raoulbathletics-blog

[raoulbathletics-blog]

What did you do today at the gym. #trainlikeyouowntheplace #ido #gymlife #mondaytraining #weightlifting #cardio #hypertrophy #armday #repsformlk

#gymlife #mondaytraining #trainlikeyouowntheplace #ido #weightlifting #repsformlk #cardio #armday #hypertrophy

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Boom!!! Hank and I are bringing USA Olympic Weight Lifting to Bay St. Louis!!!! @rahsgym #liftheavy #teamusa #usaweightlifting #snatch #cleanandjerk #performancecoach

#liftheavy #cleanandjerk #snatch #usaweightlifting #performancecoach #teamusa

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Sometimes you just have to take a sit after a training session. Today was heavy squat and bench with a MetCon to finish. #bigboysdoinpullups #yeahikippedsowhat #squatday #benchday #rahsgym @rahsgym #gymlife #leadbyexample (at Rah's Gym)

#yeahikippedsowhat #squatday #gymlife #bigboysdoinpullups #benchday #leadbyexample #rahsgym

[raoulbathletics-blog]

@katelynashleyb and I killed dinner tonight. Balsamic meatballs, asparagus, and low carb/gluten free garlic bread. This plate is only 4g of carbs. #kindaketo #keto #almondflower #fitfam #paleoish #9lbsdown #nosugar #lowcarb #iwantabs

#kindaketo #almondflower #lowcarb #paleoish #iwantabs #keto #9lbsdown #fitfam #nosugar

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Low carb, gluten free, sugar free pizza and brownies. #fitfam #keto #kindaketo #lowcarb #zerosugar #healthyeating #paleo #paleoish

#healthyeating #lowcarb #paleoish #fitfam #kindaketo #keto #paleo #zerosugar

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Chest and Tri day #gainztrain #rahsgym #liftheavy #mississippimuscle #gymlife #gymowner (at Rah's Gym)

#rahsgym #liftheavy #gainztrain #gymlife #gymowner #mississippimuscle

[raoulbathletics-blog]

SnapBacks on deck! #rahsgymapparel #rahsgym

#rahsgym #rahsgymapparel

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Starting this new year in the right place, the gym, my gym. Tbar rows to grow the back. @rahsgym #backandbiceps #rogue #roguefitness #rahsgym #liftheavy #mississippimuscle (at Rah's Gym)

#roguefitness #liftheavy #backandbiceps #mississippimuscle #rogue #rahsgym

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Don’t let the cold deter you. Come get a burn in and take advantage of our membership specials. @rahsgym #liftheavy #newyear2018 #liftinthenewyear

#newyear2018 #liftheavy #liftinthenewyear

[raoulbathletics-blog]

We are hitting the ole inter web on Monday! #ontheline #website #rahsgym

#ontheline #rahsgym #website

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Rahsgym.com launching January 1, 2018. #liftheavy #rahsgym #ontheline #interweb

#rahsgym #liftheavy #ontheline #interweb

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Come check us out next week! @rahsgym #rahsgym #liftheavy #newyearnewyou

#rahsgym #newyearnewyou #liftheavy

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Stay tuned... Our New Year’s Promotion details drops tomorrow at Noon. #liftinthenewyear #rahsgym #discountmemberships #liftheavy #mississippimuscle

#liftinthenewyear #mississippimuscle #rahsgym #liftheavy #discountmemberships

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Chocolate..?  Nope, thats definitely Poop.. A story of Fatherhood.

Someday in August, 2015 my phone rings, my caller id shows “Katelyn Darling” ,that’s what my wife is under in my phone.  I’m thinking it’s going to be the usual topic of the lunchtime phone call.  It’s either we need something for the house, I forgot to do something, or what those damn Kardashians are up to.  What I did not know is that this will be the phone call that I will never forget.

“I’m PREGNANT!!”, is really the only phrase that has stuck with me during that phone call. Yes, there were other dialogue about being super happy blah blah, but there is an overwhelming sensation and level of emotion you feel when your significant other says those two words to you.  For some they may feel scared, worried, uneasy, nervous, and even sad.  Not I.  I was STOKED!!!!!.  

I was going to be a Dad!  I was so excited and happy when my wife told me we were expecting a baby.  To this day as I am writing this entry it excites me and makes me happy thinking of it.  The reality is that yes I was overjoyed by the news but somethings did hit me.  It’s time to focus and get my priorities straight.  In nine short months my wife and I will be responsible for the life of another human being.  Now the feelings of nervousness set in, but it was short lived. I said to myself, “You got this, you were born and raised to be a loving husband, caring father, and do it all with 20 inch arms”.  

