Disciples of Strength

05/01/2023

Photos of Disciples of Strength gym in Reserve, LA.

04/04/2023

Hello Saint John Parish.
Come see the Big City gym in tiny Reserve.
Disciples of Strength is running a summer special.
3 months $100.
Call 504-388-9381 for details.

7500 sq. Ft of open turf and barbells/bumper plates kettle bells, Tires to flip and sleds to push. Heavy bag, rope climb.
Or
we have it comfortable inside with A\C and treadmills, cardio machines and weights. Hammer strength and dumbells.
Whatever style training you do we got you covered.

We Even got the levee across the street for hill sprints or long distance running.

Disciple of Strength
116 central avenue
Reserve, LA 70084

09/18/2021

COME GET ONE IN

Tuesday, Wednesday. 9/21 and 9/22 Free workout. No questions. Just come in and do your thing. I will try to do it Thursday, too. I like many, lost my home to Ida. So I’m bouncing around from place to place. So text 504-388-9381 to make sure we are there to let you in.

The following week we will be doing the same thing. Workout out free until your gym reopens. It’s our way of helping the community of Saint John until we are back on our feet.

Please clean after yourself and re-rack your weights; for we will not have staff to do this job until we re-open fully to the public. That’s all we ask.

08/30/2021

Hello Saint John.
Our prayers go out for all our members after Hurricane Ida.

We have ceased all credit card charges.

We will stay in touch. God Bless all of Saint John.

07/18/2021

“How should I step up my workout?”

There are several ways to increase/improve your workout. You can play around with one or more of these areas of your program.

Intensity - increase the amount of weight you are lifting or the speed you are running

Frequency - increase the number of workouts per week/month

Volume - increase the amount of reps/sets you do in the gyn; or the distance you run

Rest time - decrease the time in between sets or sprints; rest less between intervals etc.

This is what it looks like if you were to use walking as your main mode of exercise.
I use this example because I want to encourage people to exercise totally free. No gym needed. No special items to purchase.

Start out walking 3 times a week for 30 minutes each session.

To increase the volume, you can walk 32 minutes each time for 3 times a week.

To increase intensity, you can carry a back pack or gallon of water each walk.

To increase frequency, you can walk 4 times a week

Try jogging 10 seconds and walking 2 minutes and jog 10 seconds and walk 2 minutes again until 30 minutes is up.

You can play around with these as you like, but remember this: the adaptation process will not occur until you start Increasing your workout.
You can do this. You can start just like this and make a lot of progress in your health and you physique. Plus walking is like meditating in a way. It’s peaceful…. Just like Disciples.

07/10/2021

What attribute are you training for?

This week I will go over a few of the main components of fitness. I will call them attributes. And I will give rep ranges for general use to help understand these concepts. The number of reps mentioned below are the amount of times you can perform the lift before you have to stop due to stress/lactic acid/lack of strength

STRENGTH - think of this as low velocity force production. This is measured in force (basically the load/weight you are moving). Should be trained in 5reps or less

SPEED - just like it sounds, how fast you can move that load. This is measured in time.

ENDURANCE - think of this as doing a lot of reps or going long distance. Many think of this as running, biking, or swimming. But you can also train endurance using weights. Typicall 15 or more reps.

HYPERTROPHY- making the muscle bigger by increasing the surface area of the muscle. Getting “jacked” is what the gym bros say. Typically 6-12 reps is used to train for this.

POWER - think of this as strength and speed combined. It’s how fast you can move a load. This is the main training goal for almost all sports.

AGILITY - the ability to change direction (upon a visual or audio cue) Also very useful in sports as you can imagine

BALANCE - just like it sounds.

Also mobility and flexibility. Think of mobility as the range of motion for your joints.
Flexiblilty- think of range of motion for your muscles.

This is getting long and there is a lot more I can cover on this topic. The main takeaway for this article is….. if you train for strength, all the other attributes will get better or increase.

