that the ex-offenders can be trained by a ConBody mentor vi

SAN DIEGO -- There are any number of reasons why the San Diego Chargers need a victory at home Sunday against Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans.Its the final game before Election Day, when the Chargers will ask the public for a $1.15 billion subsidy in the form of an increase in the hotel occupancy tax to help pay for a new $1.8 billion stadium and convention center annex downtown to replace aging Qualcomm Stadium.They dont want to play poorly on Alumni Weekend in front of such greats as Dan Fouts, Lance Alworth, Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner and LaDainian Tomlinson.And if they hope to get into the AFC West race, they cant risk falling any further behind.I imagine it will be a special day on Sunday, Philip Rivers said. Weve just got to make sure we do our part and go in and find a way to win.Its doubtful that a victory will sway many voters Tuesday. Most observers think Measure C will fail to gain the two-thirds super majority needed to pass.Obviously we all care about it at different levels, Im sure, in that locker room, Rivers said. Its very meaningful for us to be here, and how bad I want us to be here. When youre sitting at 3-5 and some of the tough losses weve had and really, where we are in the season, I dont know that we can want to win a game any badder than we do right now. For obvious reasons you can throw that in there, sure, but I dont l think its something thats really on the top of our minds in the locker room.The Titans (4-4) have won three of four and are playing on the road for the first time in four games. Theyre coming in with extra rest after beating Jacksonville 36-22 at home on Oct. 27.We did some good things in the first half of the season, linebacker Derrick Morgan said. Weve just got to keep building off of that. ... We have to keep stacking wins. Its a critical time in our season. Were right where we want to be. Weve just got to keep it going.Here are some things to look for when the Titans try to avoid a seventh straight loss in San Diego dating to 1993, when they were still the Houston Oilers:WHISENHUNT EFFECT: The Titans fired Ken Whisenhunt a year ago after a 1-6 start to his second season. Mike Mularkey replaced him for the final nine games and had the interim tag removed in January. Whisenhunt has returned to the Chargers as their offensive coordinator. The Titans are aware of how Whisenhunt likes to attack a defense, but Tennessee comes into this game as one of only two NFL teams ranked in the top 10 in both offense and defense. Mularkey said he doesnt think theres an advantage.Our personnel has changed dramatically, Mularkey said. A lot has changed since hes left. The guys that are here, hes got a good feel for them.RUNNING BACKS: The Titans feature the NFLs third-ranked rushing offense, led by DeMarco Murray, who leads the AFC and is second in the NFL with 756 yards rushing. Hell be going against a Chargers defense woefully thin on inside linebackers. The Chargers offense will counter with Melvin Gordon, who has run for 572 yards and eight TDs, plus two TD catches. Chargers coach Mike McCoy and Whisenhunt were heavily second-guessed after the Chargers didnt once try a running play after advancing to the Denver 2-yard line late in last Sundays 27-19 loss. Rivers threw four straight incompletions.BIG TEN REMATCH: Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa (Ohio State) and Titans right tackle Jack Conklin (Michigan State) know each other from the Big Ten, and the rookies will now face off in the NFL for the first time. With the way the Chargers move Bosa around, the rookie also likely will go against left tackle Taylor Lewan, who played at Michigan.Hes a good player, Conklin said of Bosa. Looks like he picked right up where he was in college and is playing hard in the NFL.The Titans have allowed only 12 sacks this season with Conklin, the eighth pick overall, helping anchor the right side of the line despite losing right guard Chance Warmack to a hand injury and then left guard Quinton Spain with an injured right knee. Bosa has four sacks in four games.MARIOTAS MONTH: Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota is coming off perhaps the best month of his young career. He posted a 120.7 passer rating during the last four games, which is second in the NFL over that span only to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (133.9). Over the past four games, Mariota is 77 of 112 for 949 yards with 10 TDs and only one interception.BIG SHOTS IN TOWN: More than 20 members of the Chargers Hall of Fame will be honored at halftime. The Chargers will wear their powder blue throwbacks.---AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville contributed.---Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap Adidas Shoes Free Shipping . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Adidas Shoes Clearance Store . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. http://www.cheapshoesadidas.com/ . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Discount Adidas Shoes . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Adidas Shoes Outlet . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. I cant say what it is, but I, like the thousands of other people in this country, have an inexplicable fascination with crime-based television series. In fact, much of my honeymoon was spent binge-watching the second season of Orange Is The New Black, and many late nights with my husband are reserved for Beyond Scared Straight reruns. Naturally, when I was introduced to ConBody, the NYC-based prison-style boot camp, I was intrigued.Yet, unlike my favorite fictional shows, the ConBody workout was inspired by a very real experience for founder Coss Marte. See, Marte is a former drug dealer who spent part of his youth in and out of the correctional system. He did his crime, served the time and is now looking to change ... not only the way we work out, but how the public views ex-offenders, and to give them economic freedom.Behind barsMy class with Marte began at 8 a.m., sharp. A group of flushed-face women, drenched in sweat, exited as I rang the bell to enter the studio. The space, which is located on Broome Street in Manhattans Lower East Side, are Martes old stomping grounds. This was the first [spot] that gave me an opportunity to rent with my criminal background, he says when we