Orlean Fitness

“Even the most daring of pursuits can be broken down into small, actionable steps.” Eric Orlean is a lifelong athlete turned fitness coach dedicated to the success of his clients, team and family. Eric spent his entire life working with trainers and coaches, even before he could speak. He often says body language is his first language, developing habits that have shaped his life even at an early age. At 2 years old, he began to train in martial arts, which led to soccer at 3, baseball at 4, and many other sports growing up in New York and beyond, alongside top athletic brands and elite teams and organizations.  Being competitive and overcoming injuries and setbacks has given Eric unique insight into the many phases of peak performance training and maintaining an everyday active lifestyle. He understands the full spectrum of mental and physical challenges people face in the pursuit of their best fitness and is well equipped to guide clients through each step and rep. A lifelong le...

Let's get right to it… getting lean like Eric Orlean ain't easy. It takes dedication and a healthy dose of reality. Forget the pills, powders and potions, the nonsense diets, and the aimless attempts at achieving your goals. We're here to ditch the BS and focus on the tried-and-true principles of fitness that actually get the results we’re looking for. Whether you’re eating food you hate, or follow that age-old “eat less, move more” concept, there is no way you’ll ever find true consistency to develop your active lifestyle. A lifestyle is defined as what you do for a lifetime, so we might as well find a time horizon that’s realistic so that you’ll actually do the work and not hate yourself, or hate me for the matter. To start, it’s time to get away from hitting the drive-thru, buying processed foods and snacking on packaged garbage. If you want to get this under control, remember that you cannot feast if you’re always busy stuffing your face. It’s time to set a clear eating...

As a lifelong athlete and coach, I’ve seen firsthand how much the mind influences what appears to be a purely physical game. Your routine, your mindset, and how you approach your sport are critical to performance—and ignoring this is a mistake. Success in sport isn’t just physical; it’s a mind and body connection. Enhancing performance, managing stress, and building resilience are essential steps for anyone pursuing greatness. Sport psychology, mental fitness, food for thought, whatever you'd like to call it, let's break down your goals into digestible pieces of information that inspire the right essential actions.  As a coach, my role is to hold up a mirror and reflect your highest self—the one achieving your goals, winning games, championships, setting records, and exceeding your own expectations. My job is to ask the tough questions that bring clarity and help you rise to your potential. What drives you? Is your motivation coming from within, or is it external—your team, fam...

Do you use ice and heat as a part of your health and fitness protocol? Whether you’re in physical therapy or at the nurses office in school, ice and heat are staples to activity and the challenges athletes and my everyday fitness clients will absolutely face whether you are sore, stub your toe or injure yourself during a sports event. The American College of Sports Medicine supports the research on ice and heat application for active lifestyle enhancement and recovery.  What is ice and heat therapy? Ice, or cryotherapy, helps immediate inflammation when an injury is swollen. You will see an enhanced red color, hot to the person and touch. When the pain has dulled and the swelling has gone down, you can seek further attention and switch to heat if it is a muscle injury, called contrasting therapy. This applies to muscle tears and strains, not other muscular pain. Some examples of using ice would be when you twist your ankle or bang your knee.  Heat, or thermotherapy, aids in pa...

Let’s start by defining what overtraining is, because it may be your current problem, or a genuine concern that you do not know how to navigate. Overtraining is when you are in a state of excessive exercise which surpasses the body’s capacity to recover, leading to a handful of physical and mental challenges.  We have to rule out that just because you are sore after an intense bout of exercise does not mean you are overtraining. Overtraining is an imbalance that affects your body’s ability to adapt and recover. It builds up over time through unusually high training volumes, ignoring recovery, flexibility and mobility training, poor nutrition, sleep, stress, underlying health conditions and a lack of awareness around your current lifestyle needs.  Undertraining is when you have a lack of consistency, workouts that are too easy or not challenging enough, an incomplete routine, and neglecting certain muscle groups or components of your routine. If we want to achieve a lean, fit l...

We live in a world where there is so much information out there, not everyone has the time, or cares to listen to such in depth, scientific analysis, especially on sleep. It’s funny because when I’m sleeping, the last thing I want on my mind is swirling ideas, words that I don’t fully understand and annoying protocols that bother me rather than relax me.  Through my research, experimentation and consultation with various colleagues ranging from doctors, nurses, nutritionists, fitness coaches, physical therapists and holistic health professionals, all I want to do is share the most basic, simple, applicable tips to help you achieve improved sleep without the need for anything fancy or over the top. Get morning sun  Make your bed Exercise Go for a walk Cut off / down on caffeine early in the day Eat dinner earlier Dim the lights in the evening Lower volume of music / TV Hygiene / Recovery ritual Black out shades / Sleep mask Here are my deeper dives on these deep sleep habits....

