Mike Alves is an award winning and highly sought after strength & conditioning expert in the areas of weight loss, body transformations, corrective exercise and performance enhancement. He received his B.S. in Athletic Training from the Prestigious Springfield College, aka the Harvard of Sports Sciences, his ATC from the World Renowned National Athletic Trainers Association, his CSCS from the National Strength & Conditioning Association, the global leader in bridging science with practical application and is Licensed by the state of Massachusetts as a Certified Athletic Trainer.
Coach Mike has been written up in the Boston Globe, the Newton Tab, he's been featured on NECN, he's been named a Top Trainer by Boston Common Magazine and been invited to be listed on bostonsbestpersonaltrainers.com, and he's been a repeat #1 Trainer in Boston by Boston Sports Clubs and a #6 Trainer by Town Sports International.
Coach Mike lives an active lifestyle, is a relationships 1st person and changes lives through his relationships 1st business. Currently he works out of Newton, MA running the #1 Body Transformation Group Personal Training Program in Massachusetts, Change Your Body Boot Camps and offers private training to a highly selective clientele.
His strengths are making training fun and giving the love of training & hard work to those he comes in contact with and helping out of shape and overweight individuals get into their best shape. He has coached middle school, high school, college, amatuer, Olympic & professional athletes in the sports of baseball, soccer, football, basketball, mma, triathlons, endurance running and cycling as well as busy professionals, stay at home moms, retired adults all desiring to feel, move and look better.
This is CYBBC’s 2014 Challenge Workout Recap Video. It is a compilation of workouts performed in class over the year.
CYBBC offers group personal training for health, body transformation and performance. We are not a class you can just show up to, but rather a program built around phases with start dates and end dates. A phase is 4 weeks long, consisting of 3 weeks of face to face coaching, spent learning a program, followed by a 4th week in which you do the program on your own. We track your measurements at the beginning and end of every phase and your physical performance quarterly.
Our members are busy people, of all different shapes, sizes and ages, who want a coach who cares, an effective program to follow and a motivating group of people to train with. They want to be held accountable, have fun, lose weight, tone up, get in shape, learn new things, make friends, not get injured, perform better and become their best self.
We teach do anywhere workouts, using minimal equipment that you bring, in a high intensity strength & conditioning workout, that is thoughtfully planned, safe, periodized, progressive and set to time and provides multiple exercise levels to accommodate the different fitness levels of the participants.
If you’re looking to get in your best shape, change your body and transform your life and you could use the help of a coach, a team and an effective program, please sign up at http://bootcampboston.com.
Come the weekend parents are usually off from work and on with family duties and that can make it challenging to get workouts in. I imagine, as I don’t have kids yet, that a parent either has to get their workout in:
1) 1st thing in the morning before the kids are awake, which might be a challenge if you’re catching up on sleep or had a late Friday or Saturday night; or
2) you plan your workout around when your child/children are busy doing an activity or…
3) you take turns with your spouse and one person watches the kids while the other trains and then you switch, but then that prevents a great opportunity for you to train with your spouse.
So what do you do?
How about a little of all of these?
Some days you train before everyone’s up.
Some days you get your workout in while kids are doing their activity and best case you train with your partner (partner training is awesome).
Some days you take turns with your partner getting your workout in while the other watches the kids.
Some days the whole family trains together.
Which brings me to…PTO Family Boot Camp.
We’re in our 5th year of Change Your Body Boot Camps and after being asked numerous times if I’d ever do an adult – kid workout, and after one Nemo Blizzard canceled our “dress rehearsal” event, we held the PTO Family Boot Camp Workout last weekend and it was a major success. No one got hurt, everyone smiled & laughed, everyone sweat & had fun and everyone got 50min of cardio-core conditioning in (though some parents said it was the easiest 50min of cardio they’d ever done), while the parents got to hang out & train with their kids and other families and the kids were able to associate positive emotions with training and hard work (parents already know this, right?).
It had been 10+ years since I coached kids so I had to remember what it was like to work with kids again. What can/can’t they do? How do you talk to them? How do you keep them focused? How do you get adults a great & effective workout in while not going to fast for the kids? How do you keep the kids “engaged” without boring the adults?
Talk about losing sleep the night before preparing for this event.
What I learned?
Speak in bullet points (raise your hand if you want to have fun!).
Change science to kid friendly pictures (broad jumps work horizontal, bilateral hip power to frog jumping ability)
Frog Jumps aka Broad Jumps
Be early.
Be prepared.
Set up rows & columns.
Rows & Columns Keep Order
Assign partners (kid-adult).
Partner Training: 1 adult & 1 kid
Keep the reps short (kids only have so much reserves).
