Tag Archives: strength training

Koko Sponsors Minnesota Man’s Attempt at World Record 45-Day Transnational Run

Posted on by
Steve Knowlton with team Koko FitClub Dublin

The team from Koko FitClub Dublin gives Steve Knowlton a warm send-off on May 18, 2013

This week, Marathon runner Steve Knowlton, 47, of Prior Lake, Minn., started his attempt to set a Guinness World Record by running 3,100 miles from San Francisco to New York in just 45 days. The team from Koko FitClub Dublin, CA was there to give Steve a send-off and many other Koko FitClub teams from across the country plan to cheer him along the way.

He hopes his run, which started on May 18, will raise awareness for autism and Asperger’s syndrome, and has partnered with ANSWER, Asperger’s Network Support, GreenSneakers and Koko FitClub to raise money for those affected.

Throughout the 45-day run, Koko FitClub locations across the nation will collect used sneakers for GreenSneakers, which provides shoes that would otherwise end up in a landfill as affordable footwear to impoverished communities around the world. GreenSneakers, in turn, will give ANSWER 50 cents per pound for all sneakers donated as part of Knowlton’s effort.

“I want this run to be bigger than me – I want it to bring awareness to autism and Asperger’s, which has affected someone very dear to me, and to draw attention to GreenSneakers, whose mission helps give shoes to the neediest people in the world,” said Knowlton. “As a runner, I am acutely aware of the environment and our need as a country to protect our resources by recycling and reusing what we can.”

Knowlton, who has been strength training for his run at the Savage, Minn. Koko FitClub, inspired the chain to become involved nationally. The state-of-the-art workout centers, known for the patented Smartraining automated personal training system, will accept donations from members and non-members and send them to GreenSneakers. (Find your nearest Koko FitClub location here.)

“We are humbled that Steve is using this incredible feat to shine the light on autism and Asperger’s syndrome and help us strengthen communities through understanding, inclusion and support for those affected,“ said ANSWER Director Theresa Namie. “We are also grateful to GreenSneakers and Koko FitClub for their partnership in helping us get our message out nationally.”

Follow the run:

http://aspergersmn.org
http://www.stevesrun.com
https://www.facebook.com/SteveKnowltonRuns
http://www.facebook.com/answerMN

Support the cause:

http://www.razoo.com/story/Steve-Knowlton-S-World-Record-Run-1-In-88-In-Every-State

About Steve Knowlton
Steve Knowlton lives and grew up in Prior Lake, MN, where he was inspired as an eighth-grader by Peter Jenkins’ “Walk Across America.” His mother nurtured his spiritual strength, and at 13 his father encouraged him to run Grandma’s Marathon with him in Duluth.  Steve was the youngest runner to finish the race.  In 2010 he ran from Seattle to Key Largo, 3,717 miles in 100 days.  For more information, go to www.steveknowlton.com.

About ANSWER
ANSWER’s mission is to create a network that advocates for community awareness, furthering research, bettering education and support of individuals and families living with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.  The 501c3 nonprofit organization serves as an informational channel where ideas and resources are shared utilizing public relations, the internet and parenting networking.  ANSWER supports training for educators in the areas of social skills, daily living skills, relaxation, and transitional skills.  ANSWER offers a holistic approach – from diagnosis to independent living – by making resources available and advocating for affordable intervention and support programs.  For more information, go to www.aspergersmn.org, or www.facebook.com/answerMN.

About Koko FitClub
Koko FitClub first opened in Boston in 2008 as an efficient, lean-muscle-building alternative to traditional gyms and today has more than 120 company-owned and franchise FitClubs in 30 states. Its name, Koko, inspired by the Japanese word for individual, refers to Koko FitClub’s fully customized fitness and nutrition programs that make up the patented Koko Smartraining System. The Smartraining System is automated personal strength and cardio training, offering the benefits of a 90-minute workout in just 30 minutes, combined with Koko Fuel, the program’s integrated nutritional component. In 2012, the company received a Franchise Business Review Franchisee Satisfaction Award and this year was named to the 2013 Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500. For more information, go to www.KokoFitClub.com, www.youtube.com/user/KokoFitClubChannel or www.facebook.com/KokoFitClub.

