We believe that bodies in motion stay in motion
Movement is medicine & movement is therapy. At The Moving Barn, there is no judgement - just the love of exercise and the passion to share it with others.
Stuart's message to you:
I have had many “comebacks.” Squatting 605 lbs. and benching 480 lbs. led to injuries. I was young and, of course, like all of us I never envisioned, “growing up.” Often, when I would train someone, if they asked, “Will you stretch me?” I would jokingly say, “Maybe you should find a different trainer." Now, I spend 20 minutes a day just stretching. I am proud of the fact that I can stretch almost as good as Linda. I am proud of the fact that, although I taught high school students, most of the clients throughout my 35 year training career were older; the last two, in Rockport, were in their sixties and seventies.
Whether working 5:30 in the morning or 9:30 at night, I never yawned. I never told a client that I was tired. I never talked about “the night before.” I was the consummate court-jester; always on. Always giving 100% to my clients. They became my friends, they are still part my family and I loved every minute of it. Come visit The Moving Barn; bring with you your past exercise memories/experiences, good or bad, and let me help you achieve whatever goal you have. Age is just a number. Mine is backwards. May all of your vibes say “I’ve got this.”
I have re-invented myself many times; sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity. During my early years and through late adolescence, I was called a “jock." Good at everything, I had incredible intensity and something to prove; at five-foot-five, I was better than them. Bodybuilding and weightlifting began at 20 years old and remained for almost thirty years. Never missing a day, my intensity reached a new level. After countless injuries, ultra-marathoning came next. Now at 62, a multi-faceted approach has emerged. My philosophy is BALLS TO THE WALLS = JUST DO IT x10. Now, that does not mean that is what I give to my clients. However, when I get off of a bicycle or an arc trainer or a treadmill, I have sweat so much that my sneakers slosh. I can ring out my clothes and usually a trail of sweat follows me out of the gym. It is the way that I lifted weights - throwing the 125 lb. dumbells on the floor or lying down on the flat bench with 225 lbs. on the rack, saying to myself, “home again.”
My approach now deals with target heart rate. To find your target heart rate, take 220, subtract your age and then take 75% of that difference. At that heart rate you will begin to sweat and your body will turn into a fat burning machine. For example, a 60 year old man has a target heart rate of 120. I monitor my heart rate, as I will yours. As far as diet and nutrition, I believe that less is more. I believe in fasting for short periods of time. I believe in small meals throughout the day. I believe in high-quality protein shakes. I believe in vitamins. I no longer believe in heavy weights, but I do believe in the same intensity level that I always have. I have spent 30 years learning, watching and experimenting with “angles.” I believe weight training is very safe; it is comprised of straight-line movements. I do not believe in crossfit. I survived 30 years of weightlifting because my movements were tried and true. I got injured because of the excessive weight and performance enhancing substances that I experimented with.
The first of my two marathons in two weeks; Atlantic City, 2016.
You will sometimes find me putting a steak on my grill or
holding a 16 oz. craft beer in my hand. However, that is only after
I have worked out for two hours in the morning so that
I can tell myself, “You earned it, Stuart. You deserve it, Stuart. Enjoy it, Stuart.”My current personal workout regiment consists of 60 minutes of intense cardio followed by 60 minutes of weight training at light-moderate weight.
The revolving stairs; that's sweat and after an hour-and-a-half, even Superman is tired.
A typical bicycle workout. Unfortunately, my dream of an Iron Man Triathlon will never come true. You see, I can't swim.
A usual workout with one of my clients starts with 15-20 minutes of cardio, follows with 30-40 minutes of weight training, stretching and flexibility work, and ends with another 15-20 minutes of cardio. Speaking of cardio, I have brought my three favorite Life Fitness machines to The Moving Barn; a top-of-the-line R-Series Upright Bike (much safer and better than any Peloton), a top-of-the-line Arc Trainer (much better than any elliptical trainer), and a top-of-the-line treadmill with a Soft-True surface (suitable for anyone with any type of knee injury).
"Prehab is better than rehab"
Linda's message to you:
My bottom line philospophy is this: I want you to learn how to train more effectively and efficiently, I want to help you build a sustainable fitness program that can grow with you and work for you over time, I want you to understand how to listen to your body, and most importantly I want you to love working out.
Fitness is like cooking - not everyone will have the same recipe. Tweaking and modifying a recipe is how we make it our own and in exercise the same approach applies. I believe I can best train my clients by helping them to understand their bodies better and teaching them to read what their muscles and joints are telling them. With that ability, clients can best challenge themselves from workout to workout.
I have always told my clients (as well as myself) that working out needs to be like brushing our teeth… we don’t wake up each day and ask ourselves if we feel like brushing our teeth, we just do it. It’s a given. If we let our brains think about exercise too much, we run the risk of talking ourselves out of it. Apply the same work ethic to working out as you do to everything else in your day. Making time and keeping motivated are sometimes a greater challenge than a workout itself. Every workout need not be stellar; some might just be ok but the most important part is consistency. Just show up.
My personal training has continued to change over the years but will always keep true to these same ingredients: some weight training, some foundational or functional movement training, active joint mobility or flexibility routines, and varied forms of cardiovascular training for fat burning and heart health. While working with clients to design just the right challenge, I change up training programs and move between styles I like to think of as Focus and Engage, Cardio Blast, Functional Training, and Isolate and Define. Some days we will just mix it all up as we don’t come to our training each day in the same exact mood or with our body in the same exact place. Just bring the work, and the results will follow.
In addition to the strengthening that working our muscles in isolation brings, strengthening of muscle groups or functional whole body training provides us with the ability to use our muscles in combinations - meaning engaging our core for stability, remaining true to postural control, and using our joints in their full range of motion. Regardless of the combination of muscles required in any activity, all movement is supported by a strong core. The ability to access full range of motion in our joints provides us with better muscular control. Mobility and flexibility are not the same thing. Mobility is the ability for our joints to move actively through their full range of motion, while flexibility is the ability of our soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) to elongate or stretch - most often passively. Over time with either lack of use or with over use we tend to lose our strength and flexibility.
Functional movements are the basic movements that we need and use in our everyday lives - they require us to stabilize through our core to use muscles in multiple joints at the same time. Strengthening movement patterns such as squatting and pushing/pulling decreases risk of injury and increases mobility and strength, making anything we do easier and more efficient. A shorter way to say all this is: Prehab is better than Rehab.
My workouts currently consist of some form of cardio (running is my preferred form but others save my body from too much pounding), weight training for the strength I need to do my job and for the bone density benefits I need after menopause, and functional/foundational training for my core, posture and joint health. I also include some fun obstacle course type activities (which combine all of the above) as a throw back to my fitness competition days as well as to honor my little pediatric friends ❤️.
At The Moving Barn we want to help you make the time for yourself to “just show up.” Every time you finish you will be better than when you started.
Waiting for The Moving Barn to be ready...
...Finally! :)
Address
51 Marcie Way
Ogunquit, Maine 03907
Phone
917-856-3421
stuartandlinda@themovingbarn.com