Use lots of dynamic movement (kids love to run around & especially crawl).
Use fun names and animal names (burpees, surprise in birthday cake, spiders, frogs, gorillas, crabs, …)
and add levels for different ability levels.
Be flexible to change on the fly.
Too easy or too hard?
Plan for long water breaks (2min+) as kids need it and you want to reduce injury risk with people you haven’t coached before.
Try to make the experience like an adventure (like Disney World does with Pirate stuff).
Have a game. You might even be able to do 50min of “tag”, but the adults would need a more specific warm up b/c they tend to sit more for work in my experience.
How can you play with your kids and still get your workout in?
Do warm ups together moving across 5-10 yards.
Keep reps short, 3-5 reps is a good starting point for strength & jumping exercises.
Keep planks or stability holds short, 10 seconds is a good aim.
Give enough rest b/w circuits 1-3min so everyone can keep form, especially the population you don’t train normally (in my case the kids).
Alternate standing exercises with on the ground exercises.
Partner Wheel Barrow
Change traditional exercise names to something fun (e.g. Overhead Squat is “be the Surprise in the Birthday Cake” move).
Play relays. Most everyone loves relays.
Do obstacle courses. Most everyone loves obstacle courses.
Play tag. Kids love tag and many adults too.
Use body weight movements & calisthenics.
Form is always important. This is an opportunity to teach a life skill.
Use animal moves & names.
Use trivia.
High Five, smile & laugh a lot.
Don’t be perfect or try to be.
Aim for the long term goal of creating a family tradition of training together.
You can do this if its loose & structured, fun, something everyone can do together.
Have you ever trained with your family?
Above is a video of my family (mom, sister, brother in law, and cousins all training together outside a cottage by the beach).
Everyone in the world has to train (exercise). Why not train with your family & friends sometimes so you can enjoy happy hormone highs together, create new stories and empowering change in your relationships, family tree and personal health.
Have you ever trained with your family? If yes, comment below and tell me about it. I’d love to hear stories about other families training together b/c I think it’s cool. 🙂
The below article is a guest post written by and reprinted here with permission by one of my mentors, Mike Boyle, arguably 1 of the top strength & conditioning coaches in the world, the current Boston Red Sox Strength & Conditioning Consultant, owner of a Men’s Health Top 100 Gyms in America, Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning in Woburn, MA; former S&C coach the BU Men’s Hockey national champions, former Boston Bruins S&C coach, former Women’s Olympic Gold Medal Ice Hockey S&C coach, current S&C coach to middle school, high school, college, amateur, Olympic and professional athletes; internationally renowned speaker, author, fellow athletic trainer and fellow Springfield College alumni (biased #1 sports science school in the country).
I have a favorite quote that is particularly applicable when it comes to training kids.
“prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child”
The reality is that you will not always be there to pave the way for your child, fix things, argue with coaches etc. etc. Kids will grow into adults and experience grumpy co-workers and mean bosses. Constantly insulating kids from difficult situations and consistently cleaning up the mess they create defeats the purpose of sport.
Sport is about learning to succeed and to fail, not just to succeed. Sports should primarily provide life lessons. If the life lesson learned from sport is that Mom and Dad can and will fix everything, later life will be difficult. If the lesson is that school is something you have to do but sports are what is really important than, be prepared for some really big problems down the road.
Youth sports has become all about success and scholarships instead of about learning and sportsmanship. I have some bad news for all the parents out there. Your child more than likely won’t get a scholarship. If he or she does get a scholarship, they probably won’t make the pros. I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, I’m just a realist.
I have more bad news. Those parents who consistently prepare the path for the child by confronting teachers and coaches, changing teams, changing leagues and changing schools are making life-long losers out of their children.
Remember the purpose of sport is to teach kids about success and about failure. The failure lessons may in fact be more important than the successes. Everyone wants their child to succeed, it’s universal, it’s part of being a parent. However, it is when we attempt to alter the normal path that we screw things up. Protecting your child from difficult situations only delays lessons that are very necessary. Failures experienced at twenty one are far more painful than those experienced at ten or twelve. You don’t do your child a service by protecting them, you do them a disservice.
Remember you are a parent. You are not a friend, a manager, or an agent. Your job is to help create a competent, capable adult, not a dysfunctional child.
My mother had a wonderful saying on our wall when I was a child. It said “Children learn What they Live”. The same one hangs in my kitchen now. If you consistently prepare the path for the child you postpone the inevitable. The key is value education. Teach your children what is really important. Teach hard work, commitment, loyalty and dedication.
The next time you make a decision involving your child’s sport or sports, ask yourself “Am I preparing the child for the path or the path for the child”. This simple step will guide your decision making every time.