You probably think I’m the type of guy that only wanted a boy. Someone to pass his name down too, to support the lineage, to make sure the throne was filled with the rightful first born male.  Honestly, it really didn't matter to me.  Yes, I loved the idea of having a son, and yes, I loved the idea of having daughter.  I’d be happy and gracious with either.  When we found out we were having a boy, I was ecstatic.  Thrilled to say the least.  I would have been the same way if the news were the other way, but I was getting my rightful heir.  

April 11, 2016.  Ryker Knox Boughton was born around 1:30ish PM.  My world, my life changed.  For the better.  You want to know the true meaning of love at first sight.  Follow these steps. 1. Engage in Coitus, premarital or marital I don’t judge.  2. Plant your seed  3. Wait and get your ducks in a row, you are about to be a parent, time to man up  4. The last step.  Hold that sweet precious being that your coitus partner, in my case Wife, gave birth too and look them straight in the eye and touch their little hand.  If you do not immediately feel the warmth of love come over you, you are a terrible human being.  Here’s the thing, don’t think that people that give their babies up for adoption don’t feel this love.  Sometimes they feel this love much more and that they give their baby up because of this love they have for their baby. So goes it for people that can’t make a baby the prehistoric way and have to adopt such babies.  In all honesty it doesn’t matter who makes the baby, once you hold that baby and know its yours, you'll feel that love at first sight.  My son was the first time I knew of this feeling.  I tell people all the time “You think you love someone or something, have a kid.”

As we grow older and start taking separate paths than our friends and others we are close too we begin to loose closeness with those and start to find it in your closest loved ones, wife and kids.  I still have my boys, and they will always be my boys, but it is crazy to think that “My wife gave birth to my best friend and he’s only one and half years old”.  Now my boys aren’t just my boys anymore, they are also “Uncles’’ and they are best group of Uncles my little best friend can ask for.  

A MESSAGE TO DADS: CHANGE THE DAMN DIAPERS!!!

Be a dad, not just any dad, a good dad.  I hear the stories of dads not doing crap and it pisses me off.  I mean really, our partner has carried a human being inside of them for nine months then had this being cut or pushed out of them.  It is our duty to uphold our end of the deal. If you haven't found yourself saying to yourself while looking at your hand “Is this chocolate, “sniff”, nope thats definitely poop” Then are you even trying.  I’m not saying change every single diaper or give every single bottle.  All I want you to do is man and up and give your full 50% accountability of the child you helped conceive.  It’s your duty to be a good dad, and if you're not trying to be the best dad or father that you can be every single minute of the day you need to have a real long and hard look in the mirror.  

It was just a regular morning in November, 2016.  Ryker was in his high chair patiently waiting for breakfast and the smell of burnt bacon smacked me in the face.  Sure enough there’s bacon burning in the oven. Katelyn, my wife, comes rushing out of the bathroom with an “oh shit” look on her face. “Yes Woman, You burned the bacon”, I said. She replied, “I’M PREGNANT”, “And I’m not cooking any Bacon”.  Come to find out the bacon was left in the oven by me the night before instead of putting it in the fridge, and she simply turned on the oven to preheat for something not knowing her dumbass husband left bacon in the oven for storage.  Now back to being pregnant for the second time with son that’s only seven months old. I’ll be honest again here, “excited” was not the first feeling this time.  I was sad.  Granted, I wanted more than one kid, but so soon is what took me back.  In my mind I have not had enough time with my son alone.  We were going to go for number 2 a few years down the road, not months.  I was worried that my favorite little boy wasn’t going to be my favorite little boy anymore.  I’ll admit that I cried a little.  I cry often now, being a dad has made me an emotional fool.  Eventually, this sadness subsided and I felt the joy I did the first time around.  

“It’s a GIRL!” we yelled as my wife and I cut the gender reveal cake (its a Pinterest/millennial thing).  That sadness I had felt when we found out were pregnant the second time is now just a memory.  My favorite little boy will and forever be my favorite little boy, and now I’ll have my favorite little girl.  

August 15, 2017 Gemma Elizabeth Boughton was born.  My princess, Daddy’s little girl made it into this world a little over 4 month’s ago.  My world is now complete. I have my amazing wife, my sidekick, and now my little raptor. (inside joke, you see this morning Gemma woke up at 4:45 and demanded a bottle, so I got up, got a bottle, grabbed Gemma and turned on the last half of Jurassic World. I laid her back in her bed, then as I was getting ready for work all I could hear was the sound of a baby Raptor coming from her bed.  Needless to say it was time for wife to wake up now and tend to this little beast.).  

