Ricael Velez

I played baseball since the age of 6 years old I was always interested in fitness and being active. At 14 I went from being chubby in elementary to really skinny freshman year playing varsity baseball to being 175 pounds all muscle. The beginning of freshman year I was 135 then 3 years later I gained around 40 solid pounds. I used to get anxiety as a kid not knowing what to eat or what machines to use. I didn’t even know the simplest exercises but I wanted change in myself so I did research then eventually once I was old enough to become a trainer at 18 I became a personal trainer at Xsport Fitness. For 2 years I spent talking to people about their goals what exactly what they want to do with their bodies. As well for the nutrtion making sure they get the right macros if they need to do a carb cycling diet or a high carb diet to gain muscle. I worked with clients that wanted to build muscle, tone up, shred down, and loose weight. The love of weightlifting/ fitness is from baseball I fell in love with it because of strength and conditioning during our off season. I eventually started to work at La Fitness as their head trainer out of 250 locations there were 3 head trainers out of all the locations. Where I gave fitness assessments to show them the value of training. Everyone can get a harder regimen to follow especially having a trainer push you along the way. Having a coach watch your form and make sure you do the exercise the correct way you will see results a lot more quicker. Most likely when you train with a coach they are able to break down your body make your range of motion better; allowing you for a better stretch/squeeze/ contraction. I spent 3 years giving people free assessments; showing them the value of training how it can benefit their health along with feeling better everyday. I aspire to continue my education I’m always looking to learn more. With International Sports Sciences Association I can keep pushing myself to get more certifications through the ones that interest not only me but my clients.

I strongly love Time under tension and strength training which hit both muscle fibers the slow and fast switch which is important to target the muscle groups. Mind muscle connection is key to understanding the body and shaping/building the body.

Typically I like to do the warm up with my clients this can include some dynamic warmups which helps with range of motion its similar to isometric stretches but they have movement in these specific stretches. So dynamic stretches along with a cardio equipment either bike or tredmill depending on what training day it is. Then I usually go through some movements that hit all the main areas of the body parts that we are targeting with mind muscle connection 3-4 sets 10-15 to have high rep ranges to get the blood circulating. Then move into the strength training part where we are going through motions that hit every muscle group with different angles; still controlling the weight but not taking 3 seconds on the essentric and 2 seconds on the concentric. Depending on if they are trying to loose weight or tone up or build muscle the rep ranges all depend on the goals. Then I burn out with some more mind muscle connection then I go do a burn out of super high rep range.

I had one client that was working with me for 1 years and we lost 60 pounds she was barley able to push a plate on the angled leg press but now can do 5-6 plates for 10-15 reps.

baseball, music, and a foodie