Holistic Highlight #001

Inaugural Housekeeping: 

Hey everyone! 

First off, thank you for subscribing to this email list, my goal is to not only build awareness around my brand, but to provide valuable information and insight that can potentially help improve or enhance your life. My brand, Bergman Performance, is centered around a holistic approach to performance.

This includes  

• Sound strength and conditioning methods 

• Nutrition and supplementation advice and strategy 

• Methods and Experiences for mental and spiritual  well-being 

Every week, I will provide a piece of personal experience and/or research that pertains to each subject, making this the Holistic Highlight of your week! Without further a dew lets dive in.  

Today we will be going over 

• Favorite movements for a strong core

• Foundational supplements to enhance your immune system 

• Getting outside of your comfort zone

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Favorite movements for a strong core 

The word core gets thrown around a lot in the fitness industry. While many believe core is having six pack abs more shredded than shredded cheese, the term refers to more than that. When I say core, I am referring to the following muscle groups 

• Lower back 

• Upper back 

• Abdominal Wall 

• Obliques 

• Glutes 

• Hips 

Having a strong core will enhance your life through improved stability around the spine, help improve posture, increase general strength and work capacity, improve your big core lifts like squat and deadlift variations, and help keep the injury bug at bay.  

Whenever I am writing a program for myself or an athlete, there will always be one or multiply movements to address the core. Here are three of my favorites that are regulars in my programming.  

Back Extensions 

Whether they are at 45 degrees or 90 degrees, back extensions are in my opinion one of the best movements for developing the posterior chain. With the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back being the primary muscle groups involved, this is a great primary movement if you are starting off or as an accessory exercise to a bigger lift like squat or deadlift. 

Suitcase Carry

Grab a kettlebell or dumbbell and walk in a straight line with it by your side in one hand. Turn around and come back with it in the other hand while maintaining an upright posture and bracing your opposite side. This is one of my favorites to work the obliques as it requires you brace in a similar way that you would if you were performing a big lift. 

Sumo Deadlift

Either lower reps focused on strength with a barbell, or higher reps with a dumbbell for hypertrophy, the sumo deadlift is a great core lift and functional movement that primarily recruits the glutes, adductors, lower and upper back. It is important to focus on proper execution of each rep rather than chase numbers on the bar with your ego. 

Interested in a personalized strength and conditioning program? 

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Foundational supplements to enhance your immune system

I’ll go right into it. I had a day where the covid pandemic exposed my eyes to how many people naively rely on the government for their own well-being. When the pandemic was in its early months, I would go into a Sam’s Club and see people wearing masks, face shields (so ridiculous), wiping down their carts, staying six feet apart, you know, all the typical stuff that we thought made us responsible human beings contributing to the well-being of society.  

What I noticed though that day though was that so many people, although practicing these preemptive measures, were extremely overweight and obese, and their shopping carts reflected that.  

Pallets of soda, family sized bags of chips and snacks, sugary cereals, high sodium frozen dinners, you get the idea.  

While the government was providing preventive measures to slow the spread and promoting their vaccine was the only way to prevent catching the virus, they were providing zero information on how to boost your immune system and live a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise. 

They want it this way, they want people weak and reliant on their system, and that doesn’t sit right me.

Assuming you make sound choices in your diet and are an active individual, here are a few supplements you can add to your regiment to enhance your immune system and decrease your chances of catching a bug.  

Basic Multi-Vitamin 

While I could specify numerous individual vitamins and minerals, a basic multi-vitamin will help check a lot of boxes when it comes to foundational support for your health. Many of us don't get the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and food just isn't as nutrient dense as it was 100 years ago, so a basic multi-vitamin can fill the holes in your nutrition and provide a sound foundation to supplement a healthy diet. 

Zinc 

Zinc is necessary for many immune functions, including development and function of cells related to the immune system, activating various groups of white blood cells to moderate your inflammatory response, help mitigate oxidative stress, and help the body’s production of testosterone.  

Vitamin D 

On top of getting plenty of sunlight (sunlight exposure promotes Vitamin D synthesis), supplementing vitamin D is essential for healthy teeth and strong bones, muscle function and recovery, as well as promoting strong cardiovascular and immune function. If you are someone who gets limited sun exposure, a vitamin D supplement is right for you.

While there are plenty of good supplement companies in the industry, I always recommend Thorne supplements to my athletes and clients, as well as taking them myself. They are NSF certified banned substance free, based in the USA, and only provide supplements backed by clinical research and medical literature.  

If you are interested in learning more about Thorne and supporting an America based company, check out the link below.  

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Getting out of your comfort zone

This is something I have been constantly striving for myself lately. Growth only happens outside of your comfort zone, and for me, the feeling of being stagnant gets me anxious. We only have so much time in this world and I have kept a phrase in my head everyday.  

Momento Mori – Remember that you will die 

This may seem grim, but it is a reminder to pursue the life you want, build that business, go on that trip, subject yourself to new experiences.  

With many of those examples, they require stepping out of your comfort zone. Taking risks when building a business, trying something new or subjecting yourself to new experiences.  

One of my best friends earlier this year invited me out to Colorado to go backpacking and summit a 14er (A peak that sits above 14,000 feet in altitude) on two weeks notice. I’ve always loved hiking and camping, but have limited experience with it out west at that type of altitude. He was about to move back to Florida at the end of the month so I couldn’t pass on the opportunity. 

I was excited and also a little nervous, I had never gone to that altitude, and knew the thinner air would be rough with a 60lbs pack on my back hiking to basecamp. We spent 3 days camped out lakeside at the base of the mountain range, and summited La Blanca peak on the 2nd day.  

The summit was physically, mentally and emotionally draining, but the view down to basecamp and even the access road all the way down at the base of the mountains, made me think we just accomplished something extremely hard that not many people do, something that myself living in Florida, don’t have the opportunity to do any given weekend like Colorado natives do.  

It was out of my comfort zone, and I grew from the experience. My perspective grew, that this is something I want to do more of, that I am able to endure more than I previously thought, and that this amazing experience wouldn’t have ever happened if I just said no and stayed in Florida, in my normal routine, in my comfort zone.  

Get out there, try new things, push your boundaries, or as my friend Brian Peters would say, chase your edges, you’ll be happy you did.  

-Cory