❄️12 Days of FITmas Tips ❄️ 🎁Tip #3: Move Your Body MORE 🎁 Movement is a FREE medicine 💊we have access to every single day. But unless you know what to do, it can feel like you are spinning your wheels trying to make physical progress or heal an injury 🚲 One of the most… Continue reading 12 Days of FITmas Tips Day #3

❄️12 Days of FITmas Tips ❄️ 🎁Tip #2: Ditch Distractions from your Meal Time 🎁 We’ve all been there… In front of the computer 💻 phone 📲Television 📺 while Driving 🚗, standing over the counter chomping on ANYTHING around Have you ever finished a quick meal, only to be daydreaming about your next snack pretty… Continue reading 12 Days of FITmas Tips Day #2

Around the Holidays, it can feel tough, even frustrating to stay on track with making healthy choices… ESPECIALLY when there is temptation, stress, and sitting on our butts all day cooped up inside. Use these 12 FITmas tips as a way to empower healthy choices to remove guilt from your list of things “To-Do” this… Continue reading ❄️12 Days of FITmas Tips ❄️ Day #1

Week 3 of the Orca Nutrition Games is all about SLOWING IT DOWN! The benefits of slow eating include better digestion, better hydration, easier weight loss or maintenance, and greater satisfaction with our meals. Meanwhile, eating quickly leads to poor digestion, increased weight gain, and lower satisfaction. The message is clear: Slow down your eating… Continue reading 6 Tricks & Tactics to Slowly Eat Your Way to Fat Loss

March 14, 2017 – An incredible winter snowstorm in my state of New York forced our region, and many others, to entirely shut down. No driving or traveling, businesses shut down, and nothing but heavy snowfall for tens of hours to come. As much as I love kicking my feet up in front of the… Continue reading A State of Emergency is Merely a Recommendation: Move!

This is a guest post from my mentor, and founder of Orca Empire Fitness Academy, Ken Stabler. His philosophies and level of introspection have led him to be Raw & Honest with himself, his students, and his community to create a platform for growth. Enjoy! Have you ever heard people say: “You are either a… Continue reading Why Holding on to Negative Emotions is Ruining Your Life

Clean Your Teeth by Getting Them Dirtier Than Ever! What if I told you that your current toothpaste is not the best way to brighten your smile, would you believe me? There is a secret trick that involved smearing your mouth with something you would NEVER expect, but I’ll give you a hint… it’s the… Continue reading Want Whiter Teeth? Start by Rubbing Black Dust All Over Them (you’ll be amazed)

I don’t know about you, but if I was able to get a weekly massage, my body would feel 1000% better. Getting a massage is a great way to: Relieve stress held in your neck and shoulders Provide pain relief to really tight muscles Speed up recovery time after a tough workout Improve flexibility and… Continue reading “Holy Wow, My Muscles Sore!” You should Foam Roll to Recover Faster & Workout Stronger

If you enjoy reading these blogs, wouldn’t You like to carry them with You at any time? Oh Snap, You can!! Grab your very own Compact Fulfillment Guidebook: a fancy little book by Me, for YOU!… or don’t, it’s your Lifestyle Choice (e-book, paperback, kindle) The average U.S. adult sits 9-10 hours Each Day Working, Watching,… Continue reading The 3 Exercises EVERY Desk Jockey NEEDS to Do!

Exercise is not just about the muscle pump, breaking a sweat, or feeling CRUSHED after a workout. Sure, those can be parts of the picture, but that should NOT be the most important thing in your fitness journey. If you missed part one in this series, click the link here to see the introduction on what… Continue reading The Orca Empire Experience: It’s Exercise That’s Built Upon Intelligence, not ‘Bro-Science’ or Fitness Fads (part 2)

You might hear it from a doctor, family member, or even a friend that you should start exercising to improve your health. But what does that mean exactly? How long should I exercise for? Does it matter what type? What if I don't have a trainer? There is no way I have time for that.

Why Your Butt is Worth More Than Just Looking Good

Your butt, glutes, cheeks, fanny, buns, tooshie, badonkadonk, or whatever else you want to call it has big shoes to fill when it comes to strengthening and optimizing the body. The four primary benefits of strengthening your glutes are;

1. Improving your Posture
2. Preventing Injury and Pain (many different areas)
3. Increased Strength, Power, and Athletic Prowess
4. Looking Sexier, a.k.a. Improved Physique

As a coach, many of my students at Orca Empire spend a much of time sitting during their lives, and you might too. Sitting to commute in, sitting a huge majority of the day, sitting to commute out, and sitting down at the end of the day to relax. All of that sitting is silent torture to your glutes and hips unless you counteract it with activating, moving, and strengthening those areas of the body that are lying dormant throughout the day.

Turn Your Butt On

In one of my previous articles, #ButtStuff: What'ss the Deal Wit...

You discovered a time where each morning, afternoon and night, feeling like the best version of your potential exists.

