A chef, a health expert and a football player. What may appear to be an unlikely trio can often be seen giving it their all for any range of heart-racing morning workouts at Armone\u2019s Core Connection on Girard Avenue. Like the fitness-studio version of “Cheers,” everyone is greeted by name at Armone\u2019s, no matter who walks through the door. Whether it be Chargers cornerback Antoine Cason or locally renowned chef and triathlete Giuseppe Ciuffa, everyone gets the same treatment, enjoys the same camaraderie and works equally hard to achieve their fitness goals with personal trainer and nutrition consultant Jay Hoehn. Hoehn\u2019s revolutionary nutrition guide and workout regimen focuses on maximizing his clients\u2019 endocrine functions, making them feel and look younger, healthier and more energetic. He customizes each program to his client\u2019s specific needs, facilitating achievement of one\u2019s fitness goals while optimizing strength, endurance, recovery time and range of motion. While most people take one look at Cason and conclude the 26-year-old professional athlete is at the pinnacle of his athletic prowess, Hoehn discovered ways to actually reduce Cason\u2019s already low body-fat percentage and increase his body weight with lean muscle since they started working together in early spring. “He\u2019s able to recover from all the exertion he puts out more quickly, and he\u2019s more proficient with his endocrine function and his immune function \u2014 things that are important to have a good season, so you don\u2019t have other issues weighing you down, like [health] bugs or feeling like you\u2019re not recovering effectively,” said Hoehn. Cason\u2019s friend Rick Ahumada \u2014 who also trains with Hoehn \u2014 raved to him about the impact Hoehn\u2019s nutrition and workout plan has had on his own life. At lunch one day, over a bunless burger, Ahumada let Cason in on the secret to his newfound energy. “He starts telling me he\u2019s on this new diet \u2014 that he\u2019s eating healthier, got his blood work done and he\u2019s feeling great,” said Cason. “I\u2019ve been looking for a nutrition person to kind of get me right. For the profession I\u2019m in, you have to take care of your body even more so, so he gave me Jay\u2019s number.” In addition to rigorous circuit training workouts to supplement Cason\u2019s Chargers workouts and practice, Hoehn plays an instrumental role in Cason\u2019s diet. Hoehn enlisted the help of another client of his, La Jolla chef Ciuffa, head chef and founder of Giuseppe Restaurants and Fine Catering. “We were brainstorming how my nutrition plan could express itself in a more attractive way, given his culinary talents,” said Hoehn. “We primarily keep [Cason] on foods that are low or not processed, nutrient dense, that generally build his system up, rather than tax his system, so that he\u2019s able to digest well, assimilate well and use it as fuel for his workouts and athletic performance.” During training camp, Ciuffa made Cason three meals a day that not only met Cason\u2019s nutrition requirements as a professional athlete, but also made his meals more enticing. “We try to alternate so he doesn\u2019t get bored,” said Ciuffa. “There\u2019s always a salad of some sort, a little bit of dairy, a little bit of vegetables and a little bit of greens. We try to keep the dressings fat-free, low in sugar content, so we use a lot of balsamic, olive oil, things like that.” Earlier in the day, Cason\u2019s plate is filled with good starches and carbohydrates \u2014 like quinoa and root vegetables \u2014 and as the day progressed, the meals move toward a more protein-rich, vegetable-laden dish geared toward maximizing his endocrine function. Thanks to Ciuffa\u2019s meals, Cason said his eating habits have changed for the better, improving his endurance, energy and recovery time on and off the field. “He\u2019s more aware of how good it is to eat organic. He won\u2019t eat any junk,” said Ciuffa. “He\u2019s the type of guy at training camp that, if he doesn\u2019t have the type of food that he knows is good for him, he just goes by without eating. He would rather just put it off then eat something that is not good for him.” Now, during the regular season, Ciuffa continues to make one meal a day for his training partner to keep Cason\u2019s athletic performance at its peak. “I wanted to continue eating the way I\u2019ve been eating because it had me feeling great. My body has changed, and everything feels good \u2014 my endurance, overall health, my mental mindset,” said Cason. “And I\u2019m always looking forward to the next meal. People confuse having healthy meals with not tasting as good, but it\u2019s really good.” Cason said his training with Hoehn, Ciuffa and the rest of the crew at Armone\u2019s \u2014 supplemented by his newfound eating habits \u2014 reflect in his performance on game day. “It\u2019s very different in my game. My body has even changed, my endurance. I don\u2019t get tired as fast, I don\u2019t feel sluggish ever,” he said. “I\u2019m a young guy, and it\u2019s working excellent for me. I feel great, and I don\u2019t ever want to go backward. I feel like I would be going backward if I didn\u2019t continue with the way I\u2019ve been going.” He said the guys at the gym help to push him in his workouts, just as he undoubtedly challenges them. “We have a great group of guys \u2014\u00a0all those guys I\u2019ve trained with, along with Jay, have really helped me. Instead of me working out alone, I had guys encouraging me. We encouraged each other. We had conversations along the way and we pushed each other along the way, and that\u2019s what made it so great,” he said. “It\u2019s not just me. Everyone sees me out there, but for me to get there, it took a lot of people.” The solidarity and kinship of the core group at Armone\u2019s results in everyone achieving his utmost ability \u2014 no matter the age, athletic ability or profession. “I\u2019m very fortunate to have met these people and for them to be in my life to help me enter the career and the path I would like to take. It\u2019s really been a blessing for me,” said Cason. “I do everything I need to for the Chargers, and then if there\u2019s anything else I need, I know I can come here.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A chef, a health expert and a football player. What may appear to be an unlikely trio can often be seen giving it their all for any range of heart-racing morning workouts at Armone\u2019s Core Connection on Girard Avenue. Like the fitness-studio version of “Cheers,” everyone is greeted by name at Armone\u2019s, no matter who […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":268141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Elite athletes, trainers and chefs converge in La Jolla","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}