, especially in terms of vertical jumping. In addition, the kettlebell swing is an excellent way to incorporate conditioning and volume training for your glutes and hamstrings. We have a wide array at the studio so you can work up as you increase your strength!

Bust it with Battle Ropes

Ropes are a versatile tool that allows you to combine other movements to achieve a more efficient workout. Work your arms and legs with a hip hinge motion to swing the ropes and produce power in your hips, hamstrings, and glutes. You can blast calories and build muscle at our gym when you add these to your regimen.

Medball Slams

Perfect for power, perfect for releasing pent-up frustration! And, while you may think slamming a big, heavy ball is going to hurt, it’s one of the most joint-friendly power movements and easiest to learn.

Principles of Power Training

At Driven Fit, we understand the importance of power training (especially for our clients ages 30 and up) and incorporate it into most of our fitness programs. The philosophy of power training is straight forward and includes:

Choosing the right tool. Whether you choose a medball, kettlebell, or sandbag, power is achievable by using a variety of different tools. Choose what works best for you and your fitness program.
Performing power work first. Power exercises belong at the beginning of the workout when the body is fresh and not fatigued. Plus, we just like getting the real hard stuff out of the way and moving on with the rest of the workout. Hate us at the beginning and love us at the end!

Keeping reps moderate. Power work doesn’t involve utilizing super high reps or chasing fatigue. In fact, both are counterproductive in terms of developing power. Your trainer will make sure that the reps push you but don’t completely burn you out; we’ll also watch for proper form on every move.

Power Training at Driven Fit

Ready for power?! The personal trainers at Driven Fit can help you achieve the results you want! For more information on our fitness programs, please call or text our South Tampa wellness studio gym today at (813) 440-3016!

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Training for Triathlon: Indoor Meets Outdoor Workouts

Written by Luis Echeverry on July 11, 2019. Posted in Transformation.

Ready to crush that personal record?

When it comes to triathlons you’ve got to have the competitive edge both mentally & physically. Triathlon training is an endurance game, and a dedicated plan is necessary to perform at your best when race day arrives. When you train for a triathlon, outdoor training is ideal, but indoor training is needed too – and may be the only option when the temperatures skyrocket here in Tampa. Your training is a balance so we’re sharing how to make the most of your training indoors.

The advantage of training in the gym is a more precise workout – no rain, wind, or sand that makes each outdoor session unique. However, precision can lead to issues such as overuse of specific muscles, which can cause tight areas and imbalances. Combining certain strength and flexibility exercises will help prevent these issues from arising and make indoor training season productive.

Taking Triathlon Training Indoors

Swimming

You don’t need to be in the water to be prepared for the water! We recommend you focus the bulk of your workout on the core. Swimmers need core strength; Bosu planks, balance work on the TRX, or just hitting the mat for planks will do the trick. From there, to work your shoulders and back muscles, hop on the rowing machine. Alternate with jump squats for a nice circuit.

Working your chest while training in the gym is also key for swimming training. Work with your trainer on bench presses and using the lat pulldown machine.

Cycling

Yes, you can get out and ride basically any day of the week, but there are times that you can’t hit the road. The worst thing you can do when training for long, endurance rides is ride the bike for an hour.

Besides a stationary bike lacks side-to-side movement, pedaling in a fixed position, and the lack of position shift when climbing a hill. When riding outside, you are pulling on the handlebars, engaging your core and shifting your hips with the turns and obstacles. These specific movements are hard to replicate indoors.

Instead…

Improve your strength in the muscles used on the bike with machines and light bodyweight exercises. We recommend deadlifts, lunges, and squats with weights to really work your hamstrings, glutes, and back. For the machines, leg press and hamstring curls are a great strength building circuit.

Nothing replaces actual riding. But these in the gym exercises will help build strength and endurance, which should make cycling easier come race day.

Driven + SWS in South Tampa offers it all – bodyweight strength workouts, cycling, and stair climber workouts. Learn more about our gym.

Running

Sure, you can run on our magnetic resistance treadmill instead of running outside, for your miles, but we recommend you focus your indoor triathlon training on testing your endurance in other ways. A Tabata circuit work out (originally developed for Olympians) is a great option for you in between roads and trails. Try this!

