This is a great question. Does the quality of your food matter? The answer is easy – It Depends. To be honest, I use the cheapest gas in my car to save money so I guess it is strange that I DO believe the quality of my food makes a difference. I take pride in what goes into this bod. I believe we are already exposed to more toxins than we need to be, so if we can limit the toxins we are consuming via the food we eat, our bodies will thank us in the future. Here is what I know. From studies done on pesticides (aka the straight up shat sprayed on your fruits and vegetables to protect them from da bugs) the findings have shown differences amongst types of fruits and veggies and how much of those pesticides are transferred to you through consumption. The fruits and...Read more

What’s up everybody – it’s Coach Byron and I’ve heard A LOT of excuses when it comes to getting & staying healthy, but there are a few myths that come up more often than others… Be honest with yourself – have you ever said, “I’m too busy to focus on my health & fitness.” Now if you’re being honest, the answer is yes, because we’ve all been there – including myself. And one of the biggest contributors to making this myth come true is trying to do EVERYTHING on our own… You start asking yourself questions like: What am I going to workout today?What is my goal with working out?Is what I’m doing working?Am I doing these exercises correctly?How often should I track my progress?How do I know? At Bluprint Fitness, we answer all of these questions for you. We teach you how to be successful. No more guessing and...Read more

First off let’s clarify what send off means. It can be a noun or a verb I suppose.  Noun: “a send off” – A person or something that misguides or misdirects you. They tell you it’s one thing or has this meaning, but really it’s something completely different.  Verb: “to send off” – To be told something is one way, or to have been given a certain assurance but then it’s the exact opposite.  Let me give you some examples….  EXAMPLE 1 – You and your friend are at the club. Your friend says “Person A is checking you out, go talk to them and get their number”. So you groove on over there and turns out Person A never checked you out and is totally uninterested. When you look back at your friend they are dying laughing at how hard you just got shut down.  You got sent off. ...Read more

What’s up everyone it’s Coach Byron from Bluprint Fitness in West Town Chicago and I was working out earlier and a thought popped in my head about how boring cardio can be and wanted to jump on and talk about improving your cardio aka the health of your heart aka not getting out of breath walking up the stairs, but having fun doing it! At first glance, magazines, the Internet, and even your friends will tell you to get on a treadmill, bike or stairmaster and get on it for a LONG-TIME. Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds hella boring to me! What if I told you that improving your cardio could be fun, challenging and engaging all at the same time? That’s how cardio works at Bluprint Fitness. We are generalists! Which means our programs will use bodyweight movements, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, medicines balls, and other...Read more

I’ve had so many conversations with athletes that reveals a sad truth. The negative self-talk and body hate is stomping on our self-worth. This is heartbreaking to me. My favorite part of my job is that I get to coach athletes of all ability levels, shapes, and sizes. I watch them develop into amazing athletes – conquering the barbell, conquering cardio, and conquering gymnastics movements they never thought possible.  I watch them methodically transform their bodies – It is SO rewarding to see.  What’s crazy is how little credit they give themselves for their successes and how much bad energy goes the wrong direction.  The part of my job that is probably the hardest is listening to the self-doubt, the negative self talk, and the self body shaming even after they’ve come so far.  So my main question is… What will it take, what does your body have to do,...Read more