This morning’s daddy-daughter dinosaur date was the last bit of motivation I needed for this weeks blog.  I could write everyday about my kids.  Every day they do something new and amazing. This week Gemma rolled over for the first time and Ryker can show you his muscles.  They never cease to amaze me. To watch them grow, learn, problem solve, and create is mind-blowing. Fatherhood is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  

A MESSAGE TO MY WIFE: THANK YOU.

Katelyn, I want to say thank you for putting up with me and being the best mom that you can be.  Its been great watching you grow and care as a wife and mother.  To have a full time job and be a full time parent is rough and it doesn’t get any easier. I just want you to know I appreciate you and love you. Keep up the good work, lol.  

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Rubbermaid Weights, Goku, and a 7 year-4 year Degree

I have always loved fitness; well I have always loved lifting weights.  Fitness involves much more than lifting weights like running. I’ll be honest, I can not stand running, it sucks.  I have a “rep the weights faster” as a cardiovascular ideology. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on runners or endurance athletes.  I actually envy y'all (I’m from the south, I say y'all, don't expect it to change).  With that being said, yes I do admire your capacity for long duration cardio endurance but I also believe a “Man” shouldn’t weigh less than 185 pounds or be beardless. Thats another blog later on. 

As long as I remember I was into pumping iron. When I was a kid I idolized figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, The Rock, The Incredible Hulk, and Goku.  Yes, I know the last two or cartoon characters, but a lot can be learned from Goku’s dedication and commitment to training and nutrition.  If you didn't get hyped AF and start beating the shit out of your bedroom walls when Kakarot went Super Saiyan you aren’t even human.  I’m a nerd, so what, I can bench press a Fiat.  Anyways back to my childhood and lifting weights.  To this day I can still remember my first weight set.  It was this tiny little bench with a “barbell” that was the diameter of a broomstick and the weights were these plastic case container like things that were filled with concrete or sand. Pretty much what I had was a weight set made by Rubbermaid. There was even a cap you could unscrew on each one where you could let a little sand out or add some. I loved that damn weight set, I thought it was awesome, but hey I was 9 years old and I was about to be like Arnold (growing up all my friends wanted to “Be like Mike”, I wanted to be the Terminator).  Something about lifting weights and growing muscle has always intrigued me.  I believe my Dad had a part in my fascination with working out.  My dad has always been built, maybe not as aesthetic or as big as my celebrity and cartoon idols but compared to my friend’s fathers and anyone that I personally known my dad was, still is, swole.  My dad was the one to show me what a bench press, bicep curl, and lat pull down were.  Let’s just say he paved the way for me. Now my father showed me the in and outs of the weight room, but my perception of pure brute strength came from my mother and the rest of the Boughtons.  Those Boughtons let me tell ya.  Have you heard of the term “Construction Strong”? Well if you looked up that term in the dictionary, there would be a picture of the Boughton Family.  Now I have never seen my uncle touch a dumbbell but he could pick up an 80 pound sack of concrete in each hand and scale a ladder at the same time, the crazy thing is my mom would be right behind him with another sack a concrete.  You’d think we were a family of vikings, if it weren't  for most of us being vertically challenged and that one tan skinned kid aka me.  The Boughtons are just a solid group of individuals with a tenacity for work, not desk jockeying work, but physical manual labor in the elements of nature type of work. To this day, my 72 year old grandmother still mows 1 acre of grass with a push mower.  The damn thing isn't even self propelled. That’s what I call Functional Fitness; yeah cool “Fran” time bro but can you mix concrete with a shovel and wheel barrow, frame a house or build an award winning Mardi Gras float in less than a week.  I think not. Again being able to lift weights and not call a “professional” to change your light bulb is another blog topic for a later date. I owe a lot to my family and my upbringing for my love of working out. The patriarch of the Boughtons, my grandfather, is who I received my first protein shake.  Now I’m not talking about the delicious whey protein shake you and I are accustomed to today. I’m talking old school; glass of whole milk, 4 raw eggs, and a tsp of vanilla extract-protein shake (needless to say this was my first and last “old school” protein shake). 