General strengthening like squats and single-leg squats, weighted hip bridges, and skater lunges will work to strengthen your hips and glutes.

Don’t forget to stretch! You don’t want to overwork your hip muscles; make time for a cool down after.

Let’s Train

We love triathlons! It’s easy to use everyday gym equipment for triathlon prep. At Driven Fit, we believe in a combination of training and recovery that ultimately allows our clients to reach their personal goals – whether it’s to meet a PR or to take home the big prize. For more info on our South Tampa wellness studio, call or text (813) 440-3016.

Importance of Warm-Ups & Cardio at Driven + SWS

Written by Luis Echeverry on June 25, 2018. Posted in Transformation.

How to properly do the Jacobs Ladder!

(jk, please DO NOT try this.. we are not liable for shenanigans that may result in injuries lol)

How not to use a Jacobs Ladder Driven Fit

Now that we have your attention, I hope you all are having a good week! So, I have found that some are missing out on their warm-ups at Driven + SWS lately and thought I’d share some info on why warm-ups are so important.

If you haven’t been able to get in your workout this week, just message us at 813-440-3016 to get scheduled or sign up for Saturday classes here, and try to implement these warm-ups for your next training session

What are Warm-ups and why are they important?

Warm-ups are exercises that are done before a training session to help increase the body’s core temperature and allow for the muscles to be more elastic and less stiff when starting an exercise routine.

Warm-ups should be done before training and to specific muscles that will be worked that day. They are important in bringing blood flow to the working muscles, which would allow oxygen levels to be increased within the muscles. This, in turn, can help improve the endurance within those muscles. Warm-ups also help dilate the blood vessels which would allow for there to be less resistance against blood flow and stress on the heart.

Here are a few warmups that can be done before a training session:

-Ski ERG

-Resistance Band Y, I, T

-Frankenstein Walks

-High Knees

-Butt Kicks

What about cardio? Should cardio be done before or after training?

Based on the principles of specificity, I would recommend cardio post workout to elicit the best results in strength training and muscle building.

However, if your main goal is to run a marathon or train for an endurance sport/competition, then, cardio should be applied before and/or after a workout. Clearly there will always be a debate as to whether cardio should be done before or after a resistance training session, but, in my opinion, it all comes down to specificity and what your goals are and at what level of intensity you are doing the cardio. If you are interested in getting a free first workout and evaluation simply click here to register and book online

Learn More about Our Personal Training & Wellness Studio

Close to this Tampa Area; South Tampa, Channelside, Hyde Park, Downtown

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Fitness Challenge, romanian deadlift , personal trainers

12 Week Fitness Challenge in Tampa – $500 Prize

Written by Luis Echeverry on November 4, 2016. Posted in Driven Announcements.

A New 12 Week Fitness Challenge by DRIVEN!

Be Ready Before the New Year and avoid the Holiday Blues

Prize: All clients have a shot at winning $500 and amazing results!

The Challenge Begins November 14th 2016.

We want to take the opportunity as the holidays unfold to challenge clients to reach their goals before spring time. We understand this is a fine line and touchy subject for some to try to promote healthy eating and exercise during the holidays, but we say why not inspire and challenge everyone as well as throw some money on the table!

Fitness Challenge Requirements:
1. Checking in daily to online training platform (Monday – Friday)

2. Track all workouts assigned on off days including weight, repitition, workout notes such as: workout was challenging, workout was easy, etc.

3. Track nutrition using myfitness pal, which will sync to our Driven online personal training platform

4. Video documentation once a week on Friday during challenge to say whatever you want! Just document a 1-3 minute video each week you are assigned a workout by trainer.

5. Introduce someone to the challenge and have them join you on your days not working out with Trainer. Inspire someone and give them the gift of health! if they join you on the challenge there online training access to a plan will be free.

6. Special note during the 12 weeks the above requirements are only for Monday through Friday. If you like for your own accelarated results follow through with with the weekends.

*To join our fitness challenge request our online training platform free access for a friend or yourself by clicking here

To be eligible to be entered into $500 prize raffle at the end, you must complete all requirements for the duration of the challenge.

Happy Training! Team Driven

Driven Health & Fitness Services 1120 East Kennedy Blvd Tampa, FL 33602 View in google maps

The Best Personal Trainer and Massage Therapist Resource in the Tampa Bay Area