About GreenSneakers
GreenSneakers is a nonprofit organization committed to serving the needs of other nonprofit organizations as they work to offset the costs associated with various organizational development needs. By collecting used tennis shoes for GreenSneakers, nonprofits can raise funds to put toward fulfilling their mission and vision. The program provides organizations with a uniquely effective and environmentally friendly fundraising opportunity that has local and global impacts. With a collection of sneakers for reuse, nonprofits help provide affordable footwear to people in need around the world. This activity greatly improves economic conditions in developing nations, as well, and provides sustainable job opportunities where they otherwise would not exist. In cases of humanitarian need, collected sneakers are distributed through reputable relief agencies that have the appropriate mechanisms in place to effectively engage in this type of aide. For more information, go to www.GreenSneakers.org.

On Point for the Best Workout Possible

Posted on by

Friends, I love earning Koko Points every time I exercise! They are instant feedback on how closely I followed my custom Smartraining workout. A pat on the back for a job well done. I know I’m not alone in this, but you may not know what’s actually at work behind the point system. (It’s really pretty amazing when you get down to it.) So, I’d like to broaden your understanding of why we award you Koko points every time you exercise and how they are calculated. I also want to encourage their use for positive motivation.

Remember: In the end it’s not about the points, it’s about getting the best workout possible.

Koko Points are calculated based on how well you keep to your prescribed Smartraining workout during a session. You must:

  • Stay on pace for each exercise (indicated by earning a 100% pace score)
  • Complete all sets and reps prescribed by the Smartrainer
  • Use the prescribed weights for each rep/set

Surprised? It’s a common misconception in Koko Nation that a 1000 point workout is earned simply by getting  a 100% pace score on every exercise.

The most important role of Koko points is to motivate and encourage the good strength training habits that make for the most effective workouts possible. How it motivates and encourages is different for each person, just like Koko workouts are different for each person.  We know that for some, Koko points light the fire of an already competitive nature and possibly an obsession with colored lanyards. (Just fine if you remember- It’s not about the points!) For others, my husband and Koko Co-founder Mike Lannon is a perfect example, the number is simply good feedback that lets him know how he’s doing each session and he doesn’t ever worry about a few points here and there. Different strokes for different folks.

I leave you with this final thought: Koko points are for good not evil. They are feedback meant to educate and encourage good exercise form. Never let them become a de-motivator and never, ever feel discouraged by a workout that doesn’t earn quadruple digits. That would be missing the point!

Mary Obana
President & Co-Founder
Koko FitClub

Sign up for a complimentary workout at Koko FitClub near you!

Koko FitClub Franchising

Returning to Your Workout Routine After Illness or Injury

Posted on by

You’re finally on a roll with regular exercise, thanks to Koko. You feel great and your workout has become part of your daily routine. Then it happens: you get sick, you sustain an injury or you need a medical procedure. You are told by your doctor (who is always telling you to get active) to stop exercising for awhile. Sometimes a long while. Don’t worry. I know firsthand you can come back from it better than ever. You just need to have the right expectations.

Last month, for the second time in three years, I had emergency eye surgery and could not exercise. After one week I was told I could start back with cardio. Great! But, I was still not able to do any strength training. It was two weeks before I was told I could slowly ease back into my strength training sessions.

What happens if you cannot get in your weekly Koko Smartraining workout, or worse, you become sick or have to go on bed rest for a few weeks or more? When your body receives no exercise stimulus, detraining will occur.

detraining | dē-ˈtrān- iŋ: the partial or complete loss of training-induced adaptations in response to cessation of training or a substantial decrease in training load. 

This loss in both strength and aerobic capacity is followed by a decrease in your lean muscle level (LML) and can occur in as quickly as two weeks!

Don’t worry. Life happens. You body is amazingly adaptable and you can get it back to where it was – and then some!

If you’re faced with returning to your Smartraining workouts after a period of two weeks or more of inactivity, just plan to slowly progress back to the level you left off.

Koko Cardio – To start, try and complete a full 15 minute workout, but at a lower intensity than what you could do before your break. Slowly increase the intensity of your exercise over subsequent weeks. If you find that next higher intensity program is too much, back off on my audio suggestions for the incline, speed or resistance (for the elliptical.) You know how to do it!  Also, it may be that 15 minutes is too much to handle at first. It’s ok. Be patient with yourself and your body. It will come back.

Koko Strength – Rarely do I suggest it, but do not try to lift the weight that the Smartrainer initially suggests. It remembers the “you” from before your time off. Instead, you can help it calibrate to your current strength level even if a strength test isn’t scheduled. What I did was to cut my weight in half (or less) for the all my exercises through the first few sessions. The Smartrainer remembers your adjustments for the next time it gives you those exercises. After a week or so, I started to increase my volume of work by doing three extra reps on the sets that felt easy. The Smartrainer understood this to mean, “Michael needs more weight on this exercise” and it automatically adjusted the next time.