I was 15 when Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast (if you are not familiar with this area, the location I am talking about is “The Landmass” between New Orleans and Alabama). Everything was destroyed and we didn't have school for months, so there wasn't anything to do besides to either work out and/or make a little pocket change gutting houses and cleaning debris. Let me tell you, tearing down soaking wet, moldy drywall got old quick. There was a few of us that really got into working out at this time; one of which really got into it, stuck with it and he now has his IFBB Pro Card.  Ready for this, the dude is a VEGAN... Which is not totally unheard of these days.  To compete in the world of bodybuilding it’s 90 percent diet, I don’t care what you say, it is.  So when your food intake is all veggies and you are committed to pumping iron, yeah you are going to be shredded.  

So we all hit the weights pretty hard from sophomore to senior year of high school.  You know you're doing something right when your classmates all claim that you're on roids.  “Nah’ bruh, blame it on genetics, two a days at the gym, copious amounts of grilled chicken breast and the occasional case of Keystone Light. (what, I was carb loading).  I played football in high school a couple of times but I kept getting injured in the weight room due to poor programming and improper coaching on weightlifting technique from my “all knowledgeable coaches”.  I got stronger outside of the football weight room by going to other gyms and doing research on my own.  This is one of the reasons I later finally chose a career path that I’m in now.  

Then came college. I know you’ve heard of “Gaining that Freshman 50″. Well I took it up a notch and gained a whopping 70 pounds after high school.  I was what you called a career student.  I took advantage of everything college had to offer, except the academic part. I didn't hit the books hard until my 3rd freshman year and finally chose a major and stuck with it.  Prior to this I hopped around from engineering, only because my friend was doing it (the same one that is a vegan body builder but I quickly realized that my math capacity was limited to counting by 45′s) to pre law (but at this time I turned 21 and there was no need to use my fake ID anymore), to finally figuring why don't I do something relevant to what I love, Working out.  At this point I was 4 years into a relationship with my now wife and most of her family are educators and coaches.  I stated earlier how often got hurt often in the high school weight room and I wasn’t the only one.  I also had only like 2 influential teachers  in my high school career, (thank you Sheila and Monty G).  So I decided to go into coaching with an emphasis on strength and conditioning with a minor and history.  For people that don't know, if you plan to coach a high school team you'll have to teach a class too.  So I chose another topic that I really like, History, (there’s no way in hell I’m teaching math unless its only kilo to pound conversions or counting plates on a barbell).  I felt like I needed to be in the classroom and in the weight room to positively motivate and inspire kids.  After a 7 year stint in college and over $40k in student loans, I finally received that 4 year degree everyone rant and raves about. Another blog for another time. 

With that being said, I fuel planes to pay the bills.  Remember how I said my now In Laws are teachers. Well they also tell me stories of the job.  It’s not the kids that have deterred me from the job, it’s the parents.  I honestly don’t wont to deal with y'all all knowing, ignorant, neglectful, pig headed, selfish A-Holes.  Now I know not all of you parents are like this but there’s a select few that I really don't have the time or patience for.  I give props and thanks to all teachers out there.  You are a group of people that are underpaid and under appreciated for what y'all do and put up with.  

After 4 years and counting in the aviation industry, mortgage doesn't pay itself,  I finally had the opportunity to  live the American Dream.  I am now an entrepreneur that owns his own business, Rah’s Gym in Bay St. Louis, Ms.  I could have easily pursued my dream in an easier way and be a personal trainer at someone else’s gym.  Do you see the problem with that last sentence?  I’ll break it down for you. In order to truly succeed the route should never be easy.  I think there’s a difference between being a personal trainer and strength coach. Lastly, being at “someone’s else’s gym” didn’t sit well with me.  Especially since there weren’t any “gym’s” near me.  Yes, there were health clubs, and fitness centers, and judgement free zones with pizza parties, but there were no gyms.  So with the determination to finally get my Freshman 70 off, oh yeah it’s still there, and an increased limit on my card I opened my own gym.  A real gym.  I have no air conditioning, no smith machines, and a bunch of free weights.  When people ask where my cardio section is, I simply point to the one elliptical and to the road on side of the gym and say “There’s no better cardio than feet to pavement.”  

Rah’s Gym has been open for 8 month’s now and business is good for being the niche, non commercial, mainstream gym that it is.  I’ve learned a lot so far; not just about running a business but about the field that I love.  You know there’s so much more to working out besides heavy singles and curls for the girls.  I know right, who would have thought.  I house all types of athletes at the gym; Functional Fitters, aka crossfitters that don't like to be sued, Body Builders, Power lifters, Mixed Martial Artists, and even Triathletes. 

It’s an exciting time to be in the fitness industry.  People are finally giving a shit about their health and quality of life, and I want to be a part of it. I plan on losing my Freshman 70, are you. 

Lift heavy, run efficiently, and rest often.