Gobble, Gobble Turkey Toss, Give to Hungry Learn Fat Loss
Friday, November 16, 2012 @ 7pm
At the Mackenzie Center, 1337 Centre St, Newton Centre, MA 02459
Presented by Mike Alves of Change Your Body Boot Camps
To Benefit the MHSA/Bristol Lodge of Waltham.
Mike Alves of Change Your Body Boot Camps is announcing the turkey donation fat loss workout event to remember with the 4th Gobble, Gobble Turkey Toss, Give to Hungry, Learn Fat Loss Charity Boot Camp Workout. This event will provide food to hundreds of people during the Thanksgiving holiday and take the givers through a great fat loss routine they can do anytime, anywhere with most any object, even a back pack filled with canned goods or books.
The fat loss routine will be 45 minutes of total body interval training using only your body weight and the weight of the loaded back pack you bring. You’ll be warmed up and cooled down; we’ll address every functional movement pattern, work your holiday storage system (e.g. your core) and end with a “finisher”. The best part is, it will allow people of different levels of fitness to train together because it is time based and includes exercises for beginners to advance. It will be fast, fun and you’ll understand how to exercise to lose fat in the shortest amount of time.
The MHSA/Bristol Loge Meals of Waltham is a soup kitchen that will be providing Thanksgiving Day meals to individuals and families in need.Help ensure that no person is turned away this holiday season.
All attendees are asked to do the following:
Donate a FROZEN turkey which will be “tossed” from person to person at the end of the workout while loading the giving truck. All sizes of turkeys welcome.
bring a water bottle, hand towel and gloves (your hands will get cold passing what could be 100 turkeys)
a cooler to keep your FROZEN turkey frozen while we exercise. please bring labeled cooler (so you don’t mix up your cooler w/ someone else) w/ turkey inside.
a back pack filled with dumbbells, weights, a medicine ball, a pumpkin or canned goods that you will use to exercise with (15-30lbs for women, 30-60lbs for men)
wear fitness attire
Rsvp by filling out contact form below to reserve your spot as there are only 100 spaces available.
Frequently Asked Questions:
“Mike, why are you doing all these charity events?” Why not? Seriously, Getting people in shape is what I do for a living. Getting you to break habits like overeating and not burning & earning is all part of it. Giving to others is a way to make you feel good about yourself and tie it into something you may not love yet, like exercise.
“Mike, why do I need to bring a labeled cooler?” Great question. The Mackenzie Center, our host venue has many services and programs to offer, but a walk-in freezer is not one of them. I could have the “giving truck” arrive for the start, but I feel the minor inconvenience of lugging a cooler, will be worth the experience of the turkey toss. That’s when you’ll really feel the power of celebrating the holidays, exercise and giving.
“Mike, what’s the workout going to be like?” Fast and as challenging as you are willing to make it. There will be music playing in the background, the exercises will be time based, each person will have a choice of 3 different levels to choose from for each exercise. You’ll be warmed up, train your core, do a total body strength circuit, experience a finisher, do the turkey toss and conclude with a static stretch.
“Mike, why do I need to bring a weighted backpack?” The backpack and your body weight will serve as your resistance for the day. It is also a symbol that you can exercise anywhere, anytime, with most any object, even a weighted back pack.
“Mike, what should I put in the back pack?” You can put books, a medicine ball, dumbbells, canned goods, a pumpkin, anything really.
“Mike, what if I want to do more or less weight than you recommended?” Go for it. Use less weight if you are in less shape and more weight if you are in better shape. The heavier weight you use, the faster your results will occur. If you choose too little weight and it’s too easy, strive to do as many reps as possible. If you choose too much weight and its too heavy, that’s o.k. too. Just do your best, rest as needed and keep going. Good things will happen faster.
“Mike, what if I get tired?” Great. Do your best to push through it. Challenge yourself, see what you really can do. Then if you need to rest, rest. Just stay where you are, grab a sip of water and rejoin when you can. If you need to sit down, then sit down.
“Mike, why the Bristol Loge Soup Kitchen?” I read a couple of articles in the Boston Globe about Soup Kitchens not having enough food to meet the demand of applicants requesting assistance. I couldn’t imagine not (1) having a place to go for Thanksgiving and (2) not being able to feed myself or my family. So…Gobble, Gobble. We’re going to give 100’s of pounds of turkeys and feed over a 100 hungry people. It will be awesome. Article #1, Article #2
“Mike, can I make a cash donation instead or as well?” Of course. You can make a cash donation to the MHSA Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen of Waltham. You don’t have to bring a frozen turkey to participate, but you’ll be glad if you did.