It may be frustrating to feel like you’re starting over and difficult to convince yourself to “take it easy.” (You just want to get back to where you were, already!)  Be patient. By slowly letting your body adjust to the specific demands placed on it by both strength training and cardio sessions, you will avoid injury and be back in peak form before you know it and stronger than ever!

Michael Wood, CSCS
Chief Fitness Officer
Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub Franchising

A Strength Training Workout to Obsess Over

Posted on by

Love getting fit at Koko FitClub.

Dearest Koko Pace Bar,

This is a little bit embarrassing for me to admit…I find myself completely mesmerized by you! I literally can’t take my eyes off you. What’s more, I find your opinion of me has changed the way I do things. (That’s a first!) All I want is for you to be green and cheering my performance. Some might call this relationship unhealthy, but I say it’s the opposite! This might just be one of the healthiest relationships in my life. I know you are pacing my repetitions so my muscles get the optimal Time Under Tension. You prevent me from undermining my own success. You set the bar high for my own good and I want nothing more than to measure up to your high expectations!

Forever Yours,

Koko Nut

Do you have a healthy obsession with your Koko Pace Bar?  If you don’t yet, you might once you understand how incredibly effective it is for improving your strength. The captivating Pace Bar is how the Koko Smartrainer controls the amount of time your muscles are resisting weight during a repetition. In the world of exercise science, this is referred to as Time Under Tension. When multiplied by weight lifted and the amount of sets and reps, the resulting total measures the volume of your workout.

So, pace control is an absolutely critical piece of the effective workout equation, but for the independent (non-Koko) exerciser it is, at best, hard to optimize and at worst, totally ignored. One of the challenges to personal pace control includes our natural tendency to undermine our own workouts by doing each rep too fast, allowing momentum to do some or most of the work our muscles should. Thankfully for Koko Nation, the Smartrainer measures your personal range of motion, then customizes and optimizes pace control every rep. All you have to think about is keeping up with the Pace Bar!

If ever there was a relationship to obsess over, it’s the one with your Koko Pace Bar. You’ll be a stronger, healthier person because of it. ♥

Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub Franchising

Does your workout take advantage of the best learning about exercise?

Posted on by

Best learning about exercise built into Koko FitClub workoutsI’m an exercise physiologist by training with a keen interest in keeping up with the very best research. I use it to design your Smartraining workouts! There’s solid science behind the Koko FitClub workouts planned for you each and every visit – so you don’t have to think about it. That’s why you’re here, right?

So, while I generally keep this stuff “behind the curtain,” I spotted a couple studies recently that not only reinforce the Koko Smartraining methodology BUT they have awesome motivational value. (You know my ultimate goal – successfully convince you to keep up with your workout prescription of 3 strength and 4 cardio a week!)

The first study, from the Journal of Obesity1 looked at the effect of high intensity cardiovascular exercise on male body composition. These men did interval training workouts that looked like this: 8 seconds of hard work followed by 12 seconds of light work. This workout was done for 20 minutes, three times a week for 12 weeks. The men in the study showed excellent improvements in aerobic capacity (15% increase,) a reduction in visceral fat (17% decrease) and significant increases in lean muscle level.

Once again, proof that it’s not the quantity of  exercise you do when you’re at Koko FitClub, but the quality of exercise that matters.  And, there’s no reason you won’t see the same type of results by just sticking to your Koko Smartraining exercise prescription.

The second study appeared Archives of Internal Medicine2 using research from the renowned Cooper Clinic and the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The research involved men and women who were tested for fitness at age 50 and then again surveyed about general health a decade later.

What did they learn? “Physical fitness at midlife made healthy aging — long considered a contradiction in terms –a distinct possibility.” The fittest 1/5th in their 50′s had far fewer chronic conditions in their 60′s, ( by more than half,) than the folks in the lowest fitness category.

What does that mean for you? When your Q-score and lean muscle level goes up, or your eBMI goes down, the immediate payout is that you look and feel better right now. Turns out, you are also banking that fitness so you look and feel great for years to come. It’s an investment in healthy aging so you can enjoy your entire life!

All this by meeting your Smartraining exercise prescription of 3 strength and 4 cardio a week. Could it be any easier to take advantage of the best learning about exercise? No way. Now go hit the club!

Michael Wood, CSCS
Chief Fitness Officer
Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub Franchising

1Journal of Obesity link – http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobes/2012/480467/

2 Archives of Internal Medicine link – http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1352789