My Story

What Got Me Started

My discovery and introduction to proper exercise happened back in March of 2010 with Fred Fornicola and Premiere Personal Fitness. I was tired and out of shape and generally feeling unwell and frankly, old…certainly older than my years. At the time, I was having bouts with rheumatoid arthritis and my doctor had recommended I see a physical therapist. After a couple of visits, I was becoming dissatisfied with spending time and money doing something that provided me no relief or benefits. In short, it was just not a good fit for me. I explained my situation to a friend and she highly recommended that I make an appointment to see Fred. She explained that Fred could help me perform the prescribed exercises I needed to do to improve my situation with my RA and that the fees were comparable to what I was spending with the physical therapist. So, I figured I had little to lose by having a sit down with Fred. I made my appointment for a free consultation and Fred did a full health history evaluation with me. As we proceeded through the consultation, he notices a bit of hesitation on my part and told me to call him when I was ready to commit to improving my health. Well, a few months later I was ready and began my program.

Why I Stayed

I am not particularly athletic and avoided exercise like the plague up to this point, but I was committed to showing up for my sessions and seeing where this would lead to. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy training at first and mentally had to talk myself into showing up and working. I would think of all the other more pleasant things I could be doing and was determined to improve my functionality and reduce the pain from my arthritis. Slowly, the idea of exercising got easier, things didn’t seem so foreign and my body started toning up. I began to realize that my stiff, arthritic joints were feeling loose and comfortable immediately after my training sessions. Even into the next day I was feeling more mobile and had incredible amounts of energy. I no longer had to mentally fight with myself to get to the gym as I was now one of “those people” I was always intrigued by, those who enjoy exercising and use the gym as their “drug”.

My Progress

At the one year mark I had lost over 25 pounds of fat, toned up dramatically, became more functional in daily life and felt the clock turn back 10 years. The benefits I have experienced have been overwhelming to my health and self-esteem. Meeting and working with Fred and his powerful influence made all the difference in this once tired, sick, middle aged woman. Without his guidance, I don’t know if all of this would have been possible.

My Epiphany

So impressed with my changes (and encouragement from Fred), I decided to enroll in Brookdale Community College’s Certified Personal Training Program. He told me that when I graduated he would like me to train people at his facility and that is why I am at Premiere Personal Fitness today so I can help others become healthier and more purposeful in life. My pledge to you is to provide a safe, fun and challenging exercise program that will help improve your strength, flexibility, endurance, body composition and confidence. Hey, I’m the first to say that I don’t have the perfect body, but I am perfectly strong and perfectly healthy and you can be too! - Ellen

The Resource Page

The names listed below are high quality resources for training and exercise information.

Cyberpump
editor@cyberpump.com
www.cyberpump.com

ProTraining & Consulting
Mark Asanovich
www.coachaprotraining.com
(612) 462-3566

Bill Hinbern's Super Strength Training
info@superstrengthtraining.com
www.superstrengthtraining.com

Whelan Strength Training
Bob Whelan
www.NaturalStrength.com
www.WhelanStrengthTraining.com

Tom Kelso
info@tomkelso.com
www.tomkelso.com

Excellence In Fitness Personal Training
Joe Aben
info@excellenceinfitness.com
www.excellenceinfitness.com

Premiere Personal Fitness
Fred Fornicola
fredfornicola@gmail.com
www.PremierePersonalFitness.com
(908) 433-4542

Randy Roach
www.RandyRoach.ca

Total Performance Training Center
Jim Kielbaso
jim@totalsportscomplex.com
www.TotalSportsComplex.com
www.UltimateStrengthAndConditioning.com

ASAP~Athletic Strength And Power
Ed Cicale
ASAPtheWORKOUT@gmail.com
www.athleticstrengthandpower.com

Massage by Marcos
massagebymarcos@live.com
www.jerseyshorehealthwellnessgroup.com
(917)882-2557

Ultimate Exercise, Inc.
www.ultimat-exercise.com
www.bodybyscience.net

Jeff Holt's Personal Health and Fitness
www.PHANDF.com

Quality vs Quantity - REPS

I'm a HUGE advocate of "Quality vs Quantity" in many aspects of fitness (and in life) and today I want to address the QUALITY of a repetition vs the Quantity.

Quite often, the quality of a repetition can be lost when a trainee does not connect "mind and muscle". Hoisting a weight up and down will equate to some benefit and more than likely, stroke one's ego but given an ooportunity to truly feel the muscle through the entire movement will produce greater gains in muscular and cardiovascular stimulation, reduce shearing forces on the joints and soft tissue and produce one helluva pump. Yes, your weights will need to be reduced or you may only get a percentage of the reps you achieved before, but performing the exercise properly and with intent will go far beyond the numbers you tell your buddies you just lifted.

Try this next time you do pushups:

Start in the bottom position of the pushup. Make sure your entire body is "tight", now with great intent, slowly start to press your body up using a 3 second count to achieve the positive portion of the rep - the whole time trying to adduct your hands together on the floor (which, of course, won't happen but will yield an incredible contraction int he pectorals). Pause at the top, but keep the elbows slightly bent and briefly hold that contraction, now lower your self down in 3 seconds (as with the start position, don't rush through and just drop down) and when you get to the bottom position pause for a brief second (again, body fully tight) and hover over the floor for a moment then squeeze out of the bottom again. Let me know how you feel after 10 of these reps......and remember, think QUALITY!!!!!

Freddie's Friday Fiesta with Dave

Dave and I did the following workout this morning:

Hammer Strength Pulldown 8 reps
Pendulum Chest Press 8 reps
Treadmill Incline Sprint :45 seconds
Paramount Pullover 8 reps
Marpo Kinetics Rope Pull :45 seconds
Treadmill Incline Sprint :45 seconds

We repeated the cycle 2 more times and it only took 20 minutes to complete.

The "10 in 10" Program

Fitness Professional, Fred Fornicola and Nutritionist, Tom Mantos are conducting a workshop on how to lose "10 pounds in 10 weeks" (your mileage may vary). Spring is a blink away and it's time to get ready to look good in shorts and a T-shirt.

Fred Fornicola will be discussing and providing a 10 week fat-burning cardiovascular plan for every level of fitness and Tom Mantos has devised a nutritional program geared purely at burning fat and losing weight and will cover all demographics of nutritional needs.

You must sign up for the workshop by notifying Fred or Tom and please feel free to bring a friend - it's always a great idea to have a partner when you are pursuing these types of programs. If you can't make the meeting, that's fine as our information can be made available to you and payment can be arranged.

Date: Thursday, March 10th
Time: 7:30PM
Location: Premiere Personal Fitness - 614 Lake Ave., Asbury Park
Cost: $50.00

Feel free to contact Fred or Tom for more details: Jersey Shore Health & Wellness Group