With each favorable decision you make, you crack a smile and love how empowered it makes you feel.

You are unstoppable, regardless of whatever is going on around you. The habits you've built in allow you to enjoy life in all spectrums; your family, fitness, career, relationships, creativity, health, happiness...

And then you wake up.

You know that feeling when

Your body feels like ‘blah’? (I know, super scientific with that description) But seriously, your neck, back, hips, and legs either feel like Jell-O, or a 1,000-pound block of cement when trying to get up-and-out of bed.

Not before long you shake those feelings out, but lone behold, by the middle of the day you begin to feel sluggish, and tired. You’ve sucked down coffee, tea, snacks, and whatever else can keep you focused throughout the day, burning a hole in your pocket and energy. But what about the most vital part of what you as a human being is made up of; did you happen to try just adding more of that?

“Water is of major importance to all living things; in some organisms, up to 90% of their body weight comes from water. Up to 60% of the human adult body is water.

According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.” (source)

Water is literally the most important nutrient you can give your body. Regardless of how many vitamins, protein...

Mindless: Marked by or displaying no use of the powers of the intellect; Requiring little attention or thought; Not intellectually challenging or stimulating.

Engaging in mindless behaviors are what cause us to feel stuck when the shit hits the fan in life. Out of the blue with no warning, the slap of reality shows you what happens when you don't pay enough attention or use positive choices to fuel your decisions. Sometimes, we can recognize the culprit on the spot, such as walking into the bakery and picking up a pastry, simply because you were walking by - not because you really wanted it. Or ignoring that twinge of soreness in your low back (since it's gone away in the past) until it is pulsating with pain each time you bend over. Or maybe it's gluing your eyes to an intriguing slew of social media posts while enjoying family time at the end of a weekday.

"Life repeats itself mindlessly - unless you become mindful, it will go on repeating like a wheel." - Osho

At the moment, it is tough to r...

What is Cortisol

Cortisol is a hormone created by the adrenal glands in your kidneys, then released into the bloodstream. Just like testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, melatonin, and DHEA, your body like to keep the balance of each hormone under its control, and does not like big shifts in change.

"Almost every cell contains receptors for cortisol and so cortisol can have lots of different actions depending on which sort of cells it is acting upon. These effects include controlling the body’s blood sugar levels and thus regulating metabolism, acting as an anti-inflammatory, influencing memory formation, controlling salt and water balance, influencing blood pressure and helping the development of the fetus." (source)

Most importantly, the biggest impact that cortisol is most well known for is the ability to influence 2 things; Your Sleep and Stress Levels.

Can I Control How Much I Have?

Throughout the day, your adrenal glands act like toll bridge booths, regulating the amount released to take on some of its duties. Cortisol follows what is called a diurnal rhythm, meaning your levels peak (the most) in the morning just before sunrise, and hitting its lowest levels a few hours after falling asleep. ...

It's Not Your Fault

First and foremost, you are not to blame. Nutrition and eating has become so confusing and complex, it can be difficult to sift through the bullshit. But now, you have taken a huge step in the right direction to arm yourself with good habit building practices.

Some of the hardest habits to change are the ones we barely recognize we do. Even more than that, they are the ones we have no intention of changing them because "there is nothing wrong, why would I?". The best way to maintain building the best version of yourself is to use each day for growth, learning, and evaluation. The current age of information provides the perfect platform to search or solve most question or dilemma within seconds! But the process of using and applying that ...

Don't get me wrong, training for sexy legs, arms, abs, and buns are absolutely important for function and improving your body.

But are you training the most vital muscle in your body you can't see?

"You may think anything that gets your heart rate up can count as cardio training, so you will be fine just doing high-rep squats. Well, no. Just like you can have concentric and eccentric muscle contractions when doing curls and presses, your heart can have different training adaptations." - Andrew Read

We spent this week covering how to speed up your metabolism. Through different types of training, such as HIIT, weight circuits, and different forms of aerobic exercise, the different ways your body utilizes energy are challenged to improve. But aside from the metabolism-boosting benefits, they do an amazing job at exercising the most important muscle in your body, the heart! Gaining age has many positive benefits, but it holds no prisoners when its negative effects try to sneak into your life. Things like decreased bone density, increased fat mass, and a big drop in energy levels are not mandatory, but are a ...

Your typical gym routine lacks purpose, and you might just be wasting your time.

Talk about a bold statement to start, eh? Now let me clear that up real quick before you say, "who the hell does this ginger headed kid think he is? Telling me my goals don't matter, I go all the time and work hard". On top of training outdoors and here at Orca, I am a member of a local 'box' gym, home to tons of weight plate machines, a dumbbell rack, some free moving equipment, cardio section, add-on group classes, and some ooh-aah things. But each time I go, I always learn something new about what exercises and movements that are not conducive to making your life better!

Your time is valuable,

So your training needs to have a clear purpose so you can gain improvements that are relevant and make you feel empowered. With the fast-paced and chaotic lifestyle, m...