“Mike, what if I haven’t exercised in a while, I’m really out of shape or I have an injury?” Good questions. Well its up to you. This will be a challenging workout, I will show 3 different levels for each exercise and I expect you to do your best. If you think you can’t, then you probably can’t. If you think you can, then come on down. You and I will do our best to get you a great workout.
“O.K. how do I sign up?” Fill out the contact form above. You can also contact me with questions on my contact page.
Change Your Body Boot Camps is a fun, challenging and dynamic body transformation exercise class for busy people looking to change their bodies and their lives. This class is perfect for people looking to be led, supported by peers and can make time to exercise either before or after work after school drop off. Participants will use their body weight, dumbbells and bands as resistance in an interval workout that incorporates exercise regressions and progressions to address different fitness levels. To learn more about Change Your Body Boot Camps go to bootcampboston.com.
I hope you’re day is going awesome and you’re loving the fact that you don’t have to water the flowers today. I am.
In any event, I’m feeling really good b/c I rocked out a great 260 rep strength workout, had a nice lunch and had 3 really cool things I wanted to share with you.
1. Get A Follow Along Ab Workout
One of my clients, Nasrin, asked me this great question about whether she should keep losing weight to tone her stomach OR focus more on plank & crunch work. This was such a good question and with her permission, I created a really cool “Ask Mike” blog post about it and I’d like to share it with you.
If you want a short (5-18min) & effective total body ab workout to help tone your stomach, once you reach your body weight goal, and some effective & equally short results-oriented strength workouts to help you tone everything else, click here. You’ll get to see Coach Mike, busting his butt, to show you “live”, how intense your effort needs to be in order to make change happen. I even get tired, sometimes go on my hands & knees and even lie down on my face b/c I get so exhausted (the end of CW#1).
Go ahead: click here to see Nasrin’s Ask Mike question with my answer and get a follow along Ab Workout + 3 Follow Along Challenge Workouts.
2. Give A Back Pack & Get A 1-Month Pass to CYBBC
I’ve been in the giving mode lately. It started with my cousin selling wrist bands b/c his mom / my aunt got cancer, then Springfield College, my alma mater, which was hit hard by the tornadoes lost its beautiful tree line along the Massasoit shores (SC is a beautiful campus and the Harvard of Exercise Science in my biased opinion) and then I learned about this really cool program started by the City of Newton Health & Human Services department, that is collecting back packs & school supplies to give to underprivileged kids in Newton. I don’t know about you, but I sure love to learn and nothing made learning as fun in grade school as writing in my new “trapper keeper” with my cool NFL pencils and crazy erasers and rocking out with my sweet maroon, Jansport back pack with tons of cool pockets (and hidden one’s too).
Anyways, I called the Health & Human Service Dept and asked them how many they were collecting (200) and how many they still needed (50), so I thought I’d ask you if you wanted to help too and if you did I’d do something really special for you.
Here’s the deal. Help me collect 50, 48 more bags and school supplies (see above) by donating $50 worth of goods, by 5pm this Friday, August 17, 2012 to the Main Office at the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club and be sure to let them know and me know you did it, and I’ll gift you (1) Full Access Pass to A Phase of Boot Camp ($268 value) redeemable by anyone who is a good fit for us, including new members AND past members who aren’t currently under a membership agreement. Current members may gift the certificate or sell it to someone who they feel is a good fit. Gift certificate expires in 6-months (February 16, 2013).
Give & Get Specifics
48 more bags needed for underprivileged kids
Donate a back pack and school supplies worth $50.
Do Good & Feel Good.
Get a 1-Month, Full Access Pass to A Phase of Boot Camp ($268 value)
Redeemable by people who are a good fit for CYBBC.
Including new members AND past members not on a membership agreement.
Current members may gift or sell the gift certificate.
Expires in 6-months (February 16, 2013).
Drop off by 5pm, Friday, August 17, 2012 to the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club Main Office (Edinboro Street), 675 Watertown Street, Newton, MA 02460.
Send Coach Mike an email, mike@mikealves.com to tell him you did this.
Get, Give, Get Summary
If you’ve got belly & side fat and you’d like to get a fun, follow along video you can do to help tone your midsection, click here.
If you give a back pack & supplies, you’ll feel really good about it and…
…you’ll get a 1-Month, Full Access Pass to A Phase of Boot Camp.
Thank you for reading today.
Yours living the active lifestyle,
Mike Alves
p.s. Go check out Nasrin’s “Ask Mike” question here. Follow along with the video, then while you’re flying high and feeling tight & solid in your gut, go drop off a new back pack to the B&G Club.
p.p.s. No one ever says, “Wow, I really regret that workout!”
p.p.p.s. No one also ever says, “Wow, I really regret helping those kids!”
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