Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Aire & TRX go together like PB&J

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Since the last blog was an overview of our new classes, I figure, why not lead my second blog with Aire’s strongest point: Total Body Resistance Exercise, Suspension Training System aka TRX. Sounds cool, I know and that’s cause it is.

Let me tell you a little bit about the TRX. It was created by a former Navy Seal, Randy Hetrick, to give himself and his teammates a world-class workout with limited space and time. It now works for the general public for the same reasons.

Using just your body weight alone, there are hundreds of exercises you can perform. Adding TRX to that gives you over 300 more. You can transition quickly between exercises, and types of training like strength, flexibility and power. Leveraging your body weight with the TRX also allows the individual to select the intensity and comfort, so no matter a person’s fitness level, they can come to class and have a safe yet challenging workout.

TRX also has a community of experts working on its versatility and application. That means it has more exercises and techniques on the way. With that being said, we here at Aire have to stay on-the-ball regarding all the updates, exercises and methodologies that come out. All this translates to cutting edge fitness and different classes with different focuses. Another bonus is that you’ll be really comfortable with the TRX, as results of our research and expert instruction.  Pick up one of your own TRX Suspension Trainers to take with you when you travel so you don’t have to miss a workout.

As those that have been to our gym know, we consistently run TRX classes. The energy is high, the music is loud and workout is hard, but our connection with TRX goes past that. Since the TRX was born for working with a team (a seal team to be specific) it was only a natural fit here at Aire, where team training is our focus and strong point. We are one of the few facilities in all of San Diego that offer group TRX classes and the only one in Downtown.

Next Blog you get to meet one of our personal trainers, Mike Sherbakov. He was born in Russia and is really tan. Not only is he a stereotype breaker but he has dreamy blue eyes.

Interested in taking one of our TRX classes? Sign up by clicking here.

Look for our next blog,

-DS

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Changes at Aire

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Things, They’re a Changin’

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Aire Urban Performance Co-operative has been streamlined and upgraded from our training department down to our very name. Our gym is now called Aire Urban Fitness, just to clear up the confusion about us being an oxygen bar. We’ve spent some time hitting the books and revamped our training techniques to be more effective and get you to your goals faster.

So you must be thinking, ‘what does this mean for me?’ Aire now has over 25-group classes a week with new highly qualified instructors, a cutting edge training department, an expanded Pilates Department and more of our TRX classes that are like always, second to none.

Starting next week, there will be an onsite esthetician who will offer traditional facials and peels along with express treatments for those of you that can’t sit still for more than 30-minutes; spray tans if you haven’t been getting your base tan on. For more information on her services, click here.

We are still the best TRX gym in San Diego and because of demand, we have added more classes. If you asked me what our best class and attraction was, it would have to be our TRX classes taught by the flawless and sometimes cruel (just when she’s teaching) Jen VanderSanden. We’ve added Spin by Karl Coleman, who is an insanely competitive triathlete and knows his way around a bike.  A new addition is Cycle & Flow with Jennifer Tipton. Cycle & Flow is perfect because you spin yourself up nice and tight for the first 25-minutes and then bring the intensity down and stretch out with Yoga for the next 25-minutes. We’ve also added Kettlebells at 6am, which is great combination of weights and cardio taught by Daniel Soto.  He is RKC certified which means unlike a dude who just figured it out watching YouTube videos, he passed a pretty strenuous test to say he can teach Kettlebells. If you like that burning feeling in your muscles you need to come to Lisa Liles’ Mat Pilates class. Last but certainly not least is AJ Miller and Mike Sherbakov’s Weightflifting Class. The best way to describe it is to imagine a bootcamp class’s big brother. It has similar elements but hits heavier and harder.

For those swim, bike, run fanatics we have one of the only two CompuTrainers in SoCal so bring your bike down, hook in to the CompuTrainer and preview any of the 70.3 and full Ironman courses offered.

That’s a general class description and in later blogs I’ll go into more detail about why these classes can benefit you and what each kind of exercise is all about.

