Straight Shot Radio

Teaming up with Chris has allowed me to take what was once a side project of mine, and turn it into a full-time job where I can help more people, have an awesome team of coaches, and build the company up to what it is now while planning for what we want it to be in the future. I wanted to have Chris on so you all could get to know him and his backstory, hear how we met and figured out how to combi...

What is poor sleep doing to your health? Is your lack of sleep affecting your workout performance? Is it sabotaging your weight loss? Could you be losing muscle mass and gaining body fat even though you’re eating correctly and training hard during your workouts?   In this episode, I explain just how sleep deprivation is negatively affecting your health, and give you some ideas on how to improve yo...

Fitness and Nutrition coach Mary Teunis started her athletic career as a competitive gymnast at age 5. After a car accident ended her career in the sport in her late teens, she found Crossfit and within a year was competing at a high level on a Crossfit Team. During this time she became increasingly interested in the nutritional side of health and fitness and went to school to study the subject so...

One of the hottest new fitness trends is the recent blending of bodybuilding and functional fitness methods. Variations of this system are being used by functional fitness enthusiasts who have aesthetic goals along with wanting to feel good, move well, and be fit enough to enjoy their active lives.  In this episode, I detail how I believe this trend came about, explain what comprises these program...

It's the 100th Episode of Straight Shot Radio!!! I wanted to mark the occasion by having some of the Straight Shot Crew join me to take on a BUNCH of questions you all submitted on social media. SST Co-Owner Chris and Coach Delaney joined me via Zoom and we had a great time sharing our thoughts on a wide range of topics. We discuss at-home exercises, "jump-starting" weight loss, returning to worko...

So what is it like to return to exercising after having COVID?  Strength and Conditioning Coach Kevin Barry found out first hand what it’s like after contracting COVID-19 in late 2020. During his illness and recovery, Kevin was extremely good with documentation and using both biometric and performance markers as indicators in his progress as he began slowly building his fitness back up. In this ep...

Let's make 2021 the year you resolve your aches and pains! Dr. Garrett Foland from Kinetix Physiotherapy and Performance joins me this episode to explain the anatomy and biomechanics behind impingement, what causes it, what the symptoms are, how he treats it as a physical therapist, what exercises you can do to avoid it, AND what NOT to do if you have it so you can get on the road to resolving you...

It’s estimated that over half of US adults will make a New Year’s Resolution this year. While these resolutions include self-improvement, money, family, love, and career goals, topping the list by far are health-based resolutions. In this episode, I give you some specific ideas of manageable, health-based resolutions, some tips to get you started off correctly, and some perspective on how to maint...

Let's talk about all that workout sweat! Specifically, what sweat is, where it comes from, why we do it, and why it’s actually healthy. Along the way, we’ll dispel some common myths about sweating and give you some practical tips for rehydrating and replenishing your body after a sweat-filled workout.

Starting out as a very young coach, I was much more opinionated and sometimes easily influenced when it came to my stances on certain exercise science hot-topics than I am now. After spending over a third of my life in the same career, I have ZERO problem admitting when I was wrong before, and I am completely comfortable with changing my mind when presented with new or better, scientifically-backe...

Let me be honest with you...being a personal trainer and fitness business owner in 2020 has been extremely difficult. But I'm not unique. This has been a hard year for you and everyone we both know too. But rather than complain about everything that's gone down in 2020, I choose to be grateful for the things that have happened this year, as each of them was put there for a reason.  I pull back the...

In the last episode of Straight Shot Radio, I said that we might be looking at another round of gym shutdowns. This may mean you need to train at home during the winter, which could mean you need to train outside or in your garage. Even if gyms DON’T close, you may prefer to train at home, or maybe you just prefer running or lifting outside!   Whatever it is, with temperatures dropping, you need t...

How prepared are you for the second wave of gym shutdowns? Gyms in Europe have been shut down for weeks, and gyms in the US are now being forced to close as well over concerns of Coronavirus as we enter cold and flu season on top of it.  In this episode, I give you my breakdown of what you need for equipment, what kind of home workouts you can focus on, and how to build a stock of non-perishable H...

Inversion tables, broken bodies, goal setting, beards and performance, a pretty solid "would you rather," and more of your questions answered in this episode! Have a question you'd like covered in a future episode? Just leave a comment below!    

It's storytime! Here's a short tale of the time when I ate the same exact meal 2-4 times a day EVERY DAY for 10 weeks when I was gaining muscle for Strongman.  Sure, it's not something everyone should do, BUT I learned 5 important lessons from eating like this that I think could help you find consistency in your diet so you can accomplish your fitness goals. 

The Straight Shot group of coaches is growing, and I’d like you all to get to know my coaches! This episode's guest is Coach Delaney Bodnar. Just this week she made the leap and is now working solely for us here at Straight Shot and I couldn’t be happier to introduce (or reintroduce) you all to this talented Coach.  We get into her history with competitive weightlifting, her journey from student t...

Do the people you follow inspire you or frustrate you? Are you trying to copy what someone else is doing in an attempt to achieve the same results? Have you ever thought to yourself that all of that comparing MIGHT not be helping you get fitter - or happier? Success in your health, fitness, and happiness is just as individual as the paths that get you there. In this episode, I walk you through nut...

When consulting clients on making a big change in their fitness program, many times they'll be hesitant, stating that they "don't want to lose what they worked for" by trying something new.  Trust me, it's not that easy. I get where you're coming from though, and I hope with this episode you can see that the fitness adaptations that you work for are NOT as easily lost as you think. Especially if y...

Coaches and athletes all over social media have been on a tirade recently, criticizing people's warm up methods. While there are better and worse warm ups for your activity and goals in the gym, a lot of this talk in absolutes is just clickbait.  I put aside the hyperbole and give you a clear breakdown of what types of warm ups are best for you and your goals, and why someone else's exercise prefe...

If you approach every workout with the goal of getting the best time, most rounds, most weight lifted, or most "points," you're going to end up training in ways that are actually counterproductive to your fitness goals.  In this episode, I outline 5 progressive training methods, and how training for them requires you to get out of competition mode, and train smarter. 

Heart rate based training has been around for a long time, but in recent years it has exploded with boutique studios creating an addicting workout experience for competitive fitness enthusiasts. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? In this episode I break down the science behind heart rate based training, how it’s been used in the past vs. how it’s being used now, and the pros and cons of this hot...

You may have been in a group training session where the instructor led the class in a deck of cards workout or maybe they made up some other game to make the workout a little more fun.  Eric Mathura has taken this concept to the next level though, as he’s actually made a board game out of a game he’s developed over his years as a personal trainer and group instructor. Board Gains, the fitness boar...

From knee pain and immobile hips to tight neck muscles causing headaches, the repercussions of all of the sitting during quarantine are still being felt by people around the world. In this episode, physical therapist Dr. Garrett Foland is back with me to talk about the 5 most common issues people are coming to see us with after quarantine, and how you can use movement to resolve those issues.

Recently I visited Straight Shot’s sister company, Kinetix Physiotherapy and Performance, as we have been working together to reach more people who want to move well and feel great. The physical therapy side of Kinetix is headed up by Dr. Garrett Foland. Dr. Foland started out as a personal trainer, but realized that he wanted to further his education to provide care through movement to people inj...

If you're looking to clean up your diet AND make some room in your budget for a personal trainer, you've gotta listen to this quick episode!  I present some very conservative dietary swaps and cut backs that'll help you eat better, cut calories, and save money all to help you lose weight and get connected with a trainer who will provide you with custom workouts and one-on-one accountability.