WELCOME TO OUR BLOG

Fitness Ashley Beaver Fitness Ashley Beaver

How long does it take to lose your gains?

Taking time off from your regular workout routine for any reason can be a challenge, and it's common to worry about losing the progress you've made in your fitness journey. Whether you're recovering from an injury, dealing with a personal issue that leaves you with less time and energy, or facing any other circumstance that makes it difficult to maintain your regular workout schedule, it's normal to be worried about months or even years of training going down the drain. But how long does it take to really for deconditioning to really set in?

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

The best time of day to eat for maximizing performance & fat loss

Nutrient timing is generally discussed in relation to two things: the circadian rhythm, which are your natural internal processes that ebb and flow, and repeat every 24 hours or so; and timing around training sessions. In this article, I will discuss how each of those can affect weight/fat loss, and then separately discuss performance implications.

Read More
Fitness Ashley Beaver Fitness Ashley Beaver

6 ways to increase your daily steps

Trick to getting more steps? Get a dog!

One thing I try to focus on with clients who are trying to lose fat is not so much the hour IN the gym, but what they do in terms of movement the other 23 hours of the day. Personally, I think walking is the most underrated tool.

Here are some tips I give my clients:

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

7 tips for training in the heat

Training in the heat can be challenging, especially if you aren’t used to it. When Black Iron Nutrition coach Amanda May moved south she realized pretty quickly that she was going to need a game plan for managing the heat; from hydration to meal timing, training volume to straight up managing her performance expectations. Similar to acclimatizing for high elevation, our bodies need to do the same thing for heat.

Read More
Mindset, Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver Mindset, Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver

What I Learned from a 365 Day Habit

In 2021, I committed to walking one mile per day. When I told people I was doing a mile a day they always looked at me funny because they knew that I had a moderate level of fitness and could run much longer distances. But I knew I couldn't commit to running or even walking those longer distances consistently every single day for an entire year.

Read More
Fitness Ashley Beaver Fitness Ashley Beaver

4 Things Essential for Recovery

People want to glamorize recovery with fancy tools like the recovery boots and massage guns but what really matters?

Really, there are four important parts of recovery. If these points are not a priority, those fancy recovery tools aren’t going to do much!

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

What does Performance Nutrition actually mean?

How many times have you looked at pictures of CrossFit athletes, weightlifters, etc. and thought “I would kill to look like that” ?

But if we knew what it actually took to get there, we might reconsider.

This also brings up one of the biggest misconceptions in fitness - the idea that looking shredded is equivalent to better performance in the gym or in sport.

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

Hiking Nutrition: What + How Much to Eat on a Day Hike

Nutrition for hiking is something we see a lot of people make mistakes with – they’re either overcomplicating it and bringing too much food, or underestimating how much they should eat OR choosing types of food that simply aren’t as optimal for a day hike.

When you’re planning out a hike and trying to determine how much food to bring, we don’t need to be concerned about mileage or vert. We are most concerned with how long the hike is going to take you and how hard that hike will be for you.

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

Which Supplements Are Worth The Money?

This is a question I get weekly and its a good question! It’s hard to sift through all the adds on social media and see what’s truly important.

I want to start this off by saying if your nutrition, sleep and hydration are not on point, supplements aren’t going to be doing ya much good. Supplements are just that, to supplement the things you are missing from your diet and lifestyle.

Read More
Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver

Should You Gain Mass

It’s all too common to see clients believe they can ONLY improve their health and/or sports performance by LOWERING their weight - that a lower body fat percentage and improving sports performance and/or health markers are directly connected. Heck, I used to be one of these people!

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

3 Things Essential For Gaining Muscle

3 things will optimize your muscle gain: Resistance training, A calorie surplus, Adequate protein intake.

Each of these things plays off of one another. You can gain muscle in a calorie surplus without resistance training, but you’ll likely put on more fat than you will lean body mass if you don’t lift. If you don’t eat enough protein, you won’t put on as much muscle as you could.

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

Sleep Deprivation and It's Impact on Body Composition

When most of us look to change our lifestyle to lose weight we often turn towards a healthy diet and exercise. Up at 4 am for our first workout, lots of fruits and veggies, and maybe an evening weightlifting session. By the end of the week we are exhausted, hungry, and wishing for an extra hour of sleep. Is it worth it to press the snooze button and get that extra hour of sleep? Will that really help you reach your goals? You better believe it….

Read More
Fitness Ashley Beaver Fitness Ashley Beaver

Rest and Recovery Days

A lot of folks think that they need to do MORE MORE MORE to lose weight, gain muscle, or achieve performance/athletic goals, and yes, we DO want to exercise, but people forget that exercise is also a stressor on the body.

Read More
Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver

So You Want To Cut Weight For a Weight-Specific Strength Sport?

When I first started writing this post it had a different tone and feel. I initially started writing it for me because I wanted to share my story. The more I asked around and spoke with fellow strength-sport athletes, the more I realized that this isn’t about me, and my experience is about all of us. I discovered I was not alone and that 90% of the women I spoke with shared a similar story. I was shocked.

Read More
Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver Nutrition, Fitness Ashley Beaver

Cellulite: What Can We Do About It?

There are some mixed feelings on aesthetic-based goals; it is healthier to focus on self-love and not agonize over every little thing on our body that we can’t always control. Don’t get me wrong; I think for our mental health, we should focus most on internal health, such as what we put into our bodies and how we treat ourselves, as well as how we deal with stress. But sometimes we want to look good too, and that’s OK! It’s natural to want to look good. As long as we don’t give it too much focus on our health and have positive intentions behind it.

Read More
Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver Fitness, Nutrition Ashley Beaver

5 Ways to Maximize Your Recovery After a Workout

Our bodies need to recover. The harder you train, the more important it is to make time for it. Preventative care is so important, yet many of us wait until we’ve pushed ourselves too far. I hear it all too often, the frustration from clients who’ve suffered an injury because they weren’t proactive or they ran themselves into the ground. Recovering from an injury is stressful and a test of our mental strength. Trust me, I’ve been there myself.

Read More