YEP YOU READ THAT RIGHT. Just by making strength training your main goal for your foundation— before you branch out and train other attributes. But if you train strength for the first six months or so, all the other attributes will rise up as your strength increase. After a period of time, things will level out and you will need to choose an attribute to focus on in order to get better at it—- but for now, strength should be your main goal. Wait small disclaimer… flexibility will actually tighten up as you get stronger. Sorry guys ….

07/04/2021

Happy 4th of July

God Bless America….and Saint John Parish

07/04/2021

“What split should I do?”

We are not talking gymnastic splits or even banana splits. We are talking about workout splits.

To answer this, I first ask the member how many days a week does he/she plan on working out. Here is my prescription from there:

3 day- total body
4 day- upper/lower
5 day - body part
6 day - push/pull/legs

First, let me say you can use any of these splits on any amount of training days. These are simply GENERAL recommendations. Of course each person is different and requires different needs.

Total body is just like it sounds. You work every body part each workout, and take the next day off. Hit each body part 3 days a week.
PROS- good for strength endurance training and good overall balance between strength, endurance. You do not get too soar in any one area
CONS-you can never really develop one attribute really well; strength , power, speed,

Upoer/Lower let’s you focus on upper body one day and then lower body another day, then take a day off.
PROS- a lot of off season collegiate level athletes use this split to further their strength and power for athletic development.
CONS - hits each body part twice a week as opposed to the total body.

Body part split will target one or two body parts per day. The famous chest/tricep & back/bicep & leg day & arm day.
Also known as bodybuilder split or Bro split
PROS- simple, not complex. People love this one, not for me though. The old school body builder magazines from the 80’s really popularized this workout split.
CONS - plan on having at least one body part a week that will be soar.

Push/Pull/Legs will have you doing an upper body pushing movement (chest/shoulder press) then a upper body pulling movement (rowing, pull ups) and then a leg day, then a rest day or you can repeat the three days (making 6 days) then take a rest day.
I like this one for my training.
PROS- can develop all attributes fairly well
CONS - that’s a lot of days to train.

I hope y’all like this one. Go easy on me. There are a million combinations that will work on a million different people. These are just the basic splits every gym member needs to know about.

06/29/2021

06/28/2021

“I don’t want to bulk up”

When I mention lifting weights to women, I hear this all the time. I get it. I don’t want to BULK up either. I like the lean, tone look and not the strong, fluffy look for myself. It’s also better for our cardiovascular and pulmonary systems to stay lean as opposed to over weight.

This BULK look I am referring to is merely our bodies trying to adapt to this new stimulus of lifting weights that we have introduced to out system. When we lift weights and make micro-tears (these micro-tears create new muscle tissue as they repair the muscle), the body uses natural defense and repair mechanisms to help us heal and get stronger.
Well, one reaction is a defense mechanism that causes the cell to fill with more blood plasma and glycogen - giving us that puffy look.
One repair mechanisms is inflammation. Causing the body to swell and hold more water- giving us the strong, puffy look as well.
To assist in this process, the body begins to store water.
This process can last from 2-4 weeks. As we keep lifting weights, the body begins to adapt to this new stimulus of STRENGTH TRAINING.
The body will eventually return to homeostasis by eliminating the water naturally and safely over time. Again 2-4 weeks from the start of your new strength training program.
So, yes you will take on more water and it will cause you to look a little more fluffy, but I want you to understand, the BULK is NOT fat it is indeed water- naturally stored by the body for you to heal and get stronger.
So to the women of St. John parish, I hope this little tid-bit of info will help you feel more comfortable stepping off those treadmills and picking up some barbells.

“Lifting weights makes me hungry and makes me eat more”
I hear this one, too from our female population
I will address this one next week.
Thanks and please share with others. This information can help your loved ones live a longer, stronger healthier life.

06/21/2021

Happy Fathers Day. I am going to postpone the topic of “myths busted for Females lifting weights “ this week and re post the following one.

Please forgive me but sometime we must speak frankly in this day and time.
Any male with a reproductive organ can make a child. It’s take a Father to raise one. Even though we will never come close to filling a mother’s shoes in this area, we still have a responsibility to the child we help make. Whether you are with that woman or not.

All males have this ability. You don’t have to be the best father. You just have to be there. In your own way.