To sign up for any of these awesome classes, click here.

Best,

DS

Weekend Results for Cal 70.3 Computrainer

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

HI, it was another busy weekend with some very determined riders completing approximately 56 miles to complete the California 70.3 bike portion of the race. Here are the results:

March 5 -

Eric H – 2:43 – 219 avg watts – Great job for your first time!

Allison F. – 2:53 – 172

Gene Y – 3:01 – 168

Katy L. – 3:03 – 159

April F. – 3:04 – 157

Luke G. – 3:12 – 175

Norma G. – 3:16 122

March 6-

I have never seen a group have this much fun as today’s ladies! Here are your results:

Elsa E. – 3:09 –  141 avg watts

Ana Luisa – 3:15 – 129

Ana G. – 3:40 – 118

Gabriella T – 3:43 – 104

Rosa S. – 3:50 – 100

Elizabeth – 3:52 – 100

We have 1 more session left before the race, check back for results. Good luck to everyone, I’ll be cheering you on! Jen

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Wow what a busy weekend of California 70.3 Computrainer, here are the results:

Saturday 2/26

Felipe L – 2:36.53 avg 244 watts

Peter B – 2:41.56 avg 228

Chris B – 2:43.54 avg 205

Karl C – 2:48.48 avg 202

Katie A – 2:58.38 avg 168

Fred L – 3:01.45 avg 182

Liz B – 3:06.44 avg 149

Michelle L – 3:13.36 129 avg

Sunday 2/27

Whitney H – 2:47.16 avg 204

Elsa E – 3:10.54 avg 139

Simon V – 3:12.51 avg 163

Jeannie H – 3:21.44 avg 121

Marison B – 3:22.24 avg 127

Remmie – 3:37.15 avg 101

Cathie E – 3:57.40 avg 88

Nice job everyone! We will be riding Saturday and Sunday 3/5and 3/6 also so check back for times again.

Final Ironman AZ Computrainer Session

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Saturday was the last in our series of Ironman Arizona Computrainer rides with a full house making their final push. Data is as follows:

Karl C – 1:41:05 @ 237 watts (loop record)
Peter B – 1:46:07 @ 215 watts
Trevor B – 1:47:47 @ 196 watts
Ryan A – 1:48:41 @ 197 watts
Reg H – 1:49:30 @ 190 watts
Karen F – 2:02:58 @ 135 watts

Great work everyone. Enjoy your taper and go get ‘em on race day.

The CompuTrainer: Giving You the Edge in Races

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Want to train for a race you’ve never done before, but want to know where the hills, valley, curves in the course are? The CompuTrainer MultiRider system at Aire Urban Performance is designed to give competitive riders an edge, all while riding their own bikes and giving them insight into the course topography for ANY race!

Why use the CompuTrainer at Aire? It gives you the invaluable advantage of knowing how steep and difficult the hills are BEFORE you physically get to the race. It’s the equivalent of getting insider information about the race course. It’s also 20% harder to ride any given course, so when you actually ride it outdoors, your endurance and stamina will be noticeably better than if you had trained outdoors, therefore your times will be faster. Consider it Cliffs Notes for racing–it gives you course previews like nothing else!

Aire Urban Performance is one of only two facilities in San Diego that offers the CompuTrainer system and the only gym to offer any course. You can always request a course and they will run it for you. Additionally, you can get a group together (up to eight riders) and pick a course or sign up for upcoming scheduled courses. Ride against competitors or against yourself! $30 per person with a generous 4-hour maximum ride. Treadmills are also available to run off the bike.

Want more proof that your times will improve with the CompuTrainer? Check out the race times for CompuTrainer-sponsored riders here.  Courses that Aire athletes have ridden include Ironman Coeur d’Alene, 70.3 Boise, 70.3 Lake Stevens, Ironman Canada, Ironman St. George and more.

For more information and schedule, check the Aire Facebook page, sign up for email notices or click here.