You know, as a lifelong athlete, especially when I was younger, I never wanted to do those warm ups. Whether it was arm circles, jumping jacks, or any other light, low impact movements, it never excited me. I just wanted to jump right in. When you’re younger, you can get away with it, but now that I’ve been coaching athletes and my fitness clients for a decade, I know that this is essential knowledge for long term success and double down on its importance which is easy to overlook.  The goal of fitness knowledge is not to speak about it, but eventually get it to a place where it becomes second nature. For example, when you’re thirsty, the instinct should be to drink water, when you’re tight, to stretch, and when you’re cold or just starting a routine, we want the instinct to be to warm up. We want to raise body temperature, heart rate, loosen up stiff muscle tissue, activate the nervous system and prime yourself for a bout of activity, whether that be a workout, sports, or fun at t...

It’s no wonder that when people share common goals that there is increased motivation, commitment, improved collaboration and communication. We’ve seen this play out with sports teams, families, businesses, and other communal experiences.  Fitness at its core, is a relationship with yourself. It’s your mind and body connection - the feedback loop between your thoughts and your feelings. As Dr. Joe Dispenza says, “Just as thoughts are the language of the brain, feelings are the language of the body.” Another one of the quotes I consistently share with my clients is that “in order to make other people happy, you must be happy first. In order to make other people healthy, you must be healthy first.” The reason I share this quote is because it demonstrates a necessary selfishness and priority in your life operation that ensures understanding that if you want to improve your relationship with your significant other, you must start with improving your relationship with yourself. This is ...

In a world where we have high performance athletes achieving unbelievable feats of strength, agility and athleticism, we have everyday people who are simply looking to feel good, be healthy, active and fit. While both goals are honorable, for a young athlete who wants to play professional sports, hearing about moderation and doing what you can is not an answer. For an everyday person who wants to be active, hearing about hustle, hard work, grinding and beating records doesn’t serve them and their spirit.  When I was a young athlete, training around professional scouts, college coaches and other elite players, it fueled my passion. I was utilizing training logs, high tech machines, unique specialty equipment and a multi-disciplinary approach to my consistent training both in season and off season. From training sessions before and after school, practices, strength training, skill and drill work, mental fitness training, diet, supplements, protein shakes, I was laser focused on achie...

You really can workout anywhere and anytime. You do not need fancy equipment, or a membership at an overpriced fitness facility to get healthy and active. I see it everyday… people running, walking, doing push ups, squats, crunches, planks. The world of mobile fitness is a viable option for many, from business travelers, busy professionals who don’t have time to drive back and forth to get to a gym, to those on a budget. There are a diverse range of options catering to every fitness level and preference. The rise of smartphones have led to so many fitness apps that provide on-demand workouts, personalized training plans and guidance. This is a great solution for many, who are not seeking anything other than a few moments of motivation, mixed with the occasional insight to a new exercise or style of movement. When you go down the path of living a mobile active lifestyle, your solution is in your pocket.  Mobile fitness has another option, which is to get over to your local park, bea...

My high school teacher once said “If you don’t know the rules, you don’t have the tools”. In a world of endless opinions on fitness, there is oftentimes a lack of consideration and context for your lifestyle, work and home situation and goals that factor in how to know which tools are most effective for your fitness goals. There are fancy machines, expensive technology, and on the other end, inexpensive, yet beneficial equipment that can fit in your carry-on luggage or backpack. Take a moment to reflect on your personal fitness goals. Are you seeking to build muscle, get lean, improve cardiovascular health or flexibility? Each goal requires a different approach, and the equipment you choose should align with your goals. Do you have space in your home to store your equipment or set up a home gym? Have you considered mobile fitness equipment that you can use in a hotel room, or on the go, or in small spaces? Either way, understanding your lifestyle, mixed with your living situation shoul...

Food is fuel. That’s our mentality going forward. Our goal together is to create sustainable eating patterns empowering optimal health, performance and vitality. We will not avoid exercise, to challenge your body's ability to switch between fuel sources and utilize oxygen efficiently. This translates to better endurance in everyday activities and improved fitness. If you’re aware of your metabolism, this is what is called metabolic conditioning.  Macronutrients Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are the three macronutrients, the primary drivers of our energy intake and can be found in a variety of food sources such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, meats and cheeses. There are many food tracking apps available these days to track and experiment with, and I highly recommend using them if you want to dial this in once and for all. Think of an app as training wheels. This is not a forever solution, because the ultimate goal is developing the instinct around your eating habits, no...