OPEX Gyms strive to always seek progress for their clients, by never allowing complacency to set in. Regular feedback, through assessments and consultation, ensures that your program progresses with your life.

In an OPEX Gym your personalized program doesn’t just begin and end at the gym doors. A truly sustainable program must align movement, nutrition, lifestyle and mindset. Enter the OPEX Basic Lifestyle Guidelines (BLGs), simple lifestyle behaviors that set a solid foundation for your training.

How does nutrition make you feel? Can you recognize any behaviors that you have created around food? There is a huge emotional component to nutrition for many people that should not be ignored. You must recognize potentially self-sabotaging behaviors and ‘triggers’ if you want to create positive and lasting change.

Your fitness journey at OPEX begins with an assessment. The OPEX Body. Move. Work. (BMW) assessment allows your coach to develop a clear understanding of your starting point, so they can design a program that meets you where you’re at.

We encourage our clients to zone in by using deliberate practice when they are training. This will mean something different for everyone and for each session, but broadly, it means to keep the intent of the workout front of mind as you do it. OPEX coaches are experts at communicating this intent to their clients through consultations, TrueCoach notes and on the floor, so the purpose of their workouts is always clear.

Body fat is typically perceived to be unhealthy, and excess body fat can increase your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Leanness, on the other hand, is celebrated as healthy and beautiful. So how much body fat is actually healthy?

It is a common nutrition myth that to make progress, you need to make big changes. Learn how OPEX Coaches uses small swaps to make a big impact on the nutrient density of your meals while making it easier to remain compliant.

There is an important distinction between approaching life with a fixed versus a growth mindset. The former limits progress, while the latter fuels it. Having a growth mindset is integral to seeking progress. Those with this approach to the world see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Over the past 20 years, the OPEX method was developed through the coaching experience of our Founder, James Fitzgerald. James has worked with thousands of clients in both personal training and group fitness environments, and eventually created his own approach to fitness by blending the positives of these two worlds.

The tides are slowly starting to turn, but too many ladies are still shying away from lifting weights. In this blog we’re going to address three common fears that stop women from using barbells and dumbbells, and six amazing reasons to embrace resistance training.

The greatest workout is only as effective as your ability to recover from it, and the most important factor in your recovery is sleep. Sleep-wake cycles are in our DNA. Honoring them is essential to our physical and emotional wellbeing. We are wired to sleep with the moon and rise with the sun – our natural circadian rhythm.

We all know that working out offers a host of physical benefits, but did you know that it can also nurture a healthy mind?

Step-by-Step: What It Looks like to Be a Client of an OPEX Gym. You will be teamed up with a professional coach—someone who has been through the comprehensive OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP)—to meet you exactly where you’re at in this moment of time, mentally and physically.

Eat the Rainbow. It’s no secret that vegetables are good for us. Eating a diverse array of colorful veggies is a great way to boost your intake of fiber, a variety of micronutrients and phytonutrients. OPEX Gyms provide personalized nutrition coaching, but one thing every client can benefit from is eating the rainbow!

Macronutrients supply the body with calories. Different foods contain varied ratios of the three macronutrients–fat, protein and carbohydrate. Understanding why each macro is important and what kinds of foods contain large amounts of them will help you put together meals that support your body composition, performance and health goals.

It may sound a little strange, but at OPEX Gyms our goal is for you to reach the point where you don’t need us anymore. Our ideal journey for you as an OPEX client is to learn and internalize the behaviors and tools that will help you live long and prosper so that you develop autonomy over your health.

Do you want better performance, recovery, sleep and energy levels? Drink more water!

Many gyms promise to be the solution you’ve been looking for all your life. The truth is that what you need depends on you. It’s relative to your unique body and life. 

Aerobic training is an important part of any OPEX program. From an evolutionary perspective, as humans, we are made to travel long distances and sustain work for an extended period of time. Whether your goals are longevity and vitality, increased strength, or improved endurance, individualized aerobic work has a host of health and performance benefits. 

Have you ever stopped to think, “What am I training for?” It is common knowledge that exercise is something we “should” do because it’s good for us. But through experience coaching many thousands of clients, we know that “should” is not a strong enough reason to keep you inspired to workout when life gets busy or stressful.

In this article, we take a bit more human approach to help you determine how much personal training and your personal trainer are worth to you. Because that is so unique to each person, we want to give you a formula of sorts to determine how much you value personal training. That way, you can be confident whether personal training is worth it for you or not.

In OPEX Gyms every single client is matched with their own personal coach. Regardless of your starting point and your goals, the fastest way to achieve success is through personalized fitness.