Finding the Zen in Cycling: Aire’s New Cycle ‘n Zen Class

Friday, August 6th, 2010

In my quest to take every class that Aire Urban Performance offers, my latest conquest was the relatively new fusion class Cycle ‘n Zen. I’ve never been a huge fan of cycling. I’ve taken spin classes before and even though rationally I KNOW it’s a great workout, my leg muscles doth object too much. Up, down, down, up! I just get a headache following the instructions.

Enter Cycle ‘n Zen–a half hour of intense cycling followed by calm half hour of flow yoga–all in a slightly heated dark room. No doubt, the first half hour of cycling to pumping music was intense, but it was only half an hour! Long enough to reap toning and cardio benefits, but short enough for a weinie like me to be able to do. After that half hour, my shirt was soaked and I felt really good!

After the cycling, the class took to its mats. The music slowed and softened. Our bodies relaxed and stretched. We did traditional yoga asanas like warrior one, two and three, tree posture and savasana (my fave).

After getting my cardio and meditation of the day, I took a quick shower at Aire and was ready to face the day, a little thinner and a little calmer.

Maybe I will work up to an hour spin class one of these days soon.

Four Common Fitness Myths

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Unfortunately, there are lots of fitness myths floating around. Below are four myths that keep persisting and can possibly affect your workout adversely.

Myth #1: You burn more fat when you exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

This is a fitness and weight loss myth that has been swimming around for quite a while.

Here’s why: After a full night’s rest, your muscles’ supply of fuel in the form of glycogen, which is stored glucose, is greatly depleted. Not only do your muscles run on glucose, but so does your brain. Working out on an empty stomach can impair muscle function, because after using up any glycogen, the body generally uses muscle tissue for energy. Since you’re working out to build lean muscle mass, you don’t want to use it as fuel. Eat a banana before your morning workout so you don’t “hit the wall.”

Myth #2: You burn significantly more calories if you walk or run holding hand weights.

This is a piece of fitness fiction as well.

Here’s why: Moving your own body weight through space when running and walking will create enough effort to burn calories. Holding weights will only slow you down, decreasing your aerobic output and calories burned. Plus, holding weights can put you at risk for upper body injury and could affect your gait, leading to an overuse injury caused by improper form. If you want a more intense workout, run or walk faster or go for a longer period of time.

Myth #3: You should always stretch before cardio and weight training.

This is fitness fiction.

Here’s why: A cold muscle will tear much more easily than a warm one. Warming up for any fitness activity is important — try a dynamic warmup, but stretching is best saved for after your workout when your muscles are primed for flexibility training.

Myth #4: For 12 hours after working out, your body continues to burn additional calories at a high rate, about 50 percent of the rate of when you were exercising.

This is unfortunately fiction.

Here’s why: When you work out, your cells are essentially working out too. Post exercise, the cells need to restore their functioning to pre-exercise levels and that requires oxygen, which takes energy, aka calories. This cell restoration burns calories, but at the most the amount is 15 percent of the total amount of calories burned. So if you burned 300 calories actively exercising at the gym, you will burn about an extra 45 calories over the next two hours.

[via Fitsugar]

Running vs. Walking- Which One Burns More Calories?

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
What’s the Burn? A Calorie Calculator
You can use the formulas below to determine your calorie-burn while running and walking. The “Net Calorie Burn” measures calories burned, minus basal metabolism. Scientists consider this the best way to evaluate the actual calorie-burn of any exercise. The walking formulas apply to speeds of 3 to 4 mph. At 5 mph and faster, walking burns more calories than running.
Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile
Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
Running
.75 x your weight (in lbs.)
.63 x your weight
Walking
.53 x your weight
.30 x your weight
Adapted from “Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running,” Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004.

Lake Stevens 70.3 Computrainer Results

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

1st Loop Results:

Karl C – 1:25:44 @ 230 watts
Peter S – 1:32:33 @ 207 watts
Mike S – 1:35:08 @ 190 watts
Jessica – 1:47:08 @ 144 watts
Karen F – 1:47:48 @ 128 watts
Chris F – 1:55:00 @ 162 watts