first meet.While serving a seven-year sentence (eventually reduced to four years), he masterminded the very exercises that now make up the class I was getting ready to join. I developed the moves from my previous incarceration, he says. I learned a combination of exercises from ex-Marines-turned-correctional officers through a program called Shock. Its a six-month military boot camp program that saves you two-and-a-half years from your prison sentence.Martes gym -- which he says was a dungeon, with no windows or ventilation, when he found it -- is now a well-lit white studio with black-painted fence lines, barbed wire and sketches of prisoners in mid-escape etched on the walls as decor.A workout developed in a 9-by-6 foot prison cell using no equipment -- straight bodyweight exercises -- couldnt be too hard, I thought.Boy, was I wrong.Lock downMy class of five was instructed to leave our belongings, including our shoes, in lockers just outside of the studio. Show off that pedicure! Marte says?playfully. Eyeballing the room, I was surprised to see a female-dominated class -- just one man and four women in total.Marte says the proportion is standard: A lot of females tell me that they dont like going into studios with a lot of equipment because theyre overwhelming. This is a tough cardio, strength-training program that feels doable. Plus, all you have to do is show up in comfy workout gear, no add-ons required. So, youre not jumping through hoops to participate in the classes -- which range from 30-minutes to a full-hour, at $30 per single session.Once the clock strikes 8, the sound of an iron gate slamming shut rings out. Then the warm-up begins. Fat Joe and Remy Mas All the Way Up serves as the soundtrack for our dose of cardio, which included jumping jacks, squat thrusts and glute kickbacks. Next, some floor-based ab work, followed by toning exercises, including scissor kicks and pushups.Doing the timeAfter a series of calisthenics during the warm-up (who knew simply standing up and sitting down for 30 repetitions could constitute as exercise), Marte introduced the real workout with more hip-hop tunes on rotation. I created some of the moves on my own, like the up-and-downs. The space that I was using in my cell was so small that sometimes I couldnt do a full squat, so I would sit down and stand up, and I realized -- thats hard!For the remaining 45 minutes of class, Marte created an eight-lap routine consisting of nonstop calisthenics, including mountain-climbers, planks, 10-second pull-up holds and more.?And as hard as it got with each lap, Martes encouragement throughout the class was helpful. And his own success story proves that the routine offerrs noticeable results.dddddddddddd Prior to being imprisoned, the 5-foot-8 Marte weighed 230 pounds, had high blood pressure and sky-high cholesterol. He was even told that if he didnt slim down, there was a strong chance that he would die in prison. On his custom workout plan, Marte lost 70 pounds in the first six months of his sentence, a physical change that was life-altering.[When] I lost the weight, Marte says, my cholesterol and blood-pressure levels went back to normal. Obviously, I wasnt eating great in prison, but I started trying to increase [healthier] carbs and vegetables in my diet. And for ConBody regulars, Marte has hired a registered dietitian to offer nutrition advice for those in need of pointers. All of my trainers are certified trainers, but were not dietitians. For those who enroll in personal training programs, I refer them to our dietitian.Speaking of trainers, though I only experienced Martes class, it was interesting to learn that many ConBody instructors were formerly incarcerated, and others are close to the prison system in some way.?Having experienced the difficulty of securing a job with a tainted record firsthand, its Martes mission to help those looking to get back on their feet after serving time. We go into jails and prisons to train the inmates to become personal trainers through a correspondence program to help them get their ISSA [International Sports Sciences Association] personal trainer certification, Marte notes.The releaseOnce we cool down, the class finished with wall sits and a crab crawl toward Marte for a celebratory high-five -- a positive reinforcement that is far different from the instructors own experiences during their prison-based boot camp courses.Sometimes, well stop a class to tell the participants about the prison experience and the struggles that we went through, Marte says. Sultan Malik, a ConBody instructor, who had previously been imprisoned for robbery, tells his classes that if he could do seven years in solitary confinement, they should be able to handle this 45-minute class.We did these same workouts in a small space with nothing. Here, you have someone motivating you and a class of people that are pushing you. We try to build that camaraderie and social support, Marte adds.And unlike the real deal, Marte and his team encourage participants to take their mugshot after the workout as proof that they did the time.Marte, who receives what he calls fan jail mail, says that he regularly receives inquiries from prisoners looking to apply for positions at ConBody upon their release. And given that one in 35 adults in the U.S. have faced correctional control, including prison, jail, parole and probation, his service to the ex-offender community is much-needed.Marte says his goal is to create a platform so that the ex-offenders can be trained by a ConBody mentor via computer. I want to hit 100,000 people and employ 50 ex-cons [of varying offenses] by the end of next year, he says.Youll be able to choose your personal instructor based on their profiles on the studios website. These videos will tell the story of why they went to prison and why they want to change their lives, Marte says.Marte is also exploring opportunities to expand, starting within the New York City metro area and eventually branching out overseas. So, if youre not in the Big Apple, no worries. Soon, youll be able to #DotheTime too!Lyndsay Green is a Chicago-based style and travel editor and founder of Beauty Atlas magazine, a destination guide for beauty enthusiasts. When shes not in some far-flung destination testing natural face masks or stocking up on foreign beauty products, you can find her brushing up on her tumbling skills in an adult gymnastics class in the Windy City. ' ' '