Gluten-free diets are all the rage. The letters “gf” have become ubiquitous on restaurant menus and grocery stores are littered with gluten-free options, from cauliflower crusts to cookies. But it may not actually be gluten that is causing you to feel ill.

What is the keto diet? Chances are you’ve heard of the ketogenic diet by now.  The keto diet is a very low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. There is a time and a place for a keto diet, but is it the right nutrition approach for everyone?  Absolutely not!

If you’ve hung around OPEX for long enough you’re bound to have heard someone say the words, “assess, don’t guess.” Here are 5 reasons why we insist that every fitness program in an OPEX Gym begins with an assessment.

Here’s a crazy idea… What if we all stopped looking for the hacks, magic pills, and silver bullets to answer our health woes and started examining the behaviors that caused us problems in the first place?

Goal setting is an incredibly important part of the OPEX coach-client relationship because it holds both parties accountable to the training program. Here is the roadmap for goal setting used in OPEX Gyms.

The aging process is an inevitable part of life. We all have a “peak” for physical performance within us, and at some point, we switch from climbing towards it to heading down the other side.

We’ll admit it. We’re vitamin D addicts. Daily sun exposure is one of the simplest ways to increase recovery, mood, digestive health, immune function, neurological health, and performance.

Do I need to do cardio? This is a question clients ask a lot. But the answer is, as always, it depends. Moving your body in some way, every day is vital for your health. But the kind of activity and the intensity is determined by your goals.

When you think about nutrition, what comes to mind? At OPEX we boil it down to three pillars of intention for personalized nutrition: Brain, Body, and Life.

Every new client at an OPEX Gym goes through work capacity testing to measure their aerobic system.

It’s all too easy to let sugar cravings get the best of you, especially around the holidays. But a diet high in sugar is not connected to longevity, feeling great, or looking great! Here is how to beat sugar cravings.

There’s an endless number of cardio machines out there, but at OPEX Gyms around the world there’s a few options that are staples. 

The holiday season is well and truly underway. Here are a few simple tips to help you enjoy the holidays and continue to progress towards your goals!

Variety is the spice of life, and it couldn’t be truer when it comes to the foods on your plate! But it’s not only about combining food groups like veggies, meats, fruits, nuts, and seeds. It’s also important to vary the type of each food group you eat on a regular basis. 

The supplement industry has us believing that their magic pills will make us stronger, faster, and healthier. Fish oil and Vitamin D help us fight the inflammation and maximize all the essential fatty acids we consume in our diets on a daily basis.

Recovery is a hot topic in the fitness space. Whether it’s supplements, mobility tools, or of course, CBD cream, the market is flooded with hacks and magic pills to speed up the recovery process.

Meal prep is the foundation of any successful week. Setting aside an hour on a Sunday to prepare healthy meals takes decisions during a busy week off your plate. 

There is an undeniable relationship between food and exercise. But exercising only to “burn” the calories you consume can make it feel like there is a direct transaction happening between the foods you eat and your workouts.

Being physically active and eating well can be challenging in an office environment. Here are seven implementable steps to help you stay healthy in the workplace.

Fitness routines and daily schedules have been thrown through the loop as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With gyms closed around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want you to know that we’re here to help.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disruption to the lives of people around the world. However, with a little bit of reframing and reprioritizing, you can still move forward with your fitness journey.

What does science say about the ideal time to train? There are definite pros and cons to each training time, and we’ll lay them out for you so you can decide for yourself.

Starting your day with a consistent morning routine is essential to a successful day.

We all know that in exercise it’s important to have a foundation of quality movement before we move to more complex endeavors. Nutrition is no different.

Recovery is king when it comes to results. If you’re not recovering, it doesn’t matter what you do in the gym.

So is fat healthy? The answer to this question depends on the quality and quantity of the fats you consume.

OPEX Gyms are about so much more than just exercise in a facility. One of the best things about OPEX Gyms is the ability for our clients to train anywhere.

It can be difficult to determine how often you should work out. If you listen to social media influencers you can quickly find yourself working out seven days a week.

It’s a common fitness myth that you need equipment to strength train. However, you can effectively strength train using your bodyweight alone.

When was the last time you unplugged? Nope, not the last time your phone wasn’t plugged in. We mean the last time you took a break from technology. 

“On Saturday I’m having a meat lovers pizza for my cheat day and I can’t wait.” Sound familiar?

To reach your fitness goals you need to take small steps towards them day in and day out. A great way to take those steps is to create a daily schedule that includes behaviors that get you closer to your goals.

What is the one thing you want to work on for the next 10 years?

Reaching your fitness goals is a long road. So to help you find success here’s how to build your own fitness support network in six steps.

To help you demystify fitness, here is what you should do (and what you shouldn’t!) to reach your fitness goals.