j & j Blog

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Jess and Jason share their thoughts on exercise, diet, supplements, and of course love!


Why Use a Pre-Workout Supplement?

September 12, 2019

Lacking motivation to work out? Yeah, been there and it is a common issue many people seem to find whether they are new to their fitness journey or an experienced and avid exercise enthusiast. That is why so many people turn to using pre-workout supplements like Mount Hood pre workout to help build motivation to workout. Not only will it get you amped to work out, Mount Hood pre workout will also:

  • Increase muscle pump

  • Improve mental focus

  • Maintain motivation

If you are new to the exercise supplement game, it can be overwhelming the options you will see and it can be hard to choose which one it best for you. Or maybe you are a jaded supplement veteran, hardened and critical from your years of testing and using different products. Well, either way Mount Hood pre workout is going to be the best pre workout for you. We made this product after not finding the right pre workout and getting sick of settling for crap products. We decided to make our own, then our friends wanted to try it. Once our friends tried it, they couldn’t go back to other brands and we saw the potential to deliver this great product to everyone. Well, we couldn’t be the only people dissatisfied and unhappy with all the current pre workouts on the market.

Mount Hood pre workout has all the ingredients to get you ready for your workout and keep you focused while you train. What separates our pre workout from others is our dosage and recipe, we do not cut corners or add any fillers. Every item added is the result of research, trial and error, and testing among ourselves, friends, and families. We pried our product on being free of “proprietary blends”, which are basically ways to create unique formulas and give the a generic label like “strength complex”. That name allows the actual ingredients of the “strength complex” to not be listed, pretty shady huh? Well, you will not find any of that here at Mount Hood. If you ever have any questions about our products, ingredients, or recipe please reach out to us.

People to Avoid in the gym… and maybe life too

August 20, 2019

We all know how hard it is to get motivated to work out, there are some days when working out is the last thing you want to do. Sometimes, getting motivated can be half the battle because sometimes once you get to the gym there can be many obstacles that you face on your way to a good workout. Some obstacles may include: Staying motivated, Staying fueled, Knowing what to do for maximum efficiency of your work out, and Staying on track. All of these are road blocks everyone faces and can cause workouts that are just not that great which we will talk about more later, but we should focus first on the thing that has the biggest impact to derailing your pump, and is the easiest to fix - People.

There aren people in every gym across the nation that can be beneficial to your workout; they can offer great advice to improv your form or tell you about a great healthy recipe, but it seems that for every person who wishes you well there are double the amount that want to distract you. Fitness expert wannabes or aspiring professional bodybuilders and armchair nutritionists are crawling in the gyms and it is your job to dodge them like free cake on someone’s birthday at the office. To make it easier we have compiled the different people to avoid at the gym with a brief description of what these people can look like and how to avoid them.

  1. The Bro- Don’t let the name fool you, a Bro can be a guy or a girl and these can be a little a harder to avoid in the gym because they can take up a lot of space. These individuals typically hog machines sometimes multiple machines and absolutely rate their own work out as a priority over yours. Usually physically they are in shape and they know it. They wear cut out t shirts or just sports bras in the free weight area and spend a little too much time watching their form in the mirrors. Ok, it sounds pretty awful, but the good news is they are pretty easy to navigate your workout around because as a general rule if you leave them alone they leave you alone. The biggest annoyance they provide is they can hoard free weights, smith machine, and bench for long periods of time. What to do? Typically, these individuals are frequent gym goers so they should be easy to identify at your gym. When you get there it is best to see what they are using and look for any item you may need for your training, and try to work around them. For example, if they have staked their claim to the smith machine and you know you need it for Bulgarian deadlifts, you can wait for them to finish and do another exercise or find another way to do the Bulgarian deadlift maybe with a straight bar or with free weights. In extreme cases where they may be on a single machine for a long time or using multiple items all at once, it is advisable to inform the gym’s staff, especially if it is a reoccurring situation.

  2. Cardio Queens/Kings- Cardio is usually a big part of any gym, and Cardio Queens/Kings are individuals who come to the gym and just do cardio, like a lot of cardio. They seem pretty harmless, but a certain population of these treadmill royalty are super awesome to talk to. You see someone on the stairmaster watching The Office while they sweat, you start to talk and then bamm you find yourself doing cardio for your entire workout sesh. Even worse, you just stand there and talk while they sweat away and then you are completely off track. be aware of the siren song of the people on the cardio equipment, yes cardio is an important part of any workout program but make sure to stay on track with what you want to accomplish.

  3. The Talker- Headphones and hats worn at the gym were invented to avoid the talker, maybe the most dangerous to derailing your motivation at any given gym. The worst part is they are common and they look just like us so there is no way to identify a talker without getting sucked in or watching another poor victim squirm while listening to the talker. Now, there is a whole subset of talkers (like proud parent, personal trainer, and avid sports fan), but their affect is all the same. If you are not careful you can get sucked into hearing a long winded tail from someone who probably comes to the gym to make friends rather then get in a good workout. As common as a talker is, it is easy to avoid them or at least give off the ‘Don’t Bother Me’ vibes while you work out. Rule of thumb, either wear of have headphones while workout out which should be easy. Having music or a podcast on while you exercise is pretty common and does give the ‘I am busy’ vibe. More importantly, if you do not want to get sucked in you have to keep your time between sets low and if someone approaches you to talk feel free to tell them you have to go back to your workout. Keeping your heart rate up is super important to burning calories and maximizing your workouts, Talkers can really derail a good workout if you are not careful.

  4. Casanova- As a woman at the gym, this is an all too frequent happening that can really detour a good workout and make someone feel uncomfortable at the gym. You are working out and you can feel someone watching you, they try to make eye contact, you purposely avoid it, maybe even stop your current set and move to another area of the gym and do something different just to feel comfortable. Yeah, I am sure it happens with men too, it can happen to anyone and any Casanova at the gym must be stopped. Avoiding Casanova’s at the gym has influences when I go to the gym, what I wear to the gym, and what I do while at the gym and it is not ok. Once I realized how ridiculous all of this planing and adjusting of myself was so, I decided to do something about it. I went to the gym when i wanted to, wore what I felt comfortable wearing and when I felt like someone was looking at me or asking me for my phone number I was upfront, maybe even rude to them. I let them know I am not at the gym looking for a hook up, I am looking to work out and they are preventing me from exercising. Now, this has not made me many friends while working out, but I now feel more comfortable in the more male dominated areas. It also helps to make friends who like to work out the way you do and bring them with you, remember there is strength in numbers.

*This post is a generality based off of personal experiences from Jess and Jason and their friends so, this may not be applicable to everyone and is intended for satirical purposes